Awesome Remote Solar-Powered Internet Office is Awesome
This is quite likely the hottest day of the year in San Francisco, so I had to post this upgrade to Coffee & Power's remote, solar panel-powered Internet office. Not happy with running it from Hayes Valley park, Philip Rosedale and other folks who once helped launch Second Life went on to launch their operation on a beach near Golden Gate Bridge. "The solar panels are from Global Solar, I think they're called PowerFLEX," my friend Jeska Dzwigalski, who was a community manager at Linden Lab and now works for Philip at the micro-work startup, tells me. "They're rated at 300 watts per panel. Enough to power six laptops. We're going to try them out at different locations as C&P Solar Popup Offices. We blogged it yesterday."
Pretty excellent. I doubt you could run SL on six solar-powered laptops, though I'm pretty sure you could get six sunlit laptops running Cloud Party.
How horrible!
I like the solar panels for electricity, but I couldn't work there for a second.
Too hot, too sunny, too sandy, too not office like.
An office should be lots of closed little rooms with dark wood on the walls and old wallpaper.
Heavy wooden desks and people in proper 3 piece suits.
Posted by: Jo Yardley | Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 02:40 PM
How fitting where they are.
Have they been griefed by a naked weird guy yet? :)
Posted by: Pussycat Catnap | Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 03:38 PM
Though in San Francisco, a naked guy walking by the office isn't called "griefing". It's called Tuesday.
Posted by: Hamlet Au | Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 03:50 PM
True... :)
That being Baker beach, somebody likely had to time the camera to avoid getting one in the shot... :)
Posted by: Pussycat Catnap | Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 04:15 PM
Meanwhile, on the other coast, 100+ temperatures means that my company has generously downgraded the dress code to "casual dress", which they define as polo shirts and khakis.
For my next job, I want a company that doesn't care if you show up in a g-string and pasties as long as you can cut code.
Posted by: Arcadia Codesmith | Thursday, June 21, 2012 at 06:15 AM
On the East Coast, the naked weird guy would chew off your face.
And you'd step on used hypos at the beach.
Ah, California!
(at work in shorts, T-shirt, and sandals today...ah, summer session in Academia)
Posted by: Iggy | Thursday, June 21, 2012 at 10:44 AM
I have GOT to go back to school and refuse to leave until they grant me tenure.
Posted by: Arcadia Codesmith | Thursday, June 21, 2012 at 01:26 PM
I don't know why you give so much publicity to Coffee and Power. Yes, it is Philip Rosedale's baby and I guess that counts for something, but there is no way it is ready for prime time.
I've commented about this before, so I went back to check the site. It is now a smart phone app (Let's hope it works with Droid phones) so there is no way to check what is advertised, but when I could see what was on offer it did not offer babysitting, house cleaning, a place to sell gently used furniture or clothes, or even give away pets to good homes, all services and goods for which there is a high demand. Moreover, for those of us who don't live in San Francisco, Coffee and Power is worthless because it is just not there.
Last but not least, that outdoor office is a great stunt, but it has no power when it rains, offers its workers no privacy, not even cubicles, and it can't run at night. When was business 9-5?
Sorry, Coffee and Power still has a long way to go.
PS I am hoping this blog does not eat this post. I wrote a similar post and it got pulled yesterday.
Posted by: Iyoba | Friday, June 22, 2012 at 06:31 AM