Learning a language in 200 hours?
German is an impossible language. Right after I got the Zertifikat Deutsch B1, I forgot half of what I've learned. This is in part because all the methods…
Guessing the weather forecast
Weather apps: a tricky topic; most people wouldn't understand my obsession with weather apps and widgets. But I had to move the section about weather apps out of…
Being happy with simple gizmos
Every now and then I read reviews of Bluetooth speakers, and I'm baffled how a same device can have both eulogistic and vilifying reviews. I know that any other…
The coffee saga goes on—Summer Edition
My post on Nespresso-compatible capsules has become unmanageable because of its too many updates. I myself cannot use it as a guide anymore! As I've discovered some more…
Kaspersky is one more time a valid choice
To stop adding comments to old posts, here's a small update as a full-fledged post. Despite my temporary commitment to Panda Internet Security (for its features called Data…
How I Came to Hate Nova Launcher
This is nothing serious–take it as a grumpy rant on the opposite side of "Nova Launcher may be the best thing that ever happened for Android." Because I…
Going into Nougat and Motorola–rather unexpectedly
Remember my crappy Wiko Robby I wrote about? Well, I broke it–not before it somewhat started to fail itself and by itself, after only 8 months of usage!…
Panda, mon amour–true advanced security for 19.99 €/yr
This is a follow-up to my previous post on security; or rather to its comments, where I said at some point that I was testing Panda Free Antivirus…
Android Apps: What I Use
No matter what I tried, this retarded Marshmallow performs "Optimizing app 1 of 1" after each reboot–a reboot that's a bit slow at that. And it's not a…
The End of My Search for What Can’t Be Found
It happens to me more than once a year to change the antivirus-cum-antimalware solution. This is because all of them suck, yet I need protection. With the ransomware…
Inissia Kapselmaschine, was sonst?
There have been years since various capsule-based espresso systems became popular even in the poorest countries of the EU. I remember a certain moment when the Dolce Gusto…
The myth of the well-administered German city
I'm sure you might misunderstand this text, so let's put it upfront: Leonberg (71229) is a charming little town in Baden-Württemberg. There are many other lovely little towns…
4G is meant to kill the last trace of common sense in communications
Years ago, the problem when using some cheap Chinese phones in Europe was that they didn't support the 900 MHz WCDMA/UMTS-FDD (UMTS900) 3G band, but only UMTS2100 and…
The most annoying bug in Outlook 2016
Microsoft is the most annoying pest that overtook our planet: the amount of bugs in their Office suite is appalling. Here you have a description of the most…
Why Telekom.de mobile phone contracts should be forbidden by law
Like most if not all mobile phone contracts, this one I'm using was signed with for a minimum mandatory period of 2 years. When I moved here, what…
The Verdict on Wiko Robby—Weeks Later
It's time that I draw some conclusions with regards to my experience with Wiko Robby. Maybe someone from Wiko will read this, but I won't bother to write…
The Hyperloop is snake oil
I promise I won't start a blog with thousands of quick posts a year–I'm done with that for some years now. This is a one-shot feature meant to…
Weather Apps—Vanity Fair: A Category without a Hero
I have deleted the contents of this rather long and confusing post; a much more succinct synopsis of the pros and cons (mostly cons) of most of the weather…
Low-RAM Marshmallow—One Week Later
After one week with Wiko Robby, it's time for an updated report. Yes, living with 1 GB of RAM is perfectly acceptable once you're not a gamer. Yet,…
Marshmallow with 1 GB of RAM—Yes, You Can!
As I was writing two posts on the lack of attention to detail of some reviewers, I was actually exploring for a cheap smartphone. 34 months ago, I…
Nolite mittere high-tech ante porcos
Following a recent post of mine, I kept reading a number of reviews of recent smartphones, and I've been taken aback by the degree of shallowness and sheer…
Microsoft, the keyboard repeat rate and sleeping: how to work around their idiocy
Some laptop keyboards have physical defaults that are so appropriate that there is no need to adjust the repeat rate—Microsoft's keyboard driver's defaults and the keyboard are offering…
On smartphone sensors
As Pokémon Go is taking over the planet, some people have discovered that their cheap smartphones are lacking a gyroscope–although smartphones that have at least 2 GB of…
The world is swarming with incompetents…
Some time ago, during a job interview, I was asked at the end why in some version of my résumé I wrote in the soft skills section "attention…
Debunking some myths about SSDs
SSD seemed to be the second best invention since sliced bread and Netflix, unless we remember those OCZ SSD models that died too early after a rather small number…
“A” for “Acer TravelMate P6”
The shoemaker's children go barefoot, they say. As I don't have children, in my case this paradox applies to myself. I always had the cheapest computer and the cheapest…
I’m set for ESET
For some time, most likely up to a year (if not more), I'll be using ESET as a security product on my laptop. Even before switching to a new…
I’m sorry you had to use TeamViewer
I pity you for your need to use TeamViewer. Or RealVNC. Or Remote Desktop (Terminal Services). Heck, even Remote Assistance (Windows Desktop Sharing). I got it, you must…
It’s still a long, long road…
The contents and the structure are not very clear as of yet; the working title is only a first attempt at it; and the cover, obviously, is just…
Hopefully, Ransomware will reach everyone
It's Good Friday, it's been raining all day long, I'm a bit dizzy and certainly pissed off by this Windows thing. This laptop is overly modest with regards…