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Tech execs can’t be trusted to fix the monster they created

May28
by on May 28, 2018 at 1:44 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Google, syndication


Social media, smartphones, and other cutting-edge technology were supposed to improve the social experience and facilitate communications and access to information. But now they’ve become the source of many ills, including fake news, live suicides, and murders, hate speech and trolling, inescapable filter bubbles, and an immense distraction problem. In the past year, we saw an increasing number of incumbent and former tech execs acknowledge the adverse effects that their most revered products have on their users and the society in general. Their story runs oddly in parallel to that of Dr. Victor Frankenstein, the fictional scientist who tried to…

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Cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb to block trading in 11 countries

May28
by on May 28, 2018 at 1:19 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Asia, cryptocurrency, Finance, Hard Fork, Insights, world


Increased regulatory oversight on cryptocurrency trading is driving exchanges to take extreme measures. After Bitfinex and Poloniex, Bithumb is taking additional measures to ensure anti-money laundering (AML) compliance with its country’s laws. Bithumb — the world’s fifth largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume — is banning the use of its platform across 11 countries, the company announced on Sunday. The 11 banned countries include Iran, Ethiopia, Iraq, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Vanuatu, Yemen, and Syria. All named countries are on the Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCT) list of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organization that combats…

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a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

Cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb to block trading in 11 countries

May28
by on May 28, 2018 at 1:19 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Asia, cryptocurrency, Finance, Hard Fork, Insights, world


Increased regulatory oversight on cryptocurrency trading is driving exchanges to take extreme measures. After Bitfinex and Poloniex, Bithumb is taking additional measures to ensure anti-money laundering (AML) compliance with its country’s laws. Bithumb — the world’s fifth largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume — is banning the use of its platform across 11 countries, the company announced on Sunday. The 11 banned countries include Iran, Ethiopia, Iraq, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Vanuatu, Yemen, and Syria. All named countries are on the Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCT) list of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organization that combats…

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How AI could be using our voices against us

May28
by on May 28, 2018 at 12:54 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, artificial intelligence, syndication, Voice


Voice control gadgets – such as Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Home or Apple’s Homepod – are becoming increasingly popular, but people should pause for thought about advances in machine learning that could lead to applications understanding different emotions in speech. The CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, recently said that 20% of the company’s searches are initiated by voice via mobile phones. And, at the end of 2017, analysis of the US market suggested that a total of 44m Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices had been sold. The technology has increasingly impressive abilities to recognize words, but – as an expert…

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We asked people to draw ‘cyber crime’ and we’re worried about them

May28
by on May 28, 2018 at 11:54 am
Posted In: Around the Web, distract


Most people have a rough idea of what cyber crime is. It’d be hard not to, as the clue is in the name: a sort of criminal activity in the, uh, cyber world. Despite this, I’ve always had a feeling that people don’t really know what cyber crime is. And, on reflection, the only way to prove this was to see if the public could draw it. Luckily, The Next Web Conference was taking place, so we had no shortage of tech experts and enthusiasts to ask…   A solid start. This looks like a reference to the Jolly Roger – a flag that…

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