technology

What Will Software Eat Next?

"Just look at the industries that software-driven companies have taken over in last decade: In publishing, Amazon and its Kindle destroyed Borders and flipped the industry's financials on their heads; In movies and music, Netflix and Apple's iTunes displaced Blockbuster and Best Buy, not to mention the local record shop and the CD and DVD themselves; In photography, Shutterfly and Snapfish supplanted Kodak, only to be handed their own walking papers by Facebook and Instagram. Software stands at the threshold of even more explosive growth as it will continue to reshape entire industries. The million-dollar question is: What's next? There are several industries that are on high alert." Continue reading →

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How New Zealand banned software patents without violating international law

"What do you do when you’re a small country with a technology industry convinced that innovation requires the banning of software patents, but you’ve signed an international treaty that in theory obliges you to make software patentable? If you’re New Zealand, you simply declare that software isn’t an invention in the first place. In 1998, the head of the UK Patent Office commented that European law says that a piece of pure software is not technically an invention. In New Zealand, a poll of the members of the Institute of IT Professionals revealed that 94% were in favor of banning software patents. In India, courts have upheld that country’s ban on software patents." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin offers privacy—as long as you don’t cash out or spend it

"Using special algorithms, the researchers were able to associate large numbers of seemingly anonymous bitcoins addresses with certain major services such as exchanges and payment processors, said Sarah Meiklejohn, a doctoral candidate in computer science at UC San Diego, who assisted in the research. For example, they linked more than 500,000 Bitcoin addresses with Mt. Gox, a popular exchange in Japan where users buy and sell bitcoins. 'We saw a lot of people deposit into Silk Road directly from their Mt. Gox address,' Meiklejohn said. In those cases, law enforcement would have minimal work to obtain the name of a user if they presented a legal order to Mt. Gox." Continue reading →

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American anti-virus mogul McAfee warns Canadians about government spying

"As an anti-virus software tycoon at the head of McAfee Security, he says his early clients ranged from the CIA to the American navy and air force. 'The first six years of McAfee, 90 per cent of our income came from the government. The First Gulf War I donated $40 million worth of software to the U.S. Army,' he says. McAfee said intelligence officials were worried that encryption technology would get out of the U.S. and into the wrong hands. McAfee also says the growth of electronic currencies like Bitcoin is unstoppable, despite efforts by governments to curb their use. 'It will be everywhere and the world will have to readjust. World governments will have to readjust.'" Continue reading →

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Jeffrey Tucker: We’re All Edward Snowden Now

"In the course of only a few decades, everything unraveled. The monopoly over communication that the government once maintained had been completely smashed. This situation has persisted for about 15 years — a near-anarchist paradise of human sharing and interaction through technological innovation. What’s going on today is really the reaction and response by the elites. They want their power and control back. They are trying to get it through the oldest form of government control surveillance and the blackmail that comes with it. It’s the tactic guards used to control prisoners. It’s the tactic government is using to fight its way back toward having control over our lives." Continue reading →

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Facebook to pay 614,000 users $15 each over privacy concerns

"A lawsuit that accused Facebook of misappropriating users’ images ended with a settlement on Monday. The agreement states that the social media site has to pay approximately 614,000 Facebook users $15 each for using their information for advertising purposes. While approximately 150 million Facebook users’ images and likenesses were allegedly used to promote products and services through the Sponsored Stories program, only users who entered a claim form by May 2, 2013, were eligible to receive settlement funds. As part of the settlement, Facebook will give users greater information about and control over how they are featured in the Sponsored Stories." Continue reading →

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Elysium: The Technological Side of the American Police State

"While much has been said about Blomkamp’s use of Elysium to raise concerns about immigration, access to healthcare, worker’s rights, and socioeconomic stratification, what I found most striking and unnerving was its depiction of how the government will employ technologies such as drones, tasers and biometric scanners to track, target and control the populace, especially dissidents. Mind you, while these technologies are already in use today and being hailed for their potentially life-saving, cost-saving, time-saving benefits, it won’t be long before the drawbacks to having a government equipped with technology that makes it all-seeing, all-knowing, and all-powerful far outdistance the benefits." Continue reading →

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The Rush to Bitcoin ASICs: Ravi Iyengar launches CoinTerra

"Coming into the ASIC market is CoinTerra, headed up by Ravi Iyengar, former CPU Lead Architect at Samsung’s Austin Research Center (SARC). Ravi’s focus at SARC was on the CPU Mid-Core, including integer execution and special purpose registers (good for Bitcoin). His history also includes helping design chips for the SGS4, as well as stints at Intel, Qualcomm and NVIDIA. At CoinTerra he is joined by Jim O’Connor, VP of Engineering with a history of SOC design and Dr. Naveed Sherwani, CEO of Open Silicon. CoinTerra has raised $1.5 million from investors to fund development costs and an initial production run. CoinTerra’s CEO was happy to speak to us and answer a few questions." Continue reading →

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Chip veterans form new startup, will sell high-end Bitcoin miner for $14,000

"On Tuesday, a new Bitcoin startup called CoinTerra announced that it raised $1.5 million in venture capital. This likely puts the company in a position to dominate the Bitcoin hardware market—assuming it can come through on its promises. Earlier this month, CoinTerra revealed the TerraMiner IV, a two terahash per second ASIC Bitcoin miner that will sell for $13,999 and is set to ship in December 2013. (An ASIC is a specialized computer designed to one specific task, in this case the goal is mining bitcoins.) By contrast, the one that Ars tested earlier this year was a five gigahash per second device made by Butterfly Labs." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChip veterans form new startup, will sell high-end Bitcoin miner for $14,000

10 Futuristic or out of the ordinary projects that accept Bitcoin

"Financing novelty projects can be a challenge when it comes to gather supporters, but Bitcoin might be a great help. In these cases, when the projects sound too outrageous for conventional financial investment, cryptocurrency steps in to change the game. Take a look at these 10 examples." Continue reading →

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