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WhatsApp can now protect your chats with TouchID and FaceID (and I hope it gets copied)

Feb04
by on February 4, 2019 at 9:07 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider


WhatsApp is launching a new security feature that’s so simple and useful, I’m surprised more messaging apps haven’t implemented it. Starting today, WhatsApp will allow you to lock the app using TouchID or FaceID (Android is on the way). You’ll have to use biometric security to authenticate access. For someone like me, who doesn’t mind lending his phone to others but would prefer they not snoop through my messages – or open one by accident – it could come in handy. It’s also useful if you don’t mind giving away your passcode for someone to, say, make a phone call,…

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I’m fairly certain this isn’t MWC 2019’s official website

Feb04
by on February 4, 2019 at 5:06 pm
Posted In: Around the Web


Later this month, I’ll jet off to Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade show. It’s taking place in the year of our Lord 2019. MWC 2019. Or MWC 19, for short. MWC is probably the biggest event in the mobile calendar, and is arguably the biggest tech trade in Europe show, rivalled only by perhaps IFA in Berlin. It’s a serious event, with over 100,000 journalists, analysts, and smartphone industry insiders in attendance. This makes it all the more funnier that the website MWC19.com (VERY VERY VERY NSFW) leads to a Chinese language porn site. It’s highly likely…

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You ought to understand Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work after reading this

Feb04
by on February 4, 2019 at 4:55 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, blockchain, cryptocurrency, Hard Fork, Hard Fork Basics


Welcome to Hard Fork Basics, a collection of tips, tricks, guides, and advice to keep you up to date in the cryptocurrency and blockchain world. Despite the word blockchain being fired around with Gatling gun-like fervor, not all blockchains are created equal. This episode of Hard Fork Basics is going to take a look at one of the blockchain’s most defining characteristics, its consensus mechanism, specifically Proof-of-Work (PoW). By the end you should hopefully  be able to prove you know what it’s all about. Proof-of-Work as a concept A consensus mechanism is basically the process that a blockchain uses to…

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BitcoinSV ‘feature’ exploited to store child abuse imagery on the blockchain

Feb04
by on February 4, 2019 at 4:22 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, blockchain, cryptocurrency, Hard Fork


A change to the Bitcoin Satoshi’s Vision (BSV) protocol has inadvertently led to child exploitation material being posted to its blockchain, forcing apps and block explorers into actively monitoring the network for illegal content. This was made possible after community members increased the amount of data accepted in transactions by 450 times (to 100KB), allowing for images, video, and audio to be stored in BSV’s blockchain. The abhorrent imagery was first discovered on a site that displays files “hosted” by the BSV network. Later investigations revealed the content was “uploaded” with a transaction processed by Money Button, a payment app specific to the…

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How Netflix are dominating the cultural conversation

Feb04
by on February 4, 2019 at 2:09 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Contributors


Before the days of the internet, mobile phones and on-demand streaming services, there were only a handful of TV channels at our disposal. Movie premiers and new episodes of the latest must-watch TV show were affectionately referred to as event TV or water cooler moments that would be discussed the following day. Those days are long gone. Everybody now has a personalized schedule that they watch at their own pace. You can seldom talk about any show with a friend, colleague or significant other without someone shouting spoiler alert. Have no fear; this is not another nostalgia-fuelled post looking back…

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