24 August 2017
The internet is a second home for Felix Schwenzel – he is an IT expert and has been blogging for 15 years. In his digital diary, “wirres.net“ – which unlike general German language usage is written almost entirely without capital letters – he shares his latest discoveries from the internet and his humorous take on everyday life.
Name:
Felix Schwenzel
Age:
48
Position:
IT Project Manager (with a degree in engineering and experience in architecture and woodworking).
Website:
Contact:
Of course, just drop me a line …
How do you explain wirres.net to a non-expert?
It was originally a way of keeping track of how I spent my time and then it turned into a diary with everything I thought was worth sharing. But more than anything, it helps me to get a written perspective on bits of information I have come across online.
“Facebook will continue to play an ever greater part in people’s lives. This is because the internet does not consist of machines, but of people.“
How many hours a day do you spend online?
Around nineteen ...
Which five apps can’t you do without?
Clock/Alarm/Timer, Google Maps, 1Password, Calendar, Camera
What do you think will be the next big thing on the internet?
First of all, there will be huge growth in the market for smart home technology. In the years to come, “Experts” will increasingly predict the end of Facebook. However, Facebook will continue to play an ever greater part in people’s lives. This is because the internet does not consist of machines, but of people, and Facebook is the platform which realises this and uses it best. Also, current trends will become even more pronounced: there will be ever more niche applications, and even more radical fragmentation of the mass market. And ever more subscriptions for all kinds of things. Universal use of the cloud. Printed paper will disappear into (many small) echo chambers.
Do you take your mobile phone to bed?
Naturally, I use it for reading until I fall asleep.
Do you protect your data against hackers?
Of course – as far as I can. Just like I also protect myself against burglars and lock my doors and windows, and hide my valuables or carry them on me.
Please make a rough count – how many of the devices you have at home are connected to the Internet – from the wireless printer to the TV?
I don’t need to approximate, my Fritzbox can tell me exactly: at the moment there are 27, even though at the moment neither my wife nor I are there. If there is enough space, I will list them here:
- a wifi-capable receiver/amplifier
- FireTV, AppleTV, a Raspberry Pi as a loudspeaker/Spotify/Airplay streamer
- an infrared blaster
- two Fritzboxes
- a Philips Hue, an Ikea Tradfri and a Tado Hub
- a Mac Mini as a home server
- eight eight sensors on ESP8266 basis
- three wifi-controlled lights and LED lighting strips
- a printer
- an Amazon Echo Dot
- an LED wifi clock
- two Kindle readers
- when we are at home, also one mobile phone and one laptop each (makes 31 devices altogether)
Please complete the following sentences:
Humour is … relative to the meta-level.
Blogs are really … — besides autobiographies— the best way to get to know other people and ways of life.
A day without wifi … is a day with LTE. A day without LTE is a day with 3G. A day without any kind of network connection is a day when I can catch up with all the unread books on my offline RSS reader.
The “Profile” series is a new format of #explore: Here we want to regularly give a voice to exciting and inspiring people from the digital scene - to researchers, bloggers, start-up founders, entrepreneurs, hackers, and visionaries.
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