This series of posts reflects my inner geek.  It chronicles a number of information technology (IT) related “tourist attractions” that I would love to visit before I die.  Some of them are simply far away locations that I dream of making it to and others will be locations that I would need some assistance obtaining access to.  Please feel free to add your own via the comments block below.

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Today’s destination is the mothership for all Mac-Heads: The Apple Computer Company’s Headquarters! It is apply addressed at 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA!  It is a modern piece of art, that really portrays the Mac esthetic on a grand scale.  There is an entire campus of buildings that house the engineering, research, and design teams of Apple, Inc.

Wikipedia does great justice to this topic.  It reports that:

Infinite Loop is a street encircling the six main buildings of Apple‘s headquarters in Cupertino, California. Each building has a number which corresponds to its single-digit address on the Loop, and so Apple’s official mailing address is "1 Infinite Loop". The numbers increment in the clockwise direction. Employees often refer to the buildings as IL1 through IL6. The loop connects to Mariani Avenue, which was the former street address of Apple HQ; early printed material contains the address "20525 Mariani Avenue".

I have been to this location and I can tell you two things:

  1. If you like, Macs, it is really cool… and,
  2. If you don’t, it is really boring!

What can you do?  Well you can drive around and stare in awe at all of the brainiacs that work there.  You can also go to the Apple Corporate Store!  It is essentially and Apple Store, like in every mall in America, but also features corporate themed items aplenty!  You can buy t-shirts, mugs, pens, key chains, water bottles, etc!  Believe it or not, they even sell a shirt that says, “I visited the Mothership".  I kid you not about that.  You can read a review of the store here and even see photos of the shirt!

I really enjoyed my visit.  It felt very “information age-y” if you know what I mean.  It is essentially a temple built up to the gods of the computer revolution and stands as a testament to one of the greatest comebacks in corporate history.  While, I seriously doubt that you will bump into Steve Jobs during your visit, it is impossible to not feel his influence when you drive “the infinite loop” wearing your “mothership” t-shirt!

So where do you want to visit that is related to your interest in The Information Age and Information Technology?  Do you want to see where people worked, like this article, or where objects are?  Together we could make a terrific list.  Please add below.

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for September 22, 2009 ©Scott Coughlin

Photo credit:  Wikipedia

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