Entrepreneurship

Living On Bitcoin For A Week: The Journey Begins

"On Tuesday morning, I emptied my wallet of all of the cash and credit cards before I left my house. Many journalists have been writing about the mechanics of buying Bitcoin and the resulting heart palpitations as they watched the dramatic rises and falls in the digital currency’s worth over the last few weeks. But that’s just a story about gambling. My editor issued a different challenge to test the currency’s legitimacy: 'Don’t just buy Bitcoin. Live on it for a week.'" Continue reading →

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Dronebusters: Turning Spy Drones into Barney Fife

"An Oregon company says that it has developed a new technology which will prevent drones from 'completing their mission.' It will not say how this technology does this. It does not say what it will cost. But it claims that commercial units will be affordable for private homes. Whether local governments will place restrictions on its use, the way some states have made using car-based radar speed trap detectors illegal, also is yet to be seen. The important thing is that the company says the technology exists. There will probably be cheap Chinese knock-offs. The creativity of the free market works against the government. So does the basic incompetence of the government." Continue reading →

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Fincen’s New Regulations Are Choking Bitcoin Entrepreneurs

"More than a decade ago, regulators nearly suffocated PayPal. Now it looks like they’re trying to squelch another disruptive, innovative payments system. At least three exchanges in the U.S. that traded the digital currency Bitcoin have shut down, apparently as a result of guidance issued last month by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. That agency has emerged as the top threat, at least in in the United States, to the decentralized Bitcoin network – moreso than the widely reported price volatility and hacker attacks. The fact that bitcoin survives at all with so many powerful forces lined up against it is a testament to its resiliency and tenacity." Continue reading →

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Collected Quotations Of The Dread Pirate Roberts, Silk Road Founder

"In public, the pseudonymous Internet drug czar known as the Dread Pirate Roberts doesn’t say much. But within the community that the Dread Pirate Roberts has created, Silk Road’s founder is hardly so shy. On the Tor-hidden online forums associated with Silk Road, Roberts posts long manifestos, philosophical and political musings, love letters to Silk Road’s users, and even hosts the Dread Pirate Roberts Book Club, a reading and discussion group devoted to 'agorism, counter-economics, anarcho-capitalism, Austrian economics, political philosophy, freedom issues and related topics.'" Continue reading →

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BitCoin Is Gold 2.0: Venture Capitalist

"The bitcoin boom is just getting started, two venture capitalists said Monday at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference. Get ready for a wave of new bitcoin start-ups, said Chris Dixon, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Dixon, who said he has a 'fair amount' invested in bitcoins, said that tech entrepreneurs have historically struggled to get into the financial tech space because of its massive size and the rigid regulations related to the finance industry. But the anonymous payment network that bitcoin provides helps avoid these obstacles and that has entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley excited, Dixon said." Continue reading →

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Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo makes first powered flight

"The spaceplane being developed by UK billionaire Sir Richard Branson has made its first powered flight. The vehicle was dropped from a carrier aircraft high above California's Mojave Desert and ignited its rocket engine to go supersonic for a few seconds. Sir Richard's intention is to use the spaceship to carry fare-paying passengers on short pleasure rides above the Earth's atmosphere. His company Virgin Galactic has already taken hundreds of deposits." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin Dealers Are Running Into Problems In Canada

"Two Canadian businessmen recently got some bad news from their banks. James Grant, owner of Canadian Bitcoins, got a letter. Melvin Ng, proprietor of CADBitcoin, got a phone call. Both men run online exchanges where you can purchase Bitcoins for Canadian dollars. And both were informed their businesses’ accounts frozen by Canada’s largest banks. 'It’s a weird situation,' Ng told us by phone recently. 'We’re a normal Canadian business, we’re registered with the government, and a Canadian bank can just block it off.' Grant was more blunt: 'They just don’t like Bitcoins.'" Continue reading →

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3D-Printed Weapons Builder Says He’s Ready to Print Entire Handgun

"For Cody Wilson, the world's most notorious 3D printing gunsmith, it all started with a simple question: 'Can you use a 3D printer to print a gun?' The answer to that question might come sooner than anybody expected, as Wilson says he will 3D-print an entire handgun in just a couple of weeks. The gun will be made of 12 parts, all printed in ABS+, a very sturdy type of thermoplastic. There might be, perhaps, just one small metal part — a firing pin. While Wilson and his team are still designing the weapon, it won't be a reproduction of an existing firearm, but instead a custom design." Continue reading →

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Shedding New Light On Basement Marijuana Technology

"I've known GGL for years, and I knew that even when it was illegal, he used marijuana for medical reasons. The whole grow-your-own was a new thing for him -- and me. Gardening is generally pretty low-tech. Growing plants in one's basement in order to maximize output while minimizing input is not, and it satisfies GGL's inner tech geek in ways that just cultivating plants would not. He gets the same way about brewing beer, about hunting for razor clams, and about re-engineering instruments for RockBand. GGL is a man after PopSci's geeky heart and brain if there ever was one." Continue reading →

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