Inspirational

brit:

While driving home tonight, I decided that we Internet people need to re-brand our home of Silicon Valley. Not the people or the culture, but the physical parts - the highways, billboards, road signs, buildings. When you come to Silicon Valley, it should feel like you’re arriving at the Las Vegas of the Internet, where traveling through the area is an experience in itself. Road signs should all be digital, there should be lit up versions of Google Maps + live traffic data on the 101, billboards should be BIGGER and each major tech company should own one. Plus, they should all feature content that geeks understand - like a funny Someecards sign, a live Twitter feed of #siliconvalley tags, a Google Trends search graph that changes daily, etc. Billboards would basically resemble blown up versions of webpages. How cool would it be to get your tech headline news and upcoming area events at a glance…while you’re driving? In effect, we should create a place that sparks innovation, emotion, and community just by traveling through it - something that we Bay Area commuters do at least two hours per day.

Just a random thought for a Tuesday night.

I like this idea, not the particular implementation brit is discussing, but the idea. Today it can be said that “Silicon Valley is an idea, not a place” (arrington) and frankly, it would be nice to see the place reflect the culture a bit more.

But the culture here isn’t gawdy, so billboards/etc. are probably the wrong touch — i think to truly do it you’d need smaller elements (free wifi everywhere would be a start), information terminals at major intersections, etc.