This was SeaPUG's debut meeting. Most will agree that although attendance was relatively low, it was a great success for our newly formed group! We had members join us who learned of us through the web, as well as a few who saw our event listed in the Times/PI Tech Events list!

(All images are linked to larger versions of themselves.)

After some interesting logistics getting into the building (building security didn't know about the meeting ;-) and getting the main doors unlocked, several people were there at 6 on the nose, and a few more trickled in a little bit later. We had a total of 14 attendees. Greg Gaub put out the refreshments and set up his stuff (a *paper* guest book, name labels, and a video camera). To allow stragglers some time to arrive, he started the meeting at 6:15.

Introduction:

Greg Gaub managed to summon the courage to talk to a group of rabid Palm users. He introduced himself as well as Greg Martz, and apologized for Susan Bernick, who was unable to attend. He told everyone about how SeaPUG was founded (same info as on the FAQ and About pages) and jumped straight to business, entirely forgetting to have the rest of the members introduce themselves. Don't worry, we'll get you next time! ;-)

Meeting Time:

Since people were showing up a little late, we discussed the meeting time and decided to push it back a half-hour to 6:30 for the next meeting. Hopefully this will allow more people to attend, and possibly alleviate some of the run-ins with rush-hour traffic.

SeaPUG Organization:

After some short discussion on how the group is currently only loosely organized, we all decided to wait until we get a little bit bigger to worry about organizing the group in a more "official" fashion. As one member put it, "formality stinks!" Expect this item to be on the agenda until it's resolved. ;-)

Member Privacy:

Greg talked about how the membership database is currently set up, and asked for suggestions on how to do it differently, if changing it at all. Although most agreed something more secure would be nice, users wishing keep their information more private simply need not enter the information. This issue was left somewhat unresolved, and members decided also to leave this "as is."

Presentation: Coola!

Sudha Jamthe, CEO of Coola Inc. gave us an informative presentation on how Coola works, and what their goals are as a new company. SeaPUG members had a lot of questions and suggestions, all of which were answered or taken by Su, or her associate, Sameer (Coola Inc. Business Analyst) happily. All throughout the presentation, Greg, and other members has suggestions for improving the interface of the Coola site, as well as ideas for new applications for their technology. Sudha did not skirt any of the issues we brought up, but answered them all with real-life (as well as hypothetical) examples to illustrate her answers. Even after the presentation and the meeting ended, Sudha and sameer stayed to talk to the members and answer their specific questions and concerns. We learned a lot about Coola! and expect their technology to really take off in the near future. The applications for their information conduit are limited only by the content provider's imagination!

Giveaways:

Instead of tickets, or drawing names out of a hat, we made use of the reason we were here, our Palm devices! Greg Gaub beamed around a trial version of "Handy Randy," a random number generator. Members interested in the giveaways generated a random number on their device, as did Greg Gaub. The member with the number closest to Greg's won the prize.
This first giveaway was a Palm Portable Keyboard (PalmV version) generously donated by Coola Inc. After Peter Bohac won and passed because he already had one, the next winning random number found it's way into Davis Chastain's PalmIIIc.
Lucky Peter Bohac walked away with the second giveaway for this meeting: a custom made tooled leather PalmV cover. Greg Gaub, known to cut up and color animal skins, decided to take apart his stock PalmV case to make use of the hinge piece in a custom cover, made specifically to give away at this meeting. He designed a Celtic knotwork style pattern to fit the shape of the cover, tooled it in, and created the cover you see here. The thumbnail image is linked to a larger image.
Thanks to Coola Inc. and Greg Gaub for providing our first SeaPUG giveaways!

Show and Tell:

Alas, either no one had an application they wanted to show off, or no one had the guts to do it. I guess next month we'll have to drag someone up against their will? ;-)

Open Discussion:

For almost a full hour after the regular meeting stuff ended, most of the members talked amongst each other about various PalmOS news and applications. Needless to say, it was all sorts of fun talking to other PalmOS enthusiasts.