+1 to this, the Cal Academy of the Sciences has an awesome earthquake exhibit right now. Really gives a humbling sense of how insane those earthquakes in the past were.
Seriously. Gigantic wheels spinning huge cables (the museum is also the cable hub) is WAY more interesting tech than you're ever going to see at a startup.
If you have a car, or don't mind jumping on Caltrain for the ride down, you can go to Mountain View to the Computer History Museum: http://www.computerhistory.org/
I was there for a day and when the museum was about to close I realized I hadn't properly experienced the half of it and came back the next day to spend another day there. Hands down the best museum I've ever seen.
Among the things there are original Google servers, Apollo computers, Apple I, Lisa and a hundred more things I can barely remember that make me want to visit it for another two days just to refresh my memory.
check out noisebridge on mission, somewhere between 17th and 18th.
you'll see 3d printers, laser etchers, textile arts and maybe some cool art. they are open all the time, with some interesting characters. just buzz the doorbell and they'll let you up.
You can see the tech office tours on techcrunch videos... the bigger ones are giant lavish offices filled with desks and laptops. Boring. Tour the city.
Head down to the Fisherman's Wharf, there's an arcade with historic/ancient (some over 100 years old) machines. Admission is free, but you're highly encouraged to feed the machines with quarters and play with them; that's how that place gets its money.
I was in SF for two weeks, last month and the arcade was one of the memorable places. Also the Cable Car Museum isn't too far away. My recommendation: Visit the CCM first (they close at 17:00) and then walk down to Fisherman's Wharf and play in the historic arcade.
The Cable Car Museum was surprisingly interesting. I had relatively low expectations that were made lower by actually arriving, but they've got some amazing artifacts from their history, and seeing the cable drivers for the city's lines in the same place and considering what it does is really stunning.
> Trust me, you don't want to walk FROM the wharf to the CCM.
Hence why I suggested going to the CCM first.
> The hills in SF are no joke, especially on foot.
Speak for yourself. Yes, they are a bit annoying. But when doing my SF tour (I had visited the historic arcade already a few days before), I first took the cable car from Market to Fisherman's Wharf (it passes by the CCM, but I wanted to do the full tour), then walked back up to the CCM. After being done with that I went up Mission Street to the Fairmont, where it crosses with Muni line 1, took that until Lands End, walked that down to the pacific beach, watched the sunset. Finally down to the west southern end of Golden Gate Park and took the Muni back to Powell. Between the public transport rides everything on foot. Wasn't that bad IMHO.
Most important: Bring water; lots of water (I started the tour with about 3l in my backpack). And drink to thirst. Dehydration is no joke, but overhydration can be a problem, too.
I lived in Monterey for a few years and, as my first few impressions of SF were essentially just the Wharf with the rest of my time spent driving, I had a very negative view of the city. It wasn't until I started walking those dreaded hills and exploring the city on foot that I really appreciated how amazing the place is.
Autodesk has a museum at One Market. It's only open to the public two afternoons a week, plus special events.[1] Design exhibits. A driving game. High-end 3D printers.
Innovation Hangar, at the Palace of Fine Arts, is open on weekends.[2]
eyes the punched card thumb-tacked to his board Yes, it would be really cool if there were a place, hm, a "Computer History Museum"? If only... but where? Perhaps a "Silicon Valley." Ha-ha.
Exhibit – A collection of aviation history spanning over the past 30 years by Stanley Hiller. Collection includes 50 aircraft exhibits and numerous displays such as:
1869 “Avitor” Hermes Jr. (early heavy-lift airship - unmanned)
1883, 1905, & 1911 gliders (Montgomery)
1903 Wright Flyer Replica (first manned powered flight)
1911 Eugene Ely’s Curtiss Pusher (the first plane to land on a ship).
1913 Lincoln Beachey’ “Little Looper” (early aerobatic airplane).
1945 Hiller 360 (first inherently-stable helicopter to be licensed by the FAA).
1955 Flying Platform (first ducted fan, man-carrying, VTOL aircraft)
1955 Grumman Albatross (flew around the world).
1956 XROE Rotorcycle (fully collapsible helicopter)
1970 Boeing 747-100 cockpit (fully accessible)
1985 Czech AERO Vodochody L-39
1986 Boeing Condor (spy plane with 201-ft. wing span)
And many more. Visit our exhibits page.
Facilities – The museum’s 53,000 square foot complex consists of a main exhibit hall, an entrance atrium, 35-seat Theater, two 50-seat conference center, gift store/restoration shop/and kitchen facilities for catered events.
Location – The museum is located at the Northwest corner of the San Carlos Airport, San Mateo County, and immediately adjacent to highway 101.
Visitors – More than 85,000 annually.
Operations – 18 staff members and 100+ Volunteers
*'
Farnsworth Lab - Corner of Sansome and Green Streets, San Francisco. Where Green Street deadends into Telegraph Hill from the East.
No museum, yet, only a plaque. Philo Farnsworth invented many of the basics of television here. A block south of here is one of Henry Chung's legendary Hunan restaurants (inexpensive for geeks).
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[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 72.5 ms ] threadLearn about something that doesn't use GitHub. ;)
Seriously. Gigantic wheels spinning huge cables (the museum is also the cable hub) is WAY more interesting tech than you're ever going to see at a startup.
Among the things there are original Google servers, Apollo computers, Apple I, Lisa and a hundred more things I can barely remember that make me want to visit it for another two days just to refresh my memory.
If you have a car, it might also be worth going to Stanford's campus -- just take a walk anywhere.
you'll see 3d printers, laser etchers, textile arts and maybe some cool art. they are open all the time, with some interesting characters. just buzz the doorbell and they'll let you up.
The Bitcoin Sunday hackday is always fun.
http://www.meetup.com/SF-Bitcoin-Devs/events/220632910/
I was in SF for two weeks, last month and the arcade was one of the memorable places. Also the Cable Car Museum isn't too far away. My recommendation: Visit the CCM first (they close at 17:00) and then walk down to Fisherman's Wharf and play in the historic arcade.
It's actually a working engine room and you can smell the grease in the air and see the cogs turning and pulling the cable.
I checked in google maps... it's about a mile laterally and over 200ft vertically. Much better to be going DOWN hill.
Hence why I suggested going to the CCM first.
> The hills in SF are no joke, especially on foot.
Speak for yourself. Yes, they are a bit annoying. But when doing my SF tour (I had visited the historic arcade already a few days before), I first took the cable car from Market to Fisherman's Wharf (it passes by the CCM, but I wanted to do the full tour), then walked back up to the CCM. After being done with that I went up Mission Street to the Fairmont, where it crosses with Muni line 1, took that until Lands End, walked that down to the pacific beach, watched the sunset. Finally down to the west southern end of Golden Gate Park and took the Muni back to Powell. Between the public transport rides everything on foot. Wasn't that bad IMHO.
Most important: Bring water; lots of water (I started the tour with about 3l in my backpack). And drink to thirst. Dehydration is no joke, but overhydration can be a problem, too.
Innovation Hangar, at the Palace of Fine Arts, is open on weekends.[2]
[1] http://www.autodesk.com/gallery [2] http://ihangar.org/
I was a little disappointed that San Jose's Technology Museum is more of a grab-bag of biological/environmental/astronomical everything...
http://www.computerhistory.org/
Ah, to dream.
Hiller Aviation Museum - San Carlos
Exhibit – A collection of aviation history spanning over the past 30 years by Stanley Hiller. Collection includes 50 aircraft exhibits and numerous displays such as:
Facilities – The museum’s 53,000 square foot complex consists of a main exhibit hall, an entrance atrium, 35-seat Theater, two 50-seat conference center, gift store/restoration shop/and kitchen facilities for catered events.Location – The museum is located at the Northwest corner of the San Carlos Airport, San Mateo County, and immediately adjacent to highway 101.
Visitors – More than 85,000 annually.
Operations – 18 staff members and 100+ Volunteers
*'
Farnsworth Lab - Corner of Sansome and Green Streets, San Francisco. Where Green Street deadends into Telegraph Hill from the East.
No museum, yet, only a plaque. Philo Farnsworth invented many of the basics of television here. A block south of here is one of Henry Chung's legendary Hunan restaurants (inexpensive for geeks).