I was browsing some of the old Google Friends newsletters when I came across an older list of reasons to work for Google. Here are the first two items:
- Hot technology
- Cool technology
Cute.
Month: May 2009
COPS
Bad: Getting arrested.
Worse: Getting arrested on an episode of COPS.
Even worse: Having your clip chosen for the theme song sequence shown before every episode.
Maker Faire
I attended my first Maker Faire today. If you want to see some of the fun stuff I experienced, check out my photos and videos.
Some of my favorites:
Ever see two large Tesla coils in action? It’s pretty fun, and they’re my second favorite thing named after Nikola Tesla:
Monkey Lectric was letting people draw on bike wheels using LEDs. I drew this:
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| From Maker Faire 2009 |
After my design was scanned, it appeared on a spinning bike wheel:
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| From Maker Faire 2009 |
EepyBird was there too. They’re famous as the “Diet Coke and Mentos Guys.” They explained why they use that specific combination, since putting just about anything bumpy (like your finger) in a carbonated liquid will cause some amount of bubbles to appear in a process called nucleation. You can read more about it, but the basic takeaways are that mint-flavored Mentos are blasted with over 40 layers of sugar, and therefore especially bumpy. Diet soda is used for the performers’ sake, because it is sugarless and therefore healthier not sticky. Here’s a shot of them in action:
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| From Maker Faire 2009 |
And one of their more recent experiments, which has been seen by the inventor of Post-it notes:
I didn’t buy any crafts to bring home, but there was one that I wanted to:
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| From Maker Faire 2009 |
I’ll have to bring more cash next time.
Special thanks to Tiffany and Mohit for giving me a ride back to my (non-electric) car.
Remotes
The next time I have some extra cash, instead of upgrading to a larger TV, I think I’ll just put all the money towards extra remote controls. I can then scatter them throughout my apartment, so I’ll never again have to experience that moment where after getting settled on the couch, I realize that the remote is sitting on the kitchen table.
Up
I went to a midnight screening of Up tonight in 3D. Don’t worry, I won’t post any (major) spoilers; I should probably be getting to bed anyway. A few quick thoughts:
- It’s a good movie, and this was expected. Pixar doesn’t make bad films. It has a good story and Pixar-level humor.
- Yes, there’s a new short before the feature, and it got a lot of laughs.
- I honestly could have done without the 3D. Some fast-motion segments just seemed blurry, and the perspective often felt a bit off. Fortunately there weren’t many gratuitous 3D show-off shots, so it will look fine on any screen. I look forward to seeing it again in full 2D clarity.
- Yep, John Ratzenberger has a part. A quote from Cars: “They’re just using the same actor for every movie! What kind of cut-rate production is this?”
- I need to find a snooty theater around here so I don’t have to listen to stupid comments about how every preview is lame.
- Garrett Popcorn is good. (Thanks, Ai!) And it looks like their webmaster heard that bold text is the secret key to number one rankings for any key phrase.
- Favorite quote from Ai: “Did you tweet?”
Zing!
I was totally burned by Matt today in a meeting.
We started the day with an 8 AM meeting together (video conference with Europe), and I thought I was going to get through the day with the upper hand when Matt went to the wrong room (he blamed the early time), using state-of-the-art technology to connect two Mountain View rooms that were only separated by the floor/ceiling as his room was directly below mine. Man, he must have felt pretty silly for those 30 seconds before he came upstairs.
As the meeting went on, my phone started beeping loudly on I believe three different occasions, even prompting Matthew to send me snarky trans-Atlantic comments about the disturbances via IM. Each time it started beeping I scrambled to turn it off, but wasn’t able to silence it quickly since I’m still not an Android ninja (I haven’t switched back to my iPhone). So there I was, spending most of the hour looking like a bumbling technologically illiterate fool who doesn’t know how to put his phone on vibrate at work.
What had happened was that since I use my phone as my alarm clock, and I’m usually not at work (and often not out of bed) during the hour of the meeting, my alarms were going off, which logically isn’t subject to the restrictions of “silent mode.” And it wasn’t just a single disturbance because I’m so not a morning person that I have five alarms set on my phone: 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, 8:30, and 9:00. I think we heard the 8:30 and 9:00 alarms, and I may have accidentally snoozed one making it go off twice. Why starting at 5 AM? Because as much as I’m not a morning person, I want to get into work early. It hardly ever happens.
Anyway, in a later meeting, Matt was the last to arrive. I thought it would be hilarious to bring back an old team tradition where the last arrival had to tell a joke. Just as I called him out, someone else’s phone rang. Without missing a beat, Matt asked, “Wysz, is that your phone?” The rest of the group looked at him, confused. He simply said, “That’s my joke,” and sat down.
Install a site search in under 2 minutes
Today at Google I/O, Google announced Google Web Elements, which lets you easily (we’re talking copy-and-paste easy) incorporate Google services into your website.
To show you how easy it is, I recorded a live installation of a Custom Search element on my homepage. The video, which is recorded in realtime, doesn’t even reach the two minute mark:
I would remind you of my disclaimer, but it’s prominently displayed in the video. 🙂
Like being in a movie
I’m not sure if it was the Memorial Day Parade, but this report (which I came across on my Twitter saved search for [Doylestown]), triggered one of my favorite memories. My family was driving through the town one day, and we had some trouble getting to our destination because a bunch of the streets were blocked off for an unknown event. Finally, we were able to turn onto an unblocked street in the right direction, but when we reached the next intersection, just as we stopped at the stop sign, a full-blown marching band came marching by right in front of us, and we had to sit and wait for it to pass. Obviously they had neglected to close all of the applicable intersections (or perhaps the band had made a wrong turn). I thought it was hilarious, because it felt like a scene from a movie. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a scene in some movie where a car chase or other event is interrupted by an unexpected marching band.
Like living on another planet
Where I live now does not have lightning, which I guess is nice since it’s safer, but I miss thunder. And you know what else I just learned we don’t have here? Lightning bugs. How am I supposed to see at night?
Apple TV is a real MacBook Wheel
I’m usually in love with Apple’s UI decisions, but I dusted off my Apple TV tonight to download a few movies, and it was an incredibly frustrating experience.
First of all, I didn’t have my iPhone with me, so I had to do without the Remote app while searching and type with this:
That part wasn’t too bad, since it only takes a few letters before the right movie pops up. But here’s where I could not justify the 6-button remote:
And after all of my effort, here’s what I got:
When that happened several times, I tried hooking up a USB keyboard to the USB port in the back of the device. A port which does absolutely nothing.
Finally, I reset my password (which worked after the second attempt), and then was able to complete my purchases after resetting my Apple TV.
The experience felt like using a real-life MacBook Wheel: