What is it about watching a count down that demands human interest? Perhaps it was NASA with their huge yellow integers descending slowly until a Shuttle launch. But there is definitely something about that simple animation, numbers counting down towards an event that always manages to capture intrigue. At my previous job we had at least one major new software launch per year, and somewhere along the line someone thought more showmanship was needed. So the countdown was posted for all to see, and all who saw stopped, stared, wondered, and for brief moment, we owned them.

This morning at 12:04 PDT (who picked that time anyway?) many late night surfers sat watching a JavaScript countdown that promised to revolutionize high performance transportation. When the counter reached double donut status, we all held our breathe (or was it just me?). Partly because I was excited to see what laid beneath the red tarp, and partly because I feared that nothing would happen at zero hour. As it turns it, it was a combination of both and depended largely on which Internet straw you were sucking. After several hearty attempts by my browser to refresh, it was obvious a few to many people were as interested as I was (it was probably you 3am east-coasters). Somewhere in the dark, an Apache server was dying a slow death.

A few eventually made it in, but I for one was left with with my curiosity unsatisfied as I tugged on a red cover that refused to come off.

Quote of the day (week?), from their Jobs page:

“Without passion, you would find what we’re trying to do too difficult. There are much easier jobs.”

It’s a noble idea initiated by some impressive names. Check them out, but please, not all at once.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 20th, 2006 at 12:04 am and is filed under Automotive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.