The possessions that by far take up the most space in my self-proclaimed lifestyle of minimalism are my books and my records. Until now, I just had a crappy WAL-MART (yes, I went shopping there, but only once, I swear) shelf for my books, and a bunch of cardboard boxes for my records. Besides looking bad, this system also wasn’t very space-efficient, so, since I’m not going to convert my vinyl to CD anytime soon, I decided to search for something much less crappy.
I’ve been looking for a new cell phone, and I am extremely frustrated and disappointed with the selection of cell phones on the U.S. market. The service providers and cell phone manufacturers just don’t seem to get it. Camera phones really are of little use, and cell phones need video capability even less. What does have potential and is actually useful is text messaging – which is absolutely huge in most of the world and is spreading. I have found that text messaging is a necessary component of socializing in California, so naturally I would like to have a cell phone with some sort of efficient system for text messaging. Unfortunately, all of the phones that have QWERTY keyboards and the like have way too many features and as a result are enormous. I don’t want a picture phone. I don’t want to surf the web. I don’t even want a color screen. All I want is the smallest phone possible with good reception, the capability to text with the quickness, and Bluetooth to back up my address book.
I think Google has the right idea with Google SMS on what is really useful in a cell phone (they’re always right). Very little of the information that we actually want to consume while out and about involves video or even pictures ��� it’s textual information like movie showtimes or business addresses and phone numbers. No, I don’t want to watch TV on my cell phone. I can appreciate that there may be a miniscule segment of the population in car-dependent America that may want to watch TV during commute, but this idea…is fucking stupid.
Along with all of these new and useless features comes interfaces and form factors that are more and more unusable. Now that color screens are pretty much standard, every interface has convoluted icons that bounce, twinkle and do whatever else they can do to make them absolutely useless in communicating what they represent. The phones themselves appear to have been designed by out-of-work comic book illustrators, complete with swooshy keypad designs and other unnecessary intricacies.
After looking at some European cell phone reviews, it looks like the Nokia 6822 (buy on Amazon) is about as close to “the phone for me” as I will find. I think I can get my hands on one through eBay (making sure to get an unlocked one), and if I change to a GSM provider such as Cingular or T-Mobile, rather than a CDMA provider (which will involve me surrendering my grandfathered-in 8 o’clock off-peak with Sprint), I can just swap out the SIM card. GSM and the flexibility of SIM cards sounds superior anyway, and will come in handy in the event of a trip abroad.
As we approached one of the many buildings on the Google campus, we were immediately addressed by security. We told them who we were there to meet, and they led us through an elaborately landscaped courtyard, where Googlers were outside in the sunshine, enjoying their lunches under the shade of Google branded umbrellas. Occasionally someone would whiz by on a motorized scooter.
When we finally entered the building, we were greeted by the receptionist, who instructed us to type our crucial information into a computer that then printed out a visitor badge for us on a Dymo printer. While we waited for our host to emerge from the depths of Googledom, search terms scrolled by, projected on a pane of glass. They apparently weren’t censored heavily.
We were led by our host past offices decorated with Google-colored chinese lamps, Google-colored bean bag chairs, Google-colored giant rubber exercise balls, Google-colored lava lamps, Google-colored couches, and a coffee room fully-stocked with breakfast foods and complimentary sack lunches laid out in rows of Google-colored sacks. We entered the lunch room and grabbed our lunch trays, each of a different Google color, and filled our plates with Mediterranean, Mexican, and Indian food, cooked by top chefs that are selected through chef cook-offs and “Iron Chef” style competitions. We could eat as much as we wished, Google provides breakfast, lunch, and dinner FREE to its employees (and guests).
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.
