[CCC News] Assorted News 56: Crypto, Radio, Free Backup and More...

[Michael Kean]

In this edition:

*Bitcoin and Crypto Info*
*New Van coming?*
*Life with Mike on FM92.1*
*Antivirus Reminder*
*Free Backup with Google.*
*Managing Voice Messages?*
*----------------------*

Welcome to 2018! I hope your new year is going well for you.

*Bitcoin and Crypto Info.*

Since Caz and I have returned from Kangaroo Island I've had a number of
people asking me about Bitcoin and the like. I was fiddling with Bitcoin
back in 2011/2012, and made a few; but like many I ended up selling it as
'life' happened and I needed the money. (The value also didn't change for
three years.) However I have a good understanding of how it all works and
am back into playing with them again.

I've done a short radio segment about how they work which you can listen to
here <https://drive.google.com/open?id=1aUPA0WOcE6EUz6sDJSJ8o9hIDASERI6K>.

In short - it's just like sending cash in the mail, except it's faster. It
has the much the same characteristics - non reversible, non-forgeable, etc.

Most people are getting interested in cryptocurrencies now because of the
massive increases in value they have been seeing collectively. For example,
$5 worth of Raiblocks two weeks ago is now worth about $50. A few are
actually using them for real-world transactions as well - the original
intention.

If you want to get started with them, two good starting places for
Australians are btcmarkets.net and coinspot.com.au - but because there's a
mad rush now it takes some time to get validated with these companies.
(Over a week I think.)

If you want to read about different currencies, a good starting place may
be https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/  although bear in mind there is
a lot of 'shilling' in there.

I can't give investment advice, only opinions. They would be

   - Diversify.
   - The original Bitcoin (as per the white paper) is now called Bitcoin
   Cash
   - The current "Bitcoin" (SegWit) is controlled by corporate interests.
   - Traditional Blockchains (power-hungry) may be superceded by faster
   equivalents.
   - Don't 'invest' or gamble with more than you can afford to lose.
   - If you have more than $10K worth, learn about 'wallets' as exchanges
   can get hacked.
   - Harvest profits above a limit in case the whole market crashes.
   - USDT is probably a scam.


If you want more info, email me or book a time and I'll meet with you to
give you one on one training on how to safely handle cryptos or to explain
how a particular crypto works.

----

*New Van Coming?*

The Commodore is now up to 480,000km care of the six day return trip to
Kangaroo Island and back. It's still working well, even the annoying glitch
last month where I had to turn the air conditioning compressor by hand to
get the clutch to enable has gone away again. Only problem now is the
headliner is going all Priscilla on me.

Last year I ran the experiment of having an office in Guyra. That has had
mixed results - it's handy for having a place to work on machines other
than at home; but it can also throw out my schedule or programming
concentration if I get a number of walk-in customers. It's also in Guyra
only which isn't much help when I'm stuck between jobs in Armidale.

This year I am thinking of buying a long wheel base high-topped van and
converting it to a mobile office as an experiment. (It will have other uses
too.) That way I can pull over wherever between jobs and work in comfort on
programming tasks or repairs without being geographically challenged. I
already own all the gear to make it a solar powered office.

I might keep the Guyra office too, but not sure yet.

----

*Life with Mike on FM92.1*

Just for fun I am running a weekly radio show on Armidale's community radio
FM92.1 on Thursday evenings 6-8pm. It's not tech related as they won't let
me talk about tech due to their licensing restrictions as an NFP. More info
at the Life with Mike Facebook page
<https://www.facebook.com/921lifewithmike/>, and past copies temporarily
available here
<https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_4kwQrOYc52DlktGynJNkXWirtDp7g2t>while I
consider whether its' worth paying the $270 licensing fee to podcast it. I
am looking for guest presenters in the flesh, and possibly online via
Spotify / Duo / Skype if the next experiment works.

You can also SMS requests to 0412 111 921
----

*Antivirus Reminder.*

Just a reminder that Windows 10 has a built in antivirus that is usually
'good enough' so in most cases there's no need for a paid product. Also, in
most cases Android and iPhone / iPad devices don't need antivirus as the
apps are usually checked by Apple and Google before being listed on the
relevant stores.

----

*Free Backup with Google.*

Google recently released a new update to their Google Drive / Photos backup
<https://www.google.com/drive/download/backup-and-sync/> program that
allows it to work as a free off-site backup for your files. It's better
than Dropbox and OneDrive in that the backup component lets you pick any
folders on your computer to back up, not just the dedicated 'Drive' folder.
It's free up to 15GB of space, or beyond that $2.50 a week for 100GB. Some
versioning available too in case you get one of those viruses that
scrambles your files.

This might be a suitable replacement for some people currently using the
free CrashPlan which is shutting down in a few months.

----

*Managing Voice Messages?*

These days about 70% of my requests for assistance come in via Email or SMS
- which is quite handy as I can simply arrange them on the phone and
archive them when complete. Short ones I can dictate a reply via my watch
if I'm driving or hands are full.

When work is busy, I tend to leave the voice messages until there's a quiet
patch as it requires some time to go through each one, replay the bits that
I couldn't quite make out first time, transcribe the name, number if it
isn't logged, and schedule a return call. That's why my voice greeting
suggests texting or emailing if possible. Funny how technology changes the
way we do things.

----

Well that's it for another newsletter! Hope you have a great 2018 :)

Cheers, Mike.

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-- 
*Proprietor, Cool Country Consulting.*
Trading Hours: 10am to 8pm weekdays.
http://coolhelp.com.au/
Mob: 0427 644 825
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