How Bitcoin Ends

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We thought the net would break the monopoly of top-down, corporate media. But as business interests took over it has become primarily a delivery system for streaming television to consumers, and consumer data to advertisers.

Source: How Bitcoin Ends

This explains why bitcoin has become less a means of exchange than a speculative pyramid, as well as why the coin’s developers and early investors have ended up billionaires. The wealth disparity in bitcoin is worse than that of central currency, with 4% of users owning 96% of bitcoin. So much for breaking the banking monopoly; this is just hackers seizing the banking industry for themselves.

Facebook lost around 2.8 million U.S. users under 25 last year. 2018 won’t be much better.

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The reality: The number of U.S. Facebook users in the 12- to 17-year-old demographic declined by 9.9 percent in 2017, eMarketer found, or about 1.4 million total users. That’s almost three times the decline expected. There were roughly 12.1 million U.S. Facebook users in the 12- to 17-year-old demographic by the end of the year.

Source: Facebook lost around 2.8 million U.S. users under 25 last year. 2018 won’t be much better. – Recode

US startups are shunning IPOs. That’s bad news for Americans

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When industry powered US growth, companies grew by spending on capital investments like factories and machinery. Back in 1975, firms once spent six times more on capital investments than they did on research and development. But as the US shifted toward a services and knowledge-based economy, intangible investments became increasingly important. In 2002, R&D expenditures for the average firm surpassed capital expenditures for the first time. It’s stayed that way since; nowadays, average R&D spending is roughly twice that of capital expenditures.

Source: US startups are shunning IPOs. That’s bad news for Americans — Quartz

Guatemala’s Maya Society Featured Huge ‘Megalopolis,’ LiDAR Data Show

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In what’s being hailed as a “major breakthrough” in Maya archaeology, researchers have identified the ruins of more than 60,000 houses, palaces, elevated highways, and other human-made features that have been hidden for centuries under the jungles of northern Guatemala.

Source: Guatemala’s Maya Society Featured Huge ‘Megalopolis,’ LiDAR Data Show

Blast off! Rocket Lab successfully reaches orbit on second attempt

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Following successful first and second-stage burns, Electron reached orbit and deployed customer payloads at 8 minutes and 31 seconds after lift-off.

“Rocket Lab was founded on the principle of opening access to space to better understand our planet and improve life on it.

Source: Blast off! Rocket Lab successfully reaches orbit on second attempt

Researchers find that one person likely drove Bitcoin from $150 to $1,000

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The bottom line is simple: if Bitcoin wants to be taken seriously it probably shouldn’t be this easy or legal to manipulate the markets. While decentralization is supposed to replace regulation it’s clear that there is still a way to go before it can be truly taken seriously.

Source: Researchers find that one person likely drove Bitcoin from $150 to $1,000 | TechCrunch

Meltdown and Spectre: clearing up the confusion

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For a typical user, the browser presents the highest risk, but we have yet to see proof of concept code that exploits this vulnerability through JavaScript – and browser vendors have started issuing patches as well (for example, Mozilla has issued a new version of Firefox, 57.0.4, where they have decreased the precision of time sources to make attacks such as Spectre more difficult or impossible). If you run stuff as Administrator: Spectre makes no difference for you really.

In other words: the world will end over the weekend.

Source: Meltdown and Spectre: clearing up the confusion – SANS Internet Storm Center

Bitcoin Miners Are Shifting Outside China Amid State Clampdown

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Bitmain, which runs China’s two largest bitcoin-mining collectives, is setting up regional headquarters in Singapore and now has mining operations in the U.S. and Canada, Wu Jihan, the company’s co-founder, said in an interview. BTC.Top, the third-biggest mining pool, is opening a facility in Canada and ViaBTC, ranked No. 4, has operations in Iceland and America, their founders said.

Source: Bitcoin Miners Are Shifting Outside China Amid State Clampdown – Bloomberg

More news on Bitcoin today.

From:  Microsoft Halts Bitcoin Transactions Because It’s An “Unstable Currency

While Bitcoin price has always fluctuated, it never swung like it did in the past three months. To be widely adopted by the financial sector, a digital or fiat currency must be stable in order to be useful, something that Bitcoin is definitely not.

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The Search for Aliens Starts Now—in Antarctica

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Like many subsea drones, the 10-foot-long Icefin is shaped like a torpedo. It made headlines in 2014 as one of the prototype drones that plumbed the Antarctic as part of a NASA program to test the technology. Now, a new program called the Ross Ice Shelf and Europa Underwater Probe (RISE UP), NASA is funding three expeditions to put an upgraded Icefin under the ice. This was its first deployment..

Source: The Search for Aliens Starts Now—in Antarctica

When Icefin dove to the sea floor it found odd, feathery creatures waiting for them. “My favorite moments from the seafloor were our visits by crinoids…it was incredible to behold,” she says, referring to the to the odd, feathery dwellers that call Antarctica home.