Wyszdom

I visited the Tesla Store on Santana Row back in April when they opened and took a ride in the Roadster Sport. I returned to the store yesterday to pick up my order check out the Model S, Tesla’s first sedan. They’re saying that deliveries will begin next summer.

It’s a good-looking car, and more comfortable to sit in (and get in and out of) than the Roadster. The interesting part for me was hearing about the electronics system. Some of my mental notes, which may or may not be accurate:

• 3G provider unannounced, but “probably Verizon or AT&T, because who else is there?”
• You can create a WiFi hotspot from the 3G connection
• Navigation maps are from Google, and the data is live from the Internet
• 4 USB ports for hooking up your various devices
• System is Linux-based, and there will be apps available. One example: Netflix, so you can “watch while the car charges.”
• Remote control/monitoring features will be available via an iPhone app. Other platforms could be supported as well via the API that will be released.

This has been a sad time. Steve Jobs passed away on Wednesday. Tonight, I learned that a friend, also an Apple employee, was killed in an accident a month ago. I was just talking about him at lunch today.

Skip Haughay and I met at the opening of the Apple Store in the Christiana Mall in Delaware in 2004.  In the summer of 2006, Skip and I coincidentally both began contract work at Apple and Google, respectively. He told me about when he first passed Steve Jobs in the hallway. Steve had a tray of food. Skip’s boss noticed that he was in shock from the sighting of his idol, and simply explained, “He needs to eat too.” A few months after Skip started working with Apple on a project basis, I got this email:

Hey Wysz:

Call me.  You need to talk to Apple's newest iPod software engineer.

Skip

We began our full-time positions with the companies on the same day. We didn’t hang out much, but we’d occasionally email each other extremely dorky messages whenever Apple or Google was in the news. He continued to be a complete Apple fan, and would excitedly send me quick notes with pictures from launch parties or even the latest poster in the main lobby. One subject line read, “Look at this new t-shirt! This company rocks!” He hosted me for a couple of lunches at Apple, and I had him over to lunch at Google. He was excited to see the dogs that people brought to work.

He absolutely loved horses and Apple, so I’m pretty sure he was living his dream. I took this picture of Skip and Woz when we went to a Segway Polo match in San Francisco.

If you were close to Skip, feel free to send me an email. I have a couple more pictures I can share.

Last week, I had a typical Wysz experience.

I was invited to a party that attracts the startup crowd, including founders and investors. Being in the tech business, I figured it would be fun to attend. Plus, I had this funny idea that if anyone asked for my card, I could hand them an OnlineHaircuts.com business card. I didn’t expect anyone to believe that it was a legitimate business, but it could be a good ice breaker. So, at the last minute I ordered some business cards from MOO. Of course, being a party in San Francisco with people I don’t know, I was still lacking a true reason to want to go there, other than the fact that I thought it might lead to some interesting conversations. But, since I had already told people I was going, I got in my car and drove up to the city on the night of the party. Traffic wasn’t great, but it wasn’t horrible. Once in the city, I got to play the fun driving game of wondering whether or not it’s safe to go at a green light, since there’s a good chance that the light will turn red again before the car in front of me lets me clear the intersection. I ended up doing pretty well. After miraculously ending up in the right lanes at the right times, which can require looking ahead a turn or two on the GPS, I found myself outside the venue. All I had to do at that point was find parking. I started looking around for a garage. I didn’t see any, so I just kept driving. I came across some parking signs, and followed the arrows. After several blocks, I still didn’t see any parking. At this point, I started grumbling about how I don’t like driving in the city, and I should have parked in San Bruno and had Uber drive me from there, and I don’t really like parties anyway, so maybe I shouldn’t go, but I guess I have to go since I told people I was going, but no, I’m an adult now and I can do what I want, but maybe to avoid embarrassment I will just imply that I went, kind of like that time I was invited to a high school graduation party and I went but only stayed for ten minutes and then got lost on purpose so it would take me a long time to get back home. Eventually, I got far enough from the venue that I was able to safely justify to myself that it was too far away to park, and that I should switch the destination in my phone back to my apartment. I did that, and of course on my way out of the city I ended up in traffic in the wrong lane, and, not being an aggressive driver or the type who minds getting lost, went ahead and kept going in the wrong lane, which eventually took me to Treasure Island, where I turned around in a parking lot and got back on my way. This was my second time driving up to San Francisco and back without getting out of my car. Once back in Sunnyvale, I got a meatball sub at Subway and went to bed early. That may not sound exciting to some people, but for me, it was a pretty awesome evening.

I’ve only used it once, but I am already a fan of Uber. In fact, I liked it before I tried it. The way it works is first you register for an account and install the Uber app on your phone. When you want to go somewhere, simply open up the app, which finds your location via GPS, and request a driver. A comfortable town car will then be dispatched to your location, and you can watch the driver’s progress in real-time on the app, and even call them if necessary. Once in the car, you let the driver know where you want to go, and they take you there. When you arrive at your destination, simply get out of the car. No cash or tipping; the fare is automatically charged to your credit card. You can then use the app to rate your driver. (And they can rate you.)

If you’ve ever heard me talk about the unpredictable experience of riding an American taxi before, you will see why I like Uber. The first time I tried it was on a trip to the airport. I pulled out my phone, and set my location. This part of the UI needs a little work; it kept choosing an address on the other side of the street, and if I moved the marker too far, trying to force it to be on my side of the street, it would snap to a side street. I then requested a ride, and was told that Ronaldo, the driver, would arrive in six minutes. I was able to track the driver via GPS, and six minutes later, he arrived on the wrong side of the street. He didn’t see me, but that was no problem as I just tapped on the “call driver” button and let him know to do a quick U-turn. After that, it was a quick and friendly trip to the airport, and my receipt was emailed to me. A cool line item on the receipt was “Rounding Down” as they round down the fare to the nearest dollar. I saved 96 cents.

When I returned from my trip, I got in the regular taxi line at the airport. I was treated to a ride with a driver who was on the phone the entire time, communicating with me via hand motions to ask where to go, and a handwritten sign on the meter that simply said “CASH.” What a contrast.

Of course if you look at their site, you’ll see that the main reason you would go with a more traditional form of transportation over Uber is the raw price. But remember, the lowest price doesn’t always mean the best value, depending on what you value. Since I need a ride infrequently, using Uber isn’t going to make me go broke, and the last time I called for a regular cab they never showed up. Uber’s customer service is pretty sweet too. They noticed that I was once unable to find an available car in my area, and proactively contacted me to make sure we were still cool.

I’ll be spending some time in San Francisco this week, and while I don’t expect to have any transportation needs, if I do, I think I’ll choose Uber. Oh, and in case you came across this post looking for a pre-arranged pickup solution in the San Francisco area, Uber doesn’t offer that (that I know of), but PlanetTran is good.

On Saturday, I visited the newly-opened Tesla Store on Santana Row, where I got to take a test ride in the Roadster Sport.

Here’s what the storefront looks like:

It looks pretty similar to an Apple Store, and that comes as no surprise as it was created by George Blankenship, a veteran of the Apple Retail team. In the store when I visited was a single orange Roadster Sport, with the hood open. GigaOM offers a video tour if you want to see more of the inside.

Behind the store, Tesla has taken over a small section of the Santana Row parking garage, with signage and a couple of charging stations.

While Tesla sightings for me are a very common experience, I only sat in one for the first time in 2009, and until Saturday had never been in one that was moving. As we were pulling out of the garage, the brakes squeaked a bit. Once on the road, the driver noted the squeaky brakes and warned me that he was going to jam on the brakes to clean them off. This was fun, because without a lot of road to work with, he had to accelerate pretty quickly to get up to a jam-on-the-brakes kind of speed. I love the feel of acceleration, of actually being pushed back into the seat, and (perhaps fortunately), this is not a thrill that my current car can offer. Despite the driver’s best efforts, the squeaking didn’t go away, and he explained that a better way to clean them is to brake while in reverse. We didn’t have a chance to try that out. One part of the driving that I noticed was that even in performance mode, the vehicle tries to recapture energy as soon as you let off the accelerator, allowing you to slow down without even using the brakes. While I had noted during my test drive of the Nissan Leaf that the lack of this effect was a positive, as it made it feel more like a “normal” car, I now think that it’s something I could easily get used to, and even appreciate, as using traditional brakes is a total waste of energy. The driver noted that you can train yourself to figure out when to let off of the accelerator when approaching a stop, and end up stopping in just the right place without having to rely on the brakes.

I don’t know which car it will be, but I really hope my next car is electric. I’m addicted.

Julian: hey
are you guys still coming on sunday?
i think it’s going to be raining

me: if we’re still invited
oh
were we doing outdoor activities?

Julian: yeah for sure
i know some people dont like to drive in the rain

(See also)

One week this summer, Mike was visiting California while I was visiting Pennsylvania, so I let him stay in my apartment. Mike can’t just leave things as they were like a normal person, so here’s what I found on my table when I returned:

Yes, he created his own invoice. Click on it for a larger view.

But that’s not all.

I had mints on my pillows, like you’d find in a hotel.

And then surprisingly, a mint on my towels.

I’m still finding mints.

I need to take a second look at that plant watering credit.

Last week, we had a small apple festival at work, complete with a barbecue lunch:

and apple pies:

… and caramel apples. I didn’t plan on eating a carmel apple when I first saw them, because I don’t like food that is difficult to eat, especially if I risk getting sticky. On my way out, however, I turned around and decided that it’s been a long time since I’ve had a carmel apple, and I should take advantage of this rare opportunity. So, I grabbed an apple, got it coated in carmel, and then filled my cup with some nuts and chocolate chips and raisins and stuff. It was going to be delicious.

I sat myself down on a bench in the shade, and went for my first bite. My teeth slipped (hey, it’s an apple on a stick!), and all I got was some caramel. Didn’t even break the skin. So, I tried again, this time holding the stick firmly and pushing the apple into my mouth. *Snap!* — the stick broke, the apple hit my chin and then landed on my phone (sitting on the bench), which then fell onto the ground, where phone, apple, and phone’s battery cover then lay in a triangle of defeat. Fortunately, I don’t think anyone saw me, but it must have been pretty sad sight, like the time on Reading Rainbow when LeVar Burton got an ice cream cone and it fell on his shoe. Here’s what my apple looked like afterward:

I would have shown you my phone’s screen covered in caramel, but as Beah has noted, it cannot take a picture of itself.

Movie night

Earlier this month, we had an outdoor movie night at Google. The movie was Back to the Future, which is one of my favorite movies. Having a movie night is fun. Having a movie night showing Back to the Future is geeky fun. Having a movie night showing Back to the Future with a DeLorean standing by is Googley fun.

Thanks to Jason for taking my picture.

I ended up leaving early due to the cold (it turns out I was actually sick), but I still had a good time and might give my Back to the Future DVDs a long-overdue screening when I go back home in September.

Helmets

Shortly after the movie night, we learned that we were all getting new helmets. Google had given away helmets before, but the company has grown a lot since the first giveaway, so they decided it was time for a refresh. It’s a very practical gift, and I really appreciate it! Now I keep one helmet at home for my weekend rides, and my Google-provided one at work for when I bike across campus. Here’s a picture of Reid wearing his new helmet in front of the colorful bikes we use for inter-building transportation.

I promise that there are times when we get actual work done.

I was recently telling Ted that I had spent the past few days hanging out with a friend from college who was in town for a conference. His response: ”Friend from college?”

I really need to work on how people perceive my social skills.

But anyway, it is true that over the past few days I’ve done a couple of unusual things.

On a boat
On Wednesday night, I went to a party, in San Francisco, where there were plenty of people I don’t know. And you know what? It was pretty fun. Thanks to a social connection, I found myself invited to the First Round Capital summer party. Brendan was in town for the Velocity conference, so I invited him to come along and check out the party. FRC had rented out La Mar, a Peruvian restaurant overlooking the bay. Considering I was already well outside of my usual comfort zone, I disregarded my usual caution regarding unknown food and tried many new things. Unfortunately, none of it was labeled or visually recognizable, so I’m not sure what I ate. Some things were just colored blobs on spoons. I think I remember trying yellow and purple. As usual, anything that was fried tasted the best.

Both being employed at companies that are no longer seeking funding, and not in a position to give any away, Brendan and I just enjoyed the free food and drink, but were happy to talk to anyone who engaged us in conversation. We talked to representatives of a wide variety of startups, including Invite Media, a First Round funded company recently acquired by Google. And in the “small world” category, Brendan saw a former ESPN intern and I was spotted by someone who went to my high school.

Not everyone was there just for fun. One conversation ended pretty quickly after I confided, “I’m not asking for money or giving any away.” Even though I wasn’t really there to talk to investors, Brendan and I had fun joking that we were there to secure another round of funding for OnlineHaircuts.com, coming up with conversation-starters like “It looks like you need a haircut.” If I get invited to more events like this, I’ll totally have to print up some OnlineHaircuts.com business cards. I’m seriously working on the site, though. Let me see what I can come up with over the July 4th weekend.

When we arrived, the restaurant was already crowded, and our first mission was to make our way to the deck to enjoy the view. When we arrived, Brendan spotted a sign for a free boat ride for three. T-Pain was busy networking, so just Brendan and I got on board. We were greeted with glasses of champagne, and were actually outnumbered as passengers by the crew of three. As we pulled back in to the dock sitting on the bow of the boat, the attendees standing on the deck turned and watched as we approached. I assume that they were thinking, “Who’s arriving via yacht?”

While we were the only ones out on that first ride, about 30 minutes later we saw the boat departing again, this time full of passengers. We’re total trend-setters. Later in the evening, I wanted to sit down outside. Brendan pointed out that everyone else was standing. I bet him that if we sat, everyone else would. Within just a few minutes, I was proven to be correct.

I had a great time, so thanks to First Round Capital for the party. For you skeptics out there, there is photographic evidence of my attendance.

In a bar, with sports
On Saturday, Brendan and I went to the Tied House in Mountain View and watched the USA vs. Ghana World Cup game. I watched the whole thing, and didn’t even pull out my phone except for during the breaks. What’s next? Football?

I hope I just blew all of your minds.