At the San Francisco airport it took us about an hour and a half to secure a rental car. We finally made our way down to Mountain View – first stop the Computer History Museum. After catching a late lunch at the snack bar we checked out the exhibits. The Gates Foundation has been a major contributor to their efforts so all the exhibits were extremely well done.
Entrance to Computer History Museum in Mountain View
They pretty much start with the abacus and walk you through the iPhone and every product of any significance in between. We saw many interesting artifacts including an original Apple 1 made in the garage of Steve Jobs parents in Los Altos. We also came across the old Bally video game me and my buddies used to play back in the late seventies. On the way out they had a example of the Google self driving car. It’s a late model Lexus SUV with every sensor imaginable.
Google’s self driving car
The museum is in a really nice neighborhood which includes the fanciest 7-Eleven and Starbucks in the world. And around the corner just happens to be Google’s World Headquarters. It’s kind of like the corporate campuses back home but there is no fence and no guard gate. You can drive right up to the buildings. It’s actually a series of buildings that must take up a good many city blocks. The place is bustling with people many of which are on colorful Google bicycles. I guess if you have a meeting in the building a couple of streets over you grab a bike out front and off you go. You see all these engineers with computer backpacks riding around. Dozens and dozens of them. The yards are full of colorful sculptures many depicting the various versions of the Android Operating System.
From there we made our way to Apple World Headquarters at One Infinite Loop in Cupertino. It’s campus has a similar setup, no fence or gate with 5 large buildings laid out in a big circle. That’s right there are actually five Infinite Loops not just one. In front of the main building is the Corporate store which is the only place in the world you can get clothing and other trinkets with the Apple logo. So we picked up a few things and made a few pictures out front.
Apple World Headquarters – 1 Infinite Loop – Cupertino
Apple Corporate HQ’s Store
One thing I noticed on the ride down from San Francisco earlier were these super fancy buses with blacked out windows. When we got to Apple and Google it finally dawned on me what they were. Each company provides free shuttles to employees who live quite a distance from Silicon Valley. For instance, if you live in San Francisco but wouldn’t consider working at Apple of Google down in the Valley – no problem – they will just run these plush buses between your neighborhood and Mountain View or Cupertino. You catch the bus in the morning there are comfortable workstations with high speed internet, free lattes and doughnuts. You can get an hour of work in on the way in and back out that afternoon. For those who drive to work at Google there is no need to leave to get your dry cleaning, an oil change or carwash. You can get all those things right there on campus. They even have gourmet kitchens with 3 free meals provided a day. Yes they make it easy for you to maximize your workday!
Afternoon bus to San Francisco picking up at HQ’s.
The afternoon ended with us making our way to the hotel in Cupertino. It so happens it is across the street from Apple’s future headquarters, the huge circular building they are planning. It is a massive project that is already underway. There is a 10 foot high fence that runs all around the property. The fence must be a mile long and is there is no telling how much it alone must have cost. Over it you can see all kinds of cranes and what appears to be their own onsite concrete plant.