San Francisco day 4: Tuesday
Last updated: Sept. 7, 2011, 4:15 a.m.
The conference has taken most of the day today, I won't bore you with details. I did however come to the conclusion that the provision of internet access at this hotel is somewhat lacking to say the least. There is Wi-Fi and even a network cable in the rooms, but the hotel expects a further $13 a day on top of your room fee for access! I pay that much a fortnight for mobile broadband in the UK! There is a private network for the conference which is free to access, if you can get more than one or two packets through though, you're doing well so secure web logons are a joke as too many packets get dropped to even load a page. The most ironic thing was that I got over an hour of free Wi-Fi at lunch sitting in a Starbucks because I'd spent a few dollars on a coffee and sandwich there. This seems ridiculous when the hotel is costing literally hundreds of times as much.
This evening I found something cool and un-touristy to do. I'm currently sat in Noisebridge, San Francisco's world famous hack-space. The facilities here are amazing with loads of different activities supported. Facilities for everything from sewing and cooking to soldering and a dark room, expensive tools like laser cutters and maker bots and simpler stuff like shelves to keep projects on. Ironically I'm one of 5 UK and Ireland hackspace members visiting here tonight, I spent several minutes talking to a guy from the London hack space who happens to be visiting San Francisco.
This evening is the weekly meeting so discussion of the mundane running costs and subscriptions are going on. Plenty of people are willing to chat and there are a few people carrying on with projects as normal. If you're interested in hack spaces and maker culture visiting Noisebridge is a great thing to do while in San Francisco.
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