Open-Source CT Scanner

This article first appeared in MAKE Volume 38, on page 112.
By far the most interesting class I’ve ever taken was advanced brain imaging in graduate school, which introduced me to what I believe are some of the most amazing machines humans have ever built: the magnetic resonance imager (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) scanner. These are volumetric 3D scanners that allow you to scan not only the surface of an object, but also see inside that object. And I really wanted to build one.
These scanners are fantastically expensive, and usually only found in hospitals. As a Canadian living abroad, I recently had my first real contact with the U.S. health care system, and it was a very uncomfortable experience. Without belaboring the point, universal health care is very important to me. It’s something that many consider a basic human right, and most people in the developed world, except for the U.S., have access to it. After seeing the cost for my CT scan, I decided it was time to try to build an open source desktop CT scanner for small objects, and to do it for much less than the cost of a single scan.

Mechanically, this prototype scanner is very similar to the first generation of CT scanners, and it’s almost entirely laser cut. An object is placed on a moving table that goes through the center of a rotating ring. Inside the ring there’s a very low intensity x-ray source, and on the other side a detector. An Arduino Uno with a custom shield controls four stepper motors and interfaces with the detector. For safety I’m using a radioisotope x-ray source that’s barely above background levels, so every photon counts, and I’ve only just recalibrated the detector. I’m expecting the first images with a few more weekends of work.
I confess that I laughed and started to feel like Doc Brown when the “only” thing my CT scanner needed was something radioactive, but with luck projects like this will mature into desktop scanners for the maker community, and perhaps even medical scanners for impoverished countries, where they’re most needed.

Bungie fires Halo composer Martin O'Donnell (update)

Halo series and Destiny composer Marty O'Donnell was fired by Bungie's board of directors last week, the composer revealed via his personal Twitter account tonight.
O'Donnell composed music for Oni, as well as the Myth and Halo series. He joined Bungie in 2000 as audio director after working on Myth 2, Oni and Halo: Combat Evolved's scores on a contract basis with his company TotalAudio. During his time at Bungie, O'Donnell directed voice talent and sound design for the Halo trilogy, Halo: Reach and Halo 3: ODST. He often collaborated with TotalAudio partner and now in-house audio design lead at Bungie, Mike Salvatori.
O'Donnell, Salvatori and Paul McCartney recently worked together to create the soundtrack for Bungie's new shooter, Destiny. O'Donnell said McCartney was drawn to the project by an interest in interactive music. The three also produced a symphonic and choral prequel suite for Destiny called Music of the Spheres, which premiered during game music concert performance Video Games Live last July.

The early draft of the score, O'Donnell explained, was largely written without any idea of what the game looked or played like. When he was finished, he jokingly said, "I dumped 50 minutes of music on [the development team and said 'Deal with that. Make a game as good as that."

He said his goal as audio director for Bungie, working on Destiny, was that every sound in the game would be created from scratch.
We have reached out to Bungie for comment and clarification.
Update: Titled "There are those who said this day would never come...," Bungie posted the following statement regarding O'Donnell's termination on its official website:
"For more than a decade, Marty O'Donnell filled our worlds with unforgettable sounds and soundtracks, and left an indelible mark on our fans. Today, as friends, we say goodbye. We know that wherever his journey takes him, he will always have a bright and hopeful future.
We wish him luck in all his future endeavors."

How to Help Rebuild the Iconic GoldenEye in Half-Life 2

What comes to mind when you think of the first great multiplayer shooter? Call of Duty? Halo? Counter-Strike? Fantastic games to be sure, but for many, the champ always will be GoldenEye 007, the 1997 Nintendo 64 adaptation of the 1995 James Bond flick starring Pierce Brosnan. And here’s your chance to enjoy a classic with a modern twist.
Beyond hosting a well designed and executed single-player campaign—one relatively faithful to the movie, too—GoldenEye 007 was significant for introducing multiplayer shooters to console gamers. Before GoldenEye, the options were slim. PC gaming wasn’t nearly as popular as it is today (and the internet even less so), and the N64 was the first console with four controller ports. GoldenEye was among the first games to take advantage of them.
Still, time has not been kind to the first king of console split-screen. Aside from its rudimentary 3D graphics, the game’s wonky single-stick control scheme is exceptionally difficult for anyone accustomed to the modern twin-stick system of games like Halo and Call of Duty. So how do players looking for an N64 nostalgia-hit get their fix?
Mods.
For nearly a decade, Half-Life 2 has provided a modding platform for myriad projects. GoldenEye: Source is a total-conversion mod that aims to rebuild the original GoldenEye 007 multiplayer in Half-Life 2′s Source engine. With the mod, players can once again experience everything from the tight, twisted corridors of “The Library” to the calamitous bullet-spray of the RC-P90—with updated graphics, a re-imagined soundtrack, and, of course, a modernized control scheme.
The project has been around for quite a while itself — the team originally began work in 2005, later launching out of the beta phase in 2009. Since then, it has continued to gain support, with more than a dozen professional and hobbyist game designers lending their efforts. And now, you can help too.
Last week, one of the project’s managing directors — known by the handle “killermonkey” — announced that GoldenEye: Source was officially going open source. The current version (v 4.2.4) of the entire project’s code base has been uploaded to GitHub, and is available for anyone — anyone with the know-how, at least — to download and assist working on.
The current goals of the project lie mainly in bug-fixing, as a multitude erupted from the transition to Source SDK 2013, the most recent version of Valve’s Source engine and developer tools. Major revisions of code and feature additions are still being handled by the official GoldenEye: Source team, but modders interested in helping out can use GitHub’s pull requests and issue tracker to assist with bug fixing and issue reporting.

Sony to sell all its Square Enix shares

Sony announced it's selling its entire stake of 9.52 million shares in Square Enix, with the PlayStation company booking a gain of 4.8 billion yen (around $47 million) in the current fiscal quarter. At the time of writing, Sony is the third-largest shareholder in Square Enix with an sizable equity of 8.2 percent.

Sony says it's agreed to sell the shares to SMBC Nikko Securities Inc, one of Japan's leading financial security companies; the sale price will be disclosed tomorrow. We'll learn more of the reasons behind the sale when Sony announces its full-year financial results on May 14.

While the PS4 is doing better than expected, Sony's financial troubles of late have seen the company enact numerous changes to its operations. Following the sale of its Tokyo offices and several thousands of layoffs, earlier this year Sony announced plans to sell off its Vaio PC business and overhaul its TV arm into its own subsidiary. Those moves will result in a further 5,000 layoffs over the next year or so.

Richard Garriott wants you to port this proto-RPG teletype game

Richard Garriott kicked off a contest today to challenge gamers to port his first game, a 1977 role playing title built for a teletype machine, into something that can be played inside his upcoming latest game: Shroud of the Avatar.

Two winners and two runners-up will receive backer pledges for Shroud of the Avatar. All entries, though, will remain the property of Garriott.
In 1977, Garriott's father told his son that if he could create a working role-playing game, he would split the cost of an Apple 2 computer with him.
"That's what motivated me to make sure D&D #1 worked so well," Garriott said.
The game was created to run on the teletype machine at Clear Creek High School, in Houston, Texas, he said.
"No teacher in the school knew how to use it," he said. "So I had the classroom to myself one period every day. It counted toward my foreign language credit."
Garriott programmed the machine by typing the basic code into a terminal onto paper tape spools. Those strips of paper were then read into a second terminal that was connected to an offsite PDP-11, a 16-bit minicomputer, via a modem.
"When the game started it would print out a 10-by-10 grid around you the player," he said. "When you typed E for east, you would have to wait for 20 seconds for it to reprint the new map around you.
"So you had to think about the real-time mental state of the player and feed them at a pace to keep them engaged. When you are doing these things on paper, it's much more methodical in the sense of strategy. Instead of reacting impulsively, you're already forced to wait 20 seconds, spending another five examining your surroundings is not a big sacrifice."
The game used ASCII characters as graphics for the dungeon, the player, and the treasures and monsters a player encountered in the game. Asterisks were the walls, spaces were corridors and rooms, $ denoted a chest, U an up ladder, D a downladder, for instance.
"It still looked like tile graphics," Garriott said.
The end result was one of the first computer role-playing games ever created. It was also the game that both launched Garriott's eventual career and the Ultima series.
Over the proceeding years, Garriott went on to create D&D #2 through D&D #28. He later rewrote D&D #28 for the Apple 2 as D&D #28b. That game was later packaged in ziplock bags and sold in a computer store as Akalabeth.
Garriott said he came up with the idea for the contest after visiting a large barn he owns which is packed with all of the design documents he used to create every game he ever made.
"I have one copy of ever game in there," he said. "One version of ever piece of marketing material for all of those games for all of the countries it was published in."
But that original game, the very first of his role-playing titles, hasn't been played since the retirement of the teletype in 1979, when Garriott made the final printout of the game's code. And that's why Garriott is doing this contest.
"The goal would be to see it run again, to resurrect this game that is arguable amongst the first," he said.
The contest will reward the creator of the best Unity port of his game and the best plug-in browser port. The winners will receive a Citizen level pledge reward, valued at $550, for Shroud of the Avatar. The runners-up in both types will receive a $165 Collector level pledge. You can grab the original code and check out the full rules and deadline over on the game's website.
Garriott said he's excited to see how people set about porting the game, though he doubts anyone will fall back on the original mechanic of requiring players to print out the map every time a move is made.
"That would be great and a little funny too," he said. "It would force you back into the old school ways of playing it, but it would also chew on paper in a way that exceeded even the original."
 

Five Car Technologies That Will Forever Change How We Drive

Ten years from now, cars may still look and drive just like the cars on the road today. But in between that time and now, we’re likely to see some major changes in automotive technologies being integrated into 2015 models and beyond, redefining the relationship between car and driver beyond hand on wheel, foot to pedal… even relieving us of these current driving responsibilities.

BMW i8 LCD Key Fob
BMW’s future-forward i8 sports car is already poised to be something special, with a checklist of fuel efficiency and connectivity technologies engineered from the ground up. But it might be one of the smallest components accompanying the i8 which may turn the most heads. If these leaked images are to be believed, BMW is upgrading the standard remote key fob into a data display unit connected to the i8′s recharging and fuel system, alongside macro-programming for comfort and access use, upgrading car keys from purely mechanical to informational.

Audi Online Traffic Light Information System
As long as there are drivers, there will always be those who risk speeding through signal lights. Audi’s icon-based Online Traffic Light Information System purports to take the guesswork out of the equation for would-be Speed Racers, serving up seemingly precognitive data for drivers to hit green lights more regularly while connected wirelessly with a city’s traffic-light network system. There’s even an engine-revving inducing countdown feature displayed while drivers are waiting at a red light, making getting stuck at a red light a little more bearable.

Microsoft Windows in the Car / Apple CarPlay
Both technology giants are vying for the hearts and minds of our biggest mobile device: our cars. Drivers will soon say goodbye to clunky and slow user GUIs with menus turning slower than grandparents looking through restaurant options. Swipe, touch, and tap is quickly being adopted as the same tactile language of vehicle technology as that used already with phones, tablets, and computers, though simplified for safer driver use, with many of the same recognizable apps and services powering car console’s as our mobile screens. Questions and concerns about road safety still remain (and rightfully so, in this age of texting while driving). For now, most drivers would likely be content with more responsive menu systems for basic cabin and audio system controls.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIPBKNwARac
LED Laser Headlights
First there was Xenon bulbs, then LED headlamp technology, and now cars might soon be lighting up the roads with super bright and energy efficient laser beams of white light. Three times brighter than already bright LED headlights, yet 30% more energy efficient, BMW’s laser headlamp will boost hi-beam distances up to 1,800 feet while relying upon LEDs for regular driving. Concerns about blinding oncoming traffic is being addressed with a camera system which automatically adjusts beam power and direction downward, sensitive enough to recognize cyclists. Also, check out these laser beam lights debuted at CES by Audi.
Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Systems
V2V stands for “Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Systems”. Get used to hearing about it, as nothing will change the public’s relationship with cars in the next few years more than this developing technology. Improving human reflexes and hazard assessment by allowing nearby vehicles to exchange speed and distance information at up to 10 times per second, haptic feedback notifies drivers through the car seat about collision-avoidance and other nearby roadside hazards. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration predicts integrating V2V will reduce annual car accidents by 80%, with goals for mandatory manufacturer integration planned for 2017.

Facebook Seeks to Clean Up News Feeds by Targeting Like-Baiting Posts

In an effort to tidy up users' News Feeds, Facebook is targeting brand Pages that explicitly ask for likes, shares, and comments to promote their posts.

When brands post to Facebook, it's very common, and almost expected at this point, for them to ask for likes, shares, and comments to promote their products. This is a well-known practice, and it's been going on for years. But the social media giant is planning to crack down on these calls to action, calling the practice "like-baiting." Now, if a business or website asks for likes, shares, or comments, it will be much less likely that Facebook will show the post in users' News Feeds.
Facebook has been severely limiting exposure for businesses that are trying to reach out to their customer base through Facebook organically. Asking for likes, shares, and comments meant that those organic posts or images that businesses were sharing could potentially reach a larger audience without the company having to pay for it. After all, whenever someone shares something it can show up on a Facebook page and in the News Feeds of friends. But while Facebook says it is responding to user requests, the fact is that now if businesses want exposure on the social network, they are going to have to pay for it.
According to Facebook, users report that like-baiting stories are on average 15 percent less relevant than other stories that have a similar number of likes, comments, and shares. So the social network is cracking down on the practice because it feels it leads to a less enjoyable user experience, as it edges out content people do care about.
Facebook does say that their goal is not to impact pages that are "genuinely trying to encourage discussion among their fans," but rather to focus on Pages that frequently post explicitly asking for likes, comments, and shares.
The company is also looking at reducing the amount of recirculated content that's visible on the News Feed. It's not that uncommon for some viral content to go viral again every few months, and Facebook finds that this repeated visibility is less relevant to the users and users are more likely to complain about it. Additionally, some Pages share the same content over and over again, such as sharing the same news story for their business or the same event information. In their testing, Facebook found that reducing this frequently recirculated content causes users to hide 10 percent fewer stories from Pages overall.
Facebook is also adding tools to catch spammy links that are being shared through the site. Often, posts use inaccurate language or formatting in order to confuse users into clicking a link. However, how Facebook is planning to flag these links could end up labeling great content as being spammy simply because it's not being shared or liked often. So to prevent this from happening, it's likely that businesses will encourage users to share and like their posts, despite Facebook changing their algorithm to catch exactly this behavior.
All in all, Facebook is clearly trying to reduce the footprint of businesses in Pages even further, to encourage those businesses to advertise to get the reach they need.
So what should business marketers do in Pages do in order to not get caught up in the new changes?
Don't Ask for Likes, Comments, or Shares
Unfortunately this is currently a habit for a lot of businesses, but doing so will reduce that content's exposure significantly. However, expect to see companies searching for new, creative ways to encourage likes and shares without explicitly asking for them.
Don't Repeatedly Share the Same Content
This can be hard for marketers or businesses trying to promote an event. It may require them to create new content, even if they want to promote the same thing, so that it won't be seen as sharing the same content over and over.
Don't Use Misleading Links
Ensure links go to exactly the content that marketers and businesses are saying they will. Facebook specifically cites Pages that are sending users to a page full of ads instead of a photo gallery, for instance. So make sure links are not spamming and are accurate.

Tumblr Tuesday: KimK All Day

It’s Tumblr Tuesday! This week’s shoutout goes to KimK All Day, I love how simple yet chic your blog is! I also really like how the pics go from past to present, it brings back good memories of past outfits i’ve loved! Thank you for keeping your blog updated!
Don’t forget to keep commenting with all of your Tumblr links and you might get picked for next’s week’s Tumblr Tuesday! Xo

Buono Bonito

>> Glitter legend has it that there’s a factory somewhere in the depths of home counties where designer shoes and bags routinely get sprayed and applied with glitter and sparkle with deft skill and supposedly specialist machinery.  I’ve yet to track it down exactly but when I do, I will demonstrate my devotion to all things glitter with a naff Powerpoint presentation tracking the various instances where I’ve been glitter-bombed – Meadham Kirchhoff’s SS10 hardened glitter t-shirts, Miu Miu’s glitter brogues and pumps, Estefania Cortes Harker’s glitter flat planes and now, finally after ogling from afar, I’ve ventured down under and returned in glittery triumphant – the P.A.M. (Perks and Mini) x Diemme Bonito boots are finally mine!  I remember copping a feel of them when the seemingly unexpected original collaboration between the Aussie cult label and traditional Italian shoe manufacturer debuted around two years ago when the Bonito desert boot came in black, silver and gold.  Ever since then, they’ve been spotted on many a pair of knowing feet causing serious glitter envy on my part.  It’s a heady combustion between the particles of flighty light refracting glitter and Diemme’s expertise in hunting, mountaineering and trekking footwear, which has resulted in their manufacturing shoes for the likes of Maison Martin Margiela, Chanel and Bottega Veneta.  A solid Vibram sole and soft-leather linining mean these boots are seriously made for walking… or hiking, biking, cycling… whatever you wish.
Good things come to those who wait though as two years after the Bonito glitter boot debut, for their current “Tierra Del Fuego” collection, the boot has now expanded to include a blue and pink colourway in addition to the original black and also, there’s the ever prevalent slip-on options too.
“In a land of finite logic where natural anomaly rules, people dance in summer snowfall and become transparent. Smoke and snow impair your vision, but movement and energy convey greater meaning anyway. Orogeny is caused by extremes in motion, against and together – rustling in the undergrowth for millions of years, lifeforms merge and divide. New entities rise from volcanic ash blanketing the shoreline.”
The vague yet evocative chunk of text above accompanying this particular footwear collaboration is dreamer stuff.  Not that you’d need it to persuade you to join this glitter-infested light side.  I’ve done some bouncing in them already in Tokyo, where I have currently landed.  Joy.  Happiness.  Nuff’ said.




Worn with P.A.M. fuzz sweater and Meadham Kirchhoff x Topshop skirt





In other P.A.M. footwear news, their Rousseau sandals to accompany their new “Power Source collection, with memory foam padding are also tickling my fancy.  One half of P.A.M. duo Shauna Toohey was bouncing up and down in them quite comfortably at the P.A.M. party in Sydney last Thursday.  That alone was convincing evidence that these shoes are made for serious movement.  An apt summation for most of what P.A.M. do actually hence why my suitcase is already dangerously 3/4 full from my jaunt in Sydney.

BSkyB now lets you watch and record TV by clicking a tweet

BSkyB (‘Sky’) is trialing a new Twitter-based tool that lets its subscribers watch and record movies and TV shows by interacting with a tweet.
If you see ‘#WatchOnSky’ within a tweet from Sky, it can be expanded to reveal ‘Watch’ and ‘Record’ icons that link directly to Sky’s mobile TV service Sky Go. Indeed, this will only work via Twitter on mobile, and you will need to ensure your Sky+HD box is linked to your Sky iD.
Sky and Twitter have previously partnered to broadcast Champions League clips within tweets too, but this latest move represents one of the first times a UK broadcaster has let users control their viewing in such a way. It’s not an entirely novel concept though – Twitter and Comcast have introduced a similar feature in the US previously, while Brazil’s very own Sky TV has flirted with similar concepts in the past too.

Another Alleged iPhone 6 Case Surfaces with Cutouts for Moved Power Button, New Volume Controls

New photos showing what appears to be another case for Apple's larger-screen iPhone 6 have been posted by Nowhereelse.fr [Google Translate]. While details about the case's exact length are unknown, the images are said to have come from a Chinese accessory maker and show a case designed for the next-generation iPhone, similar to cases pictured last week and those on display at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair yesterday.


The case feature slightly rounded edges, similar to the design of the iPhone 5c and consistent with design drawings said to be for the iPhone 6. Like other cases and in line with a claim from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the case also includes a hole for a button along the upper right side of the device, which may be the new location of the power button. Rectangular volume control buttons similar to the fifth-generation iPod Touch are also notably present.



Rectangular volume (1) and right side power (2) cutouts (Annotated by Nowhereelse.fr)
Apple's iPhone 6 is expected to launch in two sizes of 4.7 and 5.5 inches. The majority of leaks so far have depicted the 4.7-inch version, as it is reportedly on track for a release this fall. Apple is said to have been running into production issues with the 5.5-inch version, with that model likely seeing a release later this year or early next year.

Along with a larger screen, Apple's next-generation iPhone is expected to include a thinner profile, upgraded A8 processor, Touch ID fingerprint sensor, and an improved camera featuring optical image stabilization. A report earlier this week from Jefferies analyst Peter Misek also claimed that Apple is negotiating with carriers to increase the price of the iPhone 6 by $100.

Samsung's first Tizen phones launching in Q2 2014, Android remains 'main business'

Samsung's first Tizen powered smartphones are set to hit the market in Q2 of this year according to a report by Reuters. Yoon Han-kil, senior vice president of Samsung's product strategy team, said that the first phone to launch around the end of the second quarter will be a high end model, with the next a more mid-range effort. He also said that "Android still needs to be our main business."
Samsung has previously tried to launch Tizen smartphones through Orange and NTT Docomo but failed due to "poor market conditions." Seemingly the timing is now better, and would follow Samsung's Tizen powered wearables, the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo to market.

Apple and Other Smartphone Makers Back Global Anti-Theft Measures

Apple, Google, HTC, Huawei, Motorola, Microsoft, Nokia and Samsung have announced a voluntary agreement to include anti-theft technology on all smartphones beginning next year, according to a report by Re/code.

The pledge has device makers agreeing that all devices going on sale after July of 2015 will have capabilities to remotely wipe data and to prevent the device from being reactivated without the owner's permission.

A number of state and local lawmakers praised the agreement, though it was panned as inadequate by California state Sen. Mark Leno, who has proposed a mandatory kill-switch law.

“The wireless industry today has taken an incremental yet inadequate step to address the epidemic of smartphone theft,” Leno said in a statement. “Only weeks ago, they claimed that the approach they are taking today was infeasible and counterproductive. While I am encouraged they are moving off of that position so quickly, today’s ‘opt-in’ proposal misses the mark if the ultimate goal is to combat street crime and violent thefts involving smartphones and tablets.”

The senator pointed out that all smartphones must have similar kill switch features, or violent street crime and thefts will continue to occur as at least some of the device thefts will still be profitable.

A federal bill introduced earlier this year would mandate the inclusion of such a smartphone "kill switch" after California introduced a similar bill.

It is likely that Apple's Activation Lock, introduced alongside iOS 7, satisfies the requirements of the agreement already. Activation Lock effectively disables a stolen smartphone by preventing it from being wiped and reactivated without an Apple ID and password. Apple's Find My iPhone also allows for devices to be remotely wiped and locked.

How cryptocurrencies can curb unsustainable growth in government power

Stripe now supports it, as does Square. Gaming behemoth Zynga is taking notice, while some companies have even offered to pay staff salaries with it. This thing even has its own ATM. We’re not talking cash or even gold doubloons though. We’re talking Bitcoin, baby.
Cryptocurrency is based on the concept that cryptography is used to manage a currency’s creation and subsequent transactions, as opposed to the status quo which sees centralized authorities take the helm. It’s fair to say that such virtual currencies have soared in recent times, with Bitcoin very much the poster child of the fledgling peer-to-peer digital payment system. But what exactly does this new-fangled currency system mean for everyone? Is it a fad, or can it revolutionize an industry that’s become synonymous with wealth, power and greed?
Meet Stefan Molyneux, the podcaster, broadcaster, philosopher and host of Freedomain Radio. Molyneux is one of the speakers at the TNW Europe Conference in Amsterdam next week, where he’ll discuss the shifting sands of Western political power over the centuries, the rise of centralized banking, government-controlled currency, and the recent surge in cryptocurrencies.
Currency was initially a fixed entity – for example gold or silver – meaning it was inherently limited in quantity. Banks, on the other hand, have gradually decoupled currency from such fixed commodities to create a system where money can be printed at will – which not only creates great wealth and power, but also creates great debt.
So how does cryptocurrency help curb this unsustainable growth in governmental power? We caught up with Molyneux ahead of his keynote next week to get some insights into the “self-limiting” nature of Bitcoin and the implications this may have for society.

Self-limiting

The Next Web (TNW): Can you explain the nature of cryptocurrencies in terms of what makes them “self-limiting”? If demand rises, what is stopping more of them being made available out of thin air too, just like paper money?
Stefan Molyneux (SM): There are two answers to that question – the first pertains to Bitcoin, and the second pertains to multiple cryptocurrencies.
A new Bitcoin is created by solving a complex algorithm that becomes progressively more challenging over time – and only 21 million Bitcoins can ever be produced – this is hard-coded in the architecture.
Other cryptocurrencies can be produced at will, just as any store can produce gift certificates in its own name, but they will generally not become as widespread as currency itself – just as alternative cryptocurrencies will generally not become as widespread as Bitcoin. At the moment, for a few hundred dollars, you can create your own cryptocurrency. It is easy to imagine that bingo halls and poker parties might do just that, as will mom-and-pop stores who want to issue their own ‘gift certificates’. The degree of creativity and innovation in the realm of competing cryptocurrencies is a very positive development for consumers, and will doubtless produce the very best possible solutions.

Inter-generational debt

TNW: To what extent will Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies even things out, taking power back from governmental bodies?
SM: One of the most important aspects of cryptocurrencies is the degree to which they deny inter-generational debt, deficit-financing, and the easy money required for imperialism and war.
As a species, we generally consider ourselves to be very considerate and thoughtful towards the young. Unfortunately, that does not find reflection in our governmental policies, which burden the unborn with staggering debt, none of which would be possible with cryptocurrencies.
The power of the state to create money out of thin air, control interest rates, and pretend that it is providing value to the population, when it is merely debasing their currencies and lowering them into a chasm of debt, will face a serious challenge from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Tax and regulation

TNW: We’re starting to see moves being made to better-regulate cryptocurrencies – won’t this put an end to the liberating facet of digital currencies? Or is it like pirating music – it’s impossible to fully regulate?
SM: I view the regulation of cryptocurrencies as a transition point to their wider adoption. No government wants to openly attempt to ban these currencies, because it would be broadcasting a lack of faith in its own currency by pursuing such a tyrannical action.
The more that governments can gain tax revenue out of digital currencies, the less they are likely to attempt any kind of crackdown. However, given the inevitable tendency of taxation and regulatory control to increase exponentially, many entrepreneurs will find creative ways to allow people to trade unencumbered by state power.
TNW: You’ve previously said that money-printing leads to debt and an unsustainable growth in governmental power – so what are the limits here? What, in your view, will happen to make this system crash and burn? What will force a turning point – cryptocurrencies? Or a combination of many factors?
SM: That which mathematically cannot continue, will not continue. However, it is impossible for any outsider to know the truth about how much governments really owe, what their unfunded liabilities are, and how much money is really being manufactured.
One beneficial aspect of the modern age is that the growth of massive dependent classes – in America in particular, almost half of the citizenry rely on the government for significant portions of their income – and the growth in the money supply which results in significant inflation, has traditionally been “solved” by war. [But] the proliferation of nuclear weapons has rendered modern war unthinkable, at least between the Western powers, so the traditional method of avoiding collapse by starting a war is no longer available. It is certainly my hope that the availability of digital currencies will provide a more gentle transition between state-controlled currency, and citizen-controlled value.
TNW: Do you think some element of regulation needs to be in place to restrict its volatility? We saw just recently Mt. Gox’s bankruptcy issues, it may even be liquidated, while Bitcoin valuations go up and down massively. So surely a lawless currency wouldn’t fix the status quo?
SM: I think that to assume that the word ‘regulation’ must apply to some centralized government agency is a mistake. Bitcoin, for instance, is very strictly regulated, in that new rules and procedures must be adopted by the majority of users in order to be propagated throughout the network. The moment you start talking about government ‘regulation’, you face the problem of ‘regulatory capture’, which is when the industries supposedly being regulated end up running the regulatory agency, donating massive amounts to politicians, and bending the rules in their own favor.
The failures at Mt. Gox have spurred significant innovations in security and authentication, specifically designed to prevent a recurrence of the incompetence or corruption that caused such losses. It’s important to remember that Bitcoin is only a few years old – how stable was the US dollar three years after its creation in the eighteenth century?

Black and grey markets

TNW: What factors need to align for Bitcoin and others to properly take off and become a standard form of currency? How far away are we from this being a fully acceptable, mainstream monetary system?
SM: It is important to remember that, depending on how you measure it, between a quarter and a third of the entire world’s economy operates in the black and gray markets. For these markets, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are a natural fit. For developing countries, the high efficiency and extremely low transaction costs of digital currencies provide an unprecedented opportunity to develop a financial infrastructure without all of the associated political corruption. For instance, through Bitcoin, it is possible to run an entire stock exchange on a cell phone. Entrepreneurs in Africa can sell shares to investors without having to spend the millions of dollars required for an IPO through traditional Western stock markets.
It is certainly my hope that the transition from government-controlled fiat currencies to truly democratic digital currencies will be rational, knowledgeable and orderly. However, given how unstable and debt-ridden fiat currencies are at the moment, it is more likely that digital currencies will serve as emergency lifeboats as the Titanic of government currencies goes down – in other words, far from orderly, very messy, but ultimately life-saving.

Will you be at TNW Conference Europe?

Stefan Molyneux and many other speakers and startups will be taking to the stage at TNW Conference Europe in Amsterdam, from April 24-25. You can grab your ticket now.

Google says all Glass units allocated to the public sold out, but doesn’t reveal how many were bought

oogle ditched its invite-only approach to Google Glass for a single day when it made its wearable device available to the general public in the US on Tuesday, and the company has revealed that its allocation of devices is now sold out.
Google isn’t saying exactly how many devices and spots on the Google Explorer program have been claimed today — we’ve reached out to the company to try to get that figure — but, since it is not yet midnight in California, the allotment did technically sell out before the end of the day.


There’s hope for anyone who wanted to part with $1,500 for Glass but didn’t get round to it today, as Google says it will “be trying new ways to expand the Explorer program in the future.” That’s rather cryptic — it could just say it will open the Explorer program to all again in the future — and it makes us wonder what else Google might have planned.
If you picked up a device today, let us know what motivated you to do so and what you expect from Glass in the comments below.

Google Glass

Shared publicly  -  6:23 AM

 

Welcome to our new Explorers! All spots in the Explorer Program have been claimed for now, but if you missed it this time, don’t worry. We’ll be trying new ways to expand the Explorer program in the future. You can sign up below to stay updated. That's all for now, folks.

How to Get One – Google Glass

google.com

Millions of Android Phones Could Be Affected by the Heartbleed Bug. Check to See if Yours Is One of Them

Disturbing news: The now-infamous Heartbleed security flaw might reach further than your favorite websites. It could affect your mobile device, too.

According to an announcement by Google, smartphones and tablets running a specific version of Android were affected by the widespread web security bug, which could potentially spill your sensitive login information (like passwords).

The company assured Android owners in a blog post April 9 that most versions are not affected by the flaw. However, as Bloomberg notes, Google added that a version called 4.1.1 Jelly Bean is a “limited exception.”

That version of Android was released in 2012 and is likely to be running on older Android smartphones. According to the most recent statistics released by Google, about 34 percent of Android devices use a version of the 4.1 Jelly Bean software. Though the company said that fewer than 10 percent of devices in use are vulnerable, a Google spokesperson confirmed to Bloomberg that millions of devices still run 4.1.1 Jelly Bean. 

So how can you check to see if your device is affected? You’ll need to go to the Settings menu of your phone and find your way to the About Phone section. There you’ll be able to learn what version of Android you’re running and see if any updates are available.

There’s also a free Android app available that will tell you if your device is vulnerable to the bug.

Whether there is an immediate update to patch this bug is still unclear. Google’s blog post says that “patching information for Android 4.1.1 is being distributed to Android partners.” A Verizon spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company was aware of the “security vulnerability referred to as ‘Heartbleed,’ ” and that the company was “working with our device manufacturers to test and deploy patches to any affected device on our network running Android 4.1.1.”

We’ve reached out to Google for comment. In the meantime, fingers crossed that you’re not affected.

If you need to catch up on which sites are affected by the Heartbleed

How to Disable Autoplay Videos on Facebook

In March, Facebook announced that it would soon allow video ads to automatically play on your News Feed. The new feature, which seems to do a lot for the Facebook’s advertising clients and very little for its users, is slated to roll out in late April, and has already begun to appear for many.

Here’s a guide to nipping it in the bud:

1. Login to Facebook. Once you’re in and can see your news feed, click on the arrow on the upper-right hand corner of the screen.

2. Select Settings in the drop-down menu.

3. On the left-hand side of the page there will be a list of sections. Select Videos at the very bottom.

4.  Oh, look. Facebook has enabled auto-play videos in your feed as a default. How thoughtful. Click the arrow next to the ON button to change that.

You’d think that would take care of it, but you’d be wrong. As the fine print above tells us, Facebook just so happened to make your web Settings for this feature completely separate from those of your mobile app. Just in case you like to see ads that automatically play in your phone but not on your PC. Its consideration is touching.

Turns out that there’s no actual way you can shut off auto-pay ads on your phone. This is probably because Facebook is betting big on mobile advertising, and wants to profit from as many eyeballs (your eyeballs) as possible. I’ve reached out to Facebook to get their reason.

In the meantime, the best you can do is adjust your phone’s settings so your phone will only auto-play advertisements when it’s connected to Wi-Fi so that your data plan won’t take a hit.
To do that on iOS, go to Settings, scroll down and select Facebook.

Select Settings.

From there, select Auto-play on Wi-Fi only.

To change this setting on Android, open the Facebook app and tap on the menu button at the bottom of your phone. You’ll see a tool icon labeled Settings. Tap it.

From there you’ll see a screen labeled General Settings. Scroll down and check the box next to Auto-play videos on Wi-Fi only.

And there you have it folks. It would be nice if Facebook made this whole thing a little easier, wouldn’t it?

justpassingthrough

look 1 / dress: cynthia vincent / shades: illesteva / bracelets: h&m, lagos / shoes: c/o REEF

It is crazy to think I have been in California now for 1 year. I really couldn’t picture it any other way. I definitely vibe with the West Coast attitude because it’s no secret I am a beach baby at heart. Every weekend is filled with new places to explore and adventures and I am truly so excited and happy to call this place my home. I am also so excited to share my collaboration with REEF. Always my go to leather flip flops for my beach days. I got a chance to check out their latest Spring / Summer collections and share them with you in my favorite beachy locations here on the West Coast. Also please check out my pinterest board HERE that shares some of my favorite beachy vibes.

look 2 / top: skull cashmere / shorts: AG / shades: karen walker / shoes: c/o REEF