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22. December 2023

2023 ends and whats next !

Short look back at 2023

This has been a busy and interesting year. I am always looking forward to new challenges and this year really had some nice puzzles to solve ;)

2023 has brought us “AI” in all its glory, for content creation and in many development areas. There is no way around it and no way to stop the current revolution. Either we adapt or parish as a developer or content creator.

I have never been a bloom and doom person. If I was, I would no longer be working as a fullstack developer.

LM Studio, ComfyUI and invokeAI, are only a part of the local tools I have been experimenting with. I have always set a side a day during my week to play with new tools or expand my knowledge.

Whats next?

New clients, new connections, old friends and thrilling puzzles :)

Its always difficult to find time to work on my own tools, website and experiments. I really hope that I can set aside a bit more for this 2024.

I wish you all Happy Holidays and a joyful transition into 2024.

Keep on coding!
Alex

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Die erste Folge nach einer langen Pause ;)

Folge 104

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UMZUG

Moin! Im Juni hatte ich den Umbau von portalZINE TV angekündigt und kündige jetzt den Umzug des Podcasts – 5 auf einen Streich – an.

5 auf einen Streich findet man jetzt hier.

Durch die Themen werde ich weiterhin rotieren, aber den Fokus stärker auf Entwicklung & Design setzen.

Mal sehen, wie sich das so entwickelt :) Die erste Folge für 2021 folgt bald …

ARCHIV

Damit ist portalZINE TV jetzt ein reines Archiv.

Gruß
Alex

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FINDING A COMMON GROUND!

portalZINE NMN | Development meets Creativity |

The first contact is always critical in order to define a possible project or future collaboration. I always have some time during the week to talk to potential customers about possible solutions.

In a casual first conversation, you can clarify what both sides need.
Either the chemistry is right or not :)

THIS IS GOING TO BE
WAY TOO EXPENSIVE?

It doesn’t have to be at all!

There are approaches and solutions for every project size. Most projects can be split into phases to keep everything manageable and affordable.

My projects are always tailored personally and predefined as precisely as possible.
If you don’t ask, you end up paying more everywhere!

HOW CAN I HELP?
WHERE CAN I HELP?

I have been looking after private individuals, startups, medium-sized companies and larger companies for years.

As a full stack developer, I can provide my customers with a complete project overview and help classify the effort. I also have design and advertising experience, as well as an above-average basic commercial and legal knowledge.

My customers know that I have no problem sharing my knowledge and can provide assistance in all areas.

Again, just talk to me and lets find a common ground :)

MULTILINGUAL.
DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?
PARLEZ-VOUS FRANÇAIS?

Until about 5 years ago, my main focus was on international projects. But in the last few years I have also built a solid foothold in the German-speaking arena.

I have implemented projects with up to 15 languages. For me, English sometimes runs better than German, which is also reflected in my portfolio and my BIO . I can write, read and speak French well (even if it’s a bit rusty!).

If you want to set up a multilingual site or translate parts of it, you’ve come to the right place. Of course also for WordPress via WPML .

Again, just say hello or Moin!

ONE PAGER
STATIC WEBSITE
HEADLESS CMS
WORDPRESS
YOUR OWN SOLUTION?

For me everything is actionable and can be worked out together depending on the project. Nobody needs to pay more than is really absolutely necessary. Sustainability is also a big topic and flows into all my projects.

Over the years I have also developed many of my own internal solutions, in order to be able to implement special solutions quickly.

Every project puzzle can be solved!

SEO
ADVERTISING
SOCIAL MEDIA
DATA PROTECTION
COOKIE MANAGEMENT?

It does not work without those and cannot be disregarded in any development phase of a project. I have a lot of experience in that area and can also contribute ideas and solutions where needed.

WHAT ELSE?

There are certainly still a few things that could be listed here, but I would rather clarify this in a personal conversation.

Gladly by phone or live via Skype!

Just ask for an appointment!

Contact / About me

I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for your interest!

Greetings

portalZINE NMN | Development meets Creativity |

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portalZINE TV was my / our youtube review channel till 2014 ( purely in German). We also shared our magazine via a live satellite broadcast every month. I continued doing a short podcast series (5 auf einen Streich) until 2019 and it has been waiting for something new since then.


I kept it in a waiting position, not really knowing what to do next. A complete revival is out of the question and not really enough fun to make it happen.

What I need is a fresh start with a mix of editorials, reviews, audio (possible restart of the podcast ) and maybe some video down the road.

While doing a complete cleanup of my attic, I really reignited some retro passion.

My old 5.1 hifi setup is back up, with a record and cassette player attached. Also dug up an old Sony Walkman, which I fixed and will be doing some more work on.

So the new setup of topics, will be centering around those things and things I have talked about on portalZINE TV in the past. I have no clear roadmap ahead, I just know that I am not ready yet to let portalZINE TV die ;)

The first step will be a complete cleanup and fresh design concept. After that, I will deal with my first editorial and see what else I need.

Time to roll up those sleeves and make some magic happen ;) But no pressure, this is a pure passion project. Free time is a rare commodity these days, so this needs to be fun all the way :)

Oh and the new setup will most likely be purely English, at least for the written content!

See you there … or not!

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Frohe Ostern aus dem Norden. Da an Urlaub dieses Jahr nicht wirklich zu denken ist, ist Kreatives gefragt! 
Wie wäre es mit dem Eiertrullern (geht auch im Garten oder in der Sandkiste )
Auf den Ostfriesischen Inseln – speziell auf Norderney – spielen Einheimische und Touristen das Eiertrullern traditionell in den Dünen. Die Mitwirkenden stellen sich dabei auf die Sandseite und lassen die Eier auf planierten Rampen, einer “Lünskebahn”, hinunterkullern, ohne sie dabei zu werfen. 

Sieger ist derjenige, dessen Ei am weitesten kommt und dabei unbeschädigt bleibt. Als Gewinn erhält er das Ei des Gegners. Aus Naturschutzgründen findet das Eiertrullern heutzutage nur noch auf künstlich aufgeschütteten Sanddünen am Strand statt.

English – “Happy Easter from the north. Since vacation this year is not really an option, some creativity is required!

How about the –Eiertrullern– (also works in the garden or in the sandpit)
On the East Frisian Islands – especially on Norderney – locals and tourists traditionally play the –Eiertrullern– in the dunes. The participants stand on the sand side and let the eggs roll down on leveled ramps, a “Lünskebahn”, without throwing them.

The winner is the one whose egg gets the furthest and remains undamaged. As a win he receives the opponent’s egg. For nature conservation reasons, egg trolling now only takes place on artificially raised sand dunes on the beach.”

Ein paar schöne erholsame Tage im Kreis der Familie.
Moin aus Löningen
Alex 

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26. March 2021

Tracking your body in VR

A new passion!

VR is a new passion of mine, that I play with in my freetime, but also explore as a developer and tech enthusiast.

As video quality has evolved a lot in the past 2 years, the big topic now is full body immersion.

What needs to be tracked in VR?

The following things are becoming more important:

  • Hand-Tracking: hand & fingers, touch, grab & place …
  • Eye-Tracking: left & right eye, focus …
  • Lip-Tracking: speech, facial expressions
  • Body-Tracking: arms, legs, hips …
  • Free Locomotion without boundaries
  • Smell & Taste-Tracking
  • Brain & Neural Tracking

I will use this article to collect things that are already available, diy projects, experiments and things that are in their early stages.

Hand Tracking

Hand & finger tracking is already making its way into consumer products. It is still not widely integrated, but has made big jumps the past year.

Eye Tracking

Eye tracking is not only important to make avatars more life-like, but also to track your eye focus and help to reduce processor load.

Lip Tracking

Lip tracking has made a big jump, with the new Vive Lip tracker and is important for social interactions.

Body Tracking / Tracking parts of the body

Body tracking is one of the areas, that has so many projects attached to it. There are so many neat solutions out there, that almost anyone can use it by now.

  • KinectToVR – Full-Body Tracking with your Kinect for Xbox 360, Kinect for Xbox One or PlayStation Move + Eye
  • SlimeVR – Open Source Full Body Tracking. Crowd Supply / Youtube
  • DecaMove – Hip tracking. They also offer an Android App, to do the same.

Free Locomotion Tracking

Free locomotion is one of the biggest challenges in VR right now. You can increase your playarea, but that is still limiting and requires space. Their are VR treadmills, but none of them really reproduces life-like natural movement yet. And those solutions that come close, are still out of your reach. Most of the tracking above is somehow covered and will be available soon, while real locomotion is really the hardest to solve of them all.

  • Natural Locomotion – Natural Locomotion is an application that emulates the controller thumbstick input (to use in any game), to walk, run and jump more naturally moving your arms or your feet. It includes a driver for SteamVR for this purpose.

Tools & Software

  • VirtualHere – allows USB devices to be used remotely over a network just as if they were locally connected!

Avatars

Always crucial to have the right look for yourself in VR :)

Lets get started ….

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21. December 2019

Merry Christmas

Time to slow down and enjoy some time with family & friends.


I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

“Christmas Bells” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

All the best wishes.

portalZINE NMN | Development meets Creativity |

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Manet is a REST API server which allows capturing screenshots of websites using various parameters.

The Node.js server can use SlimerJS or PhantomJS as headless browser engines.

I have build similar with CasperJS, but this is far better for those that want a simple straight solution.

@GitHub

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15. May 2019

ZombieLoad Attack

“After Meltdown, Spectre, and Foreshadow, we discovered more critical vulnerabilities in modern processors. The ZombieLoad attack allows stealing sensitive data and keys while the computer accesses them. While programs normally only see their own data, a malicious program can exploit the fill buffers to get hold of secrets currently processed by other running programs. These secrets can be user-level secrets, such as browser history, website content, user keys, and passwords, or system-level secrets, such as disk encryption keys.” – zombieloadattack.com

There seems to be a new security related story every day. Read about the latest CPU related issues at CPU.fail.

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