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Quebec’s electricity deal with cryptocurrency miners makes sense

May30
by on May 30, 2018 at 5:27 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Hard Fork


Earlier today, Le Journal de Montreal reported that the Quebecois government will lift its ban on the sale of electricity to cryptocurrency miners, which has been in place since March, 2018. Instead, Quebec is looking for a more measured relationship with the mining companies that have fled to Canada’s second-most populous province in search of cheap electricity. Quebec is blessed with a supply of low-cost electricity, thanks to Hydro-Québec’s network of 63 hydroelectric power stations. This (and the crackdown on cryptocurrency mining in China) has attracted a steady flow of would-be bitcoin miners. Unfortunately, the demand for electricity wasn’t sustainable.…

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Why the leap to general AI still can’t happen yet

May30
by on May 30, 2018 at 5:10 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Contributors


There’s a massive gap in the world of artificial intelligence (AI), and we haven’t been able to cross it successfully. Some developers refer to it as a move from “narrow” to “general” AI, while others describe it as a move from “weak” to “strong” AI. However you describe it, the premise is approachable, even for non-experts. Most of the AI we use on a daily basis is narrow, meaning it’s specifically programmed to accomplish one task or group of tasks. Google’s AlphaGo, for example, is rooted in a deep learning framework that could be applied to many tasks, but it…

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Google’s Project Fi is starting to look like a real phone network with 3 new devices

May30
by on May 30, 2018 at 4:57 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Google, Mobile


Google’s Project Fi is an innovative a phone network, but it’s been hampered by a scarcity of device choices. So far, you’ve been limited to Google’s own Pixel and Nexus phones, with the Moto X4 being the sole exception introduced late last year. But today Google added three more options: The Moto G6, the LG G7 ThinQ and the LG V35 ThinQ. The Moto G6, which I’m currently in the process of reviewing, gives users a great budget option, while the G7 and V35 are the first non-Google flagships to grace the service. It’s a good sign. Project Fi, which…

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Reddit surpasses Facebook to become the 3rd most visited site in the US

May30
by on May 30, 2018 at 4:46 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Google


According to Alexa – the Amazon-owned web traffic analyzing platform – more people now visit Reddit than Facebook in the US. Spotted, of course, on Reddit by user IamATechieNerd, the stats will be a big boost for the social sharing platform, especially with many users still irked about the recent re-design. It’s important to note that analyzing web traffic using a tool like Alexa is not an exact science, but it’s interesting that it has now put Reddit ahead of Facebook. If the stats are to be believed, Google is still the most visited site, followed by YouTube, Reddit, and Facebook, with Amazon…

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Malicious Git repos could see an attacker remotely execute code on your system

May30
by on May 30, 2018 at 4:38 pm
Posted In: Around the Web


If you use Git, it’s time to update it. Like, now. The latest version of the popular source management software addresses two frightening bugs, which could see an attacker execute their own arbitrary code on a victim’s computer, should the latter clone a malicious repository. The first bug has a CVE number of CVE-2018-11235, and was reported by security researcher Etienne Stalmans. This exploits a flaw in Git where sub-module names provided by the .gitmodule file are improperly validated when appended to $GIT_DIR/Modules. This leaves it open to a pretty standard directory hopping attack. Including “../” in a name could…

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