CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-20 19:03:48 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 4 +1s)

With summer around the corner and my inlaw owning a caravan this thing looks like the geeky way to join the club...
Practical Motorhome Doubleback VW Camper review

2013-05-18 12:37:42 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Bit of 20 what?
Age of the driver?
Age of the Car?
Temperature?
...

2013-05-17 19:10:12 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

Weather should be nice tomorrow

2013-05-16 19:25:05 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I am surely ordering one of these kits. Will play the LOL song with my strawberry plants :-)

http://www.ted.com/talks/jay_silver_hack_a_banana_make_a_keyboard.html

2013-05-05 15:56:02 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

A Rainbow in a cloud. Seen on this sunny day. There's got to be a name for this phenomena. Anyone knows?

2013-05-05 11:28:52 (2 comments, 3 reshares, 18 +1s)

Roman roads and bridges, Arab walls and towers. Synagogues, churches, monasteries and above all, friendly people and great food in Toledo

2013-05-05 11:20:40 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

A beautiful weekend in Toledo Spain

2013-05-02 14:05:41 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

Chocoholics of the World, Unite!

2013-05-02 12:07:08 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

2013-05-02 11:35:34 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 14 +1s)

Spring dress
I walk every day past this not very special tree. Today it surprised me with its branches full of flowers. A hymn to spring. Happiness for everyone.

2013-05-01 07:07:26 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

Augmented reality demo

The folks from Noser implemented an augmented reality app on an Android phone that allows the user to turn lamps on or off by pointing the camera at them and selecting an action to perform.  They did this using our digitalstrom technologies.

The application detects a pattern in the surface of the lamp and uses this to identify the lamp spatially. It is amazing at how effective it is at identifying the lamps.

Noser Engineering Mobile Solutions Augmented Reality App Demo

#digitalstrom   #augmentedreality   #android  

2013-04-27 07:53:51 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

The still ongoing story in XKCD
This page has taking all snapshots and allows you to see what how the story evolved. 
The comic is also an illustration of passing time. From the spectator's point of view, each image is meaningless by itself ; the only possible perception of time is to "wait for it" and see how things evolve. Thus, time is in the spectator's perception, not in each individual frame.
As of this writing, after more than 670 hours, the story is still ongoing - even after many new, different comics have been posted on the front page. It was initially updating every 30 minutes, but is now updating on the hour.

How do you think the story will end?

http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1190:_Time

2013-04-25 05:19:33 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 15 +1s)

The cows know
Spring is finally here. The cows are out. They must know. They are enjoying the spring flowers and the view :-)

2013-04-24 13:54:09 (3 comments, 3 reshares, 7 +1s)

Making engineering jobs attractive for girls
The Girl's Day in Germany has the goal of getting young teenager girls to know what engineers do and hopefully decide for a technical career.
The day will be held tomorrow all through Germany.  Today there was a preparation event in the Bundeskanzlei where several girls  went to look at the the career possibilities in engineering.

We at digitalstrom were lucky to be one of the companies that could show how interesting it is to be an engineer. Some of our female colleagues were there showing our technologies.

Almost forgot to mention, Ms Merkel came by our little booth as well

#girlsday2013   #girlsday   #digitalstrom   #femaleengineer  

2013-04-18 19:30:51 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

A friend of mine is having a birthday party this Saturday Night.
His invitation made me remember this song, with its special dance.
All those who danced to it plus one it :-)

2013-04-16 05:09:37 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 15 +1s)

Tuesday morning sun by the lake

2013-04-14 14:41:22 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 18 +1s)

Beautiful day by the lake

Spring is finally here

#sunday

2013-04-01 14:19:21 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

A sunny Easter Monday in Rapperswil by the lake of Zurich.

2013-03-31 06:50:49 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Happy Easter
Kids (and their mother) have been quite busy these last days.
Who is going to eat 44 boiled eggs?
#easter   #easteregg  

2013-03-24 12:38:49 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

Found a great restaurant in Cologne, Germany: in the Wasserturm hotel.
Greatly decorated dishes and cool creations.
http://www.hotel-im-wasserturm.de/

2013-03-16 18:12:14 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Ever heard of openMaterials?

Through a TED talk I discovered this great community trying to become a wiki of modern materials. From their site:

In broad terms the aims of openMaterials are:
- Collect interesting resources (news, techniques, theory, artworks, videos, etc.) and share them via links and blog posts
- Publish in-depth articles and interviews
- Create a repository (wiki) of relevant materials, tools and techniques. eg. - descriptions, physical properties, what it’s good for and what it’s not, tricks and hacks, where to get it, who’s using it, who’s improving it
- Experiment and document experiments, and share them via how-tos and tutorials (text and video)

Check them out: http://openmaterials.org/

2013-03-15 15:16:30 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 9 +1s)

Wait 42 years to unlock a phone
A friend of mine is having some issues with his iPhone.
He will have to wait 42 years to enter his code again.

Maybe his gandchildren will be able to do it
#funfriday   #funny   #iphone  

2013-03-07 17:41:59 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

My smart home checks the health of my refrigerator

Some of you might be familiar with the case of the refrigerator open door where all food in there goes bad.  It happened to me a few years ago when one of the kids together with his friends "inadvertently" plugged off the big freezer in the basement.

Wouldn't it be great if my smart home could watch over the refrigerator for me?  This is indeed possible.  Every refrigerator has a "heartbeat" that can bee seen in the energy consumption over time.  The pattern of energy consumption is the compressor turning on and off to cool down the contents on the freezer.  The frequency and lenght of this pattern depends on the type of the compressor, on the ammount of food inside of the refrigerator and also on the difference of temperatures between the freezer and the external air.

Provided this datais av... more »

2013-03-06 07:14:27 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Can my smart home protect itself from hail?

The other day I received my yearly invoice from my home insurance company.  With the bill they included a brochure describing how the amount of damage done by hail in buildings has increased in the last years.  

And this is not only related to any change in weather patterns, which is difficult to prove. The main reason is that modern homes tend to have larger windows compared to the homes we used to build some decades years ago.  This results in larger surfaces that can be affected during a hail storm.

You might wonder, why not just have a rain/wind/hail sensor mounted in your home.  Well, the bad news is that there is no such thing as a local hail sensor.  And the main reason is if you can sense hail, it is already too late.  So the only proper way is to have a service warn the home that hail is on its way.
We ha... more »

2013-02-28 17:07:09 (13 comments, 3 reshares, 11 +1s)

What do you want your smart home do for you?
Which ideas come to mind when you hear the words Smart Home.  Which functions do you expect it to do for you?  Lets start a discussion and see what we all want!

#smarthomes   #cebit2013   #cebit   #digitalstrom  

2013-02-23 12:05:58 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

Our technologies at CeBIT
Yes, we have been quite busy adding functionality to our system and will be showing them at the CeBIT
You already have a smart phone and a smart car. Come and see what a smart home actually is!
Would be happy to show you personally at the show, just drop me a note below.

http://www.cebit.de/en/about-the-trade-show/topics-trends/product-innovations-2013/lamp-to-control-lamp-to-control-control-can-you-dim-me

#cebit2013   #digitalstrom   #smarthomes   #smarthouse  

2013-02-21 06:30:30 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Snowman family.
Spotted during a Sunday walk

2013-02-09 10:18:21 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Snowy Switzerland
Yes, we have had our share of snow this winter.  I definitely will not be having tea in my patio today.  It is all white out here. Time to get the sledge.

2013-02-02 19:03:12 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

On the left, the night lights. On the right the sun rising over the alps. In the middle the mighty cloud

2013-02-02 13:02:10 (12 comments, 0 reshares, 12 +1s)

Snow at 500 meters

2013-01-31 18:39:47 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

The border between day and night.

2013-01-06 18:15:42 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

The fort of San Juan de Ulua in Veracruz Mexico.
It has a small but interesting museum on precolonial art. It used to be a prison, a garrison and is now a museum.

2013-01-06 18:11:49 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 14 +1s)

Back from visiting family in Mexico
The food was excellent as usual. 

2013-01-06 18:09:20 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 11 +1s)

The fort of San Juan de Ulua in Veracruz Mexico
Family history says that my grandfather quit the Mexican marine by swimming from this fort to the port of Veracruz.  He had lost the silverware of the fort commander when he was bringing him his food and feared the reprimand.

2012-12-23 08:21:43 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

The way

2012-12-22 10:09:39 (3 comments, 4 reshares, 10 +1s)

Happy robochristmas!
From the lab of a good friend of mine
Autonomous Christmas Lab

2012-12-21 15:59:30 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

The Rational Person's Guide to the Mayan Apolalypse
Courtesy of Prezi, a great way to do presentations.  Midway listen to the Aquarius song and remember the good old days:-)

http://prezi.com/kdpymtr6x4lp/the-rational-persons-guide-to-the-mayan-apocalypse/

2012-12-21 08:25:44 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Greetings from snowy switzerland

2012-12-19 22:25:28 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Come and sit for a while.....

2012-12-19 20:43:33 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Light interacting with people.
Check the video, cool idea.
http://studioroosegaarde.net/project/crystal/

2012-12-16 13:34:40 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Customer is king
How often do we hear this phrase and is just lip service?  Well today I experienced the great support from Amazon.  My Kindle froze some 2 weeks ago. I went through all the procedures (resetting, recharging) and then contacted Amazon support.  A lady by the name of Silvia helped me organize a replacement at no charge since it was still under guarantee.  I will be able to read my books on my Kindle over the holidays.  Now I just need to get some new reading glasses...

2012-12-08 19:01:28 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Thanks for the invite +Evo Terra 
Let me reshare my experiences publishing in the Amazon Kindle program. Hope this helps some folks here:

The new publishing paradigm
Do you remember that cartoon of Snoopy where he was writing in his typewriter on top of his dog house, just to get his manuscripts sent back with a note Don't call us, we will call you?.  Well, Snoopy would love this new brave world of self publishing electronic books. In this story I want to tell you my experiences publishing my book “The power of social media” http://www.amazon.com/power-social-media-ebook/dp/B006NOG5JC electronically for the Kindle Direct Publishing program from Amazon.

Let me start by sharing a little secret with you:  I’ve published 2 books in my life and the first one was a flop.  Back in 1996 when Internet was getting started, I created a web site with funnies wherepeople co... more »

2012-12-08 09:19:02 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Internships make a difference
In this well articulated piece George Weiner makes a point for internships.  I have studied and worked in the american and the Swiss system and can only agree with the point he makes about internships.

In Germany and Switzerland most kids will start an internship in their late teens.  I believe this helps them in two ways:
1) They learn the value of earning their money
2) They can understand better which skills are required in the professional area.

Compare this with a kid that only goes to college, and does not know if what she is studying is relevant at all, nor does understand what earning money means.

And the companies benefit in big ways as well.  Talented junior people can be given projects that might be useful in the future, but are not "material" enough to be granted a pre project status.  And anextra... more »

2012-12-07 18:44:27 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 26 +1s)

Greetings from Snowy Switzerland.
Thanks for getting the community started +Athena Carey 

2012-12-07 18:30:28 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

Check out our interactive Xmas decoration
http://www.digitalstrom.com/x-mas/

2012-12-02 13:23:56 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 18 +1s)

Snowy December
All is white around us, and the sun came out to see it all.

#zensunday   #snow  

2012-12-01 09:48:38 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 5 +1s)

One of the most inspiring TED talks of this year
Janine Shepherd talks about how she got her life back after an accident that crippled her down.  Worth watching.

http://www.ted.com/talks/janine_shepherd_a_broken_body_isn_t_a_broken_person.html
#tedx  

2012-11-28 16:04:10 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

This holiday season I wish for all of us to sing together, irrelevant of how pure and educated our voices might be.  By singing together we become part of an entity greater than us, and by doing it in family we remove any judgment calls on the quality of our music.  We get back to living through the sheer joy of making music and not only consuming it.

http://culturalpurveyor.com/concerts-that-we-make/

2012-11-21 20:20:37 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

So true!

2012-11-20 20:05:13 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Amy Cuddy on First impressions
I quote: In general I really think people make the mistake of over-weighting the importance of expressing strength and competence, at the expense of expressing warmth and trustworthiness. I think this is a mistake. How can you possibly be a good leader if the people who are supposed to be following you don’t feel that you understand them? How is it possible? No one is going to listen if they don’t trust you. Why would they? Why should they? Trust opens them up to what you have to say. It opens them up to your strength and confidence. Trust is the conduit through which ideas travel.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/11/amy-cuddy-first-impressions