Cool Workplaces

Once again, not a whole lot to talk about today, but I've come up with something anyway. I went to the Apple company night tonight, and it was actually pretty good. I've heard mixed things about working at Apple, but I still have a strong interest in it because I like their products. Quite a few people actually asked questions about the work environment, likely trying to get a response like you would from Google about how open their environment is, but all we managed to get from these guys is that it's hectic and relaxing at the same time, and you see Steve Jobs around. Whoopee. If you want to see some really cool places to work at, you should check out this list. The Red Bull office looks really nice and modern while VW Phaeton plant is just big and clean. Of course, several of these offices exist in the UK, so be wary of writer's bias in this article (i.e. don't take it as a top 10 list, just a list of cool places). It's amazing how important a workplace is. As far as recruitment goes, you want to be able to show off to prospective hires. Like I wasn't particularly impressed with the TI campus, and that definitely weighed on my decision to go there and weighs on my decision to go back there again. When it comes down to it, everyone wants to be able to get up at 6:30 AM and be excited for work, but that typically doesn't happen. The homier your office is though, the less you're likely to mind going there. I'm vastly more productive in classes with more spacious classrooms because I feel like doing more because I have more space to do it in, and I think it's disappointing that not enough companies devote resources into a positive environment. The fact that articles like this exist and get on Digg should be evidence enough that people actually do care, which means that they'd probably be more enthused to get work done.

Google has released its code search engine, and it's really quite nifty. However, I think that we'll see more CS students using it to cheat, which is going to be sad to witness. I hope that teachers code crawler scripts to check student submissions again Google. In fact, I'd be interested in using Python to make something like that myself just for the hell of it. Then there's the illegal code you'll find out there, like this keygen for Winzip. I just like seeing the code for it because I was always curious about the keygen algorithms. If you've ever wondered why neat gadgets from overseas don't make it to the US, then you may find this article enlightening. Aside from the market here being totally different, there's the question of whether revenues will work well and if it even does well in its home market. I'll often look for quotes for random purposes, and now I found a list of great ones for computer geeks like me related to programming. I figured that some of you would enjoy skimming those. Lastly, the rentometer site is down right now but is really neat for comparing your rent to places in your area. It told me that my place is a great deal, which I figured as much anyway.

We have a trailer for 300 and it's really quite amazing. It's not a whole lot more than the teaser, but the presentation of it is just so amazing that it's almost cruel to make us wait until March for it. Horror junkies should head to Cinempire for some new pictures from Saw 3. It looks like it'll be a decent movie, but the pictures don't say much. Lastly, we have some clips from Clint Eastwood's Flags of our Fathers, which you'll remember is about the men depicted in the Iwo Jima statue in Washington, DC. I think that this movie will be one of those great historical dramas, and I hope that Eastwood has another classic movie still in him.

Now for the 3x Thursday:

1. How do you listen to music?...Do you listen to entire albums or just put a playlist (or your ipod or whatever) on shuffle, or something else?
Most often: on my computer in iTunes. Sometimes I'll pop in albums, and sometimes I'll just pick random points in my library and start playing tracks, or I'll browse all the free music I got through the Apple facebook group. I also spend a fair amount of time listening in Ruckus though to that music.

2. On what medium do you listen to most of your music (radio, cd player, car, home, puter)? Which do you prefer the most?
Computer, which I like best because of my speaker. I also enjoy them on my Shuffle when I'm at the gym, except that I can't put much slow music on it.

3. What's your music media of choice (radio, cd's, mp3s, oog, mp4, etc)? Does it matter to you? Why?
CDs, because I like having a physical copy I can always go back and rip/burn from. That's why I just buy my CDs at Best Buy, not in iTunes.

Bonus Question: Are you in to any albums right now? If so, what?
I'm really into the new Jet album (Shine On), and was recently addicted to Revelations (Audioslave) and Stadium Arcadium (Red Hot Chili Peppers).