The Tech Museum Upgrades

As a native of Silicon Valley, I regularly visit the Tech Museum in downtown San Jose. I hadn't been there in a while. I didn't want to go there Memorial Day, figuring there would be a million kids there, so I went today instead. Guess what? There were a million kids anyway. LOL. School groups mostly.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that they have changed some of the exhibits. If you go somewhere enough times, you get bored with seeing the same things every trip. And since this museum has been here a few years, I've seen some exhibits more times than I care too.

Downstairs now has an exhibit on electric vehicles, including an electric truck, plus a hundred year old electric car! The internet info sections have been removed, probably on the idea that everyone knows this stuff. No more creating your own website, since anyone can do that at home anyway. I mean, that's what this blog is.

I would say that half the stuff is aimed a kids now. Which isn't a bad idea. You want them to understand the technology. Still, the tech tags that were supposed to create a web based souvenir didn't work for me. I used the tag at several exhibits, but when I got home, only one thing showed up. Fail.

The IMAX dome theater is a major attraction. This is claimed as the largest one in the west. I watched a film on the Arctic. Mostly followed Polar Bears. Huge screen, you feel part of the movie because of the immense size. Could have done without the awful Paul McCartney songs. Yes I'm a huge Beatle fan, but these were just bad recent songs that detracted from the film.

I was somewhat amused to see that there will be a special Mythbusters exhibit this fall. It will apparently be an extra, probably in the hall next door, like the Star Trek exhibit was a few years ago. As a fan of the show for several years I will certainly be visiting that. I noticed that there were a couple of small exhibits that used the two hosts on video. That made me smile.

This is a top notch museum. I highly recommend it along with the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, & the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park.