Brief History of Bitcoins

It is quite strange to read history of an event that took place not more then a decade ago. But the journey from 1$=1,309.03Bitcoins to touching the mark of 1bitcoin=1000$+ is not a short journey lets revisit few Important events happened in this short period.

• It all started back in 2007 when Satoshi Nakamoto began working on the Bitcoin concept. While he/they is/are on record as living in Japan, it is speculated that Nakamoto may be a group of people.

• August 18, 2008 Bitcoin.org is registered  The domain was registered at anonymousspeech.com, a site that allows users to anonymously register domain names and currently accepts Bitcoins.
  
  
• January 12, 2009
  The first transaction of Bitcoin currency, in block 170, takes place between Satoshi and Hal Finney, a developer and cryptographic activist.
  
   
•  October 5, 2009 An exchange rate is established
  New Liberty Standard publishes a Bitcoin exchange rate that establishes the value of a Bitcoin at US$1 = 1,309.03 BTC, using an equation that includes the cost of electricity to run a computer that generated Bitcoins.
  

• May 22, 2010
  10,000 BTC spent on pizza.
  The first, real-world transaction using Bitcoins takes place when a Jacksonville, Florida programmer, Laszlo Hanyecz, offers to pay 10,000 Bitcoins for a pizza on the Bitcoin Forum. At the time, the exchange rate put the purchase price for the pizza at around US$25.
  
  
• August 15, 2010 Exploit generates 184 billion Bitcoins
  
  A vulnerability in the Bitcoin system that causes Bitcoins to be improperly verified is discovered and exploited, resulting in the generation of 184 billion Bitcoins.
  
  
• February 9, 2011 Bitcoin reaches parity with US dollarBitcoin touches US$1.00/BTC at MtGox[Currency Exchange], reaches parity with the US dollar for the first time.
  
  
• April 16, 2011 TIME publishes article on BitcoinTIME magazine publishes an article about Bitcoin, Online Cash Bitcoin Could Challenge Governments, Bank.
  
  
• September 3, 2012 Bitfloor hacked for 24,000 BTC
  The fourth largest US Bitcoin exchange, Bitfloor, is hacked and loses 24,000 BTC (valued at approximately US$250,000 when the theft took place), which was the majority of the on-hand Bitcoins. Compromised servers result in access to encrypted backup files of wallet keys. All exchange operations are paused.
  
  
• April 2013 Bitcoin surpasses $100
    The value of Bitcoin on MtGox and other exchanges surpasses US$100
  
  
  .
• November 19, 2013 Bitcoin goes above $1000
    Bitcoin price surges to a record of US$1242 after Senate hearings.

Password Management Strategies Do Not Have To Be Complicated

Despite advances in cyber security, passwords are still the best first line of defense against account infiltration because of their fluid customization. If an account becomes compromised, it is relatively easy for users to reestablish their defenses by changing how it is protected.

News outlets are regularly reporting tales of hacker devastation due to inefficient passcode strength. Although it is simple for users to change their passwords and optimize their security measures, according to PCWorld, there are simple strategies that businesses and consumers alike can consider in order to optimize their defenses from the start.

Tips for password fortification

Business 2 Community reported that password management software can do the work of creating complex and hard to hack passcodes without forcing the end user to memorize long strings of characters, across multiple accounts. With this cost-effective solution, the software will do this work for the customer, requiring minimal setup or maintenance. Furthermore, for businesses that need to manage various online presences over different account names, password management software provides users with an easy to use administrative interface.

Single sign-on solutions (SSO) are also worthwhile investments because of their instant authentication capabilities. When this software is deployed, users can connect to their accounts instantly, without requiring troublesome and often frustrating reset validations. Additionally, this strategy prevents business professionals who manage multiple password-protected accounts from having to spend time constantly signing into them as they perform their daily tasks.

There can never be enough security when dealing with the Internet. People who are invested in preserving their online identity should consider these optimized password strategies.

Bitcoins what is it & how it works ?

I'm quite sure Till now all of us must have heard about bitcoins from one way or another, most of us are curious about what is bitcoin and few of us who even know what it is but surely uncertain about its future, In this post I'll try to Explain bitcoin to all readers to very easiest form. with just 5 Q&A

What is Bitcoin ?

A.
 It Is crypto-currency [ E-currency ] it can be used to make payments online. Bitcoin payments are easier to make than debit or credit card purchases and It can easily replace them. Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer payment system and digital currency introduced  in 2009 by  Satoshi Nakamoto

What are the advantages of Bitcoin?
A. 

•  Transparent and neutral
• Instant Payment
• Very low fees
• Secure, Irreversible
• Strong protection against identity theft 

I'll be explaining all these points in upcoming posts 

What are the disadvantages of Bitcoin?
A.

• Not Yet fully known by average joe 
•  Volatility
• Uncertainty
• Money Laundering 

  

What is Bitcoin mining ?

A.
 The process of finding new blocks to be added to blockchain is called Bitcoin mining. This is done by a computer program by solving a complex puzzle with real time input of transaction data. Now a days mining requires specialized hardwares and electricity consumption. Miners are rewarded with Bitcoin by the system.

What are the units of Bitcoin ?

A.
 There are 4 standard units of Bitcoin...
    i. 1 BTC = 1 Bitcoin
    ii. 1 mBTC = 10^(-3) Bitcoin
    iii. 1 μBTC = 10^(-6) Bitcoin
    iv. 1 Satoshi = 10^(-8) Bitcoin

You can ask QUESTIONS if you have any question regarding this post

Historical Findings in Astronomy

Taking a look at the history of astronomy will allow us to understand the many advances made and give us the knowledge we need to further explore the universe. The Babylonians were amongst the earliest astronomers in the 17th century B.C. and recorded the motion of the planets in the sky. Their discoveries paved the way for future generations to learn more about the universe. Galileo (1564-1642) invented telescopes that allowed him to get a better picture of what makes up the night sky. Sir William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus and several moons around other gas giants. Over time, scientists have been also able to develop technology that has changed the belief of a geocentric universe to the heliocentric model it is today. The Hubble Space Telescope and the Kepler Project are two other major undertakings that continue to shape our view of space. Take a look at the following infographic to learn more about astronomy over the years.

Created by Labroots, the leading social networking website for scientists, engineers, and other technical professionals.

Top 10 Tips for Online Shopping Security

Just as fun as it can be to shop online, it can equally be risky at times. Not because you might just end up ordering the wrong size (thank god to the fact that there’s always an exchange window and you can courier it back) but because there are some safety issues that you need to keep in mind while swapping that plastic card of yours. With a dramatic increase in numbers of online purchasing portals, online flick stores, shopping windows, etc. it is becoming more and more crucial to keep a watch on where exactly you are stashing your card numbers in. There are scammers flopping in the online world like never before. So it helps to keep an eye before you decide to lay your hands on that beautiful dress or shoe you just spotted on the screen.

Here we lay down few safety procedures which once you ensure will make your experience equivalent to one that you have while visiting your nearest mart for picking stuff up.

1) Your computing environment should be very secured

Almost a no-brainer yet half the online population neglects this as a safety step. When you make purchases online, everything is encrypted. So if your computer is not protected of malicious software, your financial information and passwords will be stolen (as a matter of fact everything stands the chance of being stolen that are saved in your computer). So it is the first thing to ensure that the firewall is on. Also adding to it, try avoid shopping online from cyber cafes or using a public network. Financial transactions are better done through trusted computers.

2) Verify as to just how much you trust the store

There are correct ways of going about the shopping portal/ website you are trusting:

- If you already know the outlet of the brand or store you are purchasing form, go-ahead and have trust. In case anything goes wrong during the financial transaction, you can always walk in to the relevant store and get the problem sorted.

- If you have friends or family buying from a particular store/ portal, there’s nothing to worry much in that case then.

- If you do not know the store at all, BEWARE! Keep your eyes open. Read customer reviews or best is, do the store’s background check by looking at sites dedicated to reviewing e-stores. You find your store there, go ahead and make your picks.

3) Avail discount

Why pay extra when there can be options o availing discounts. There are many sites like indianprice.com, etc. which provide massive discounts via coupon codes. They have lots of stores registered with them and if your chosen store is registered, there you go hitting the jackpot. Cross-check and who knows you might just be lucky!

4) The too-good-to-be-true offers are not all that good always

You got no idea about the extent deceits can stretch. It’s not just on the online space but everywhere but when you are putting your money online, you can just be extra careful. It won’t hurt after all. Do not fall for the too-good-to-be-true offers. If they sound too unrealistic, there is no harm checking their reliability. They can be pretty unreal. Often purchasing from those sites can just be calling for bad luck. They can be low quality or stolen items or can also be cheap substitute of tall brands. The products might just never reach you or the portal merchant might just be playing all of it up for trading your bank details with someone else.

5) Stay alert while buying a gift-card

It is always nice to make your dear ones happy with the fabulous gift cards which are available online these days. But always read the terms and conditions carefully when buying one. Also, ensure the store from where you are buying is legitimate.

6) Do not trade too much of information

If the purchasing site is asking more information than you think is required, back off. It clearly is not reliable. The reliable sites would not go beyond asking name, contact details, email address, some method of payment, and at max your interest/ hobbies. But if you come across ones asking for driver’s license number, bank account information, social security information, etc. be cautious. It is a fraudulent one. There are hints that the merchant resell, rent or share your information. Alternatively, check the site’s privacy policy.

7) Make a unique password if required

Often online purchasing stores ask you to create an account with them. You need not do it but just in case it seems important to you or easy, then carry on. But ensure you choose a very strong password for the account. Make it unique.

8) Go a step high to ensure the security of the site

Hold on! Just before you enter any personal or credit card info onto a shopping site please do look at the URL. See if the web address on the page begins with "https:" and not "http." That little ‘s’ tells you the information is being encrypted to protect your information.

9) Wiring money through Western Union or Money Gram is not suggestible

Reliable sites generally do not make it a mandate for you to pay through wires. It is always wise to pay via credit or debit card. Wiring is suggestible to people you know but not to random strangers. So do not take the risk unnecessarily.

10) The grammar matters!

Might just sound very funny but do read the content that has gone on the website. If the content hosted by the portal/ the site is full of errors, typos, poor content, you can already sniff danger. They are not professional.

All in all, novice shoppers who are going to just start buying online should better stick with well known brands and famous online shopping portals rather than breaking their head in the smaller, less known ones. Once you get a grip of the online shopping fundamentals, you can always start your journey towards becoming the pro online shopper. But till then, have patience.

Author Bio:

This is a guest article contributed by Ajeet Sharma who works for IndianCoupons.com - a coupon site helps user shopping online by providing discount coupons, promotional codes and deals for all major online shopping stores.

Difficulties In Importing Console Games to Mobile Operating Systems

Game consoles are built with only one goal in mind, and that is to create an awesome gaming experience for gamers.

Serious gamers are mostly to be found playing console games and the rest almost exclusively use personal computers to play games. In the past, if one wished for a portable gaming device, then their options were limited to portable game consoles such as the Nintendo DS or Sony’s PSP.

However, smartphones and tablets have been steadily gaining ground as gaming platforms due to their portability, ubiquity, increasing processing power, better and bigger screens and an army of developers with the requisite skills to create games for the various mobile devices like the Android and Windows Phones. Of course, iPhone app development is included in the mix.

This means that you as a game developer/publisher have to decide which platform/s to target first when creating your game. If you, however, decide to target the console market, you would probably want to ‘transfer’ or port the game eventually to mobile operating systems due to their widespread use and potential market. There are, however, things you will need to do and challenges to take into consideration before you can successfully deploy your game on smartphones.

Challenges in Porting Games

One of the challenges to overcome is the difference in hardware. Smartphones have grown more powerful each year yet when you compare them with game consoles, they are way less powerful. Game consoles also have very powerful GPUs and thus handle graphics better. This means that a game that placed minimum strain on game consoles would not run at all in most smartphones and strain most tablets if they were placed under similar computing needs. This means that your game must be re-designed and re-worked, taking into consideration the target devices’ capabilities.

If you are porting your game so as to target mobile devices, you must also take into consideration the various hardware capabilities available on mobile devices but not on games controllers, such as the ability to control game play via a touchscreen.

Games targeted at mobile devices much also allow for the different functional purpose between mobile devices and game consoles: while a game can hog all resources on the game console assured it has all computing resources to itself, on mobile operating systems the game has to ‘play nice’ with other apps installed on the mobile devices. Given that no one would ever play your game again if it were the reason they missed an important interview or a deal fell through because a phone call was made but the game was using the CPU or speaker, you must change your game so that gives some activities (like incoming calls) priority, and resume gaming when the user returns.

You must also factor in the differences between the controllers for a game console and a mobile device. Most game controllers have some input devices such as joysticks not available to mobile devices, which similarly will have different controls such as swiping for mobile devices with touchscreens. Telling a gamer using a touchscreen smartphone to move the joystick to the left does not inspire much confidence in your game and shows lack of attention at best on the side of the game developer.

You may and probably will have to change the way the gamer interacts with your game, for example, by substituting touch motions for key presses. Another motivation for changing the interactivity mode and intensity of play not only due to computing resources required and controllers used is the target audience. Most game titles for home consoles are targeted towards hard-core gamers who will create time in their schedule for gaming and end up not sticking to it after they start playing, while most mobile devices games are for casual gamers catching a break in between classes or work. Thus, they need to be hooked to the game the first few times they play it and it must have shorter playtime.

Languages for the devices may also vary, requiring automatic code conversion and tweaking or a complete rewrite in the language supported.

Image Credit:  franky242

Worst Rank-Destroying SEO Mistakes

World of SEO is full of do-it-yourself experts, who only have a very basic grasp of what actually goes into a potentially successful campaign. If you believe that you belong to this category, you should know about some common, and potentially, very serious mistakes that are easy to avoid, but that could otherwise lead not only to all of your effort being completely futile, but actually cause the site that you are working on to be deindexed.

Choosing Inadequate Hosting

Naturally, if you intend on working on an already existing website, the owner may not be willing to change their hosting, but if you are considering optimizing a website that hasn’t been built yet, you should carefully consider your hosting options.

The provider has to be able to offer support for all the scripts and tools that your site will need, as well as afford you with enough resources so that the site doesn’t freeze as soon as your traffic spikes for the first time. Likewise, you need to make sure that you are not in a bad neighborhood, which is to say that your provider is not hosting spammy sites, as that might label you as a spammer as well.

Using Restricted Techniques

You have probably heard about three approaches to SEO – White, Gray and Black hat. Black Hat is the worst possible resort when it comes to Google-approved practices, it is considered to be unethical and because of these wrongful methods your website might easily get deindexed. This means strict avoidance of keyword stuffing, site scraping, cloaking, and others.

White Hat is completely different aspect of increasing your website’s visibility; it is the key to effective SEO. It allows keeping the integrity of the website while still existing within the frame of search engine’s terms of service. Provide great content made especially for the readers – not for the sake of links, find a solid keyword phrase that precisely represents your webpage, make your way to inbound linking and pay attention to page elements – visually break up your page with SEO-appropriate headings. If your methods do not comply with White Hat postulates – none of the SEO techniques are effective.

Not Doing Your Onsite Properly

A lot of people who are new to SEO focus on off page factors, like building the link portfolio and reaching out to people on different social networks. While these are important parts of an SEO strategy, you should only start dealing with them once you have a solid base, which is to say a site with decent onsite. This includes a number of things, like making sure that your page titles contain the keywords that you want to rank for; that you have optimized your internal linking structure for the best effect; that your page loading times are as low as possible; that you have an XML sitemap to help out the crawlers; that your bounce rate is at its minimum, as well as a number of other things.

Duplicated Pages

While it is sometimes impossible not to have several versions of a page, you should at least try to designate the canonical one, marking it as the one that crawlers should pay attention to. While having several versions of a same page is admissible in some instances, you should always be careful not to let this happen with your home page, as that could lead to significant loss of link value.

A little bit of planning goes a long way. Every bit of the effort you invest in preserving your good rankings is worth your time because it most definitely delivers great results.

Author Bio:     

Leana Thorne is a devoted blogger and a regular contributor to several tech blogs. She enjoys sharing newly found information, and loves writing –currently is exploring ways of organic search engine optimization, and is always happy to be of help.