• Gadu-Gadu PRPL improvements by Tomasz Wasilczyk, mentored by Ethan Blanton
• Plugin website by Nikhil Bafna, mentored by Kevin Stange
• Usage stats collection by Sanket Agarwal, mentored by Eion Robb
• libpurple on Android by Michael Zangl, mentored by Mark Doliner

It’s always difficult to narrow down so many great applications into just a handful, and we want to thank everyone who applied. The coding period runs from May 21 through August 24. If you want to follow the progress of the four students, they’ll be providing periodic status updates to our devel mailing list throughout the summer.

Read Google’s official announcement here.

(If you’re looking for intro-level information, see this Beginner’s Guide to Clipless Pedals.)

Shimano SPD-1

These are the pedals I used on my old Fuji bike for 8900 miles. I feel like they’re well-rounded. Pretty common. I think of them as a benchmark—something to compare against. Clipping in isn’t too hard. They’re double-sided. Kinda heavy. Small amount of float. I rarely accidentally unclip. The cleats are fairly shallow and can be recessed in a shoe with tread.

In short: Average. Decent for commuting. Decent for mountain biking. Low-end for serious road riding.

Shimano SPD-SL

Very common pedal style for road bikes. I think Shimano’s SPD-SL cleats are a copy of Look pedals. The cleat has a horn on the front that hooks under the hole on the front of the pedal (the right side, in this picture), then you push your heel down to lock it in place. They’re one-sided and the bottom of the pedal is rounded and featureless. Couple this with the featureless sole of a standard road bike shoe and these pedals are much harder to clip into than SPD-1′s. If I step onto the wrong side of the pedal my shoe is likely to slide off wildly. Even if my foot is on the correct side I still tend to fumble around a bit.

They do make a nice, clean, audible *snap* when the heel clips in. And they feel great—a large surface area and virtually no wobble. The tension is adjustable and is currently tighter than my SPD-1′s, so I haven’t accidentally unclipped yet. The float is adjustable by using different cleats. I think the cleats I’m using have 3 degrees of float and I’m happy with that.

In short: Great for long road rides. Below average for commuting because clipping in is harder.

Crank Brothers Eggbeater 3

I bought these for commuting. They’re four sided, so clipping in is fairly easy. The cleats are very shallow and don’t protrude from the soles of my commuter shoes, so they don’t make loud scraping sounds when walking on pavement. The float and tension are weird… I feel like the tension is very loose. It hasn’t been a problem yet, but I think I would prefer if they were more firm. They tend to not make an audible *snap* when clipping in, so it’s harder to tell whether you’re clipped in. I find myself having to pull up on my foot to know for sure.

In short: Average. I like them a little more than my SPD-1′s. Good for commuting. Very good for mountain biking (they handle mud well). Average for road riding.

How much can you accomplish in a single summer? Quite a lot. To give you an idea, here’s a list of some of our heftier projects of past years:

• SSL certificate verification and management
• Voice and video chat for XMPP
• The Bonjour protocol plugin
• The MySpace protocol plugin
• The SIMPLE protocol plugin
• Finch (command-line based IM client based on libpurple)

Details

• Get inspired by our ideas list. But don’t limit yourself to those ideas—we love when students propose their own projects.
• The application period starts March 26 and ends April 6th (full timeline)
• Once the application period opens, apply here
• We’re guessing we’ll request slots for 3 students this year.
• If IM isn’t your thing but you still want to participate, check out the list of other great organizations

• Unforgiven
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
• Tombstone

Other good movies that have a western-y feel, but aren’t:

• Lawrence of Arabia
• Grand Turino

And finally, three movies that I like probably more than other people:

• The Prestige (this movie is amazing, and a little dark)
• The Butterfly Effect (this is darker)
• Pitch Black (the least dark of the three… which is funny, given the name)

• Silicon Valley really is a valley. There is one string of mountains running down the peninsula, to the west of the major cities, and there is another string of mountains maybe 40 miles to the east, on the other side of the San Francisco Bay. The land between the mountains that isn’t underwater is basically flat, and is increasingly hillier as you approach the mountains.
• The weather is very consistent. I think the Pacific Ocean and the mountains act as regulators. It seems like the ocean keeps temperatures from getting too hot or too cold, and the mountains trap air and reduce the impact of pressure changes and the associated cold fronts and heat waves. (Disclaimer: I don’t know what I’m talking about.)
• Humidity is very low, so the air warms quickly when the sun is out and cools quickly when the sun is down. The average temperature change between night to day is around 20°F.
• It’s doesn’t rain in Silicon Valley in the summer. Like, it’s basically a desert. There would be far fewer plants if they weren’t artificially watered.
• I think because of the lack of water and the cool nights there are way fewer bugs here than in North Carolina. Almost no roaches!
• The spiders here tend to be spindly and not meaty.
• There are banana slugs in the mountains between here and the Pacific.
• There are squirrels here with all black fur. Especially in Palo Alto.
• Gas pumps are harder to use. They have an extra hood to reduce the amount of emissions that leak into the atmosphere when fueling. But the pumps still drip all the hell over the place when you take the nozzle out of the tank. Somebody should really come up with a design that doesn’t suck.
• Insurance, residences, land, and labor are all much more expensive. Everything else is just mildly more expensive.
• “Barbecue” means “to cook food on a grill, usually outside.” It does not imply the use of barbecue sauce or specific types of meat.
• The phrase “parking garage” is much more common than “parking deck.”
• “The City” generally refers to San Francisco.
• “Bay to Breakers” is a yearly “race” through San Francisco, from the San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean, where the waves break. I say “race” because only a small percentage of people actually run… a much larger percentage parties.
• If you order an entrée with “California” in the name there is a 97% chance it contains avocado.
• There are far fewer churches here. Especially considering that the population density is much higher.
• Alcohol is super cheap, can be sold at more places (not state owned), and can be sold at more sane hours (Sunday).
• Cabo San Lucas is a popular beach vacation spot. It’s in Mexico, at the southern tip of the Baja peninsula.
• Lake Tahoe is a popular skiing and hiking destination. It’s a 4 hour drive to the north east.

Sorry for waiting a year and a half to post this! I typed most of it shortly after we got back, but didn’t get around to editing it until now.

Stockholm, Sweden

Sweden has got their act together. People were polite. Their subway system is great—easy to use, with signs all over the place. Their school system teaches English starting in like 3rd grade. Our hotel was classy and elegant and had a fancy free wifi system. People cleaned up after their pets and didn’t litter much. Drivers were sane. Seeing the Vasa was really cool.

We were lucky enough to be here during midsummer, which Swedes typically celebrate with a joyous party. We celebrated with Martin’s family, which was awesome. There was a maypole, akvavit, snapsvisa, and general merriment. Another interesting aspect of being here during midsummer is that there was only around 3 hours of mostly-darkness each night.

Popular night spot: Stureplan on Birger Jarlsgatan.

Emily’s picture’s from Stockholm
Emily’s pictures from dinner in Täby with Martin’s family
Emily’s pictures from Finnhamn, an island we took a day trip to by boat
Emily’s pictures from the midsummer celebration
Penney’s pictures from Sweden
Amy’s pictures from Sweden
Pictures from my phone (from Sweden, Italy and France)

Rome, Italy

Go here if you want:

• Random ruins strewn about
• The Vatican
• The Pantheon
• The Coliseum
• Crazy drivers. Like, they might not have laws
• Crazy people
• Not a relaxing environment

Popular night spots: Campo de’ Fiori and Piazza Navona

Emily’s pictures of Rome

Florence, Italy

Go here if you want:

• An amazing, relaxing, and beautiful big city
• Lots of shopping (not so much department stores, but definitely some high-end retail brands and lots of little street shops)

Watching the sun set from the hill south of the city is a must (we sat on the steps of San Miniato al Monte). Walking around between Piazza del Duomo, Piazza della Signoria and Piazza della Repubblica is also fun. We stayed in the Beatrice room in the Casa del Garbo bed and breakfast and recommend it.

Popular night spots: Piazza della Signoria and maybe near the corner of Via de Castellani and Via dei Neri.

Emily’s pictures of Florence

Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy

Highly recommended! Taking the train from La Spezia to Vernazza is incredible. You’re in a tunnel for 10 minutes, then are teased with a fleeting glimpse of a mountain falling into the sea. Beauty lies where mountains meet water.

Cinque Terre is a string of five small towns on the west coast of Italy. They’re all amazing, but I definitely liked Vernazza the most. Unfortunately a massive mudslide in October 2011 devastated the city. For more information, see Rick Steves, Save Vernazza, and Vernazza Flood Blog.

One of my favorite parts of the vacation was the day we spent hiking from the southern-most town to the northern-most town.

Popular night spot: By the water.

Emily’s pictures of Cinque Terre

Nice, France

Nice was nice. Not a bad place to go, but maybe not worth going very far out of the way for. French drivers are much less crazy than Italian drivers. But French scooterists might be more crazy. (Please forgive the gratuitous generalizations.)

Popular night spots: Cours Saleya. Place Masséna? Place Rossetti?

Monte Carlo, Monaco

Method of transportation is car(/bus/taxi/scooter/motorcycle). But especially not on foot. The city is crammed into a valley on the Mediterranean coast. The (small part of the) casino that we went in was certainly extravagant. Large and marbley, with big columns, open floor space, and formal staff. Other than the casino and some crazy expensive stores, I guess there is maybe a castle on a hill? I’d say skip it unless you’re a high roller or a big spender. There were some nice cars, though—I saw another Mercedes SLR McClaren.

General Thoughts

• We bought popout maps for each of the cities we went to. They worked out really well! Small enough to fit in a pocket or purse, durable enough to last at least a few days, and they include points of interest.
• It’s good to have in mind a few places where you want to go before you get to a city. Otherwise you end up sitting around feeling bored.
• Living in the San Francisco Bay Area has probably given me a skewed frame of reference, but Europeans smoke a lot. Ordered vaguely from “least smokers” to “most”: Sweden, Nice, Italy. I also felt like people littered their cigarette butts more than they do in the US.
• I didn’t feel like recycling bins were as prevalent as they should have been, especially in public parks and large common areas.
• Unsurprisingly there were way fewer smartphones in Europe than in Silicon Valley. Ordered vaguely from “most smartphones” to “least”: Sweden, Nice, Italy.
• Saw a lot of people commuting on bicycles in all cities.
• Didn’t see many recreational cyclists until we got to Nice. Maybe because we were in large cities everywhere, and Nice has a nice long bike-friendly sidewalk that runs along the coast.
• We were on an Airbus A320-200 at some point and I thought the seat were more comfortable than the standard Boeing seat. I felt like the seat was less concave shaped, and the headrest didn’t cause my body to curl up into a horrible little ball.
• What’s the deal with bottled water in restaurants in Europe? Do people just not drink tap water?
• The rail systems in Italy and France could have been easier to use. Especially if stations had a large map of all the stops. And a timetable for each train. And tickets listed where you need to change trains. And automated ticket machines had good English translations. And the monitors that listed train platforms were accurate. And trains had signs listing where they were going. Probably worth buying rail tickets ahead of time.

I bought a new speed/distance computer for my new bike. There are a few large manufacturers of bike computers, but only CycleOps, Bontrager and Garmin support the ANT+ wireless protocol used by the DuoTrap speed/cadence sensor designed for my bike. I eliminated the CycleOps Joule 2.0 because it’s the same price as Garmin’s top of the line model but doesn’t include GPS. I eliminated the Garmin Edge 200 because it doesn’t support power meters, and I might want to buy a power meter in the future.

This left the following candidates:

• Bontrager Node 1 Digital
• Bontrager Node 2 Digital
• Garmin Edge 500
• Garmin Edge 800

The Bontrager computers look like solid products at good prices, but I decided to geek out and go with Garmin Edge 800 (more info: absurdly long review, shorter review). I also bought the Bontrager DuoTrap speed/cadence sensor. I didn’t get a heart rate monitor or power meter.

I’m happy with it. I’ve uploaded my rides to Strava, which is pretty awesome. I especially like that it compares your rides to each other and to other cyclists’ rides, and highlights personal records and overall records.

The Map

The bare bones version of the device includes only a base map, which lists major roads but not smaller streets. Useless.

I was reluctant to fork over $80 for Garmin’s complete US street map, so I looked for alternatives. One great option comes care of the OpenStreetMap project. I bought a blank microSD card, downloaded a huge .img file, copied it to the SD card and put it in the device.

It worked, but I wasn’t able to search for streets or cities on the device. I also wanted to be able to pre-create routes on my desktop and transfer them to the device. You can do this using Garmin’s BaseCamp software, but you must first register the map with the software. There are a few ways to do this, but none of them are easy if all you have is a .img file.

After more digging I discovered http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/. You pick which sections of the world you’re interested in, then it crunches some numbers and emails you a link to download a handy Windows installer. It works really well.

Complaints

My only complaint so far is that auto-rerouting generally doesn’t do what I want. I went off-route once and it auto-rerouted me using the shortest path to my final destination, which wasn’t what I wanted at all. I wanted it to take me back to beautiful rolling hills of the Santa Cruz mountains—not through the city streets of Cupertino.

Edit:
I realized that, with auto-rerouting turned off, the navigation does exactly what I want—it directs me back to my route.

• Whitest Boy Alive, Dreams and Rules – Oh god, so good. This music is chill, poppy, electronica. The singer is Erlend Øye—the singer from Kings of Convenience. My favorite songs from these albums are Burning and Courage.
• Florence + The Machine, Lungs – Holy crap Florence can sing. Pop rock with a strong female singer. My Boy Builds Coffins is amazing.
• CéU, CéU and Vagarosa – Chill, Brazilian, light, poppy jazz with a female singer. My favorite song from these albums is Bubuia.
• Luísa Maita, Lero-Lero – Chill, Brazilian, light, poppy jazz with a female singer. My favorite song from this album is Lero-Lero.

I haven’t heard many people talk about it, and I think it’s pretty crazy.

From my interpretation it sounds like the company is raising $112 million from VCs, with $21 million going directly to the co-founders. That’s crazy! It’s reasonable for employees and founders of start-ups to get paid a fair salary from VC money (hey, a girl’s gotta eat, right?). It’s unreasonable for them to pocket massive amounts of VC money. The co-founders should be afreakingshamed of themselves. If any VCs actually agreed to these terms, they should also be ashamed of themselves, too. Anyone who contributed money to the VC funds that agreed to the terms should be complaining angrily. And Airbnb employees should be having some serious talks with their company’s leadership. I know I’d never work there. Ridiculous.

I’ve been riding the same 2003 Fuji Silhouette since August 24, 2003. It’s served me well. I paid $500 for it and have ridden 8900 miles (averaging 1100 miles/year). I rode it to computer science classes at NCSU and to the traverse wall. I’ve biked across North Carolina. From Mountain View to Los Angeles. From Eureka to San Francisco (blog post 1, blog post 2). Crossed the Golden Gate Bridge 7 times. Crossed the Dumbarton Bridge once. Completed 6 centuries.

(Side note: There is one inaccuracy on the bikepedia page I linked to above. The page says the spoke nipples were brass, but mine were definitely aluminum. I’m still using the original front wheel and I can’t adjust the spoke tension on many of the spokes because the aluminum nipples are corroded and rounded.)

Impetus

I’ve wanted drop handlebars for a few years, for better handling, especially on descents. I also wanted a carbon frame and fork instead of aluminum, to dampen rough roads. And I wanted something a little lighter. My belief is that these things make riding more enjoyable.

Shopping

Bike shops tend to put their 2011 models on sale in the fall, to shrink their inventory in preparation for their 2012 lineup. I visited 6 bike shops and tested 4 bikes. The first bike I tested was a Trek Madone 5.1 with SRAM Rival components. Maybe the build was goofy, but I wasn’t a fan of the shifters and hoods. They felt a little cheap and fragile. And DoubleTap felt unnatural to me. Maybe I didn’t give it enough of a chance.

I rode a 2011 Focus Cayo 1.0 that was priced at $2400. I liked the appearance a lot, and I like that Focus is a smaller brand. But the Cayo lacked internal cable routing and wasn’t as light as I wanted. It also had a smaller bottom bracket than the bike I ended up with.

I rode a 2011 Cannondale Supersix 3 that was priced at $2700. This bike was a very close second.

New bike

I settled on a 2011 Trek Madone 5.2 56cm, on sale for $2750. Trek doesn’t list the weight for this bike, but I think it’s around 16.5 lbs. I chose it over the SuperSix 3 because the Trek has a larger bottom bracket, the frame seems to be more reinforced around the bottom bracket, and all things being equal I feel like Trek has more experience developing Carbon frames.

A nice feature that I probably should have taken into account is that the Trek has a slot in the left chainstay to insert a wireless speed and cadence sensor. Normally this would have to be strapped to the frame. Having it internal in the chainstay makes for less clutter, and that pleases my “simplicity at all costs” mentality.

Old Shoes

I’ve been using the same awful $40 Shimano mountain biking shoes since 2003. On the plus side the cleats are recessed quite a bit, which makes walking easier. On the minus side, they’re heavy, lace-up (laces + spinning gears = danger), and tend to cut off circulation in my feet on long, cold rides.

New Pedals and Shoes

Higher-end bikes generally don’t come with pedals. There are a few different types of pedals, and riders generally have a preferred pedal type. Rather than offer their bikes with every possible combination of pedals, manufacturers expect riders to provide their own.

I bought Shimano 105 SPD-SL pedals and Sidi Genius 5 Pro Carbon shoes. I’d heard good things about Sidi and they fit me well, so I bought them.

(Side note: Similar to pedals, riders also often have a preferred saddle (aka seat), so manufacturers generally don’t include high-end saddles on their bikes.)