Category Archives: Uncategorized

xxx A recent working paper from economists at Princeton and University College London found that American companies are increasingly able to demand prices well above their costs — which… suggests that the market is not truly competitive — that existing companies have found ways to block competitors. From A Start-Up Slump Is a Drag onContinue reading “A Start-Up Slump Is a Drag on the Economy. Big Business May Be to Blame. – The New York Times”

xxx Facebook would never put it this way, but algorithms are meant to erode free will, to relieve humans of the burden of choosing, to nudge them in the right direction. From Facebook’s war on free will | Technology | The Guardian Extracted from World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech by FranklinContinue reading “Facebook’s war on free will | Technology | The Guardian”

xxx In retail payments, the introduction of a new faster payments system in September 2018 will provide the necessary infrastructure for full person-to-person and person-to-business connectivity… The HKMA is also currently consulting the banking industry to formulate a framework for the development of Open API. From Hong Kong prepares for a new era of ‘smartContinue reading “Hong Kong prepares for a new era of ‘smart banking’”

xxx A consortium of banks, led by Mizuho Financial Group and Japan Post Bank, has won support from the country’s central bank and financial regulator to launch the J Coin, an electronic currency to pay for goods and transfer money using smartphones. From Japan’s big banks plan digital currency launch A better name might haveContinue reading “Japan’s big banks plan digital currency launch”

Now we all know what the bitcoin blockchain is, don’t we? It’s just one particular version of the general class of blockchains, which share the characteristics that data is stored in blocks and because of some cryptographic jiggery-pokery the blocks are chained together, so that you can’t go back and change the contents of aContinue reading “Accenture Awarded Patent for ‘Editable Blockchain’ Tech – CoinDesk”

xxx As e-commerce merchants continue to invest in fraud prevention, those efforts cost, on average, 8 percent of their annual revenue, up from 7.6 percent last year, according to a new report… undertaken by Javelin Strategy & Research From Fraud Prevention Costs Merchants 8% of Annual Revenue: Report – CardNotPresent.com It’s actually nearer 10% forContinue reading “Fraud Prevention Costs Merchants 8% of Annual Revenue: Report – CardNotPresent.com”

xxx “You are lured into giving away all this information,” says Luke Stark, a digital technology sociologist at Dartmouth University. “Apps such as Tinder are taking advantage of a simple emotional phenomenon; we can’t feel data From I asked Tinder for my data. It sent me 800 pages of my deepest, darkest secrets | TechnologyContinue reading “I asked Tinder for my data. It sent me 800 pages of my deepest, darkest secrets | Technology | The Guardian”

There’s a nostalgia around the world “cyberpunk” for me. A quarter of a century ago, I co-wrote an article called “What is cyberspace?” for the “Computer Law and Security Report” (Volume 8, Issue 2, March–April 1992, Pages 74-76) [PDF]. In this article I asked whether it was possible that, much like Arthur C. Clarke’s muchContinue reading “POST Cyberpunk”

xxx “Research being done at the MIT Media Lab is working on ‘swappable identities’ for AI bots, based on data taken from a person’s digital identity, as detailed by VentureBeat. Personal information is culled from emails, transcribed videos and any other published statements, allowing the system to give expert advice based on human opinions.” ResearchersContinue reading “Researchers seek to mimic digital identities by analyzing email, online interactions – One World Identity”

xxx “‘There were a lot of people who came and clicked photos (of the sign) but apart from that no transactions,’” Bitcoin accepted here: The tiny family restaurant in India that’s embraced virtual currency — Quartz xxx