Heyas! Got a few things to point out:First..the Apple campus is nothing particularly noteworthy. Sorry to crush anyone's hopes/dreams, but it honestly is just a whole bunch of buildings and offices. The only thing possibly worth visiting would be the company store, if you wanted to get like tshirts or something.
Secondly, even if you take caltrain, there's still a long distance you have to cover some other way to get to one infinite loop. I looked into it when I was staying in SF for WWDC and wanted to take some friends out to go see sights. It was infeasible for me...I think it was basically the san francisco caltrain station (walk/bus/whatever there) to the sunnyvale station, then about 4-5 miles to infinite loop. It's about 2 hours by public transit one way. Lastly, given what I first pointed out, wouldn't it be easier to be hosting an event not necessarily at apple but one where current blind mac users and anyone interested can come and learn, and the more knowledgeable among you teach classes? There's these things called BarCamp (and sometimes modified to fit a theme, like iPhoneDevCamp and StartupCamp) where people come together and share/learn/teach each other. You could call it like MacAccessibilityCamp or something. See http://barcamp.org for more info. Sure, having it at apple is nice, but it may be inconvenient and limited. I know there's a recurring event hosted by apple in cupertino called cocoaheads, but you'd have to consider that that's related to mac programming and a lot of attendees are apple employees. Maybe you will have better luck asking apple accessibility if they'd be willing to look into hosting an event. Probably no need to curry Steve Jobs' favor. cheers, jane On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 8:22 PM, Janet and Felix * < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Our friend himself does not work for Apple. He could. He's got the > knowlege. Instead he works for a company that encodes films. Before that > he used to write anti-virus software. Anyway, he has friends he met in high > school and/or college that now work for Apple that he stays in touch with. > Friends in prominent positions at Apple. > > I asked if I could share what we talked about and he said 'no not yet'. > I'm sorry! It was just some ideas we batted back and forth. But they > could amount to something. > > Hey, everything starts with an idea, right? > > I suggested maybe some media attention as a carrot to get Apple to consider > a meeting and/or tour. It would surely be newsworthy if Apple had a small > gathering of blind folks touring their facilty and/or participating in a > forum. > > But Felix brought up a very good point. About media attention. I thought > it might be some good free publicity, but Felix says NO! Can't make this > public! It could invite radical NFB demonstrators to come and make a fiasco > out of what could be a good thing. > > Yikes. So we've got the idea now to suggest making this exclusive only for > current blind Mac owners/users, and then maybe suggest a reception outside > where non Mac users could come to get more information. Then if anyone made > any sort of weird demonstration, at least it'd be outside. > > What do you think? Not that we have any say at all in what Apple does > here! Laugh-laugh! Oh well, I can dream. > > Just throwing an idea out there. > > Developing concise points for a discussion with Apple, definately a good > ongoing forum here. Someone needs to be a record keeper of sorts. Save and > sort pertinent postings and compile a list. > > *smile* > > Janet > > PS. OFF TOPIC. Felix plays in several blues bands, including one every > Sunday over in the east bay town of Lafayette, 5-8 pm, at a nice dinner > lounge type restaurant called Petar's. It's about 2 blocks from the > Lafayette Bart Station. Free. fun place. Every week they feature a > different singer fronting the band, and also different bass players. Felix > and the drummer are always there every week though. That's one suggestion > anyway! but yea, I'm totally flexible and into hangin' with you and anyone > else too from the list if you're in the SF bay area sometime! That'd be > fun! Here is Felix's My Space, work in progress, but there's a couple videos > anyway. > http://myspace.com/felixbannon > There's a partial gig listing there too. I still have more future gigs to > put up. I do that for him. I like doing it more than he does. I don't > mind. > > ---------------------------------------- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: Re: Discussion about a tour of the Apple facility in Cupertino > > Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:33:18 -0700 > > > > Ah, yes, now it's my turn to be blonde! lol! > > > > Anyway, I used to take the Millbray route all the time, back and > > forth between the east bay and Santa Clara. If you've never been > > there, the Millbray station is a very cool structure. It's tres artsie! > > > > Anyway, to keep this sort of on-topic, what department is your > > programmer friend in? Have we got any general sorts of ideas as to > > possible discussion topics and how we might approach such?… > > > > As I and others have alluded to, I think diplomacy is really an > > important concern here, as there are already people in contact with > > Apple on a regular basis, and this sort of thing should enhance a > > relationship rather than help it go south! lol! -Know what I mean?… > > > > I think if people really do want to do this, then it might be a > > really good idea to outline in writing some very concise points to > > touch on. > > > > Anyway, cool beans! and thanks for your notes!… Regardless of this > > happening or not, I'd love to catch up witcha both up there and do > > coffee / dinner etc!… > > > > Smiles, > > > > Cara :) > > > > > > On Jul 23, 2008, at 7:06 PM, Janet and Felix * wrote: > > > >> > >> Cal Train does go all the way to San Francisco. We've got on it at > >> the King & 4th Street station, the terminal for Cal Train. The > >> south end terminal is in Gilroy, south of San Jose. Never been that > >> far down though. We only rode it as far as Redwood City and back to > >> San Francisco. Fun train. upstairs and downstairs seating. > >> > >> Yes, oh yes, I definitely agree, that is faster. Don't bother with > >> the Embarcadero station and Muni. Just go to the Millbrae Station > >> just south of the SF airport. And catch Cal Train there. I've > >> never done that one before. Gotta add that one to my experiences > >> sometime soon. > >> > >> Okay! > >> > >> Janet > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Keep your kids safer online with Windows Live Family Safety. > > http://www.windowslive.com/family_safety/overview.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_family_safety_072008 >
