Tag Archives: market trends

Move Over, Bitcoin. Ether Is the Digital Currency of the Moment.

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In a recent survey of 1,100 virtual currency users, 94 percent were positive about the state of Ethereum, while only 49 percent were positive about Bitcoin, the industry publication CoinDesk said this month.

Source: Move Over, Bitcoin. Ether Is the Digital Currency of the Moment. – The New York Times

Investors buying Ether are placing a bet that people will want to use the Ethereum network’s computing capabilities and will need the currency to do so. But that is far from a sure thing. And real-world use of the network is still scant.

Sports and the “Millennial Problem”

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As they continue to move away from traditional sports viewing, a growing number of Millennials are instead flocking to alternatives such as eSports, including live video-gaming competitions such as The International, an annual tournament devoted to DOTA 2. Though such events aren’t organized in the traditional sense, the growing popularity of eSports nonetheless has the potential to further diminish Millennials’ loyalty to traditional sports.

Source: L.E.K. Sports Survey — Digital Engagement Part One: Sports and the “Millennial Problem” – 1912_Sports_Survey_Part_1a.pdf

PC market shows signs of recovery

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IDC expects PC vendors to ship a total of 258.2 million units this year, a figure which would be 6.4 percent lower than last year. The previous estimate was a 7.2 percent fall, which IDC announced in August. Growth will still be negative in 2017, but shipments are expected to decrease by just 2.6 percent compared to this year.

Source: PC market shows signs of recovery

Say hello to .google and other branded internet addresses

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Google’s website is at the fore of an expected boom in websites taking advantage of a 2-year-old change in internet rules that lifted the limits for these suffixes, called top-level domains. That’s brought .paris, .movie and .xyz to websites and email addresses.

Source: Say hello to .google and other branded internet addresses – CNET

PC shipments return to growth in the US

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While we’re still waiting for worldwide shipments to go positive, both IDC and Gartner report that PC shipments in the US have increased for the first time in more than a year. IDC reports that shipments have increased by 4.9 percent, and Gartner says they’ve risen by 1.4 percent.

Source: PC shipments return to growth in the US | The Verge

Worldwide, PC shipments are still on a decline. Gartner estimates a 5.2 percent drop, and IDC calculates around a 4.5 percent decrease in shipments.

‘Minecraft’ tops 100 million sales

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Much of that success can be attributed to the game’s open structure and limitless potential. Players can build anything they imagine, provided its outward-facing geometry is made up of simple, colorful blocks. The focus on creativity is why so many players, young and old, have been drawn to the game and continue to play years after its release.

Source: ‘Minecraft’ tops 100 million sales

Apart from Tetris, few games have come anywhere close to hitting the 100 million mark.

Americans abandoning wired home Internet, study shows

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In plain English, they’re abandoning their wired Internet for a mobile-data-only diet — and if the trend continues, it could reflect a huge shift in the way we experience the Web.

Source: Americans abandoning wired home Internet, study shows | The Seattle Times

Seventeen percent of households making between $75,000 and $100,000 are mobile-only now, compared with 8 percent two years ago. And 15 percent of households earning more than $100,000 are mobile-only, versus 6 percent in 2013.

Ethereum, a Virtual Currency, Enables Transactions That Rival Bitcoin’s

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Beyond the price spike, Ethereum is also attracting attention from giants in finance and technology, like JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft and IBM, which have described it as a sort of Bitcoin 2.0.

Source: Ethereum, a Virtual Currency, Enables Transactions That Rival Bitcoin’s – The New York Times

The system is complicated enough that even people who know it well have trouble describing it in plain English.

Online market ‘is turning drug dealers from goons to geeks’

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Researchers argued that Silk Road and its successors, known as cryptomarkets or darknet markets, became successful after bringing together four technologies: the bitcoin virtual currency and encrypted internet protocols such as Tor, which allowed anonymity, as well as Escrow and customer feedback systems, which gave buyers and sellers confidence in their transactions.

Source: Online market ‘is turning drug dealers from goons to geeks’ | World news | The Guardian

“In the drug cryptomarket era, having good customer service and writing skills, and a good reputation, via feedback, as a vendor or buyer may be more important than muscles and face-to-face connections.”