Merry digital Christmas

Die besten Einfälle kriegt er nicht im Meeting Raum sondern in der Badewanne...

Mein Kollege Timo im Interview.

Beginnersmind Timo Heuer from Beginners-mind.de on Vimeo.

The Social Inbox

Log into Facebook and request your Facebook e-mail invite here: http://www.facebook.com/about/messages/

You would have invented Facebook.

Being Famous

Kaum im neuen Job, schon in der Presse...

- w&v: Hanse Ventures baut Team aus

- new business: Hanse Ventures verstärkt Team

- Kress: Hartwig übernimmt Kommunikation

- Welt online: Frauen an die Macht

- Hamburg Media School Interview: Neuland betreten ohne Angst

Missing SF

Home is where the heart is.

I love you, San Francisco. And yet I have to leave for now.

I remember my first days here. Finally back in the land of the free and the happy. Europeans are crazy about you. Honestly, I was disappointed at first. I thought you'd be more beautiful. The charm of the TL does not strike the eyes of the stranger. But the more you open up to it, the more you get in return.

I will miss you, Angel's Café. We watched the World Cup soccer match against Argentina together at 6 in the morning. I drank 88 small lattes, one a day - I only had to order them in my first week though. Later, all of you knew what I wanted the minute I walked in. Same at Star Market liquor store. You could keep track of my drinking habits. I hope you didn't. Sometimes, you even opened up late for us to buy apple cider or joined us for a smoke on the roof.

SFSU - thanks a lot. I loved being FACULTY! The offices you provided me with really helped me focus on my thesis. I liked to joke around with all of you, no matter if it was the Security guys or the MBA program directors. And Yuli, you always made me crave Sushi. I will never forget that I tried my first Uni with you.

And here we are: San Francisco - you are my Sushi capitol! I have never eaten anything like this. Tekka - I will miss you especially. Also, the gluten-free frozen Pizza at Wholefoods and the ice-cream sandwiches, the beer tasting that Gluten Free Gluttons organized, the Tapioka buns I got separately toasted at Chez Maman, the best bacon in the whole world at Mission Beach Café and all the ciders I drank in the many bars on Polk Street and in the Mission.

Hayes Street, you remind me of my favorite area in Hamburg: die Schanze. Tenderloin, you are like Hamburg's Kiez. Doloroes Park - I will miss your swings at night and sunny spots with music during the days. I had a good time with Eric's friends at July 4. Lower and Upper Haight - I love your Hippie origin. You are so colorful. I loved walking through your streets although I almost never made it to Golden Gate Park before sunrise.

Blackheart. It all started with a drink at Hemlock - seeing all these beautifully decorated ppl. And the thought of getting my own personal SF memory stitched into my left side. Thanks Jörg and Cody, for the great design. Those were 2.5 intense hours that will last forever.

SF, you would not be home without the people (in anti-alphabetical order - cause there shouldn’t be an order):
Zach - thank you for showing me around that much. I enjoyed all the trips to Palo Alto, Berkeley and Half Moon Bay. Thanks for being gluten-free and forcing a couple of cultural hours into my uneducated European brain. I hope my thesis won't bore you.
Tuan - you are a social butterfly. Thanks for hooking me up with all these ppl and driving me around. I will miss my shotgun spot in your car, the cold and old coffees and the great music (and Eminem). But even more I will miss analyzing with you what's going on with everyone.
The guy - I will miss you. Thanks for being patient, posh and real. Thanks for the pizza, the rides, the songs, teaching me C and G on the guitar, and letting me bedhog. Weird that you left before me...
Sebastian - you have definitely been a crazy German and fun to go out with. I will see you anytime, anyplace...
Nate - hun, you are crazy and I am loving it. Glad to see you are ahead of things again and sorry for invading your place for so long. It has been a great home.
Michael - normal is boring, isn't it? We had a couple of fun night outs. However, sorry, for messing up that night. I have a hunch we will live in the same city again at some point.
Matt Drake - good luck with the campaign. I am sure you make a great supervisor of my district. I would vote for you if I could.
Keyatta - great events you hosted. I liked the combination of art and music with a little spice of craziness. I wish I knew someone like you in Hamburg - we could definitely need a little Key style over there.
Keiko and Ray - I love your studio and hope you keep going. You have an amazing taste! All the openings and events were inspiring. I think Tiny Inventions were my favorite. Take care of Einstein or feed him to your cat.
Kate - I am so happy I met you at the gluten-free beer tasting. Your website is amazing - keep going! Thanks for showing me all these gluten-free places and swamping waitresses together.
Julio - thanks for showing me the Gates of Hell at Stanford Campus. I got inspired and enjoyed studying with you.
Jörg - we had exciting eight days. Thanks for the butterfly design and reading my thesis. Hope you had as much fun at Alcatraz, Twitter and the Something Corporate concert as I did.
Johnny - Go abroad and pursue your dreams!
John, Peter, Vidya and the whole Tuantourage - yo, yo, yo!
Holy Jed - Thank you for fixing my computer and hooking me up with Silvio. You are a reliable friend. Good luck with your career - I am sure something exciting will show up soon!
Holly and Michael - you are an awesome couple. Thanks for all the fun nights at Kokoro’s and Holly for teaching me how to Dougie.
Google David - why sports? I would so join your social network start-up if it was focused on something more exciting... I am curious how it will go. Thanks for making me try the magical berries and showing me Nob Hill. You have a great taste. Magners is better than Strongbow though…
Flo - great place you work at. I liked our German Tatort sessions, the faith you had in the gluten-free Pizza we ordered and thanks again for taking me to the Giants game. Now that we know the rules, we should go more.
Eric - do you really exist? :) I loved spending time with you and wish the timing would have been a little better. When I move back here, I hope you will have found a daytime job so we could hang out more. In the meantime I am waiting for typewritten letters.
David - you are amazingly talented. I do not know you well but we definitely had a moment in your kitchen that was drowning in booze. I wish I could run into you in Germany as well as often as I do here.
Christoph - my ol' husband. I had a lot of fun driving through California with you. I hope you enjoyed your stay. Thanks for your patience with me (and the bedbugs). Hope you will be my ball date soon!
Calisto - you owe me a ride. I will be back as soon as you get your license! Thanks for making the nights more crazy.
Ben - you should go out more, man! Always good to have you around. Good luck with your sump.
Barry - great movie. I will watched it whenever I will miss San Francisco and then probably miss it even more... See you in London whenever you go!
Antje - thank you for being so refreshingly straight forward. Cheers for showing me the SF spots we both like. And for all the honest conversations that went far beyond small talk. I am curious to see where you end up and hope it's somewhere close.

It was also good to meet you, too, Jacob, Facebook Ben, Gustaf, Jason, Jordamn, Angela, Leika, Cassie, Ryan, Nat, Music for Animals, Dylan, Ryan, Ken, Asian Kat, Clarence, Carla, Silvio, Paul, Jessica, Justin, Futch, Marina, Thalea, Nikhil, Liz, Kent...

Flummi, Rosi. R.I.P.

Playlist:
Cee Lo Green - Fuck you
Eminem and Rihanna - Love the way you lie
Katy Perry - California Gurls (only if you listen to it all day in the radio during a California Road trip)
Plain White T's - Rhythm of Love and of course: Hey there Delialah
Rad Omen- Rad Anthem (YouTube video clip)
Something Corporate - Konstantine live
Timbaland - If we ever meet again
Train - Hey, Soul Sister

Watchlist:
7 Samurai
Inception
Medicine for Melancholy
Nichts bereuen
Something left, something taken
Southpark Season 14, Episode 4: You have Zero Friends
Tatort
The Social Network (theaters October 1)
Trueblood
Vertigo

I will miss you SF, California

The game layer

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

Jörg was visiting me last week...

...and he took some nice pics. Check them out here.

The Empathic Civilisation

There is no such thing as Germany - it's fiction.

I want an iPhone 4

Shelter

The Tenderloin where I live is a great place to be. Why? Because it is centrally located, there is so much going on: many galleries, pubs, bars, clubs, restaurants..., many of my friends live just around the corner... and it is real. Compared to the story book reality that you get when you only stroll around other parts of San Francisco and towns like Stanford or Palo Alto life happens here.

What also makes it real are the crazy, prostitutes and homeless in the streets. I remember that I noticed the high amount of crazy and drugged people when I was living in DC but San Francisco is the Mekka of the homeless because of its mild weather conditions. They are hard to ignore due to the smell and their constant begging. When I was looking for an aquarium store last week I was actually so much in my own world that I actually handed a dollar to a girl. She looked older than she probably was, worn out, maybe a Prostitute, definitely on drugs and I just handed her a dollar... Oops.

Some beggars try to be funny by creating signs like "Why lie? I need a drink". At first it makes you smile. But then...? Tourist guide books advise you not to give any money to the homeless but rather donate it to organisations. Big organisations with a huge overhead that seem not to be able to handle the situation in San Francisco. I don't know if that's the right answer. I sometimes give away doggy bags whenever I am not able to finish my food in the restaurants.

I had a weird encounter at Walgreens (= German DM or Budni) a couple of weeks ago. A guy came to talk to me while I was looking for toiletteries. He complimented my braided hair from the other end of the aisle. I thanked him friendlily. He also came over to ask me if he could introduce himself to me. Well, I am trying not to be German here, so why not go with the flow? His hands were pretty dirty and I was about to learn why. He was apparently a famous DJ from Vegas who came to San Francisco and ended up camping in the parks. He continued to complain about the American Dream for a minute before he changed the topic abruptly. He told me was interested in Adult Dancing and Sex and then asked for my phone number. WTF. I shook my head and turned to the check-out. Crazy things can happen on a Saturday morning in the Tenderloin.

Medicine for Melancholy

Yesterday I watched my friend Barry's movie. And you should, too. It's about the real San Francisco. And it's about boy meets girl - so whoever liked Garden State or 500 days of Summer should watch it, too.

Dear German Government,...

...you could do something useful for once and issue another ID for me. There are a couple of bars and clubs in San Francisco that would not accept it. First of all, do not laminate the thing - this makes it even more suspicious. Actually, a plastic card would be nice. This way, I would not have to argue with bouncers all the time.

Thank you and Prost, yours sincerely,

Kati


Dear Bouncers,

"we do not accept those because it is a law" is no valid argument. Do I really look under 21? And no, I did not laminate my ID. That's just the way it looks like. Are you sure that you do not want to make some money selling drinks to me and my friends?

Maybe think about it next time.

Cheers,

Kati

Being Faculty...

...as a master's student is great. I have my own office and have a Faculty card. I also use it to get student discounts.

Rosi and Einstein

and suddenly they were 3.

LOST Spoiler: explained with post-its

Random Interview

Das Internet hat mich interviewt.

The Twit Network

San Francisco weather

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.
--Mark Twain

It is the coldest July in SF since 1971.

-- Tuan

It is sunny - it is just so freaking cold. But hey, I lived in London last summer...

Flummi

Tuan had a surprise for me today: Flummi - my new flatmate.

He is tiny and really shy. I guess he is just not used to my taste in music, yet. The poor thing was starving for the first 24 hours because I did not have any fishfood. But he is a tough guy, he survived. The food I bought is apparently not gluten free, but I hope he will be fine. I am raising him bilingually, so he will be very smart when I have to give him away in two months. I am not sure what to do with him then. Nate does not want him - so anyone interested, please, let me know.

Wrong place. Right time.

So on Sunday at 8 pm I went to Jack in the Box on Geary @ Mason to get some fries. And one day later, I read this: "Five held in connection with tourist's death". Read more.

The Video Website

Networking

Networking in the US works differently than in Europe. It's a little bit like speed dating. You meet random people, talk to them for 2 minutes, exchange business cards and then talk to the next person. The next day you have a lot of these business cards and don't remember all the matching faces... So you log into LinkedIn and investigate their background and add them to your network.

I went to a Young Professional Networking event shortly after I arrived in San Francisco. The hosts could not really tell us why they were hosting this event and what kind of clients they were looking for. Also, I kind of had the feeling that most of the guys were here for two non-professional reasons: drinks and girls.


A week later I went to the launch party of a German research institute. The location was really beautiful and people enjoyed food and drinks. And then a power point marathon started that gave fun insights into consumers' psyches but was rather tiring for the mainly American audience. I happened to meet a girl from Berlin who I immediately liked cause she had this refreshingly straightforward humor.

Yesterday I went to another event in Stanford. The host was a new Stanford professor who invited his friends for wine and cheese and gave out magical African berries that affect your taste buds and make everything taste sweet. The first person I met was from my hometown, Münster. His fiancée is writing her phd on my master's thesis' topic. People were mostly teccies. When I told one of the guys who was working for a VC that I am living in the Tenderloin, he told me that he got beaten up one night at a bar in the TL and had to get four stitches...

Glutenfrei in San Francisco

Nach ein paar Erkundungsspaziergängen, habe ich meine glutenfreien Futternäpfe gefunden. In San Francisco weiß jeder (Kellner), was Gluten ist und ist in der Lage, einen gut zu beraten. Ein Grund, hier zu bleiben...

Mehr koennt ihr auf glutenfreiheit.org lesen.

Golden Gate Bridge Panorama

Wer rettet meinen Laptop?

Vor einer Woche hat sich mein Laptop verabschiedet. Ich wusste, dass es hier passiert, immerhin ist Toshiba schon 5 Jahre alt, läuft schnell heiß und ist manchmal auch sehr langsam. Meine Masterarbeit habe ich deswegen im Büro auf dem Rechner geschrieben und mehrfach gespeichert. Trotzdem: ein Virus? WTF.

Zur Situation. Ich habe mir also trotz Avast Antivir einen Virus („Windows Security Center“) und ein trojanisches Pferd eingefangen.

1. Ich habe Avast, Spybot etc. mehrfach laufen lassen, die Viren gefunden, entfernt und sie waren beim nächsten Anschalten wieder da.

2. Das gleiche habe ich im Sicherheitsmodus wiederholt. Und sie waren immer noch da.

3. Wir – Computexperte Flo und ich – haben sämtliche Programme ausgeschaltet, die sonst beim Start geöffnet werden, um zu verhindern, dass der Virus aktiv ist. Er hat trotzdem alle Programme inkl. MSN Chat, ICQ etc. – Programme, die ich seit Jahren nicht genutzt habe – gestartet. Diese Programme ließen sich auch nicht löschen.

4. Wir haben versucht, das System zu einem früheren Zeitpunkt wiederherzustellen. Ging nicht.

5. Letzter Schritt: Windows runter – Linux drauf. Aber nein, er will nicht einmal mehr Obuntu installieren. Selbst wenn man das CD-Laufwerk als Erstes startet.

Hat irgendwer noch eine Idee? Ansonsten fliegt Toshi bald von der Golden Gate Bridge. Das werden zwar bestimmt wahnsinnig schöne Bilder, aber mir wäre es trotzdem lieber, zu hause wieder Internet zu haben und mit euch kommunizieren zu können. Alle Ideen sind willkommen!

Tiny Inventions @ Kokoro Studio

Something Left, Something Taken- Full Version from Tiny Inventions on Vimeo.

Watch this video - it is awesome. The artists were at my friend Keiko's studio - Kokoro Studio - yesterday and gave us insight on the making of their film.

Katistrophen

1. Kein Netz
Einige von Euch wundern sich vielleicht, warum ICH kaum ONLINE bin. Mein Laptop hat sich letzte Woche verabschiedet, also hab ich nur noch Internet in der Uni oder wenn mich jemand an seinen Laptop oder sein iPhone lässt.

2. Masterarbeitsanfangsschwierigkeiten
Mit meiner Masterarbeit hatte ich ein paar Anfangsschwierigkeiten. Ich musste mein Exposee mehrmals überarbeiten und konnte erst letzte Woche anfangen, zu schreiben. Jetzt läuft's aber rund und ich habe die ersten beiden richtigen Kapitel schon fast fertig geschrieben.

3. Zahlungen gestoppt
Paypal hat mir ein paar Schwierigkeiten bereitet, weil eine Zahlung gestoppt wurde. Offensichtlich ist es verdächtig, $700 von den USA nach China, wo sich mein Vermieter aufgehalten hat, zu verschicken. Irgendwann ging das Geld aber dann durch. Jetzt weiß ich, wie PayPal Geld verdient...

4. Wohnungssituation unsicher
Ich habe erfahren, dass mein Vermieter, im letzten Jahr die Miete nicht gezahlt hat, weil er die Eigentümer verklagt hat, weil diverse Dinge (Aufzug, Heizung, etc.) kaputt waren. Er hat also Arbeitslosengeld - ja, das gibt es hier und nicht zu wenig - kassiert und ist von meiner Miete nach China geflogen. Allerdings ist er jetzt wieder da; China war doch nicht so sein Ding und seine Oma ist gestorben. Jedenfalls haben die Hauseigentümer gewechselt und seine Anwälte haben ihm geraten, nun doch Miete zu zahlen. Er ist also gerade auf Jobsuche und will nach Chicago ziehen. Ich kann erst mal in der Wohnung bleiben, muss aber darauf hoffen, dass er auch brav die Miete überweist und ich nicht auf der Straße lande... alles ein bisschen chaotisch gerade.

San Francisco ist nicht europäisch

Fälschlich geschmeichelte Europäer glauben wegen dieser Freigeistigkeit und angesichts pedantischer Mülltrennung, kohlendioxydfreier Trolleybusse, genereller Waffenverbote und liberaler Einwanderungspraktiken, dass San Francisco die europäischste Stadt Amerikas sei. Doch in Wahrheit ist sie etwas ganz anderes: Sie ist der unamerikanischste Ort Amerikas, ein exterritoriales Anti-Amerika, eine Trutzburg gegen die Tyrannei des Mainstreams und die Verlogenheit des amerikanischen Individualismusideals. Mehr in der FAZ.

Berkeley and Palo Alto

As soon as you leave the city, you can enjoy the Californian summer. My friend Zach use to work for a start up. He also lived in the office building in Palo Alto. I guess you can see why...



Another weekend we drove to Berkeley and walked across the campus. Unfortunately most uni buildings were closed apart from the Tower... So we got some take out and sat down on the grass and got a little sunburned. Later, that night we wanted to watch a really old black and white Japanese movie. But it was sold out, so we changed plans and watched Inception instead.



Let me know what you think of it. Does the top drop or not...?

Sightseeing

My new friend Tuan came back from his holiday in Costa Rica and took me to see the most beautiful spots in the City.

Pier 39

Alcatraz

Lombard Street

Watching the World Cup early in the morning

There is a nine hours time shift to Germany. So, when Germany played against Argentina I had to watch game at seven in the morning. But I kind of had the feeling it would be worth it. I went out with Nate and Eric but then decided to go to bed at 4am to sleep for two hours. I got up and went to meet Alex who I wanted to watch the match with. She did not show up, so I went back to bed for another 30min. When I woke up again I almost stayed in bed but then quite patriotically went down and across the street to Angel's Cafe where only the two owners and their friends were watching the game - all of them supporting Argentina. I missed the first goal because I was five minutes late. But there were more to come, so that was fine. I cheered silently for Germany sipping my coffee - no drinks that early - because the atmosphere was quite depressing... Well, getting up was worth it but afterwards I went straight to bed again... So it's Spain now...

Germany against Uruguay

Welcome to San Francisco

I will spend this summer in San Francisco writing my MBA thesis at San Francisco State University. I chose to come to SF because the Bay Area is famous for being a social media hub and that is what my thesis is going to be about: monetizing social networking sites.

It is my second time in the States but I have never been to California before. I have heard a lot of stories about SF being the most "European" and probably the most liberal city in the US. So let's find out...

I managed to find an apartment last minute through some friends' friend's friend via Facebook and it happens to be a pretty cool apartment in the Tenderloin. The Tenderloin is pretty central - 10 minutes walking distance to uni, it is an ethnic neighborhood and some ppl say it's scary at night. I find it pretty okay.

My apartment def has its own character and style. There is punch hole in my apartment door - apparently because my landlord's neighbor did not like his music. The bedroom mirror is crushed, too, Nate fell into it dancing - we def have some things in common... Also the bathroom door does not have a handle anymore, so I should not close it, which is pretty funny whenever I have ppl over... I do have a large bedroom with a small balcony and a great sound system for my iPod.

Sarkasmus-Detektor

WM-Song aus Münster: Uwu Lena - Schland oh Schland

Waka Waka

Gimme Hope Joachim

The surprising truth about what motivates us

WM 2010: Wir gehen nur zurück, um Anlauf zu nehmen

facebook in reality

Looking for a flat in SF this summer

Hi,

I am a 26year-old media management student from Hamburg, Germany. This summer, I'll be writing my master's thesis at the San Francisco State University.

I am looking for a furnished place to stay (e.g. shared apartment/small studio) from July 1st to September 27th. My budget is limited but I still hope to find something quite central. As I have heard areas like Mission or Haight Ashbury would be perfect but I am thankful for any other suggestions.

Thank you very much for your help,

best,

Kati.

PS: Please, contact me at katrinschmidt84 (at) gmail.com or add me on Facebook (Kati Schmidt).

The history of pretty much everything

Avatar II Trailer - Hungry Beast

Mein erstes Podcast: Social Media für Online Fundraising

Social Media für Online Fundraising

View more presentations from betterplace-lab.

Chatroulette live in concert

Google Home View

And the Razzie goes to...

We are Google and we can kill you!

Happy Valentine's!

Digital Nation: Sir Patrick Stewart

this is no facebook login

comic found @xkcd


read the whole story:

Facebook Wants to Be Your One True Login

...and don't miss out on the comments!

The guy in the back should have been working...

10-20-30 presentation rule

For all fans of 80:20, 90-60-90, 360°...

Thank you, Jörg, for digging this up! Everyody: Feel free to send me any fun stuff you come across and think might fit this blog.

wie gut, dass die Politiker schon einen Job haben...

...und nicht den Anforderungen des Arbeitsmarktes entsprechen müssen.

everything else might seem a little backward

the best handheld?

Happy New Year!

A Happy New Year to all of you!

All the best for 2010!

xx Kati

For all of you who do not know what Germans do on New Year's Eve.