Grumbles

Small bit of ranting/kvetching this morning. Monday, someone managed to get enough info on my debit card to make an effort to try to access it via Amazon Brazil. Fraud prevention says they are getting a LOT of this from Amazon Brazil. They do charges for $0.00 as if a hold to see if they can get to the account. Blocked the card before anything could happen. Strongly suspect a skimmer, even though I try to check for such before use.

Now, I’ve been with my credit union for a few decades now. Only drawback is that the closest branch to me is now Nashville, TN. Not quite something where I can just pop in to deal with things. So, I paid a premium price to have a new card expressed to me. Just got it. No PIN. No PIN for a week or more. Really needed it here now with PIN. Very much feeling like I got ripped off here. Yes, it is active and has some limited usability, but not full. PITA that may require changing some plans.

Yesterday, Twitter went wonky plus they apparently did an “upgrade” of TweetDeck. TweetDeck is something I’ve used for years, even before it became the best way to organize things post lightning strike. Great usability and none of the BS you get with the Twitter app. Well, that was true. While it hasn’t changed on my phone (yet), the laptop version went crazy. Changed sizes on everything, added a whole lot of pop-ups, balloons, and such (not good for people like me), and I can no longer see as much info as I saw before.

I spent a bit of time this morning while waiting on the replacement card (had to sign in person for it) trying to get things back to where I had them before. Not much joy, and my take is that the “improvements” and such have made it half as useful as it was before. For all that I’ve enjoyed the “new” Twitter since Elon bought it (and it has been quite entertaining), thinking I may be cutting my time there by fifty percent or more. Seems appropriate.

Too many products these days seem intent on “upgrades and improvements” that are neither. Really do think the world would be much better if the focus was on reliability, stability, and a solid product. If you or your system aren’t set up to provide a fully-working solid product on purchase/use, you need to rethink your systems and your priorities. Especially if you charge premiums for extra service, and don’t deliver.

UPDATE: On a more positive note, Aldi is now selling biltong. For an American commercial product (Simms, an Aldi brand), it is good. Unlike jerky, no sugar (some raisin juice) and you get fat with the meat since the process cures it as well. Only downside is that the package that was for me to snack on over the next few hours didn’t last five minutes…