A ground-up rewrite of my highly successful 2014 course, Learning Bitcoin. The new version includes information about Ethereum, Ripple, IOTA, and ICOs. Description by Lynda.com:

“Bitcoin is a form of money that only exists online. While it’s making headlines around the world, many people don’t really understand how bitcoin works or the underlying concepts of cryptocurrency.

In this course, Tom Geller demystifies bitcoin, revealing the promise and perils of the new crypto economy. Tom begins by explaining what bitcoin is, how it originated, and how it compares with other cryptocurrencies. Next, he explains how to get started by creating a bitcoin wallet, buying and selling bitcoin, and protecting your transactions.

He discusses other top cryptocurrencies—Ripple, Ethereum, and IOTA—and explains how “initial coin offerings” (ICOs) have changed the investment landscape. Finally, he covers bitcoin mining, threats to the bitcoin economy, and how to connect with others in cryptocurrency communities.”

Your lynda.com courses are like my mom, who knows what I need.

I found your Writing Articles course on Lynda.com and it provided me with all the things I needed to get started now. I simply wanted to express gratitude and let you know how much I got out of the course. Thank you.

Your course [about bitcoin] is phenomenal at explaining everything in plain English.

Ah, Christmas! A time to gather ’round the Christmas bear and thank God above for the bounty of bees.

Continue reading “AI-inspired song: A Very Botnik Christmas”

I did additional cinematography for this documentary about an autism self-advocate, and helped outfit him with a GoPro rig to capture video from his point of view. My shots (at the subject’s home in Oberlin, Ohio) open both the film and the trailer. Broadcast premiere on PBS’ “America ReFramed” series.

Travel ennobles, emboldens, and improves.

Business travel is expensive, exhausting — and often irreplaceable. Yes, virtual reality is getting better, and I’ve wasted many an evening “touring” distant places on Google Maps Street View, like the cafe that was my “office” for years. So with the cost of meals, travel, business hotels, and lost office time, how do you justify it?

I outline five purposes for business travel in the new LinkedIn Learning/Lynda.com course, Traveling for Business. Three of them — Events, Scouting, and Sales trips — produce measurable results, such as resumés collected or leads gathered. Metrics like these are the food of ROI calculations, but it’s short-sighted to look only at the numbers.

(Want to know the other two travel purposes? Watch this free video from the course.)

So here are three other, unmeasurable benefits you miss by staying

  • You discover subtleties of place. I’ve been shopping for a condo in my adopted city in The Netherlands. There’s one development that looks really good on paper, well-located and cheap. But walking up to the unit I felt the loose railing, and saw the chipped stairs and flickering lights. Smells, ambient noise, aggressive neighbors… none of these come through a computer screen. Nor does the mood in the office of a prospective partner, or the way a prospective employee shakes your hand.
  • Serendipity leads you to opportunities. I’ve come to believe that the best parts of conferences happen in the hallways — so much so that I’ll sometimes skip a low-priority session just to hang out and see what happens. Certainly you should do what you came for. But don’t be surprised if your most-profitable meetings happen on the hotel shuttle. (Remember to carry business cards everywhere!)
  • You grow. Travel ennobles, emboldens, and improves. It provides context for the little tasks we do in our offices; it shows how others accomplish in environments different from our own. Its slow times force the individual to look inwards, while surmounting its challenges imparts confidence for the next trip. People who travel learn something about themselves and their place in the world, regardless of the trip’s ostensible purpose. A smarter person makes smarter decisions, and the whole organization benefits.

Besides all of this: Business travel, done with adequate preparation and resources, is just plain fun. The same plane that takes you to a sales meeting is also taking families to their vacation. And while you’ll be obliged to perform for eight (or ten, or even twelve) hours a day, that leaves plenty of time to absorb and enjoy the joy of the new.

So certainly: Have videoconferences. Outsource remote services. And explore the world in Google Maps. But don’t forget to someday walk into that cafe, smell the fresh cookies, and shake the barista’s hand.

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Tom Geller is the author/presenter of several video courses available through Lynda.com and LinkedIn Learning, including Freelancing Foundations and Writing Formal Business Letters and Emails. He’s at tomgeller.com and tgprods.com, and on Twitter as tgeller.

 

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/praise-business-travel-tom-geller

Travel is expensive, so you need to be sure your time “on the road” justifies the investment. In this course, Tom Geller outlines what you need to do before, during, and after your business trip to keep yourself comfortable, meet your client’s or employer’s objectives, and take care of your home while you’re away. Learn the tools you need to stay in touch with the office, and find out how to pack a “go bag” that prepares you for business. Tom also provides guidance on managing transportation and staying safe in your new city, and outlines tips for reporting back what you’ve learned when you return home, so each trip is easier and more productive than the last.

Topics include:

  • Setting up a mobile office
  • Planning travel
  • Securing your home and office before you leave
  • Getting work done on the road
  • Getting comfortable in a new location
  • Planning your next trip

Learn how to write formal business letters and emails that are short, clear, and to the point. This course teaches you how to get results and build better relationships with clients, colleagues, and customers. Writer and journalist Tom Geller helps you clarify your goals, research your topic and intended audience, and structure your correspondence. Plus, get tips about writing for accessibility—making your writing comprehensible, concise, and appropriate for all readers—and following up on communication.

Topics include:

  • Defining your goals
  • Conducting research
  • Setting the tone
  • Writing for accessibility
  • Sending reminders
  • Continuing the conversation

Twitter’s 140-character limit puts the burden of clarity on the writer, where it belongs.

Why is Twitter so influential among the famous and powerful?

It’s the platform of choice not only for politicians and celebrities, but for us ordinary schmos trying to reach them. And we succeed: Bill Gates and Lady Gaga regularly answer, retweet, and give shouts-out. (Hey, I even got a response from BoJack Horseman!)

Twitter’s popularity certainly plays a part, as the world’s 13th most-visited website. But that can’t be the only reason. Reddit and Facebook rank higher, yet they rarely enjoy the same kind of engagement. Why?

To understand, change your perspective. Pretend you’re the star (or the star’s staff), getting up in the morning and scrolling through your social media. How long does it take to read and understand each message? Now multiply that by thousands (or tens of thousands) and you see the problem. Messages on Facebook et al. can be any length, so writers don’t exercise discipline. More, they wrongly think, is better.

Twitter’s 140-character limit puts the burden of clarity on the writer, where it belongs. It’s a form of what writing students call constrained writing, and it’s an incredibly effective technique for sparking both creativity and precision. So not only are tweets faster to read than Facebook posts — they’re easier to read, too.

Concise messages win on other platforms, too. It’s a point I make in my just-released LinkedIn Learning / Lynda.com course, Writing Formal Business Letters and Emails. Brief messages appeal not only to busy people, but also to those with visual impairments, and those who don’t read your language well. (I know this as an American living in The Netherlands: I can read Dutch, but skip long social-media posts in the language. Who needs the struggle?)

Twitter is now testing double-length tweets, through which it hopes to relieve “a major cause of frustration for people Tweeting in English”. I think this is a mistake: As with highways and prisons, people will find excuses to fill available space. And all those famous and powerful people you want to reach will stop reading.

In its announcement, Twitter nailed it by saying that “Twitter is about brevity. … Tweets get right to the point with the information or thoughts that matter.” But then: “That is something we will never change.” I’m sorry, Twitter, you can’t have it both ways. If you make the change to 280 characters, the point will get delayed and buried.

For proof, here are the latest (as I write this) two tweets from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. First, 105 characters:

https://twitter.com/jack/status/930640144155099136

Now, 273 characters:

https://twitter.com/jack/status/928658511311097856

Which did you actually read? Which did you understand?

As for me, I’ve taken the #140pledge to keep my tweets under the old limit. Follow suit if you want your tweets to get seen, read, and understood. Brevity pays off.

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Bonus for reading this far: Here’s a free, unlocked video from my new course. 🙂

Tom Geller is the author/presenter of several video courses available through Lynda.com and LinkedIn Learning, including Writing Articles and Writing Formal Business Letters and Emails. He’s at tomgeller.com and tgprods.com, and on Twitter as tgeller.

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/twitter-140-characters-effective-writing-tom-geller

Tom’s work ethic and passion are evident in each of his productions. He has the unique mixture of extreme efficiency and an innate knack to hone in on the most dynamic aspects and nurture them.

After four years in technology journalism, I “jumped the fence” to become a Senior Account Executive at GCI Group (now part of Grey Global Group). I specialized in high-tech clients, including Sun, Qualcomm, Globalstar, and Penguin Computing. Later founded Silicon Valley P.R. (sold in 2002).

With little guidance, created a distinctive rhythm and visual style for the professional organization’s flagship publication (“Communications of the ACM”), then produced nearly three years of monthly episodes. Elements included format, titling, and narrative styles that remain features of the ongoing series.

We engaged Tom to write the marketing materials for a large and important product launch. It was one of the best decisions we made in the entire process.

This online-commerce software company hired me to help re-tool their product line’s branding and marketing during a one-week onsite summit at their Paris offices. This involved group brainstorming, production of new content, and iteration, leading to a highly successful launch. They later hired me to return for other on-site projects, in both their Paris and Ann Arbor offices, and I provided ongoing services remotely.

Yesterday I got an email that said all my bitcoin was about to disappear. Hurricane Irma, it claimed, had damaged the servers of a company where my bitcoin was stored. There was a backup, but it would disappear soon, so I needed to move my money to the address provided.

Was it a scam? Yes, but I only knew that by getting geeky with the email headers. (Nerdnote: It originated in the Tor network and routed through a mail server in an offsite country.) But it was perhaps the easiest-to-believe email scam I’ve seen in my thirty years online. Why?

Because bitcoin sometimes just disappears.

This needs some explaining. When someone sends bitcoin, the transaction is recorded on a worldwide ledger. Practically speaking, it’s permanent: Nobody can go back to reverse the charges. That’s different from checks and credit cards, and the key to bitcoin’s excellent technical security.

(I talk about this in “How Bitcoin works”, a video from my Learning Bitcoin course. LinkedIn has allowed me to make that video available for free here.)

(Jonathan Reichental goes deeper in his course Blockchain Basics.)

But “secure” doesn’t always mean “safe”: Bitcoin transactions are also irreversible when you accidentally lose bitcoins. And that happens a lot.

I know this from personal experience, when my phone got wiped and the digital backup of my bitcoin wallet failed. (I fortunately also had a paper backup, an extra step few bother with.) People have lost bitcoin by upgrading a computer, losing control of a phone number, tossing old electronic junk, and dozens of other ways. Digital assets are incredibly fragile.

If you don’t want to access bitcoin through your phone, the other option is an “online wallet”. But such a wallet is only as good as the company protecting it. After the company Mt. Gox made over a half billion dollars of bitcoin disappear, online wallets don’t seem like a good idea, either.

Billions of dollars of bitcoin have simply vanished and will never be recovered.

So when I got that email, it seemed not only plausible that my bitcoin was at risk, but likely. A company having bad backup procedures? That’s the rule, not the exception. A need for action to “save” my bitcoin? Sure — consider this somewhat confusing blog post from Coinbase when a spinoff currency (“fork”) happened this summer. I need to shuffle money into a new wallet? It won’t be the first time.

So what can you do?

  • If you’re holding bitcoin on a computer or device, back up your wallet and test the backup periodically by restoring it in another location. A backup that doesn’t work isn’t a backup.
  • Store a minimal amount in online wallets. I know, companies such as Coinbase claim that your deposits are fully insured — and as I know and respect that company, I believe it. But anyone can say that, including crooks. And Coinbase provided no details when asked. Without those, “trust me” doesn’t fly.
  • Keep a written record of where you’ve stored your bitcoin, and “touch” it once in a while. Does that flash drive still work? Is your online wallet still in business? Has a phone upgrade made your bitcoin inaccessible?
  • Follow all the usual best practices for online security: Use good passwords, confirm questionable activities, and so on.

As for what the industry can do…

Well, not much. At least, there’s no reason to change bitcoin itself, as its irreversibility is as much its strength as its weakness. I predicted a growth of secondary bitcoin services such as fund-clearing and insurance four years ago; some have appeared to ameliorate bitcoin’s fragility, but I think more needs to be done in this area.

Bitcoin’s instability is bad for its users. But it’s also a business opportunity; whoever can solve it will reap great rewards.

Tom Geller is the author/presenter of the video course Learning Bitcoin and several others available through Lynda.com and LinkedIn Learning. He’s at tomgeller.com and tgprods.com, and on Twitter as tgeller.

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-hurricane-irma-exposed-fundamental-bitcoin-weakness-tom-geller

Use fewer words.

Continue reading “The #1 trick to make your writing more effective”

A followup to my viral hit, “No, THIS is what bitcoin is, really…“, which garnered over 2,600 Likes on LinkedIn within a week. (Like that article, this one was written for myself, not commissioned by LinkedIn.)

A rebuttal to a misleading critique of bitcoin’s economy. Full title is “No, THIS is what bitcoin is, really: Four ways Greg Leffler is wrong, wrong, wrong”. (Personal post; not commissioned by LinkedIn.) It was a viral hit, garnering over 2,600 Likes within a week.

Last week you made this article one of the most popular of my career, currently topping 2,600 Likes. It rebuts a video where Greg Leffler makes some questionable statements about bitcoin.

The statement of his that’s garnered the most discussion is that bitcoin is the “currency of criminals”. A lot of the comments basically came down to “yes it is!” “no it isn’t”, with no supporting evidence. My article offered a little, but I admit it was weak. (I dismissed the illicit markets’ volume while pointing to numbers that imply high volume for legal bitcoin use.)

What’s needed, as usual, are numbers.

Specifically:

  1. What percentage of bitcoin is used for illegal activity (vs. legal activity)?
  2. At what percentage threshhold do we say that a currency is a “currency of criminals”?

How criminal is bitcoin?

To compute the first answer you first need to know total bitcoin volume. You’d think that it’s easy to figure this out, as all transactions are recorded on the blockchain, a worldwide ledger that’s essentially unchangeable and universal. But then you run into a problem of definition: Do you count bitcoins that are exchanged for dollars (or vice-versa)? That’s a big part of bitcoin’s transaction volume — bigger, I think, than for any other currency. (This feature lends support to arguments that bitcoin is an asset, not a currency. For this discussion, though, let’s consider it as a currency.)

Then you have to know the volume for illegal activity. That’s hard to do for any currency, as people generally try to hide their lawbreaking. Mr. Leffler lists as hotbeds of bitcoin criminality: malware ransoms; drugs; fake I.D.s; and assassinations. We have some figures for malware ransoms paid in bitcoin (as, again, those payments are visible on the blockchain): About $1 billion in 2016 according to one report.

Besides malware, we have to know the size of the bitcoin “dark market” for drugs, fake I.D.s, and assassinations. As far as I know, nobody’s made reliable, recent calculations for these. So our debates are just us throwing invisible rocks at each other. I believe that these numbers are relatively small, and welcome evidence to the contrary.

How does bitcoin compare to the dollar, euro, bhat?

Finally, it’s time to answer the second question: What is the percentage threshhold to make something a “currency of criminals”? Well, this whole discussion is really comparing bitcoin to dollars (et al.), so let’s start there. One 2012 estimate puts the “underground economy” of the U.S. at around 12.5%. In other countries, the shadow economy comprised over 50% of total economic activity in the early 2000s.

Calculating the answer

Even without complete information, we can now apply these numbers to bitcoin. With malware at $1billion/year, let’s say that the illegal “dark market” measures up at another $1billion/year. (This is admittedly my own guess: You can change the numbers according to your own guess.) $2billion is 12.5% of $16billion. $2billion is also 50% of $4billion.

So by these assumptions: If bitcoin’s legitimate use is over $16billion/year, the U.S. dollar is more of a “currency of criminals”. If bitcoin’s legitimate use is over $4billion, it’s typical of other world currencies.

Only if legitimate bitcoin volume is under $4billion/year can it be considered more “criminal” in use than (for example) the Thai bhat.

What are the real figures? Is bitcoin the “currency of criminals”? Numbers will tell: I welcome your evidence in the comments.

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I’m the author/presenter of the LinkedIn Learning/Lynda.com course “Learning Bitcoin“. One video from that course is shown above.

I’ve written a few other things related to bitcoin, and a whole lot about technology and such. I’m currently producing a documentary about efforts to model the human brain in computers, “Almost a Brain“.)

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bitcoin-currency-criminals-numbers-tell-tale-tom-geller