Mac Event 14th October 2008

According to this website: http://macenstein.com/default/archives/1721

The Mac event invitation might actually be the picture of the glass trackpad :) Go to that website for more details

Day 4

Hi guys, sorry about this late update about day 4.

Today was the day that we went to Barclays Global Investors. Given the fact that this company manages 2 trillion dollars in assets management, it is no wonder that they have to use infocomm technology to their advantage over other asset management companies.

So firstly, we started off the day with a short introduction to the company. All the coporate stuff, like how much it is worth, what they do, how the work is split up into the different sections in the company. Mostly not really interesting stuff, until we got to the part where we role-played as traders in a mock trading game.

In this mock trading game, we had to manage the trading of 2 stocks, namely Barclays and Apple Inc.. Through buying and selling, we attempted to make a profit from the stocks, with prices fluctuating during the entire game. But the most important part of the game was not the profits, but whether we managed to record accurately the amount of stocks traded, together with the profits or losses.

Apparently, that was what decided the winner of the game and it was also supposedly really difficult to get the exact amount stated by the traders and the back office (the person keeping the books on all the trades). However, my team (Mr. Soon, Mrs. Chor, Me, Jiahui, Shuwen, Zewei) managed to get the exact amount of about $500,000++. This showed us how trading in the past (without technology) is completely different from today. With a click of a mouse today, we can sell millions of shares without having to keep tabs on it. The software will do it for us.

We won, winning ourselves a lovely BGI bag with lots of souvenirs from San Francisco each. The other groups also got the bag, without the souvenirs :)

With 2 trillion in assets, BGI played a good host, hosting us lunch and inviting one of their managers to speak to us during the lunch break.

After lunch, we had about 2/3 hours to burn cause the people from Stanford were hosting us at only 4pm. To do so, we made a trip to the NASA visitor centre :) It was really interesting and educational, letting us have a peek into the lives of astronauts in space, and also allowing us to see the current development of space technology.

Onward to Stanford University!!! Quite a short tour by two Singaporean students, however, since Mr. Soon knew the place rather well (he studied there!!!), we got a short tour from him too. We saw the library, the fountains (fountain hopping whee!!!), the church, the open field (forgot the actual name) and of course, the bookstore which apparently sells more of other stuff than books. It's a huge bookstore, but only half of the bottom floor sells books. The second floor sells stuff like shirts, sweatshirts, electronics (including Apple stuff), has a cafe, but NO BOOKS! Really expensive, unless you have a student's discount...

Oh and that day we went there was their graduation night, so there were shirts for the CLASS OF 2008!!! All the sec 4s bought one each, going to wear it on Mufti day! (correct class, wrong school XD)

After dinner, back to hotel. Sleep!!!

And backlog of other days will be fulfilled in the days to come. Right now, I am unable to sleep due to jet lag, therefore posting at 5.47am on the 19th of June.

Day 3

Once again, we woke up before the alarm that we had set. Slept late (1 am), and woke up earlier (5.45 am) than Day 2. However, we spent 20 min slacking until 6+ before we started getting ready for the day. Breakfast was exactly same as the day as before :)

We were supposed to set out for Autodesk at 8.30 am, however, some people decided to come really early and we set out at 9 am instead.

Due to the non-disclosure agreement we signed at Autodesk, this post will have almost nothing about what we have seen at there, but all I can say is that it is really exciting new technology that will revolutionize the way we use our computers and hand-held devices.

And for once, we were bought lunch at Autodesk! Although to me, I thought that the food tasted somewhat weird, I don't really mind. The people there really know how to be a good host!

After that, we made our way back up to the Computer History Museum:

Old, old computers there... With even some that I have not even heard of. I saw the first ever Apple desktop computer, the first IBM computer, the first super computers. Lots and lots of interesting stuff :)

I'm kind of sleepy today, because of the late sleeping and waking up early, therefore this post will be slightly shorter than the previous one.

Signing off!

Day 2

Today started off with a spontaneous waking up of all the people in my room at 6 am exactly. No idea why, but we all started waking up past 5.59 am although we set an alarm for 7 am.

In true Infocomm Club member/EXCO style, we all started using our laptops, attempting to use the internet through the free wireless that we have in all our rooms. But to our dismay and utter horror, we connected to the router but no connection to the internet! We had to wait till after breakfast, which took place at 7 am to 8 am, before getting back on the internet.

Breakfast today was toast, waffles, cereal and egg. Beverages included orange juice, milk, coffee and tea. No idea if we will get anything different tomorrow... Even not, I don't really mind eating the stuff listed above.

So we left the Comfort Inn at 9.30 am, leaving for HP Labs. Cameras were not allowed inside, so this is the only picture that I can post up on this blog:
What I can say is that HP Labs was quite a let down for myself personally. I thought we would be able to experience or at least see some of the new technologies that come out of the Labs. However, we were merely introduced to all the older stuff that have come out of the Labs, did not even get to see the memristor...

Having lunch in their canteen, I must say that I have consumed one of the most oily lunches in my life. It was a grilled double cheese, double bacon burger, with oil lining the plate. Tasted not too bad, but I really cannot say that it agrees with my stomach cause I have not been eating oily food for a long long time.

After lunch, we made a trip down to the Intel Museum. Really beautiful Intel sign just outside the museum. We spent about 20 min taking pictures around there:

Sign outside the museum

Sign on the glass door of the museum

Sign inside the museum

Inside the museum, we got to see the history of the company Intel, with us learning the processes behind the making of your Intel chips that power your computer. Also, we saw how the chips have changed over the years.

I bought an Intel stress ball!!!


After that, we went to the Great Mall for dinner. Yes, the Great Mall, not the Great Wall. Super large mall, that me and the rest of the Infocomm EXCO walked around 3 times over. Reason for this? We missed the stores we wanted to go to: missed RadioShack by walking past it because Zewei wanted to get scammed by a Tetris style game, missed Claire's cause we did not see it when walking past it by looking at only the centre aisle.

Uneventful time after that, including the fact that we had to wait 15 min for Zewei to buy stuff from a certain store.

MacDonald's for dinner, so nothing much to talk about that.

Back to the hotel room at about 7.30 pm.

Day 1

My first blog post from the Silicon Valley, United States of America!

Day 1 was a slack one :) Traveling for a grand total of 1 hour (from 7.15 am to 8.30 am, the 9th of June), arriving in Silicon Valley on the same day that we left Singapore although the actual traveling time was about 12 to 13 hours :)

First day visit was to the Tech Museum. Lots of cool exhibits in that museum, interactive exhibits (you can make your own roller coaster ride then ride it, choose a team and then start sleighing with it). Quite suitable for young children in the primary levels, but still was a 2x Singapore Science Centre experience.

After that visit, we took a trip down to GGB, the Golden Gate Bridge, icon of San Francisco. You know the bridge that everyone has a picture of in their mind when they think of San Francisco. Here, a reminder:

I took this myself :) Have more in my drive, but it takes way too long to upload...

Dinner at 5.30pm, then back to hotel room. Passed by the WWDC 2008 centre, saw that everyone was leaving cause it was ending. Due to the fact that it is still summer here, the sun only started setting at about 9pm US time...

Free wireless internet in the room!!! I will update daily on whatever is happening in the Silicon Valley.

Countdown Silicon Valley

9 hours to go!

As such, this will be the last post from Singapore for the next 10 days. I will be posting from Silicon Valley from the 9th to the 18th of June :)

Countdown Silicon Valley

2 days to go!

Countdown Silicon Valley

3 days to go!

Itinerary update

Edit: We might not be going to UC Berkeley when visiting Silicon Valley for some reason.

2nd Edit: We are still going to Universal Studios although there was a fire that gutted many sets of movies, including the set of King Kong... Lolz

Countdown Silicon Valley

6 days to go!

The Computer History Museum

The Computer History Museum is a museum established in 1996 in Mountain View, California, when The Computer Museum (TCM, in Boston) sent the majority of its historical collection to Moffett Field, California, so that TCM could concentrate on computing-related exhibits for children. Thus, it was originally the West Coast division of The Computer Museum, named The Computer Museum History Center until it shortened its name in 2001, dedicated to preserving and presenting the stories and artifacts of the information age, and exploring the computing revolution and its impact on our lives.

When The Computer Museum closed in 1999, its exhibit collection was absorbed into the Museum of Science collection in Boston. In February 2000 the remaining historical artifacts were sent to The Computer Museum History Center at Moffett Field.

Originally located at Moffett Field in an old building that was previously the Naval Base furniture store, the museum acquired its current building (previously occupied by Silicon Graphics), at 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. in Mountain View, California, USA (Silicon Valley) in October 2002. It opened there to the public in June 2003.

The Museum currently has three unique exhibits highlighting important milestones from the history of computing, visible storage, the history of software/computer chess, and inventions from Silicon Valley companies and people. A Difference Engine No. 2, designed by Charles Babbage in the 1840s and constructed by the Science Museum (London) in London will be exhibited from 10 May 2008 through April 2009.

The museum's 15,000 square foot exhibit "Timeline of Computing History", covering 2,000 years of computing history will open in late 2009.

Tour hours are currently (2008) offered four afternoons per week on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is free, donations are appreciated.

The Computer History Museum is home to the largest and most significant collection of computing artifacts in the world. This includes many rare or one-of-a-kind objects such as a Cray-1 supercomputer as well as a Cray-2, Cray-3 and on request, Cray-4 parts, the Utah teapot, the 1969 Neiman Marcus Kitchen Computer, Hewitt Crane's all-magnetic computer, an Apple I, and an example of the first generation of Google's racks of custom-designed web servers[3]. The collection comprises nearly 50,000 objects, photographs and films, as well as 4,000 linear feet of cataloged documentation and several hundred gigabytes of software.

One can join the group of volunteers, which includes Docents and Greeters, to help run the various activities at CHM: regular and highlight tours of the "Visible Storage", lecture series, CHM Fellow Awards, restoration of selected computers, and special events.

Gwen Bell informally started the collection of artifacts brought by Gordon Bell (then working at Digital Equipment Corporation and working on the "Computer Structures" book with Alan Newell, CMU) with an internal DEC museum, the TCM and served as the founding President of TCM.

Countdown Silicon Valley

7 days to go!

Countdown Silicon Valley

8 days to go!

Countdown Silicon Valley

9 days to go!

A long day ahead

Indeed, a long day for my parents on the 9th of June.

That's the day when I leave for Silicon Valley, with the condition that I reach Changi Airport by 5 am in the morning. The flight is at 7+ am, so that's just about right.

And that's also the day when my sister comes back from her choir trip to Poland and Vienna. She will be arriving at 1500+hrs, which means my parents have to go back to the airport at that time to fetch her.

Isn't that just fun?

I think NOT

Countdown Silicon Valley

13 days to go!

Countdown Silicon Valley

14 days to go!

Silicon Valley Trip 2008

Details for the Infocomm trip have finally been settled :)

Leaving Singapore on the 9th of June, the places I will be visiting are:

1. The Tech Museum
2. Computer History Museum
3. HP
4. Intel
5. Apple (Yay! I hope that I can get to buy something at The Company Store! XD)
6. UC Berkeley
7. Stanford University
8. Fox
9. Universal Studios
10. NBC

That's all I can remember for now! Edits coming for the exact locations of the places.

Posts will follow with the information on the places I am visiting.

SO EXCITED!!! *Faints*

Countdown starts today!

15 days to go.