This seems to be a good time to hit people up for lunches.
Last week I was at Google to eat with my friend Guy, first employee of Google Israel, who was here for meetings. My first time eating at the ‘Plex and its famed free yet excellent food. Call me a fanboy but I was pumped and totally enjoyed it. Everyone knows about the free cafeterias and snack stations every 20 meters (which are more like free for the taking, healthy-ish Quick-E-Marts) but what about the piles of bicycles, motorized scooters and even Segways?
Last Thursday I had coffee with Ken Krugler and Bob Cagle, CTO and VP Engineering of Krugle, respectively. Let’s just say that little search for OPML I did is paying off nicely. They pushed an update of the service’s homepage today that adds some short but clearly worded explanatory text on each of the three aspects of their search (code, projects and documentation) plus rotating, one or two line user testimonials. The home page content of a search engine is a difficult balancing act–Google has shown that the simplest possible UI is the best but services like Krugle and RawSugar need to make our differences from core search immediately obvious to the new user or lose that person, probably forever.
Tuesday I met up with some fellow TextDrivers and we ate at Windy’s in Palo Alto. Mark Wubben, here for the summer to intern at JotSpot, Jason Speck and Joseph [didn’t catch his last nameor URL], a JotSpot UX designer visiting from Manhattan where he works remotely. The occasion was Mark’s imminent return to the Netherlands for the new school year.
Yesterday the Big Guy came by my office, we went across the street to Abundant Air and then to Fry’s so I could get that very necessary 2GB RAM upgrade for this here computer. I installed it last night and the difference is huge, though I encountered a design flaw for the first time in either the MacBook or iPod in the process. Installing memory is simple: remove the battery, unscrew a holding tab, pop out the old card and push in the new, replace the tab and battery.
The flaw is the screws used to hold the tab in place, they have the smallest Phillips scoring I recall seeing. So small I had to buy a new screwdriver to do the job. By the way, Apple charges $500 for the memory upgrade but Fry’s has perfectly good third party cards for $84.99 to $119.99 per gigabyte, though they bring their own screwdrivers and make the swap for you..
Today, amusingly enough, I was at Apple to have lunch with Bill Humphries–who still owes me an explanation for why APP is a useful add-on to WordPress–and Tanya Okmyansky, who is a friend from JHTC. I was hoping to get some insider tips on using Miami Steve, my new MacBook, but the hour+ flew past (enjoyably) talking about vacations, what its like working at various companies in the Valley and foreign travel.
If you work in the South Bay and want to schedule a stop on the lunch tour, drop me a line!
BillSaysThis 