Terence Eden’s Blog
on
· money Open Data Open Source OpenBenches · 7 comments · 500 words · read ~528 times.
My wife and I run a side project called OpenBenches.org - it is a fun little crowd-sourced memorial bench site. It's mostly fun, except when the bills come due! Most hobby sites and side projects don't cost a lot to run. Lots of services have generous free tiers to (ab)use, and they can pay well […]
Continue reading →
on
· mobile money phone · 6 comments · 500 words · read ~319 times.
I'm not sure how many people know this, but I thought I'd share something I learned a few years ago when I worked for a mobile phone seller. Most modern smartphones are too expensive for people to purchase outright. At the most extreme end, the iPhone 14 Pro Max costs £1,2001. So a typical customer […]
Continue reading →
on
· Book Review childfree FIRE money · 300 words · read ~106 times.
My wife and I are planning on being DWZ DINK FIRE. That's a lot of letters to say we want to retire early and not leave any money to our non-existent kids. This book is a (slightly shallow) exploration of 26 people on similar journeys. They're all American (or now living in the USA) so […]
Continue reading →
on
· banking fraud money scam · 2 comments · 450 words · read ~281 times.
There's an incredibly distressing story in the BBC about a vulnerable elderly man who was conned out of his life savings. Fraud victim gets surprise £153,000 refund despite rules BBC News In the story, the heartless bank refused to refund the fraud victim due to an absurd technicality - the money was sent to a […]
Continue reading →
on
· electricity EnergyCrisis money NaBloPoMo SavingSessions solar · 800 words · read ~292 times.
Electricity demand varies throughout the day. When demand is higher, electricity prices go up. Most UK consumers are insulated from this variability - we pay a fixed price per kWh no matter what the actual wholesale cost. But it doesn't need to be this way. Exposing users to the immense variability in pricing is probably […]
Continue reading →
on
· Bug Bounty money · 2 comments · 750 words · read ~161 times.Google has recently increased the price it pays out to security researchers who responsibly disclose a vulnerability. That got me thinking. Is money the best thing with which to reward people?1 There's an interesting (if a little silly) economics paper about why gift giving is inefficient. The crux of the argument, as I understand it, […]
Continue reading →
on
· Book Review money · 550 words · read ~180 times.
Spoiler Alert! We're all going to die. I'm the sort of person who buys a fancy jar of something delicious - and then I save it for a special occasion. Yet, somehow, those special occasions never seem special enough. And so the jar sits at the back of the cupboard waiting for a train that's […]
Continue reading →
on
· bank blockchain crypto money · 14 comments · 650 words · read ~8,702 times.
When I was young, I had a piggy bank. A piggy bank is incredibly secure. It's fairly big - so it is hard to lose. It is brightly coloured - so you can find it easily. No one else can see how much money there is in there. The only way to get money out […]
Continue reading →
on
· crypto money · 5 comments · 600 words · read ~177 times.I recently read this interesting, and distressing, story of a man who was drugged and robbed. A form of crime which has been going on for centuries. But the 21st Century twist is that the thieves forced him to transfer large sums of money via his phone's banking apps. While under the influence, the victim […]
Continue reading →
on
· beer crypto money · 3 comments · 400 words · read ~169 times.This is a thought experiment inspired by the sort of rambling and speculative conversations my wife and I have been having in lockdown. Most countries in the world place legal limits on alcohol production at home. There are, usually, several good reasons for this: Improperly brewed alcohol can cause severe health problems - including death. […]
Continue reading →