kurt

Intern Talk Tomorrow

Finished slides and videos for my intern talk, a summer tradition here at the labs, ran through them twice in the room, checked projection, and refined my speaker's notes. Found out that Patrick Scaglia, who oversees 1/3rd of HP labs worldwide, will be attending. I've met him and I feel very comfortable having him in the audience, not an intimidating or threatening man.

Seems like Jim (Rowson, my boss) will allow me to give the same presentation down in LA, no NDAs required, so I can show everyone what I've been up to for the last 3 months. Keeping IP protected is serious business around here, especially before patents have been discussed, but the researchers and managers have always seemed very keen on sharing. Reminds me of the way that Stephen Levy wrote about the proto-geeks in Hackers, they didn't care where you were from, the only allegiance was to the process of discovery. I know that I am still inexperienced in this industry, but visiting MSR and working here have given me an invaluable look into this environment. Projects look out over a vast range of future technologies, some further out than others, but always with questions like: what is the business model? and more recently: what is the consumer experience? The lab itself is old, but the ideas and the people are montage of establishment to radical, trusted to trendy and content to hype.

The best thing I can say right now is that the experience has changed me. The worst thing I can say right now is that the experience has changed me. Whatever I do when I get back to LA, it will be something about which I am passionate and it will be something that I believe will be fun. Most of my friends here are committed to enjoying their lives and their work. If you visit, don't be overwhelmed by the gray cubes and the fluorescent lights, there are some great minds and personalities within, brilliant yet not vain, and culturally literate beyond your expectations.