Blog – Page 2 – The IT Blog

RaspberryPi System upgrade vs. Fresh install

Recently I noticed that one of my RaspberryPIs was running a rather old version of Raspian. I thought it might be a good idea to upgrade and followed the instructions from Upgrade Raspberry Pi OS to the Latest Version (2024) – RaspberryTips.

Are you ready to hear the Feedback you were asking for?

Feedback is a double-edged sword – powerful for growth but tough to hear. Whether it’s improving a skill, leading a team, or refining creative work, feedback is invaluable. Yet, how we react to it can make or break the result.

IBAN UX Fail …

I don’t often write about UX failures, but one thing that keeps coming up is the handling of IBANs in checkout processes.

You would think that there’s nothing special about entering an IBAN into a web form: Form, enter IBAN, submit. Well … I keep noticing two things/problems:

Avoid commercial (WordPress) Plugins that require annual licences

One reason to stay away from commercial Plugins is that you might be f**ed when they raise prices:

Years ago, I chose the Before-After-Slider from Themefic (like here: https://www.franzgraf.de/blog/2024/discovering-the-bosensteiner-almpfad/ ).

Back then for 19$ / year.
Now we are at 39$ / year.

Yes, the plugin now can do more – more stuff that I simply do not need. Well … Don’t get me wrong: I’m totally fine to pay for some service – but doubling the price for stuff that I just don’t need.

Commander, Leader, Manager – What’s your Style?

To be honest, I have never really given much thought to defining leadership styles. Over the years, I’ve seen a number of styles that I liked, disliked, admired, and some that I loathed.

Recently, I worked on a project with a person whose approach felt very different from what I was used to. It really stood out and got me thinking about the different leadership styles I’ve seen over the years.

Decentralization of BlueSky

Bkuesky has gained quite some traction in the last couple of months. One of the key features that is often named pro BlueSky is the idea of decentralization.

In the recent episode of the “Haken dran” Podcast, a study was mentioned that does a deep dive into the technical details. The article is this one: How decentralized is Bluesky really? — Dustycloud Brainstorms, a german “version” was named as well: Deep Dive zu Bluesky – Teil 1: Die technische Sicht.

The essence is: Bluesky is not (yet?) decentralized. Well – I’m still sceptical. Money is coming from Venture Capital – and those companies usually want some Return-on-Invest. Well, let’s stay curious. – I’ll stay focused on Mastodon.

Is it worth joining Mastodon?

These days I just hit the mark of 1500 followers on my photography account @hikingdude@mastodon.social on Mastodon.

That’s really – great, satisfying, surprising. Choose whatever you want. For an influencer on other platforms (the Entertainment media) this might not be a lot. But.. Wait…

Not Surprised TikTok Is Addictive? You Might Be Surprised By How Fast!

I don’t think anybody will be surprised to hear that social media can be addictive. Well, “fine” so far. But what did indeed surprise me was what I heard recently when I heard the c’t “Haken dran”-Podcast (german only).

75% of Software projects fail – why?

A lot of software projects cost more than expected, take longer to finish and / or deliver a result below expectation.

SmartTVs going from bad to worse?

When we bought a new TV a couple of years ago, I was really to use all the Smart features from our SmartTV. But after a while the discomfort has outweighed the features. Recently we had the opportunity to “test” a newer SmartTV in a hotel and I must admit – it hasn’t gotten better! But I was surprised that the rabbit hole was even deeper and darker than I would have expected …