Is It Illegal to Use the Tor Network?

Is It Illegal to Use the Tor Network?

It was around the time people operating on the Internet black market Silk Road started getting arrested that the Tor network landed on the casual observer's radar. It sounded great -- an anonymous way to surf the Internet. But it was already tied up with criminal behavior.

This left many people wondering if using Tor is even legal. And while it may not get you into trouble, it may also not be as good at keeping you out of it as previously believed.

Online, but Out of Sight

For anyone who wants to browse the web anonymously (like citizens under a dictatorship, journalists trying to keep a story secret, undercover police officers, and, yes, criminals), Tor allows you to do just that. From Lifehacker's excellent breakdown:

Tor is short for The Onion Router (thus the logo) and was initially a worldwide network of servers developed with the U.S. Navy that enabled people to browse the internet anonymously. Now, it's a non-profit organization whose main purpose is the research and development of online privacy tools.

The Tor network disguises your identity by moving your traffic across different Tor servers, and encrypting that traffic so it isn't traced back to you. Anyone who tries would see traffic coming from random nodes on the Tor network, rather than your computer.

You May Need an At TORney

Just using Tor to browse the Internet is not illegal. The download is free, and hiding your IP address and browsing history is not, in and of itself, illegal. However, many of those that use Tor use it specifically for anonymity because they are doing something illegal. And, as recent arrests have proven, it may not be perfect when it comes to hiding a user's identity.

Not only may Tor not keep you hidden from law enforcement, using Tor may actually draw their attention: the NSA and FBI have specifically targeted Tor users in the past. And your ISP may not be thrilled about it either: Comcast has threatened to cut service to customers using Tor.

So feel free to hop on Tor and bask in the freedom of (semi-)anonymous Internet browsing. Just know that if you're breaking the law online, Tor is a lot more like a ski mask than an invisibility cloak

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Cryptocurrency v/s Bitcoins

Bitcoin is the beginning of something great: a currency without a government, something necessary and imperative.”

How do people use bitcoins?

It is an electronic or digital currency that works on a peer-to-peer basis. This means that it is decentralised and has no central authority controlling it. Like currency notes, it can be sent from one person to another, but without a central bank or the government attempting to track it. The system depends on cryptography to control the creation of the currency. While no one authority controls the generation of the coins or tracks them, the system itself is designed in such a way that the network maintains a foolproof system of the record of every transaction as well as tracking issuance of the currency.

The beauty of this cryptocurrency is that if you receive a bitcoin from another, you can be as sure of the payment as you would on receiving physical currency notes, with the same anonymity ascribed to it. No one need know if your neighbour spent 2 bitcoins this morning to buy gold, but the transaction is recorded for posterity.

This anonymity is lacking in other forms of digital payment such as online banking or e-wallets.

Who can you send bitcoins to?

You can send bitcoins digitally to anyone who has a bitcoin address anywhere in the globe. One person could have multiple addresses for different purposes – personal, business and the like.

Receivers can get to spend them within minutes of receiving the coins. Once given away, like currency, there is no getting them back, unless the receiver decides to give them to you. A bitcoin is not printed currency but is a non-repudiable record of every transaction that it has been through. All this is part of a huge ledger called the blockchain.

Where do you get bitcoins?

Bitcoins are available in bitcoin exchanges. You could also purchase bitcoins from other users. A bitcoin exchange traded fund could be another source in the near future. You can become a bitcoin miner by investing in software and hardware. More the power of the hardware that helps with encryption technology, higher the probability of your earning bitcoins.

How is a new bitcoin generated?

A bitcoin is generated when an entity, i.e. a person or a business, uses software power to solve a mathematical puzzle that makes the blockchain more secure. The difficulty level of solving the problem is high enough to ensure that it takes time to do it.

Beware of tall promises

Even if you become a bitcoin miner, there is no guarantee that you would be able to mine a certain number of bitcoins. Any scheme related to bitcoins promising a fixed return is likely a tall promise best avoided.

Can you own 50 million bitcoins in, say, 2 years from now?

Unlike currency notes that can be printed by a central bank for an unlimited value, there are only so many bitcoins that can be produced. The blockchain system is designed such that at its maximum only 21 million bitcoins can be produced and in circulation. The number cannot exceed this cap. As of February, about 15.2 million bitcoins have been mined (or produced). That is about 75% of the total cap already in circulation.

Current estimates are that the last bitcoin that will ever be mined will come into existence in 2040.

What is the value of one bitcoin today?

One bitcoin is worth roughly about $1,200 now. An early investor in Snapchat has been quoted on the Web as saying that by 2030, the value could be as high as $500,000. One of the reasons that could prompt you to buy a bitcoin today is not so much to use it for payment online but as an investment.

Urban legend has it that someone who was doing a thesis on cryptocurrency bought 5,000 bitcoins for $27 in 2009. Do the math for the value today!

And unlike traditional currency that is inflationary in nature, the bitcoin is a deflationary currency. In other words, if there are only so many bitcoins in use, and the demand for those rises, the value of a bitcoin would, logically, rise.

How does the payment system work?

When you send a bitcoin to a receiver, the transaction is included in the blockchain and broadcast to the network. The blockchain ensures that the same bitcoin is not spent twice by the same user. A computer network validates the transaction using algorithms so that the transaction becomes unalterable. Once validated, the transaction is added to others to create a block of data for the ledger.

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Hacking vs. Cracking

Hacking vs. Cracking

Malicious attacks on computer networks are

officially known as cracking, while hacking truly

applies only to activities having good intentions.

Most non-technical people fail to make this

distinction, however. Outside of academia, its

extremely common to see the term "hack"misused and be applied to cracks as well

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How Does Money Facebook make its money?

With more than $1 billion per quarter in advertising revenue and 1.2 billion monthly active users, few realize that Facebook is more than just a social networking site – it’s a shrewdly run corporation, worth more than $100 billion.

The Numbers Speak For Themselves

Skillfully targeting ads based on personal information users share, the site knows what it’s doing.
Annual revenue by year
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
$272M $777M $1.97B $3.71B $5.09B $7.8B
82%
Proportion of first-quarter 2012 revenue from advertising
$872 million
Facebook’s first-quarter 2012 advertising sales
The rest of its millions is due in large part to its virtual games.
$186 million
First quarter 2012 payments generated from non-advertising revenue, such as selling credits for games like FarmVille

The Biggest Spenders

Here’s a look at some of the biggest advertisers who’ve invested big money in Facebook — and how they utilize the site:
FORD
This vehicle giant believes that when someone “likes” you on Facebook, they’re more likely to advocate the brand.
HSBC 
This bank has a large Facebook footprint in Asia and Europe.
ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV 
In 2010, Budweiser offered a free beer to people turning 22.
MCDONALD’S
Has more than 30 million likes and was the first location-based check-in marketer in 2010.
VISA 
Spent big on the summer Olympics in 2012.
NIKE 
Known to break campaigns on Facebook before they appear on TV.
JPMORGAN CHASE 
This bank has more fans than its rivals.
STARBUCKS 
Starbucks saw a 38% lift from users who saw Starbucks appear in their feed.
DISNEY 
Utilizes the network for its online games and its more than 46 million fans.
DELL 
Utilized a Facebook app to help advertise its promotion of Lollapalooza. It has made more than $9 million in advertising through social media.
SAMSUNG 
Was the first company to buy Facebook’s logout page to advertise its new Galaxy S III phone.
NESTLE 
With over 5 million likes, its head of marketing and consumer communications is on Facebook’s client council.
UNILEVER 
Utilizes its partnership with Facebook to provide clean drinking water to communities in need.
VERIZON 
Offers fans exclusive access to TV content, such as a Green Day concert via FIOS.
GOOGLE 
Advertises its Chrome browser, which has a set of Facebook extensions downloaded 34,000 times a week
WAL-MART 
In addition to its own Facebook page, almost 4,000 of its stores have their own Facebook pages.
GROUPON 
Its contract with AdParlor is worth tens of millions, as the company uses Facebook extensively to drive email signups and sell daily deals.
AMERICAN EXPRESS 
Amex’s Facebook app “Link, Like, Love” allows cardholders to link their cards to their accounts and in return get deals from such companies as Whole Foods, Dunkin’ Donuts and Sports Authority.
AT&T 
The company has worked together with the social media giant on hackathons to help developers create apps that allow payments to be collected via AT&T’s phone bills.
ELECTRONIC ARTS 
After investing $2.75 million in advertising on just one of its games, Battlefield 3, the company saw a 440% return on its investment in sales.
ZYNGA 
Creator of popular games such as FarmVille and Zynga Poker, it spends more than $200 million in its “player acquisition costs.”

What They’re Paying For

While Facebook invites advertisers of all sizes, they’re all after the same thing: likes and shares.
The cost of Facebook ads varies but generally ranges from 5 cents to 5 dollars per click. Cost goes up based on targeting, bids and engagement.
Sidebar ads
The most common ads, these appear on the side of the site. Cost is about $1-$5 with most types of targeting.
Sponsored stories
Status updates from businesses turned into ads. Usually cost around 50 cents per click, since they get higher engagement (more likes and comments).
Promoted posts
Posts that are targeted to fans and friends of fans. Typically cost about $5 per every 1,000 people targeted.
A $1,000 budget for Facebook ads might look something like this:
Sidebar ads: 700 clicks to website – $700 ($1 per click)
Sponsored stories: 400 clicks to Facebook page – $200 ($.50 per click)
Promoted posts: 20,000 views – $100 ($5 per 1,000 views)

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With more than $1 billion per quarter in advertising revenue and 1.2 billion monthly active users, few realize that Facebook is more than just a social networking site – it’s a shrewdly run corporation, worth more than $100 billion.

The Numbers Speak For Themselves

Skillfully targeting ads based on personal information users share, the site knows what it’s doing.
Annual revenue by year
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
$272M $777M $1.97B $3.71B $5.09B $7.8B
82%
Proportion of first-quarter 2012 revenue from advertising
$872 million
Facebook’s first-quarter 2012 advertising sales
The rest of its millions is due in large part to its virtual games.
$186 million
First quarter 2012 payments generated from non-advertising revenue, such as selling credits for games like FarmVille

The Biggest Spenders

Here’s a look at some of the biggest advertisers who’ve invested big money in Facebook — and how they utilize the site:
FORD
This vehicle giant believes that when someone “likes” you on Facebook, they’re more likely to advocate the brand.
HSBC 
This bank has a large Facebook footprint in Asia and Europe.
ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV 
In 2010, Budweiser offered a free beer to people turning 22.
MCDONALD’S
Has more than 30 million likes and was the first location-based check-in marketer in 2010.
VISA 
Spent big on the summer Olympics in 2012.
NIKE 
Known to break campaigns on Facebook before they appear on TV.
JPMORGAN CHASE 
This bank has more fans than its rivals.
STARBUCKS 
Starbucks saw a 38% lift from users who saw Starbucks appear in their feed.
DISNEY 
Utilizes the network for its online games and its more than 46 million fans.
DELL 
Utilized a Facebook app to help advertise its promotion of Lollapalooza. It has made more than $9 million in advertising through social media.
SAMSUNG 
Was the first company to buy Facebook’s logout page to advertise its new Galaxy S III phone.
NESTLE 
With over 5 million likes, its head of marketing and consumer communications is on Facebook’s client council.
UNILEVER 
Utilizes its partnership with Facebook to provide clean drinking water to communities in need.
VERIZON 
Offers fans exclusive access to TV content, such as a Green Day concert via FIOS.
GOOGLE 
Advertises its Chrome browser, which has a set of Facebook extensions downloaded 34,000 times a week
WAL-MART 
In addition to its own Facebook page, almost 4,000 of its stores have their own Facebook pages.
GROUPON 
Its contract with AdParlor is worth tens of millions, as the company uses Facebook extensively to drive email signups and sell daily deals.
AMERICAN EXPRESS 
Amex’s Facebook app “Link, Like, Love” allows cardholders to link their cards to their accounts and in return get deals from such companies as Whole Foods, Dunkin’ Donuts and Sports Authority.
AT&T 
The company has worked together with the social media giant on hackathons to help developers create apps that allow payments to be collected via AT&T’s phone bills.
ELECTRONIC ARTS 
After investing $2.75 million in advertising on just one of its games, Battlefield 3, the company saw a 440% return on its investment in sales.
ZYNGA 
Creator of popular games such as FarmVille and Zynga Poker, it spends more than $200 million in its “player acquisition costs.”

What They’re Paying For

While Facebook invites advertisers of all sizes, they’re all after the same thing: likes and shares.
The cost of Facebook ads varies but generally ranges from 5 cents to 5 dollars per click. Cost goes up based on targeting, bids and engagement.
Sidebar ads
The most common ads, these appear on the side of the site. Cost is about $1-$5 with most types of targeting.
Sponsored stories
Status updates from businesses turned into ads. Usually cost around 50 cents per click, since they get higher engagement (more likes and comments).
Promoted posts
Posts that are targeted to fans and friends of fans. Typically cost about $5 per every 1,000 people targeted.
A $1,000 budget for Facebook ads might look something like this:
Sidebar ads: 700 clicks to website – $700 ($1 per click)
Sponsored stories: 400 clicks to Facebook page – $200 ($.50 per click)
Promoted posts: 20,000 views – $100 ($5 per 1,000 views)

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How Does Work Google Adsense?

How Does Work Google Adsense?

Whether you’ve been blogging for five minutes or five years, monetizing is one of those topics that almost always comes up. Should I try to make money from blogging? Can people really make a living online? How should I try to make money from my blog?

Google AdSense is one of the most common ways to monetize, though I’ll warn you now: AdSense is NOT a get rick quick scheme. In fact, it can take a long time to make more than a few pennies. But it can also pay off big in the long run.

What is AdSense?

AdSense is a program that allows bloggers and website owners to make money by displaying Google ads. You’ve probably seen the ads all over the place, including in Google search results. Basically, Google gets the largest cut and you get a small percentage. There are two ways to make money from AdSense:

Impressions – this is based on the number of pageviews of pages or posts with ads
Clicks – this is based on how many people click on the ads (don’t EVER click your own – more on this later)
To make it as basic as possible, you sign up for an AdSense account and add the code to your blog or website. You can choose how your ads look, where they show up, and even what kind of ads you’ll accept. Once you get to a minimum threshold of $100, Google will either send you a paper check or make a direct deposit into your bank account.

Who’s Eligible?

If you use Blogger, you can use the Monetize tab to set up and manage an AdSense account.

If you use self-hosted WordPress, you can visit the AdSense website and apply for an account. You’ll receive a code that you can place wherever you’d like, or you can use a plugin to help with placement.

*If you use free WordPress, you cannot use AdSense, but you can use WordAds if you have your own custom domain. (Just another reason why self-hosted WordPress is better.)

How Much Can I Make?

As I told you before, you will not get rich quick using AdSense. It took me 9 months to make $2 (yes, two dollars) on my personal finance blog. However, I made $81 last month. That’s still pathetic compared to many blogs – some people can earn a full-time income from AdSense alone. But it takes a LONG time to get there, and you have to have a ton of traffic.

Some ads are worth more money per click than others. This is also affected by the amount of traffic you get, the keywords the person searched for, the percentage of visitors who click on a particular ad, etc. There are a LOT of factors that determine how much you’ll make, but a rule of thumb is that newer blogs simply won’t make as much money.

My personal finance blog is about 14 months old. Some days, I don’t get any ad clicks at all and I might still make 10 cents or so just from impressions. Sometimes every click is worth $2 or more. Yesterday the clicks were worth a whopping 26 cents each.

Many people get impatient when they’ve had the code up for a month or two and haven’t made more than a few pennies. If you’re looking for something that will pay TODAY, AdSense may not be for you. And to be honest, I don’t know of anything instant – if I did, you can bet I’d be using it!

How Can I Make More from AdSense?

Basically, your best bet for ad clicks is increasing your search traffic. Remember the other day when we talked about why your blog needs SEO? When people are trying to solve a problem, they usually turn to search engines like Google or Bing. If you have a post that solves that problem, using SEO will help your post rank well in search results. SEO will also help AdSense serve up relevant ads, so when people click on your blog post, the ads may answer the exact question they’re asking. Result? Ad clicks!

Here’s an example. Let’s say I write a post about the health risks of liposuction. I use SEO techniques to help Google realize what my post is about, and my post is the third one when someone searches for “liposuction risks.” AdSense also knows what my post is about, so people reading my post will see an ad that might say something like, “Safe liposuction services in New Hampshire” (or wherever).

If the person is interested in finding the safest place for liposuction, s/he is likely to click that ad. As I said before, the rate per click depends on a lot of factors, but my concern is making sure that people read MY post and not others! If they go to another blog to read about liposuction risks, they’re possibly clicking that person’s ads instead of mine.

IMPORTANT!

There are a few things you need to know about AdSense before you ever put the code on your blog.

1. Never, ever click your own ads. In case you aren’t aware, Google pretty much knows everything. And they can tell if you’re clicking your own ads. It’s very tempting to click about 50 times and make some money, but all it will do is result in being banned.

2. Never, ever encourage friends or family to click your ads. Same as above. You can and will be banned from AdSense, and don’t ever think Google won’t figure it out. I don’t know how they do it, but I have seen it happen to people I know. JUST DON’T.

3. Pay attention to your ad clicks. If you average 2 clicks a month and you suddenly get 100 in a day, chances are that something is wrong. If you’ve pissed someone off and they decide to fight back by clicking all over the place, you can get banned even though you didn’t do anything.

4. Never rely on AdSense as your sole income source. Even if you get really good at SEO and you have 100 websites making thousands of dollars each month in AdSense, you never know when something could happen to trigger Google’s no-no sensors. You can make good money with AdSense, but you should also use other monetization strategies just in case.

5. Don’t use more than 3 ad blocks on a single page. Google allows up to 3 ad blocks on a page. So if you have one in your header, one in your sidebar, and one at the end of your post, that’s the limit for that page. Also, don’t plaster ads all over the place and annoy your regular readers! There are ways to implement the ads without making your site ugly.

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Xiaomi breaks new sales records in India sold out in 5 seconds

Xiaomi breaks new sales records in India sold out in 5 seconds

Today the recently unveiled Xiaomi Mi 4 went on sale in China for the first time. Given its specs and low price tag, you'd expect it to do well. Maybe not this well, though.

Xiaomi is proudly announcing that it sold out its entire first batch of Mi 4 smartphones in exactly 37 seconds. That's obviously incredible performance, but the Chinese company has strangely left out the most important detail: how many units were part of this particular batch.

If that number is, say, below 10,000, then the aforementioned sales achievement is certainly less impressive.

The situation is similar in India, where today the second flash sale for the Xiaomi Mi 3 was held. This is the Mi 4's predecessor, but it's still a decent performer with nice specs, so understandably it sold like hot cakes too - since its successor is going to be China-only for a while.

The Mi 3 went out of stock at Flipkart, Xiaomi's exclusive retail partner in India, in a whopping five seconds. This is a much shorter time than the 39 minutes the company took to sell its previous batch last week. So the Mi 3 may be more and more sought-after in the subcontinent.

On the other hand, Xiaomi is staying mum on how big the batch was in this case too. And some rumors recently claimed that it only had around 10,000 units on sale last week, so maybe it was the same this time around.

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Tools For Facebook

                       Tools For Facebook 

FACEBOOK
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

If you want to block facebook on your/victim's  computer then download and install it:

Download here

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