Snippings

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The new technocrats claim to embrace Enlightenment values, but in fact they are leading an antidemocratic, illiberal movement.

From: The Rise of Techno-authoritarianism – The Atlantic.

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For context, some of the other ETFs that have been approved by the SEC include the “God Bless America” ETF (ticker: “$YALL”), an anti-woke “investment for God-fearing, flag-saving conservatives”; the “Inverse Cramer” ETF (SJIM) that aims to invest in the opposite of whatever TV personality Jim Cramer recommends; and a “VICE” ETF (VICE) that invests in “vice-related business activities”.

From: Crypto may have become boring, but it still isn’t legit.

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The bigger story behind the listing of bitcoin-linked ETFs in the United States is that it is a small step in a long journey to the increased use of digital assets.

One can be a believer in the broader thematic of digital assets and tokenisation, while being a cynic of bitcoin and other private cryptocurrencies that have no underlying assets backing them.

From: Bitcoin ETF: The hype over the SEC decision is missing the bigger story of increased use of digital assets.

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A finding suggests Meta could soon let you easily watch spatial videos captured by your iPhone on Quest.
‘Spatial video’ is Apple’s term for 3D videos encoded and played using the Apple HEVC Stereo Video Profile format, an implementation of MV-HEVC. Currently, only Apple Vision Pro and the two iPhone 15 Pro models can record spatial video, and only Vision Pro can play it back natively in 3D.

From: Meta Preparing To Support iPhone Spatial Video On Quest.

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Additionally, real-time payments create a more data-rich environment, offering valuable insights for banks.

From: The Clearing House: Mastercard Partnership Spurs Innovation.

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The leading cryptocurrency will turn out to be a sideshow whose only role is to pave the way for state-backed digital money and tokenisation.

From: Bitcoin ETF: The hype over the SEC decision is missing the bigger story of increased use of digital assets.

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A former Post Office investigator “erroneously” submitted a CV including his wife’s educational achievements when applying to become a Post Office investigator in 2008, following a restructuring of the security team.

From: Post Office scandal latest: Investigator falsely used wife’s qualifications to apply for job.

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In the United States, A2A payments have been slow to catch on. One reason is that, in the absence of a regulatory framework, banks have been at a competitive disadvantage in staking out a strong presence in the payments marketplace. Also, Americans love their credit cards and the rewards that come with them, so dislodging the popularity of cards is perhaps the biggest challenge to US adoption of A2A.

Although card companies have a dominant US market position, A2A could offer banks a more competitive and standardized way of making payments while giving consumers and merchants more options. For banks and other institutions, the data provided by open banking could help generate a wide range of financial services, including enhanced insights and analytics. Consumers could benefit from potentially lower costs and improved customer journeys.1 With these benefits in mind, our analysis of payments in North America estimates that A2A could handle about $200 billion in consumer-to-business transactions by 2026 and potentially much more in other types of payments. The impact may be limited for daily transactions with a retailer or service provider but larger for big-ticket and recurring payments such as utility bills, insurance payments, and more.

From: The role of US open banking in catalyzing the adoption of A2A payments | McKinsey.

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In the United States, A2A payments have been slow to catch on. One reason is that, in the absence of a regulatory framework, banks have been at a competitive disadvantage in staking out a strong presence in the payments marketplace. Also, Americans love their credit cards and the rewards that come with them, so dislodging the popularity of cards is perhaps the biggest challenge to US adoption of A2A.

From: The role of US open banking in catalyzing the adoption of A2A payments | McKinsey.

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The MIT Technology Review lists the Apple Vision Pro as one of its “breakthrough technologies” for 2024 because the mixed-reality headset has a display that is radcially better than any that has come before. The Vision Pro’s twin micro-OLED screen provide much higher resolution and sharper contrast than the liquid crystal displays (LCDs) found in most VR headsets which mean the ability to provide an incredible immersive experience.