Interview with Amanda Coetzee

[Crusader]

It looks like I'll be getting the opportunity to do an interview with Amanda Coetzee, author of Bad Blood.

So if you guys have any questions you'd like me to ask feel free to add them here and I'll do my best to work them in.

Ready, steady, go!

[Lauren]

I haven't read the book so I don't have any questions I'm afraid, but this is the first time I checked it out and it looks pretty cool :)
Will check out your review if I can get the page to load (my connection is very slow and doesn't handle blogspot sites well, if at all).

[Crusader]

Well, I've already send through the questions so it's somewhat of a moot point now. Do you have a data capable cell there? Opera Mini might be a solution to Blogspot sites not loading.

[Lauren]

I have a Blackberry, but its capabilities are mostly useless here - you can't get a 3G connection for cellphones, so I can only get internet on my phone if there's wifi.

But then again, SMS is still a new technology in Ethiopia, so I guess I'm lucky to have the internet at home at all.

[Crusader]

That's true, kinda like SA 10+ years ago. I wonder if the PC Opera version has an option to turn on the same compression as the Mini version.

[Lauren]

Lol, I'm not sure what that means, but if it involves downloading another browser, I won't do it. If you use too much bandwidth, they slow your connection down even more. It already takes me about 5 minutes to download a 1.5mb document. Using YouTube a few days ago made my email almost inaccessible. Going to get a faster modem soon though, although I'm not sure if it would be what I consider 'fast'.

[Crusader]

Opera is another browser yes - www.opera.com/browser/turbo/

I see the PC version has the functionality. Basically what it does is compressing the amount of data when you browse. Say you go to website X, website X is loaded through Opera servers, compressed and then your browser loads compressed X.

On mobile I can browse 10x longer for the same cost as using the phone browser. A 100KB page gets compressed to around 10KB. Faster page loads + less data.

[Naz]

Opera mobile is the best but I've never tried the PC version for some reason.

[Lauren]

Hmm, that sounds pretty good, I might just get it anyway. Thanks!

[Claudia]

I never knew there was a browser that could compress websites. This will help loads when another internet cable breaks and speeds are crawling. =)

[Crusader]

I still prefer Firefox, but if you are stuck with a slow connection it can do wonders. Doubt it would help with cable breaks since the Opera servers are in Norway (I think).

[Lu]

Congrtz Crusader!

[Crusader]

Well, I haven't heard anything back from them yet. I think congratulations would only be in order if she actually agrees to doing the interview and answers the questions. Will have to wait and see.

[Crusader]

Great news. Finally hear back from them and I have just posted my interview with Amanda Coetzee.

Since this was my first interview ever, I'd love to hear some feedback.