Habits are stronger than goals #dontbreakthechain
by Volker Weber
As I was looking at my collection of photos in BLACK I could not help noticing the difference a few years make. So I put these two photos together in a collage and posted them to Twitter and Instagram. Lots of encouragement and some funny remarks. And no, there was no Photoshop involved, just BLACK. Ute shot the fat vowe photo with a serious camera while I was in a TV studio and I shot the other one with the iPhone 7 Plus just yesterday.
The difference in appearance is not caused by setting myself a weight loss goal. It has a very simple cause: I changed one habit. Exactly one. I started walking, daily. Over time, these walks got longer as I was getting stronger. There were setbacks, but when I got back on my feet I started walking again.
And with all the walking I became more mindful of my body. I started questioning other habits. What do I drink, what do I eat? How is what I eat and drink helping my body? Eating and drinking are also habits, and sometimes they are really bad habits. Maybe you don't really need a pasta or a pizza for lunch, at least not five times a week. So I started forming new habits, like eating one apple each day, or never eating more than two slices of bread per meal.
Since my knee currently does not respond well to lots of walking, I have reduced my daily calorie burn from 600 to 360. But I am keeping my habits. And my body weight continues to trend towards "normal".
Don't set yourself a goal. You may fall back to your old habits once you reach it. I would advise you to change one or two key habits. It takes something like two months to form them. Stop smoking, eat less every day, exercise more, quit fizzy drinks, just pick what you like. And then do not break the chain.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" or literally "A journey of a thousand li starts beneath one's feet" is a famous Chinese proverb. A year from now you will wish you started today.
Sonos :: How it started
by Volker Weber
Hero-entrepreneur dreams up a great idea, finds a sidekick or two to help it come alive, clashes with and defeats the entrenched incumbent, and rides to glory as the credits roll. The story of Sonos might seem like that, from a distance. Its four founders – John MacFarlane, Tom Cullen, Trung Mai, and Craig Shelburne – conjured a daring vision based on technology that didn’t exist at the time. With all of their experience, resources and insight, the four founders naturally turned to music in the home, and ... not so fast.This is a great story for all Sonos fans. I have been along for the ride almost since the beginning. And there is still stuff in there that I don't know. Fascinating since I met so many of the people mentioned here: John MacFarlane, Tom Cullen, Mieko Cusano, Nick Millington and Andrew Schulert.
The 1+ reality distortion field
by Volker Weber
Did your favorite media outlet fall for the 1+5 hype? Hats off for them to create such a perfect social media storm. Not so much for copying the iPhone design wholesale, signing up The Verge for peddling their "we are so special" story, and cheating on the benchmarks. Watch this:
Nokia rebrands Withings
by Volker Weber
What used to be Withings is now called Nokia. Great products that I use and recommend. They are also announcing a new entry level connected scale and a less bulky blood pressure monitor. Withings Health Mate becomes Nokia Health Mate with a fresh user interface.
Gelungene Digitalisierung :: Paketversand
by Volker Weber
Foto Axel Koerv
Ich habe gerade mal wieder zwei Pakete in Auftrag gegeben, eins mit DHL nach Frankreich, eins mit Hermes nach Deutschland. Und ich bin höchst erfreut darüber, wie einfach das mittlerweile geht. App auf's iPhone laden, Absender und Empfänger aus dem Adressbuch auswählen, Paketklasse wählen, fertig. Der Anbieter schickt einen QR-Code und ein Aufklebe-Etikett. Hat man keinen Drucker, geht man in den nächsten Paketshop und zeigt den QR-Code vor. Dort wird das Etikett gedruckt und aufgeklebt, fertig. Bei Hermes zahlt man bar bei Einlieferung, bei DHL kann man mit Paypal zahlen und das Paket auch in eine Packstation stellen oder dem nächsten Zusteller einfach mitgeben. Der hat einen Drucker am Gürtel für die Quittung.
Die analoge Seite ist schwieriger. Nachmittags eingelieferte Pakete übernachten gerne im Paketshop. Die Auslieferung bleibt schwierig, weil die Zusteller überlastet sind und viele Pakete nicht los werden. Hier bei uns kein Problem, weil die Nachbarn helfen, untereinander, und vor allem dem Zusteller. Das sorgt für gute Laune. Das UPS-Problem ist auch gelöst. Der Zusteller nimmt die Pakete nicht mehr mit ins Frachtzentrum sondern deponiert sie in einem Paketshop in der Nähe.
Umstieg von iPad Pro 9.7 auf iPad Pro 10.5
by Volker Weber
Guten Morgen, lohnt sich Ihrer Meinung nach der Umstieg von pro 9.7 auf pro 10.5? Vielen Dank! VG Stefan
— Stefan Stappert (@1978stappi) June 17, 2017
Das iPad Pro 9.7 war mit Abstand das beste Tablet auf dem Markt. Nun ist es das zweitbeste. Lohnt sich der Umstieg? Ich weiß es nicht. Wichtig: das alte Zubehör passt nicht. Das Display ist größer und der Rand schmaler, aber trotzdem ist das neue Gerät ein bisschen größer. Also passen Cover, Cases und Tastaturen nicht.
Hat jemand diesen Umstieg gemacht und kann was erzählen?
Die Bahn feiert meine Abo-Falle mit einem neuen Angebot
by Volker Weber
Genau einen Monat ist es her, dass mir die Bahn hocherfreut mitteilte, wie sehr man sich freue, dass ich mich für eine Bahncard entschieden habe.
Hatte ich allerdings nicht. Ich war nur in die Abofalle gelaufen: aus drei Monaten "Probebahncard" wurden geschwind 18 Monate, ohne jeden Pardon. Einzig mögliche Reaktion: kündigen, kündigen, kündigen. Das haben offenbar viele gemacht, denn nun bietet die Bahn etwas neues an, pünktlich zu meinem Jubiläumstag, dem 11.6. - der Tag an dem mein Jahresabo beginnt:
Mir nützt das "natürlich" nichts. Ich bin ja noch in die alte Falle gelaufen. Ich habe jetzt eine Bahncard ohne Flex, die ich nie haben wollte, gekündigt zum 10.6.2018. Meine Empfehlung lautet deshalb weiter: kündigen, kündigen, kündigen.
iPad size matters for Office
by Volker Weber
Screenshot from the Microsoft Office Mobile site. A regular iPad (and the old Pro) have a 9.7 inch display. Without an Office 365 license those apps will turn into viewers on the iPad Pro 10.5.
The new iPad Pro
by Volker Weber
iPad Pro 9.7, AirPods, Logitech K780, Apple Pencil
Since I moved most of my workloads to the Surface Pro 4 I haven't used the iPad Pro as much as I used to. But the WWDC keynote got me fired up again. Apple is about to take a big leap with iOS 11 and that is going to benefit the iPad Pro.
This machine is so much more expensive than a regular iPad that it only makes sense if you are either well-heeled or determined to use this as your main computer. And the hardware certainly wasn't holding you up. Microsoft validated the incredible speed of the iPad Pro when announcing the new Surface Pro by comparing it to the Apple offering. IOS 11 will make this machine much more usable for general use, by adding better multitasking, drag&drop and file management. And Pencil is finally catching up with some of the features in Windows 10.
Beyond the software that will only refresh "in the fall" which I read as "shortly before the next iPhone", Apple is doing something they did with the iPods: killing an excellent product with an even better one. The iPad Pro 9.7 has such a gorgeous screen that it is hard to image how a 10.5 screen beats that. But there is an important difference: 120 Hz refresh rate. What does that mean? The new machine will be able to redraw the screen 120 times a second. How is that important? When you scroll in documents, they will appear paper-like, because they don't get blurred when you move them. Once you have seen that, you can't go back. Of everything that is new about the new iPad Pro - iPhone 7 camera with OIS, new CPU and GPU - that is what is going to make the most lasting impression. A little side effect: the Pencil, which is already the best on the market, gets even faster. And faster means again, more like paper.
There was no other tablet that could beat the iPad Pro 9.7 hardware. And Apple is taking it up another notch.
Helping somebody to buy his first Sonos
by Volker Weber
As I was talking to my neighbor yesterday he asked me about some advice. "You are familiar with Sonos, aren't you? I plan to ..." Here we go again. I am going to invite him over and we will be going from room to room and I will be showing him what his options are. I have every single speaker and component Sonos ever made, with the exception of PlayBase, and he can make an informed decisision of what he wants.
But something has changed two years ago.
Other recent entries
BlackBerry KEYone :: Needs some glue
Unlocking Sonos
Ist das BlackBerry KEYone ein Verkaufsschlager?
Why the HomePod is coming to the US, UK and Australia first
A few thoughts on the Apple WWDC 2017 keynote
A missed opportunity, was it?
Streamlining Kubernetes development with Draft
KEYone is the best BlackBerry since the Passport
Another month #dontbreakthechain
A look inside #DNUG44
Astroturfing
Aus Timetoact XCC wird IBM Connections Engagement Center
When the US forces you to check your notebook
Microsoft macht gerade viel richtig
I was overly enthusiastic about Sonos :: My mistake
Huawei P10 :: An update
Surface Pro 4 vs new Surface Pro
IBM's Open Collaboration Client Solution :: The future that never was
BlackBerry KEYone :: A short update
Abwärts
Type A or Type C
Microsoft Surface Event in Shanghai
Twitter-Abstimmungen :: Nicht repräsentativ
What you need to know about the new Surface Pro
Porsche absichtlich zerstört
Last 30 days >
More archives >
