Even though it seems I caught the flu or something, maybe because of driving with the top down? Guess I need a hat.
Thanks to Calvin for the pic 
Still Grinning
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Author Archives: flickr
New Car
It’s not new-new, but sure is new to me! Personalized license plates have already been ordered. The driving experience is nothing short of awesome.
Today we went around the bay, mostly on known roads, to learn the car. The tire pressure monitoring got me a little confused at first, so we started by checking the pressure with an old fashion gauge and resetting the on-board computer. I opted for the stock 17″ wheels in an attempt to deal with whatever passes for a road in the bay area. Potholes are everywhere!
I didn’t feel confident enough to drive in the city, so we parked in San Bruno and took Caltrain to the Folsom Street Fair in SF. There are leathery pics on flickr if you wanna see what that’s about. I was mostly oblivious, worrying about the car being alone in some sketchy parking lot 
But it was fine. The parking lot was actually less sketchy than the fair. Once reunited with the vehicle, it was time to fill up. Apparently, typical California premium gas is 91 octane, while Texas ( being oil-producing and having a low lexus-per-capita ratio ) may have 93 or higher available. The Porsche manual says over 90 will work thanks to anti-knocking control in the engine and at the expense of a few HP. Also these numbers cannot be directly compared to the octane ratings in Europe. cf nifty chart:
| US – (R+M)/2 | France – RON |
|---|---|
| regular 87 | 92 |
| ca premium 91 | sans plomp 95 |
| tx premium 93 | super 98 |
Only option to get the recommended 93 octane gasoline in my car seems to be mixing the so-called “premium” with 100 octane racing fuel. Blah… I’m not out to save the planet, but I’m not out to win street races either. Already with the plain sans-plomb, I can’t wait to be on the road tomorrow morning on my way to work 
Open Hack 2008
On Saturday, I volunteered at OpenHackDay, showing guest hackers to the stage in front of the panel of judges. As a result I didn’t actually get to see much of the hacks… but it was a great event and it made me look for an opportunity to work on a little somethin’ somethin’ of my own.
Photo by Jinho Jung
Sarkoland
Me voilà rentré d’Europe, après 10 jours de réjuvenation à l’occasion de mon anniversaire. Un post détaillant les événements précis de la fête de la musique – et ses conséquences capillaire – sera publié dès que j’en obtiens des photos.
En attendant, quelques statistiques:
- 18744 km d’avion, 1242 km en train
- quelques neurones, un peu d’audition et beaucoup de cheveux perdus
- 8 réseaux WiFi pieusement exploités via iPhone
- une demi-douzaine de baguette fraîches consommées
- 5 paquets de cigarettes à 5€ pièce en moyenne
- 4 fromages, 5 vins, 1 champagne
- 3 pains au chocolat
- 2 mouvements sociaux
- 1 acte notarié
- trop de voitures allemandes observées
- plein de sirènes, de militaires, et de policiers
- et l’interdiction de fumer dans le lieux publics, étrangement respectée
Et le résultat, un nycthémère déglingué 
Emerging Communications
Yesterday I got to spend some time at a conference which took place at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. I just had to take a picture of this Minitel, which was exposed among a wide array of geeky memorabilia.
I especially liked the Kitchen Computer.
The event, eComm2008, goes on until tomorrow and is the result of Lee Dryburgh’s hard work and perseverance. A few month ago, O’Reilly decided to cancel the Emerging Telephony conference. The community that had crystalized around eTel – an oddball mix, I’ll get back to that eventually – was left without an event to congregate. Lee managed, in record time, to organise this alternative event. I was only there for the first day, and then I had to leave early so I missed the social event in the evening. No matter, the event was/is a success and Lee should be commended for pulling off such a feat in record time. Bravo!
Of particular interest to me was a speaker who likened Voice to Paprika. He claims, and I agree, that Voice – phone service – should be considered as a commodity. Telcos need to adapt to this new reality: stop the branding insanity, concentrate on delivering the fat pipe and let consumers develop the applications they need.
Later I got to catch up with Surj Patel who introduced me to a fun – and humbling – chat with Bob Frankston. We were talking about the concept of telcos as utilities – like the highway system. I pointed out that, just like internet access, roads were of relative poor quality here in Silicon Valley… so we agreed that telcos are to be akin to the sewer system.
Good times. I need to go to more events like this!