Write your own travel guide

Write your own travel guide

Back when I was still running Oberon Medialab, one of the problems was that I always came up with new ideas, usually losing interest long be...

Foreign Aid is Theft

Foreign Aid is Theft

I'm all for helping the Third World. In fact, I think that if we could solve global inequality, most of the other problems would disolve...

No Chicken discrimination in Switzerland

No Chicken discrimination in Switzerland

It is the little things that are different from country to country. A while ago, I noticed that eggs from free range chickens in the Netherl...

The end is neigh

The end is neigh

I read somewhere that the chances of being killed in an airplane are actually lower than than being killed by an asteroid that takes out the...

We Rock!

We Rock!

Google just anounced plans to scan in a couple of libraries, among others the Harvard University Library with 15 million books. Google is no...

PyTivo

PyTivo

I don't much like tv, but I do like some programs. So, bittorrent is my protocol of choise. But yeah, getting the programs you want is a...

The Cost of Pessimism

The Cost of Pessimism

Germany ’s economy is in the doldrums. Has been for years and everybody knows why. The Germans work too few hours, the taxes are too high,...

On the dangers of drinking tea

On the dangers of drinking tea

So I'm back from Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka or Ceylon as it used to be called has a certain claim to fame when it comes to tea. The grow a lot...

Illusive reality

Illusive reality

This is very weird . Click the link and follow the instructions. It's a simple game, you see a movie and count the number of times the p...

Off to Sri Lanka

Off to Sri Lanka

Tonight we're flying to Sri Lanka for a week of relaxing and looking at old temples. Yeah, I know, a week is too short to appreciate a c...

Googles not so secret sauce

Googles not so secret sauce

People often ask me what it is I do for Google. Hmm, that's secret. Google has a lot of secrecy going on, for good reasons most of the t...

The chair for the office

The chair for the office

  Since today the Zurich office is a complete Google office. We have our own massage chair. From buying to actually receiving the chair, it...

On stupid programs and stupid humans

On stupid programs and stupid humans

The multimedia side of our new appartment is shaping up. What previously was our main computer will from now on just serve mp3's and mov...

Vote advise for American readers

Vote advise for American readers

All bloggers seem to do it, so it here it goes. I think Bush is a man with a plan, who loses no time over executing it. He wanted to cut tax...

The Need for Crap

The Need for Crap

Switzerland is one of the more expensive countries, even if Ikeas Billies are relatively cheap , or at least that is what most foreigners li...

No Floppy Drive

No Floppy Drive

Today I suddenly realized that my laptop does not have a floppy drive. I needed to create a boot floppy in order to install windows 2000 on ...

Of food and drinks

Of food and drinks

Zurich is a lot more easy going and international than most people would think. Bars stay open late, there’s food from every kitchen of t...

My poor inner-Geek

My poor inner-Geek

After months of speculation, PalmOne finally anounced the new Treo that I had been lusting for . Unfortunately the phone that should have b...

Billynomics

Billynomics

The big mac index is a currency index by the economist that tries to calculate which currencies are over and undervalued by looking at the ...

Google Lock-Up

Google Lock-Up

I don’t like alarm systems much. Forget to turn them off once and before you know it some pseudo-police guy with a fake (or not) gun will ...

Der Untergang

Der Untergang

I went to see “Der Untergang” , a movie about the last days of Hitler and the Third Reich. The movie has been a bit controversial in Ger...

All Look Same?

All Look Same?

I often wonder if all white people look the same to people from other races. I know most white people think they do look more different (wit...

The unbearable lightness of Movies

The unbearable lightness of Movies

I was watching a not quite so interesting movie the other day with my wife; my wife expressed her opinion on the movie by falling soundly as...

Confessions from a Google hacker

Confessions from a Google hacker

When I started with my Google hacks a bit more than a year ago, I had of course no idea I would be working for the search engine relatively ...

Boring Alps

Boring Alps

When I told people we were moving to Switzerland , a common reaction was: Switzerland , isn’t that very boring? The Swiss do have a reputa...

Gadget Lust

Gadget Lust

Rumour now has it that the Treo 650 will come out in the end of November. My birthday is 24 of November. Coincident? I don't think so. ...

Skype hype

Skype hype

Yeah, I know, I’m late to the party. But I finally installed Skype, the latest (probably not even anymore) in Internet Telephony. I love i...

Living on Swiss Time

Living on Swiss Time

One big difference between Google Switzerland and Google Mountain View is that Google Switzerland is in the middle of everything while Goog...

Settling in Switzerland

Settling in Switzerland

Finding an apartment in Zurich turned out to be easier than predicted by many an insider. The word was that in order to get an apartment yo...

Let's stop wasting money on Art

Let's stop wasting money on Art

I am blogging this from Google Zurich. Got here on Tuesday with the night train from Amsterdam after a hectic day of packing which would ha...

A penguin saved my butt

A penguin saved my butt

A typical scene from a household in moving. Some stuff is already in boxes, a lot of stuff is not and more and more stuff is just randomly l...

People doing strange things with Software

People doing strange things with Software

I made it to the conference and the first day was a bit of challenge, with the minimum amount of sleep I had, but after that it got a lot be...

Something rotten on the way to Denmark

Something rotten on the way to Denmark

So I changed the perfect weather of California for the more questioniable variant of North-Western Europe to go to the Readme festival in D...

Going home

Going home

Every party got the end sometime. This Friday I'm flying home. Google Zurich here I come. Google Headquarters is a wonderful place to wo...