Kibbles & Bytes Blog

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  • Keep Your Passwords Safe!

    I’m never one for encouraging or promoting New Year’s resolutions unless it’s something practical and attainable. Ok, and something that you know you…

  • The Crypto Craze Part Three: Blockparty

    Greetings, fellow traders!

    As always, it’s been quite an unpredictable last few weeks in the world of Crypto. While Bitcoin has remained somewhat stagnant around ~$14k, Ethereum hit an ATH (an all-time high) of $1000 per coin! This was an especially happy moment for me as ETH was actually the first cryptocurrency I chose to invest in several months ago. Other big news too – relative newcomer altcoin Ripple (XRP) briefly unseated ETH for the number 2 spot on the Cryptocurrency Market Cap before settling down to the #3 position when ETH edged closer to that $1k mark. Not everyone is pleased with XRP, however. Ripple has been catching some flack for not being a “true” cryptocurrency. Some folks out there believe that in order to be considered an alternative currency, the currency must be decentralized. As you might’ve guessed, XRP is a centralized currency. It has an organization, a CEO, employees, etc. and rumor has it it’s being bought up in droves by US banks. It certainly seems like it’s here to stay regardless of the widespread consensus. While it does go against the grain of the definition, and drumming up controversy among would-be traders, that’s not keeping me from investing in it! As anyone who trades coins spends their time sifting through pages and pages of “white papers” and forums or checks their phone religiously for price updates, etc. will tell you: it’s quite a fun ride.

    In the last week’s Techtails, we touched briefly on Bitcoin transactions, but HOW does this transaction occur?

    Let’s backtrack and break it down step by step.

    Connor sends Don 1 BTC in exchange for a real nice, real sweet 15” MacBook Pro, (again, the current value of 1 BTC as of today’s writing stands at ~$15k.) He does this by essentially going to his BTC wallet, grabbing his wallet address or “private key”, (the input) where his BTC is stored. (An address/public key resembles a random string of alphanumeric characters that identifies where to draw the BTC from. Every wallet address or public and private key is different.) He then designates the deposit total of 1 BTC to Dons “public key”, (the output), and confirms the payment. Within a few moments, Don will receive 1 BTC and Connor walks out with the Holy Grail of MacBook Pros.

    So that explains how the transition works, but doesn’t tell us what exactly happens on the backend of that transaction. Cryptocurrency at its core is supposed to be about transparent financial dealings, right?

    Yes!

    Once Connor hits that “Send” button on his phone (yes, you can do these transactions right on your phone), so begins a process that is truly the magic of blockchain technology.

    The MacBook Pro transaction is then broadcast to the Bitcoin network where “miners” verify that Connor’s keys are able to access the inputs (the address from where he withdrew his BTC) he claims to control. This process is known as “mining” because it requires resource intensive computational labor and actually rewards miners in BTC per block solved. The protocol behind mining BTC is dense, but to put it in terms that are easy to digest, mining is a peer-to-peer computer process used to secure and verify BTC transactions. Each group of transactions is called a block. Blocks are secured by BTC miners and build on top of each other forming a chain. Block. Chain. Blockchain. And the blockchain contains a ledger of every single BTC transaction that has ever taken place. While that sounds distressing, there are no names or identities tethered to these transaction blocks. So, if you were to download the entire BTC ledger to your computer, and yes it can be done, you would theoretically be able to track down the transaction record we described above. Pure. Transparency. Blockchain!

    This was a refresher on last edition’s BTC transaction., Next week we’ll pickup where we left off and delve further into the process and function of mining.

    ‘Til next time, fellow traders!

  • Yes it can be too cold to compute

    Winter is here and if you are not lucky enough to live in a milder climate, you need to take extra precaution when using your computer. I am sure some of you have left your computer in the cold car overnight. Leaving your computer or iPhone in cold temperatures below 32 degrees Fahrenheit for an extended period of time can cause damage. This could be dangerous if extra steps are not taken in the care of your device.

    Cold temps affect most batteries as they will lose their charge quicker in the cold. It is not uncommon to see temporary poor battery performance in your computer when using it in colder conditions. Once you resume working in warmer temperatures (approximately 50-90° Fahrenheit) you should have normal performance. But why? Due to higher internal impedance, the external temperature affects the battery’s ability to create the chemical reactions to produce a charge. Short term this does not have lasting damage, but if you use your computer in the cold on a regular basis you will start to see long term poor battery performance.

    Poor battery performance is only a minor effect of extreme cold exposure. Condensation can cause liquid damage. We’ve all seen someone who wears glasses come in from cold temperatures and have their glasses immediately fog up. That’s essentially what could be happening inside your computer. If your computer warms up too quickly it can trigger the LCI or liquid contact indicators within your computer to signal your computer has been exposed to water and, if you don’t have AppleCare+, potentially a costly repair. So what do you do? If bringing your Mac in from an overnight stay in the cold, let the machine sit for at least 30 min before powering on. This should prevent any condensation issues and allow your computer to gradually adjust back to the warmer indoor temperatures.

  • The sun is out here and other than the people walking by with coats on you could not tell it was in the 50s. On the other hand, Emily tells me that the snow is coming down, the temperatures dropping, and we are getting notifications from UPS of delivery and pick-up delays.

    I will be heading out to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show this week. I have a number of meetings but I am mostly going to see the new stuff and get a handle on what the future of technology might be. I remember several years ago when the first drones appeared at the show and now there is literally a complete hall for drones. I wonder what will be new this year. Okay, I am also going to place my annual $50 bet at the sports book on the Cubs and the Celtics.

    Jezebel loves the dog park so much that she strained a muscle playing with all the other dogs. When we get to the park she immediately runs to greet every dog and then runs all out with the dogs until she is so tired she asks to leave. Well, a little too much roughhousing got her a strain, some pain and she can’t see her buddies for a few weeks while she heals.

    Thank you so much for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    Don & Emily

  • Keep Your Passwords Safe!

    I’m never one for encouraging or promoting New Year’s resolutions unless it’s something practical and attainable. Ok, and something that you know you can follow through with! We talk a lot about data security in terms of backups here at Small Dog Electronics, but we do not talk a lot about password security. Passwords can feel like the bane of our existence some days! We need passwords for just about everything we want to do on the internet, we need them for gaming, online purchases, our banking and more. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen users keeping their usernames and passwords written directly on their computers, sticky notes taped to the underside of their computer, a file right on their desktop called “passwords” and more. I think I’ve probably seen every possible WRONG way you can store your usernames and passwords. I get it, it’s frustrating to forget this information and even worse when it’s a login you have to change every 3-4 months.

    To make dealing with passwords a little easier and more secure, using password management software can be crucial in organization and security. We use a service at Small Dog called 1Password, There is also another service called LastPass. that works just as well. Your keychain through your iCloud account can also be used, but, if you need to securely share information with others using one of these other services can be a better solution. We like 1Password and with the frequent need to update passwords and usernames on different sites, it’s extremely functional to ensure that we don’t get locked out of accounts.

    I am sure that some of you have seen Safari suggest a random and impossible to remember password suggestion when you need to reset a password, another reason for secure password storage. As crooks and scammers get smarter, we have to get smarter about our passwords. We might prefer to use a near to your heart password combination that you know you won’t forget, but those are often the most easily hacked.

    With password management software you will still need to remember a few key passwords and usernames. Afterall, you do have to use a secure password to get into your password filing system. When you are creating passwords, always try and use a combination of numbers, letters and even characters when the sites permit it. Random and longer passwords are always recommended. You might try what I call the sentence trick when creating a new password. This is where you could have a favorite movie line or excerpt from a poem and use that as the base for your password. For example “Now is the time for more fun!” This could turn into a password “N1tt4mf!” I took the first letter of each word and changed some letters for numbers with a special character at the end.

    Just as important as tips for what to do to keep your passwords secure is what NOT to do! Always enable two-step verification whenever possible. It’s a bit frustrating at times but is one tip you won’t regret for account security. When using two-step authentication and password management systems keep in mind you can still be vulnerable. You will want to avoid common habits like using the same password on multiple sites. One major benefit of password management software is it remembers your account information, so it eliminates the urge to use common passwords across multiple sites. Once you have filed your account information, discard those old sticky notes! You do not want to keep those lying around anymore.

    Now, get organizing and start off 2018 a little more secure than you were!

  • 2018 is Going to be a Magic 8 Year!

    I got the Magic 8 ball and gave it some upgrades so I am ready for my annual predictions:

    Apple

    • Apple will become a $1 trillion dollar company in 2018 by market capitalization
    • Apple will bring back its $200 billion from overseas and make an out-of-character acquisition
    • Apple HomePod will ship and will make Alexa seem like a “Chatty Cathy“

    Politics

    • Donald Trump will not be President by the end of the year
    • Dems will regain control of both the House and Senate
    • A bi-partisan infrastructure bill will pass
    • Some prominent Republicans will publicly break from supporting the President

    Weather

    • Vermont will get a lot of snow and have a horrible mud season but a wonderfully hot summer
    • No hurricanes will touch the Florida Keys
    • More words like bombogenesis will be created to name weather phenomena

    Sports

    • The Boston Celtics will win the NBA championship over the Warriors when Gordon Hayward returns to play the 6th man for the playoffs
    • The Chicago Cubs rebound from the World Series hangover and win it again
    • The North Koreans will win a gold medal at the Olympics
    • The USA women’s hockey team will win an Olympic medal
    • The Patriots will lose, please
    • Hockey? Who cares? Okay, I’m going for the Detroit Red Wings because they toss octopuses on the ice!

    Space

    • Yes, folks this WILL be the year for confirm alien contact (see the politics section)
    • Elon Musk’s Falcon Heavy will launch gigantic payloads as the most powerful rocket ever
    • There will be one death from space debris