Verbit. Two years later.

Two years changes a lot of things, and Verbit is certainly no exception. Gone are the hour-long audio and video files. Most of the jobs hover just around 10 minutes now. Gone is the limitless time you have to finish a job, which is understandable considering how short the jobs are now. Gone is the overly-gracious two hour allowance where one can stay idle before the work is reassigned to somebody else. THAT one, I knew, was gonna be among the first to go. We even had a short time where one could pick several jobs at the same time resulting in people hoarding as much jobs as they could. I knew it would only be a matter of days before they rectified that misstep when I found out a friend of mine hoarded up to 10 files at a time. I also hear that the application process now includes a mandatory call.

Verbit started out as this amazing platform with the kind of rules that any online transcriptionist could only DREAM of, regardless if they were workhorses or slackers. Am I saying that’s no longer the case? Absolutely not! Verbit is still hands-down the best transcription platform I have ever tried, and I’ve tried a lot of them so I should know. Yes, they have had to make a lot of adjustments due to the loopholes people found and horribly abused in the Utopian workspace Verbit initially built. And yet, despite some measures they have taken (which were really draconian but necessary), the platform itself still sparkles and revs like a meticulously loved car. On top of that, they continue to steadily add improvements and now have legal transcription clients to boot.

Verbit is now in cruise control, making changes more slowly but surely, trying to rectify their initial lack of oversight with probably dozens of account sackings daily, but sensible enough to genuinely support their veterans as well as their newcomers. Only time will tell what the distant future holds for Verbit, but I personally think it’s a bright one.

It’s a company that started as a naive optimist but had enough sense to learn from its past mistakes to become more of a realist. Reality might not always work out the way we want and we may falter again and again, but if we keep our wits about us, we might just get “there”, whether “there” means having the best-in-market AI speech-to-text tech, or earning just enough so one can finally get married.

Wait… Did I just say that out loud?

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EON. A Paypal user’s pal.

DISCLAIMER: This article assumes you already know what Paypal is and how it works. Also, this article is relevant only if you live in the Philippines.

A lot of home-based workers are paid through Paypal. But what the hell is EON? Why should I know more about it if I’m a Paypal user? That’s exactly what this article is for. Keep reading.

EON is a Union Bank product of sorts. It is their most modern way of getting people to open an account with them, fuss-free. And compared to how you normally open a bank account, it truly is fuss-free.

• Only one valid ID is needed.
• No need to go to the bank and wait in line. And even if you do go there, you can’t even open an EON account through them. I’ve tried.
• 150 pesos to open an account. Technically it’s only 100 pesos. I’ll get to that later.
• No maintaining balance.

Before I tell you why you should use EON if you’re using Paypal for receiving money, let me just swiftly outline the steps you go about making an EON account.

1. Go to either a 711 or Mini-stop convenience store and buy an EON card. (150 pesos)
2. Download the EON app on your smartphone.
3. Using the app, follow the instructions to activate your card.

That’s it. As far as I know, your EON account is an actual Union Bank account. I’ve already managed to transfer money from EON to another Union Bank account several times, even completing the transfer the same day, with no extra fees.

Going back to the “why” question, allow me to be a bit rude and answer your question with a question: How much does your bank charge you every time you withdraw money from Paypal to them? I have a BPI account and I can tell you, they charge you about 150 pesos every single transfer, regardless of amount. This is typical, of course. But if you think about it, that means BPI would be taking almost 4,000 pesos from me every year. I’m not sure how much other banks charge, but it wouldn’t be absurd to assume it’s around the amount.

With that said, here are some benefits you get using EON:

ZERO CHARGES FROM PAYPAL – You read it right. ZERO. There is but one condition to satisfy, though, but it’s really easy. The transfer amount must be 7,000 pesos or more. If you’re withdrawing less, it’s still not that bad. It’s just 50 pesos. Way better than the usual fees.

TWO DAY TRANSFERS (sometimes) – Typical waiting time is 2-4 days for any other bank, and 99% of the time you got it after 3 or 4 days. It is only through EON that I have experienced my money being available for withdrawal after only just 2 days. It’s not the case every single time, but the possible reduced waiting time is nice.

RIDICULOUSLY SECURE – Like any bank providing online services, you can access your account using a browser or a mobile app. Why is EON more secure than others? Every single time you log in to your account, they send you a verification code to your phone that you have to key in before you are allowed access. At first, I complained because of this inconvenience, but later I realized it’s more of a plus. There is ZERO chance of your account getting hacked.

LOST YOUR CARD? – You remember how alarming and frustrating it is when you lose your ATM card? You’re looking at weeks waiting for a replacement and several bank visits. With EON, you can skip that and just buy a new card, link it with your existing EON account and you’re good to go! Remember to call in first and get your lost card deactivated, though.

EON COMPLEMENTS COINS.PH – If you haven’t read my post about coins.ph, you can read it here (it opens a new tab). If you already have an account, you’ll be glad to hear that you can transfer spare change (amounts below 100 pesos) from your EON account to your coins.ph account FREE. Well, coins.ph actually charges a minimum of 10 pesos but they give it back to you when the transaction completes. Pretty useful if you either dabble with Bitcoin or if you have a prepaid phone especially now that they have a 10% rebate on reloads.

Some caveats you should know.

• This is very important. Get your account upgraded IMMEDIATELY if you do get an EON account. On activation, your account would be on Starter level which can only receive amounts up to 5,000 pesos. The next level, EON Lite, can receive up to 100,000 pesos.
• There is an 8 peso annual fee for Starter and Lite level accounts. Not monthly, ANNUALLY. Not a bad deal at all.
• The EON card is 150 pesos and you can buy it from any MiniStop or 711 store. You have to tell the cashier to really look for it because most of them don’t even know they are selling EON cards. Once activated, you will already have 50 pesos in it.

Finally, how do you withdraw it? The EON card is an ATM card, ninny. Yes, you can withdraw from any Bancnet or Megalink ATM. Regardless of which ATM you use, there is a 15 peso fee. And yes, this includes Union Bank ATMs.

With all that said, do yourself a favor and get an EON account. It takes minutes to get one and get it activated. If you want to know more about EON, I’ve provided a link below. Note that it goes through AdFly. If you liked this post, just wait for the button at the upper right to load so you can proceed to the EON quick info site.

And please feel free to share this post to your home-based groups or networks.

EON experience website

PS – I’m not sure if I want to make a intensive guide on how to actually get an EON account. If you guys want it, you can let me know by leaving me a message. As always, happy hunting!

When things surprisingly work out somehow. A Verbit.ai update.

If you read my earlier post about Verbit.ai but you haven’t tried it yet, it’s important that you read on.

If you haven’t read my earlier post, read here. I had the “bright idea” of blogging about verbit and how relatively easy it is to earn money there legitimately. Plot twist alert.

So there I was, “editing” for verbit, earning more than enough to keep me afloat. I was making a clean $250 every two weeks. It’s not an obscene amount of money, but here in the Philippines, it’s more than what a typical call center agent makes, and it suits my purpose. It’s perfect for me, actually.

Then one day, around the second week of August, I checked my wordpress stats:

Now, I never intended for any of my blogs to garner that much traffic but as you can see, there was some commotion going on during that time. And 95% of these people read only one of my posts: My first verbit post. At that moment, I knew hard times would be ahead.

Sure enough, around the latter part of August, there were no more 30 minute files for 40 cents per audio minute. Only 5 to 10 minute work files that were only 30 cents per minute. And pretty soon, no more full queues of work files waiting for us every day as the arrival of files slowed down to a trickle. Work suddenly demanded a combination of focus and luck as each work file that dropped was snatched away in less than 1 to 2 seconds. I knew I had to look for alternatives, and I did NOT want to go back to Quicktate.

To summarize my search for alternatives, I tried rev.com, and I failed their exam for some inexplicable reason. I tried the GoTranscript test which I also failed. Strangely enough, I did the same test in behalf of my ex and SHE passed the confounded thing. No matter. I had to keep searching. I was running out of time.

Then I remembered I had a quick chat with a verbit support rep more than a month ago. Verbit had a live chat support system built right into their website and they were very responsive. WERE. Anyway, I remembered casually inquiring about what it would take to get promoted and become a Reviewer, which is the equivalent of Quality Analysts. They are, in a sense, the last line of defense against shoddy transcriptions and edits. I remembered the support representative saying you needed an average rating of 4 or above (highest rating for each work file is 5).

I was certain I could do that, but I did not want to pester them more about details. I didn’t know how long I had to wait, or did they tally the scores on a weekly or monthly basis, or if there was a formal application process I had to go through. I didn’t think there was any. But getting promoted as a Reviewer would solve my long-term concerns with verbit. Work would almost always be available for me.

So, I started working more on quality. I conformed to every microscopic preference most of the reviewers had. And I say “most” because, damn they are terribly calibrated there when it comes to transcription stylings. I wondered if these people HAD to find corrections, else they got scrutinized. It became a matter of opinion whether a word was a filler or not, where comma’s should go, where to end a sentence, et cetera. At one point, I got so pissed off I vented at their support chat box even though there wasn’t anyone there at that moment.

“your reviewers can’t seem to make up their mind on a lot of things. =( is it data set or dataset? whichever i use, I end up getting corrected. should “So, ” be considered a filler? whatever I do, I get corrected. maybe there needs to be more clarification with regards to style and conventions. quality checks are supposed to be objective and standardized. instead, it’s different for each editor, and more alarmingly, for each reviewer. just letting you guys know. =/”

I hated getting 3’s on any of my work. I was definitely still averaging more than a 4-rating whether you checked by day, week, or month. Still, I truly hated seeing any of my work rated as 3. I was jumping through all their hoops, I was slowing down hard-to-follow audio, I installed an audio booster on my computer so I could hear everything better, I learned dozens of terminologies from dozens of topics ranging from cricket to cooking.

And then, last night, it happened.

Well, what do you know. Sometimes, good, clean, hard work DOES pay off. It’s not an increase in pay, not by any stretch of the imagination. But what it does mean is that I will probably never run out of work. AND getting that validation and recognition of my efforts isn’t something to yawn about.

Who knows what’s next? =)

Lost in Transcription

It’s been a while since I last blogged. Allow me to explain.

I had plans to juggle transcription work with other things. I planned to just work on two files a day and then spend the rest of my time each day working on music. I never intended to make my days revolve around work, and Verbit lets me do just that; I work when I want. No one owns my time except the people and things that really matter in my life.

Work smart, not hard; it’s a popular quip, it rings true and I did let its’ ring resonate in my work attitude back when I was still in an office setting. I’m not exactly dedicated to work, but neither am I lazy. I’ve always tried to make time while in the office to enjoy and entertain myself every chance I get. I had the work/life balance figured out by constantly pulling against the forces that wanted me to work.

But here I am now. No corporate rules forcing me to work according to their whims. For the first time, no one had strings on me. Save for the actual necessity for me to provide for my son as well as my monthly bills, nothing was trying to take my time away from me.

It’s the perfect chance for me to juggle work with the things I really want to do; create music, study, read more books, blog, play games and a whole lot more. So what do I do? I completely stop playing games, put my musical adventures and every single hobby on hold and work every single moment that I can. We can be such strange creatures sometimes. Now that work is waiting for me and that I don’t HAVE to do it, I end up getting consumed by it.

It’s 1:46 AM. I just finished my fourth file for the day a few minutes ago. I just figured I’d make this short entry to make myself aware of what I’m doing with my life before I go to sleep. Is this a bad thing? Do I have a plan? I think I do. I think I know why I’m doing it. It’s just mind-blowing that I didn’t see myself becoming like this on any scenario I could imagine.

Regardless of how old we are, how jaded we are, or what we think we are capable of, Life can always surprise us.

A Verbit.ai Adventure – Fun, Learn, Earn

A few weeks ago, I took the plunge into becoming a transcriptionist from home for Quicktate.com. I mean, how hard can it be? You listen, type what you hear to the best of your ability and that’s pretty much it. Easy money, right?

Except if you had the chance to read my post about Quicktate, the only realistic way you’d earn enough money there to make it a viable full-time job is if you glue yourself in front of your computer as you wait for the audio files to trickle into the queue of transcriptionists like yourself. You end up waiting for minutes at a time, and when an audio file does come your way, I can safely say about 60% of them are either unintelligible or contains no audio at all. Considering you are paid by the number of words you type, no amount of words-per-minute can help you if you don’t even have ANYTHING to type most of the time.

Still, Quicktate is already in my pocket. It’s not going anywhere. But I had to act fast and find something better before I lose my Internet connection. (Yup, I’m there.) Through a stroke of luck, a chanced upon reacquainting with a good friend from about 15 years ago and she referred me to verbit.ai. (Thanks, foxxy roxxy!)

A skeptic isn’t a skeptic if he isn’t skeptical when skepticism is warranted. So of course I was skeptical. Getting into Quicktate cost me $15 (790 PhP). What will THIS job want? I went to their website.

Duuhhhh, look! A button! I went for it.

A Google form. Not very classy at all, but if it works and it’s free, who I am to argue with good business sense? I filled out all the questions and expected a response within the next few days.

After an hour (or maybe even less I think)… Whoah!

There was one specific phrase in the email that, to my eyes, was underlined, boldfaced and seemed about a dozen font sizes bigger: “Only 1 out of 10 candidates pass our test”. I am not easily fazed, but I have to admit that at this moment, my balls shifted a bit. What kind of test could this possibly be? Calculus? I mean, I’m pretty certain that a clear majority of people pass online IQ tests with fair results. Is it about typing speed? accuracy? Or is it gonna be another one of those Internet marketing and advertising jobs (which I pointedly did NOT like at all!).

I put it off for two days while I psyched myself and finally went for it. This was what their test screen looked like, and what their actual interface is when you’re already working for them:

So, where am I supposed to start typing? Why is there text already? And like 95% of them are correct, what is this? Does this mean I just have to VERIFY the text for spelling and put in punctuation marks??!

Apparently that is EXACTLY what it is!

At that moment, I thought if this was how the test is gonna be, then this is probably gonna be asking for a PERFECT transcription. This would all rely on my English comprehension of diction nuances as well as vocabulary and grammar. Now the screenshot above is from a video file I am already transcribing. Naturally the video from the test was something different, and most likely randomly assigned to test participants. I browsed through the text already laid out; it’s about Physics! I love Physics! This might be easier than I thought. I bucked up and started playing the audio…

To my horror, the speaker had a heavy HEAVY accent. She was like Schwarzenegger’s sister who still lived in Austria. Then again, how hard could this be if most of the text laid out is already correct? I played on. So far so good, I just had to insert punctuations, capitalizations and… what? I came into a sentence where the grammar was obviously wrong. I listened to the portion of that audio a few more times (which thankfully they had a hotkey for). The words laid out were spelled right, they seemed to perfectly match what the speaker was saying. After some more inspection, I found out those were NOT the words she was saying at all. That would be one of your constant struggles here; if you have weak vocab and grammar skills, you will most likely fail this exam and if you pass, you will have constant struggles with most any video file.

Back to the test. I have a fairly good grasp of Physics and their terminologies but this was still a lot of effort. By the end of the test, I had learned about a couple of dozen new terms, names of noted historical people and a few new concepts. The video was about 30 minutes; most likely part of an online physics course, specifically some history about the birth of the heliocentric view. There were a couple of sections I just could not understand at all and so I had to tag them as [inaudible]. I know it’s not perfect, but avoiding assumptions of what the speaker was saying, it was the best that I could do. I sent my work for review and hoped for the best.

After just one day,

Alright! I passed! So what’s the next step in the application?

Wha… That’s IT??!

And that concludes my account of undergoing verbit’s grueling application process. One test. Yes, it’d be harder for some people, but regardless it’s just one test. No interviews. That’s it.

I’m sharing this to be in theme with my blog. If you want to try becoming a transcriptionist for verbit, at least you’ll have a better idea how to go about it, and what to expect.

Now, what awaits you AFTER you get hired? It’s pretty simple.

Above is the main screen. Each file listed is work file. Also indicated to the right is the duration of the video file included, and to the right is how much it’s worth. Let’s talk about the usual things you’d be concerned about.

HOW IT WORKS:

• You click on a work file, it gets assigned to you.
• You can have only one work file assigned to you at a time.
• You can unassign yourself from a work file (if you think the video file is too hard?) but must officially indicate the reason why you are doing so. So far, I haven’t gotten any feedback from the admins about the few work files I dropped like a hot potato, so I hope that holds up.
• There is NO TIME LIMIT. Well, that’s not really true. If you are inactive for 2 straight hours on a work file, it gets reassigned to someone else and say goodbye to whatever you already worked on. But if you want a work file but are concerned you might not be able to finish it in one sitting for whatever reason, just play the video and type in some text every hour or so. So in a way, you can hold on to a work file indefinitely.
• For a majority of work files, there will be a separate set of guidelines in addition to the default ones. After reading the guidelines, you will need to answer a quiz with only 5 questions to confirm you understood the additional guidelines.
• They have no referral program.

PAY RATES:

• If you do the math for the first one listed above (which I’m currently working on), it’s 30 minutes multiplied by 40 cents — 12 dollars for 30 minutes of audio. If you work fast enough, maybe you can finish in an hour or so?
• They only use Paypal to send payment.
• They pay every other Monday based on your work from the previous 2 weeks

So far, after a week I’ve already worked on about 15 audio files that are on average about 25 minutes each in length. Here’s a screenshot of my expected pay at the moment.

If everything goes well and they actually DO pay up, I think this concludes my search for a full time job: By finding a job that technically isn’t full time, a job that is a no-brainer BUT at the same time, I get to learn a lot of interesting stuff which is perfect for my polymath tendencies, and of course, full control of my time, and I mean FULL control.

I sincerely hope this works out so I can work on music again because being a bum is such a bummer!! I will update you on what happens within the next week or so. Meanwhile, if you liked this post, feel free to like and share. Below is an AdFly link to Verbit. Have a great day!

Verbit website.

UPDATE: I got paid today. Awww…. yisssss!!!

Dabbling with Bitcoin Core

After a recent change to moonbitco.in where they suddenly dumped all my bits to some other new site, I became deeply anxious. I didn’t have much bits there, but it still signified more than a week’s worth of clicking and captcha solving. So I took a closer look at everything.

This new site (coinpot.co) was giving the option to link my email to the wallet address ID; something that moonbitco.in did not offer. But in order to do that, I either needed to deposit some bitcoin from my actual wallet to some other wallet address as verification that I in fact owned the wallet, or I needed to “sign a message” using my unique “digital wallet signature”. Things are starting to get hairy.

Now I had a fair grasp of technology and encryption. After doing some research, at the very least I understood that each wallet had a public key and a private key. The private key is used to “sign” a message. And that the encryption of this message would be verifiable and comparable to the public key, giving a way to confirm if the signee was in fact the real owner of a wallet without disclosing his private key. I was convinced it was safe enough.

Unfortunately, coins.ph being a Bitcoin digital wallet hybrid, did not have this feature as I confirmed from one of their representatives. Now I could also send an amount of satoshi to a certain destination that coinpot.co provided to confirm I owned the wallet, but unfortunately, coins.ph was trying to charge that transaction and I did not have enough to pay for the charges. Oh, and even if I did, I would not want to pay for that.

So back to searching on the Internet, I found some clues that pointed to a software that was almost as old as Bitcoin itself; Bitcoin Core. I did not delve too much into its features and what it could do. I just needed an advertised feature that would allow me to sign the message I needed to sign.

Little did I know then that it wasn’t as simple as I thought.

I’ll get right to it. I download Bitcoin Core and discovered that it was asking for 122 whopping gigabytes of space. After some research, I found out that the software was supposed to gradually download the whole blockchain, and from the size of it, this looked like all the Bitcoin transactions ever made since the very very first one which I’m guessing was sometime in 2013.

I already had a feeling I took a wrong turn, but I pushed on anyway. After a quick check of the “Sign message” feature Bitcoin Core offered, it was obvious that this would not work, and it did make sense. A wallet address ID does not have its private and public key embedded and hidden somewhere inside of it. I guess only coins.ph has the private key but as I said, they do not have the signing feature and I highly doubt they ever will.

I know this error sounds silly to veteran digital currency players, but I just can’t delve into all the intricacies involved so I’m trying to learn on a need-to-know basis. It’s trial and error, it’s risky, but then again, it’s not a significant amount of bits anyway.

Feeling demoralized but at the same time, trying to make the best of the situation, I decided to read more about Bitcoin Core’s features; maybe it could mine some bits for me. After some research, apparently it did; DID, as in past tense. The feature was removed when it reached a point that it was no longer cost-effective or even feasible to even hope it was worth solo-mining with the software. What other advantages? Becoming a full node to support the bitcoin network. I would normally be more than happy to do this, but unfortunately my 2 terabyte external drive just died a few months ago and I suddenly found myself starving in space. 122 gigabytes is a LOT of space; using it for bitcoin support doesn’t seem like a good idea. For now.

So, the very same day I uninstalled Bitcoin Core. It was literally a “dabble”; maybe even less than that. But I do want to support digital currency more. And as I said goodbye to the software as it was being removed, I became determined to put it back one day; when I know a lot more of the intricacies of Bitcoin. Maybe it’s too late for me to gain anything significant in this endeavor, but based on all the material I have read so far, I do know that at the very least, Bitcoin, despite all its volatility, is here to stay for a long time. Having a few bits stashed for whatever happens can’t hurt.

Bitcoin adventures (English)

It is only my 8th day and I am admittedly still a noob when it comes to Bitcoin and understanding all its nuances. I did spend a few hours looking it up in the beginning, though. I have a fairly firm understanding of technology so it wasn’t too hard to understand the gist of it. And that’s also why I decided to integrate Bitcoin collecting into my daily routine.

This is NOT a post that explains everything I understand about Bitcoin. To save you time, I’ll just lay down the bullet points.

• Bitcoin is real money – It doesn’t have physical form because it’s not tied with any bank or any country making it completely independent and unregulated by any single entity.
• There are TONS of ways to get Bitcoin for free – Too many to list. There are other sites who try to enumerate them as best as they can. I only use two sites but I will be discussing one particular Bitcoin source in depth later.
• Earning Bitcoin for free is SLOW – Some people choose to make this into a career, even investing hardware and lots of time into it. I don’t like that. I happen to like my current job and I value time more than money.

So how slow is slow?

To find out, you need to know how Bitcoin is expressed, as well as its market value. You can always check the most updated exchange rate on the Internet. Note that a dollar is to a cent as a Bitcoin is to a satoshi, but with much much more zeroes.

1 satoshi(or “bit”) = 0.00000001 Bitcoin(or “BTC”)

1 BTC = 2577.01 USD (as of 7/5/2017 10:40 AM)

There are sites that will give you an average of around 100 satoshi per hour by just clicking a button and solving a captcha every few minutes. These are called Bitcoin faucets. They require almost zero time or commitment; if you only use 1 or 2 sites. Naturally the more Bitcoin faucets and drops you want to catch, the more time you’re gonna spend running around the Internet. I honestly don’t think it’s worth it. And like I said, there are a lot more ways to collect Bitcoin. 

But I will tell you about one particular site I have been using a lot.

Freebitco

It’s a Bitcoin faucet that drops about 80 bits per hour but with LOADS of features and ways of winning.

• Lucky roll game – Every hour, you get to roll for a random number between 1 and 10000. Even if you get a 1, you still collect around 78-85 bits. If you hit the better lucky numbers though… well, check out their matrix below. Rolling 10,000 might not look like much, but that amount of bits is already worth $200.

• Free lottery – Everytime you roll and collect bits, you get 2 lottery tickets which are automatically included in the next lottery draw held once a week and there are 10 winners every draw. This is how the payout looks like:

• Free rewards points – You get two of these as well. This is like their internal currency. You can use this to increase your bits collection for 24 hours, purchase more lottery tickets, even purchase real stuff.

 

• Referral system – you can send your unique referral link to your friends and you earn more bits every time they collect bits, gamble, as well as do other things on the site.

 

• Gambling – I honestly don’t recommend this. You use your bits to play their Hi-Low game. I’d rather just play it safe and just collect bits and go back to whatever it was you were doing before. Less time on the site, and zero chances of losing your bits.

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: You must replace the withdrawal address with your OWN wallet ID. To do this, click the Profile button then the Change Withdrawal Address button. If you do not have one yet, get one from xapo.com. If you do not do this, you would be giving your bitcoin to someone else when you try to withdraw.

So that’s it. A few seconds an hour is all it takes. Other sites accuse this site of just dangling a carrot on a stick. But I’ve already won an additional 16,800 bits from 3 lucky rolls. The chance of getting that 10,000 roll is astronomically slim, but for me that’s okay. It’s not like I’m spending any real money or time on it anyway.

Here are the links of the two sites I use including the freebitco site again:

Freebitco

Moonbit – a far more simpler site. Less features. 5 minute drips. Average of 80 bits per hour.

Below are my recommended wallets which you will need to withdraw your accumulated bitcoin:

Xapo.com

Coins – highly recommended for Filipinos!

Coins.ph. Anu ba talaga to?!

Nakita mo na malamang ang advertisement ng Coins.ph na may free 50 pesos daw on registration. Malamang, dinedma mo lang sya. Understandable. Madaming advertisements at websites at mobile apps na nangangako ng 50 o 100 o 200 pesos na credit pag nag-sign-up. Yun pala, yung pera na “binibigay” nila ay pwede lang gamitin sa loob ng site nila. So hindi talaga sya pera: internal credits lang; pwede mong tawaging artificial inflation ng value sa produkto nila gaya ng ginagawa ng maraming sites at retailers. Yung discount na makukuha mo sa Abensons pag cash pambayad mo? Hindi naka-discount yun. Yun ang mas malapit sa actual retail price ng produkto. Yung discounts na nakikita mo sa online sites gaya ng Lazada? Hindi rin discounts yun. Patungan nila presyo sabay lagay ng kunyaring anlakeng discount. Dami style na bulok na nagkalat, at lalo na sa Internet.

E ano pinagkaiba ng Coins.ph?

I’ll get to the point. Yung perang sinasabi nila na makukuha mo sa referral? Pwede mo i-withdraw. Sa kahit anong Security Bank ATM. Kahit wala kang Security Bank account. At walang kaltas! NO FEES! Bukod dun, madami pa syang benefits pag ginamit mo sya. (Reminder: 500 pesos ang minimum withdrawal nila, likely na rule ng Security Bank at hindi ng Coins.ph).

Paanong gagamitin? Ano ba talaga ang Coins.ph?

Kung anu man na pera ang meron ka sa Coins.ph, pwede mong gamitin in the following ways:

• pwede na pambayad mo ng bills (bigyan ka pa ng 100 pesos for every 5 bill payments),
• pangload sa gaming accounts(Steam, Garena, MOL),
• pangload sa cellphone mo (all networks) kahit kasingliit as 10 pesos (25 sa Globe dahil… Globe is the worst),
• padala ng pera or receive ng pera to and from anywhere in the world
• pang online shopping sa featured online stores

Hindi jan natatapos ang list. Madami pa syang services and benefits.

Of course, may mga online services na din na parang ganito din yung prinoprovide. Kaso syempre, lo-loadan mo pa. Parang Smart Money or GCash.

Ang (isa sa mga) pagkakaiba ng Coins.ph, mag-successfully refer ka lang ng friend, may 50 pesos ka na agad. At tuloy-tuloy yan (while promo lasts). For every successful na referral mo, dagdag 50 pesos. May nakikita pa nga akong active promo sa akin na pag naka-lima akong referral, may +250 pesos ako! Ke additional yan dun sa 50 pesos per referral o hindi, hindi pa rin masama ang free money. =)

And uulitin ko, kung anu man ang pera mong naipon o nailagay mo sa Coins.ph, pwede mo i-withdraw in multiple ways. Yung Security Bank ATM is just one way. And kung nabasa mo yung isa sa mga previous posts ko tungkol sa Bitcoin at farmer ka na rin, pwede mong i-direct yung mga ipon mong satoshis sa coins.ph account mo and convert it to PhP.

Okay, paano mag-refer?

Tapatin kita, kung umabot yung pagbabasa mo hanggang dito, ibig sabihin nainterest kita. Pwede ka naman pumunta direct sa Coins.ph at gumawa ng account dun tapos magstart ka na magrefer, pero ma-appreciate ko kung gagamitin mo yung referral link ko sa baba. At pagkatapos mo i-“verify” ang account mo, pareho tayo may 50 pesos.

https://coins.ph/m/join/mgyizr

IMPORTANT NOTE – Eto yung dadaanan mo sa pag-verify ng coins.ph account mo:

• email verification (usual na to sa karamihan ng sites gaya ng facebook)
• selfie (mag-selfie tapos upload mo dun sa page na hinihingi sya)
• ID verification (kunan mo ng picture ang government ID mo, front and back at upload sa appropriate page)

And once tapos ka na jan, magkaka-50 pesos tayong dalawa. Pwede mo na kunin yung sarili mong referral link at simulan na mag-refer sa sarili mong friends. And ipaalam mo rin sa kanila na pag-verify nila ng account nila, may 50 pesos sya at may 50 ka uli.

Parang networking lang, diba? Pero wala ka gastos. Walang malaking investment. Walang risk. Walang kakaining oras kundi ang pagshare mo lang ng referral link mo sa fb mo. Pwede ka narin gumawa ng sarili mo post. Or pwede rin na i-copy paste mo lang tong ginawa ko tapos palitan mo yung referral link ko ng sarili mong link.

FINAL NOTE: As far as I can tell, promotion tong ginagawa nila. Hindi to maglast permanently, so kung may ilang minutes ka to spare, I highly recommend you try it. And kung may kailangan sa inyo ng guide kung may steps kayo na hirap sa coins.ph, comment lang kayo sa baba. I will help in any way I can. Matter of fact, nag-submit na ko ng resume sa kanila to become a chat support representative. Sana matanggap! Hehehe. And please don’t forget to like and share! =)

Eto uli yung link:

https://coins.ph/m/join/mgyizr

Free education. Right under your nose.

Growing up, I had an insatiable craving for books. They weren’t that expensive back then. I remember I bought several books and they were all just around 90 – 150 PhP each. And mind you, this was about 20 years ago. Now ACTUAL books have become more of a luxury than a way of learning. It’s was extremely frustrating when after I saved up some 200 pesos to buy a new book and then when I got to National Bookstore, the price of the book had gone up to 399!

I don’t think most Filipinos realize how lucky they are during these times. Most here in our country, particularly the underprivileged, use the Internet for its obvious uses: facebook, online games, skype, emails and the like. Some women even resort to exhibiting themselves on their facebook profiles and webcams (and even in public netcafes) in the hopes of finding that foreigner husband to aggressively fall on (or prey on?) and find a way for themselves to the good life. To each his own, or her own. Whatever.

So why am I saying that we’re lucky? I’m getting there.

Any one raised by even half-decent parents have probably heard the droning sermon about getting an education and how important it is. And most of us, especially the previous generation, have it hardwired in their minds that education is equal to that coveted piece of fancy paper with their name in fancy writing: the diploma.

Granted. An actual diploma signifies not just the academic knowledge imparted by the school but also the character-building aspect of going through those grueling years. I even argue that THAT is the actual value of that paper; not the knowledge, but the attitude you would have had to develop to endure it all just to get it. Sure. But unfortunately, not all of us have this opportunity, and some like me, have blatantly wasted it.

So why are we lucky?! Fine. We are lucky because unbeknownst to a lot of us, academic education is right under our noses and most of us just don’t know about it. A lot of websites now generously provide hardcore educational content absolutely free. And when I say hardcore, I’m talking Astrophysics, Chemical Engineering, Linear Equations hardcore, not just basic introduction material designed just to entice you to actually spending money.

What’s the catch? I currently use edx to freshen up on my algebra chops. I’m hoping to put it to good use and help my son who will soon be tackling the subject. The educational content is all there. The catch is you don’t get a certificate or any evidence to show off to anyone that you took the course other than the actual knowledge you got. Well, you could, but for edx, it would cost you around $50 USD.

I can imagine people giving a litany of criticisms about this. “That still sounds useless without a diploma; Sure you learn stuff, but it doesn’t help me get a job; This is not the kind of education that will lead to anything; Without a diploma or even a certificate, it’s somewhat a waste of time.” I’m not saying that free online courses are a complete substitute to the actual University hurdles. I’m saying it just might be the next best thing for a lot of people if a formal diploma is just not a viable option for them for whatever reason. We spend hours upon hours using the Internet everyday for near-idle and inconsequential nothings. I bet sometimes we just stare at our phones and computer screens wondering what else to do. Why not spend a couple of those hours a day learning stuff that can possibly and practically help you along the way?

Dozens of renowned entrepreneurs were college drop-outs. Yes, they succeeded mostly because of their go-getter attitude. But not one of these famous people would have succeeded if they didn’t know enough about what they wanted to build or create. Yes, it was their passion and attitude that drove them to discover and learn and innovate and succeed. So I guess the question you have to ask yourself is, do you have ANY passion whatsoever to succeed in whatever you want to do? Because if you really do, there’s absolutely no excuse to not take advantage of free education.

If you want to check edx out and browse through the hundreds of subjects available there (and if you also liked this post), you can click on the links below. Note that you will be going through Adfly. Just wait a few seconds until the Skip Ad button appears at the top right corner of your browser and then click it.

edx

Below are more free online courses you might also want to check out. Credits to Tricia Miranda for introducing me to moocs! (massively open online courses).

University of the Philippines online courses – just a few courses currently available and not very interactive but still worth a look.

Alison and Coursera – I haven’t tried either one yet. I’m currently juggling too much stuff at the moment. I’m all set with two subjects for now.

Quicktate. A whole lot of nothings but a little of something.

I can’t remember exactly when I developed my typing skills, but I do know how it got started. I was playing an “arcade-y” typing game where you were a wizard at the center of the screen and the “word monsters” slowly crawled up to your from the four corners of the screen. I was still a young kid so the bright colors of the EGA screen along with the blips and blurps of the game had me gleefully entertained. Then my dad got home from work and I showed off my typing speed results (which I can’t remember). He watches me play the game for several times and he says “That’s not how you do it”. He takes my place and mentions the touch system, explaining where my fingers should be on the keyboard and what mesmerized me the most was when he said “You should be able to type without looking at the keyboard”. Whaaaat? Is that even possible?

After a few weeks of practicing, it turns out it was! And ever since, I’ve been working on my typing speed. I’ve been a data encoder several times in my life, which were actually my first series of professional jobs. At one job, they had to fire me unceremoniously because I breezed through all the typing tasks they gave me until they couldn’t find anything more for me that I could do given my skill set. I remember I even had the chance to work as an encoder of legal documents for the office of the late Miriam Defensor Santiago. I botched it, though.

After getting my foot in the door of the call center industry, and several years afterwards, I find myself here now; trying to work from home, wondering what other jobs I can do. I was having a hard time finding a job as a virtual assistant and so I skimmed through the Internet for ideas. Then I chanced upon a particular site that enumerated several options to earn from home that didn’t have anything to do with internet marketing and social media (I hated people who spammed advert posts so I hated the idea of me doing anything resembling it).

One of the options presented was to be a transcriptionist for Quicktate. It suddenly clicked; I had great typing speed and accuracy and I had a good enough ear and a deep enough comprehension for the English language that I didn’t need subtitles when watching an English movie or TV show(which doesn’t mean I don’t use subtitles. It’s still easier!). It was perfect!

After going through the motions as instructed by the Quicktate website, I found myself facing a pay wall: they were asking for $15 to do a background check on me. This was totally new to me. I have never had to pay for anyone to do a background check on me. It seemed like a double-whammy. But then the promised benefit of forever being able to work as much or as little as I want any time of day appealed enough to me that I took the plunge and sunk in what little I had left of my savings for the background check.

After 2 days, I woke up to great news! Quicktate emailed and accepted my application; I was now a transcriptionist! Excitedly I logged in and waited for work to come streaming in. 3 minutes, 4 minutes, nothing. On the fifth minute a recording came in. Gibberish, no intelligible audio. I skipped. Waited. Another recording came, 2 seconds, no audio. Moving on. Few minutes, something came on; all I could hear was the TV in the background talking about someone getting killed. Skip. You get the picture.

As a self-proclaimed analyst, it would be inappropriate to judge them because I do not as of yet have sufficient data to form a statistical analysis and make a conclusion if trying to work for Quicktate full-time was a viable option or not. I’ve been sick for 3 days and was unable to work straight hours. Despite my paying $15 to get this job and a long way before I earn it back, I still feel good about my decision overall. Quicktate will always be there with some work whenever I need it or feel like it. It may not be much. It might not amount to much. But it’s way better than nothing!

For anyone who wants to give it a try, they do not require any previous experience. This is my first time as well. Be prepared for that $15 pay wall though. If you liked my post, click the link below to be redirected to the Quicktate website to get further info you may want to know more about. Please note that you’ll be going through Adfly. Just click on the Skip Ad button at the top right corner of your browser once it appears. Cheers!

Quicktate website