Technology News Era

Torrent files have been a top choice of users across the internet to share files for almost two decades. This weekend, TorrentFreak reported that the world’s oldest active torrent file has just turned 15. The record holder file is a fan-made film based on The Matrix called The Fanimatrix. A bunch of friends from New Zealand made this film in 2003 for just $800; they completed the project in nine days. Sebastian Kai Frost, the ‘IT-guy’ in the film project, said that they managed to bring down the movie’s file size to 150MB, but hosting was too expensive at that time.  Frost said: In New… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2y3xQvb

American culture romanticizes overworking. At the federal level, the United States is the only country in the Americas without a government-mandated paid paternity leave. There is also no federal law requiring employers to provide paid sick time or paid time off. At the employer level, many American organizations – particularly in Silicon Valley – encourage employees to stay at the office by eliminating the need for them to leave. Sprawling tech campuses often feature nap pods, free meals and even doctors’ offices onsite. And at the employee level, workers frequently pride themselves on pushing past the 40-hour standard or neglecting… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2Ir99O3

It’s a stormy night after a hard day’s work and you come home to find your kitchen barren. Rather than face the torrential rain outside, you call out to Alexa to order your favorite pizza. “Alexa, place an order to Pizza Palace. A number two with extra peppers and garlic, please.” You rip off the day’s professional attire, throw on some comfy sweats, and settle into the nook of your couch awaiting your delicious pizza to arrive when you’re struck by a realization: the number two pizza comes with anchovies on it. You despise anchovies. While you were able to… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2zGGh1o

Many of us spend hours every day tethered to our devices, pawing at the screen to see if it will deliver a few more likes or emails, monitoring the world and honing our online presence. Social networking platforms such as Whatsapp, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are supposed to make us feel more connected. Yet our reliance on technology to “see” the social world around us can be a heavy burden. The Pew Research Centre recently reported that about a quarter of US adults say they are “almost constantly” online. Stress, addiction, depression and anxiety seem unsurprising consequences of using… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2NbAIvm

When done right, SEO can help you improve SERP rankings, increase targeted traffic to your website, and drive more sales. But how do you create an effective SEO strategy that can help you achieve that kind of success? It’s way more complex than choosing a few keywords or fixing bugs on your website. Google, the undisputed leader in the global search engine market, regularly makes changes to their search algorithms to improve user experience. Unfortunately, that makes it even more difficult for brands to ensure that they hold a decent rank in search results. The bottom line is that, in… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2IpF0yo

How will augmented reality (AR) glasses work for consumers? Specifically, what will be the user interface (UI) and/or user experience (UX) for the eyewear that will bring AR to the masses? The user experience will be very important since we are talking about a change to the fundamental human and machine interface. Up until now, the interaction has been between humans and computers, personal computers, laptops, mobile devices, and tablets. What we’re looking at over the next 10 years is a migration towards other yet-to-be-designed devices that are near-to-eye that will enable us to see the real world. But it… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2xY44YL

The NOVA true wireless Bluetooth earbuds are anything but cookie cutter — and now, you can try ‘em out at almost 40 percent off their retail price, just $49 from TNW Deals. from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2IpBft3

If a future in crunching business data for Rosetta Stone secrets is up your alley, the training from packages like this Ultimate Business Intelligence Bundle ($29, over 90 percent off from TNW Deals) will definitely get that new career pointed in the right direction. from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2IrrQ46

Across the United States, millions of progressives and proponents for equality cheered (or at least had a good chuckle) earlier this month when Facebook, Apple, Spotify, and YouTube collectively banned alt-right conspiracy theorist and hate speech-spewing Alex Jones from their respective platforms. In the words of Spotify, this was done because his brand “expressly and principally promotes, advocates, or incites hatred or violence against a group or individual based on characteristics.” In the words of Apple, “Apple does not tolerate hate speech, and we have clear guidelines that creators and developers must follow to ensure we provide a safe environment… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2OXI5bH

In August, speaking to Bloomberg, artificial intelligence celebrity Andrew Ng posited that the quickest way to create reliable autonomous vehicles is to fix the pedestrians, not the cars. “What we tell people is, ‘Please be lawful and please be considerate,” Ng said to Bloomberg. Ng’s remarks, which come at an especially sensitive time in the short history of driverless cars, caused a commotion in the AI community, drawing criticism and approval from different experts. In the past months, self-driving cars have been involved in several incidents, with one of them resulting in the death of a pedestrian. Most researchers and AI experts… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2xI5dEk

When 4G was introduced towards the end of the 00s, it led to an explosion in mobile internet usage. Using the mobile web went from being a functional, slow, second-rate experience to one that is largely frictionless and, in many cases, superior to that of desktop. Smartphone internet usage overtook that of desktop in 2016, and projections unanimously agree that the trend will continue. What impact, then, will the impending rollout of 5G networks have on the consumption of content and the growth of different devices going forward? One area set to benefit hugely from 5G is virtual reality (VR),… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2xKyVZd

If you’re a Social Media Manager, you’ll probably be expected to live and breathe social media. What used to be considered a bit of a cop-out job done on the side is finally being recognized as a profession that requires knowledge and skill. It also often requires the ability to react quickly to the comments, questions and, complaints of a global audience. Someone, somewhere, is always waiting for your response. Not to mention, you need to produce a lot of quality, relevant content fast, make sure it performs, and have the next posts lined up for at least the next… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2N8Ha6r

A Gizmodo report on Wednesday detailed the latest in a long series of Facebook privacy blunders. The report said, and Facebook confirmed, that users with two-factor authentication (2FA) enabled had inadvertently been giving their phone number up to advertisers who used it for targeting purposes. The irony, which I’m assuming isn’t lost on Facebook, is that 2FA is meant to keep you safe online, not expose you. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, there’s little we can do about Facebook’s mind-numbingly bad decision making as it pertains to user privacy. But what we can do is stop advertisers… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Facebook from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2xLGb7a

Way back in April, we heard rumors that LG would be launching a smartwatch using Google’s newly rebranded (at the time) Wear OS. Called the LG Watch Timepiece, it was a hybrid that would somehow combine Wear OS with a an analog, mechanical watchface. It was supposed to launch in the Spring. Months went by and we heard nothing. Now it seems it won’t be much longer until its official reveal. According to Evan Blass – you know, that guy who leaks every other phone – LG will launch the device along with its imminent LG V40 ThinQ. Blass doesn’t… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: LG from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2DFS4Bg

Thermometers aren’t the go-to gadget for Plugged reviewers to sink their teeth into, but this $20 offering from iHealth is a device I’d recommend to my colleagues and readers alike: Especially the ones who have kids. There are few times in a parent’s life more stressful than having a sick baby. Aside from the obvious pain of watching someone you love suffer, the parent also has to be the meanie who brings horrible tasting medicine and sticks thermometers … where they go. The iHealth PT3 Infrared No-Touch Forehead Thermometer is here to help with the second sentiment (you’re on your… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2OWXitz

Facebook revealed, earlier today, that it had detected a data breach affecting at least 50 million accounts (and as many as 90 million). Within minutes, as you might imagine, multiple sites including TNW were rushing stories out to inform everyone. Just as quickly, concerned readers began posting the news, including to the site in question. Now Facebook is actively stopping people from posting those stories. Facebook is preventing users from posting The Guardian's report on the Facebook data breach. Ouch. https://t.co/IGU685PjdK pic.twitter.com/GGGrKqBZEc — Jed Bracy (@JedBracy) September 28, 2018 Multiple users have reported that, when they attempt to post links… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Facebook from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2Qi9CVd

Bandai Namco’s officially-licensed “Mario Kart Arcade GP VR” game for virtual reality will finally grace US shores in October. But don’t get too excited, it’s only coming to the VR ZONE Portal arcade in Washington DC for now. 3 days until one of the most anticipated titles in #VR launches in the United States, at Union Station in Washington,… Posted by VR ZONE Portal US on Friday, September 28, 2018 VR early-adopters haven’t seen much in the way of Nintendo characters in the virtual world. This game represents one of the few crossover experiences, and until now it’s only been available… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2xXTMYF

A few weeks ago, we got our first look at the upcoming Razer Phone 2. It showed a device that appeared nearly identical to the original, at least from from the front perspective provided. Today we’re getting our second good look at the device, courtesy of ever-reliable leaker Evan Blass. Aside from corroborating the earlier report, the new leak does at least show the phone has a rearranged camera setup. There still appear to be dual cameras on board, and there’s no telling whether Razer actually improved them, but maybe it’s a sign Razer is focusing more on image quality this… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2zCQfRw

Fortnite’s Season 6 update added a small animation update — one which gave some characters a little extra bounce. Gamers certainly didn’t seem to mind, but Epic Games might have overreacted just a bit. One of the first people to notice was streamer Agony, who posted an illustrative gif of the new… um, feature. The most important thing in the Season 6 update pic.twitter.com/FrnzFsF1Fl — FaZe Agony (@Agony) September 27, 2018 I was, naturally, eager to see the response, because if there’s one thing I can count on gamers for, it’s to respond to any issues involving gender and the female… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2N2OEb7

If you’re interested in the Canadian tech scene, Toronto is on your radar. Certainly the hype surrounding this tech scene is not undeserved. Among other good news to come out of Canada’s financial capital, the city has cemented its reputation as a global center for AI, thanks to a $5 million investment by Google into the Vector Institute last year and an aligned buy-in from the city’s academic, government and corporate sectors. Toronto now boasts the highest concentration of AI startups in the world and has added more new tech jobs in the past year than New York City and the San… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2IoOdqT

A data breach affecting the personal data of at least 50 million Facebook users was discovered by the social media network earlier this week. Facebook disclosed the breach Friday morning saying an “attack” on its system led to “the exposure of information” affecting the 50 million users, according to the New York Times. Facebook also posted a security update concerning the breach: On the afternoon of Tuesday, September 25, our engineering team discovered a security issue affecting almost 50 million accounts. We’re taking this incredibly seriously and wanted to let everyone know what’s happened and the immediate action we’ve taken… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Facebook from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2R7sFD8

Burger King’s newest ad campaign mocks machine learning with a series of commercials that take a lighthearted jab at AI-generated media. Each video begins “This ad was created by artificial intelligence,” before devolving into delicious imagery and hilarious gibberish. The best part: None of them were created by AI. They were actually conceived and made by an ad agency called David Miami – the same company behind Burger King’s net neutrality-themed campaign earlier this year. The previous campaigns were part commercial, part social experiment (read that as “prank”), and this one’s no different. Burger King is playing along on social… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2xJiA7n

In a blog posted yesterday, ShapeShift announced the relaunch of its cryptocurrency index, CoinCap.io. It’s built on entirely new code, but from a user perspective, it’s pretty much the same system as before – just a bit shinier. The relaunched CoinCap does host some new features, though. It now includes real-time price updates, a new mobile-friendly design, and everyone’s favorite feature of the day, dark mode. The real-time price updates are a cool feature, but it’s not perfect. Cryptocurrency tickers flash green for price increases, and red for price decreases – every, damn, second. The incessant blinking can be turned… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2R9O1j0

Back in April, adult entertainment giant Pornhub broke the internet when it announced users can now buy a premium subscription with cryptocurrency. But despite all the buzz the announcement generated, it seems pornography viewers hardly share this enthusiasm for blockchain-powered payments. In an email to Hard Fork, Pornhub revealed that cryptocurrencies currently account for “less than 1 percent of purchases made” on the platform. While the company does not share what chunk of its users pay for the premium service, its website attracted a mind-blowing 28.5 billion visits last year. Still, Pornhub remains optimistic about the future of the technology.… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2N8M4QR

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The Monero community has publicly denounced the individuals behind the massive cryptocurrency mining malware campaign, designed to steal users’ computing power to illegitimately bank on XMR. “The Monero community condemns this malicious, non-consensual use of equipment to mine,” the statement reads. “[…] The Monero community does not want to sit idly by as victims struggle to understand the impact of mining and ransomware.” In response, the Monero community has seen it necessary to establish a “self-organized set of volunteers” providing tools and resources necessary for protection against crypto-jackers. To which extent, the Monero Malware Response Workgroup will be an official, sanctioned resource… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2IlG3PX

Welcome to our weekly column, in which YouTuber NimbleThor brings you a short list of the best new mobile games for your Android device, released over the past week. Whether you’re into casual time wasters or hardcore shooters, you’ll find something in here to exercise your thumbs with. Tired of chatting about the weather, traffic, and the new tenant in apartment 54 on your elevator rides? We’ve got just what you need to kill the small talk: A handful of fresh new games for your phone! Here’s what’s hot this week. Maze: Shadow of Light Size: 837 MB Price: Free… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Android from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2P0OqTO

Chinese phone manufacturer Xiaomi earned the crown of the top smartphone company in India, largely due to its wide range of budget phones costing between $80 and $200. The new Redmi 6 Pro is the company’s first attempt to bring a dual-camera setup to that segment, while sticking with the Redmi series’ core strengths of sturdy build quality and great battery life. Specifications Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Screen: 5.84-inch FHD, 1080 x 2280 pixels RAM: 3/4GB Rear camera: 12-megapixel + 5-megapixel, f/2.2, no optical zoom Front camera: 5-megapixel, f/2.2 Battery: 4,000 mAh Internal memory: 32/64GB Software: MIUI 9.6 based on Android Oreo 8.1 I tested… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Xiaomi from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2InzRXF

Let’s get something out of the way first. Tattoodo is an awful name for a business. Say it aloud: Tattoodo. Tat-doo-doo. Like poop. It has a poopy name. But, bowel-reminiscent moniker aside, the company is trying to do something interesting: become the prime online place for booking tattoos, both on a normal web browser and in-app. Started in Copenhagen in 2013, the Tattoodo platform was designed as a place for artists to share their work and connect with the public. And it’s gone pretty well for it. Tattoodo has over 30 million followers across its social networks and hosts over 300,000 artists on… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2QegeE2

Leaked details of the new iPhone models were quickly relegated to second tier headlines after Apple’s latest product announcement. More people seem to be excited about the fact that the new Apple Watch will come with a built-in heart monitoring electrocardiogram (ECG) function. An ECG is a simple test that can be used to check your heart’s rhythm and electrical activity, designed to detect any underlying issues. The Apple Watch 4 will be the first mainstream wearable gadget to integrate this kind of medical diagnostic technology. (Other devices such as the Fitbit typically measure blood flow by shining a light… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Apple Watch , Apple from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2NJi43f

The most actively used Ethereum decentralized app (dApp) 333ETH has just been labelled an “active scam” and blacklisted by popular cryptocurrency wallet MetaMask. When MetaMask users head to the 333ETH website, their browser will greet them with a message warning them the app could compromise their security. 333ETH – which currently stands as the most popular app on DappRadar – is a smart contract-powered “automated investment distribution” platform that promises daily returns to users. Sounds too good to be true? Well, it might be. Indeed, Mashable recently compared the platform to a Ponzi scheme. The 333ETH platform is apparently so… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2NJbrxT

Popular PC gaming festival DreamHack – which holds a Guinness world record for the largest LAN party – is making its way to India in December. Nodwin gaming, an Indian e-sports company, confirmed that the festival will take place in the western city of Mumbai, and will be live-streamed through Voot. DreamHack CEO Marcus Lindmark said: We are excited about entering another continent as DreamHack open its doors to the first DreamHack India event  “The partnership with Nodwin Gaming helps us redefine professional gaming in India where we can offer something exciting and for millions of gamers across the region. This, we believe,… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2QcjSOX

Two divisions of the United Nations are joining forces to bring distributed ledger technology (DLT) to Sierra Leone. The project will try to give citizens greater control of financial credit and identification. At the 73rd UN General Assembly, the organization announced the UN Development Program (UNDP) and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) have reached agreement with Sierra Leone’s president, Julius Maasda Bio, to modernize the country’s credit system. Non-profit Kiva, which crowdfunds loans for the less advantaged, will also join the UN project. “The Government of Sierra Leone has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with UNDP, UNCDF and… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2NMGUiN

Cybersecurity is becoming a constant concern for businesses all over the world. You need to take extra precautions as a business owner to make sure your customers’ data is safe and secure at all times. To find out how you can protect your customers’ sensitive information and stay in touch with the latest cybersecurity issues, I asked a panel of entrepreneurs from YEC the following question: What’s one way your company stays abreast of the latest cybersecurity issues, concerns and changes in order to make sure you’re doing everything you can to protect your data? Their best answers are below: 1.… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2xZxJRo

By this point, everyone knows the legends and stories surrounding Silicon Valley. The origins of the biggest and most famous tech companies in the world, and connections and the place that made it all happen. And for the last generation at least, everyone who was everyone who was trying to make it big in tech all knew one thing: You have to go to Silicon Valley. But it’s a different world now. If you’re a European tech startup in 2018, you have options and opportunities that were unheard-of for your compatriots as recently as just five or ten years ago.… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2ImE5yZ

Should we be afraid of artificial intelligence? For me, this is a simple question with an even simpler, two letter answer: no. But not everyone agrees – many people, including the late physicist Stephen Hawking, have raised concerns that the rise of powerful AI systems could spell the end for humanity. Clearly, your view on whether AI will take over the world will depend on whether you think it can develop intelligent behavior surpassing that of humans – something referred to as “super intelligence”. So let’s take a look at how likely this is, and why there is much concern… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2xQV8Fp

Amazon is rounding out its Prime loyalty program for subscribers in India with the introduction of Prime Reading this week, which brings a selection of free ebooks that you can read on your Kindle or on other devices using the Kindle app. This add-on to Prime is already available in some other countries. For folks in India, it opens up access to a decent range of titles spanning several genres including romance, sci-fi, biographies, and travel. You’ll also find several comics and graphic novels featuring beloved characters from the Marvel universe, Archie’s world in Riverdale, and Peanuts. There’s a small… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Amazon Prime , Amazon from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2OkrZvE

Facebook is sharing personally identifying information that you never submitted to the social network with its advertisers – and you can’t erase it from their records. That’s from a paper (PDF) published by researchers at Northeastern University and Princeton University, who looked into how ad targeting works on Facebook. Say you’ve got a mobile phone number and a landline, and you’ve listed only the former in your profile. If an advertiser has that number in their database, they can use it to target you with ads on Facebook. But if the advertiser has the landline number, they could target you… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Facebook from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2N5BzxG

Remember the Surface Studio? It’s arguably the coolest computer Microsoft’s built, but nearly two years after launch, its specs feel stale. In fact, the device already felt pretty under-powered back in 2016 due to its choice of some mobile components and a last-gen graphics card. That’s why it’s pretty disappointing to see supposed benchmarks of its successor aren’t indicating the performance bump we were hoping for. Windows Latest noticed a Surface Studio 2 appeared on Geekbench yesterday, sporting a last-generation i7-7820HQ processor coupled with 32 GB of RAM. The 7820HQ was launched in early 2017. For comparison’s sake, it’s only about… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2zAle0s

As Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh met with the Senate Judiciary Committee today, someone was doing a bit of housekeeping behind the scenes on Wikipedia. During the hearing, Kavanaugh faced a series of questions about a number of yearbook entries from 1982, the year he allegedly sexually assaulted and attempted to rape Christine Blasey Ford — the subject of today’s hearings. One of these quotes made mention of “devil’s triangle,” which Kavanaugh replied was a drinking game, similar to quarters. For the rest of the world, the definition is far different. A “devil’s triangle” — otherwise known as a devil’s… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Wikipedia from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2xUvLBI

Elon Musk, Tesla‘s controversial CEO, is now being sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over his tweets last month about taking the company private, which allegedly hurt investors and disrupted the market. In the complaint, the SEC claims Musk made a series of “false and misleading statements” about his idea to take the company private. Here’s the main thrust of the complaint: Musk’s statements, disseminated via Twitter, falsely indicated that, should he so choose, it was virtually certain that he could take Tesla private at a purchase price that reflected a substantial premium over Tesla stock’s then-current share price,that funding… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2N6EYfB

Digital music pioneer eMusic recently announced it was pivoting to a blockchain-based royalties management system, ICO and all. The timing of this move looks a bit like a do-or-die situation, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea. It doesn’t mean it’s a good one either. But if you believe in blockchain, it’s hard to deny that eMusic presents an interesting case for decentralized electronic ledgers. Especially if you break the problem it’s facing down to its most basic form: How do you get money out of consumers’ pockets and into artists’ without screwing either over? TNW spoke to eMusic… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2zArEg6

Nintendo announced this week it’d offer a grace period for its Switch Online subscribers to recover their cloud saves, revising earlier statements that implied they’d expire the moment your subscription did. This fixes one of the major problems with the Nintendo Switch — but far from the most pressing one. The original supposition that Switch Online subs would lose their saves came from an FAQ posting that said, “Save data stored with Save Data Cloud cannot be kept outside of the duration of your Nintendo Switch Online membership.” Nintendo has now clarified that, while Online users would lose access to the cloud saves… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Nintendo from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2zziAb9

It feels like an age ago, but I remember my first week at university. For the first time in my life, I was living independently of my parents, and the first tranche of my student loan had infused my bank account. I was rich, able to afford all the Fosters and Turkish pizzas my 18-year-old heart desired. And being a geek, I spunked a fair bit of cash on some new tech, adding a new laptop and phone to my repertoire of gadgets, forcing me to spend the rest of the semester subsiding off a diet of Tesco Value hamburgers… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2xRJXvb

Asana, the workplace productivity and planning startup founded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, today announced it had reached 50,000 paying customers. This customer base has grown from 20,000 customers in just six quarters. This figure is in addition to the number of individuals using the free version of Asana, which is believed to be over one million. Speaking to TNW, Moskovitz said: “2018 is shaping up to be a really pivotal year for us. Not only are we growing the business really quickly, but we’re actually continuing to accelerate on a growth-rate perspective as we scale.” In order to cope… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Facebook from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2DANlke

A week ago, Bitcoin developers disclosed a glaring vulnerability in the network that could’ve led to a series of abrupt chainsplits. Well, it appears this scenario has begun to play out. The good thing is that the incident took place on a controlled testnet, not the Bitcoin mainnet. A quick refresher – on September 18, devs disclosed bugs in Bitcoin Core software that gave miners the option of bringing down essential parts of the Bitcoin infrastructure (nodes) by submitting a ‘bad’ block to the blockchain. While developers have already issued a fix, it is still up to the individual node operators… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Bitcoin from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2NNFXqr

Remember when social media was about posting on a whim without any hidden agenda or transparent humblebrag? Those were the days of endlessly scrolling through your Facebook timeline until you caught up with the latest updates from your friends and family. A built-in stopping point provided a sense of control over our timelines. We scrolled until we caught up and then put the smartphone down again. However, the end of chronological scrolling has left many users blaming the infamous AI algorithms for ruining the party by silencing friends and promoting sponsored posts. In 2018, there have been numerous headlines around… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2OTO2GB

Coinbase thinks it can make investing in cryptocurrency even easier. This might sound like a dream come true for cryptocurrency advocates, but there are a few things newbies ought to consider. Coinbase has announced today that it is adding three new services to its platform: Coinbase Bundles, asset pages, and Coinbase Learn. The aim of these is to help cryptocurrency newcomers get some skin in the game without breaking too much of a sweat. The former of these additions to the exchange is perhaps the most interesting. “My first cryptocurrency” In a Coinbase Bundle, the user is offered the opportunity… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2MZWHFD

You can still take advantage of Instagram’s benefits without the entire process becoming a serious time suck. Appz is an Instagram assistant that can handle a big chuck of your Instagram maintenance duties for you — and right now, a lifetime of Appz access is more than $1,000 off, just $39.99 from TNW Deals. from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2NOed57

Brian Acton – one of the co-founders of the popular messaging app WhatsApp – resigned from Facebook in 2017. And with that, he left $850 million on the table in the form of non-vested stock options. He stood against the changes Facebook’s management was trying to bring to WhatsApp, and paid the price, literally. Since its inception in 2009, WhatsApp never wanted to show its users any ads. Both Acton and Jan Koum – the other co-founder of WhatsApp – hated the idea of earning money that way. Their motto at the company was “No ads, no games, no gimmicks”.  In… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: WhatsApp , Facebook from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2N5wAgo