Current contributions

Where does SARS-CoV-2 come from? A factual overview of all corona theories

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SARS-CoV-2 - Corona

When the first reports of an unusual lung disease emerged in Wuhan, most of us thought it was just a side note. A new pathogen, somewhere in China - you heard something like that from time to time. But within a few weeks, the situation changed dramatically. Borders closed, schools shut down, events were canceled. There was uncertainty, and suddenly this virus affected everyone - directly.

With a little distance, you can sense today that there is still a lot going on beneath the surface. Many people have the feeling that not everything was open, not everything was clear and not everything was fully communicated at the time. Anyone who tries to find objective information about the origin of the virus quickly encounters contradictions, gaps and conflicting accounts. For this very reason, it is worth sorting through the topic calmly and clearly - without haste, without polemics, without pigeonholing.

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The EU's digital ID: linking, control and risks in everyday life

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Digital ID of the EU

When you hear about „digital ID“, „European identity wallet“ or „EUDI wallet“, it sounds abstract at first - almost like another complicated IT project from Brussels. Many people have never consciously heard of „eIDAS 2.0“, the underlying EU regulations. And yet this project will affect almost every citizen of the European Union in the long term.

In essence, it is about something that we have been carrying around with us on paper or as a plastic card in our everyday lives for decades: official proof of our identity. Until now, we have had various documents - ID card, driver's license, health insurance card, tax ID, account login, insurance number. Each system works separately, each with its own processes, often confusing and sometimes annoying.

The EU is now pursuing the goal of merging these scattered areas of identity into a standardized digital solution.

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Apple MLX vs. NVIDIA: How local AI inference works on the Mac

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Local AI on Silicon with Apple Mac

Anyone working with artificial intelligence today often first thinks of ChatGPT or similar online services. You type in a question, wait a few seconds - and receive an answer as if a very well-read, patient conversation partner were sitting at the other end of the line. But what is easily forgotten: Every input, every sentence, every word travels via the Internet to external servers. That's where the real work is done - on huge computers that you never get to see yourself.

In principle, a local language model works in exactly the same way - but without the Internet. The model is stored as a file on the user's own computer, is loaded into the working memory at startup and answers questions directly on the device. The technology behind it is the same: a neural network that understands language, generates texts and recognizes patterns. The only difference is that the entire calculation remains in-house. You could say: ChatGPT without the cloud.

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A fact check on the electronic patient file (EPR): risks, rights and objections

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All the facts about electronic patient records

The electronic patient file, or ePA for short, is one of the most ambitious digitization projects in the German healthcare system. It is intended to bundle medical information centrally - from findings and laboratory values to medication plans, vaccinations and hospital reports. The aim is to better connect doctors, therapists, pharmacies and patients, avoid duplicate examinations and improve the quality of treatment.

What sounds modern and efficient on paper raises numerous questions in practice: Who has access? How secure is the data? And above all: do I even want all my health information to be stored and accessible centrally - even if I haven't asked for it?

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Understanding TMD: Why knowledge is the first step to healing

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Understanding CMD is the first step to healing

There are complaints that don't behave like normal symptoms. They appear, disappear, shift - and don't fit into any specialist category. This is exactly where the story behind CMD, craniomandibular dysfunction, begins: not an exotic disease, but a functional disorder in the interaction of the temporomandibular joint, chewing muscles, teeth, neck and throat. What sounds so technical acts like a silent director in the background in everyday life: it pulls here, presses there, makes you tired, makes you nervous - and rarely does the finger point directly at the jaw.

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Your opinion counts - New surveys on current topics

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Surveys on current topics

A magazine thrives on exchange - now also interactively. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't write to preach - but to initiate thought processes. The articles on my website have never been a one-way street, but an invitation to reflect. But what has been missing so far is the opportunity for readers to take a very concrete stand - anonymously, honestly, directly. This is exactly what is changing now.

You can now find interactive polls on my website that are integrated directly into articles on specific topics - and also appear in rotation in the sidebar. This is a step that was long overdue: because in a world in which more and more opinions are being imposed from above, every freely expressed opinion from below is a piece of digital sovereignty.

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The digital euro is coming - what it means, what it must not do and what it could do

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The digital euro is coming

Public money is more than just a medium of exchange - it is a symbol of state sovereignty, a guarantor of economic order and a means for all citizens to participate freely in economic life. For centuries, cash was an expression of this freedom: anonymous, unconditionally usable, valid everywhere. With the gradual replacement of cash by digital payment methods, a central question is now being posed anew: who will control the money of the future - and under what conditions?

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Forced migration at HostEurope: When emails suddenly end up in the cloud

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Hosteurope migration to Microsoft 365

There are decisions that self-employed people like to put off because they are inconvenient. Changing hosting providers is undoubtedly one of them. As long as the websites are running, the emails are arriving and the bills are being paid, you think: Why touch something that works?

But sometimes you realize too late that "working" no longer means "right". My web hosting provider Hosteurope was of the opinion that it had to force its customers to migrate to Microsoft 365 for a fee without their active consent. The following is my experience, which ended for me with a migration to another hosting provider.

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