I have now been living in Silicon Valley for just a little over six weeks. It has no doubt been an extremely positive experience thus far. The company I’m working for is growing at a very fast pace and has a very laid back work environment. I haven’t even unpacked my alarm clock yet, nor much else for that matter, and the work is challenging and interesting to me. We have hired enough people that we recently moved to a new office and are celebrating our successes as we grow. Hopefully there will be many more celebrations to come.
Tonight I went to a presentation called “Mobile Web and Wireless”, put on by the Silicon Valley Web Guild at Microsoft’s Silicon Valley Campus. The speakers were Deep Nishar of Google, Rob Katcher of Palm, Ron Mandel of Openwave Systems, and Dan Turchin of Aeroprise.
Microsoft and the guild were a very good host. The “refreshments” at the event included crab cakes, brie, delicious roasted portobello mushrooms, fresh mozarella, and fresh fruit. I wonder if all of that was from Microsoft’s cafeteria. It was delicious.
The presentation and discussion was good too, and undeniably held by the experts in the subject. There are some major hurdles to be overcome in making a mobile web experience anywhere near as good as what the web is today. It’s impossible to develop for all of the different devices and platforms out there, but at crucial thing for developers to think of now is how differently the web is used when a person is on a mobile device as opposed to when a person is on the traditional web. You aren’t likely to spend hours searching for whatever pops into your head on Google, but rather, you may be in an unfamiliar town, and want to know where the nearest Vietnamese restaurant is.
I know the true geeks will find me about a year to late on talking about this, but this is where Google SMS comes in handy. Say you are wandering about my neighborhood, and wanted to find a mexican restaurant. You would just text “mexican 95112” (my zipcode) to GOOGL (46645), Google would then send you the first couple of results. For me it sent:
Iguanas Taqueria 330 S 3rd St #A San Jose, CA 95112 408-995-6023
Tico’s Tacos 291 N 4th St San Jose, CA 95112 408-297-8421
El Tarasco Mexican Food 170 East Taylor St. San Jose, CA 95112 408-293-7682
Or say you wanted to see a movie, you could just send a text to 46645 saying, for example, “el crimen perfecto 95112.” Tonight it returns:
El Crimen Perfecto 1hr 45min,No Rating,Drama/Comedy.3.8/5 Camera 12 4:40 7:05 9:25 201 South Second Street San Jose, CA 95112
Yeah! That place happens to be like two blocks away. There is even talk that at some point it may be able to get this information for you based upon your actual location. You can use Google SMS to get many other things such as stock quotes and weather reports, and the ability to look up people and businesses can spare you the hefty 411 fees.
They also discussed the limitations of the actual user interface. Obviously there isn’t much screen real-estate to work with, but what about voice browsing? Also, there are some interesting differences in usage amongst various cultures. Some of the reasons that text messaging may have taken off in Europe or Asia may be connected to cultural perceptions about talking in public, as well as the logistics of using a portable device in a car vs. on public transportation. Additionally, youth were using text because it was cheaper than voice, they could text during class and not get caught, and since European cultures and Asian cultures have more generations living together, the phenomenon has just spread.
This is just one of many geeky events that I have attended, and will attend here in the valley. It is positively jam-packed with geeks, and I definitely plan on soaking up everything it has to offer.
Obviously I won’t make it, but if you’re in the Omaha area, you shouldn’t miss it. Tour homes designed by Omaha’s premiere Architects at AIA Omaha’s Architect’s Home Tour. I was a part of the inaugural home tour two years ago and it was a huge success. AIA Omaha has put together another great lineup of homes that exemplify great architecture. You know where you can find homes that don’t exemplify great architecture. The tour will take place from noon-5pm on Sunday, September 25th 2005.
Today I took a scenic drive and explored some of the lesser-known beaches of The Bay Area. Most people here go to one of the many beaches in Santa Cruz, about 35 minutes Southwest of San Jose, but I decided to visit some of the beaches North of Santa Cruz. keep on reading »
I have arrived! Too much sensory overload for a full post right now. It’s hard to believe that the weather is supposed to stay like this pretty much all of the time. They aren’t kidding about traffic. Where do all of those people have to go at 2 in the afternoon? Fortunately I’ll be walking to work. The apartment is absolutely great.
I got a pretty late start out of Denver, but arrived safely in Park City, Utah at about 1am Mountain Time. From what part of the drive that was in daylight, I could see that Wyoming is a beautiful state. Red Bull works as a wonderful driving elixir, but it doesn’t cancel out the drowsiness caused by Benadryl. The ragweed pollen count is extremely high in the Salt Lake area, and so even with Claritin, Allegra, Benadryl, andSinusRinse, there is absolutely no air making it through my nostrils.
I’ve driven one day and am currently in Denver at my friend Onye’s house. It’s a very lucky coincidence that Onye, one of my very good friends from college, is going to Stanford Law (in Palo Alto, 20 minutes from San Jose) at the exact same time as I am making this move. Our plan is to go to Park City today, Tahoe/Reno on Wednesday, and the Bay Area on Thursday. This move would be much more fun if my ragweed allergies were not pure torture. keep on reading »
California here I come! I have accepted a position as Web Design Engineer/Graphics Coordinator at a start-up in San Jose, CA. I will be working for WorkMetro.com, which is a network of websites specializing in local recruitment and job searches. So far, you can find jobs in Omaha, Reno, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Austin, Miami, Connecticut, Southwest Florida, Delmarva, and Boston through their network, and they are expanding every day. I have gotten to know their team well over the last year or so, as they have been a client of mine, and I’m very excited that they have grown to the point of needing a full-time designer (me). In addition to the front-end web design and programming that I’ve wanted to get more experience in, I will also be doing print work, exhibit design for job fairs, and even some video for television commercials. Since it’s a start-up, I’ll naturally have an even wider gamut of duties than that. I am most comfortable doing a variety of things, so it’s a great fit.
RDG has been great, both in taking the risks they took in handing me the reigns to start their Graphic Design Focus Market fresh out of design school, but also in being understanding and sharing my enthusiasm in this exciting career move. If anyone is interested in taking my place, hurry, hurry. Have skills in web and print with an interest in environmental design. Programming skills in ActionScript will likely be necessary, HTML, CSS, and PHP are plusses.
I have aspired to make it to the Bay Area for some time now, but given the high concentration of designers there, I didn’t expect to find a job before getting there, so this is really a dream come true. I hope to dive right into the design community there, start making contacts, and maybe even start a club(red) west coast chapter.
If you’re like I was, you don’t know much about San Jose. Here are some facts.
So, it’s a pretty nice place. I know I’m relieved to not have to endure another harsh Nebraska winter this year. Omaha really is an okay place to live, and I will miss the many great friends I have made since I was born here. Maybe I’ll even come back some day, But being 26 and unattached (now that The Basil Plant has passed), this is a perfect time for such an adventure.
I officially start August 29th, so the long drive will be the week of the 22nd. I’ll keep you posted as this simple caveman of a Midwesterner is transplanted to the big city.
On a trip across Iowa, I decided to take the highway instead of the interstate. It may have taken a few minutes longer to make the trip, but I saw some interesting things along the way. The highway I travelled on was the historicLincoln Highway.
Stuff like this is quite common along the highway, which makes me wonder how Iowa remains not a part of Jesusland
I was impressed to see that this cafe in Tama, Iowa offered free wireless internet.
Lincoln Highway Bridge in Tama, Iowa.
Rialto Theater. I don’t remember where this was. I couldn’t get them to put my name on the marquee.
