Posts

Hirst’s latest art project, called The Currency, comprises 10,000 A4 sized pieces of handmade paper covered in very similar but not identical coloured spots. The back of each is numbered and signed by the artist with an arty title. Like actual contemporary bank notes, each also has a watermark, a microdot and a hologram to make it hard to forge. The interesting twist is that Hirst has made this into an interesting experiment in the highly irrational economics of collectibles and blockchain technology....

This simply won’t do, at a time when Twitter is a trusted communication platform for hundreds of millions of people around the world, as well as for global leaders. The debate around what sort of damage hackers could do by tweeting incendiary messages from the verified accounts of powerful people rages on, but it’s clear that they could do more harm by snooping on private correspondence. US Senator Ron Wyden raised this concern last week in a statement, noting that he’d discussed the issue back in September 2018 with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey....

But… that can’t be all there is to them, right? By its very nature, technology is neither good or bad — it’s merely a tool. Yes, deepfakes can be used to spread rampant misinformation, but what about the other side? And that’s what I wanted to find out: what’s the upside of deepfake technology? In order to answer this, I spoke with Chris Ume from from Metaphysic. You might not recognize the name, but you definitely know his work....

Disney revealed the new streaming service would be rolling out to Canada and the Netherlands on November 12, the same day it launches in the US. It also rolls out in Australia and New Zealand on November 19. Disney’s CEO Bob Iger said in an earning’s call earlier this month the service would launch in two international markets, so presumably this is where he meant. No word yet on when it’ll be coming to other countries, such as the rest of Europe or Asia, but Iger said in the same call he expects the service to expand to additional markets over the next two or three years....

We’ve grown from nothing to a company with customers in 130 countries in less than 12 months, and we hadn’t seen the coronavirus coming in any way — like most other startups. However, it’s become crystal clear to me that the way to handle a financial crisis like this is not just about remote work, cutting costs, and focusing as an owner, but also a whole lot about why, you do, what you do....

The most notable spec upgrade is a larger sensor, going from 1/2.3 inches to 1/1.7. Moreover, the new lens has both a wider field of view — equivalent to 20mm on a full-frame sensor — and a brighter F1.8 lens. Combined, these should make for a significant improvement in low light imaging. The camera will also support HDR video to better improve dynamic range, and offers up to 8x zoom thanks to the 64-megapixel sensor — up to 4x of that is ‘lossless’ when filming in 1080p....

The exercise, dubbed “dopamine fasting” by San Francisco psychologist Dr. Cameron Sepah, is now getting increasing international attention. But what exactly is it? And does it work? As someone who studies the brain’s reward system, I’d like to share my knowledge with you. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter – a chemical messenger produced in the brain. It is sent around the brain conveying signals related to functions such as motor control, memory, arousal and reward processing....

In collaboration with renowned styling house Italdesign, the Italian motorbike company recently unveiled the Urban-E, SCR-E and the SCR-E Sport folding ebikes. While they look like perfectly fine and usable bikes on the surface, they just don’t seem to capture that Ducati spirit or sex appeal the company is known for. [Read: Lexus trademark hints an all-new EV is on the way] The topline stats are as you’d expect of a folding ebike....

In the state’s annual budget agreement, lawmakers finally agreed upon and clarified terminology surrounding the mobility tech. In short, a variety of e-scooters and ebikes can now be used on public highways with a posted speed limit of 30 mph (around 48 km/h) or less. The budget agreement details three classes of ebike: pedal-assist bikes limited to 20 mph (32 km/h), throttle-powered bikes limited to 20 mph (32 km/h), and throttled-powered bikes limited to 25 mph (40 km/h) in cities of at least one million people, Engadget reports....

The company only scored a minor win when the court asked Apple to allow alternative methods of payments for in-app purchases in the App Store. This will enable Epic to charge customers for in-game items in the multiplayer hit title Fortnite without paying a 30% cut to Apple, and enable other companies to bypass that cut for services they provide users via their apps too. But besides that, judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers sided with the iPhone maker on multiple counts....

The idea of a mutating virus, breaking out into new strains, is enough to scare most people. But are these fears justified, and where do they come from? Surely Hollywood must bear some responsibility for our misconceptions about mutation. After all, the concept has inspired moviemakers for decades, starting with Die, Monster, Die! in 1965 through to big-budget franchises, such as X-Men. Both tell tales of changes to DNA resulting in superhuman abilities....

Europe’s top court ruled on Tuesday that YouTube and other online platforms are not responsible for copyright-infringing material uploaded by users. However, they could be liable if they fail to act “expeditiously” to remove or block content once they’re aware of breaches. They could also be liable if they don’t adopt “the appropriate technological measures” to tackle copyright breaches, provide tools “specifically intended” for the illegal sharing of content, or “knowingly promote such sharing,” the European Court of Justice said....

“While we have previously reported a small shift towards more privacy-focused cryptocurrencies such as Monero, Bitcoin still remains the currency of choice for both legitimate and criminal use,” reports Europol with its latest assessment of internet-based organised crime. Europol notes that Bitcoin’s prevalence in the underground economy is a consequence of its familiarity within the customer base, particularly in dark web markets. In particular, ransomware campaigns have continued to feature Bitcoin almost exclusively....

Assisted by Bluetooth 5.0 standard, the phone acts as a Bluetooth hub allowing multiple devices to connect to it. It’s easy to imagine scenarios where this is quite useful. You can connect to a Bluetooth speaker or your car’s audio system, and your friends can connect to your Galaxy S20 device without having to reconnect to the audio system. This allows you and your friends to play songs turn-by-turn instead of fighting over whose turn is it to connect their phone....

The European Commission has requested that Facebook and the Libra Association – the body tasked with supervising the digital currency – answer questions relating to financial stability, money laundering, and data privacy risks. According to the Financial Times, which saw the commission’s questionnaire last week, this is all part of EU financial commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis’ efforts to asses whether projects such as Libra should be regulated in the EU, if new regulation is required, or whether the ‘cryptocurrency’ should be allowed to operate at all....

Based on early indications it appears to be as good as or better than competing bots from Google and Microsoft. But we’re not talking leaps and bounds by any measure. Because, essentially, what Facebook’s done is taught Blender’s chatbots to lie moderately better than everyone else’s. — Facebook AI (@facebookai) April 29, 2020 The big idea here is that Facebook’s taken a huge dataset of information and trained on AI on it....

To be fair to Balmuda, it doesn’t just make a high-end toaster; the company produces all sorts of home appliances, from fans, to lanterns, to air purifiers. But a smartphone is another beast entirely. Balmuda CEO Gen Terao said the phone would “not merely be a stylish appliance” but promised to create proprietary apps and offer “great everyday-use handsets.” The company is also partnering with Kyocera to make the phones, which will run on Android and support 5G connectivity in an exclusivity agreement with SoftBank....

But it wasn’t just us getting involved in this celebration. The folks over at Panic gave us all another gift: a glimpse at a prototype of the original iPod. Take a look at this beauty: What’s breathtaking about this prototype iPod here is the size of the damn thing. Have a look at it alongside the finished product: Now, did you notice that in the headline for this piece, I put “prototype” in quotes?...

Unfortunately, the folding design often means you get a wimpy battery, a heavy and ugly frame, or a high price tag. The Fiido D11 manages to overcome several folding bike caveats while maintaining a price of just $999. The D11 launched as an Indiegogo campaign last year and marked Fiido’s entrance into the US market. As you’ve surely noticed by now, the D11 has a rather unusual design. Unlike most ebikes, which hide the battery in the frame or mount it awkwardly elsewhere, the D11 stuffs the battery into the chunky seatpost....

It occasionally feels like everybody in the world knows how to code these days. That certainty feels even more acute if you’re one of those luddites who doesn’t understand how JavaScript works or what Python is. But before you start feeling like Betty White in a middle school lunchroom, take heart: even with an estimated 26 million programmers in the world, that still means only .003 percent of the world’s population actually know how to code....