Welcome back / The limits of online shopping
Christmas is rushing up fast and many are looking for electronic gadgets to entertain their loved ones or themselves. Amazon's products are frequently part of the equation because of their comparatively cheap prices and aggressive marketing. However, their mere mentioning can cause awkward silence and instantly turn the mood from cheerful to fairly frosty among tech enthusiasts. It's the ubiquitous incentives to buy and the frequent attempts to ingrain Amazon's services further and further into the daily lives of their users that taints Amazon's devices. I set out to take another look at the situation through Amazon's budget 9th generation Fire HD 10 (32 GB) tablet and learn more about its strength and weaknesses–and its annoyance factor!
more
I recently had a chat with one of our US partners, who mentioned in passing that Ashampoo has now been around for 21 years and has certainly come of age. Since I generally tend to forget anniversaries, I wasn't aware of that. So I took a trip down my Ashampoo memory lane, which has been under construction for 13 years now, and reminisced about how it all started. Every now and then I get emails asking me to tell you more about Ashampoo and the people behind it–so here you go: Brace yourselves for pretty women, volcanoes and software in Low German.
more
I usually do my photo editing on my home PC. From meticulously placed filters and image parameter adjustments to one-click optimizations, it all depends on my mood and the quality of the photo. When I was recently out and about, to the extent permitted by the current situation, my cellphone was again stretched to its limits. The morning mountain panorama seemed more grayish than mystical, the backlighting was anything but ideal, and I could have taken better care cropping my shots. So I spent a quiet evening in my hotel room to do some prettifying. Here's what I found!
more
Stressfree reading is a cultural act for me. An old book with a massive jacket, my corner armchair, and some mellow music in the background is how I enjoy reading the most. I was never very fond of ebooks, since they're missing the tangible feeling of flipping through the pages and the smell of (old) books in general. As I was recently forced to spend more time at home than usual (you know why!), an ad caught my eye: "Discover thousands of magazines with only one subscription for a fixed price of $9.99 a month." A free trial month was part of the offer–that's how they got me hooked! I'm talking about Readly, and here's what you get.
more