SFO, black turtlenecks and cocktails.

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the opening of an exhibit called "From Prototype to Product" at SFO. Actually I had the pleasure of drinking for free in the reception area while Derrick escorted members of the Industrial Designers Society of America through the actual exhibit in the United Terminal. I got there too late for the tour, and for some reason airport security wouldn't let me through with a glass of wine and no ticket. Jerks. I mean, it's great that SFO is big on hosting cool exhibits, but it's a shame when they're only available to those flying into or out of the country on United. And are international flyers really the best audience? I, for one, cannot focus on anything meaningful when I'm traveling. Even my brainiac friends admit that their compromised attention spans limit them Us Magazine when flying.

Anyway, the exhibit consists of somewhere around 75 prototypes of well-known products from design firms like IDEO, FuseProject and Apple. Um, I hear it was cool? I did manage to get a look at the soon-to-be-released $100 XO Computer from FuseProject. The idea behind this kid's laptop is to make it economically feasible for any school to expose their students to computer technology and help them build the skills that are becoming ever-more-critical in the information-driven world. According to the lead designer on the project, schools in Nigeria have already placed their orders. I'm thinking it would be a hell of a lot easier and lighter to transport to and from work than my Mac. Read more about it at the One Laptop Per Child website.