TECH TALK

This is another post not really related to the Senses Novels. Rather, this is about some technology that I’ve been dealing with lately, or rather the companies behind that technology. I am going to give this to you via the title of one of my favorite Western’s.

The Good – With the death knell of net neutrality looming, I’ve taken to using a VPN on almost all of my devices. I want my information safeguarded from the prying eyes that I know want to use it. That wasn’t the original reason I started using VPN, I was using to get past the Great Firewall of China so that I could read my GMAIL.

While everyone raves about a company called ExpressVPN, I have found them to be mostly hype. They could not help me when my connection slowed to speeds less than dial-up used to be. So, I tried one called NordVPN, and it works great! Not only that, when I had a problem with my bill recently, I was able to get it resolved in a few minutes with absolutely no hassles. I recommend them.

The Bad - Visiting Asia has become more the norm for my day job than the exception for me, so when I heard about TRAVIS, I was pretty excited. The Indiegogo site screams Travis - I speak 80 languages, so can you! A translation device that works two ways, wow! I purchased one for business.

Unfortunately, I will never find out the truth of that claim. While the concept is excellent, the execution is catastrophically awful. Just reading through the comments (some made by myself) you will find that the product not only has numerous quality issues, but the company simply lies to its customers.

The promised ship dates are never met, and the feeblest of excuses are given when the comments are answered at all. I requested a refund which, to date, I have not received. They were quick to cancel my order, but so far, the money that I spent on the product has not been returned (there’s a name for that isn’t there, oh yeah, stealing…)

Indiegogo is now investigating them, and I heard that a class-action might be in the works.

I can honestly say, run, don’t walk away from this one.

The Ugly – Fiverr used to be my ‘go-to’ site to have some decently priced work done for my novels. I am speaking about things like formatting for Smashwords or doing the cover layout for CreateSpace. Unfortunately, it appears the Fiverr has been taken over by Hundrederr. I was on the site recently and work that used to cost me $15 to $20 is now at least three to five times that. I don’t think I’ll be going back to them for much. I’d rather just do it myself or go to one of the other low-cost sites that haven’t gotten quite so full of themselves.

Well, that’s my Tech Talk. I hope that it helps someone out there.

KM