The earlier you start saving for retirement, the better. There is no debating that fact and far to many people today never get around to it at all. This leaves them having to work well into their 70’s and really struggling to get by late in life. It’s even worth considering choosing your employer based on the pension provision. for example in the United Kingdom, Government employees rarely receive the highest salaries but most have pensions far and above most private ones. For those people, pensions are often just linked to their final salary so they don’t have the worries about performance of their investment like most pension funds.
I started buying stock when I was in college and it is something I have never regretted. Today that might be difficult for most students as tuition’s have skyrocketed and it is hard trying to stay out of debt. But working and putting away even a little bit of money on a regular basis is what every student should be trying to do.
The Internet has empowered people to be able to have access to all sorts of information and use it to better their lives. For someone young trying to learn how to buy stock in a particular company, they find that it is easier than many of the computer games they play. Buying stocks and building a portfolio can all be done right from your home laptop and even an iPad if that is all you have. Once you open a broker account, buying and selling stocks takes place any time of day over the Internet. It is easy, quick, and virtually anyone can do it. Most importantly though, everyone should learn how to invest in the stock market because that is the best way to build a retirement nest egg.
The key fact is that it’s much, much easier to save for retirement when you’re young than if you leave it until you’re older. Unfortunately it’s difficult to appreciate this when you’re young and have more fun things to spend you cash on. Recently on UK television and the BBC, there have been many adverts encouraging people to start saving for their later years including using a new state backed pension system for people who have no other fund.
Kids today learn to use the computer just about as quickly as they learn to talk. Investing now days is done online and it should be taught to all kids, the earlier the better. They need to learn that we all have to provide for our own retirement and not rely on the government. With the easy accessibility of the financial markets online, every one is on equal footing and anyone can learn how to participate in stocks which are the best way right now to grow your money. There’s no reason why you should be limited to just US sources of information as well. Although many media and TV sites are restricted based on location you can use a proxy like this to watch UK TV online in Europe or the US easily. When you’re connected to a proxy in a specific country, you can access the same resources as someone actually located there. This sounds fairly minor but it’s not! Changing your location like this can give you access to all sorts of information and offers not available (even remotely) to people based outside that particular country.
Not real money of course, but a version of the digital currencies that seem to be always in the news at the moment. A student who has not been named in Imperial College London, one of the UK’s top Universities has been sneakily setting up all the computers to mine dogecoins for his account. This is one of the very newest digital currencies, and ironically one which was initially setup as a joke. That seems to be changing now though, in December 2020 Elon Musk even tweeted in support of Dogecoin. He actually suggested that it might one day become the major currency of the planet. It was largely believed to be a joke but the value of the crypto currency soared anyway.
Crypto crime
The cryptocurrency is one tipped to one day replace bitcoins and become the ipso facto standard for digital currency, although it should be added there are quite a few of those! Mining refers to the act of solving computer algorithms which earn the user dogecoin credits. It’s normally not worth mining many of these currencies as normally the costs of the cpus and electricity used are more than the value of the currency mined. However obviously if someone else is paying all the bills, then the economics of it change drastically. Basically the costs in mining most crypto currency are energy and resource based, so if you can use these for free you can’t really lose (unless you get caught of course).
As the value and potential of these currencies rise then incidents like these are likely to increase too. It’s the second report in a week we’ve seen of these sort of events although I’m sure there are many more. For example some years ago, in Harvard somebody tied up the college’s supercomputer – Odyssey to do exactly the same thing. Obviously there is a huge problem for college’s with the events as the computers are effectively not available to other students for more legitimate uses. As many have found college computer resources are often not entirely used for their specified purpose.
The simple fact that many overlook in committing these crimes, is the perception that the coins are anonymous. Although that’s only partly true – gaining and using computers themselves is rarely anonymous – access can normally be tracked very easily. Even if you don’t use physical access like entering the buildings and using the computers directly – you’re still not safe. Remote access is usually fairly easy to trace unless you use privacy tools like next gen proxies or VPNs with military grade encryption. This can hide your connection details if you do it right, most people involved in stuff like this rarely cover their track with any sort of proxy however.
The student in Imperial has now been banned from using the research computing facilities for the foreseeable future – the college issued a statement that such uses was strictly forbidden. Unfortunately for the student involved his 30,000 Dogecoins that he has produced using this method will hardly be sufficient reward – they are currently worth approximately £20! It should be mentioned that now, the value has risen considerably but probably not enough to justify the crime. The value now would be nearer £200 a slightly more respectable value, although if Bitcoins had been mined they would be worth considerably more.
There are similar ‘crimes’ taking place in other areas too, harnessing other peoples computers and networks can be very lucrative. From creation of huge Bot networks which are rented out online, to running things like ticket proxies for running multiple accounts to buy things like concert tickets and sneakers.
Unsurprisingly many people now take laptops or tablets away with them when travelling. Mainly because for many of us the internet is a pretty much essential part of our lives, Think of it, we pay our bills, arrange our finances, plan our leisure time and a hundred other things all online. The advantage is that this doesn’t need to stop when we go travelling as long as we have an internet connected device with us.
For most people that means using wifi services when we travel. There’s no end of places where for the price of a coffee or beer you can hook up to the internet. Great for checking out where you want to eat that night or to make sure you’ve paid that cable bill on time. There’s plenty of free access too – your hotel lobby, airport and even local libraries normally supply free wifi to customers and just people passing by.
But this is not without it’s drawbacks and risks, any wifi network you use could potentially intercept or log whatever you do online. There’s no real way of telling whether a Wifi access point is legitimate or not in most cases. That Wifi signal could be called anything by anyone including deceptive names like ‘official airport-name Wifi’ , there no restriction or checks in the vast majority of places. These access points can even be created on our own mobile devices. You might think you’re using the official free wifi of a company but really connecting through a mobile phone from some complete stranger.
So it’s better to do things like check your online banking using more established wifi set ups, if you really have to. However that’s much harder to than you think, certainly don’t check anything important like email or bank accounts using free wifi. The problem is that the little bar on the end of the street may serve great beer but what do they know about securing a Wifi access point? Whether there’s bad intentions or merely lack of security knowledge your data can be at risk.
One potential solution is to utilise a security program like a VPN or SSH connection whilst you travel. Most companies who operate internationally will normally provide their employees with such program in order to connect safely back to the corporate network. These connections are encrypted between the two endpoints and therefore not at risk to rogue or malicious wifi networks. Your connection is protected by encryption and routed through a VPN or proxy server for an added layer of protection.
If you are not lucky enough to have one to use through your employment there are lots of services which you can subscribe to for a small cost. Most can be hired on a monthly basis too enabling you to protect your connection for a very small amount of cash. It is essential you pick a well run proxy though as other wise your browsing and internet speed could be very slow.
Check this video out for an example –
Which demonstrates what routes you can take to maximise the speed of your connection whilst online. There are other advantages to using this sort of software whilst abroad – you can for instance use it to hide your IP address and access content not normally available in your location. For example many use it to watch things like the BBC, ITV or Hulu from anywhere in the world – here’s a demonstration video.
Overall there are some advantages to using a VPN to protect your connection when travelling but as always common sense is the most important factor. Be careful which networks you use, always select the most trustworthy available. If you think there’s something wrong, don’t connect – simply wait and another access will soon be avalable.
In the early days of the web, everything was pretty much free and accessible to all. To some extent this is still the case, at least in many sectors but things are starting to change rapidly. There are growing examples that instead of a huge repository of knowledge the internet is rapidly morphing into a huge virtual shopping mall. What’s worse it seems that many of these Malls have strict entrance restrictions – you can only come in if you’re from the US, or using a certain browser etc. There is a huge branch of ’restrictive technology’ being developed simply to block, censor and filter websites.
Education is one of those areas that is bucking this trend, at least for now. Online classrooms and virtual lessons are appearing over the internet, sponsored by educational establishments across the world. At the moment you can even sign on for free at a class run from Harvard, Princetown or Cambridge University in the UK. World class education, for free available to anyone without restriction – well for the moment anyway. It is believed that this model won’t stay in this altruistic mode for long, but at least we can enjoy it while it does.
It is difficult to see who is to blame, but certainly the free market and profit incentive looks at the core of this change. We are increasingly seeing profit maximising models being applied to some of the best sites on the web. One of the easiest to spot is the price discrimination techniques adopted by many of the webs biggest media sites. This is an economic technique designed to maximise profits and involves charging different prices to different markets. In the real world this is fairly easy as you can use geographical boundaries, a company will charge one price for it’s goods in India, then a higher price in Europe where there is more money available.
With the internet this is more difficult to operate as we are all connected to the ’same internet’ irrespective of our location. But the media companies have implemented special technology called geotargeting which does split the market. The website basically determines your location from your IP address, and then you are offered different products and prices dependent on this. For example the media streaming company Netflix operates globally but has a host of different services tailored to different countries. You can watch Netflix in Canada and have a completely different set of media than in the US. Incidentally you can bypass these blocks and to some extent control your own internet connection – see this website for details – or watch this video if you prefer.
It basically involves hiding your real location and supplying a false one as required. You don’t actually change your location but use an alternative one by routing your connection through a proxy like this. This enables you to maintain some anonymity and also bypass any geo-restrictions being applied to a site. So for example if you want to watch British TV stations online you’d choose a proxy server based in the UK.
Hopefully education will be the exception to this profit maximising model that seems to be determining the future of the net. It is difficult to see how the vast investment required to supply these resources can be raised without the profit motive though. Both the technology involved in producing proxies and trying to block them is largely linked to maximizing revenue. Even usually altruistic companies like the BBC have started blocking VPNs and proxies in order to promote their commercial alternatives such as BritBox.
There are lots of VPN services available now but there’s certainly been some significant changes in the industry over the last few years. Whatever you need a VPN for, whether it’s for security features or you just want to change your IP address to watch a TV site. Your primary needs will determine which sort of VPN provider you need, there’s actually a significant difference between the IP VPN address supplied by each service. There’s a certain amount of distinction between security focused providers and those who are clearly targeting bypassing geo-targeting on big media sites like the BBC iPlayer and Netflix.
Of course, the simplest way to find out if a VPN works well is to try it out. However there’s a lot of choice and most of the VPNs charge quite a lot for short subscriptions preferring to offer great deals on long subscriptions like two and three years. In an ideal world the answer would be a VPN free trial but over the last few years these have gradually disappeared. Much of the reason is abuse, many people used the VPNs with free trials for nefarious purposes – mainly hacking and spamming. With no trace backs and identification required these were ideal – the trial users had no intention of converting their VPN free trial to paid subscription either.
They’ve now virtually disappeared replaced instead with money back options and guarantees, where you have to almost always have to supply a credit card and then trust that your money will be refunded if it’s not suitable. However there are a couple who still do offer a chance to try out without payment and even one of the best VPN companies too.
The Best VPNs with Free Trials are Here (well there’s only one!)
If you want to test out for yourself, this is the best free trial available, it’s currently a 14 day trials too and what’s more it even works with Netflix. If you want to see how it works, scroll down to the video at the bottom of the page – it’s as easy to use as something like NordVPN too.
They’re called Smart DNS Proxy and have actually been around for many years. They offer two key products both which are included in the free trial package – Smart DNS and a traditional VPN. Smart DNS is actually a technology which allows you to bypass geo-restrictions on popular sites like BBC iPlayer and Netflix. There’s no software involved you simply change your device’s DNS setting and enable your account. It means that you can get it working on virtually any device including games consoles, media streamer and smart TVs plus on phone and laptops too.
It’s an ideal product for those who just want to stream media from a normally blocked website. I usually use it on my laptop and Nvidia Shield to watch the BBC iPlayer when abroad.
Choosing the Right Type of VPN Provider
For most customers, there’s two primary reasons for investing in a VPN – the privacy/confidential aspect and the ability to use it to watch things like BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Netflix and blocked YouTube videos
There is some crossover, most of the ‘serious’ VPN providers connections will obviously unlock many of these entertainment sites. This is because they are less of a target than the mainstream entertainment VPN and DNS services, so tend to get ignored. Certainly if your primary concern is a secure encrypted connection with the added facility of bypassing geo-blocks they’re often the better option. Whereas if you’re not bothered about security or encryption then one of the TV watching type VPNs or Smart DNS systems will suit you better.
Indeed it may be that for those who just want to watch things like Hulu and the BBC iPlayer then you might be wise to disregard the VPN completely. One of the drawbacks of using a VPN is that it routes your entire connection through the VPN server which when streaming video can slow your connection down substantially. Consider that the entire video stream is routed from the origin via this third party server then to your client – there’s inevitably going to be some drop in speed. Normally this depends on the cost of the VPN service, the cheaper ones will load more clients onto each server and will usually be a lot slower than the slightly more expensive ones.
For streaming video, especially to devices other than a computer or laptop you may find Smart DNS works better. This is because only a small part of your connection is routed through the target country, literally enough only to hide your location. The rest is then streamed directly to your computer meaning you should get your full connection throughput.
Best of Both Worlds – UK VPN Free Trial
So let’s assume that your primary aim is to watch UK Television from abroad, you may need the occasional VPN service to check your email or online banking on the move too. Smart DNS requires no software and a few of the services offer a VPN service included in the package.
So here’s the one mentioned above and the one I primarily use for my TV watching –
As you can see it’s relatively simple to set up on a computer or laptop. On any other device you just need to find the network connection settings and modify the DNS servers to the ‘Smart ones’. If you want the changes to affect your entire network you just need to change the DNS servers on your router or modem. In this case all your devices will be routed through the Smart DNS servers and will be unlocked to all sites. Remember this method offers no security or protection at all, it’s simply a method to bypass geo-blocks operated by sites like the BBC.
As mentioned there is a VPN service included in the package at no extra costs and it’s something you can test in the trail too. You can use the VPN free trial download and the Smart DNS service on any devices you want for up to 14 days. It’s plenty enough time to try it out properly and see if it unlocks the sites you need. It’s quite unusual for a firm to offer such a lengthy free period nowadays, there’s very few who even offer a VPN trial 7 days at maximum.
Again I’d be cautious about relying on the VPN for too long because too many free trial users will affect the speed. It’s not such an issue as using Smart DNS as the VPN servers are not really used that much as explained earlier in the post. In general for security it’s best to pay a little more if it’s important to you, the only free VPN programs that are available are highly insecure and actually share your connection with other users. Having someone else using your internet connection in exchange for a free VPN is not something I’d advise.
So if you’re feeling isolated from your favorite UK TV channels and want to try something out – Smart DNS Proxy is definitely worth a try. I personally tried it out expecting the worse but I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t use the free VPN client that comes with it and pay for another solution. However for watching British TV stations like the BBC and ITV then their Smart DNS solution is hard to beat and it’s one of the cheapest available too.
Another huge plus factor for this Smart DNS company is the ability to route your Netflix account to the USA version irrespective of your actual location. The US version is fantastic and has loads more films than most other versions of Netflix. There are very few companies who are able to support Netflix now because in 2017 they started blocking access to commercial IP addresses. This meant that 99% of all the VPN services in the USA were instantly blocked. This is one of the few solutions which supports the residential IP addresses that Netflix needs.
So give them a go, you’ve got 14 days to try it out with absolutely no obligation. The best UK VPN Service free trial currently available, just click the graphic to get started.
So you love Football, you crave the Premiership but you’re stuck in a country which doesn’t share your interest. They all seem obsessed with different games, where you don’t even understand the rules! What can you do? Where can you keep up to date with all the football action? Well one solution may appear to be the BBC iPlayer, which streams all it’s shows live and archives them to watch later too. Sure the BBC doesn’t have as many of the bigger sports live any more, due to the ridiculous costs involved but there’s usually lots of coverage and highlight shows.
Indeed if you’re a football fan of a lower league club, then BBC radio is a veritable goldmine of entertainment. Almost every game is covered by experienced local broadcasters where you can follow your club’s progress (or lack in the case of mine!). It’s a great fix if you’re feeling a little homesick, live coverage of a dour non-league football game on a dark night in February! Ok so it’s not live TV but the radio broadcasts can be surprisingly atmospheric.
Higher up the football pyramid in the Premier League, there are other options and you can of course, get your fix from Gary Lineker. The BBC has one of the best highlight shows on TV for football and it’s called Match of the Day Streamed live on Saturday night and then usually on Sunday night too with Match of the Day 2, you can actually see every Premiership goal and many hours of coverage. They don’t get many live games apart from usually the FA Cup matches, but it’s a decent option. The solution below can also be used to gain access to live matches from Sky and BT but you’ll also need a subscription too.
So can you watch football like this, is it possible to stream MotD all over the planet?
Unfortunately this is where the good news stops, the BBC iPlayer is blocked in all countries outside the United Kingdom. It doesn’t matter who you are, or where you’re from or even if you’ve paid for a TV licence So under normal circumstances you’ll not be able to watch Match of the Day at all as soon as you leave the country.
How to Watch Match of the Day Abroad
Don’t worry though, there is a simple method to enable you to watch Match of the Day abroad – you simply need to change your IP address. It’s not difficult, and you don’t need to be a computer expert to do it. There are lots of programs known as VPN services which basically do all the work for you. You just install a simple piece of software which sits in your task bar or an app on your phone. Then by connecting to a UK based VPN server then you’ll have full access to the BBC irrespective of your location. Just watch this video demonstrating how simple it is to watch MotD online.
Just watch the video and you’ll see how easy it is –
Since this video was created, you now do have to create a BBC iPlayer account to login with. Don’t worry about this though, you just need an email account to create one. You will be asked if you have a TV license, but there are no checks on this (hint just say ‘yes’). You are also asked for your postcode, but any valid UK postcode (like a US ZIP code) will do – just pick an address of anywhere in the UK. Again the iPlayer account is only used to record your viewing preferences and suggest options you might like, so don’t worry about creating one.
Not Just MotD Live – Watch Free TV From All Over the World
In reality you’re not actually changing IP addresses but actually hiding them. The only address which is seen belongs to the VPN server, which means as long as it’s in the right country then you’ll be able to bypass any block. For example if you connect to a UK server then all the British TV channels will be accessible. These are all free so it’s brilliant for an English speaker. Switch to a US server and you can access all the US only media sites. My favorite is an online radio station called Pandora, only available to US listeners normally. You can access pretty much anything anywhere, by just clicking on the right country.
SO give it a try, by using a simple VPN service like Nord VPN you can hide your real IP address and bypass all of the UK only blocks. As soon as you do this, all of the BBC’s online resources are accessible including Match of the Day. There are eleven live channels streaming to watch on the BBC alone, plus thousands of archived shows.
Remember though the licensing rights for Match of the Day are fairly restrictive so you’ll have to be quick. You can watch live on the BBC when the show is being broadcast (usually around 10:40 PM Saturday). You can also catch it on the BBC iPlayer archive a couple of days later, but only for a maximum of seven days unlike 12 months for most other content.
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