Is It Profitable Mining Siacoin (SC) in 2018?

15 December, 2017 | Crypto | 19 seen

Sia is a new approach to cloud storage platforms. Instead of all datacenters being owned and operated by a single company, Sia opens the floodgates and allows anyone to make money by renting out their hard drive. Data integrity is protected using redundancy and cryptography.

Sia uses a cryptocurrency, Siacoin, to enable decentralized payments via file contracts. All payments on the network happen in Siacoin, which is a critical component of our cryptographic SLAs. Siacoin allows us to do things that would not be possible with Bitcoin or traditional online payments. See: 8 Things Every Crypto Investor Should Know About SIACOIN

I hold a couple of thousands of Siacoins (3,374), which I've gained via my swing trade activities. The current price (Middle December) is about $0.01 per Siacoin. I keep buying and holding a bunch of crypto coins, and I should note that 2017 has been a crazy in terms of returns. Currently, my Crypto portfolio has gained a total value of 268.47%, which is the highest return I've ever seen (compared to stocks or peer to peer lending, for example, where I can get about 10% annually)

Affiliate link here: If you are…

How to Install Drupal 8 with Nginx, PHP-FPM, MySQL, phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu 16.04 - Linode Guide

14 December, 2017 | Servers | 44 seen

In this article, you will learn how to set up a Drupal 8 with Nginx, PHP-FPM, MySQL and phpMyAdmin.

This article might not be complete, but you will find a lot of useful information

Update: How to Install Drupal 8 with Nginx, PHP-FPM 7.2, MySQL, phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu 18.04 - Linode Guide

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 16.04 - 64bit version.
• Root privileges.

You can get a cheap VPS for $10/mo from Linode. As I've few test Linodes already purchased I'm going to use one of them

Follow basic security guide, see: Securing Your Server

I will use Putty for Windows to access SSH

Create the user, replacing example_user with your desired username. You’ll then be asked to assign the user a password:

Add the user to the sudo group so you’ll have administrative privileges:

Disallow root logins over SSH. This requires all SSH connections be by non-root users. Once a limited user account is connected, administrative privileges are accessible either by using sudo or…

Buying Graphic Cards (GPU) and Computer Parts in Tbilisi, Georgia

13 December, 2017 | Living in Georgia | 94 seen

It should be noted that buying GPU's in Tbilisi is not a very cost-effective option, better use Amazon.com and service like usa2georgia.com to deliver your goodies to Georgia.

But if you are in rush, as I was today, and you are desperate to have a GPU right now, while in Tbilisi - there are several electronic stores I could recommend.

While I was still waiting for goodies from the US to be shipped to Georgia, I decided to buy an additional cheap GPU and put in on test at one of our spare office computers. Doing my due diligence I found Sapphire Pulse X560 4GB GDDR5 card at pshop.ge for GEL 499 (USD 187), unfortunately, I was not able to find this card on Amazon store, and I believe this card is sold in European and CIS markets.

Cat waiting for the first mining rig to be built

Another option was Asus ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC Edition 4GB GDDR5  card sold at AltaOk store for GEL 779 (USD 292). This card though is sold on Amazon for just ~ $190. The savings are huge. I was able to track down this card at MetroMart store in Tbilisi for GEL 699 (USD 262)

…

How to Check Motherboard Model on Windows 10

12 December, 2017 | Servers | 31 seen

Recently I ordered goodies for my first 12 GPU mining rig, including the motherboard. As I have got a few other PC's I decided to explore, are they optimal for GPU mining, for doing that, I had to learn the motherboard model and version.

Luckily, there is a simple command line to run from CMD. 

Open up the command prompt in Windows via either the run dialog (Windows+R) or by searching for “cmd” on the Start menu. At the command line, type the following text (noting that there are no spaces between the modifiers—just commas), and then hit Enter:

​

Command Prompt

The information returned checks out for the motherboard we’re using: the Manufacturer is ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC , the board is the X550MD, the serial number is BSN12345678901234567 and the version 1.0. Well I did this test on my Asus notebook, on which I'm not actually planning to add any GPU cards

To Mine or Buy Ethereum/Zcash/Monero in 2018

10 December, 2017 | Crypto | 89 seen

Since the beginning of the second half of 2017, I call myself a proud crypto investor - currently investing in the 4 major cryptocurrencies - bitcoin, ethreum, litecoin and ripple.

Starting July 2017, using dollar cost averaging I keep buying crypto coins once in the month. So far, the total crypto portfolio shows an awesome 132.98% year to date value growth.

Update, lately I've been playing with bitcoin cloud mining contracts from HashFlare, see Should You Invest in Hashflare Ethereum Cloud Mining Contract or Build Your Own GPU Mining Rig

HashFlare.io (Affiliate link here - if you will click, register and decide to invest, I might earn 10% commission from that)

A couple of days ago I decided to give it a try and set up a 12 GPU ethreuem mining rig, for that I headed to Amazon.com and ordered goodies (motherboard, graphics card, risers, processor and so on)

Now, in total, I spent $960 for a bare minimum, just one GPU, which I'm planning to extend during 2018, by adding a new card once in the month. 

I decided to compare/forecast/predict - should I rather…

Red Cafe Tbilisi (Near Marjanishvili Theatre)

9 December, 2017 | Restaurant reviews | 36 seen

Red Cafe Tbilisi is another interesting place to visit if you are looking for an all-day brunch menu. It seems that lately, brunch menus have been very popular across Tbilisi restaurants.

Stylish, elegant. Pretty interesting menu items. One of the rare places not serving Turkish coffee, even when I asked to make one especially for me. Instead of Turkish coffee, you can get here some Ethiopian, as I'm not a coffee geek I don't care is it Ethiopian, Colombian or Arabica. But yes, for those of you looking for a place where to enjoy an Ethiopian coffee in Tbilisi - think Red Cafe.

It's hard to understand why this pace is named Red, as I didn't find much red in exterior or interior. And that's good - I would probably avoid visiting a place with red walls or ceiling (not good for vestibular apparatus).

Interior at Red Cafe

Now, what I was really surprised was the food items on the brunch menu. A typical burger with Georgian spices and seasoning. I did dare to order such, and  - well - burgers are burgers, it's not advisable to experiment with them. It was OK, but I wouldn't try it again. Instead of a juicy…

Building a 12 GPU Ethereum Mining Rig From Scratch - Part 1: Ordering Details

8 December, 2017 | Servers | 61 seen

I love testing ideas and even more than just testing new ideas I love testing them using Minimum viable product approach.  

I've been in a crypto craze for a while already - started with buy and hold, added little speculative trades, tried an ICO and now even considering to start mining. Totally insane? Well, I can only agree!

In fact, that doesn't even sound like me - you see, I like buying and holding, I even enjoy doing a few swing trades once in a while, but to run a mining rig? Totally not me. It sounds like a lot of hassle to me. 

But still - starting a mining - is the latest crazy idea I've been thinking lately. And here you go, just ordered some goodies from Amazon.

Inspiration for ordering these goodies comes from these two great articles (make sure to read them out)

• Affordable 12 GPU Mining Rig: Monero, Vertcoin, Bitcoin Gold & Ethereum
• Silent Ethereum Mining On EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 at 22 MH/s

In short, when looking for most affordable options for GPU mining rig I was worried about two positions, motherboard and graphics cards.…

Lenovo Ideapad 320-15ISK (Intel Core i3) Laptop Review

7 December, 2017 | Gadget Reviews | 61 seen

Bought this Lenovo Idepad laptop for the use at our Tbilisi office.

As recently we bought a few Desktop PC's with Intel Core i3 processors for transcription projects, for me it was important to have an office laptop with the same or similar parameters.

Top 20 Budget Class (Intel Core 3) Laptops / Notebooks

Ideapad 320 series comes with up to top-of-the-line 7th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 processing, plus up to 16 GB DDR4 (for this model Intel Core i3 and 4 GB DDR) memory, guarantee lightning-fast responsiveness and reliable performance. Run multiple programs simultaneously, and transition seamlessly between web tabs — you'll be able to multitask with ease.

Lenovo Ideapad 320-15ISK

Everything about the IdeaPad 320 is designed to simplify your life. It will handle any task with ease, thanks to powerful processing and discrete graphics options. Preloaded with Windows 10 Home, you'll have the personal assistance of Cortana, designed to help open apps and answer your questions — whether typed or spoken. From the new streamlined design to a cleaner desktop interface, you'll enjoy the simplicity that IdeaPad 320…

November 2017 Dividend Income Report - $50.75

5 December, 2017 | Investments | 14 seen

Welcome to the seventh (#7) dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from dividend-paying stocks, peer to peer lending (both fiat and cryptocurrencies) in November 2017. 

Surprisingly, but November, in terms of a passive income, turned out better, as I thought before, and generated me a dividend income of total $50.75. I didn't plan to make more than $40 this month, but increased lending rates and additional dividend payment helped to boost dividend earnings in November.

Also, a super hyped month with cryptocurrencies made a nice boost to the total portfolio value.

As usual, I was doing nothing much, just investing in great companies, playing a little bit with cryptocurrencies and lending out money via peer to peer marketplace. Most of the November was on autopilot, just at the start of the month I deposited some chunk of money to Mintos.com peer to peer lending marketplace, and at the end of the month - purchased additional shares of Vilniaus Baldai on Nasdaq Baltics.

At the end of October, I've …

Christmas Charity Fair Tbilisi 2017

3 December, 2017 | Living in Georgia | 11 seen

Annual Winter Fair (Christmas charity fair) was held in Tbilisi's Radisson Blue Hotel on December 2, 2017

It has been a tradition for us while living in Georgia to visit this fair, already since 2011. Here are a few articles from the past: Christmas Charity Winter Fair in Tbilisi 2015, Christmas Charity Winter Fair in Tbilisi Sheraton Hotel, Christmas charity fair in Tbilisi

As usual, we took a camera, backpack and went shopping, it' s a great time to buy great things and let's believe it helps charity, as all earnings made during this fair is believed to be donated to charity.  It should, after all. Winter fair was organized by International Women's Association Georgia (IWAG)

Unfortunately, lately, I've been missing inspiration for photography and didn't make much photography today. 

French pastry

Our basket of goods after this year's Charity fair in Tbilisi

For years, our favorite stand has been the embassy of the United States of America, but this year Italy won our hearts. Also, It should be noted that from favorite attractions during the fair I should note…

How to Send RSS Web Push Notifications to Segments in OneSignal

2 December, 2017 | Servers | 24 seen

It has been already more than one year since I've enabled OneSignal Web Push notifications for this blog. Over the past year, the blog has acquired more than 25,000 web push subscribers. Frankly speaking - sure web push notifications are great if used the right way, speaking of me - unfortunately, or for good, as I keep writing on many topics, I still haven't found the most optimal use for web push notifications, as readers of this blog fall into many audiences and demographics.

One of the use scenarios to sync web push notifications involves using RSS feed, see: How to send OneSignal RSS Push Notifications Using Zapier

For setting up OneSignal with Drupal see: How To Setup Web Push Notifications For Drupal 8 (Or Any Other Site) Using OneSignal

Today I will write about how to send RSS web push notification using custom-built RSS feed, OneSignal, and Zapier for the country based segment.

As usual, I will provide an example of real situation - about 743 subscribers from more than 25,000 are from Georgia. As Georgia related content is often featured on blog, I decided it would be a good to keep users engaged, by…

How to Prepare for Drupal 7 to 8 Upgrade - Planning

1 December, 2017 | Drupal Development | 13 seen

It has been more than 4 years since I started this blog. During the years it has evolved a lot, featuring about 1500 articles, extended of using about 60 modules and what's not less important - attracts about 100,000 users monthly. For more than 4 years this website has been running on Drupal 7.

Despite me thinking of Drupal 7as one of the best Drupal versions so far, I understand the importance of upgrading to the latest Drupal 8 version. Drupal 8 features a lot of new and cool features, one of the things I like the most - composer for updating site functionality. Sure, there are many pitfalls also. Personally, I think it will take about 6 months for me to completely upgrade to the latest Drupal 8 version, as still there are many modules not yet supported in D8.

During the last two years I've built a few Drupal 8 sites from scratch and written a dozen of articles (mostly covering Drupal Nginx stuff), so I'm not a complete novice with Drupal 8.

Here are few articles related to configuring Drupal 8 environment

• How to Install & Config Drupal 8 on Ubuntu 14.04 + Ngnix
• Drupal 8 Configuration for Nginx Server Blocks,…

Could Bitcoin Price Reach $30,000 By The End Of 2018?

29 November, 2017 | Crypto | 36 seen

With Bitcoin price reaching for the first time $10,000 on November 28, 2017 - I keep wondering - could we see Bitcoin double or even triple in value in 2018?

According to Coinmarketcap the price for bitcoin has gone up tenfold since the begging of 2017, trading high $1,003.08 on January 2017 and reaching $10,075.90 on November 28, 2017

Why Bitcoin Price at $7,174.50 ain't no fun, But I'm still buying it?

Bitcoin Year to date chart - January 1st - November 2017 (data source: Coinmarketcap.com)

Now, there is one approach we could try to apply and try to predict the future price of Bitcoin -  using the total market capitalization of Bitcoin.

As of writing this article, the total market cap of Bitcoin is $168,861,518,975, while in January it was $15,491,200,000. That's the same tenfold increase

In order for Bitcoin to reach $30,000 value, the total market cap should increase three times:

That's about a 500 billions…

DIY Open Wooden Compost Bin

26 November, 2017 | DIY | 25 seen

A compost bin is a must-have garden construction at our rural property - fallen leaves and trimmed grass mostly go here. It was on early May 1st, 2017 evening I decided to build an open wooden compost bin from materials we left over from roof works. 

It was agreed to install a compost bin on the other side of the house, as when planning a place for a compost bin, it should be chosen carefully, so as not to be an obstacle in the future.

Choosing a place for a compost bin

As there is already an old foundation here, and we are not planning to do with them anything for the next couple of years, it was agreed this is a good place for a compost bin. Now it was a matter of taking down the laths from the loft, an electric saw, some measurement tape, a pencil, and a level. 

Wooden boards for compost bin

A little experiment here, adjusting height and weight.

Leveling boards

Definitely much easier than leveling bearing beams for the roof construction.

The result

Day trip to David Gareji monastery complex and Sighnaghi

25 November, 2017 | Travel guides | 27 seen

At the end of November, my mother visited me again in Georgia. We decided to make a few easy day trips during her stay in Tbilisi.

Our first day trip was to David Gareji Monastery complex and Sighnaghi.

Although I've been to these places for a dozen of times, I never get bored of them.

This time we took a road to David Gareji monastery complex via Rustavi town (which actually is a place I would love to return to take some urban photography), made a short stop at Gardabani to buy a freshly baked Azerbaijani bread, and followed a rocky road to David Gareji monastery complex.

Road to David Gareji 

Seems this is some military road, used by Georgian army located somewhere close. During the Soviet times, its said there has been a huge tank polygon somewhere in this area.

Sheep

Oh, I always love scenes like this. Lovely.

At Bodbe monastery near Sighnaghi

One of the rare HDR's I've taken this year.

We continued to the nearby town of Sighnaghi and spent about 10 minutes there taking a walk at Sighnaghi city wall which features beautiful views of Alazani valley.