Normally we would not comment on this, but it sounds like more than just a coincidence. Parts of Western Europe, Central Europe, as well as most Balkan states were hit with some of the worst heat waves in history.
Vienna had its hottest day in history. Poor Tom Cruise, who is just about to do a premiere for its latest Mission Impossible Rogue Nation movie in front of Vienna Opera, was melting at an ultra-warm 37.5 Celsius (99.5 Fahrenheit). Although he does come from California where to survive you have to be a lizard and use as much water as a camel. He probably had some Scientology based cooling exercises.
Even at midnight the temperature was 32 Celsius (90 Fahrenheit).
Most homes and condos in the 1.85 million strong city don’t have central air conditioning and it is extremely hard and expensive to install a split air-condition in many buildings
The famous German speaking price search engine Geizhals has reported that the priorities of people in Austria have just changed. Instead of searching for new phones or laptops, the top search query was air conditioning. Five out of ten most searched items were mobile air condition devices.
Delonghi seems to be a winner, as it seems that their air conditioning devices are popular. This is a air conditioner you can move around your place, it is easy to install.
The insane number of queries also resulted in a shortage, so all air conditioners in Vienna are sold out.
Apparently spending €600+ for a phone is ok, as long as you don’t spend crazy €400-500 for an air conditioner. The €400 version would get you a half-decent gaming monitor or a smart TV. Of course, the big winner in the tech world is Geizhals.at/ Geizhals.net, as they can fuel their sales engine and convince companies making householde appliances to spend more money with them.
Meanwhile we are planning to capture a US tea party approved senater and leave him in our flat for 20 minutes without a fan. When his security team find his mummifed heat-cured body perhaps the US will rethink its policy of saving its businesses by cooking the rest of the world.
