My name is Frank Filipanits Jr. I come from a long line of blacksmiths back in Hungary and southeastern Europe. My great-great-great-great grandfather was named Zoltan; then followed Martin and the rest have been Franks.

I grew up in Englewood, Florida - a little town on the Gulf coast, near Sarasota. Most folks don't know where it is unless their grandmother retired there.

I pursued a BS in Electrical Engineering at Caltech , where I lived in Ricketts Hovse and started a pirate radio station, sKURV radio.

After graduating I jumped at the opportunity to participate in the Master's program in Music Engineering at University of Miami , where I completed my thesis on 3-d positioning of audio (auralization). frank @ rickets house

The lure of silicon valley drew me westward once again to California. For a while I wrote audio software for Digidesign in Menlo Park (and did alot of snowboarding in Tahoe).

But, I seem to have an irrepressible entreprenurial streak which lead me to venture off on my own. I launched my own company in 1996 -- Cool Stuff Labs, Incorporated -- to do audio software for the recording industry.

Along the way I met Paula Murray, a partner at Artefact Design in Palo Alto. I auditioned to play bass in her band (she's the drummer) and in 1999 we ran off to get married in Italy.

Now we spend our time eating good food, drinking great wine, and chasing squirrels with our Australian Shepherd, Luna.