Wednesday, January 20th, 2009, 5:30 – 8:30pm
AS220, 115 Empire Street, Providence, RI
FREE (buy your own food and drink – it’s cheap)

January’s Geek Dinner is actually born of the Geek Dinner last May. That’s where Providence-based web & mobile application strategist Jonathan Stark met O’Reilly Media Senior Editor and Providence Geeks Co-Founder Brian Jepson. Jonathan proposed a new book on an important, but under-addressed dimension of the iPhone. Brian got it. Now 8 short months later (light speed in the publishing world), the print version of Building iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is about to hit the shelves, and Jonathan is about to embark on an international speaking tour (including such prestigious stops as South by Southwest).

It’s only fitting therefore that next week’s Geek Dinner will be doubling as the book’s launch party!

On Wednesday Jonathan will be giving an overview of the book, with a focus on the important question of choosing whether to development a “native app” or a “web app” when targeting the exploding smart phone market (iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm, etc.). Jonathan, who has quickly become one of the foremost experts on this topic, will examine the pros and cons of the different approaches, complete with live demos. This short session will be packed with invaluable information for anyone considering expanding their business to the mobile world.

**Note: Building iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is currently available in its entirety in both a free HTML version and as a $5 iPhone app.

Update: Jonathan has written a blog post about the Mobile Web at RINexus.com.

Please RSVP at Facebook (In the interest of making it more “viral”, we’re experimenting with doing our RSVPs on Facebook – and while you’re there please join our Facebook group. And if you want to join our very-low-volume email announcement send an email to Jack Templin, jtemplin@gmail.com with your name and affiliation.)

As always, for first-timers here are the details on the Geek Dinners:

• The event itself is FREE! Beverages and food are for sale at AS220’s bar and new restaurant.


• It’s totally casual. Wear whatever, bring whoever, arrive and take off whenever! And don’t worry about eating or not – come famished or full – eating is optional, and frankly, the least of the festivities (that’s not say the food isn’t good – it’s actually great)


• Topics of conversation will vary as they will at any gathering of geeks, but many of us will be talking about AJAX, mash-ups, start-ups, new devices, innovative business models, interaction design, social computing, digital art, web services, etc. etc. etc.


• There is Wi-Fi so bring your connected device of choice.

At the last Providence Geek Dinner of 2009, DiJiPOP CEO Ji Kim, an online advertising veteran, and Bill Cesare, a highly successful and prolific entrepreneur/investor, gave an overview of their dynamic company. We caught up with Ji after the Geek Dinner to learn more. [Video link]

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009, 5:30 – 8:30pm
AS220, 115 Empire Street, Providence, RI
FREE (buy your own food and drink – it’s cheap)

The last Providence Geek Dinner of the decade (yes, _ the decade_!) drops next week, and it’s going to be a doozy.

For starters, the excellent Providence-based DiJiPOP will be presenting:

DiJiPOP is helping to define a whole new category of online advertising by making it easy to create and manage cooperative advertising programs for retailers and their manufacturers. CEO Ji Kim, an online advertising veteran, and Bill Cesare, a highly successful and prolific entrepreneur/investor, will give an overview of their dynamic company, and a demonstration of its innovative turn-key online ad management solution for e-commerce companies. (Disclosure: DiJiPop is a “graduate” of this summer’s inaugural Betaspring program. I am a Partner in Betaspring.)

• We also are having our second annual “Geeks for Good” food drive, led by the awesome Michelle Riggen-Ransom of BatchBlue Software. Please bring non-perishable food items (canned fruits and veggies, pasta and sauce, soup etc.) – an item or two or twenty! – to be donated to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.  Last year’s Geeks for Good food drive collected an amazing 334 pounds of food and over $150 in cash donations thanks to the Geeks’ collective generosity.


• After the Geek Dinner, join us as we stroll a few blocks away to the Providence Blogopshere Holiday Spectacular, featuring all our good friends at Greater City: Providence, Providence Daily Dose, RIFuture, Kmareka, and Not For Nothing.

As always, for first-timers here are the details on the Geek Dinners:

• The event itself is FREE! Beverages and food are for sale at AS220’s bar and new restaurant.


• It’s totally casual. Wear whatever, bring whoever, arrive and take off whenever! And don’t worry about eating or not – come famished or full – eating is optional, and frankly, the least of the festivities (that’s not say the food isn’t good – it’s actually great)


• Topics of conversation will vary as they will at any gathering of geeks, but many of us will be talking about AJAX, mash-ups, start-ups, new devices, innovative business models, interaction design, social computing, digital art, web services, etc. etc. etc.


• There is Wi-Fi so bring your connected device of choice.

At the November 2009 Providence Geek Dinner, Pascal Van Hentenryck of Dynadec presented their cutting-edge optimization platform – Comet. We caught up with Pascal after the Geek Dinner to learn more. [Video link]

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009, 5:30 – 8:30pm
AS220, 115 Empire Street, Providence, RI
FREE (buy your own food and drink – it’s cheap)

Providence Geeks returns to AS220 for our November Dinner, just in time to enjoy its amazing new restaurant. And they are glad to have us back, creating for the occasion, a special selection of different sized Geek plates for the occasion: Byte, Megabyte, and Terabyte (Get it?!! :-)

And do we have a presentation in store for you:

Brown CS Professor Pascal Van Hentenryck – a world-renowned pioneer in optimization technology – founded Providence-based Dynadec in 2008 to help businesses optimize the decisions and processes critical to success. At the next Geek Dinner, Pascal will give an overview of his fascinating, fast-growing company, as well as showing its cutting-edge optimization platform – Comet – in action. These are jaw-dropping demonstrations of how Dynadec provides invaluable insights into a broad range of applications – everything from vehicle routing to workforce management to resource scheduling.

To learn more, read this recent Xconomy interview with Pascal.

Please RSVP at Facebook (In the interest of making it more “viral”, we’re experimenting with doing our RSVPs on Facebook – and while you’re there please join our Facebook group. And if you want to join our very-low-volume email announcement send an email to Jack Templin, jtemplin@gmail.com with your name and affiliation.)

As always, for first-timers here are the details on the Geek Dinners:

• The event itself is FREE! Beverages and food are for sale at AS220’s bar and new restaurant.


• It’s totally casual. Wear whatever, bring whoever, arrive and take off whenever! And don’t worry about eating or not – come famished or full – eating is optional, and frankly, the least of the festivities (that’s not say the food isn’t good – it’s actually great)


• Topics of conversation will vary as they will at any gathering of geeks, but many of us will be talking about AJAX, mash-ups, start-ups, new devices, innovative business models, interaction design, social computing, digital art, web services, etc. etc. etc.


• There is Wi-Fi so bring your connected device of choice.

Instead, and in partnership with RI Nexus, we will be holding a different, equally cool – dare I say cooler – event sometime next week or the following week. It will be announced very shortly, so please stay tuned.

Apologies for any inconvenience this flux may have caused, and as always, thank you for all your support. Brian and I look forward to seeing you soon.

PLEASE NOTE: Venue has changed for September’s Dinner!

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2009, 5:30 – 8:30pm
Trinity Brewhouse
186 Fountain Street, Providence, RI Map
FREE

Few folks (even geeks) realize that every day in a renovated mill in Olneyville, hundreds of engineers and designers build some of the world’s most powerful simulation software. At September’s Geek Dinner, we’ll get a look into SIMULIA (formerly Abaqus). Tim Webb, a Director in Strategy & Marketing, will cover the history of the company in Rhode Island, as well as the culture and strategy that is fueling SIMULIA’s long term growth plans. He will share enlightening industry applications of their software, which range from analyzing the physical performance of the human heart to the structural integrity of composites in the Boeing 787 and much more.

Please RSVP at Facebook (In the interest of making it more “viral”, we’re experimenting with doing our RSVPs on Facebook – and while you’re there please join our Facebook group. And if you want to join our very-low-volume email announcement send an email to Jack Templin, jtemplin at Gmail with your name and affiliation.)

As always, for first-timers here are the details on the Geek Dinners:

• The event itself is FREE! Beverages and food are for sale at the bar


• It’s totally casual. Wear whatever, bring whoever, arrive and take off whenever! And don’t worry about eating or not – come famished or full – eating is optional, and frankly, the least of the festivities (that’s not say the food isn’t good – it’s actually great)


• Topics of conversation will vary as they will at any gathering of geeks, but many of us will be talking about AJAX, mash-ups, start-ups, new devices, innovative business models, interaction design, social computing, digital art, web services, etc. etc. etc.


• There is Wi-Fi so bring your connected device of choice.

Join us for the last Geek Dinner till September – yes, we take August off. It’s going to be a good one!

Established in 2008, Little Compton-based ThinkBalm is an independent analyst firm dedicated to work-related use of the Immersive Internet — virtual worlds and campuses, immersive learning environments, and 3D business applications. ThinkBalm is breaking the mold in how they perform the work of an industry analyst. Rather than study a technology market from afar, they use the emerging technology themselves every day. And rather than gather information from occasional conversations with practitioners, they founded and operate the ThinkBalm Innovation Community, which has a mission of advancing adoption of immersive technology in the workplace. This community, which currently has about 280 members, has evolved into a mix between a social network, a collaborative laboratory, and a guild.

At the July Providence Geeks dinner, former Forrester Research Analyst and ThinkBalm co-founder and principal Erica Driver will give a live demo of the ThinkBalm Data Garden — a data visualization experience in Second Life, built around a recent ThinkBalm study about the business value of using immersive technology in the workplace.

Update: Erica was recently interviewed by PBN – Five Questions With: Erica Driver.

Please RSVP at Facebook (In the interest of making it more “viral”, we’re experimenting with doing our RSVPs on Facebook – and while you’re there please join our Facebook group. And if you want to join our very-low-volume email announcement send an email to Jack Templin, jtemplin at Gmail with your name and affiliation.)

As always, for first-timers here are the details on the Geek Dinners:

• The event itself is FREE! Beverages and food are for sale at the adjoining bar and Taqueria Pacifica (delicious and cheap)


• It’s totally casual. Wear whatever, bring whoever, arrive and take off whenever! And don’t worry about eating or not – come famished or full – eating is optional, and frankly, the least of the festivities (that’s not say the food isn’t good – it’s actually great)


• Topics of conversation will vary as they will at any gathering of geeks, but many of us will be talking about AJAX, mash-ups, start-ups, new devices, innovative business models, interaction design, social computing, digital art, web services, etc. etc. etc.


• There is Wi-Fi so bring your connected device of choice.

Shawn Wallace, Director of AS220 Labs, presented at the June geek dinner, and talked about AS220 Labs’ programs, open source hardware, and more. I caught up with him after the geek dinner to ask him a few questions. [Video link]