my blog. for you.

Let’s talk digital.

I’m an independent IT consultant and entrepreneur in the Internet and software business. I’m interested in design, enterprise applications, web apps and SaaS products. I design and develop business solutions and applications. I help companies in terms of software quality and knowledge transfer, e.g. with Angular and Spring Boot.

Closer than you think

I've recently finished reading Avogadro Corp by William Hertling and the sequel A.I. Apocalypse. These books deal with the idea how artificial intelligence might come about today or in the near future. The story's main premise is the eponymous Avogadro Corp, a hardly disguised Google. This company, whose name is conveniently related to a large number as well, offers a wide range of Internet services: Search, web-based office suite, web-based eMail (AvoMail ...) and its own smartphone OS (AvoOS). Sounds familiar? The story ...

nagg – Simple A/B Testing For Links

nagg is an interesting take on URL shortening. It lets you enter up to 4 links each of which will be presented to the user clicking on the link at a previously set rate. For example, if entering four links with a rate of 25% each, each link will be shown every fourth time a user clicks on the shortenend link. This allows you for instance to do quick split testing of marketing sites or landing pages.

Sunday January 19th, 2014 by Bjoern in Business, Web

Don’t Break the Chain

Having now managed to write at least one blog post per week for over a year, something I resolved to do in order to both reflect upon ideas, events or interesting products and technologies as well as hone my writing skills, I've recently read that the notion of getting things done by doing them regularly following a disciplined pattern is Jerry Seinfeld's Productivity Secret: He [Jerry Seinfeld] said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put ...

Sunday January 12th, 2014 by Bjoern in Ideas

The Future of Coding: Simple, Responsive, Instant Feedback

Last year Daniel Siegel outlined what he thinks will be the future of computing: While trying to teach everyone to code certainly is well-intentioned and to some extent beneficial the idea falls short of what most people require of computing environments. Most people don't need comprehensive and complex development environments. They need to accomplish specific tasks that lend themselves to being solved by code yet most people don't need to develop enterprise-grade web applications or mobile apps. What's actually needed are simpler tools ...

Sunday January 5th, 2014 by Bjoern in Design, Software

Unicorns And Revolutions

History is filled with two types of people: the ones that want to maintain a comfortable status quo and the ones that want to move humanity forward. In a recent article Jan Lehnardt calls for rethinking and in fact revolutionizing business culture. He makes a few good points. You really should read the whole article. However, in a nutshell its message is this: Throughout history there are those who try to maintain the current status quo for their own good. On the other hand, ...

Sunday December 29th, 2013 by Bjoern in Entrepreneurship, Software

Von Jugendwahn und Altersstarrsinn

Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.Es scheint seit jeher Sitte zu sein, dass sich die Alten in einer Gesellschaft über die faule und nichtsnutzige Jugend ärgern. Das Gejammer über die arbeitsscheue und hedonistische Jugend ist groß: "Die heutige Jugend kann sich nur noch amüsieren und hält nichts von Arbeit." "Die heutige Jugend beschäftigt sich nur noch mit Videospielen." "Die heutige Jugend treibt sich nur noch auf Facebook rum." "Wir leben in einer Spaßgesellschaft." Wer kennt solche oder ähnliche inhaltsleere Sprüche nicht? Zudem wird der ...

Sunday December 22nd, 2013 by Bjoern in Ideas

Outside the box

"Thinking outside the box" "I'm an outside-the-box thinker" Most of us have heard those phrases or variations thereof. It's one of those empty clichés you see on CVs, alongside other meaningless bullshit like a 'well-rounded character' in 20-year-olds - whatever that's supposed to mean. Aside from being an empty buzzword, what does thinking outside the box actually mean? It basically means leaving well-trodden paths when approaching a problem. Most people like to see themselves as creative problem solvers, while - as a matter of ...

Sunday December 15th, 2013 by Bjoern in Design

Exploring Stereotypes With Google Autocomplete

This post by Facebook engineer Stoyan Stefanov suggests Google Autocomplete as a fun way for exploring clichés about nations: A friend was suggesting that one can easily list the most popular stereotypes about a nation. With a little help from a friend – Google autocomplete. Simply type “why are the [nationality X] so …” in the old search box and enjoy. It turns out that this actually works pretty well:

Sunday December 8th, 2013 by Bjoern in Web

Great Rock Singers: Encore with Meat Loaf and Ronnie James Dio

OK, this article isn't in the praise of one singer but actually about two of the greatest voices in the Rock business, one of which sadly enough sings no more:

Sunday December 1st, 2013 by Bjoern in Music

Great Rock Singers: Patti Russo

This is about another great, but not particularly well-known singer in Rock music: Patricia Russo, who humorously once referred to herself as Meat Patti because she's been the long-time duet partner of Meat Loaf:

Sunday November 24th, 2013 by Bjoern in Music

Björn Wilmsmann

my blog. for you.

Let’s talk digital.