Archives for 2016
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 epidemic of…
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 Piccolo had…
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 in the…
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 either of…
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 outrageous bug…
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 Telekom.de for a minimum mandatory period of 2 years. When I moved here, what I…
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 in French…
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 illustrate how…
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, there are…
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 purchased a…
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 stupidity encounter…
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 a good…
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 RAM and…
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 to detail;…
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 of writes.…
“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 smartphone that…
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 laptop, I…
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 use it…
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 a quick…
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 to the…