SLO 360

Home for Thanksgiving I hiked the mountain that I grew up most of my life at the foot of, Bishop's Peak, in San Luis Obispo. Here's what it looks like from the 1,546' summit.

Wet Inspiration

This is the coolest fountain I've seen in quite a while. Its in a mall in Japan (where else?) and is very reminiscent of the stuff Wet Design does, although I don't think it's their work.

Rocky Mountain High

Another term down (almost) so the task of deciding how to celebrate was recently at hand. It's winter break and I've got the fever. Not the kind treated with oodles of chicken noodles, the kind soothed only by a generous dose of cold, white champagne. I'm going to Aspen, baby!

Helping Science, One Playstation 3 at a Time

The following article is out of the new BusinessWeek and features one of the 2008 winners of Japan's prestigious Good Design Award. Not only is this just plain awesome, it makes use of a concept I'd personally like to see find application in many more venues throughout society: the involvement and utilization of technology and the vast computing power now found ubiquitously in the modern world. "Parallel computing" as it's called, is akin to more efficiently using our own brains. The power and capacity is already there, ready and waiting to be tapped. By finding appropriate and responsible application of this latent potential, we move toward creating a truly synergistic and sustainable network. In essence, a more complete and holistic use of the our resources, both physical and digital.

"Call it philanthropy for the technorati. In 2001, Stanford University researchers launched Folding@home to analyze the structure of proteins in cancers and diseases such as Alzheimer's and Huntington's. Normally they would need a supercomputer for the number-crunching involved in simulating these proteins in action—proteins fold before they perform their function—but buying one would cost billions of dollars. Instead they decided to tap into the power of many computers connected over the Internet—a concept known as parallel computing.

Sony offered to help. In March 2007, Sony released a software add-on for its network-connected PlayStation 3 console that lets users lend power from their machine's powerful processing chip to the Folding@home project. Sony has sold more than 16 million PS3s so far, but it would only take about 10,000 machines to add 1 quadrillion floating-point calculations per second, or one petaflop. That's as fast as the latest supercomputers, which are used for weapons development, scientific research, auto safety testing, and product design. The more computing power they have, the easier it is for researchers to study complex proteins. The beauty of Sony's idea was that PS3 users contribute without paying a penny—except maybe in the form of an uptick in the electricity bill."

See the full article here: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/11/1121_japan_design/

Several years back UC Berkley and SETI, an organization devoted to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, started a joint project based on parallel computing. The aim was to harness the combined processing capability of thousands of idle home computers to assist in the analysis of huge quantities of data collected from space in the form of radio signals. The hope of course was that the program could expedite the discovery of a coherent signal from extraterrestrial origins. Check out the site at http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/

Even if the XBOX is better looking (and it is), this is cool stuff. I want to see more of it, and I give Sony and Standford big props for it!

Boeing/Teague Presentation

This Wednesday the 5th I'm attending a special IDSA ofNOTE Presentation jointly put on by the leadership of Boeing and Teague Design. The talk will highlight the design and development of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the aeronautical manufacturer's spankin' new flagship plane and the most technologically advanced commercial airliner in the world. The design is of particular interest because it utilizes crazy composite material for the wings, which are designed to naturally flex in flight, while being dramatically lighter. The cumulative effect is a fuel efficiency improvement of nearly 30%. Not to mention the badassness improvement of well over 80%. I'm really looking forward to the event, especially because I have the privilege of meeting and interviewing the presenters for IDSA before the presentation. It's going to be a great evening of learning, networking, and fun! Can't wait!

This is the promotional poster I put together to advertise the event. For some unknown, annoying reason the reds and blues are in negative.

The Next Chapter

For the past several weeks I've worked my ass off creating an application package for a study abroad program. The application involved an essay, resume, transcripts, and a three part portfolio highlighting several of my product design projects. In true Art Center fashion I finished about 20 minutes before the deadline...but that's still before the deadline. The final element was a personal interview which went well and I felt good about the whole experience. Then came the fun part: waiting for the results... And what was the result you may ask? A week later an email appeared in my inbox. Without opening it I read the fist line. "Dear Student, Congratulations! You have been selected..." Not only was I selected, but several of my good friends at Art Center, including my roommate, were also selected to the small group of participating studens.

So what does this translate to in reality? I will be leaving for France sometime during the last few day of the year. The program is 15 weeks long, so I'll be living, studying, and traveling in Europe again for the first four months of 2009 at least. It goes without saying I am extremely excited. Admittedly, there are nicer times of the year to be in Paris, but its going to be amazing regardless and being there during the winter also means one thing: snowboarding in the Alps, bitches! The time line also has me in Paris for New Years Eve and in the French countryside through spring. Could be worse. There's a lot of time between now and the end of April which means a lot of things can happen, however, there are a number of options on the table depending on how well the program goes and what comes of it. One option I've already been introduced to is taking on a European internship following INSEAD. I know I want to do an internship after INSEAD, in fact that was one of the primary alternatives I'd been considering for the spring had I not been selected. I wouldn't be opposed to an internship on either side of the Atlantic, or elsewhere for that matter, but as they say time will tell. Now I just need to get my paperwork in order...
Part of the campus is this 12th century Château. It could be worse.