GBM Reader Meetup was a Blast!

What a great time we all had on Saturday night as fifteen to twenty of us took over Pikes Perk, brought the bandwidth to its knees, and drained the electricity with the fifteen or so tablet pcs and UMPCs we were showing off.

Here are a couple of highlights:

• We watched Mike Moore show off his vintage NEC slate tablet pc that was heavily modified with aluminum, cooper, etc. He gave us all a great history in tablet computing. If you were watching on UStream, you know what a treat that was.
• StudentTabletPC.com's Andrew Ferguson gave us all a demonstration on how he uses his M200 Tablet PC and OneNote to be productive in Engineering School. Andrew is one bright student, and a great asset to the community.
• Dannyo showed off his Samsung Q1 that was outfitted with a BoxWave FlexiSkin, modified to fit the 6-cell battery. In addition, he's got a Sprint EV-DO modem velcroed to the back for constant high-speed connectivity
• We gave away a ton of prizes that I'll detail below, and thanks to the goodness of our sponsors, we have much more to give away in future meetups.
• After the crowd died down, six or seven of us sat down for about an hour or two and chatted about the challenges facing the Tablet PC space, Dell's entry to the space, and the marketing issues that continue to hold back what we all perceive as a superior mobile platform compared to the traditional laptop.
• Be sure to checkout our Flickr photos and recorded UStream clips

A huge thanks to the following sponsors of our first GBM Reader Meetup.

• Active Ink Software - donated a license of Active Ink Professional Forms Design software, a $299 value
• Forms2Base - donated a license of Forms2Base, a $499 value
• TabletKiosk - donated 3 foldable USB keyboards, and 5 slate tablet pc / umpc stands
• Allegiance Technology Partners - donated an Intel grab-bag, a Motion Computing cup, Motion Computing cloths, and some ultra-cool airplane kits. He also worked overtime on getting us the Fujitsu T2010 in time for the meetup ( InkShow coming soon ).
• Amtek - shipped us the T770 UMPC to demo ( InkShow coming soon )
• Lenovo - donated 20 2-GB flash drives
• GraphicResults.com - donated 10 specially printed GottaBeMobile.com shirts
• Dynamism.com - donated 3 Star Wards USB Flash drives
• Otterbox - donated 3 rugged phone cases and 1 rugged laptop 7000 case
• TechSmith - donated a ton of pens, 5 shirts, 1 SnagIT license ( $39.95 ), and 1 Camtasia Studio license ($319 )
• HP - donated 25 shirts
• Bluebeam Software - donated 50 - 75 shirts
• OQO - donated 10 shirts
• Einstein Technologies - donated 5 licenses of Tablet Enhancements for Outlook, valued at $49.99 each
• Microsoft - donated a ton of Code Focus magazines, Origami buttons, Windows Vista shirts, and Tablet PC / Mobile PC team shirts
• Motion Computing - donated lots and lots of mints and sticky pads
• Samsung - donated 5 Q1 Ultra organizers and 10 Q1 Ultra keychains

Join me in thanking our sponsors by visiting them for your computing, software, and accessory needs.

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