You know you use a foreign language too often, if...

Some people say that you are able to use a foreign language if you start dreaming in it. I say that this is not important. It is important to see if you can still see the difference to your mother tongue.

I read a lot of english books, watch movies and tv series in english only and this is what happened to me: When trying to enter the bank to get to the ATM on sunday I came across the switch telling me "NOT FALL".

I did not understand this. It does not make any sense at all.

It is still summer and not fall

If you know that I am a native Austrian and "NOT FALL" can be written "NOTFALL" and means emergency you will get to the point I have been. I did not recognize the meaning in the first place. My first thought was "Of course it is not fall, because it's still summer!".

So the semiosis got into a dilemma and wasn't unambiguously. My girlfriend is still believing I played a prank on her. Saussure, please help....

On the new Google Instant and serendipity or why serendipity will save the bat

Serendipity is the discovery of something when looking for something completely different - it's the prototype of a fortunate discovery. Think 1492, Post-It, the little blue pills and similar. When the new Google instant was first announced I thought that it might add another tool in the toolbox of serendipity.

Cars in the pedestrian zone

But it will be different. Google tries to guess what you are looking for. So the probability for discovering something you were not looking for is declining. Only leaves you with the possibility of hours of browsing the wikipedia.

The strange thing is that while we are trying to eliminate serendipity in our daily life, there are people out there who live of serendipity: People whose work involves creativity. And I am not only talking about artists alone.

I talk about all of us.

Serendipity has a function in society. It makes people have a pool of ideas you can stumble upon, it helps to maintain the diversity of thoughts. It fights the monoculture of mind. It makes you learn something and develop new things. Curiosity might have killed the cat, but serendipity will save the bat.

The connection between Darwin and parking lots...

You might say there is no connection between parking lots and Darwin. Let me show you what I talk about.
Let us assume that there is a typical small Viennese street. It's length is 25 meters (I made this up to proove a point). Let us also assume that there are only VW Golf parking in this street.
The Golf I from 1974 was 3704mm long, the Golf VI from 2008 is 4199mm long. So in 25 meters can be 6,75 Golf I or 5,95 Golf VI. Obviously you cannot park without spaces between the cars. However you look at it: At the end of the day the growing car model killed one parking lot.

I can hear you: Come on, everybody has a parking garage nowadays. And I say: Not everywhere and not everyone. Where I live, the apartment houses are old, only new houses need to have a garage. More and more people have a car and the industry has invented the SUV. I do not have to tell you how long these cars are.

So where is Darwin? This is the question. One might assume that natural selection would lead to a survival of the fittest - the smallest car. But the theory does not work out. There have been mutations (power steering, parking aids) who change the game. Also bigger cars are thought of to be more secure and often are more secure. Is this Darwin or is it a self optimizing algorithm who will start to work soon or has already started working?

Have I told you that the widthof the Golf I....

Why everybody is keen on the best 10 things

ImreKalo has a short post titled The best five books on everything over at his blog. This made me think. Mostly because of the fact, that a lot of information we consume is organized in lists. I think in the direction of "The best Android apps", "Blurays with superb sound" and the charts. Why is it that way?

 I have some theories, but I only present you with the best three ;-)

1. We want to know what others like and what trends exist out there.
2. Too much choice is agony - Have you ever tried to choose an apple out of 50 varieties
3. A small number of recommendations might give you enough insight into one topic, so you can work alone from that point.

So there is obviously the advantage, that other people made the decision which information is important. The did the work for you. Think FAQ, think Tips and Tricks, think Wikipedia. 

Remember: The content and quality of information is in the hands of the gatekeeper. The right 5 books can put you into the position to understand the main concepts of a topic, they do not make you an expert. To get an expert you have to read some more.

What is the maximum number of books you read on one single topic?

The difference between flowers and a very bad decision

Of course there is a difference between good and bad decisions. I think there are many pages on the web which tell academic tales on that topic. But they are focusing on the outcome or an the context of decisions. What I want to say is simpler.

A symbol for riddles

A good decision is a decision you make. The outcome might still be good or bad. But if you do not decide what to do, your influence on the outcome will vanish or the number of options will tend towards zero. You still have the option to decide not to take steps leading to action. But there will be a decision and that's the point.

So the next time you walk by a florist it is your decision to walk in, your decision to buy flowers for the man or woman you love. In case of doubt go for roses. I am quite sure that the outcome of this decision is a good one...

When your brain makes you think and not the other way around

The weather this weekend was very nice. What do you do when the weather is nice? Yes, you go outside and visit the real life with oxygen, bugs and the other creatures...   ...people. Playing tourist in Vienna is fun. We went to places where we have not been before. We were strangers in our home town.
After city center you need something green and so we followed the tramway D to Nussdorf which is old and in the outskirts (see this picture and you will see, why it is so nice).

A lot of the tourists go there for the Beethoven house. One of many, I have to say: Beethoven lived in 36 houses in Vienna (Read an into deep article here - german only). Good for the fans, confusing for the "casual" tourist.

When standing in front of the Beethovenhaus Kahlenbergerstrasse 26 two elderly folks were talking about the house and how it looked like: devastated and falling apart. They thought that the people living in the house do not care for the house. Well this is what I thought at first also. But then it struck me. This is a historical monument. They are not allowed to change the original state. No painting wooden windows, repairing doors and so on without consulting the Bundesdenkmalamt (Austrian office for monuments).

Your brain will always tend to find a plausible explanation for everything around you. The more you know the trickier these actions get. Like the late Robert Anton Wilson said about the parts of your inner self "Whatever the Thinker thinks, the Prover will prove." And I do not know who said the following (if you know, let us all know): Man sees patterns everywhere, even if they are not there.
Do you use your brain or does your brain use you?

Trying to learn how to program Android - it cannot be that hard, right?

So here I sit in front of the screen. Actually I wanted to write something about GMail's labels and how to use them on your Android in order to get things done and your GMail in order.
Then I needed a screenshot. Cannot be that hard, right?
So you search the net for the solution. If you do, you find a lot of root your phone first, 100 simple steps to quench a screenshot out of your Android and similar hits. There is no elegant and simple solution. Can you believe this?

What is the next step? The next step is to follow these instructions. So you install the SDK.
Stupid idea No. 1: Playing around
Stupid idea No. 2: Thinking about programming the Android
Stupid idea No. 3: Dropping the plan to write an article about Gmail.

And the brilliant outcome: What do I need in order to program Android? Any ideas? Where do I start? Did you write the best 101 or tutorial on the web? Then please write to me.

BTW: What I wanted to write about with the GMail labels was one solution to the following scenario: I often have some E-Mails where I wait for a reply or am supposed to act. So why not create an according label ACTION or HOLD? That was the easy part and basically it was low level GTD. Next you simply create a link on your Android pointing to these labels. Easy checking of the replies (and easy sending of reminders) and a good task list. Too fast? OK. I think I have to make some screenshots.

How to use the power of the cloud on your Android

I think the buzzword of 2010 will be cloud. That was good. It means that we got all this nice gadgets who use the power of the cloud. And I am not talking about the fact, that you can use Google Maps to navigate around your hometown (if you are lucky and this service supported in your area / country).

I wanted to share the following observations/apps with you that enable you to sync information back and forth through the cloud.

1. Dropbox can make your life easier. Very easy. And you can even use it on your Android.
2. Chrome2Phone pushes links and phonenumbers from your browser to your phone
3. The other way around is possible by using android2cloud
4. I already wrote about Read It Later and how to sync it with your Android

There are plenty of other possibilities to sync with a clouded service. That is for sure.

So there is only room for the final question: If social media is like digital crack, what is the cloud?

Are smart phones the end of "never change a running system"?

Some smart phone software is like bananas - ripening in the phone of the end user. Why is that so? I really appreciate that my Android phone has more and more "useful" apps. I have no idea how often I update them.
Really. Where is the point if the agile development is so agile that there is one update a week?
The first rule I learned on a computer was to never change the running system. On my Android it is: If in doubt change the running system! Is the running system a question how ripe the system as such is?
I will keep complaining about the updates, but I will keep installing them, because I love to see the little changes in the software. What do you do?

How smart phones and the web centralize your digital life again

I admit. This is from the point of a Android user, but I think it shouldn't be different if you have any other OS on your phone.
Basically we are at the end of a phase where there is no more need to carry around floppy disk (in case you cannot remember, click here). Actually the media got physically bigger first (Floppy disk, CD, DVD, external Harddisk) only to get smaller last (USB-Stick) and finally disappear. This is where the dropbox comes in. Online storage for free (BTW: If you use my link we both receive 250MB more).
This is where the second line comes in: Next to storage and carrying data from one place to another (the workaround to email everything back and forth does not count) is the fact, that we all use various computers. Various computers, files, versions... ...I think you get the point. So the idea is brilliant.
And the most brilliant idea of all was to make the cloud available for phones. So I have my calendar, my dropbox, my everything with me...
Can anybody tell me: If the cloud knows everything. What is the equivalent to a thunderstorm?