[CCC News] Assorted News 53: Where'd you go? :)
Michael Kean
michael at auzzie.net
Fri Oct 24 20:42:16 AEDT 2014
*In this edition:
**
*This edition comes to you from under the big Pine tree at the Guyra
Golf Course. (Then my couch at home because I wrote too much!)
*Latest News:
Where'd you go?
Unlimited Landline for $50
New Aldi Mobile plans.
What about the new spying laws?
Microsoft Security Essentials backpedalling.
**
Other Stuff
*
** *Facebook Projects --> Fuel Prices
How to keep Facebook private
How to keep Facebook quiet
Friend Lists.
Facebook for Business?
NBN Update
A Neck Mobile for Oldies?
Waiting Game continues.
What's For Sale?
Rail Trail.
Make your computer up to ten times faster for $130?
Claret Ash Feasibility Study.
*
***
*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Where'd You Go?*
Hi Strangers :) Well, as you probably have noticed, it's been a long
time between newsletters. There's a few reasons for this, but probably
the biggest reason is because I've been teaching myself about Social
Media - working out how groups, pages, lists all work; and creating a
few projects and advertising experiments on the way.
I've traditionally been against Facebook, mainly because it is a 'closed
system'. If I post something on Facebook, even if it's posted publicly;
it's often not searchable in Google. I prefer open systems. So, to reach
a global public audience, a blog is generally a better option. (The
things I usually post on my blog are things that will help a global
audience.) Knowing I'm being 'spied on' doesn't endear Facebook to me
either, but there are ways around that which I'll cover later. (I'm also
fond of R <http://reddit.com/>eddit <http://reddit.com/> since it is a
bit like a public facebook and accepts downvotes as well as 'likes'.)
But the numbers speak for themselves where Facebook is concerned.
According to this page
<http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/social-networking-fact-sheet/>
almost three out of four people who use the Internet are also using
Facebook.
The main reason I ended up on Facebook was the Armidale Buy Swap Sell
<https://www.facebook.com/groups/buyswapsell/> group. There's 17,000
people in that group. A massive hidden market of people constantly
buying and selling stuff with no cost to do so. It's far from perfect
since there's no 'ratings' system; meaning people often 'impulse buy' an
item then never follow through; but if you're aware of this likelihood
when using the site you can generally get used to it and plan for the
no-shows. I've sold a few computers and gadgets on it, and Caz on her
limited budget is always getting clothing there.
If you want to know more about Facebook stuff, read on later in this
newsletter. (Like how to keep it private, and to stop it from filling up
your email with endless rubbish.) Customers are welcome to follow or
Friend me <https://www.facebook.com/michael.kean.127> on Facebook, but
much of my content is not work related.
/*Why would I want Facebook?
*/Well, the one thing that is really handy about Facebook is that
_/information comes to you /_rather than you having to go looking for
it. If you friend like-minded people, join relevant groups, or "Like"
businesses and organisations that are useful to you; you'll find more
events to attend and stuff to do. (For me it's bike rides, computer
repair jobs, invitations to events, buying and selling stuff, and
general time wasting!)
/*Why wouldn't I want Facebook?
*/It can be addictive, and a huge time sink. So, like any recreational
drug, it needs to be dealt with in moderation. Depending on your
'friends' it could also be a vector for harassment or catfishing. Never
friend someone you don't know, and if you are getting 'involved'
financially or emotionally with someone on Facebook, try using
http://tineye.com/ with their profile picture to check if they've stolen
someone else's photo. Don't share stuff that could embarrass you later
either, it's not always possible to delete stuff or control who
re-shares it.
*A quick Facebook Intro:**
*
If you haven't used Facebook at all before; basically what happens is
you have one really long page called a 'news feed' - and it's where
nearly everything that all your friends and 'liked' businesses share
will appear. By "unfollowing" people you no longer see their stuff on
this page; but you can find it if you go to their page instead. (This is
different to 'unfriending'.) If you have "Liked" a page then the things
they share will also appear on your 'news feed' - which can be quite handy.
----
*Unlimited Landline for $50 a month?
*I never thought I'd see this happen. The world is pretty much going
Mobile, which can be an issue for many rural customers who 'live in
holes' or just too far from towns. (Mobile reception often fails in
valleys.) I'm sure you've all "heard about the bird." The Dead bird. The
Extinct Dead Bird. Well, they've released an Unlimited Calls Landline
product for $50 a month. (Or $60 without contract.) That includes calls
to mobiles! See
<http://www.dodo.com/home-phone/home-phone/monthly-plans-pricing/>their
website for more info
<http://www.dodo.com/home-phone/home-phone/monthly-plans-pricing/>.
Those of you with long memories will remember that the dead bird has
been known to be a bit of a problem years ago with regards to billing
issues; some finding it easier to cancel their credit cards than to stop
the bird from pecking at it every month! I've not personally had that
problem in the last four years that I've been burning dead bird for
electricity; (still the cheapest of all providers last I looked) but if
you are concerned about this - or have issues talking with people with
strong accents - you might want to set up a Visa Debit or Debit
MasterCard account specifically for your new twitching habit :)
The caveat of course is that 13 and 1300 numbers are 39c each, and
international rates aren't brilliant compared to Aldi. They also state
"Not available in all areas" but I haven't hit that limitation yet for
phone services.
----
*New Aldi Mobile plans. (Plus others.)
*I'm still a big fan of Aldi Mobile, and carry SIM cards in stock if you
ever want them. A reminder that they use most of the Telstra
network,**so coverage in Guyra and Armidale is pretty much the same as a
normal Telstra service.
They've had some nasty plan chances in the past as they struggled to
find a financially viable offering; but the latest offering is pretty
good. Key plans:
Very Light Use: $15 per year, calls 12c/min
Light to Moderate Internet Use: (Tablets) $16.50 per month for 1.5GB.
About 5 hours a month on the phone? $20
About 10 hours a month on the phone, plus 1.25GB Internet? $30
About 20 hours a month on the phone, plus 2GB Internet? $35
See https://www.aldimobile.com.au/newplans for more info.
Automatic recharging is available so you don't have to worry about
recharging yourself.
Of course, if you need more than 20 hours a month, or you need better
coverage - especially up North, you could go with Boost Unlimited for
$40 a month. http://boost.com.au/ (Includes 2GB.)
If you're addicted to data instead and don't mind using Optus' network,
Amaysim's $45 a month for unlimited plus 5GB of Internet could suit you.
Or for a tablet, $10 for 1GB per month. http://www.amaysim.com.au/
If you need help buying and setting up a new phone, I can help there
too. I have sold several LG L70s and HTC Desire 300s in the last couple
of months for prices around $150-$170. They are impressive phones for
the price.
----
*What about the new Spying Laws?
*Now here's a tricky one. I know I have both Liberal and Labor
supporters for customers. (And Bulldogs and Rabbitohs supporters too
;-).) So, I'll not speak my mind too loudly in order to keep the peace.
However, there has been some disquiet about our current government
having passed some new spying laws allowing them ASIO to have full
access to any 'network' they desire. See here
<http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/consumer-security/new-laws-could-give-asio-a-warrant-for-the-entire-internet-jail-journalists-and-whistleblowers-20140923-10kzjz.html>.
It's pretty trivial these days to avoid spying however, and that's the
funny thing about laws like this. They will only catch the dumb
criminals, since the smart ones will just use VPNs to avoid detection.
But it might also have implications for pirate downloaders of movies in
the future.
If you aren't really a heavy downloader and just want to be able to
browse the Internet from your Phone, Tablet or Laptop without having to
worry about being watched, you could try out the cute free (for light
use) VPN program called "TunnelBear" <https://www.tunnelbear.com/> -
there's many others out there too but this is probably the easiest and
definitely the cutest one to use or experiment with. While running,
your bear will take your Internet traffic to USA, UK, Canada, Sweden and
several other places whose flags I can't recognise. (Which also means
you can look at their TV shows online etc as if you were in those
countries.) The 'tunnel' is scrambled in a way that should make it
impossible for the Australian government to see what's in it - although
I can't 100% guarantee that they don't have a way. Then you can read
whatever opinion pieces you want and not have to worry.
For the 'pirates' among you, there are some others that will work with
your Torrenting programs but I've not yet had time to do a thorough
assessment. If you want to get ahead of me, you can look here
<https://www.bestvpn.com/blog/8887/5-best-vpns-torrents-filesharing-p2p-2014-update/>.
It's also possible to hire a Seedbox
<http://www.greycoder.com/best-seedboxes-2013/> - I've not looked into
these - after all how much TV can one watch in a lifetime when one is
still able to walk? :)
----
*Microsoft Security Essentials backpedalling.
*Microsoft appears to be once again letting their antivirus products
become inferior to others - a pattern that has repeated since Windows
3.1 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSAV>. Microsoft Security Essentials -
the free antivirus built into Windows 8 and available for Vista and 7
still works, but is languishing a bit in comparision to other products.
If you are using it, and you are a 'risky' user of the Internet, you
might want to consider Avast <http://www.avast.com/en-au/index#upgrade>
or something similar. Note that when installing Avast, it's best to do a
custom install and only install the "File Shield" option as most of the
other features are there just to try to upsell you other products you
probably don't need. See here
<http://www.howtogeek.com/173291/goodbye-microsoft-security-essentials-microsoft-now-recommends-you-use-a-third-party-antivirus/?PageSpeed=noscript>
for more info.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Facebook Projects --> Armidale Fuel Prices.
*I'm a lucky guy. My car runs on LPG so it's about $60 to fill up the
tank, which gets me 550KM roughly. (It's partly why you don't see the
Bluebird or Kingswood much these days.) But for reasons I can't figure
out, a few months ago the LPG in Guyra fell back to 88.9 cents a litre
whereas Armidale it's 99.9 or therebaouts; and it's been like this for
months. So I decided to start a few facebook groups.
The main one is Armidale Fuel Prices
<https://www.facebook.com/groups/1475640806053211/>, with smaller ones
for Black Mountain <https://www.facebook.com/groups/1458902377726178/>
and Guyra <https://www.facebook.com/groups/569427159849475/>.
The basic idea is that before heading out to get fuel, you can visit the
above page on your phone or computer and find out who is the cheapest
today. (In practise it's not perfect since there's only three of us
contributing so far, but it's fair.)
The Black Mountain Roadhouse in particular seems to have jumped on board
with this and is competing heavily with diesel almost 20 cents a litre
cheaper than Armidale retailers, making it cheaper for many to make the
drive, fill up and head back again. Perhaps if enough people do this,
one or more retailers in Armidale might crack and bring their prices
down to something more reasonable. Apparently that's what the service
stations and the ACCC wants us to do
<https://www.facebook.com/notes/adam-marshall/accc-lambasted-for-inaction-on-armidales-high-fuel-prices/10153296675274062?fref=nf>.
----
*How to keep Facebook Private?
*In this case, by Private I mean how to keep Facebook from knowing
everything else you're doing online. (If instead you want to hide your
stuff, that's a job for another newsletter.)
Facebook has code embedded in many non-facebook websites that you visit;
which enables them to see where you go and what you look for. This can
be OK since you get targeted ads in your Facebook sessions; but you
might consider it an invasion of privacy as well.
One way to try to keep Facebook from knowing a lot about you is to
simply use a different browser for it. Say for example you use Mozilla
Firefox <http://getfirefox.com/> for your day to day web browsing; you
could install Google Chrome <http://www.google.com/chrome/> and use it
just for Facebook stuff. (You could perhaps use Internet Explorer as
well, but it doesn't perform well with Facebook.)
If you don't want to go to that extreme, or you just don't like being
tracked by anybody, you could use Ghostery
<https://www.ghostery.com/en/> instead.
----
*How to keep Facebook quiet.
*The first thing that tends to happen when people get Facebook is that
they are suddenly overwhelmed with new content, and with lots of emails
turning up in their inbox. This is enough to turn many off Facebook
immediately.
There are two solutions to this. One is to 'turn off email notifications
<https://www.facebook.com/help/154884887910599>' that you don't want.
The other is to 'unfollow
<https://www.facebook.com/help/104941232944896>' the noisy or annoying
people. People don't know you've 'unfollowed' them, although they might
notice you're not 'liking' their stuff as much.
----
*Friend Lists.
*One dilemma I had when first starting out with Facebook is that I have
all types of friends - ranging from ultraconservative religious folk
through to foul-mouthed ruffians. (I'm flexible like that!) But I don't
really want those two groups to meet too much. There are two ways you
can work around this.
One is to make your friend list private. That is, your friends can't see
who else you have as friends. This method isn't foolproof though, since
any friend could comment on your posts and thus be seen by other friends.
The other issue of course is that you might be tempted to post that
potentially politically or religiously offensive joke, but you know that
some of your friends will take offense. That is where "Lists
<https://www.facebook.com/help/204604196335128/>" come in handy. With
these you just make up a list containing the friends you know will like
your sense of humour, and when you go to post that joke; you choose that
list instead of "Friends" or "Public". Problem solved :) (More or less...)
----
*Facebook for Business?
*I've been asked recently on a couple of occasions to help set up
Facebook / Social Media presences for businesses. The "correct" way to
do this is to have any staff member create a "page" for the business.
That page can then be administered by multiple staff members, and isn't
tied to a single Facebook account. That way when the original staff
member eventually leaves the organisation, the page remains. Having a
Facebook presence can be valuable since, as mentioned before, your
information goes to the people who have liked your business, they don't
have to go looking for it. For example, my (neglected) business
<https://www.facebook.com/coolcountryconsulting>page
<https://www.facebook.com/coolcountryconsulting> has no direct links to
my personal <https://www.facebook.com/michael.kean.127>Facebook page.
Note that you can also spend money with Facebook in order to advertise
your page to others, but based on this video
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVfHeWTKjag>I'm not sure if it's a
worthwhile endeavour. It's probably best to target your customers in a
more traditional sense. There also needs to be someone at the receiving
end to reply to incoming queries and to post content now and then. For
some businesses, a Facebook presence is likely of much greater value
than a traditional website, although the two will work well together.
----
*NBN Update.
*I've heard third hand of some people complaining that their NBN service
is a nightmare. I'm yet to encounter any big dramas with it yet - at
least not with the Exetel ones I've done - apart from some speed issues
early on in Guyra. I'm still offering NBN connections via Exetel, but
also happy to support the other retailers. Prices from $40 a month. The
biggest nightmare by far has been getting landline numbers moved over to
NBN services. One customer is still waiting for this to happen after
about 5+ attempts and many hours on the phone.
To find out if NBN is available in your area, click here
<http://nbnco.com.au/>. Note that some providers such as Skymesh
<https://www.skymesh.net.au/services/nbn/fibre/plans.php> offer contract
free services so you can see if it's worth keeping once connected. Also,
if you're listed as not being covered but the coverage maps show that
where you house is on your property is covered, a phone call to NBNco
may resolve that for you.
----
*A Neck Mobile for Oldies?
*I've done some testing of a small mobile phone of sorts that is worn
around the neck. Featuring only four buttons and photo dialling, it is
supposed to allow the wearer to make and receive calls; and in an
emergency for it to contact several people and include the GPS location
of where it is. Results were a little mixed, but at around $100 it's
very cheap compared to those Medical Alarm button things you can buy.
The few caveats? Optus network only. (Use Amaysim for cheap annual
expiry.) Tedious setup having to get photos of desired contacts into it
via the website. (Why do people have having photos of themselves?) Hands
Free is a bit hard to hear, but normal mode is OK. On the plus side, a
one week battery is pretty good :) Built in torch. Multiple SOS
contacts. Allow one hour setup if you want one, $60 including local
callout. One loan unit available for trial.
----
*Waiting game continues...
*Caroline and I are now several months into our estimated nine month
wait for partner migration approval. I'm pretty sure that they
deliberately take this long as a it's a good test to see if a
relationship will survive the financial and emotional stresses of both
parties while waiting. Caroline's doing well adapting to Australian
live, and we're still financially treading water OK. She's taken up
walking, some exercise classes, a bit of garden maintenance, and of
course trying to fatten me up as well! She's renewing her first aid
certificate tomorrow in preparation for seeking volunteer work / work
experience while we wait. (Previous job was in home and nursing home
care.) (Her long stay tourist visa stipulates that she is not allowed to
carry out any work that another person would do for money, so that
somewhat limits what she can to.) We're both happy, and have random
outings when we can afford it. (Tamworth, Walcha, Coffs, etc.)
*
----
**What's For Sale?*
At present, one complete computer system
<https://www.facebook.com/groups/buyswapsell/permalink/709716452414779/>
with Office 2010, asking $200. Also about to have a reconditioned
Toshiba laptop for sale.
----
*
Rail Trail.
*I'm still in support of the idea of converting the long disused rail
line between Armidale and Glen Innes (and optionally beyond) for use as
a Rail Trail. I know some of you are strongly opposed; but in my opinion
the trains won't run again here; and the line is not suitable for a
modern service without extensive repair. Until a national reason exists
to re-establish a rail service; I have no problem with the idea of
trying something new - that is using the corridor as a multi purpose
trail and tourist asset. The biggest obstacle I can see is the narrow
width of the line in places where there could be a risk of service users
falling off the edge; but that's for the feasibility people to look at
:) To get an idea of what my local section looks like in reality, I made
a silly video of it and posted it on YouTube
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqC8ujCJW3A>.
Please know I have nothing against rail, and would happily see the line
in use. I just can't see rail being feasible given our rural location
and our 'just in time' transport demands. If the government has money
allotted to tourism specifically, I don't consider it a waste.
----
*Make your computer up to ten times faster for $130?*
In most computers, these days it's the hard drive that makes them slow.
Compare them to something like a phone or iPad where things happen
quickly because they don't have a hard drive. In most cases you can
replace the hard drive with a solid state drive. To demonstrate the
difference, I made a short comparison video
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7goTtskZ9WI>. It shows the same
computer before and after the upgrade. (25 seconds vs 80 seconds.)
----
*Claret Ash Internet Feasibility Study.
*This evening I have commenced a feasibility study to see if there's a
way I can legally connect the houses in Guyra's Claret Ash estate to a
shared high speed broadband service via directional WiFi bridging.
(Claret Ash is a new housing estate in Guyra that has no landline
services, nor access to the Wireless NBN service since it is scheduled
for Fibre NBN installation in the uncertain distant future.) As some
residents are paying up to $400 a month for Mobile Broadband, there is
some incentive here to create a useable alternative. This might involve
the cooperation of one or more fully serviced neighbouring households,
and possibly one or more local electricians for rooftop yagi antenna
installations.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
/
//Well that's it for another newsletter. Sorry it's been a long time
coming. It took over four hours to write this one - finding the time is
not always easy. Hope you're all enjoying the spring weather despite the
need for rain - I know my 'pet lobster' is :) Work utilisation is about
70% at the moment, not flat out but not idle for too long either.
Random thoughts of the last few months:
/
* /Unusual repairs this month have included a blender and a record
player. /
* /The electric bike fried itself on the Walcha Mountain Bike
Challenge, so a new controller is on order. ($40) /
* /Google Keep is a handy free program for your computer and Android
phone. /
* /Chrome can create 'Application Shortcuts' so you can have a
calendar, Gmail, Keep icon in your task bar. /
* /Pizza ovens used to cook chickens may catch fire. (Unconfirmed cause.)/
* /Android software upgrades sometimes are a bad idea. (Note 3, can't
go back, lost VPN, GPS not as good.)/
* /Optus cannot be trusted not to slug you with a massive bill if you
buy a smart phone but don't consider the data cost on your old plan
if you take the SIM from your old Nokia brick. (One week, $300.)/
* /Why, in a town with NBN, doesn't 2AD offer streaming?/
* /I'm still doing web hosting and offsite backups from $3 per month.
/
* /Will anybody read this far :)
/
/
/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Old Editions
*You can find old editions of this newsletter on the CCC Blog.
http://coolhelp.com.au/blog/
You can also subscribe or unsubscribe at
http://auzzie.net/mailman/listinfo/ccc-news_auzzie.net
*
*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Kean
*Proprietor, Cool Country Consulting.*
Trading Hours: 10am to 8pm weekdays.
http://coolhelp.com.au/
Tel: 02 6775 0239 Mob: 0427 644 825
Skype: cccons
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