Cryptocurrency Mining: Dangerous?

Cryptocurrency mining, the process of solving hash algorithms to validate blockchain transactions has many benefits, but do the negatives outweigh the positives?

Most people do not understand the complexities of cryptocurrency mining. How do I do it? Is it dangerous? How much can I profit? To the best of my knowledge, here are the answers to common questions about the mining of cryptocurrency.

Q: What is cryptocurrency mining?

A: To put it simply - it is the way that cryptocurrency transactions are verified. However, it is not that simple. Because these cryptocurrencies do not have a central issuing authority or regulatory body, there needs to be a way that everyone knows that transactions are legit and verified. All verified transactions are recorded on the 'blockchain', a digital ledger that records cryptocurrency transactions chronologically and publically. In order for the transactions to be verified, a cryptographic hash function must be cracked (called 'mining a block'). This releases a certain number of the cryptocurrency to the cryptocurrency wallet of the person running the computer that cracked the block, or it is released and divied up to a pool of miners who collectively cracked the hash function together and mined the block. The only thing you would have to worry about as someone interested in cryptocurrency mining is the dedication of your computer to mining, which I will break down in the next answer.

Q: Is it safe for me to start mining?

A: Most likely not. Cryptocurrency mining is a GPU-swallowing task that produces immense amounts of heat within your computer and may hinder you from using it while mining. This heat may also damage your computer and its internal components. A common misconception is that anyone can mine on any device or computer, this couldn't be any farther from the truth. It takes a very powerful computer with a good graphics card and ideal cooling to make cryptocurrency mining at home safe. Mining should only be done with dedicated mining ASIC hardware or a powerful, and most likely expensive, graphics card in a desktop tower. Your graphics card, or GPU, is what processes the graphics (hence the name) for your computer. However, along with making your computer's graphics run smoothly, GPU's are also very good at solving hash functions. When you mine a cryptocurrency, almost all of the hash function cracking is done in your graphics card, and because of the immense amount of work that it's doing, your graphics card will produce a lot of heat. I would only suggest mining with a graphics card that costs more that $400, and is of a reputable company such as AMD or NVIDIA. If you have meet all of these requirements, then your next order of business should be to address the cooling situation within your computer. The computer that is mining should be kept in a cool, dry area such as a basement or well-ventilated room, and it should have multiple high-speed fans inside, or in the best-case scenario, liquid cooling, to ensure that your computer does not overheat. Any temperature in your computer over 70 degrees celsius is very dangerous and can permanently damage the internal components of your computer, rendering it basically useless. So if you have a decent desktop computer and you want to know if you can start mining cryptocurrency, my answer would be - don't. It's too risky. Most of the time when you are mining, you are barely making a few dollars a day at the most. To risk your expensive computer on those few dollars is not worth it.

Q: How much will I make if I decide to start mining?

A: If you are not mining off an army of dedicated ASIC hardware, you will probably not make much money mining cryptocurrency. Even running your computer and mining 24/7 will make just a few dollars a day in most currencies. Not to mention that much of the money that you make will be spent in keeping up with the electricity bill that is rising due to your computer's massive power consumption from mining cryptocurrency. I would say to only mine cryptocurrency if you are positive that you can make upwards of $10 a day. Anything below that, and it is a waste of your time, money, and computer to make such a low amount of profit. Something that should be taken into account is that, if you decide to mine for a cryptocurrency, you are most likely going to be using so much of your computer's processing power that you will not be able to use your computer for anything else. This is a complete waste of the computer that you most likely need for many other things in your life, and would require you to only mine when you are not using it, which means a greater loss of money, and less cryptocurrency mined.

Q: I have everything I need, how do I start mining?

A: First you're going to need a wallet in the currency of your choice. I would say that going with Litecoin or Ethereum is the best choice for a first time miner because larger cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin are going to very difficult to make a profit off of and they tend to heat of your computer more. After downloading the wallet for your selected currency, download a free, mining software package such as the beta one from AMD. Then, join an online mining pool for your currency and register with an online currency exchange. After all of that, double check that you have a secure and consistent internet connection that is high-speed and will not become spotty at anytime. Following that, download the program 'nicehash' and begin mining your currency. I do not mine cryptocurrency myself, so these instructions are general and vague. It is best that you do  some extra research into your selected currency that you plan on mining and how you are going to go about mining that.

Amazon Echo: Affordable Smart Home Tech?

After purchasing multiple of Amazon's Echo Devices, is it right to say that now with a low budget, you can now have a basic smart home at your fingertips?

Amazon's Echo Dot - The miniaturized predecessor to the original Echo

My Experience

About a year ago I got my first Echo, a black first generation for $99 on amazon. It was an instant hit in my household. Since the moment we opened the box it was being used all the time. Music, weather, converting units, basic math, and even just random knowledge questions were frequent topics being asked to the Echo and answered by the Amazon assistant, Alexa. After having it for a while, I had read that you can have multiple interconnected Echos throughout your home and so, being the curious person I am, I decided to go out and get two echo dots to accompany my original Echo. After a very quick setup (opening the boxes, plugging them in, and registering them on my Amazon Alexa app) each floor of my home had an Alexa-enabled device on it, and I was ready to see if the Echo-family of devices was a step in the right direction towards affordable smart-home technology and personal assistants. 

The first thing that came as a distinct advantage to having multiple Echo devices throughout my home was Alexa's calling feature. By naming each device on the Alexa app on my phone, for example the Echo dot in my basement I named "Basement" and my original Echo in my Kitchen named "Kitchen", I was able to go to any Echo device and ask Alexa to call another. This allowed hands-free, simple communication throughout my entire home. This completely eliminated the need to yell across my house in order to talk to people on different floors. Another advantage of having multiple Echo devices is that I no longer need to travel to have to ask Alexa any questions, having a device on each floor meant that an Amazon Echo was within a few steps or, most of the time, in reach of my voice where ever I am at the time. 


Smart Home?

Many people who know I have multiple Echos throughout my home have asked me, does it feel like you're in a smart home? My answer to that is simply- no. Being on the budget I was on, having just three Echo devices is not enough to make your home a smart home. If you have the money, buying things like Hue Smart light bulbs, Ecobee smart switches, Amazon's fire TV, and Echo Look camera may bring you much closer to the smart home of your dreams, if you don't mind dropping hundreds if not thousands of dollars purchasing and installing these things throughout your entire house or apartment. I spent $160 on three Echo products and I did not feel like I was in a smart home at all, just in my own normal home but now with an omnipresent personal assistant with convenient intercom functionalities. 

I am yet to try many of the smart products that can work alongside Echo devices and may refrain from ever buying some of them due to the price and lack of effective functionality. A product like the Nest thermostat ($250) is something I am really interested in buying but it is way too expensive and I do not see the benefit of using it with Alexa. I would never want to control the heat of my house with my voice from another device of unrelated manufacturing origins. I want to be able to see the temperature go up or down while physically turning the dial, trusting that Amazon's Echo heard me correctly is not something that I want to bet my heating bill on.

Overall thoughts

Truthfully, if you're on a budget and you want to turn your home into a smart home, then you have to face facts and accept that smart homes are expensive and may take more money than you have. If you don't want to fully turn your home into a smart home, or you've realized that 'smart home' and 'budget' are basically antonyms, and you maybe want or have a few smart components in your home, then Alexa is the path to go. No budget? Then definitely put these all around your home and invest in the devices that can be used with it. The accessories that can be bought have loads of functionality and can make your home into something of the future. All five Echo devices (Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Plus, Echo Spot, and Echo Show) can all be linked together and used to connect your home in a way that's worth bragging about. Are smart homes a necessity for those in modern society? Absolutely not. But, for someone who wants to make their lives more enjoyable, convenient, and downright awesome, the family of Amazon Echo devices can provide just that.

Logitech MX Master: Worth the price tag?

The Logitech MX Master is a high-quality wireless mouse retailing for $70 to $99 (depending on where you purchase it). Is it worth the high cost?

 Let me start by saying this by-far the best mouse I have ever put my hand on. I've gone through over a dozen mice in the past 5 years and after having this one for 6 months, I can say that it is going to be my mouse for a very long time. The adaptive scroll wheel, satisfying clicks, and completely customizable key layout make this mouse optimal for anyone looking for increased productivity using their computer.

The scroll wheel is something that I had never expected to be so significant, but yet it has became my favorite part of this mouse. When scrolling at slow speeds, the scroll wheel is clicky and moves the scroll wheel a defined distance each fraction of a turn. When scrolling at higher speeds, the clickiness is essentially "released" and the scroll wheel becomes free flowing. This sensation of shifting scroll wheel modes at the appropriate time makes the experience of the mouse that much better. Not to mention the middle mouse button (the one activated by clicking down the scroll wheel) has one of the most satisfying heavy-soft feelings of any mouse click I have ever experienced.

The thumb rest of the mouse is a comfortable geometric curve that allows my hand to sit nicely and that's about it. Right? Wrong. Pushing down on the thumb rest allows you to click another button on the mouse. This gesture button has many uses, all of which can be customized by the user. The button is soft and while pressing on it appears difficult, it is in fact very easy and natural.

The Logitech options software makes using this mouse even better by adding the options of completely customizing every button on the mouse. The interface for the software is intuitive and makes customizing the mouse easy to do. Buttons not only can be used by clicking on them, but also clicking and moving the mouse in a certain direction. When a button is enabled to do this it is called a gesture button. These gesture buttons have five commands to do different things such as raise/lower volume, pause/play music, zoom in/out, and just about anything you can dream up for your mouse to do. Clicking on the button and releasing allows you to do one action that you have assigned to that click. Clicking and holding the button down allows you to do one of four commands, choosing between them by moving the mouse either up, down, right, or left. This gives the mouse the ability to control your computer even more and makes using your computer even easier. A downside of this is that there are 5 buttons that all can be gesture buttons at the same time. If all 5 buttons are activated as this,that then means there are 25 different commands that you have to memorize in order to execute them all when you want to, something that the average person does not have the time or want to do. I currently only have two buttons as gesture buttons, mostly to control music but also to copy/paste things as well as open Windows 10 menus and sidebars.

The mouse also provides a degree of connectivity that has proven to be helpful. There are two ways of connecting your mouse to your device- the tiny USB connector or Bluetooth. Yes. Bluetooth. The mouse can connect to up to three-devices at once via Bluetooth, allowing you to seamlessly swap between devices with the simple click of a button on the underside of the mouse. Now I can officially say that this mouse have everything.

After having this mouse for a while now, I can say that it has definitely impacted my productivity while using my computer. I am able to control things much faster while before owning this mouse I would have had to switch windows to change them or even go into the settings to adjust certain things. It feels great and contours perfectly to my hand. The buttons are in the ideal places to reduce the need to move any of your fingers to click any of the buttons. Overall, this has improved just about everything when it comes to working on a computer.

Is it worth the high price? It depends on who you are. Just want a cheap mouse that is simple and does basic-mouse functions? This may not be the mouse for you. If you have the money to spend though, get this mouse. It massively increases your productivity and makes using your computer more fun and effective. I would not recommend this mouse for gamers because, as anyone who plays games on their computer knows, wired mouses are going to have much faster response times than wireless mouses. If you are not worried about needing freakishly short response times concerning your mouse, this mouse is must-buy for anyone who wants to enhance their computer experience.

Computer Overclocking: Everything you need to know

Answering the many questions about computer overclocking.

Computer overclocking is the process of increasing your computer's power limit, core clock, and memory clock, in order to speed up the performance of your computer, producing higher quality graphics and faster computational power. A broad range of computers of a certain standard can be overclocked and while there are risks, it can truly increase the power of what your computer can do. These are a few common questions that I have answered to the best of my ability and current knowledge.

Q: Is overclocking your computer dangerous?

A:  This is sort-of a complex question. It depends on many factors. What kind of CPU do you have? What kind of GPU (graphics card) do you have? Does your computer have adequate cooling? All of these factors should be taken into account. For CPU I would say any mainstream CPU, Intel or AMD, should be fine in any computer that you would consider overclocking. If you are using a downgraded tablet-style CPU, such Intel's atom, don't overclock. You may want to invest into a stronger computer.  I currently have Intel Core i7-7700 (@ 3.60 GHz) as my CPU, which was more than capable of being safely overclocked. Taking GPU into account this is where you have to pay attention to what your computer has. Any computer equipped with an AMD or NVIDIA graphics card should be suitable for an overclocking to an appropriate extent. Don't over clock non-gaming laptops because they almost definitely will not have a suitable graphics and cooling for this major of an internal change to your computer's power and memory. I currently have an NVIDIA GTX-1060, 3 GB in my PC, which handles overclocking very well. Cooling is very important for overclocking your computer. You want to make sure that your GPU never goes over 72 degrees Celsius (162 degrees Fahrenheit) in order to make sure no damage is done to your computer . Knowing this, make sure that your computer has at least 3 fans installed. One fan cooling the CPU (Which should also be kept a low temperature), one fan cooling your GPU, and one auxiliary fan pumping air out of your system. Fans can be easily installed into towers and they won't cost you much at all. However, installing fans in laptops is extremely difficult and sometimes not possible. If you are interested in getting more power out of you laptop, consider upgrading to a better laptop or a desktop and/or buying a high-quality cooling pad which can be found on amazon from $20 to $50.


Q: How do I overclock my computer?

A: A common misconception is that overclocking is difficult or costs money for someone to do it professionally. This is completely incorrect. Free programs such as MSI Afterburner, AMD Overdrive, and EVGA Precision X, can all be used to easily overclock your computer. Use online tutorials to learn the basics to each program respectively. You should also get the programs CPU-Z and GPU-Z in order to monitor your system's internal levels closely. When using these programs try not to overclocking your power limit past 110% and be very slow when bringing up the core clock and memory clock MHz. Monitor the temperature of your system closely. When overclocking, if the temperature ever begin to rise significantly (more than 10 degrees in 5 minutes or anywhere close to that), STOP, and bring the computer back down to the last MHz levels that it was at a stable, low temperature. You do not want to damage the internal components of your computer.


Q: Is overclocking worth it?

A: Honestly, if your a serious gamer with the need for more speed out of your computer, then yes it is worth it. If you are serious about gaming you probably already have a computer that is safe to overclock, so doing it should be easy and it will produce good results. If you are someone who occasionally plays a game on your computer and does mostly low-graphics-needing tasks on your computer then it is not really worth it. I rarely play games on my computer so I only slightly overclocked it to keep up with the large amount of design projects and programming that I do for school and for personal projects. Be very careful with overclocking because if done incorrectly it can ruin your computer, but if done correctly it can significantly increase the potential and speed of your computer.

First Post!

Hey everyone! Welcome to the Technology Uncovered Blog! A blog site full of reviews, discussion topics, tech news, and more! I will posting once or twice a week so keep checking in to see all of my posts. This weeks topics are bitcoin and computer overclocking. Hope you guys enjoy! Feel free to ask me any questions as well as suggest things for further posts in the comments!