GSP-09: Student’s Perspective, By Sarah Sclarsic
(SU’s 2009 Graduate Studies Program)

2:14 am: Going to bed. Have been working late on Gettaround, the car sharing service that a team of Singularity University students are starting. We’ve been at iPhone developer camp all weekend making an iPhone app that allows people to share, locate, and start cars (plus some other neat features). I also snuck into Group A’s workshop on Artificial Intelligence yesterday, so I’ve been burning the candle at both ends.

8:00 am: Wake up. Caffeine . . . need . . . caffeine.

8:45 am: Meet Charles, another team member and our Product Developer, in the lobby of the NASA lodge for a ride to Yahoo headquarters. How is he so alert this early in the morning??!?

9:02: Arrive at Yahoo. Our poor programmers were up till 4 am! One of them, John Varghese, is already here working away.

9:05: Stumble downstairs, zombie-like, to get breakfast. Large cup of coffee, diet red bull, and half a bagel revives me.

9:10: Back to work on the graphics and user interface for the Gettaround app.

9:47: Issues with the screen that allows users to unlock and start cars. Play around with having “unlock” and “lock” buttons that look like gold padlocks.

10:43: Need redesign on the square button that people see when they first open the app. Change from a Green “G” on a blue field to a green “G” on a black field, with and without a shiny overlay effect.

11:56: Charles needs to jury rig a quick system to stabilize the camera so we can shoot our promo video. I run around and sweet talk the staff into giving me scissors, tape, cardboard, and the last Medium-sized Dev Camp t-shirt. Combined with a heroic egg-crate, we’ve got our camera mount.

1:24: Have finished all the graphics work I’ve been asked for. Drive back to Singularity University.

1:56: Rush to throw on clothes for an Elle Magazine Italy photo shoot on “the women of Singularity University.” No time for lunch. I came to SU straight after a road trip around California and the Southwest, so I didn’t bring much in the way of nice clothing, but luckily my parents accidentally shipped me a box of party clothes. I throw on a black Hugo Boss dress, throw some other clothes in a bag, and walk over to the airfield for the shoot.

2:25: Photos, photos, and more photos. Lots of sunlight, World War II era planes, and Moffet Field’s famous, massive airship hangar looming silver in the background.

3:00: Getting hungry. No food since the half-bagel this morning. Drivers on the base are slowing down to start at us women in our dresses, surrounded by lights, posing for photos.

4:43: Food has arrived! Eat sushi while sitting atop a cooler on the tarmac.

5:00: Other SU ladies arrive for group photos. I’ve become an unofficial photographer, taking individual shots of friends in front of the vintage airplanes. I took some shots nice shots of Sofya retro-styled in front of the plane, in a peach and black dress.

7:43: Sneak my way out of photos. This has gone on too long! I’m far too lazy to stand up for 5 hours at a time. Also the sun is going down and it’s getting pretty cold.

8:15: Jessica and I hop into Lauren’s Mustang and drive over to the Singularity University barbeque. First things first: grab a beer.

8:17: Charles and the programmers are here. Turns out Gettaround won an award at the iPhone Hackathon: “App most likely to make money” !!

8:36: We gather around Charles’ laptop by candle light to see the short video he made demonstrating the iPhone app. It’s a hit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cnW6BQ8h7k

10:12: Leave the party; stop at Jack in the Box for Oreo shakes.

10:45: Need a couple hours away from work after Dev Camp-ing all weekend. After all, today is Sunday, our day of rest and no class. We gather people around the common area TV for a wholesome screening of “Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (uncensored).” Hilarious. And disgusting. And hilarious.

1:56 am: Catch up on some work, then time for sleep.

Got a great week coming up – conference call with electric car guru Shai Agassi

and site visit to Omneuron’s brain scanning lab. Goodnight, Singularity

University. Goodnight, Readers. Goodnight, Moon.