economic Trends

Why Bitcoin is the banking industry’s newest, biggest threat

"Bitcoin’s big advantage is that it is essentially the cold, hard cash of the Internet. Instead of bills, Bitcoin’s software keeps a public ledger of every transaction among users. If a buyer and seller are running the software on their computers, they can directly exchange Bitcoins, anonymously and with no taxes or bank fees. Others can pay a company to process the payment. Bitcoin accounts are listed simply as a string of letters and numbers with no names attached, giving a level of anonymity impossible with debit and credit cards or even PayPal accounts." Continue reading →

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European Space Agency ponders asteroid-smashing mission

"The proposed mission, called AIDA (for 'Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment'), would consist of a pair of spacecraft (sadly, not named Armageddon and Deep Impact) flung at the near-Earth asteroid 65803 Didymos. Didymos is actually a binary object consisting of a large primary mass and much smaller secondary satellite mass. The idea with the AIDA mission, which would take place near the end of 2022, is to accelerate a small kinetic impactor spacecraft to a relative velocity of 6.25 kilometers per second and crash it into the secondary Didymos mass. A second spacecraft would hold off a short distance away and measure the orbital deflection." Continue reading →

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Company plans to mine asteroids with ‘FireFlies’ spacecraft

"A US company said Tuesday it plans to send a fleet of spacecraft into the solar system to mine asteroids for metals and other materials in the hopes of furthering exploration of the final frontier. In a first step, the company plans to send 'asteroid-prospecting spacecraft' into the solar system, with the first — 55-pound (25-kilogram) 'FireFlies' — to be launched in 2015 on journeys of two to six months." Continue reading →

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Dutch architect to build house with 3D printer

"A Dutch architect has designed a house 'with no beginning or end' to be built using the world’s largest 3D printer, harnessing technology that may one day be used to print houses on the moon. Janjaap Ruijssenaars, 39, of Universe Architecture in Amsterdam, wants to print a Mobius strip-shaped building with around 1,100 square metres (12,000 square feet) of floor space using the massive D-Shape printer. The printer, designed by Italian Enrico Dini, can print up to almost a six-metre-by-six-metre square (20-foot-by-20-foot), using a computer to add layers 5-10 mm (a quarter to half an inch) thick." Continue reading →

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British scientists announce breakthrough in turning DNA into data storage

"Scientists in Britain on Wednesday announced a breakthrough in the quest to turn DNA into a revolutionary form of data storage. A speck of man-made DNA can hold mountains of data that can be freeze-dried, shipped and stored, potentially for thousands of years, they said. The contents are 'read' by sequencing the DNA — as is routinely done today, in genetic fingerprinting and so on — and turning it back into computer code. To prove their concept, the team encoded an MP3 recording of Martin Luther King’s 'I Have A Dream' speech; a digital photo of their lab; a PDF; a file of all of Shakespeare’s sonnets; and a document that describes the data storage technique." Continue reading →

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3-D Printing Revolution: Printing Human Hearts

"Creating a solid, three-dimensional object from a printer sounds like science fiction but it’s very real. 3-D printing has created prosthetic legs, racing-car parts, customized mobile phones and more. 'These were experimental technologies for decades and now they’re commercial,' says Josh Brown, vice president of Fusion Analytics. 'And the applications essentially cut across every vertical from health care to defense to aerospace to manufacturing to oil and gas. There is nothing that’s not going to benefit from some of these newly commercialized 3-D technologies.'" Continue reading →

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Thousands of armed protestors gather at state capitols in pro-assault rifle rallies across the country

"The size of crowds at each location varied - from dozens of people in South Dakota to 2,000 in New York. Large crowds also turned out in Connecticut, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Washington state. Some demonstrators in Olympia, Wash., Phoenix, Salem, Ore., and Salt Lake City came with holstered handguns or rifles on their backs. At the Kentucky Capitol in Frankfort, attendees gave a special round of applause for 'the ladies that are packin'." Continue reading →

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What’s An American To Do?

"The decision by Reed Exhibitions to ban modern sporting rifles, their documentation, any pictures or even brochures of these 'products that in the current climate may attract negative attention' has caused a maelstrom of outrage. A boycott of sponsors, vendors and the NRA has grown quickly, and now virtually no major gun manufacturers will be exhibiting or participating in this year’s show. A ‘Virtual Sports Show’ has been set up to allow companies choosing to opt out of the exhibition in support of our rights under the second amendment can still connect with customers wishing to support them and purchase their products and services." Continue reading →

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Central Banks Repatriate Gold: How Will This Affect Investors?

"Germany made an even bigger splash than Japan in the gold market recently with its surprise announcement last week that the Bundesbank would begin repatriating gold reserves held overseas. The central bank said it wanted to keep more than 50% of its gold reserves at home, up from slightly less than one-third currently. With that in mind, the Bundesbank will move all its gold reserves now held in Paris back to Germany, and reduce its reserves held in New York City. And Germany isn’t alone. There’s talk that the Netherlands and Azerbaijan will also repatriate gold reserves." Continue reading →

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ECB’s Weidmann: pressure on central banks risks FX competition

"Loading central banks with more tasks and pressing them to pursue more aggressive monetary policies could risk a round of competitive devaluations, European Central Bank policymaker Jens Weidmann said on Monday, citing pressure on the Bank of Japan. Weidmann is the latest in a string of policymakers worldwide to warn of the threat of a 'currency war' as central banks pump out cash to support their economies, reducing their value in the process." Continue reading →

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