Snippings

The alwauys interesting Noelle Acheson set me thinkign yet again. As she noted, the US Senate passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act by a strong bipartisan margin (85-5). It now goes back to the House of Representatives, from where it will likely move quickly to the President’s desk for signing. Well, whatever, I can hear you sighing. Indeed. But as Noelle points out, the Act contains a provision prohibiting the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) until the end of 2030. Wat?

I went down the rabbit hole to find out what is going on here: why an Act about lending for mortgages includes a temporary prohibition on the Federal Reserve from establishing a CBDC. This is, so far as I can understand it, because of concerns about the potential impact of digital currencies (which are, of course, not the same thing as CBDCs) on the housing market and the financial systems. The concern seems to be that CBDCs could affect mortgage funding costs and bank profitability if they consumers shift their (interest-bearing) deposits to (non-interest bearing) CBDC balances. As I read somehere online but promptly forgot where, this reflects a cautious approach to new financial technologies. Cautious, yes. But rational? I’m not so sure.

 

 

 

 

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Meta’s CEO has directed a small internal team to build a smartphone app similar to platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi. The app, internally known as “Arena,” is still in development and has been described as experimental but a top priority. It reflects Meta’s effort to tap into new online behaviors as traditional social media growth slows.

Prediction markets, platforms where users trade on the outcomes of real-world events such as elections, sports results, or policy decisions, have surged in popularity in recent years. Rivals like Polymarket and Kalshi have become major players in the space, with billions of dollars in trading activity and growing attention from both investors and regulators.

From: Mark Zuckerberg Targets Prediction Markets with New Meta App ‘Arena’.

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Shopify opened self-serve access to the Universal Cart Protocol and Catalog API, while enabling eligible merchants to make structured catalog data available to AI-powered shopping surfaces
My takeaway: The next commerce moat may be boring operational hygiene: clean inventory, structured policies, accurate variants, and machine-legible checkout rules

From: The Agentic Commerce Frontier 📅 | June 9 – June 22 2026.

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In a letter to the Financial Times (18th April 2026) Trudie Roberts of Rossendale in Lancashire reports on a visit to her local Marks & Spencer store during the 2025 ransomware attack. She notes that the store could take chip and PIN cards in payment, but not contactless cards, and the people in front her had to turn back because they only had their mobile phones on them. Put in a pin in this, we’ll come back to it.

As if grinding out a nil-nil draw with Ghana wasn’t bad enough, the English media reported that supporters who flocked to pubs and fan zones were hit by a card payment outage. According to the newspapers, this was because of “power grid” problems at WorldPay (maybe someone unplugged the mainframe to do the vacuuming), But more interestingly, once again we were told specifically that “contactless payments were not working at a number of stores including Tesco”.

 

What is more puzzling is why mobile wallets did not work. This is because mobile wallets implement something called “CDCVM”. The growing use of mobile devices for payments has enabled consumer authentication to be performed on the consumer’s own device via passcodes, passwords and patterns, as well as biometrics such as fingerprint, iris, voice and facial recognition. This in contrast to contactless card transactions that either use no cardholder verification method (CVM) or require you to enter your PIN after tapping (known as “online PIN”).

This type of authentication, on your own devcie rather than using the retailer’s terminal, is known as Consumer Device Cardholder Verification Method (CDCVM). Technologies that enable CDCVM are called CDCVM solutions.

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I remember reading something about memes once. I can’t remember where it was ever couldn’t find it through superficial googling, but I remember the example that was given, which was the way that women started to wear sunglasses pushed up on the top of their heads apparently in emulation of Jackie Kennedy, wife of the noted philanderer Jack Kennedy. I’ve no idea whether this is true or not and I’m sure someone will be else send me a picture of a woman wearing sunglasses on the top of her head before Jackie Kennedy was born, but the example stuck with me and returns whenever I think about the spread of means within a population, evolving social norms and the role of media. So it is with great pleasure that I announce the first new meme for Google Glasses. I call it the “Jackie No” rule. It is this: when you go into a public restroom, you should push your Google Glasses to the top of your head, Jackie Kennedy style, to signal to anyone you might meet that you are not a pervert. I imagine that there are many circumstances where merely wearing Google classes will arouse suspicion you are not entirely normal, but here is one case where the inherent boundaries that make a civilised society possible must be made explicit for the safe functioning of civil society.

From: (2) Jackie No – by David G.W. Birch.

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Tata Electronics, an Indian electronics and semiconductor manufacturer and a key supplier to Apple and Tesla, among other tech giants, confirmed a data breach weeks after files purportedly obtained from the company appeared on a hacker forum. The confirmation comes as the hacker forum listing claims to offer more than 630GB of data allegedly stolen from Tata Electronics, comprising over 204,300 files. A review of a sample of the files by TechCrunch found what appear to be Apple supplier specifications and Tesla manufacturing documents. Cybersecurity researcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia told TechCrunch that the data advertised on the forum included Outlook email conversations, SAP-related information, and documents purportedly linked to some of Tata Electronics’ customers, including Apple and Tesla.

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England fans were left frustrated on and off the pitch on Tuesday evening as supporters who flocked to pubs and fan zones were hit by a card payment outage.

From: Card payments go down leaving England fans thirsty as they support the Three Lions from pubs at home | Daily Mail Online.

According to the newspapers, this was because of “power grid” problems at WorldPay (someone unplugged a switch to do the vacuuming) .

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Meta says glasses are “the most exciting hardware category of the AI era,” and with that in mind, its smart glasses have its AI assistant built in.

From: Meta Looks Good With Glasses On — The Information.

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Switzerland – while not an EU-member – is working on a similar app and promised last year, in response to criticism, to work on a Google-free version.

Germany has meanwhile cited “digital sovereignty” as a key objective for its own app. That is why it must ultimately function without Google and Apple’s software, said a spokesperson for the German Ministry of Digital Affairs. Support for Google’s software may well be built in at a later date, but only if it offers “additional security benefits”, he explained.

“Alternative approaches have been studied and implemented”
A spokesperson for the French interior ministry said the “general principle” of France Identité, the French wallet, is to not rely on software from private companies for sensitive matters like verification of identity

From: As Europe calls for digital autonomy, member states build ID apps that rely on Apple and Google – Follow the Money – Platform for investigative journalism.

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Anton Leicht suggests this is not onyl feasible but also desireable. The fundamental strategic importance of  frontier AI means there are vital national interests at stake here, not mere commercial advantages. And note also the exponential nature of frontier development: since most workers in a frontier AI developer will soon be AI agents rather than humans workers, small advantages will soon magnify. Hence the attraction of an Airbus model, where the public carries the early strategic risk, but in return also shares the upside.  When a Frontier Lab is up and running, it will generate advance in everything from pharmceuticals to mateiral science, not only in AI and fintech. I do not see how Europe can afford to cede the frontier.