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Bitcoin as healthy as ever as the network hits all-time high mining difficulty

May31
by on May 31, 2019 at 10:30 am
Posted In: Around the Web, blockchain, cryptocurrency, Hard Fork


Bitcoin is having a very good week – both in terms of price and the stability of its blockchain. Shortly after surging past $9,000 to hit its highest price for 2019, the cryptocurrency‘s mining difficulty increased by 11.26 percent to 7.46 trillion, setting an all-time high for the network. The previous record came in October, 2018, when the difficulty rose to 7.45 trillion. Bitcoin’s hashrate also continues to grow steadily, currently standing at 53.36 EH/s – a good indication that the network is in a healthy state. The development marks the highest hike in difficulty since December, 2018, when the…

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Two more universities get into blockchain education with specialized online courses

May31
by on May 31, 2019 at 10:08 am
Posted In: Around the Web, blockchain, cryptocurrency, Hard Fork


This week sees two more universities get into the blockchain game by offering courses in cryptocurrency, fintech, and distributed ledger technology. Earlier this week, Ireland‘s Minister for Business, Enterprise, and Innovation Heather Humphreys launched the country’s first Master’s in blockchain technology. While on the other side of the Atlantic, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania introduced a new course on all things fintech. Ireland‘s new blockchain Master’s was developed in collaboration with Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet, a government funded ICT training organization, and Dublin City University. The course is targeted primarily at IT professionals looking to build their…

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Here’s how you can apply experience-design to your everyday life

May31
by on May 31, 2019 at 9:46 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Design & Dev, syndication


The other day a coworker and I were chatting about our phone’s home screens and the way we organize our app icons. We spent a good amount of time describing to one another our implicit rules on how we prioritize homepage icons, how we choose apps that will sit on the edge vs. the middle of the screen, how we thoughtfully select the ones that will stay fixed on the bottom dock. We were verbally documenting our own unspoken rules on how we had “designed” our phone home screen experience. Here’s where I stand as of today: I try to limit…

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Google is cracking down on Drive and Chrome extensions that abuse your data

May31
by on May 31, 2019 at 8:41 am
Posted In: Around the Web


Google is expanding its privacy audit to make third-party developer access to Chrome and Google Drive more secure. To that effect, developers must rework their Chrome extensions to request only minimum permissions without compromising their functionality “We’re requiring extensions to only request access to the appropriate data needed to implement their features,” Google outlined on its Safety and Security page. “If there is more than one permission that could be used to implement a feature, developers must use the permission with access to the least amount of data.” Google is also requiring extensions that “handle personal communications and user-provided content”…

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First impressions: The OnePlus 7 is a ‘flagship’ for people who can resist the Pro

May31
by on May 31, 2019 at 8:37 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Plugged


A few weeks ago, OnePlus released its most extravagant phone yet, the OnePlus 7 Pro. Now, it’s time for its more vanilla variant, the OnePlus 7. While OnePlus blew us off with the new design and a stunning screen with the Pro version, this one’s just an iterative update to the OnePlus 6T, and you might think they’re the same phone when you first look at them. But, more on that later. First, let’s look at the specifications: Specifications Screen: 6.41-inch FullHD AMOLED at 1080×2340 resolution Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, octa-core, up to 2.84 GHz Memory: 6GB/8GB Rear camera: 48–megapixel sensor with f/1.7 aperture +…

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