a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

How Facebook and Google are using algorithms to predict your next thought

May02
by on May 2, 2019 at 12:52 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Google


Advertisements follow you everywhere. Google and Facebook have become the de facto diarchs, mining your online attention to track every single move to serve their needs. While it’s becoming increasingly impossible to quench the big tech’s thirst for user data, collect they must in order to sell ads, and for them to survive and grow. So don’t be surprised the next time you have a private conversation with your friend about a specific brand of earphones you were planning to buy, only to see an ad for that very earphone the next time you pick up your phone. According to…

This story continues at The Next Web

Or just read more coverage about: Facebook,Google

└ Tags: , ,
a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

JP Morgan helps Canada and Singapore trial bank transfers on the ‘blockchain’

May02
by on May 2, 2019 at 11:03 am
Posted In: Around the Web, blockchain, cryptocurrency, Hard Fork


Central banks in Canada and Singapore claim to have successfully completed a cross-border payment using distributed ledger technology. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced earlier today that it has successfully settled an international payment with The Bank of Canada, in what it refers to as “Project Jasper-Ubin.” The project’s technology was developed with assistance from management consulting firm Accenture and American bank JP Morgan. The announcement didn’t disclose the total value of the transaction. Both banks have been experimenting with their own proprietary digital coins and distributed ledgers which they linked up using what it calls “hashed time-locked contracts,”…

This story continues at The Next Web

└ Tags: 
a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

NYPD: Bitcoin thieves posing as government officials have stolen over $2M

May02
by on May 2, 2019 at 10:05 am
Posted In: Around the Web, cryptocurrency, Hard Fork


New York’s Police Department (NYPD) is alerting the public about phone scammers posing as Social Security Administration officials and requesting payment in Bitcoin, prepaid gift cards, and bank wire transfers. NYPD noted the scammers have already thieved millions of dollars by exploiting the trusted reputation of government agencies. Such scams are on the rise, NYPD said. So far this year, the NYPD has received more than 200 complaints with losses totalling more than $2 million. In 2018, the NYPD received only three similar complaints. “Sophisticated phone scams use the trust victims have in their own governmental and law enforcement agencies against…

This story continues at The Next Web

Or just read more coverage about: Bitcoin

└ Tags: 
a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

Bitcoin whale moved $212 million in cryptocurrency — for just $3.93

May02
by on May 2, 2019 at 9:55 am
Posted In: Around the Web, blockchain, cryptocurrency, Hard Fork


An infamous Bitcoin ‘whale’ has moved an enormous cryptocurrency fortune in a single transaction, and the network charged less than $4 in fees. Bitcointalk’s famous whale Loaded is moving its 40k BTC stash again.https://t.co/t6y909jN2Ehttps://t.co/TrHwb4s2H6 — Antoine Le Calvez (@khannib) May 1, 2019 “Loaded” is an old-school investor famous for their posts on mainstay forum BitcoinTalk. They’ve held 40,000 BTC for years, and every so often, they move it around. This time, the Bitcoin blockchain charged Loaded just 0.00074227 BTC ($3.93) to send $211.9 million worth of censorship-resistant digital money. Loaded uses ‘SegWit’ Bitcoin address for cheap fees Bitcoin’s price was still above…

This story continues at The Next Web

Or just read more coverage about: Bitcoin

└ Tags: 
a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

This Chrome plugin removes search bias to give women the visibility they deserve

May02
by on May 2, 2019 at 9:35 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Google


Throughout history, women in STEM have contributed massively to build the world as we know it today — from Rosalind Franklin, a chemist whose research helped reveal the components of DNA, to Marie Curie, a physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. But with a quick search of “greatest scientists of all time,” it’ll take a bit of digging to read about these women. A new Google Chrome plugin S.H.E. — Search, Human, Equalizer — transforms the way we search by removing bias and putting the spotlight on pivotal women. Current search results reflect cultural stereotypes and human…

This story continues at The Next Web

└ Tags: ,