Thomas Kjemperud

Just to be clear, Tumblr is probably not deleting our unfinished posts on purpose - this is more likely a bug in their Android app.

Earlier today I wrote a blog post on my phone, using the official Tumblr app. After I was finished, I decided to wait until I was in front of my computer to publish it, so I could find a suitable picture for the post. I clicked back, and a pop-up asks me if I want to save the post as a draft, or discard it. Like the pop-up shown in this picture: 

I obviously click Save.

Here’s the bug though, it was not saved. I checked my drafts both in the app and on the Tumblr website, but my freshly written blog post was nowhere to be found:

I tried to recreate the problem, and it is in fact happening every time. Except when I went into the post settings and checked Save as draft and clicked Save:

So that’s a workaround for now. Hopefully Tumblr will fix this bug ASAP. In the mean time, bloggers be aware!

About a month back I decided to move from Unblock US to Overplay.net for accessing Netflix and other media content from around the world. In short, it has been a great experience. One thing that is difficult to know in advance though is the level of customer service you can expect.

Although Overplay supports more locations and more of the services I use on a daily basis than Unblock US does, they did not have support for the Google Play stores. It wasn’t a big deal when I signed up, but after Google recently added the All Access streaming service to their Play Music offering it was a bigger omission than before.

So I decided to test the customer support of both Overplay and Unblock US. On May 21st I wrote an e-mail to Overplay asking them to include Google Play in their Smart DNS offering. At the same time I wrote an e-mail to Unblock US asking them to include NRK’s web TV (a Norwegian TV channel only available online with a Norwegian IP address, which Overplay already supports) in their offering.

On May 22nd I received this e-mail from Overplay, saying that they had added the feature, tested it locally and were going to push it live within 24h:

The next day it was live and working great!

It has now been five days since I contacted both companies, and I have yet to hear back from Unblock US. I’m now even more confident than ever that switching to Overplay was the right thing to do, and I’ll probably cancel my Unblock US subscription all together before the next billing cycle.

Overplay: 2 - Unblock US: 0

I’ve been using Unblock US for a while to access Netflix content from different countries for a while now, and for most of the time it worked really well. Until a couple of days ago, when it seemingly got stuck on Danish Netflix, which is generally not so good. Due to the fact that I share the same IP address with about a hundred neighbors, and one of those neighbors has started to use Unblock US, the service was unable to figure out which of our accounts was in charge. My neighbor had set his Netflix to Denmark, and that somehow overruled my US and Canada settings, making the service virtually unusable.

So after some Googling around, I found Overplay’s Smart DNS service, that promised the same features as Unblock US provides. They also have servers in even more countries, which results in a even better service. For example, after setting my home network up for Overplay, I could access NRK’s (the Norwegian Public Broadcasting Company) web tv content, that is normally unreachable if you’re outside of Norway. It worked seamless even though my Netflix preference was set to the US.

In your Overplay dashboard, you can easily change the Netflix country with one click (just like Unblock US). It’s also dirt cheap, at $4.95 per month it’s really a steal. They also have an encrypted VPN service at $9.95 per month, but if you’re mainly using the service for streaming media content the cheaper Smart DNS is a better option.

So what are you waiting for? Go sign up today, if you want to access tons of entertainment that’s currently unavailable because of “geofencing”. The best way to set it up is to enter the DNS addresses that you can see on the screenshot above in your router settings. That way all your devices connected to your home network instantly get access to the Smart DNS service, and can access media content from around the world.

The best way to get most out of your Netflix and Overplay Smart DNS subscriptions is to use them in conjunction with Moreflicks. Just go to Moreflicks, search for a movie or TV show you want to watch, and click the Netflix button next to it to see which Netflix regions it’s available in.

Then just go to your Overplay account and under the Smart DNS tab select your Netflix region accordingly.

Enjoy!

Update: I just tested the customer service of both Overplay and Unblock US. Big win to Overplay.

For a few years now, I’ve been contemplating changing my name. Or at least adding a middle name that I can use as my last name outside of Norway.

Why? My last name is virtually unpronounceable in any language except Norwegian and maybe Swedish. Try to pronounce it yourself: Kjemperud. I bet that if you’re from any other country than Norway or Sweden, you have no idea how to even approach that. K followed by a J. I know, WTF.

So why wouldn’t I just change my last name altogether? Well, I’m actually very proud of my last name. It’s quite rare even in Norway, and ever since I was very young I have associated it with greatness. The first part of the name, Kjempe, roughly translates into “great” or “gigantic”. The last part of the name (rud) doesn’t really mean anything, at least not in modern Norwegian.

So what name should I adopt as my foreign last name?

The criteria
- It should be easily pronounceable both in English and Norwegian.
- It should preferably be acceptable as a middle name in Norway.
- If it somehow could relate to my heritage or perhaps even my passions, that would be a bonus.

The alternatives
- Scott. A name that works well both in English and Norwegian, both as a first and last name. It is also quite similar to the name of the place my grandfather originally came from, Skotselv. That’s also the place my current last name comes from.
- Running. Not really a common name in either Norwegian or English, but it is easily pronounced in both languages and has a meaning in English that I absolutely can relate to. Running is actually one of my biggest passions. Also, my mother’s maiden name, Rønning, is pronounced approximately the same way in Norwegian as Running is in English. In a way I’m just putting an English twist on my mother’s maiden name.

I have also considered a few more names, but these are the two I like the best. Do you like any of them? If so, which one? Please help me decide - I will probably submit an application for name change before the summer. Thank you!