palm tree seeds

On a recent trip to Florida I picked up some seeds from under several palm trees - some look "unripe" about the size and color of a medium sized dark olive, several are "fruity" feeling -somewhat softer, a little larger and a dark orange color and several are kind of dry, brown and the seed coat is kind of shreddy looking. What process would I follow to sprout these seeds? Can you tell I'm a Northern gardener and know absolutely nothing about Palm Trees? Thanks for any help. MW

I've grown a few different palms from seed - I'm no expert but most of mine germinate. I nick them (with a dremel, those are some tough cookies,but don't heat them up too much doing it) , put them in a ziplock with moist sphagnum moss,blow it up with air, stick em on a heat mat (top of the fridge would probably work too.)
I have a box that I cut the top off and put a heating pad in ( the regular kind you can buy anywhere on medium heat). They can take anywhere from a week to months to sprout, check them periodically to make sure they aren't drying out or to see if they have sprouted so you can pot em up.
I've grown bottle palms (Hyophorbe lagenicaulis), Joey palms, Bismarckia ,Blue Mexican Palms and a couple others I've forgotten the names of. Good Luck !

Plant_Madness' procedure sounds good.

I've started date palms very successfully following the procedure on this page:

http://www.personal.u-net.com/~treetops/germinat.html

One of the most important things is getting as much of the fruit off as you can, so they don't mold.

I'm having great germination with my reclinata seeds. I remove the fruit covering, nick with a dremel cut off wheel and soak for several days.
Then I use plant them about 1/2 to 3/4 in deep, cover and put on top of fridge out of the way. They come in in 2-3 weeks.
I'm currently trying some queen palm seeds I got in a trade.
Jan...

Thanks to all for the good advice. The link was just what I needed. I will give it a try.
If I am successful I will be back asking for help identifying the type of Palm since I didn't think to take a picture of the trees I found them under!! Drat! Hindsight is always 20/20! Thanks again, MW