Entrepreneurship

Credit Union: Bitcoin’s New Best Friends?

"The Internet Archive Federal Credit Union would like to help both the people who are setting up bitcoin exchanges and those who want to do business with them, navigating them through the regulatory landscape by setting up accounts that follow know-your-customer laws. Modell would also like to work to set up low-cost, overnight transfers between bitcoin exchanges and the bank accounts of their customers. This would be a much cheaper alternative to wire transfers, which can cost more than forty dollars each. Finally, Modell says the credit union may extend credit lines up to $5000 to individuals that are investing in bitcoin through these exchanges." Continue reading →

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Fed: “Growing concern that college graduates are increasingly underemployed”

"This is not rocket science theory, but it is accurate. Coming out of the Fed, that in itself is unusual. But bottom line: If you are a college grad, who can't find a job, head to the big city. For those of you who haven't yet decided to go to college, it may make sense to take James Altucher's advice, skip college and just travel. Altucher's advice sure worked for David Karp. Forget skipping college, Karp dropped out of high school. At 17, Karp dropped out of Bronx High School of Science and decided to live in Japan. He eventually headed back to the US, founded Tumblr and just sold it to Yahoo for $1.1 billion." Continue reading →

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San Francisco bacon restaurant forced to close over smell

"The owner of Bacon Bacon, an eatery that specialized in all things porcine, was forced to shut down this week over complaints by neighbors that it smelled too, well, bacon-y. Neighbors claimed they offered to buy owner Jim Angelus a new air filter to help remedy the issue but were shut down. However, the complaints did lead to the discovery that the restaurant also lacked proper health permits. Bacon Bacon may be able to secure those permits, but a hearing can't be held until July. So, until then, the restaurant must close. Angelus dismissed reports of illegal activity on the restaurant's Facebook page and said he plans to keep operating the restaurant's food truck." Continue reading →

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Yahoo prepares to buy Tumblr for up to $1.1 billion

"Marissa Mayer, the former Googler who is now chief executive of Yahoo, is poised to create yet another nothing-to-riches tale in the web industry with a rumoured $1.1bn (£720m) acquisition of the blogging site Tumblr. Tumblr was only founded in 2007, by David Karp, then 21, in his bedroom in his mother’s apartment in New York. Within a fortnight it had 75,000 users; by January 2012, there were 42m blogs on the site; today, there are around 110m, and the investors who have poured $125m into the company include Sir Richard Branson." Continue reading →

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That 3-D Printed Gun? It’s Just the Start

"In 2009, a German hacker going by the name Ray used a 3-D printer to fabricate a plastic key to the handcuffs used by Dutch police. He created the copy using only a photograph of an actual key. Last year, Ray demonstrated how to open even high-security handcuffs. The ability to copy keys isn’t new but, as with many of these dangers, 3-D printing will make it a lot easier. Just think of all the things -- houses, cars, offices -- we still use keys to open. Professor Lee Cronin, at the University of Glasgow, has been experimenting with something he calls 'reactionware,' which he hopes will allow people to print their own medication at home." Continue reading →

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Richard Branson: Space tourism won’t hurt environment

"More than 500 people have already reserved seats — and paid deposits on the $200,000 ticket price — for a minutes-long suborbital flight on the SpaceShipTwo (SS2) set to begin by the end of this year. 'We have reduced the (carbon emission) cost of somebody going into space from something like two weeks of New York’s electricity supply… to less than the cost of a economy round-trip from Singapore to London,' Branson told reporters in Singapore. The SS2′s lightweight carbon-fibre body will also 'reduce fuel burn dramatically', he said." Continue reading →

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Tesla’s Elon Musk Is No Dummy

"You have to be pretty smart to create an online payment company, an electric car company and a space exploration company in quick succession. Indeed, Elon Musk, who founded or co-founded PayPal, Tesla Motors and SpaceX, has degrees in economics and physics. He started a PhD at Stanford in applied physics and materials science, but dropped out to become an entrepreneur. Smart move. Today, Musk is worth an estimated $4.3 billion after strong gains in Tesla shares, along with Solar City, where he is chairman and owns 28 percent. Proceeds from share sales will be used to pay off Tesla’s taxpayer loan under a Department of Energy program." Continue reading →

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BitPremier Sells Luxury Goods For Bitcoin

"We've found a guy who claims to be putting his Trump Soho condo up for sale. And he will only take payment in Bitcoin. Later today, he will advertise the property exclusively on BitPremier, the first-ever online Bitcoin exchange exclusively for luxury goods. The site launches today. We recently spoke by phone with BitPremier founder Alan Silbert, who also serves as a VP for GE Capital, about the goals for BitPremier. He said purchasing options for people who own lots of Bitcoin have thus far been limited. Along with the choice condo, the site will also launch with a Bahamas villa, a Leroy Neiman artwork, and a high-end watch. A Ferrari and Mercedes are also imminent." Continue reading →

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Reporting from Bitcoin Conference 2013

"All attending the first Bitcoin 2013 conference in Silicon Valley are considering it a success. There are more than 1,000 attendees and the entrance fee to the event is $350.00. At one booth, Bitcoins were being sold for cash with no ID checks. Walk up to the booth lay down your money and buy your bitcoins. The money was piling up. The less 'corporate,' the more renegade seemed to be the operators and the more willing these operators seemed to be willing to challenge the government. One corporate type said to me that virtual currencies are in their infancy and that lawsuits, fighting and jail time for some will occur before the crypto-currency world becomes more defined." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin mining – public companies

"Bitcoin mining companies have several advantages over running a mining operation yourself. The most significant one is that you don’t have to worry about setting up and maintaining mining hardware. Many of these companies have built-in plans to increase their speed as the network difficulty rises, reducing the risk of a quickly diminishing payout. Additionally, selling shares is significantly more liquid than selling mining hardware if you decide not to be in the mining business anymore. The counter-point to these advantages is that you will be paying a management fee of several percent that will come out of profits." Continue reading →

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