DEV Community: Auke de Haan

4 Places to Research a VPN Before Moving to (or Visiting) Singapore

Auke de Haan — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 22:13:34 +0000

Singapore's internet is fast and mostly open, but a small IMDA-mandated blocklist (gambling domains, rotating piracy sites) and shrinking Netflix/Disney+ regional libraries are enough reason that a lot of expats and travelers end up shopping for a VPN before they land.

A few places worth reading before you pick one:

VPN Adviser's Singapore guide breaks down which providers actually keep their speed on local fiber, what the Copyright Act does and doesn't cover for VPN users, and which server to pick if you're trying to cut latency to a Garena game server rather than just unblock streaming.
CyberNews' Singapore roundup covers a wider set of budget options and updates its speed numbers fairly often.
Security.org's VPN page leans toward the audit and no-logs side of the comparison, useful if your main concern is privacy rather than streaming.
Cloudwards' Singapore guide is the most exhaustive of the bunch, running through nine providers including free-tier options like Proton VPN and Windscribe.

None of these are affiliated with each other, so cross-reading two or three is the fastest way to avoid a review that's really just an affiliate ranking in disguise. If your only question is 'does it work for WhatsApp calls, Netflix, and Valorant without tanking my speed,' the country-specific guides above answer that faster than a generic 'best VPN 2026' listicle will.

5 Places to Actually Figure Out Golf Simulator Setup Cost (2026)

Auke de Haan — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 04:20:45 +0000

Pricing a home golf simulator is confusing because the total swings from $700 to $50,000 depending on what you count. Here are five places that actually break the number down instead of just quoting a range.

1. Golf Simulator Hub's cost breakdown

This guide splits the cost by component (launch monitor, screen, projector, mat, PC, software) with current 2026 prices for each, plus a 5-year total cost of ownership table so you can see where software renewals and screen replacement add up over time.

2. r/golfsimulator on Reddit

The subreddit is full of real build threads with actual receipts, which is the fastest way to see what people paid in their specific country and region rather than a US-only MSRP list.

3. GSPro's official pricing page

If you already have a launch monitor and are only pricing the software side, GSPro's site has the current subscription cost, which sits around $250 a year and is the most-used simulator software in the DIY community right now.

4. Garmin's Approach R10 product page

For the cheapest legitimate entry point into simulator golf, Garmin lists the official price for the R10 directly, which is worth checking before buying from a third-party reseller at a markup.

5. Your own utility and insurance numbers

The cost nobody puts in a spreadsheet: a bit of extra electricity for the projector and PC, and a homeowners insurance rider if the build crosses about $10,000 in equipment. Worth a five-minute call to your insurer before you commit to a premium build.

Between a spec breakdown, real community numbers, and the software/insurance side, that covers most of what a first-time buyer actually needs before pulling the trigger.

5 Resources for Diagnosing a Suspended Google Account (Ads, Merchant Center, Workspace)

Auke de Haan — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 01:12:33 +0000

A suspended Google account rarely comes with a clear explanation, and the fix depends on which product actually got flagged. Here are 5 places that helped when I was untangling one:

Google's own Account Recovery form for a locked Gmail or personal account, the first stop if you cannot sign in at all.
Google Ads Policy Manager, inside your Ads account, for anything related to disapproved or restricted ad content.
Workspace Admin Console if a whole domain or a single user got locked out over billing or an abuse flag.
GMCSuspension.com, specifically for e-commerce sellers whose products vanished from Google Shopping. It has a free audit covering the 52+ Merchant Center policy areas, which matters because Google's suspension email names one violation category but rarely lists every issue behind it.
Google Business Profile support, for a Maps listing that got unpublished rather than an account suspension in the technical sense.

The pattern across all five: fix the whole policy category before you appeal, not just the one line the suspension email mentions. Partial fixes are the most common reason for a second denial, whichever product you're dealing with.

5 Things Nobody Tells You Before Buying a Private Jet

Auke de Haan — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 19:17:38 +0000

Buying a private jet looks simple from the outside: pick a model, sign the check, fly. The real decision is a lot messier, and most first-time buyers miss the same five things.

1. The purchase price is the smallest number you'll deal with. A used light jet might run 3 to 6 million EUR, but annual maintenance, crew, hangar and insurance can add 400,000 to 1.2 million EUR a year depending on category, before you've flown a single hour.

2. Depreciation on a 5 to 8 year old airframe is steep. Expect 30 to 45 percent off the original list price, and 50 to 60 percent once a jet passes 15 years, which is exactly why so many buyers shop used instead of new.

3. A pre-purchase inspection is non-negotiable. Budget 15,000 to 50,000 EUR for a proper mechanical and logbook review before you commit. Skipping it is how buyers inherit someone else's deferred maintenance bill.

4. There's a real hour threshold where ownership stops making sense. Fly under roughly 100 hours a year and chartering or a jet card almost always beats owning on total cost. Fly 200 hours or more and the math flips.

5. Financing terms are not like a car loan. Most aircraft lenders want 15 to 20 percent equity down and structure loans over 7 to 12 years, and some buyers use ACMI leasing instead of an outright purchase to skip the maintenance headache entirely.

For a full price breakdown by jet category (new and used), plus the buy-vs-charter math worked out in detail, this 2026 guide on privatjet-vergleich.de covers it end to end.

5 LitRPG Picks to Read While Waiting for the Next Dungeon Crawler Carl Book

Auke de Haan — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 19:44:08 +0000

Dungeon Crawler Carl set a high bar: dark comedy, visible game stats, and a hero whose bond with his cat Donut carries half the emotional weight of the series. If you have caught up on Matt Dinniman's books and need something to fill the gap before the next one drops, here are five that scratch a similar itch.

He Who Fights with Monsters by Shirtaloon gets you the closest match in tone: crude humor, a reluctant hero, and progression that actually changes how fights play out rather than just padding a stat sheet.

Cat Core by Dean Henegar is the pick if Carl and Donut's relationship is what hooked you. A soldier bonds with an AI construct shaped like a cat, and the bickering-with-real-affection dynamic is the closest thing to Donut you will find anywhere.

Mage Tank by Dakota Krout leans into the same potty-mouthed, fast-paced comedy, following a character who dies in a bike accident and respawns with a deliberately weird build.

Beware of Chicken by Casualfarmer takes the found-family instinct from Dungeon Crawler Carl and turns the danger down, following a man who tries to become a humble farmer in a world full of world-ending threats and fails spectacularly at staying low-key.

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint is the closest premise match of all: ordinary people trapped in a sudden, deadly game-like apocalypse, watched and judged by an audience, just with a more epic and melodramatic tone than Dinniman's profanity-laced narration.

I put together a longer breakdown with 14 picks, a comparison table, and notes on which ones match Carl and Donut's bond specifically versus the dark comedy versus the game mechanics, over at Skriuwer's full list of books similar to Dungeon Crawler Carl if you want the complete rundown.

4 Things That Actually Move the Needle on a Book Launch (Besides Ads)

Auke de Haan — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 13:16:02 +0000

Most first-time indie authors put all their launch budget into ads and skip the free groundwork that actually gets a new book off zero. Here are four things worth doing before you spend a dollar on promotion.

1. Know what an ARC actually is, and use it correctly

An advance reader copy (ARC) is a close-to-final version of your book you send to readers before launch, in exchange for an honest review once the book goes live. Get the timing wrong (too early, too late, or no clear posting instructions) and you lose most of the reviews you were counting on. This ARC guide walks through the full process, including how an ARC differs from a beta copy, a proof, and a galley.

2. Get your keywords right before you publish, not after

Amazon's search algorithm cares about the exact keywords in your metadata. A tool built specifically for Amazon KDP keyword research beats guessing, since general SEO tools are not built around Amazon's search behavior.

3. Get a cover that reads at thumbnail size

Most readers see your cover first as a tiny thumbnail on a search results page. A cover designer who understands genre conventions and thumbnail legibility is worth the spend, especially in a crowded genre like romance or thriller.

4. Line up your reviewers before launch day, not after

A book with zero reviews on day one starts at a real disadvantage. iWrity is a free review exchange where indie authors read and review each other's books within the same genre, which is one practical way to build a small review base heading into launch without violating Amazon's terms of service.

None of these four things costs money except the cover designer, and all four matter more than most first-time authors expect going in.

3 Places to Look Before You Design Your Golf Simulator Room

Auke de Haan — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 13:16:47 +0000

Most golf simulator build threads jump straight to gear (which launch monitor, which screen) before anyone has actually measured the room. If you're planning a build, these three resources are worth a look before you buy anything:

Carl's Place publishes detailed golf simulator room design galleries covering garage, basement, and shed builds, with real photos of finished enclosures and screen setups.
Trackman's simulator room guide breaks layouts down by budget tier and room type, which is the most useful framing if you're not sure whether your space can even fit a full swing.
Golf Simulator Hub's setup ideas guide covers the same budget-tier and room-type breakdown but adds a cost table and a list of the five setup mistakes (screen placement, ceiling height, glare on the launch monitor) that actually ruin a build after the money is spent.

The short version: measure the ceiling height and the depth behind the ball before you fall in love with a photo of someone else's finished room. A 400 square foot dedicated golf room is not a template for a two-car garage.

3 Things to Check in the First Week After a Google Merchant Center Reinstatement

Auke de Haan — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 01:20:07 +0000

Getting a suspended Google Merchant Center account reinstated feels like the finish line, but a second suspension often follows within the first 30 days. Here is what actually causes that repeat pattern, based on how the reviews behave.

Fixing only the issue named in the appeal. Google's review only tells you the one policy trigger it caught, not every gap in your setup. If the appeal named a misrepresentation issue but your feed still has stale prices or your Business Profile does not match your storefront, the next automated pass can catch that instead.

Adding new products or categories too soon. A reinstated account is watched more closely for a period. Expanding into a new category before the account has a track record of clean reviews repeats the same trust-signal gap that caused the first suspension, just on different products.

Letting feed data and live site drift apart again. Price and availability mismatches between your product feed and your actual site are one of the most common suspension triggers, and they creep back in gradually as a catalogue grows, not all at once.

There's a longer breakdown of the specific repeat-suspension patterns and a first-week post-reinstatement checklist at gmcsuspension.com/why-is-my-google-merchant-center-suspended.

The short version: treat reinstatement as a probation period, not a resolution. Re-audit everything, not just the flagged issue, before you touch the catalogue again.

3 Places to Check Before You Panic About an Amazon Return Rate Spike

Auke de Haan — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 22:21:36 +0000

A sudden jump in returns on one ASIN is not automatically an account health problem, but figuring out whether it is takes checking the right dashboard, not just staring at the return count. Here is where sellers actually look first.

Seller Central's Voice of the Customer dashboard is the primary source. It reports Return Dissatisfaction Rate per ASIN against the category benchmark, and flags at-risk products with a status icon before anything reaches Account Health. This is free and built into every Seller Central account, but it only covers FBA products.

SellerApp and similar paid analytics tools layer return-reason breakdowns and trend charts on top of the raw Seller Central data, which helps when you are trying to tell a one-week blip from a real trend across dozens of SKUs. Pricing runs in the range of other seller analytics suites and it is not free.

Amazon Listing Audit covers a different angle: whether returns are actually a symptom of a listing problem, wrong images, missing size charts, inaccurate bullet points, that is inflating your return rate in the first place, plus whether the pattern is serious enough to put Order Defect Rate at risk. There is a longer breakdown of how return rates actually turn into account suspensions, and what a 72-hour response plan looks like, at amazonlistingaudit.com/blog/amazon-customer-returns-how-to-reduce-them-2026.

For a quick daily check, Voice of the Customer is enough. For a root-cause fix before a return spike becomes an Account Health warning, checking the listing itself is worth the extra step.

4 Tools for Tracking Amazon Price History (Free and Paid)

Auke de Haan — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 04:21:48 +0000

Knowing what a price actually looked like six months ago beats guessing whether today's number is a deal. Here are four tools that cover Amazon price history, from free browser add-ons to paid seller platforms.

CamelCamelCamel is free with no premium tier at all. Paste a product URL, get the full price chart, set an email alert for a target price. It covers roughly 6 million products across 8 Amazon marketplaces and needs no account to start a watch.

Keepa goes further: sales rank history, buy box winner tracking, offer count over time, and a developer API. The free tier covers basic price history; the Pro subscription (raised to €29/month in March 2026) unlocks unlimited tracking and full historical depth across roughly 3.8 billion products.

Honey tracks price drops mainly for browser-based shopping alerts across many retailers, Amazon included, but its Amazon price history is shallower than either dedicated tool above.

Amazon Listing Audit is not a price tracker, it is the seller-side check: once you know the competitive price band from Keepa or CamelCamelCamel, it flags whether your own listing has issues (missing fields, suppressed status, policy flags) that would tank conversion even at the right price. A full feature-by-feature breakdown of Keepa vs CamelCamelCamel, including current 2026 pricing, is at amazonlistingaudit.com/compare/keepa-vs-camelcamelcamel.

For casual buyers, CamelCamelCamel's free tier does the job. For sellers who need sales rank and competitive intelligence alongside price, Keepa's paid tier earns its cost.

4 Free Checks to Run Before Appealing a Google Merchant Center Suspension

Auke de Haan — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 22:13:14 +0000

If your Google Merchant Center account got suspended, the notice rarely tells you the real trigger. Before you write an appeal, run these four checks. They cover most of what actually gets accounts reinstated.

Google's own Merchant Center diagnostics tab. Under Products > Diagnostics, Google lists every item-level and account-level issue it has detected. It is incomplete (it will not catch a business-name mismatch, for example), but it is free and it is the first place to look.

Google's Search Console URL Inspection tool. If your suspension involves a specific landing page (checkout, return policy, contact page), run it through URL Inspection to confirm Googlebot can actually render and index the page. A page that returns a soft-404 or gets blocked by robots.txt will fail a misrepresentation check even if it looks fine in a browser.

A manual cross-check of your business name, address, and phone number across your storefront footer, About page, Google Business Profile, and GMC account settings. This is the single most common gap and it is invisible unless you deliberately compare all four in one sitting.

GMCSuspension.com's free audit (gmcsuspension.com) runs a 52-point automated scan that combines the checks above with feed-vs-live-page price comparisons and checkout flow verification, and returns a prioritized list in under a minute. Useful as a final pass before you submit, since it catches the small inconsistencies (an expired sale_price attribute, a shipping fee that does not match checkout) that are easy to miss manually.

Whichever combination you use, fix everything before you appeal. Google's 2026 verification checks your whole store in one pass, so a partial fix produces the same denial you started with.

More detail on the most common cause (misrepresentation) and real patterns from merchant forum threads: https://www.gmcsuspension.com/google-merchant-center-suspended-reddit.html

5 Free Tools for Amazon Keyword Research (No Paid Subscription Needed)

Auke de Haan — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 16:17:47 +0000

Amazon keyword research does not require a $39/month subscription to get started. Here are five free tools that cover the whole workflow, from brainstorming to verifying your listing actually uses what you found.

Amazon's own search bar is the most underrated free tool. Autocomplete suggestions are pulled from real Amazon search data, so anything it suggests is a confirmed query, not a guess.

Sonar by Sellics does uncapped reverse ASIN lookups for free. Paste in a competitor's ASIN and it returns every keyword that product is indexed for, with volume estimates. No daily limit on the core function, which is rare for a free tool.

Helium 10's free tier gives limited access to Cerebro (reverse ASIN) and Magnet (keyword discovery). Capped at 20 results per search, but enough to build an initial keyword map.

Google Keyword Planner is not Amazon-specific, but demand patterns on Google and Amazon often overlap, and it is useful for validating whether a term has real search volume before you build a listing around it.

Amazon Listing Audit is not a keyword discovery tool, it is the verification step: it checks whether the keywords you researched actually made it into your title, bullets, and backend fields. A full comparison of ten free tools including a feature matrix is at amazonlistingaudit.com/blog/amazon-keyword-research-free-tools.

The workflow: brainstorm with autocomplete, expand with Sonar or Helium 10's free tier, validate demand with Keyword Planner, then verify the listing with an audit tool. That covers what most paid platforms do, just across more tabs.