Sexy Admin - English Version on Sexy Admin

Let's see if all my banks support Wero...

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +0000

How quickly a month passes. For the first Sunday in February, I have chosen the topic of online payment—an area in which Europe has long relied too heavily on American solutions, but which is finally showing signs of change.

Take a look at the Wechselrezept page From PayPal to Wero: There you can see how a European alternative menu is emerging. One of the most important ingredients is Wero, intended as the European answer to PayPal – and as a building block for greater digital sovereignty.

Wero was already available for my Ethikbank account in 2025. This shows that European solutions can work if banks have the courage to break new ground. This makes me all the more interested in when large institutions such as Commerzbank will follow suit (unfortunately, they are not yet on board). 2026 would be a good year for this. The demand is there, awareness is growing – now it’s time to take the next step.

The potential is also obvious in online shopping. Although PayPal currently still dominates many European shops, this does not have to remain a permanent situation. Retailers and payment service providers are beginning to realize that dependence on American platforms is not without alternatives – neither economically nor in terms of data protection. European solutions can offer trust, transparency, and fairer conditions here. Digital independence does not happen overnight. It grows step by step: through banks integrating European services, through retailers offering alternatives, and through users making conscious decisions. Wero is an example of how Europe can not only regulate, but also shape the future itself.

2026 could be the year in which European online payments make the leap out of their niche. The foundations have been laid—now it’s time to develop them consistently.

You can see my current digital independence status on the #did page.

Best regards Lars

Good intentions are like unfulfilled promises...

Sat, 17 Jan 2026 06:00:00 +0000

Good intentions are like promises to yourself: they usually start with a lot of motivation, but quickly lose momentum if they are not consistently implemented. In order not to lose this momentum, I got started right away and am keeping track of the current status on the #dutgemacht page.

I started by looking for an alternative to Microsoft 365. In my next post, I’ll tell you why I ultimately chose mailbox.org.

A blog is being reactivated...

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 07:00:00 +0000

It’s unbelievable how fast time flies. Good intentions sometimes feel like old bookmarks in Netscape Navigator — you have them, but rarely use them. I did manage to revive one though: I migrated my personal blog from Ghost to Hugo. If I’m counting correctly, this was migration number three. My blogs seem to share the same fate as personal homepages with “Under Construction” GIFs.

Why all the effort? Starting in 2026, the first Sunday of every month will be Digital Independence Day. That felt like the perfect excuse to document my own side projects, detours, and little aha moments on the path toward digital independence — without tracking, algorithms, or cookie banners. Almost like the old days. Just with better CSS.

Welcome to Sexy Admin

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 19:00:00 +0100

Welcome to the English section of Sexy Admin!

This blog covers topics including:

Technology and development
Mac and Apple products
Personal experiences and thoughts
And much more

English content will be published here regularly. Stay tuned!

My New MacBook Pro

Sat, 15 Jun 2019 05:05:01 +0000

How time flies. Exactly 4 years ago, I wrote a post on this blog on the MacBook 12", and now I’m writing again with a new MacBook.

Is it a current MacBook 12"? No, I decided on the MacBook Pro 15" for professional reasons, and I have to admit after just a few days that my MacBook is slower than I felt it was in recent months. While I thought until 3 days ago that my mobile macOS world was in order, I now realize that I just got a bit older and calmer, and so the convenience of my MacBook didn’t really bother me in my daily routine.

But once you know the new fast world of the MacBook Pro 15", you don’t want to go back.

However, I want to emphasize that I will continue to use my MacBook. Especially when I’m on the go, its compactness is unbeatable.

Cheers

Lars

[LEGO] #60051 LEGO City High-Speed Train vs. Belana

Sun, 14 Jan 2018 19:20:25 +0000

We met on an ICE train, so what could be more natural than Goldmarie and I building the corresponding LEGO model.

The LEGO High-Speed Train consists of 610 pieces and has the LEGO number 60052. The assembly was completed after about 2 hours, and we immediately took it for a spin. Our cat Belana is still a bit skeptical at the moment.

The tracks from the set only make a small circle, so we immediately expanded it with the Flexible Track Set 7499.

The front LED is not part of the set. I received it with my Sbrick. Currently, the normal battery box is still installed. But I’ll stop by Held der Steine - maybe they still have a LEGO Power Functions Rechargeable Battery - 8878.

At my mom’s place, there are still about 20m of blue and gray tracks from the 70s and 80s. Fortunately, there’s an adapter to connect them with the current ones.

I also presented the LEGO set in my last macnemo.tv episode.

If anyone is interested, you can buy it through the following links. It doesn’t cost you more, and I get a few bucks.

Lego 60051 City High-Speed Train: http://amzn.to/2DhUioM Lego 7499 City Flexible Tracks: http://amzn.to/2B0VcAV Rechargeable Battery LEGO Power Functions 8878: http://amzn.to/2DdX8w0

My MacBook and I - An Initial Review

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 07:05:26 +0000

A week ago, I was able to pick up my new MacBook at UPS in Kassel. Conveniently, I had the macnemo.tv Episode 63 that evening, and I was able to unpack and start it up live on the show.

I have to admit that I haven’t had a mobile Mac for about 4 years, and I also thought that since the Mac Pro (Late 2013) and the iPad, I wouldn’t need one anymore. Unfortunately, that was a mistake. As much as I tried to use the iPad as a full-fledged replacement, I also noticed that I (still) failed at many use cases. I love my iPad, especially when I’m sitting on the train and need some entertainment. It’s also no problem to manage a web server with an iPad or write a few texts or edit a presentation. But actually, I only did “small things” with it. So I quickly realized that this wasn’t enough for me in the long run and decided at the end of 2014 that I did need a mobile Mac again. But Apple just didn’t release a MacBook Air with Retina Display, so I had to wait until March 2015. When the MacBook was announced, it was clear that this was the mobile Mac for me. Then came the question of color - for the first time, you could choose from different colors. For iPhones and iPads, the issue is settled for me. An iPhone and iPad is and remains white or now white/silver. But with the MacBook, I was immediately drawn to the gold one. :-) So I wasn’t sure and simply decided to look at them on April 9th directly at the Apple Store, as I wanted to go there for the Apple Watch anyway. But what I experienced there was, personally speaking, a farce. The Munich Apple Store had no MacBooks to look at, let alone to buy on-site. I can tell you that a lot of bewildered faces were seen that morning. Okay, so I ordered it from the Apple Online Store. My first choice was actually the model 1.2 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core M, Turbo Boost up to 2.6 GHz, 8 GB 1600 MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM, 512 GB PCIe-based Flash Storage, but then I decided on the smaller model with 256GB SSD and the 1.3 GHz CPU instead. Honestly, I don’t need 512GB of disk space on the go, at least not built into the Mac. I also got the Digital AV Adapter - as most people know, the MacBook only has one USB-C port, and I simply needed a normal USB port.

So what’s my verdict after one week? In short, I’m more than satisfied. The MacBook is quiet (as no fans are included), and the performance is more than sufficient for my activities. The performance of the built-in SSD could be a bit better - at least the test with the BlackMagic tool shows pretty poor values. But I need to look into that again. Otherwise, I’ll just stop by the Apple Store in Munich at a Genius Bar. The gold color is actually not that golden - it’s more like bronze or at least rose gold. In any case, it looks really good in person (okay, tastes differ).

Here’s a list of the applications I actively use on the MacBook:

Devonthink Pro Office - finally working on my documents on the go, and I can even sync it with the Mac Pro. Perfect, and more about this in Episode 64 at macnemo.tv
VMWare Fusion - I currently still do my tax return and “accounting” on PC, so I occasionally start the Windows VM
GOG Galaxy Client - yes, I also play games on the MacBook. Currently more retro games, hence the GOG client. Though I also started Pillars of Eternity as a test. Currently, I’m playing Baldur’s Gate Extended Edition :-)
Microsoft Office 2016 Preview - I’ll out myself now. I think Microsoft currently has the best online strategy, and I also like Office365
BoinxTV - finally, I can also prepare the next shows on the go
Final Cut Pro X - for quick editing on the side, it’s more than sufficient. The workhorse is still the Mac Pro (Late 2013)
Sublime Text & SourceTree - the combination for me to manage my scripts and configuration files

Of course, I immediately provided the MacBook with some accessories. Here’s an overview of what I already have or what has been ordered:

MacBook Digital A/V Adapter
pack & smooch Hampshire Case
Hub+ for USB-C: Get your MacBook ports back

So that’s my initial review. In any case, you should look at the MacBook in person. And regarding the discussion about the one USB-C port, let me remind you of the outcry when Apple “forgot” the floppy on the first iMac. Or the discussions about permanently installed batteries or SSDs. Yes, modern computers are no longer as modular as in the 90s, but that’s probably the course of technology. When I think about how simple the engine of my Golf 1 was and what I could still replace or repair myself. What’s important to me is that Apple offers a fair deal for the repair or replacement of components and that I get a long service life. And so far, I haven’t had any complaints about products from Apple. I use a Mac for at least 5 years on average.

Update on the keyboard How embarrassing, how embarrassing. I write hundreds of words and yet don’t lose one about the new keyboard. Yet it’s also being discussed controversially. I had some concerns at first too, but for me, they dissolved into thin air. I can type perfectly with the keyboard, and it felt familiar after just a few minutes. Only the cursor keys are still a bit confusing, but my muscle memory will probably get used to that soon too. The pressure point of the keys is really great, and the lighting also looks better - the individual LEDs make a difference.

Update on the hard drive speed As suspected, it was more of an issue with the BlackMagic tool. Apple apparently uses some kind of optimization on the SSD, and the full performance only comes after waiting for a few cycles. I let the test run for a while, and then I got the values I expected.

Cheers, Panxatony

A New Home Server

Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:43:45 +0000

The cold long evenings are beginning and that’s the best time for a new home server project. My QNAP TS-412 has been annoying me for a while now, so a few days ago it went into the eBay bay.

An initial brainstorming session led to the following new server setup:

I’ll document the server build on my blog, and I’ll also find a few words about why the setup was done this way.

A New Year and New Hardware Is Needed...

Sat, 03 Jan 2015 08:41:42 +0000

What could be better than starting a new year with new hardware. The refresh of my home IT began in November 2014 with the replacement of the QNAP TS-412, and now I can hopefully complete it by the end of April.

So what’s specifically on the list:

Apple AirPort Extreme as a replacement for the current Apple Time Capsule
Apple MacBook (Air) Retina 12" as a new mobile broadcasting studio
a few HomeKit compatible outlets and light bulbs
Apple TV as a replacement for my 2nd Gen version

Let’s see when I’ll replace what, and especially when Apple will release the MacBook 12" to the market.

Dapper Admin...

Sun, 28 Sep 2014 07:33:34 +0000

A mirror is a wonderful thing - you stand in front of it and can see yourself from the outside. There’s a particularly large mirror in the elevator of the high-rise where I live. They give you the feeling that the elevator is bigger, but you can also use them to quickly take a selfie in the morning.

A year ago, on a whim, and because I read about someone who took a photo of their child every day and gave them a collage of the images as a time-lapse for their 18th birthday, I started taking a photo of myself in the morning on my way to work, or even just when taking out the trash. The photo is then uploaded directly to an iCloud photo stream, and Ben, Marc, and my girlfriend are thus greeted with a photo of me every morning. :-)

At a fun steak round last Friday, Ben convinced me to make the second year publicly available. Since I’m a show-off at heart, I immediately implemented the suggestion after brief consideration and set up a Tumblr blog.

So for the next 365 days, you’ll be able to see the photos directly on Tumblr.

Here’s the link to the page panxatony.tumblr.com and the first photo I published.

Have fun, Lars

Finally on FreeBSD

Wed, 15 Jan 2014 14:31:05 +0000

The year 2014 is off to a good start. I had to set up my FreeBSD server from scratch, but now I’m on a nice Atom server running FreeBSD 9.2 with my blog. :-)

Cheers, Lars

I'M BACK!

Thu, 26 Sep 2013 19:16:22 +0000

3 years, what an incredible time. In early 2010, I had the last relaunch of my personal blog. I had planned a lot, but in the end, it only lasted a few weeks. Now I’m making a new attempt and hope that thanks to the already impressive blogging software Ghost, I’ll also stick with it.

So you’ll be hearing from me soon!!

Cheers, Lars

p.s. Of course, I wasn’t idle in recent years, and you can see what I’ve been up to on the following pages:

macnemo.de -> the not-too-serious fish forum
macnemo.tv -> my personal TV channel, all about potting soil and shoe trees
A View in Blue -> 4 old men, many bottles of gin, and an office in a gas station
Gin meets Fashion -> the new blog concept from my brother and me.

Incredibly Sharp...

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 11:00:00 +0000

I’ve had it for 3 days now and don’t want to give it up. Honestly, I had my doubts when the new iPad was announced, but they’ve all dissolved into nothing. Once you’ve seen the Retina Display, you want to own it immediately. Currently, there are still many apps that don’t use the display’s potential - Textastic, the app I use to write my posts on the iPad, is among them. But in the coming weeks, all apps should be updated gradually.

Let’s test the dictation function now. Is it implemented on the iPad? Well, not yet. Siri, come get that with some respect.

Okay, either I have a distinct dialect, or the dictation function still needs some training.

Cheers, Lars

Carnival, Vacation, and a Bottle of Gin

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 11:00:00 +0000

How quickly plans can change. I should actually be in Cologne right now recovering from the aftereffects of Altweiber. But sometimes things turn out differently than planned. Instead of a week of carnival, 2012 will probably be a quiet silly season for me. Although you can’t really say that definitively yet. Tomorrow there might be a carnival session at the gas station - then Moogie, GW, and I will simply celebrate a carnival party in the office and sample a gin variety from the last delivery (arrived 2 days ago). I’ll see whether to continue to Cologne on Sunday or head back to Munich. But I wish you revelers out there a wonderful carnival season and therefore say Helau and Alaaf. :-)

Cheers, Lars

15000 km Across the Country

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Modern smartphones offer features that you don’t really need but like to use anyway. For me, it’s the GPS function of the iPhone 3G combined with the Pin Trip app. Since I received my BahnCard 100 last summer, I always make an entry when I make a stop at a train station. Okay, unfortunately not always, and due to the broken glass in September, I’m missing 2 weeks. But currently the app shows the impressive number of 15000 km. Will I manage to reach 25000 by summer? I think so - for example, there are still several bottles of gin waiting for me in Hofgeismar.

Cheers, Lars

Barely Started, Already Migrating...

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:00:00 +0000

This blog has barely been online for 2 weeks and I’m already dealing with a migration. But as they say, the only constant is change. Of course, I’m sticking with jekyll, but there’s a practical fork called jekyll-bootstrap that was developed specifically for blogs. You get a solid framework, and I can focus my initial energy on creating the Sexy Admin theme.

Cheers, Lars

Always Enough Gin in the House

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:00:00 +0000

This weekend I was on a gin tour in Northern Hesse again, this time even two evenings in a row. We activated our blog A View in Blue (okay, not much input there yet). But after a few gins, we came up with a good idea for the site’s design - now I just have to see if and how I can implement it.

Our inspiration was a box with the gin delivery from Barfish.de :-)

Gin Delivery

What a beautiful green sticker :-)

The box with the second delivery :-)

I can only recommend Barfish. Good selection and fast delivery.

Cheers, Lars

Winter is coming...

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:00:00 +0000

At least I hope so now. Last week the matching Pyua clothes arrived, and today I had my last day of leftover vacation and used it to do some shopping. Due to the slight reduction in my body circumference, I have to/get to re-outfit myself with ski or snowboard clothes. I learned one thing quickly today: with “normal” clothing, I prefer small shops with a manageable selection, and that also applies to winter clothing. First, I was at Karstadt Sport, but I got out of there quickly and then went to Planet Sports in Munich. They have a nice, small, manageable shop, and especially a very friendly employee. She took her time, and after 1 hour, I left the shop with a pair of new boots and a helmet.

Boots

Nitro Recoil TLS Boot 2012 black

Helmet

Smith Vantage Helmet 2012 black/white

I hope I have time for a little slope tour this weekend. From Munich, I can take the regional express directly to the lift in Garmisch. I like that.

Cheers, Lars

Textbook 2.0?

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:00:00 +0000

The Apple Education Keynote is over, and we now know how Apple envisions the Textbook 2.0. One could initially suspect that Apple, with this step, only wants to bind children even earlier to the brand and especially the products, but I think that’s not really their only motivation. One of the essential differences between Apple and the competitors in the market was and is that they simply look at what the user uses and offer a solution for the need. However, they don’t just focus on the tool (MacBooks, iPads) but also on the content consumed on them. Definitely not a wrong approach if you want to be economically successful in the long term.

There’s plenty of information and commentary online about the features of iBook 2, iBook Author, and the new iTunes U app. I’d like to focus on one feature of the textbooks first: Flashcards

Flashcards are available as an option. Creation is really simple and also automated. But I see a problem in this - for me, the first learning success came when writing such cards.

Digital textbooks make sense, but they alone are not the solution to the problems.

It will be exciting to see whether educational institutions will insist on open standards. This should be regulated promptly. Especially with information, it’s important that it’s not tied to a standard or even a manufacturer.

But at least Apple is waking up the industry again, and they will have to react. I just fear it will be more of a reaction like in the music industry. First, resist progress and try to save the old model.

Cheers, Lars

A Delicious Kofte Is a Good Reason to Test Something

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Now I’m sitting here at Arkadas and have had my second Raki for digestion, and while doing so, thought that this would be a good reason to finally test embedding images via markdown. Coincidentally, I just took a photo of the delicious kofte with lamb and feta cheese that I’d like to share with you. :-)

I also have to express my thanks to Shirwan (who once again prepared the kofte deliciously), especially for the second Raki, naturally only for digestion.

On the Slow Train in the Data Network

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:00:00 +0000

I never thought I’d say this, but right now I’d like to be a Telekom customer again. Why? Simple: at O2, you currently feel like you’re on a slow train in the data network, while the Telekom network seems like an ICE in comparison. If it weren’t for the simple contracts and the cheap prices (I barely make phone calls with the iPhone and only need the data plan), I would have already taken the opportunity to switch at the next stop. But for now, I’ll stay seated on the slow train and use the loading time to occasionally look out the window of the real ICE.

Cheers, Lars

Mobile Posting

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:00:00 +0000

The tension is rising - I’m just testing mobile posting via iPad and Textastic Editor. Let’s see if the text appears on the website soon. :-)

Meanwhile, I’m watching the current episode of New Girl. Though I’d really like to watch a new episode of Once Upon a Time, but I have to wait until next Monday for that.

Cheers, Lars

My Mac Pro, Lion, and the PS3 DualShock Controller

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:00:00 +0000

It’s Sunday and I was looking for a reason to avoid the ironing. What’s better than testing whether I can get the PS3 controller to work on my Mac Pro. This morning I bought Trine 2 (so I can play coop with Schlaefer) and just now Rochard, and both are classic jump & run games. And for that, a gamepad is simply the best controller. After an intensive Google search and a parallel hangout with Schlaefer, I finally managed to connect the controller. Hurray! And immediately tested it in Trine 2.

What did I do?

Bluetooth must be enabled in System Preferences
Connect PS3 controller to Mac using USB cable (then check if it’s detected in System Profiler)
Press the PS button for 3 seconds, then disconnect the USB cable
A window should appear asking for the PIN - simply enter 0000
Start the game :-)

If there are problems, simply reset the PS3 controller. You’ll find an opening with the reset button on the bottom side.

Cheers, Lars

Which iOS Apps Do I Actually Really Use?

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Just chatting with Schlaefer about “Which iOS apps do you actually really use” and then thought about what I really use on the iPad and iPhone. I’ll leave out the standard apps like Mail, Safari, etc.

Daily:

Tweetbot - my current Twitter client
NewsRack - my RSS feed reader (without Google Reader Sync :-))
EyeTV - for the morning news

Multiple times a week:

Lovefilm - in case I want to watch a movie to fall asleep
TV Forecast HD - so I don’t miss any of the current TV episodes
On Air - my TV guide
ARTE - the media library app for Arte
ZDF - media library app for ZDF
Instacast HD - my video podcast player
iOutBank - so I always have an overview of my finances
DEVONthink - my documents, basically my life :-)
Things - my tasks, but somehow they’re not getting any fewer
DB Navigator - okay, I’m sitting in the ICE at least once a week (thanks BahnCard 100)
Pin Trip - my travel diary
QMobile - access to my QNAP TS-412 media library
Kindle - yes, I even read something now and then
PocketCloud - VNC access to my Mac Pro

Regularly:

djay - I use this in my macnemo.tv show
CloudConnect - my “Norton Commander” for the iPad
Good Reader - used less and less lately. I need it occasionally to load files onto the iPad
Dropbox
Cloud-Mgr - management of Amazon Web Services
Linode - management of my web servers at Linode.com
iSSH - SSH client for accessing my web servers
OmniOutliner
OmniGraffle
Textastic - the text editor of my choice on the iPad

Those were essentially the apps I use regularly.

Cheers, Lars

My First Posting with Jekyll

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Is it noticeable that you’re getting older? At least it applies to me and my blog on the web. Over the last 10 years, I’ve used the most diverse tools. First, the website was based on PostNuke (ah, that was still a nice time, the Mercedes Benz Mixed Tapes caused a lot of traffic, and that at a time when a flat rate was still a pipe dream), then I switched it to Rapidweaver. But both tools used too much PHP, and that has always been my “pain in the ass”. A few months ago, I decided to convert the blog to static HTML pages. What can I say, I finally managed it. But now the server only delivers fine HTML pages, okay, some JavaScript and CSS are still there. But that’s processed by your browsers and not by my server. The creation of the HTML pages is based on the nice Ruby tool Jekyll. So have fun on the new site.