Category: technology

how to, OneCoin, technology

OneCoin: Upload Your KYC Documents

chicpencil

In OneLife & OneCoin, it is important to comply with the company’s policies.  One critical requirement is to upload your KYC (Know-Your-Customer) documents as soon as your account is activated.

Your KYC documents identify you as the account holder. A concept similar when transacting to the bank or any financial institution, you need to identify yourself as the owner of the account.

If you have multiple OneLife/OneCoin accounts, you will only upload your KYC documents once. Follow the steps below in uploading your KYC documents in your OneLife Backoffice:

Steps:

  1. Login to your OneLife backoffice – https://onelife.eu

2. Once you logged in successfully, you will see your backoffice Dashboard. Hover in to your left, and click on ‘My Profile’

3. In the ‘My Profile’ page, click on the ‘KYC’ tab

4. Click on the ‘Choose File’  button, and locate the scanned copy of your Identity Document. Click again on the ‘Choose File’ button and locate the scanned document that will support your Proof of Address. Once you have chosen the files, click on ‘Submit’ button.

5. According to OneLife’s website, you can use the following as your identity document:

  • National ID Card
  • National Passport
  • International Passport

Additionally, any one of the documents is accepted for the Proof of Address:

  • Utility bills (electricity, gas, water, waste, etc.) less than 6 months old
  • Document issued by a Bank less than 6 months old
  • Document from Municipality/Government Agency/Tax Authorities – most recent
  • Not expired National ID Card/Passport (all sides) if the address is shown in the document
  • Other documents issued by the Government where the names and the address are shown

As I mentioned, if you have multiple OneLife/OneCoin accounts, once you uploaded and submitted the required identity and proof of address documents, you can use that account as a reference KYC for your other accounts. Just input the Username and password of the mentioned KYC reference account.

That’s about it. Once you uploaded your KYC documents, you will just have to wait until your KYC status is APPROVED.

 

‘Til next time. Au revoir.

*We are OneLife Independent Marketing Associates. This article is based on our own independent understanding and opinions. If you have questions about OneLife, please contact your referrer.

*OneCoin is a Know Your Customer (KYC) transparent cryptocurrency. If you want to know more about OneCoin, please visit its official website at https://www.onecoin.eu/en/.

how to, server, technology, tips & tricks

VMWare: Temporarily Mount Your Shared Folders To Your Guest OS

chicpencil

When working with your VMWare machine, you will be faced with file exchanges from your host OS to your guest OS. Now, VMWare folder sharing in Windows environment is way easy. Unix or Linux guest operating systems, however, will require you to mount your host shared folder(s) to your guest OS.

This article will guide you to mount your host OS shared folders to your Unix/Linux guest OS.

Steps:

  1. In your Unix/Linux guest OS, login as ‘root’ and create your mount directory:

vm1     In this example, I’m creating a directory called ‘shares’ in the root of my Linux filesystem.

2. In your VMWare menu options, go to the virtual machine Sharing menu and add your host OS folder:

vm2     In my example, I want to share the ‘Downloads’ folder of my Macbook to my Linux guest OS.

3. Go to your guest OS, in my example, in my Linux guest OS, open a Terminal session. Login as ‘root’ and mount the ‘Downloads’ folder to my Linux ‘shares’ folder:

vm3

Do note that this type of mount is just temporary. When I reboot my virtual machine, this mount will be gone.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  The default location for your mounted shared folder(s) will be in /mnt/hgfs. Regardless of reboot, you will still able to access your shared folder(s) in that location.

4. After you mounted your shared folder, verify that it is successful.

vm45. That’s it, you have successfully mounted your host OS shared folder(s) to your Unix/Linux guest OS.

So why would you need to do this if you can access your shared folder(s) in /mnt/hgfs?

There are scenarios when you want to control where you want to access your shared folders. Sometimes, the administrator restricts the permission of /mnt/hgfs if there are too many shared folders.

 

‘Til next time. Au revoir.

business, OneCoin, technology

OneCoin’s Benefits

chicpencil

In my previous article titled “Why OneCoin? A Cryptocurrency Analysis”, I’ve provided concise and detailed reasons why OneCoin is a good opportunity if you’re scouting for a worthy cryptocurrency.

So, the million dollar question now is, do you a need cryptocurrency? Or do you want a cryptocurrency?

You may have been invited to a talk for cryptocurrency business by your friend or your family may have presented you a very exciting money making opportunity in the digital currency world. With all the excitement and enthusiasm, were you convinced?

All of us have our own buying preferences. Do you need it? Or do you want it?  Which is more important?

When buying cryptocurrency, you have to ask yourself?

  1. Are you familiar with cryptocurrency?
  2. Do you know how to trade (currency, stocks, cryptocurrency)?
  3. Do you need digital currency?
  4. Miscellaneous questions like:
  • Are you looking for passive income?
  • Do you have the time to build a direct selling business?

OneCoin cryptocurrency understands the gaps between the IT, finance, and the vast majority of the global population who are non-IT, who have minimal or no financial trading background, and even those who are unbanked (not covered by any financial services).

So here are OneCoin’s benefits:

  • Financial education

One thing I admire about OneCoin is that the company is focused on educating the masses who are not finance and technology savvy. Before you receive OneCoin, you will buy OneAcademy’s educational package(s) distributed by OneLife Network. It’s really up to you what level of Finance and stock market do you want to learn. With a higher level of Finance e-learning, you will receive more promotional tokens giving you more opportunity to mine OneCoins. Learn more about OneAcademy’s courses here.

  • Coin Usability

Since there now almost a thousand of cryptocurrencies in the market, it is not easy to choose which cryptocurrency is the best. One of the criteria that I always look for is the coin usability. Like a fiat currency, a cryptocurrency should be accepted by merchants. Without merchants, the coin will be worthless. With OneCoin’s recently launched of DealShaker Platform, more than 10 thousand merchants are registered business with hundreds of deals available. Merchants accept OneCoin(s) plus cash.
hotel_manila

  • Coin Exchange

You can trade your OneCoins at xcoinx.com; that is OneCoin’s exchange platform. As of this writing, xcoinx.com is offline as the company is preparing for 2018 going public.

  • The coin value increases

The value of OneCoin is determined by the concept of supply and demand. As more people demand the OneAcademy educational packages, the OneCoin value will increase. When we first joined OneLife and bought our education packages, the value of the coin was Euro 5.7; at this point of writing, the value is at Euro 7.85. OneLife network is now reaching 3 million members.

 

Different cryptocurrencies have different value propositions. Like OneCoin, there are multiple cryptocurrencies marketed using direct business multi-level marketing approach. Regardless of business sales force approach, in my opinion, cryptocurrencies should be an alternative to fiat currency (paper money), which means, the coin not only be traded but be accepted by a wide variety of merchants.

pexels-photo-159991

onelife_logo

*We are OneLife Independent Marketing Associates. This article is based on our own independent understanding and opinions. If you have questions about OneLife, please contact your referrer.

*OneCoin is a Know Your Customer (KYC) transparent cryptocurrency. If you want to know more about OneCoin, please visit its official website at https://www.onecoin.eu/en/.

* Related Post: Why OneCoin? A Cryptocurrency Analysis

 

business, how to, OneCoin

OneCoin: How To Send Your Tokens To Mining

chicpencil

When you sign up for OneLife’s educational package(s), you will be given promotional tokens based on the package that you purchased. Remember, the number of promotional tokens are based on the company’s decision. To view the number of promotional tokens and OneAcademy’s educational packages, you can visit OneAcademy Products.

The promotional tokens will split if you decide to wait for the split prior sending the tokens to mining. When a split happens, the promotional tokens in your Token Account will double in number.  You will want to send the tokens to mining when you decide to complete the number of splits in your account.

This article will show you how to send your promotional tokens to mining. The steps covered here are from internet browsers opened from laptops or desktop computer.

Steps:

  1. Login to your OneLife account at https://www.onelife.eu/en/.

onelife_login

2. Hover from your left side of your screen, and click Dashboard.

go_to_dashboard

3. In your Dashboard screen, click on your Tokens Account

dashboard

4. In your Tokens Account screen, look at the right side and you will see the Mining Shortcut

mining_shortcut

5. From the Mining Screen, indicate the number of tokens that you want to submit for mining. The number indicated here is just a sample.

submit_mining

6. After you click Submit, go back to your Dashboard. When your coins are mined, it will appear in your Dashboard.

dashboard2

 

*We are OneLife Independent Marketing Associates. This article is to educate the OneLife members who want to submit their tokens to mining. If you have questions about OneLife, please contact your referrer.

*OneCoin is a Know Your Customer (KYC) transparent cryptocurrency. If you want to know more about OneCoin, please visit its official website at https://www.onecoin.eu/en/.

* Related Post: Why OneCoin? A Cryptocurrency Analysis

 

business, international business, OneCoin, society, technology

Why OneCoin? A Cryptocurrency Analysis

chicpencil

In March 2016 I received an invitation from my cousin Dolly in Austria introducing me to the world of cryptocurrency. Back then I merely know BitCoin (in short, I didn’t buy it in 2009). So my cousin shared some information about cryptocurrency and the product that she endorses – OneCoin.

At first, we were reluctant to buy in any cryptocurrency but then again, who knows, this industry seems to be worthwhile looking into. So, my husband Gnex and I, discussed and decided to give it a try. Few months after, I was approached by few friends to join the cryptocurrencies they endorsed. Somehow it made me realized that cryptocurrency industry seem to be gaining momentum and I only have a tad knowledge about it. So I decided to study what cryptocurrency is all about and how it can help or probably change the future of finance. I studied various cryptocurrencies in the market and that includes OneCoin. I’ve observed and studied other digital currencies and we decided to stick to OneCoin.

OneCoin is a cryptocurrency that uses blockchain technology. A blockchain technology is somewhat a digital ledger that uses hash algorithm requiring verification and recognition from the cluster of computers involved in identifying, approving and recording the transaction. Imagine yourself going to the bank and perform over the counter transactions. Before you start your banking transaction, the teller will need to verify your identification (it is called the Know Your Customer – KYC procedure) and your account number. Now, in digital cryptocurrency, you do not need the bank tellers or the bank, as long as you know your account, you can perform your financial transactions. The blockchain mechanism will perform the identification, hand-shake, approval and journal your completed financial transaction.

What are digital currencies used for?

Digital currencies or cryptocurrencies target markets are online payments, global remittances, and money transfers. Most of which deals with banking and financial services. There will be upcoming markets for cryptocurrencies, only if this method of payments will be accepted by merchants or probably banks.

                                                                            Online payments

There are ginormous digital currencies in the market. All of is which is lead by BitCoin. However, BitCoin itself still have some flaws such as anonymity. Combine with its high selling price, it’s not wise to put your money on BitCoin. In the end, consumers resorted to searching for alternatives.

I will not write about the shortcomings of other digital cryptocurrencies, this article will focus on my analysis of OneCoin using SWOT method to prove why OneCoin is worthwhile looking into. I’m not paid by OneCoin to blog, this article does not contain incites from the brand. I’m merely expressing my opinions and choose to share my understanding of the value proposition of OneCoin as a technology and OneLife as a company and why we’ve chosen OneCoin.

                                                                          Grow your coins

 

STRENGTHS

  • OneCoin creates value by educating its members. While the trading or OneCoin exchange is the buzz of the internet, OneLife’s offering is educational packages. OneLife’s goal is to educate the vast majority of humanity who have none or minimal knowledge about finance and trading. When you buy an education package, you will receive the corresponding number of tokens which you can trade or “mine” to get the cryptocurrency coin – OneCoin. I believed this is one of the company’s strengths as it gives the members the audacity to decide for themselves as to whether take higher risks or invest with a calculated risk involved.
  • OneCoin is a closed platform. Coming from an information technology (IT) background for 17 years, often dealing with projects, I often faced debates whether to choose an infrastructure of open source platform or that of the enterprise. Open platform has its own advantages I agree. However, my main concern for open platforms is that it is prone to code changes by the community. Simply put it, if it is an open platform, it is prone to abuse by the dubious folks from the web. Remember, cryptocurrency is all digital, it might be difficult to trace frauds in an open platform. You do not want the blockchain of your coins to be hacked and later find out your money has gone to waste. A closed platform indicates proprietary rights to the code involved in the blockchain. Having a closed proprietary code for blockchain protects the members from fraudulent transactions and hackers. It is easier to trace as OneCoin maintains its own codes.
  • Know Your Customer (KYC) is important. The digital currency industry still doesn’t appear to have regulatory controls. For us, know your customer (KYC) procedure is important. This is to protect the trading members from transacting with criminals, terrorists, and dark webs. If your digital currency of choice does not employ KYC procedure (completely anonymous), there’s a likelihood that you might get involved in dubious transactions. In OneCoin, you won’t be able to perform financial transactions without the company approving your KYC documents. In short, the company checks and verifies the identifications of its members. Therefore, the members’ financial transactions can be audited and regulatory compliance can be implemented.
  • Transaction Transparency. I am not sure how many cryptocurrencies do this, but OneCoin’s claim of embedding your KYC documents in the blockchain transaction is what I believed sets OneCoin above its competitors. Remember that cyber crimes keep on increasing through viruses, trojans, phishings, and malwares. Currently, another cyber crime emerged called RANSOMWARE. Ransomware happens when cyber criminals or hackers are able to access your computers and files when you click on email attachments or click on website links. When the cyber criminal or hacker is able to gain full control of your computer, tablet, or smartphone, you will receive a message asking for money or a fully anonymous cryptocurrency as a ransom. Pretty much like your computer or digital device has been kidnapped and you have to pay to ransom your critical data. This is not to smear the reputation of BitCoin but since BitCoin now have more vending machines (ATM), highly valued, and fully anonymous, it is the most wanted cryptocurrency by the cyber criminals, money launderers, and various sanctioned activities.
  • OneCoin’s promised of 120 billion coins. People would find this claim ridiculous and crazy. However, bear in the mind that the successful businesses started with ridiculous and crazy ideas. Cryptocurrencies and trading employ the law of supply and demand. Having more coins can indicate the company’s sustainability of providing more coins in the longer period of time. In this way, the value of the coins will not bubble and will not become volatile. It is still a caveat that there’s no guarantee. OneCoin’s success, in my opinion, will come from the hard work of the founder, the management, and the members.
  • OneCoin lets you build your direct selling business. The human behavior is to share what appears to be something valuable, isn’t it? If you are looking for business opportunity through direct selling (network marketing), OneLife provides bonuses through referrals. You can become OneLife’s Independent Marketing Associate (IMA). However, do note that being IMA is optional. Meaning, if you do not want to participate in the bonus schemes, you can sign up and buy the educational package excluding the IMA.
  • The Founder and CEO is visionary. The company’s strength and sustainability will come from the founder’s vision and the company’s mission. I have a little knowledge of Dr. Ruja Ignatova’s background, so I did a search of a worthy video to share in order to understand her visions of the company. Here’s her early interview from MLM News:

  • OneLife’s Corporate Social Responsibility. I believe in companies who gives back to society. OneLife has its social arm in doing charities to the needy communities.

 

WEAKNESS

  • OneCoin is accused of a SCAM and a Ponzi Scheme in the internet.  Search OneCoin over the internet (regardless of search-engine) and the first couple of result lines are headed as OneCoin is a scam. Next, it is a Ponzi scheme. Now, remember that Ponzi schemes and scams refer to the non-delivery of promised product or service(s). When you put your money in OneCoin, what you’re buying are the educational package(s) and not the tokens or coins. The IMAs are selling the said educational packages, or OneTablet (Digital device). If the IMA sells you the tokens or coins, it violates the IMA terms and conditions. If you feel that OneCoin was misrepresented, you can file your complaint by sending an email correspondence to support@onecoin.eu so an investigation can be done. OneLife as direct selling company has thousands (or probably millions) of IMAs. Therefore, it is pretty important to know your IMA before signing up. Remember, your IMA will be your future business partner should you decide to become an IMA when signing up with OneCoin.
  • OneCoin is a fairly new company. The company is less than 2 years old as of this writing. However, OneLife’s member is more than 2 million in numbers (according to OneLife’s website). Definitely, there’s a risk when you join OneLife considering the age of the company, but having more than 2 million members somehow signals guarantee that OneLife will stay in the business for a longer time. How long? No one can guarantee you that. It is of utmost important that you understand the risk when joining or supporting a business regardless of which kind.
  • OneCoin’s Main Headquarter is in Sofia, Bulgaria. Yup, it is in Europe, particularly in Russia. They are in different timezone compared to us in Asia. OneLife has 2 more offices – Hong Kong and Dubai. In my opinion, it is a good move by the company to ensure the members the company’s presence in Asia and the Middle East. You have to ask your IMA for OneLife’s countries of operations. If you belong to a country where OneLife doesn’t have operations, it is always advisable to take caution as there may not be consumer protection in my opinion.
  • OneCoin is only traded in OneCoin Exchange. In my opinion, this is a weakness but it’s also a strength. I’m guessing the reason behind OneCoin not present in the public exchanges is to avoid the bubble in the coin value. Law of supply and demand: The lesser the supply, the greater the demand. It’s pretty much what happened to BitCoin. At some point, BitCoin value reached US 1000+. It bubbled up, it also bubbled down. If you’re going to check the cryptocurrency exchanges, there’s a big gap between the price of BitCoin and the rest of the digital coins. It creates challenges to the lower valued coins. If you buy a digital coin of US 0.10 value, what’s the probability that the value will rise? And for how long? OneLife has a different vision in my opinion. A company with long term vision does not need to hurry to be traded publicly. In my opinion, OneLife as a company aims to be in the business in the longer term.

 

OPPORTUNITIES

  • More offerings from OneLife. OneLife’s offering started with educational packages. Then followed by OneTablet. The company signals more business opportunity and a larger platform. We will have to wait and see what are OneLife’s future offerings and acquisitions. It is important for the members to keep abreast with the company news and updates. You can check with your business partners for more information. You are also advised to subscribe to OneLife’s YouTube channel to listen and understand where the company is heading.

 

THREATS

  • More and more cryptocurrencies and business models.  It is definite that more and more cryptocurrencies will emerge. It’s good news for consumers, it means more choices. Different business models such as direct selling (network marketing) will also come up with efforts to boost up the revenue of the other 600+ cryptocurrencies of lower value than BitCoin. Middle companies whose aims are to sell various coins will come into play as well. If you’re a current IMA or contemplating of signing up as one, I recommend that you read the terms and conditions of OneLife. Avoid the scenario of “conflict of interest”. OneLife takes serious actions on IMAs involved in such mentioned activities.

 

LAST WORDS

Some advisory;

  1. Before joining any direct selling business, it is important that you understand the product. This is to avoid mistakes in the future when for some reason you change your mind. Check as well, if there are “cooling period”. Cooling period is the number of days that you can decide to cancel your subscription or purchase(s) without incurring penalty.

  2. It is the IMA’s responsibility to respond to your queries. If you have some questions, list it beforehand and get clarifications before signing up.

  3. When purchasing an educational package, ensure that you have made calculated risk. Meaning, only buy the educational package that you can afford to loose.

  4. Being involved in cryptocurrency business, the risk can be considered high. As always take caution in deciding the level of risk that you want to make.

  5. It is important not to join in haste. OneCoin maybe a good news but remember to evaluate whether you need cryptocurrency in your current and future affairs. If you’re spiritual type of person, I recommend that you pray about it first before giving it a yes.

     

A great news!

OneCoin is currently on bonus mode. The coins that you received including the coins that you are still waiting, will be doubled this coming October 1st 2016! Also, when you place your tokens into mining before October 1st, the expected number of coins will doubled too! We feel this is something you want to check into.

My husband is a registered IMA. You can sign up for free without obligation (no credit card information needed). You will only need to pay when you want to activate your account to receive your educational package access and its corresponding tokens.

Click here to sign up free and understand more of OneCoin before fully deciding to join.

 

Til next time. Au revoir.

how to, server, technology, windows

Building Domain Controller For Windows 2008 Server

chicpencil

Lots of features has been added since I handled and administered Windows NT Server.

Now, the concept of Primary and Backup Domain controllers were replaced with the introduction of Windows Forests. Both or multiple domain controllers are active and supports the highly available AD authentication of users.

Creating of domain controller in Windows 2008 are now as follows. The steps provided here are for building a simple domain controller or in short — promoting an ordinary Windows 2008 server to be a domain controller. In production environment, of course there should be a proper design to support the service level agreement (SLA) required by the business and operations.

1. Run the dcpromo.exe from command:

2. The Active Directory Domain Services wizard will appear to assist you in building your domain: 

3. Specify whether this domain controller will be a member of an existing Forest or this is the first DC of new Forest:

 

4. Since I’ve chosen a new Forest, I have to specify my Forest Root Domain Name. The forest root domain name must be fully qualified.

5.  Set your Forest functional level. Do note that each release of Windows operating system adds up new features supported by the Forest.

For more information about the Forest features on different editions of Windows, refer to this link summary.

6.  Choose the functional level of your domain controller. Remember that the function level chosen here affects the addition of your domain controllers. This supports upward compatibility. Meaning, when I choose Windows 2008, I can only add another domain controller of Windows 2008 and later.

7. Additional DC options would provide you the chance of configuring this DC to be the DNS server as well. If you already have a DNS server, you can introduce the DNS server to this DC at a later time.

For the DC that I’m building, I’m configuring it to be the DNS server as well.

 

8. Specify the location of your database data and log files. As recommended, put it in a separate drive with hard disk configured for RAID 1 (Redundancy).

9. When your DC becomes unavailable due to planned and unplanned downtime, you will need to start the DC in restore mode. Restarting the DC is restore mode makes the DC locally available. As such, you will need to specify the DC Restore Mode Admin password.

 

10. Finalizing your DC Configuration:

11. Configuring your Domain Controller.

12. Active Domain Services is now installed.

13. Restart your machine and login as the Domain Controller Administrator.

Til next time. Au revoir.

how to, technology, tips & tricks, troubleshooting

Remove Control-M In Your Unix Script

chicpencil

Another tip to document:

I was once a victim of wanting to run my shell script only to realize one of the reasons why I can’t run it is because of the presence of Control-M character all over my script!

Why is it so?

The cause of such Control-M presence is due to the fact that the script was created using Windows based Notepad or any non-Unix editor. Now, the scripts have to be uploaded using FTP or SFTP to the target Unix server.

Currently there are largely available GUI based tool to perform the FTP or SFTP. But one thing isn’t clear is when you FTP in your scripts, you have ensure that the mode is in ASCII. If you missed it out, you will end up having Control-M characters in your scripts.

Back to the business of removing the Control-M character, just type this command using your ‘vi’ editor. Follow the key strokes:

:%s/Control-v-m//g

After pressing the key strokes, you will see this in your ‘vi’ editor:

:%s/^M//g

Now you can review your script and satisfied that the Control-M character is gone.

For safety, before even editing your shell script, you can back it up first using the cp (copy) command:

cp -p original_file backup_file

This command will copy the file to your target backup_file with the same permission as your original_file.

Til next time. Au revoir.

how to, photoblog, technology

Nikon SB600

chicpencil

I finally decided to go for Nikon SB600 for my Nikon D200. After reading all reviews and comparison against SB800, well I prefer to use the SB600.

I bought my SB600 while on holidays in Germany. And test drive it during my birthday celebration. Even without reading the manual, the Nikon SB600 didn’t fail me and gave me dramatic outcome of my shots during the celebration…

Drinking our traditional chocolate drink..

The zucchini chiffon cake made by my aunt..

Birthday flowers from family…

Lovely smiles…

Birthday visitors..

My nephew with his innocent stare…

My cousin with his look…

If you’re interested to learn the full review of Nikon SB600, you can refer to Ken Rockwell’s review: http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/sb600.htm

Til next time. Au revoir.

business, culture, technology

Social Media And YOU

chicpencil

As of yesterday September 7th, the world population is estimated at 6.9 billion. Surprisingly, the number of mobile phones across the globe is not far behind. According to Wikipedia, mobile phones population across the globe is approximately over 5 billion.

The battle in the mobile world has upraised during the last decade. Whilst ten years ago, owning a personal mobile phone was restricted to the upper class of the society, today, a mobile phone is but a commodity. In Singapore, you can observe that the working class population, an individual within the range of monthly income of SGD 2,000 (+/- 10%) owns at least 2 mobile phones.

In China, the mobile subscribers population is approximately at 1.3 billion and the mobile phone population is at 900 millions. India is not far behind with a 1.2 billion subscribers and 850 millions mobile phones.

The fragmented competition for the mobile industry paved the way to the various mobile phone operating systems – Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, RIM’s Blackberry OS 7, Samsung Bada, the good old Symbian, Palm’s WebOS, etc.

Aside from the mobile phone operating systems, the stiff market competition gave the pressure for the mobile phone operators to be at its best. It also has created a key trend in 2011, that is the social media networks.

In social media networks, the consumers are analyzed based on their mobile phone behavior and their location based patterns. The numbers that you frequently dialed from your mobile phone is being understood by analysts paving the way to creation of various social media models in order to provide you with the best mobile subscription package that fits your lifestyle.

Location based services on the other hand, analyses the places that you frequently visits. In countries like Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and even Malaysia, you will notice that a change in your location gives the way for the various advertisings that targets your location. Sometimes, just entering the malls, you will be bombarded with various SMS or text messages from mall boutiques giving away discounts or sales.

Aside from the purely telecommunications social media analysis, mobile applications are also being used for majority of consumer based study. Twitter (http://www.twitter.com) is one of the key source of social media information. It is said that Twitter gave the consumers ‘the freedom of speech’. Hotel and tourism reviews mobile apps (Tripadvisor, Kayak, etc) are also a major contributor for the said study. Foursquare (http://foursquare.com) uses the location based approach in terms of social media. For the businesses, location based marketing paves the way to understanding the location patterns giving the consumers the based packages and promotions that suit their travel, shopping, dining lifestyle, and the like.

While there are a lot of advantages of social media, the major downside of social media networks is the consumer privacy. It can sometimes be exploit and can be used against a consumer for variety of reasons.

As always, I always mention that if you don’t want to be traced and searched, the best way to do so is to turn off thy mobile phone. However, these days not using a mobile phone is like living in the prehistoric stone age.

In our modern world, the business and technology keeps on innovating in order to thrive. And in order to compete and thrive is to give the best to the market audience.

And that is YOU.

Related Post: You’re Tagged And Analyzed

Til next time. Au revoir.

Citations:

– Various citations. Please contact the author.

security, technology, tips & tricks, troubleshooting

Error 51: Cisco VPN Connectivity

chicpencil

Okay, so this is the first time that I’m going to write about sharing technology resolutions based on my experience working as a consultant.

Lots of enterprises today implement security standards especially when accessing their corporate resources from remote networks.

It is but a norm to use VPN connectivity in order to impose restrictions to qualified and approve personnels to allow to logged in beyond corporate firewalls.

Cisco VPN software is a common name when it comes to VPN access. If you are using Cisco VPN, it is likely that you have the VPN client tool that you normally launched in order to connect to your company network.

As I have downloaded the Cisco VPN client for Mac OS, I was trying to configure it to be able to connect to the customer VPN network. However, configuring the latest Cisco VPN client 4.9.x wasn’t that easy in the latest releases of Mac OS.

I was stucked with Error 51: when launching Cisco VPN client for Mac.

After searching the internet for all the relative resolutions, the below solution steps did resolve the problem I faced.

My Mac OS Environment: Mac OS X 10.6.7

Solution Steps:

  • Go to your Network Preferences

  • Click on the + button in order to add a new network connection. If you have locked your system settings, you have to unlock it first by providing an admin account of your Mac OS. The new network connection will require settings.
  • After clicking ‘Create’, you will need to provide the Server Address, etc…

  • Next, click on ‘Authentication Setting’…

  • Now this is where a little challenge begins. You have to provide the ‘Shared Secret’. If this is not provided by the Cisco Administrator, it is likely that there is a .pcf file that is provided to you which you normally import to the Cisco VPN Client tool in order to import all the config settings. In this case, since you are not using the client software, you need to do the following:
  1. Open your .pcf file in any text editor. Locate for the Encryption. Copy the value of the Encryption parameter.
  2. Go to this website: http://www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~massar/bin/cisco-decode
  3. Provide the Encryption parameter from your .pcf file. Hit ‘Decode’ button and —
  4. You will see the Shared Secret in clear text.
  • Provide the Shared Secret in the network settings. The Group Name is also provided in your .pcf file.

  • Click ‘Ok’ and apply the settings. 
  • Now you can test logging in and provide your password (based on your login provided).

That’s it! You should be able to connect to the Cisco VPN of your company network.

In summary, you don’t actually need the Cisco VPN client for Mac in the latest Mac OS X versions as you can choose the Cisco IPSec protocol from the available Network Preferences.

As a code of ethics for us consultants, it is but included in the Non-Disclosure agreement that we are not allowed to share any customer information (names, passwords, etc) that we are working on. The above steps are helpful to work on the technology resolutions. I recommend not to abuse the VPN decoder link.

Til next time. Au revoir.

Reference:

The name Cisco referred by this article refers to Cisco Networks (www.cisco.com)