• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Money Management
    • Debt Reduction
    • Credit
    • Mortgages
    • Mutual Funds
    • Tax Strategies
    • Loans
  • Budgets
    • Saving Money
    • Income
  • Banking
    • Checking Accounts
    • Check Writing
    • Fraud
    • History
  • Entrepreneurs
    • Entrepreneur Interviews
    • Money Making Ideas
    • 3D Printing
  • Resources
  • Retirement
  • About
    • Privacy Policy

Personal Finance Blog

Tips And Stories To Help You With Managing Money

  • Privacy Policy
  • Saving Money In 2018
You are here: Home / Archives for Internet

Internet

Hackers Targeting Bitcoins

July 27, 2018 By Twila VanLeer

Hackers Targeting Bitcoins
Hackers make use of the victims’ processing power, because that is what they need to “mine” virtual currencies
Hackers seem to find a way to commit fraud with every new technology that comes along. Now it’s bitcoin, a virtual currency that is increasing in popularity.

Malicious hardware has been showing up on people’s handsets, TVs and smart fridges to facilitate their “crypto-jacking.” The effects for both individuals and companies has been severe. Depending on the severity of the attack, it may seem the losses are too small to be noticed, but over a period of weeks or months, the loss can be great.

Some companies see a huge increase in their power bills as the hackers do their thing, according to Threat Intelligence Group Manager for Checkpoint, a watchdog organization.

Hackers make use of the victims’ processing power, because that is what they need to “mine” virtual currencies. Computers make the complex calculations that verify a running ledger of all transactions in virtual currencies around the world. Besides installing malicious software, the fraudsters also can work through a web browser, latching onto the victim’s computer processing power to mine

digital currencies while the user is on the site. When the victim switches, the mining ends.

Industry experts first identified crypto-jacking as a threat in 2017, when virtual currency prices were rushing to record highs.

At that time, the price of bitcoin, the most widely used of the virtual currencies, increased six-fold from September to December. It has continued to increase.

The hackers were ready. The first big instance of this type of theft was in September, centered on Coinhive, a legitimate business that allowed website owners to make money by allowing customers to mine their v-currency instead of relying on advertising income. The frauds were almost first in line to use the service.

Monero is their favorite target, according to industry researchers. They estimate that more than 5 percent of Monero is mined through crypto-jacking, with losses of more than $150 million dollars and that doesn’t take into account mining that occurs through browsers. The thieves try to infect as many devices as possible, a method dubbed “Spray and Pray.”

The level of sophistication among the hackers increases with each new wrinkle in virtual currency and victims are reacting by adding protections to their equipment.

Filed Under: Bitcoin, Business, Cryptocurrency, Fraud, Technology

Be Mindful Of Your Tweets

June 1, 2018 By Twila VanLeer

Be Mindful of Your Tweets
Remember, there’s no going back once you hit “send.”
Popular comedienne Roseanne Barr found out the hard way. When she tweeted a message with a definite racial slur recently she ended up out of a job. Her tweet casting aspersions on Valerie Jarrett, a black woman who is a former adviser in the Obama Whitehouse, didn’t set well with Barr’s bosses at ABC Television. Several of them, along with some of her fellow cast members, reacted strongly.

Eleven hours after Barr’s May 29 tweet, Channing Dungey, president of ABC entertainment and a black woman, blasted the tweet as “abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values and we have decided to cancel her show.”

So what promised to be a highly successful reboot of the long-running “Roseanne” series crashed to a halt. The actress’ talent agency, ICM Partners, also dropped her.

The moral to the story is clear: You tweet, you become a public figure. Your life could blow up in the same way if you are not discreet with the messages you post for public consumption. An egregious comment about another individual, true or not, could put you on the hot seat.

Some media gurus welcomed the quick and decisive response to Barr’s firing. Aram Sinnreich, professor of communications at the American University in Washington, D.C., said the firing is a testament to diversity in the C-suit and the speed with which news travels on social media.

Roseanne has been chided before for racist tweets. What caused the quick and certain reaction this time? The political climate has put people on high alert regarding their employees’ words and behaviors, Sinnreich says. If an individual, especially a well-known individual, becomes in essence the face of a corporation, the corporation should be accountable for the actions of that individual.

Sinnreich noted that some people have become frustrated with the fact that President Trump gets away with racially-tainted and outrageous tweets (he has targeted Mexicans, Haitians and Nigerians in widely reported tweets) without any consequences. Sinnreich is of the opinion that until Trump is held accountable for what amounts to hate speech, others will think they can also go unscathed if they use tweeting as a way of dissing others. The ability to broadcast your ideas to a huge audience is irresistible, he said.

Many of today’s employers are complaining that as much as five hours a day of a worker’s time is spent sharing tweets and other social media.

The number of cases of employees making negative racial statements that raised the ire of their employers has risen. The results, always widely reported in the general media, sometimes rise to the level of the offender being fired. That should be fair warning for careless tweeters.

Tweeters who go beyond the bounds of decency are showing up more frequently in the news. Anthony Weiner, former New York congressman, is now serving a prison sentence for sexting with a minor. He first blamed a hacker for the mess, but later admitted that “These destructive impulses brought great devastation to family and friends and destroyed my life’s dream of public service.”

People are getting fired for posting inappropriate photos or retweeting someone else’s tweets. Immediacy and informality of the social media sites sometimes makes people vulnerable to impulses they might otherwise control. Remember, there’s no going back once you hit “send.”

On the other end of the scale, some employers now encourage their workers to maintain social media activity. Job applications now may ask how many “followers” the prospective employee has on Twitter. But that becomes a double-edged sword when it appears the opinions of the employee, disbursed among many friends, counter the company’s viewpoint.

Concerns about free speech pop up when social media fans defend their right to freely make sexist, homophobic or racist remarks, but Sinnreich is of the opinion that controls on media content are not censorship. “It’s about affiliation and the media role as amplifiers for political ideology.”

Filed Under: Business, Employment, Internet, Technology, Twitter

Matching Pajamas New Holiday Trend

December 2, 2017 By Twila VanLeer

Matching Pajamas
Families who were into the fad before it became a fad are wondering why it took the rest of the world so long to catch on to the craze
Ever since “Mama in her kerchief and I in my cap” became a holiday standard (Moore’s “Twas the Night Before Christmas) the idea of special holiday jammies has been part of the fun. And as Christmas 2017 presses into view, it is clear that dressing the family up in marching night togs has become a tradition for many. Move over, ugly sweater. You have been replaced in the holiday wardrobe.

The debate begins early. By November, the argument for stripes (think candy cane colors) or a cutesy print ala Yuletide style is front and center and the decision about to be made. Sometimes even holiday visitors are expected to tog up for the family photo.

PajamaGram and Hanna Anderson have jumped aboard the bandwagon and Burt Bees Baby is taking care of the juvenile end of the craze. Oprah has touted the latter as one of her favorites this holiday.

Target reports escalating pajama sales every year since 2013 and has stocked accordingly. The retail giant says it is offering 22 patterns this season and, just to cover the waterfront, offers some of them in styles for dogs and dolls. Walmart expects to repeat previous successes with its offering of one-piece, zip-up jammies for adults. New this year are designs with polar bears on skis and Santa aboard a unicorn.

Even families that can’t get together geographically for the big day will be togged in their matching sleepwear, sharing the fun via video calls, photos and other media means. In fact, some families who were into the fad before it became a fad are wondering why it took the rest of the world so long to catch on to the craze.

One mom who has decked her children with matching nightwear for years thinks it is the media that has spread the mania. “It’s just that now it’s a lot more visible because everyone can see our pictures on Instagram,” she said.

Jonah Berger, marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, agrees. “It used to be that your uncle did this on a Christmas card, but you only got to see it if you were on his mailing list. Now, it’s a classic case of Internet one-ups-manship. Who can come up with the best matching pajamas and show the world that they’re a good parent?” Berger is author of the book, “Contagious: Why Things Catch On.”

Filed Under: Christmas, Christmas Shopping, Holidays, marketing

Freelance Jobs On Top 10 Websites

July 13, 2016 By Twila VanLeer

Freelance jobs on the top 10 websites online
Freelance jobs posted online are becoming easier to find.
Freelance jobs can solve income problems for many people who work at home. In 2015, some 15.5 million Americans were self-employed, according to Bureau of Labor statistics. By 2020, the number is expected to rise to about 60 million – more than 40 percent of the total workforce.

Freelance Jobs Online

Freelancers are doing their work at home, in coffee shops and co-working spaces everywhere. Many or the best and brightest are leaving traditional jobs to take advantage of the flexibility and autonomy in jobs of their own creation. Whether the objective is just making a side job of a hobby or making freelance the way to a living, there are resources that can be helpful.

Toptal

Toptal is a freelance network of elite software engineers and digital designers from more than a hundred countries around the world. It has a screening process that weeds out everyone except the top 3 percent of talent in a number of categories. If you are selected, you know you are in company with the elite. You are allowed to decide if you want full or part-time work, how many hours and set your own rates. Toptal works with such companies as AirBnB, IDEO and JP Morgan and has a consistent lineup of interesting clients and projects.

Upwork

Upwork, a union of the two leading freelance networks, Elance and lDesk, is now the largest website to find freelancers. It has more than 10 million registered users, four million clients and listings for three million jobs every year. It is a source for writers, architects, legal aides, photographers and others. Users can enroll for short-term or long-term projects, work by the hour or by the project. A chat feature, time-tracker and payment protection are part of the program.

99 Designs

99 Designs has its own twist. The platform is for designers and every job comes in the form of a contest. Instead of browsing through a catalog of portfolios and resumes, clients are asked to crowd source projects, set a budget and give instructions and then let designers submit work based on the project brief. At the end of a week, the client chooses the best design and pays its originator. This is a good site for designers who want to test their talents and shake up their workflow.

PeoplePerHour

PeoplePerHour offers a source for all skills related to web projects, including software engineers, digital designers, SEO specialists and marketers. A tool called WorkStream simplifies the business side of the work by organizing payment, communications and management all in one place. You can browse jobs, be notified of new openings via your inbox and send up to 15 proposals without charge before you sign up for the premium plan.

LinkedIn Profinder

This freelance source has more than 420 million members in more than 200 countries and is a leading place for learning about job-related information. It recently launched LinkedIn Profinder as a means to help freelance professionals to find jobs. Based on its enormous amount of user data, it is able to connect freelancers with strong leads based on keyword searches and companies followed.

SimplyHired

SimplyHired has the largest variety of freelance jobs of any on this list, with information on jobs ranging from construction to concierge work. It offers help for those seeking extra work and has information on jobs in more than 24 countries, offering opportunities in 12 languages.

Freelance Writing Gigs

Freelance Writing Gigs is a job board that is updated daily with freelance writing and blogging jobs. Topics vary from technical writing to writing about such things as recipes, photography and healthcare. There are great opportunities whether you are looking to supplement your income or make freelancing you full-time work.

If you are among the millions of freelancers looking for new opportunities, check into these sites to see what’s in them for you.

Filed Under: Careers, Internet, Job Search, Money Making Ideas Tagged With: Employment, internet business, job search, Money Making Ideas

Job Hunting? Go Online

April 28, 2016 By Twila VanLeer

Online resources help in job search.
Online resources help in job search.
The number of online resources to help in the job search is expanding and creating a very valuable tool for people looking for work. They have the advantages of being available 24 hours a day and of being constantly refreshed as new jobs come onto the market.

 

Online Resources Convenient For Employers

Employers are becoming aware of the resources and find them convenient in matching the qualifications of applicants to their particular needs. There is no charge for the majority of the services.

 

Among The Resources You Might Tap Are:

 
1. America’s Job Bank, which lists job openings nationwide.
 
2. FirmFind, which lists job possibilities by category to make your search more specific.
 
3. Your state also is likely to have job listings online if you are interested in staying put geographically.

 

How Resources Work

The computerized systems streamline by matching your skills, abilities and work history to specific job requirements. They list government jobs as well as those in the private sector. They range from unskilled to highly technical and can be part-time, temporary or permanent.

 

How Can You Enhance Your Possibility Of Finding The Perfect Job Online?

Be professional in your application. Be sure you include a current phone number, address and email address. Be straightforward and accurate in listing your qualifications. Be thorough and use correct grammar and punctuation.

 

Create An Online Account

Create an account that will enable you to apply for thousands of jobs. When you spot something that interests you, follow the instructions on the announcement to apply. You must be completely registered to be able to see the application instructions.

 

Stay Current

Check on your applications frequently to learn your status and update your account regularly.

 

Be Available

Be certain that you are available to respond if a prospective employer is interested in your application. Remember, he has plenty of choices.

 

Filed Under: Databases, Employment, Job Search Tagged With: Employment, internet business

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 10
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Personal Finance Articles

  • Make Saving A Priority
  • Review Your Home-Insurance Risks
  • Lowest Air Fare? Try August 28
  • Hackers Targeting Bitcoins
  • Keep Your Emergency Fund Intact

Save At Walmart

Search

Personal Finance Education

Investing Education from Morningstar.

As Seen On Intuit

Intuit.com has ranked Coolchecks.net #4 out of 10 of the best blogs to help you save money. We hope to help you become more aware of your own financial situation and strive to improve it.

Featured On Mint.com – July 2014

Mint Interview

Best of Personal Finance Blogs

Best of BuyerZone Business Finance Blog Recipient

Personal Finance Sites We Recommend

Get personal finance advice from the people behind the top money blogs, including Wise Bread, The Simple Dollar, Mint and Nerd Wallet.

Copyright © 2023 ·Metro Pro · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress · Log in