Nerdy Wedding Part 2: Photo Booth
Posted inOnline & Digital

Nerdy Wedding Part 2: Photo Booth

Since my wedding is now two years behind us—and this blog post has been waiting for completion ever since—it was about time! Especially because I’ve been asked several times how we did it. The theme once again is “Nerdy Wedding.” In part one, I wrote about the wedding website we built for our guests and family. This part is about our photobooth. A photobooth, as you can imagine, basically consists of a camera on a tripod. In our case: a Canon EOS DSLR. We didn’t use an external flash, though depending on the location it might make sense. For us, the built-in flash…
Posted inGeneral Online & Digital

Step-by-Step Revolution Instead of Slow Evolution

In my expert commentary for Funkschau—both online and in the print edition—I explain why organizations should approach the transition from long-established, legacy communication systems to modern, cloud-based online tools as a stepwise revolution rather than a slow, drawn-out evolution. The point I make is simple: traditional communication infrastructures, often grown organically over decades, are deeply embedded in many companies. They can’t be ripped out overnight—but neither should they be left untouched until they collapse under their own complexity. A gradual, planned migration allows companies to modernize piece by piece, reducing risk while still reaping the advantages of flexibility, scalability, and collaboration that cloud services offer. This isn’t…
Nerdy Wedding, Part 1: The Wedding Website
Posted inOnline & Digital

Nerdy Wedding, Part 1: The Wedding Website

Every geek or nerd who gets married wonders how to weave their passions, hobbies, or quirks into the wedding in a useful way. One idea that has become quite common by now is to create a wedding website. In our case, this was especially helpful since we weren’t getting married in Germany and needed to provide travel instructions, hotel recommendations, and other useful information for our guests. This article shares my thoughts and experiences, so you can hopefully save yourself some trial and error. CMS and Design For the CMS, I used WordPress, as I do for all my sites. It’s easy…
Posted inCan We Talk About This Please? In the News Online & Digital Politics & Opinion

The BND Espionage Affair: When “Friends” Spy on Each Other

As if Edward Snowden’s revelations about large-scale NSA surveillance in Europe and Germany, and the tapping of Angela Merkel’s mobile phone, had not already been enough, the U.S. spying scandal has entered its next chapter—despite all denials from the NSA and CIA. To summarize what happened: last week a BND employee was arrested. He is accused of having sold 218 confidential BND documents over the past two years to the CIA for a total of about €25,000. The man worked in the department “Areas of Operation/Foreign Relations” and was apparently responsible for archiving documents. In that role, of course, he had access…
Posted inIn the News Online & Digital Politics & Opinion

Why the Pirate Party Still Matters

I usually don’t like to write anything that sounds like electioneering—but in this case, I will. For the Pirate Party. In my view, the Pirate Party is important for Germany and for its political landscape. Of course, in its current state it isn’t ready to govern a country. But especially the Berlin state faction has shown that the party can make an important contribution in parliament—and, in my opinion, also in the Bundestag. What sets them apart is their different mindset, their unconventional approach, and yes, sometimes even their lack of experience. The Pirates look at issues from a perspective that…
Posted inOnline & Digital

Digitize Photo Books

This post also marks the very first entry in a new category I’m calling “Pick of the Week.” The idea is simple: every now and then, I want to highlight something I’ve discovered that I really enjoy and can wholeheartedly recommend to others. So let’s dive right into the first pick. For about two years now, I’ve been working on a personal project: digitizing my old photo albums. Some of them were easy enough to scan on a standard household flatbed scanner. Small keepsakes like ticket stubs or postcards worked without any issues. It’s not complicated—just a matter of patience and persistence. Of course,…
Posted inOnline & Digital

Pick of the Week: DropIt – Automating Photo & Video Organization

Two weeks ago, I stumbled upon an interesting open-source Windows application called DropIt. Before diving into why I like it so much, let me first describe the problem I was trying to solve. I organize all my photos and videos manually into folders. Yes, I know there are plenty of archiving tools from Google, Yahoo, or even Apple’s iPhoto and Aperture on macOS. But I don’t want to upload my pictures to the cloud, nor do I want to depend on a single piece of proprietary software to keep track of something as important as my memories. Instead, all my files are…
Posted inCan We Talk About This Please? In the News Online & Digital Politics & Opinion

Dear Telekom, You’re Just a Cable

I’ve borrowed this headline from Timo Hetzel (Bits und So / Undsoversum / Blog) because I find it so fitting. Many so-called providers still haven’t understood that at the end of the day, they are nothing more than a cable. A copper cable, a fiber optic cable, or a wireless connection — but still just a cable. They connect us with one another, through telephone lines or the internet. But for years, these providers have been trying to be more than just the pipe through which the bits flow. They want to upsell us with “value-added services.” Sometimes with a bit of…
Posted inOnline & Digital

Good Bye CC²

I still remember sitting glued to the TV, fascinated, as Wolfgang Back and Wolfgang Rudolph presented the latest technical innovations, clever ideas, and DIY builds on WDR’s Computer Club. Always up to date and truly an IT institution. The show, moderated by the two Wolfgangs since 1983, was discontinued in 2003 without a real replacement. None of the follow-up programs ever matched what Computer Club had been. Then came the relief. Thanks to a lucky discovery online, I stumbled across CC² (Computer Club Zwei) as a podcast back in 2006, when it was still in its early days. The two Wolfgangs had teamed…