Kolja Nolte

Category: Thoughts

A collection of my inner monologue, which is mostly just me arguing with myself about the best way to solve a problem, but occasionally yields something useful.

  • Simple Analytics: Is it really the “best Google Analytics alternative” it claims it is? An honest review

    Simple Analytics: Is it really the “best Google Analytics alternative” it claims it is? An honest review

    A German philosopher and book author who, throughout the last decade, was a regular guest in every German TV talk show that exists, often said this sentence about technology: “The measurable side of the world is not the world.”

    Richard David Precht, who seems to become more handsome the older he gets, was of course right; it is not the world. But it is a world. A world that is driven by algorithms and metrics, by numbers, and that many people are connected to (maybe more than they should).

    Keeping an eye on the results of these measurements, these numbers, is not only legitimate but also crucial to many businesses who depend on online traffic. But if you think about what tools can do this for you, to most, only one name comes to mind: Google Analytics.

    Well, there’s more. Let me show you one.

    (more…)
  • The Trick with the Tick

    The Trick with the Tick

    “Wow,” was my first thought, “Facebook must be pretty desperate.”

    While browsing Instagram, which we all know belongs to Facebook Meta, a notification asked me whether I’d like to verify my account. You know, with a blue checkmark and all—kind of like Twitter X (why is every tech company throwing out their brand names?!).

    After clicking through some pages, I expected to be asked for any kind of ID or something. But, no, page three already made it clear: you must pay.

    Meta Verified Standard payment page
    Get your badge of (dis)honor—for only ten bucks a month!

    Desperate because this was one of Elon Musk’s (God damn him!) first moves after he bought Twitter. “Making Twitter profitable,” he said. What had been reserved for official accounts and people who appear often in public could then be bought. For roughly $2.70 USD (converted from ฿92.06 THB here in Thailand). Monthly. For a blue icon on your profile.

    And now Meta is doing the same. Meta is actually losing users, and this Threads app that pops up every now and then on Instagram and never made me curious enough to even test it won’t survive very long, either.

    So, and now Meta is doing what it has always done before: buying promising companies, wasting money on this cringy Metaverse thing, and now trying to make me pay almost $9 USD per month so that I get what? A blue checkmark? Cool.

    Thanks, Meta, but no thanks. Go back to into your leg-less Metaverse and continue bullying native Hawaiians out of their homeland to build your $100 million USD bunker.

    Oh, and don’t forget your blue checkmark!

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