and thirdly

WWDC10: Pre conference

This took a while longer to finish than expected thanks largely to the fact that I was on a 40 day holiday in Australia after WWDC as well the MacBook Pro’s logic board dying on me. But I digress…

Another year, another great developer conference.

Almost couldn’t make it this year thanks to the late announcement by Apple that made booking flight and accommodations a very expensive proposition. But I am damn glad I decided to push ahead and just go (and burn up my allowance for next semester in the process). Still, am pretty proud this is an entirely self funded trip.

Prior

This year, Apple required that you either be a member of the now defunct ADC Student Program or a member in the iPhone Developer University Program, neither of which I was in. NTU has an iDUP but it was expired and it seemed to have no members whatsoever except for some dude in the learning technologies centre. (I know it doesn’t make sense, but yeah, that’s NTU for you.)

Thankfully, with a little luck and being slightly more thick skinned, I managed to secure a spot directly with Apple SEA’s World Wide Developer Relations. Mad props to Leon Chen for all the help.

So with 2,000SGD to United Airlines, I planned my trip.

Having been to WWDC09 last year, I had some clear distinct goals that I wanted to achieve this time round.

Meet more people
Eat good food
Better pictures
Get my iPad 3G
Continue my project on food and girls

Of course, amongst these stuff, I had my usual todo list in Things which has blossomed to twice the number of items compared to last year.

Was pretty lucky at the get go to have my roomate from last year go again, so accommodations was more or less settled. In addition to that, met a another student from SMU that was willing to come along for the ride since it was his first time.

So in addition to checking out the various parties, I rented a car to drive us up to Cupertino on day 1 as well as some shopping at the factory outlets near that area.

Now, maybe it is a SMU thing, but Wilfred was really good at securing additional funding for his trip. From writing for HWZ to live blogging for the ITChannel, he managed to get a significant portion of his expenses covered. That included the generous support from SMU which amounted to about 800SGD. Versus the 200SGD from NTU in the form of “token support”.

I had my fair share of sponsors too, with a friend lending me his Nikon D90 and his Garmin Nuvi GPS navigator. Another friend lent his 35mm F1.8 which was a dream to use.

Enroute

I told myself I would not fly United again after last year, but had not much of a choice considering they were charging me 2,000SGD for about 17 hours to get to San Francisco.

This year’s experience was a tad better. There were better looking stewardess and the hint of racism was almost non existent.

Food was disappointingly similar to last year though.

Had Asahi at Narita during the layover. Can’t get more authentic than drinking Japanese beer in Japan. 500Yen for 24 hours of internet access wasn’t half bad either.

That being said, it was still a pleasant flight with a few interesting things that happened like the plane being put into a holding pattern whilst I was playing Flight Control on the iPhone. Now that was weird.

Still, we made it in record time, shaving off about a total of an hour for the entire trip. Even managed to watch a few movies that I didn’t get to back home in Singapore.

Day One

Checked into The Powell Hotel and went off to Alamo up on O’Farrell Street to grab the car we rented. Service was excellent, was worth the extra I paid. We were given a Dodge Caliber SXT, and with some trepidation regarding left hand drive, we were on our way.

Having everything reorientated to the left took a lot of getting used to. I would definitely not be able to make the trip alone and am eternally thankful for the other 2 in the car that had to constantly remind me to turn into the right lane.

That being said, I’m surprised at the attitude of American drivers. Everyone is more or less tolerant or friendly. They don’t push endlessly at the horn when you are about to make a mistake or swerve into their lane.

Even with a little space to maneuver the vehicle into, they will slow down so you can have enough to enter. This is unheard of back home. It made being new to left hand drive a whole lot easier.

Parking’s different though. The lots are big enough for head first entry which is a huge departure from parking backside in. Took some getting used to, but I think I’m more or less there.

Gumba’s

First stop of the day trip naturally was at Gumba’s.

I remember this place fondly from last year’s trip. It has the best pasta for a really decent price. The server was really into the cameras we brought along with us (this year too). Plus they are authentic Italian.

For about 15USD, you get soup, garlic bread and a huge plate of pasta. I’ve sworn off Pastamania since last year to get at this epic meal again this year. As a bonus, we were served dessert on the house.

Simply amazing.

Cupertino

With our bellies filled, we headed off to the place where every Mac fan has to go at least once, 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

For the uninitiated, Apple’s HQ has a company store that sells not only Apple products (sans iPad when I was there), but also merchandise like T-Shirts and other Apple branded stuff. It can only be found in that one store, so you can consider it quite rare to find people with stuff from there in this part of asia.

The Great Mall

If anything, cheap stuff can be found in the States and the factory outlets are the place to go. We went to The Great Mall cause I wanted to check out the Oakley Vault to see if they still stocked refurbished Juliets. Also, it wasn’t that far off from Cupertino.

Nothing much to say about The Great Mall except they have lots of stuff, its cheap, girls will probably love it for the huge amount of shopping.

Found weird ass Mountain Dew though. Ginseng infused flavor with raspberries and other weird shit. Tasted like medicine, but I needed the fluids.

Drive Back

Now that was some scary shit. With left hand drive along with the lack of lights, it was a heck of a job concentrating. GPS didn’t help with its slow response too. Thank god everyone was nice and we made it back in one piece.

Day Two

There was only one goal for day two, and that was to eat at iHop. That meant heading down to Fisherman’s Wharf which I’ve long wanted to see.

That beign said, the day started out with us trying to get our iPads. Headed down to the Apple store to reserve my 32GB iPad 3G, while Wilfred went to collect his 64GB 3G monster for a friend.

Was surreal to see so many of them when none of them are sold officially in Singapore yet. Still, those are the WiFi ones and 3G models required reservation. The demand for the devices still seem at an all time high and with 2 million sold thus far, its no wonder.

Headed back to the hotel after grabbing Wilfred’s iPad. The area we were staying at is directly in front of the Powell BART as well as the turntable for the cable car. As such, there is a lot of traffic as well as lots of interesting people.

Next destination, Fisherman’s Wharf by way of going up through Powell Street. It was an insane walk despite the cool weather due to the close to 45 degree incline that we had to trek up towards.

Of course this trek couldn’t be completed without first visiting union square to soak in the sights that one would rarely see back home in Singapore.

Union Square is just so awesome when it comes to art and culture. People plying their impressions of beauty be it on canvas or of the aural kind in an open area. You don’t see stuff like these in Singapore out in the open.

Another thing you don’t see often are pigeons the size of those that are in San Francisco. They are a pretty fearless bunch too not really giving a rat’s ass even if you come too close.

So, onto Fisherman’s Wharf. Powell Street is a steep one and trudging up the incline brings me back to my days in the army.

Look at them pigeons!

If you’re a StarBucks lover, you’ll love San Francisco. They are like all over the place. And really cool to cause the StarBucks iPhone app actually works there.

For the uninitiated, San Francisco has a tram system that runs throughout a portion of the city and provides a means of public transportation. Its pretty much like those you see in Melbourne, Australia.

Obligatory pictures of SFFD vehicles. Its like seeing Trauma in real life.

On the way to Fisherman’s Wharf, one would pass by chinatown.

Clearing the horrible climb up and down, we chanced upon Italy town. They had a nice grassy field in front of a church where apparently a wedding was taking place. People were basically sprawled out on the grass enjoying the sun. Doing the same back home would earn you the ire of property owners and various other stereotyping.

Fattest pigeon I ever saw.

A little bit more and we hit Fisherman’s Wharf. But first, street side vendors like you see in TV shows and movies.

And now Fisherman’s Wharf proper.

Before continuing, we grabbed a meal of the well known clam chowder. Served in a sourdough bowl, it is officially the best I’ve ever tasted, and similar to what happened with pasta, I’m swearing off The Soup Spoon”.

Crabs were also in no short supply there.

Of course, we’re not the only ones who like them clam chowders.

Now, at the same place we were eating, there was this guy that hides behind a bush and scares unsuspecting tourists that come his way. Apparently, he is famous.

We hung around for a bit after that, checking out the street wares, watched a performance and basically soak in the atmosphere that was Fisherman’s Wharf.

Final destination, IHOP or the International House of Pancakes. I’ve heard tonnes about this place, and finally after missing the chance last year, got to try it this year.

Free flow lemonade, pancakes, eggs, and hash browns. What more can one want. Open 24 hours too. Its as good as the american version of the Prata Houses here in Singapore.

Concluding the day, we took the tram back to the hotel.

Day Three

The day before WWDC is always the day where you can go register and collect your badges as well as whatever goodie bags that Apple World Wide Developer relations deemed fit to hand you.

This year, Apple doesn’t seem to have spent as much money as they did last year with regards to the exterior of Moscone West. However, looking at the registration counters tells you just where they spent their monies on.

Despite the mostly male environment, there was a fair share of women at this event. Still, the queue for the male restrooms are still longer than the nonexistent queue for the female restrooms.

This year’s swag was way more functional than the previous in the form of a WWDC jacket. American Apparel provided the jacket and Apple went on an did some really cool stitching of the words “WWDC” on the front and “10” on the back.

Putting our stuff back at the hotel, we hopped onto a bus with other fellow developers and made another trip down to Apple’s HQ at One Infinite Loop. It was more of a networking opportunity with the other attendees of the conference. It was through this trip that I finally got to meet @jagreda. Also struck up a nice conversation with people on the bus on the return trip and got to know @doblezeta.

Since we weren’t really there to buy stuff, we headed to BJ’s for some grub. BJ’s is a restaurant and brewhouse that is situated directly in front of the Apple Campus HQ.