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You won’t be able to spend your cryptocurrency in Starbucks anytime soon

Aug06
by on August 6, 2018 at 12:01 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, blockchain, cryptocurrency, Hard Fork


No, you won’t be able to spend your cryptocurrency at Starbucks. Last Friday, Starbucks announced that it would be joining and supporting a project known as Bakkt. If successful, Bakkt will leverage Microsoft’s cloud solutions – probably their blockchain based Azure platform – to create an infrastructure for managing and using digital assets. And get this, they say it will be regulated! Regulated digital assets, whatever next! Where blockchain and cryptocurrency are mentioned, the hype train is never far behind. Naturally, when the words “digital assets” are used, people immediately assumed this would mean we could spend our cryptocurrency on…

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Why the lobster emoji has become an unlikely ally to the trans community

Aug06
by on August 6, 2018 at 11:55 am
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web, Social Media


It seems like there’s an emoji for everything — from the world’s favorite cry-laughing face to one of Twitter’s least popular emoji, the aerial tramway. The Unicode Consortium (the group who decides what emoji make it onto our phones) has managed to clog up our keyboards with hundreds of emoji that we’ll probably never use, I mean, when was the last time you used the ABCD emoji in conversation? But while there seems to be an emoji to represent everyone and everything, a significant group has been completely left out — the transgender community. Charlie Craggs, a British activist and author of To My Trans Sisters, has started…

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a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

Why the lobster emoji has become an unlikely ally to the trans community

Aug06
by on August 6, 2018 at 11:55 am
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web, Social Media


It seems like there’s an emoji for everything — from the world’s favorite cry-laughing face to one of Twitter’s least popular emoji, the aerial tramway. The Unicode Consortium (the group who decides what emoji make it onto our phones) has managed to clog up our keyboards with hundreds of emoji that we’ll probably never use, I mean, when was the last time you used the ABCD emoji in conversation? But while there seems to be an emoji to represent everyone and everything, a significant group has been completely left out — the transgender community. Charlie Craggs, a British activist and author of To My Trans Sisters, has started…

This story continues at The Next Web

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Research: More than 56% of all cryptocurrency crime happens in the US

Aug06
by on August 6, 2018 at 11:02 am
Posted In: Around the Web, cryptocurrency, Hard Fork, Insider


The rate of cryptocurrency hacks is rapidly increasing. 720 accounts across every major exchange have been compromised — and a lot of it has to do with poor security setups, especially the lack of two-factor authentication (2FA). International cybersecurity firm Group IB has shown that the number of compromised accounts has risen 369 percent since 2017. Data shared with Hard Fork shows that a staggering third of all victims were located in the US. Every single one of the top 19 exchanges has been hit; 720 usernames and passwords stolen in total. The rate of hacks even mirrored market highs…

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Watch this immersive light show made with astronomical data

Aug06
by on August 6, 2018 at 9:43 am
Posted In: Around the Web, syndication


As a scientist, I was recently involved in bringing my work to the big screen. This was not a Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster but “big screen” in the literal sense: an art production about science that used the Lovell radio telescope, a 3,200-ton steel behemoth supporting of a 76-meter wide dish, to generate and show audio-visual art that drew on scientific data. I have been involved with numerous public engagement opportunities over the years: giving public lectures, visiting students in schools, interacting on social media, being interviewed about new discoveries. There is however another form of public engagement that I have…

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