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@brulaw
"I believe in me, so you believe in you"
28th July 2017/Issue #223
giffgaff Happenings
by bluemoonbaz
WiFi access on the Underground – beta launch
A few weeks I gave you a heads-up to some WiFi news, now @gary_1989 is delighted to now share the full plan with the community. As of yesterday – 27th July – we are pleased to announce our members will be able to access WiFi on the London Underground, with WiFi provided by Virgin Media. We’re also teaming up with O2 to provide access to around 8,000 secure hotspots around the UK. Both of these are absolutely free, and members will be able to opt in and out as they wish. Gary would really appreciate your feedback using the questionnaire linked here.
COMPETITION - Why is knowing your credit score important?
@juan_p is revamping the Free Credit Report dashboard next month and he needs our help, for your troubles he is adding a little prize 😉 3,000 payback points to one lucky member and the chance be featured on the new dashboard. So let's see what we can do to help, click here to see the full thread.
** Reminder: only a few days left ** £10 credit for joining giffgaff
All our members and Super Recruiters will be able to offer their friends and family £10 credit for joining giffgaff through them. It’s never been a better time for your friends to join you on giffgaff. Don't miss out on this fantastic promotion, you can find out all the details here.
Profile Progression
Coming soon, a brand new tool for all the giffgaff members 🙂 , @richardf_ is hoping the prototype will be released to the community for everyone to view next week, so keep your eyes out for it and we will have a full review in our next edition.
Run by You: Explore our country with giffgaff
Our latest run by you is from our member @ijustcantdoit. He would love to see our country through the members' eyes. Where you live and what are its best and worst features. You can read his full post here.
Labs Highlights
by as7861
Pause on goodybag
Have you ever wondered of if you could pause your current goodybag? The reasons given for the idea was if you are going abroad and do not want you allowances to go to waste. For example, if a person was going on holiday for two weeks that would pause until the person gets back and unpauses and the time between the goodybag being paused and unpausing will be added on. This idea was created by @kerensac.
Don't get rid of unlimited data
Although this idea was created when the always on was introduced. The idea brings questions of whether people still want a truly unlimited data goodybag. This idea was created by @sargantana.
Payback status on the dashboard
This idea is about enhancing the payback dashboard so it includes updates about payback calculations. The reason given is that people will be able to self-help by looking at the page. This would also reduce frustration among members. It's been pointed out that these updates are already posted in the announcemnts forum, but this idea adds to this to include the updates in the payback dashboard. This idea was created by @various_mm.
Here is a diagram that shows a simple guide of how the labs works. The ideas listed above are yet to be reviewed by giffgaff but have a high number of votes in the lab.
Why wait? You can search for an idea you like by using the search bar located here. If you do not find the idea you are looking for you can always post your idea in the contribute section, this would firstly allow you to get feedback on the idea and secondly there might be an idea that has been described very differently to what you was thinking. If all else fails, you have a chance to develop your idea and post your idea in the Lab. Good Luck fellow inventors!
High-Tech Highlights
by jammydodge
Ransomware 'here to stay', warns Google study
Cyber-thieves have made at least $25m (£19m) from ransomware in the last two years, suggests research by Google. The search giant created thousands of virtual victims of ransomware to expose the payment ecosystem surrounding the malware type. Two types of ransomware made most of the money, it said, but other variants are starting to emerge. "It's become a very, very profitable market and is here to stay," said Elie Bursztein from Google who, along with colleagues Kylie McRoberts and Luca Invernizzi, carried out the research. Ransomware is malicious software that infects a machine and then encrypts or scrambles files so they can no longer be used/read. The files are only decrypted when a victim pays a ransom typically using the Bitcoin virtual currency. Mr Bursztein said Google used several different methods to work out how much cash was flowing towards ransomware creators. As well as drawing on reports from people who had paid a ransom, it sought out the files used to infect machines and then ran those on lots of virtual machines to generate "synthetic victims", he said.
It then monitored the network traffic generated by these victims to work out to where money would be transferred. The data gathered in this stage was also used to find more variants of ransomware and the 300,000 files it found broke down into 34 of them, he said. The most popular strains were the Locky and Cerber families. Payment analysis of the Bitcoin blockchain, revealed that those two strains also made the most money over the last year, he said, with Locky collecting about $7.8m (£5.9m) and Cerber $6.9m (£5.2m). The research project also revealed that more than 95% of Bitcoin payments for ransomware were cashed out via Russia's BTC-e exchange, found Google. On 26 July, one of the founders of BTC-e, Alexander Vinnik, was arrested by Greek police on money laundering charges. The gangs behind the ransomware explosion were not likely to stop soon, said Mr Bursztein. "Ransomware is a fast-moving market," he said. "It's no longer a game reserved for tech-savvy criminals. It's for almost anyone."
Featured App
by revilo10
App: Headspace
Platforms: iOS/Android (Includes Kindle Fire/Web App)
Developer: Headspace Ltd
Price: Free (Requires subscription to go beyond the first course)
Everyday life nowadays is stressful, and that stress builds up inside our heads. We all just assume that our minds can take the wear and tear, and just forget about them, which is wrong. Minds work 24/7 with no breaks, even in the night, and it takes it's toll. Meditation offers a path to give your brain a rest, to let it be free for a while. A common misconception is that meditation is about removing thoughts, whilst in fact, it's about looking beyond them and feeling relaxed. Headspace as an app gives you a headstart in your meditation path, it teaches you the basics, slowly and simply, to allow you to find what's comfortable for you. As well as courses, it has certain singular meditation packs to prepare yourself for different activities such as meetings, running, cycling and even more. All the sessions are talked through by a British ex-Buddhist Monk who spent 10 years in Asia trying to find enlightenment. I thoroughly recommend you try this app, even if it is just the free beginner course.
giffgaff Photo Challenge
by premierphotosuk
The giffgaff Abstract Photo Challenge is now open for entries. Everyone's invited to take part, that includes giffgaff staff too. You don't have to have amazing skills in photoshop, there are plenty of apps you can use to make something fun and unusual. You can use whatever device you want to take the photo, and you can play with it however you like. The aim is to have fun. Check out the thread by clicking here.
Say Hello!
by kathleen414
A warm welcome to our new member @allissia who joined us earler this month.
She would like to meet new people and join the interesting conversations we have. She also said "I hope members will notice my message. Thank you"
Well we certainly did Alissia
pop over and say hello:
Welcome Alissia
Hooray @caprice_murri joined us today
.
She is loving it already, so much that she's already ordered 6 more sim cards to give out. Impressive work
.
You can have a chat show her the ropes on her post here.
Say hi to @kerriecookie!
She recently joined giffgaff and popped on to say "Hello everyone I'm new to giffgaff and just want to say hiiii" 
We're so glad you joined us Kerrie and you can say hi to her right here: Hiya Kerrie
Photo of the week
by premierphotosuk
This week's photo of the week deserves to go to @rachellouisefrench for her photo of Starting out with photography "...she is Starting college this August to study photography." Happy days.
So I decided this due to the great interaction her photos got from the community, and not only for receiving kudos. Reading through her thread I like how she joked about "I'm 25 so going college as a mature student." She is not shy in taking and welcoming constructive feedback either, I believe she has the potential to do very well in photography.
So all that's left for me to say? I wish you all the success in your future in photography and I think I can also speak on behalf of all our fellow gaffers. But I'm sure they would like to wish you well themselves. Here are the device and settings she used: "taken on a Nikon coolpix b500. In automatic mode."
I believe her photo deserves to be featured in this week's gaff. Well done @rachellouisefrench and thanks for sharing your great great photography with the giffgaff community
.
See the full thread
Interested in sharing a photo you've taken? Have a look at the thread linked below. While you're there, you can see all the previously featured photos. You never know, your photo could join the list!
Find out more
Remote Control Tip
by bobrobinson
Have you ever wondered if your remote control has packed up or just run out of battery? To check to see if your remote control is working, broken, or simply needs new batteries, just point your remote control at any of your devices that have a camera. The camera on the device must be on for it to work
While looking at the screen, press any button on the remote control. If it's OK, Then you will see it light up on the screen as in the photo below:
Thanks for reading
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