Month: August 2011

Like many Googlers and Google fans, I’ve acquired drawers full of Google t-shirts. It’s also a normal occurrence around Mountain View to see people protecting themselves from the sun with Google hats and and colored sunglasses. But what you may not expect, is that if you look down at my feet, you’ll often see a little more Googliness. This actually happened to me once on an airplane. The passenger sitting next to me asked, “Do you work for Google?” I looked down, trying to spot which Google sweatshirt I was wearing, but I didn’t see a Google logo. How did he know? I asked him. “You’re wearing Google socks,” he said. Yes, I have Google socks. I have many Google socks. I collect them.

The first Google socks that I collected are these bike socks. They breathe well and come in handy now that I bike to work:

When I saw that the Google Store was offering socks with the logo stitched in colored thread, I couldn’t resist:

Oh, wow, in red now? I need some of those:

When I want to relax at home and watch a movie, that’s a perfect opportunity to bring out the Google TV slipper socks:

Or, if I’m more actively browsing YouTube, I sport the You “Tube” socks:

But what are Google socks without Google shoes? My mom, knowing that I like both Google and colorful shoes,* designed these for me. They have all of the Google colors and say “WYSZ” on the toe.

When I was at a recent Google event in Vermont, someone asked, “Are those Google-issued shoes?” Yes, they are. Google hooked us up with Google-colored Converse shoes. I was representing the green:

Not all of my search engine footwear is Google-branded. I recently started wearing Yahoo! shoes, with Google socks as protective insulation of course.

Why? Because competition keeps us on our toes.

* In fifth grade, I had a teacher who always wore colorful shoes. I decided that when I grew up, I would get colorful shoes too.

For a few months now, I’ve been using a Garmin GTU 10 to keep track of my car. The GTU 10 is a pretty simple concept. It’s a small battery-powered device that includes a GPS receiver, so it knows where it is, and a SIM card that connects to AT&T, so it can tell you where it is.

As you can see, it’s pretty small, which makes it a great general purpose locating device. While I usually keep it in my car, I could just as easily throw it in a camera bag, laptop bag, or backpack, or even attach it to a pet. The battery is rechargeable, and since it charges by USB, I can keep it topped up using the same USB car charger that I use for my phone.

You can find the device’s location using a web browser, but I usually use the Garmin Tracker app on my phone, which shows your current location in relationship to the device. This is helpful for me even on a typical workday when I can’t remember where I parked my car. In addition to the on-demand location tracking, the GTU 10 can also also alert you when it has exited a specified area, such as a parking garage. That way you don’t have to constantly check in on your car if you’ve left it parked during a vacation; you know that the GTU 10 will send you an email if it exits the garage. It will also send you alerts if you battery is low. What’s convenient about all the settings is that I don’t have to connect the device to my computer to change anything. Since it’s connected to the Internet, I can just change a setting on the Android app, and the device will be updated the next time it connects to the network.

I’m a sucker for cool gadgets (I have way too many flashlights that I never use), so if you know of something cool I should check out and want to reduce my bank account balance, let me know.