embeddedWorld 2014

I was lucky enough to get chosen to speak at embeddedWorld 2014 in Nuremburg, Germany.  I gave a short presentation on using Yocto to develop a commercial product.  If you're not sure what Yocto is, don't worry, most people don't; it's a tool that helps Linux run on embedded hardware (like your WiFi router, for instance).  Rather than talk about a bunch of technical stuff I'll just stick mostly to just how the trip itself, impressions of Germany, etc.

General Observations
As I was flying from Dusseldorf to Nuremberg, I could see at least 4 nuclear reactors, quite a few windmills, and lots of solar panel installations (many on the roofs of houses and businesses and some empty fields with lots of solar panels in rows).  I also noticed lots of large-scale greenhouses in the farm fields, I couldn't tell if these were permanent installations or just temporary structures built over top of farm fields.  At least from the air, Germany looks very "green".

Once I got to Germany, the language barrier was not a problem at all.  I'd been told that there were alot of English speakers in Germany, but it really seemed that everyone spoke English.  It was funny too because most people would say "my English is not very good" and then they would go on to speak nearly flawless English.

Germany just felt very comfortable to me for some reason that's hard for me to articulate.  And I guess the Germans thought so too, because they almost always would initially speak German to me, until I asked "Sprechen Sie Englisch?".  The other people that came over with me from the States would usually get English right off the bat from the Germans they met.

We had several people also attending the conference from NI's Munich Office, and they were outstanding hosts, taking us to dinner each night and generally helping us out in any way.

I also found that business etiquette was a bit different:

1. It's expected to wear a suit and tie, the US standard of a button up shirt and khakis doesn't cut it.
2. Don't be late.  You'll get some very disapproving stares if you aren't punctual.

And this should surprise no one: Germans know beer.  Every beer I had there was excellent (and I had quite a few).  Don't worry about getting something you won't like; just drink it and it will be good.

I didn't have any time for sight-seeing so this is a crappy pic I took in downtown Nuremburg

Embedded World Exhibition Floor
The Exhibition part of Embedded World was crazy-huge, with 856 exhibitors and 26,000+ visitors.   It took me a long time just to do a relatively quick walkthrough of the floor.

I kept my eyes open for any LabVIEW front panels and I saw quite a few.  One of particular interest was a cool looking demo from Intel.  It's a slightly creepy looking insectile robot that plays the Chinese mandolin (not sure what the real name of the instrument is).  You can see the LabVIEW front panel on the monitor in the picture below.  The Intel guy running the demo couldn't say enough good things about developing in LabVIEW.

Presentation
My presentation went really well.  Almost every seat was filled; probably around 50 people.  I got some good questions and some compliments after it was over.  I also talked for a while with a couple of Intel guys that are heavily involved in the Yocto project.

Flight Back
The flight back was the only negative part of the whole trip. Coming in through Customs Stateside is no fun.  'Nuf said.

We just got a dog about 2 weeks ago. We found her at the Georgetown Animal Shelter, and we think she's a 1 year old lab.

And she's why I'm not done with the arcade yet (or at least that's who I'm going to blame it on). I have gotten a little bit further on the arcade. This week I finished adding supports to the arcade so that it doesn't rock as much while you're playing. I also finished the back panels which slide into slots I routed in the arcade to cover up the innards of the arcade in the back.

I finally got a Wii! I always said that I would never wait in line before a store opened to purchase anything, but I went against my morals on Sunday.

The night before Black Friday I went to several Gamestops and found the one with the shortest line. I had read in their ads that each Gamestop would have a limited number of Wii's. The store opened at 7AM and I got there about 3:45AM. I was number 10 in line. At about 6AM the store manager showed up and notified everyone that there were only 6 Wii's.

I went back home after this and started doing some internet research. I found a site which had some info on shipment rumors. From this I found out that Best Buy, Target, Circuit City and Toys R Us were "relaunching" the Wii on the morning of Dec. 3rd. A friend and I got up bright and early at 4:30AM and headed over to Best Buy and we were first in line! At around 5:45 some store employees showed up and notified us that the internet rumors were wrong and that they didn't have any Wii's. Luckily I had planned out our foray in an area that had a Best Buy, Target, and a Circuit City in a one mile radius.

We headed towards the Target and saw that there wasn't a soul around so we went to grab some coffee. We got back about 10 minutes later to discover that there were 15 people in line ahead of us. Word to the wise: Get in line as soon as possible. So about 6AM we got in line. At 7AM they came out and gave everyone tickets for the 17 Wii's that they had in stock. I got ticket number 12! At that point they let us all sit inside the air lock to the store. You wouldn't believe how good it feels to sit in a warm place with a magic ticket that entitles you to a Wii. At 8AM they let us inside and we all bought our Wii's. They even had extra Wiimotes, nunchucks, and copies of most games in stock. So I got a wiimote, a nunchuck, and a copy of Zelda. I had heard that extra controllers were in short supply and I wanted to be able to play Wii Sports with my wife.

Now after having played with the Wii for a day, it was worth the trouble. It is just as cool as advertised and works beautifully. My wife isn't really into games very much and she likes it alot (especially Bowling).

I'll have another posting on my progress on the arcade soon.

I just found some pics of me at the shooting range with a friend of mine. I can't remember exactly what the guns were (they weren't mine), but I know that that there were several .22 target rifles and another Russian or Czech rifle that shot way bigger ammo.