Entrepreneurship

Wis. Restaurant Gives 1965 Prices to Customers Who Pay With Pre-1965 Coins

"How about a hamburger for 12 cents, or 10 of them for $1. Like fries? 10 cents. Chicken? 100 pieces for $4.55. And you can nab a Perch sandwich for 20 cents. The sign went up about three months ago. So far, Tikalsky says they’ve made a 'couple dozen' sales with the special. 'You know, it’s the older clientele that come in here,' he explained. 'They think that’s pretty neat, you know, older coins.' He added later, 'We get a lot of older clientele here in the morning who drink coffee for a couple hours at a time and that gave them something to talk about for a week or two.'" Continue reading →

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PayPal freezes GlassUp’s $100K crowdfunding money, eventually releases it

"Today, the news is good: PayPal is releasing the funds. 'It’s great news. It’s wonderful,' Giartosio told me this morning from Venice, Italy. 'Now I can open PayPal payments again on the campaign.' Early this morning, a PayPal representative contacted me with the news. It turns out, on reflection, that there’s nothing nefarious about an Italian wearable computing company — and that PayPal thinks GlassUp is actually a pretty cool product. The question is: How much more successful would GlassUp have been if PayPal had not caused this problem? Or if, even after freezing the account, someone had just Googled the project, picked up the phone, and had a conversation?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPayPal freezes GlassUp’s $100K crowdfunding money, eventually releases it

Micropayments now ready to slash price of online news

"Microtransactions could let users read the rest of a New York Times article for a few cents instead of signing up for a full monthly subscription, Armstrong wrote, or 'pay for Wi-Fi internet metered by the minute (or second!) if you just need to check one email' or 'support your favorite artists or coders with a tip'. The idea of a Bitcoin-based paywall is already out there. BitWall aims to give publishers more flexibility over how they charge for content, allowing for sales of daily, weekly or monthly subscriptions, or on a per-article basis. Meanwhile, Flattr allows people to make donations to the creators of free online content." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMicropayments now ready to slash price of online news

It’s Time for a Crypto Bank: The Crypto Finance IPO

"Coupled with recent moves from the US Government, the sporadic shutdown of Bitcoin services, and suspicion from many other banks over Bitcoin transactions, users must be eagerly awaiting the launch of the world’s first crypto bank: Crypto Finance. Crypto Finance is planning to launch in Q4 this year, and will be based in Panama. The company will offer personal and business bank accounts for individuals converting up to 20 different Fiat currencies, and an exchange for purchasing crypto currency with Fiat currency. Transactions will be faster, fees lower, and '100% of the funds will remain intact in the customer’s account'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIt’s Time for a Crypto Bank: The Crypto Finance IPO

Australian bank closes personal accounts of Bitcoin startup’s founders

"Last Friday we found out that our automatic payouts weren’t being processed. Incoming transactions were fine and unaffected. Our first point of contact was the business banking hotline, CommBiz, which advised us to go in to our local branch to sort things out. Going in to the branch we were told that it had to be settled by the Security team. The worse case scenario we were told, was we would have to close and re-open our bank account with CBA. We were told there would be an update on Friday. We had a call back from our branch to tell us the update was, 'no further information.'" Continue reading →

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Here’s What It’s Like To Buy Drugs On Three Anonymous Online Black Markets

"The hardest part of scoring drugs in the age of the digital black market? Choosing among all the consumer-friendly websites ready to sell them. Our results were mixed, and far from scientific, since we made only one buy per site, and each site hosts dozens or hundreds of vendors. (The sites’ third-party seller model is more akin to eBay and Etsy than Amazon or Zappos.) We also couldn’t test the quality of the products–Our lawyer insisted we destroy them. (See video below.) But this much is clear: the age of narcotics e-commerce has arrived." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHere’s What It’s Like To Buy Drugs On Three Anonymous Online Black Markets

Meet The Man Behind Booming Black Market Drug Website Silk Road

"Anyone can download and run Tor, exchange some dollars or euros for the digital currency Bitcoin and go shopping on Silk Road for drugs that are vacuum-sealed and discreetly mailed via the U.S. Postal Service. By one measure, Roberts’ eBay-like service was grossing $1.2 million a month in the first half of 2012. Since then the site has doubled its product listings, and revenue now hits an annual run-rate of $30 million to $45 million by FORBES’ estimate. One analysis found that Silk Road received around 60,000 visits a day, mostly users seeking to buy or sell drugs, along with other illicit items including unregulated cigarettes and forged documents." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMeet The Man Behind Booming Black Market Drug Website Silk Road

Owner of Snowden’s Email Service on Why He Closed Lavabit Rather Than Comply

"Lavabit, an encrypted email service believed to have been used by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, has abruptly shut down. The move came amidst a legal fight that appeared to involve U.S. government attempts to win access to customer information. In a Democracy Now! broadcast exclusive, we are joined by Lavabit owner Ladar Levison and his lawyer, Jesse Binnall. 'Unfortunately, I can’t talk about it. I would like to, believe me,' Levison says. 'I think if the American public knew what our government was doing, they wouldn’t be allowed to do it anymore.'" Continue reading →

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Lavabit.com owner: ‘I could be arrested’ for resisting order to turn over user info

"The owner of an encrypted email service used by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden said he has been threatened with criminal charges for refusing to comply with a secret surveillance order to turn over information about his customers. 'I could be arrested for this action,' Ladar Levison told NBC News about his decision to shut down his company, Lavabit, in protest over a secret court order he had received from a federal court that is overseeing the investigation into Snowden. Levison said he started Lavabit 10 years ago to capitalize on public concerns about the Patriot Act. Until he shut down, his small company was generating about $100,000 in revenue annually." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLavabit.com owner: ‘I could be arrested’ for resisting order to turn over user info