[CCC News] Assorted News 48.5. More Cheap Phone & Internet Stuff, Buy and Sell, and Geocaching.
Michael Kean
michael at auzzie.net
Sun Apr 14 12:45:52 AEST 2013
*In this edition:
**
*This edition comes to you from Black Mountain.
*Latest News:
Val's Memorial PowerPoint.
What's Mike Doing?
More Cheap Phone options.
The Amazing Buy Swap Sell Facebook Page.
Geocaching - An Excuse To Go Exploring :)
Bitcoin Rollercoaster.
**
*
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*Val's Memorial PowerPoint.
*If you'd like to see Val's 5 Minute Memorial PowerPoint Presentation,
you can get it here.
http://web.auzzie.net/files/Remembering%20Val%20v3.zip If anyone wants a
copy of the video of the service, her garden, artwork and life photos
and videos, let me know.
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*What's Mike Doing?
*I'm slowly getting through all the stuff that happens after your
partner passes away. Once this is all finalised, I'll write another
newsletter detailing a few tips on how to survive an event like this.
I'm still going through the rebuilding process. Soon I will do a bit of
traveling. Not much work happening yet as I need to get my home, office
and myself back in order first. Feel free to ask anyway.
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*More Cheap Phone Options.*
How does $45 a month for a landline + unlimited calls mobile + 5GB of
Internet sound?
I haven't yet been able to personally try some of these services, but
they're out there. Here's the details.
/*1 - Turn your Landline into a Cordless Landline for $10 a month
wi*//*th a Dead Bird.*/
See https://connectto.dodo.com/BuddyBox2/
Most people don't like to get rid of their landline because their
friends all know their number. Now you can keep that number and do away
with the Telstra landline completely - provided you can get Optus
reception somewhere in your house. You still use your existing landline
phones.
Note that I'm not necessarily recommending you make calls on this
service. Use it to receive, but use the unlimited mobile mentioned next
to make calls and for Internet access.
Note: This won't work when the power's off, but you probably still have
a mobile phone. If you're of poor health you might prefer the security
of keeping the landline instead for around $26 a month minimum - it
might make 000 calls finding you slightly faster but I don't know for sure.
/*2 - Grab an Unlimited Calls mobile*/.
If you're paying more than $35-$45 a month on your phone bills -
landline & mobile combined - but don't make overseas calls, then you're
paying too much. You can instead grab an Aldi Unlimited service
https://www.aldimobile.com.au/plans or a Boost Unlimited service
http://www.boost.com.au/frontend/rates.aspx
Both use the Telstra mobile network, although Boost is a little faster
with a little more coverage, but with less data.
Both are prepaid services, so there's no risk of overspend, and no contract.
Last newsletter I mentioned Kogan. There have been too many conditions
added since their plan was released, making it unsuitable for use as an
Internet service. (They added a limit of 400MB a day for two days or you
get the boot. Unconscionable.)
/*3 - Internet through the mobile phone.
*/Most modern mobile phones will share their internet connection
wirelessly to multiple computers. Since the above plans include a fair
bit of data, you can use this on your computer or tablet. You probably
have no need to pay for ADSL or a Wireless Stick unless you need more
than 5GB a month. And as a bonus, there's no risk of excess fees./*
*//*Summary:
*/So, if you think you can get used to making all your calls through a
mobile phone - even one of those basic ones with the big buttons - you
can probably save a significant sum of money.
I'm not fully up on NBN plans yet, that'll be next newsletter.
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*The Amazing Buy Swap Sell Facebook Page.
*You've all heard of Ebay. Most of you have heard of Gumtree. I suspect
most of you have not heard of "Armidale Buy, Swap, Sell." (I hadn't, but
then I've been living in my own world for a while now. Thanks Campbell
Wolfenden for the tip.)
I'm not a great fan of Facebook as you probably know, but was amazed at
how many people are in this group, and how much stuff is being bought
and sold on an hourly basis there. (Cars, Ducks, Couches, Fridges,
Clothing, Lamps, BBQs, Baby Stuff, Phones, Speakers, Goats...)
If you're not on Facebook, it's worth it just to access this site.
At present, there are 6,800 members. Not bad for a small town the size
of Armidale!
There are a number of simple rules to use the site, and it is loosely
moderated.
I think part of the success of this site comes down to being able to see
who the buyers and sellers are care of their Facebook profiles. It's not
open to the general public so you mostly won't get the scams that
Gumtree and Paypal attract, but you might still get time wasters.
I think the address for the page is at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/buyswapsell/ but I'm not a Facebook
expert so I could be wrong. Use the search function if this address is
wrong.
I believe some other towns, including Guyra, have them as well.
It's free to use :)
If you're worried about Facebook being able to track you, you might be
able to avoid this somewhat by using Facebook in a different browser to
your normal browser. (Common choices are Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera,
and Internet Explorer)
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*Geocaching - An Excuse To Go Exploring :)
*Do you have a smartphone, tablet or GPS? Do you like to go walking? Do
you like Hide & Seek? You might enjoy Geocaching.
Geocaching is where somebody places an item, usually in an unusual or
hidden location, and records the GPS coordinates of where that item is
so others can go find it.
I was surprised to find that there are several in the Armidale town
area. There's one at Dumaresq Dam too which is a great one to get
started with. (Try not to step on the resident Red Bellied Black Snakes
- they're usually harmless according to Wikipedia, but you never know.)
Another is at Thunderbolt's Cave. I hope to place one at Malpas Dam
soon, /still /waiting for permission from Armidale Council.
You'd need to register a https://www.geocaching.com/ (or there are
probably other sites that do it too.)
If you're on Android, search for c:geo in the Play Store. iPhone,
perhaps Looking 4 Cache will suit. (I don't have an i-device so don't
know for sure, but I know a website where they are always for sale...)
In practise, your phone will tell you what's nearby, how many km and in
what direction. You can either use the compass mode or the map mode.
Part of the challenge is that your phone can generally only take you
accurately within 10 metres of the cache, so there's still some
searching to be done. Many caches have 'hints' to help you find them.
Many caches have a logbook so you can write in them, and the website
also has a logbook so you can see who else has found the cache, write
your own story, share photos, etc.
*Bitcoin Rollercoaster.
*A couple of years ago I mentioned Bitcoin in a newsletter - an online
cryptocurrency. At that time, one Bitcoin was worth about $1. A few days
ago it peaked at $250 before dropping back to $95 at present. Some early
adopters did very well. The sudden rise was largely attributed to the
dramas in Cyprus as people may have been looking for a 'safe haven' for
their money. There was also some coverage in the mainstream media, and
it was added as a currency on http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/MTGOXUSD
There are many theories as to why it fell again so fast. An
over-reliance on the most popular exchange, MtGox, which suffered from
DDOS and overwhelming demand has probably dropped the price again. It's
also such a small market relative to traditional currencies that it's
probably quite easy for people to game the system.
More info at
http://bitcoin.org/en/how-it-works
http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1663664&p=70
If you're an economist, you might find Bitcoin fascinating since it is a
forced deflationary currency whereas we are all used to inflationary
currencies.
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*Old Editions
*You can used to be able to find old editions of this newsletter on the
CCC Blog. http://auzzie.net/cccblog/
You can also subscribe or unsubscribe at
http://auzzie.net/mailman/listinfo/ccc-news_auzzie.net
*
*
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Michael Kean
*Proprietor, Cool Country Consulting.*
Trading Hours: 10am to 8pm weekdays.
http://coolhelp.com.au/
Tel: 02 6775 0239 Mob: 0427 644 825
Chat contacts: WLM: michael at auzzie.net Skype: cccons
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