Providence Geeks, the popular monthly meet-up for local info-tech and digital media professionals, will hold its last dinner of the summer this evening.
The free event – spotlighting mobile technology startup MoFuse – will take place from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at AS220, 115 Empire St., in Providence. (READ MORE) Attendees dress casually, and food and drinks are available for purchase. The dinners usually attract more than 100 people.
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Jack Templin, a co-founder of Providence Geeks and principal of the Internet consultancy ThoughtCap, recently answered a few questions about the dinners – and the new iPhone.
PBN: Tonight’s Providence Geeks will be the last one until September. Do you expect a good turnout?
TEMPLIN: We do. Based on our large and growing turnouts, we anticipate a good crowd even though it’s mid-July in Rhode Island. In addition, the start-up that will be presenting, MoFuse, is fascinating, and a lot of folks are interested in learning more about them.
PBN: Which presentations stood out to you most at the dinners over the past year?
TEMPLIN: I would have to say that Warwick-based GyPSii really stood out. (READ MORE) They are competing on one of the Internet’s most hotly-contested emerging battlegrounds – location-based social networking. They will be going up against the biggest competitors, like Facebook and Google. GyPSii is definitely one to watch over the next year.
PBN: It’s been two and a half years since Providence Geeks started up. What do you think the dinners have accomplished?
TEMPLIN: I think Providence Geeks has helped many folks to meet another – to “connect nodes,” as we say. These connections are the first step to all sorts of wonderful outcomes from friendships to investments to hirings to collaborations, and more. I think Providence Geeks has helped to raise the profile of the local info-tech and digital media community both within Rhode Island, and to some extent outside of it.
PBN: Do you see the format of the Geeks dinners evolving or changing in the future, or do you think it works as is?
TEMPLIN: My co-founder Brian Jepson and I have been careful not to fiddle too much with what seems to be a winning formula. We tend to do small experiments at the edges. For example, last year, Brian started posting short video interviews with the presenters to the Web. And at the last dinner, in cooperation with our partner organization, RINexus.com, we introduced an “Opportunity Board” where attendees can post jobs, internships and “gigs.”
PBN: So, you were in line to buy the new iPhone 3G at the Providence Place Apple Store on Friday. What do you think?
TEMPLIN: I think the iPhone 3G and Google’s forthcoming Android platform are an even bigger deal than the hype would have you think. They are ushering in an era of portable computing that I believe will prove as significant as the PC revolution.
