I’ve been putting a lot of thought into Google’s announcement to release the App Inventor for Android.

Basically, it’s a tool that will allow people without any coding skills to create applications for the Android platform. I don’t necessarily thing that it will make every cat owner to hack his own pussy app, but it’s exciting none the less. Particularly, because it will introduce a new stage of personalized computing.

We do hear a lot of talk about ubiquitous computing this days. With reason, because it’s a huge topic, but many assume that it will lead to a closed environment, since we will see more computing devices with which we will only a very passive relationship. A refrigerator, for example. There are a lot of people who are hacking their computers, but I guess we can assume that there will be less people who would want to hack their refrigerator. With good reason, not everything needs to be hacked (but it’s important to ensure that it’s hackable, if one wants to do all the fun stuff).

There is – of course – a comparison with Apple in here. While Apple might have created the most successful mobile platform yet, Google’s App Inventor is a very important step towards educating people why it’s important to be in control of your own computing devices.

Many assume that the App Inventor will lead towards more crappy apps in the Market. While that’s a valid reason, I don’t think that most people will write apps for the market. Instead they will be writing apps that are solving a particular issue in their life. Those apps will be highly personalized and probably with no use to all that many people. You’ve thought that the App Store with its over 200.000 apps is covering most parts of the Long Tail? Just wait to see what people will be doing with the App Inventor.

Scripting applications was the first step towards this development. The first application that I’ve ever scripted – on a very basic level – was mIRC. It’s an IRC client and it allowed you to modify it with a few, very simple and basic commands. By doing so, one can individualize mIRC’s behavior according to ones needs. But scripting itself isn’t really that accessible to most people, because it still involves … well something that vaguely reminds of coding. Most people don’t want to code, but they do want to create solutions for problems in their life.

That’s why Powerpoint is successful. Instead of writing text, you describe whatever it is that you want to say with simple forms that lead to a broader picture. The App Inventor is working the same way, instead of writing down whatever it is that you want your phone to be able to do, you will just click it together in the App Inventor, just like you would do in Powerpoint.

Which brings us back to the refrigerator. In a world of ubiquitous computing and with an increase development towards the Internet of Things (whatever it may look like), it’s important that we will have modern, personalized solutions. If every device starts to be connected to the Internet, then everything can be accessed and individualized. It will create an immense eco sphere of ideas that could not be possible solved by all the developers in the world. That’s when the App Inventor (or however it will be called in 5 years time) will really kick into gear.

And by creating those apps, people will start realizing how crappy Apple’s policies really are. If you buy a device, especially a smartphone, it comes with a lot of restrictions already. The long term contracts have been a drag in the consumers eye for a long time and now that they start to disappear (at least in Germany), we’re moving towards the next step of freedom in the mobile world with the App Inventor.

The App Inventor might not lead to a larger amount of quality apps in the Market, but it sure as hell will lead to a much broader understanding of why it’s important to have full control over whatever it is that you’re buying. And it comes at a crucial time as well, because the amount of smartphones that have been sold so far might be large, but it’s nothing compared with the amount of devices that are going to be sold in the coming years. Every bit of the puzzle that will help people understand why it’s probably not the best decision to buy an iPhone is very welcome in the upcoming mobile wars.

I love The West Wing. Everybody who knows me knows that, because I keep coming back to this tv show. While tv show must sound rather banal, it is in fact more than the usual entertainment thing. The West Wing captures the very idealistic idea of what the United States of America wants to be. That doesn’t mean that they actually achieve that – far from that -, but it’s not always a waste of time to play a little bit of “what if?”.

There are many reasons why I love The West Wing, but the idealistic part is my favorite. It’s bundled into great stories, with great actors and impressive execution and for somebody who used to study political science with a leaning towards US politics this is really a dream come true.

It is probably a bit hard for somebody to appreciate the show as much as I do, if you don’t have this interest in politics, but the enjoyment of The West Wing isn’t bound to that factor. It’s a great show and it’s really worth your time, despite the fact that it’s not the freshest kid on the block.

Now, and this is for the people who know me not news as well, there is an episode in The West Wing. Its official episode number is 3.00 and it was called ‘Isaac and Ishmael’. That’s because it’s the first episode of the third season, but it’s not an official episode in the story line. This episode – which is my favorite episode in the whole show – was specially created after the 9/11 attack. The idea was to discuss Islamic Extremism. On TV. Rather shortly after the attack itself.

And discuss they did. Here just two examples:

At the end of the episode Josh, the guy who is talking in the first video, encourages everybody to embrace plurality and tackle more than one idea. And it’s a perfect ending to an episode that so elegantly and beautifully discusses an over emotionalized topic and at that point in time, it was a master piece that couldn’t have been matched by anything.

Vint Cerf is one of my favourite speakers. The depth of his experience has seemingly no end and his ability to just pull an anecdote “from back in the 70s” seems to be limitless. Also, his voice is just stunningly charismatic and clear.

So, it’s not a big surprise that I consumed his talk on the Smart Grid almost instantely and I can only recommend it to everybody who is even vaguely interested.

(via IP-USN Blog)

Starting a company is a mind boggling process. Both positively as well as negatively.

First of, it’s really amazing how many people are willing to help out as soon as you start talking about the plans to do some stuff. Luckily, I do know a lot of people who did this before and are sharing a lot of insight that can only be accumulated through experience. Some things you just can learn by either doing them or being told by somebody who has been there before.

And that’s why I want to thank ever body, who shared their ideas, thoughts and support with me (us). Your know how is unimaginably helpful and we’re happy that we don’t need to do all the mistakes by ourselves.

The bad part isn’t a big surprise: the bureaucracy. On one hand, it’s kind of less than I actually expected, but it is enough so that one can see exactly the flaws in the system and where it needs improvement. Some things are just not logical and without the insight from friends and family, we would have walked into some serious trouble. Not because we’re stupid, but mostly because there is no logic behind some of the processes.

That being said, there is of course still my daily job and it’s still full of pitches. Not sure why we have so many pitches in the summer – that’s the time where everything is a bit quieter, just before the planing phase that usually starts in September -, but we sure have enough of them to keep everybody way more busy than we would like. I myself am currently involved in the largest pitch ever that I’ve been part of. At least budget wise. There is a good team working on it in Bonn and I’m very much looking forward to what we will make happen.

Overall, it looks like I will keep traveling for a bit. At least on the weekends. I’ve been to Berlin this weekend and it looks like I’m going to be back next weekend as well. If you want to meet up, just shout.

(I know, that I’m wage about most of the details concerning whatever it is that I’m doing in the future. And I’m sorry for that, but I promise that I will write more as soon as it’s possible. There are some communication restriction that need some overcoming. We will get there. Soon.)

I applied for the German citizenship on Monday.

Becoming a citizen of a country is a big step for everybody and it took me a while to … you know, actually go for it. For many years now, I’ve been living without any citizenship at all. It’s a rather unusual status and one that’s not particularly liked by countries, because every country that did let me cross their boarders is responsible for me. The Wikipedia article on Statelessness is a comprehensive summary on the subject.

Non the less, I didn’t feel the pressure to become a citizen. With the current status, I have the right to live and work in Germany as well as travel without problems as long as the country signed the Schengen Agreement. Which means that I could to almost any country in Europe (except to UK, which is one of the reasons why I still didn’t manage to visit London …). It also meant that every time I wanted to the US, I had to apply for a visitors visa, which not only took a lot of time, but is also a costly procedure.

To be very clear about that: applying for a citizenship isn’t about identity for me. I don’t really think that I will feel myself more German after receiving the citizenship. The rights and responsibilities that are awarded with a citizenship will surely effect me, but I don’t feel like they will make me part of a particular society.

That said, I think being a German citizen is a big privilege. Every country has its problems and the rising conservatism here is scary, but at the end of the day it’s still the country with the best social system and a very high level of comfort. The constitution is, by design, one of the best in the world, mostly because it’s very new compared to its European counterparts. I know all of that, but I still don’t see myself as the usual citizen.

Maybe I’m wrong about that and it might even change with me becoming a citizen, but I really see states as a functional form and not one for identity. We’re, as a global society, surely not as tightly organized in tribes as Doctorow pictures it in his Eastern Standard Tribe, but I do see a tendency toward that concept. State boarders are, in a digital world, not a particular interesting concept. As with most regulatory concepts, we need to accept the fact that those as well can not be transferred into the future. And being mostly a citizen of this digital tribe, I’m really don’t have that much affection for those old boarders.

I’ve been interested in politics for the most part of my life now. With my background, that might be a natural development, but I really don’t know where it came from. In my family, there are a lot of opinions about various political situations, but nobody is politically engaged. At least not in an official manner. My interest, wherever it comes from, led me to apply for political courses during high school and as a class we won a tournament (on something, I can’t remember), which gave us the chance to visit the European Academy at the German boarder with Luxembourg. There, we stayed a couple of days and had the chance to work with some very bright minds. They split us up in groups and I was in one that debated the idea of a unified Europe. It stuck with me and I would love to see this idea come to life during my lifespan, but I’m not really counting on that.

Why am I telling you this? Well, mostly because to give you my perspective on things. As I said, becoming a citizen was not an emotional decision for me, but really a practical one. It gives me more freedom (as funny as that might sound from someone who doesn’t have a citizenship) and it gives me more security. Mostly, it gives me more flexibility and that’s is something I eager to get.

The whole process will likely take about six month and after a couple of checks into my past, I will be awarded a certificate, which will enable me to get a German ID and a passport. Looking forward to that.