technology

Security-Enhanced Android: NSA Edition

"Through its open-source Android project, Google has agreed to incorporate code, first developed by the agency in 2011, into future versions of its mobile operating system, which according to market researcher IDC runs on three-quarters of the smartphones shipped globally in the first quarter. NSA officials say their code, known as Security Enhancements for Android, isolates apps to prevent hackers and marketers from gaining access to personal or corporate data stored on a device. Eventually all new phones, tablets, televisions, cars, and other devices that rely on Android will include NSA code, agency spokeswoman Vanee’ Vines said." Continue reading →

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New turbine to capture energy from both wind and waves slated for testing

"A Japanese company is set to test a new power generation system which -- for the first time -- should harness the energy of both the sea and the wind to feed the demand for electricity on land. That's the dream of chief visionary Takuju Nakamura, anyway. At the Tokyo headquarters of his company, Modec, Nakamura explained that the new turbine design should generate about twice as much power as a traditional wind turbine of the same diameter. Nakamura explained that 80 to 90 percent of the power generated would come from the large wind-catching turbine floating over the sea, with another underwater turbine expected to produce the rest." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin Roundtable: Jeff Berwick, Trace Mayer, Jason Burack and Gabe Sukenik

"Trace Mayer, JD is an angel investor in Bitcoin and Bitcoin companies and he also runs RuntoGold.com and HowtoVanish.com. Get your free beginner's ebook about Bitcoin by Trace Mayer here: https://www.coindl.com/page/item/242 Jeff Berwick is a tech entrepreneur, investor and businessman who has founded many successful companies. Gabe Sukenik is a director at the Bitcoin startup Coinapult which is involved in the Bitcoin supply chain. Jason Burack runs the podcast Wall St for Main St you can visit the website here: http://www.wallstformainst.com/" Continue reading →

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Bitcoin wallet service to issue refunds after users’ funds stolen

"A widely used Bitcoin wallet service plans to issue refunds to people who saw their bitcoins stolen as a result of a weakness in its application. Blockchain.info, which has a Web-based service called My Wallet, has also upgraded its application after finding a vulnerability similar to one discovered earlier this month in some Bitcoin wallet programs running on the Android mobile OS. Interest in Bitcoin has surged since its debut just four years ago. The system offers a low-cost way to transmit virtual currency over the Internet, and many companies and entrepreneurs are working to solve concerns around how to safeguard bitcoins from hackers." Continue reading →

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Buttercoin Uses Bitcoin To Attack The $500B-A-Year Remittances Economy

"The World Bank estimates that migrants will send about $515 billion to relatives in developing countries by 2015, which is about 10 times the size of the U.S.’s budget for foreign aid. The old stand-bys like Western Union can charge around 10 percent for transactions in the market, an amount that Buttercoin co-founders Cedric Dahl and Bennett Hoffman find obscene. Buttercoin plans to open in India within the next three months and then to operate in six countries in nine months’ time. When they enter a market, they pair with local money transfer businesses to have legal compliance in the country." Continue reading →

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Five surprising facts about Bitcoin

"This has been a big year for Bitcoin. At the start of the year, interest in the virtual currency was largely limited to technology buffs. Then the price rose more than 10-fold, prompting regulators, investors and the general public to take a closer look. To help policymakers get up to speed, the Mercatus Center, a libertarian think tank, has published a new primer on the technical, economic and legal issues raised by the currency. Here are five of the most interesting observations that the authors, Jerry Brito and Andrea Castillo, make about Bitcoin." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin takes off — on the ground in Berlin

"Across the Spree River on Berlin’s north side, Aaron Koenig dons a bowler cap as he welcomes guests to an industrial co-working space for the second Berlin Bitcoin Exchange (BXB) — a monthly event he founded to allow buyers and sellers to meet face to face and exchange Bitcoins for euros, dollars or otherwise. Both June and July’s exchanges drew a fluid crowd of about 50 people, with plans to expand the event into a maker’s market where visitors can spend their Bitcoins right after purchasing them. Koenig said growing problems with the euro mean the benefits of Bitcoin are beginning to outweigh the risks." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin: Understated benefits and overstated risks

"Built within the Bitcoin protocol are capabilities to develop other financial innovations, like notary services, encrypted communications, and 'smart' collateral contracts. Developers and businesspeople are still learning the myriad applications for this innovative technology. Just as the public debate understates some of the benefits of Bitcoin, it also overstates some of the concerns. The hypothetical crimes that Bitcoin may enable are traditionally committed with cash, but policymakers would never dream of criminalizing cash. Instead, they regulate the use of cash. Regulations targeting Bitcoin could adopt this time-tested approach." Continue reading →

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New Zealand passes law allowing domestic surveillance

"New Zealand passed legislation Wednesday allowing its main intelligence agency to spy on residents and citizens. The bill to expand the power of the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) passed by 61 votes to 59. 'This is not, and never will be, about wholesale spying on New Zealanders,' Prime Minister John Key told parliament. 'There are threats our government needs to protect New Zealanders from, those threats are real and ever-present and we underestimate them at our peril.' The push to change the law came after it emerged last year that the GCSB illegally spied on Internet tycoon Kim Dotcom." Continue reading →

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