Новости за 11.12.2019

Palantir, the surveillance company founded by Peter Thiel, has unsurprisingly stepped up to fill the void left behind after Google abandoned Project Maven earlier this year over ethical concerns. Project Maven, for those unfamiliar, is a Pentagon program to build an AI-powered surveillance platform for unmanned aerial vehicles. Basically, the job is to build a system for the US military to deploy and monitor autonomous drones. This system would, supposedly, give the government real-time battlefield command and control and the ability to track... Читать дальше...

2020 is nearly upon us and leaks for next year’s flagships are steadily beginning to flow. Case in point: Earlier this week leakster Yash Raj Chaudhary shared some impressive early specifications for the upcoming Huawei P40. While Chaudhary is a relatively recent leaker, he does have several accurate releases under his belt. The leaker claims the P40 – it’s not clear if he’s talking about the P40 Pro or plain P40 – will come with some serious-business specifications. Among these is a 6.5-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate... Читать дальше...

Getting a barrage of bulk messages is one of the most annoying parts of modern messaging services, but now WhatsApp says it is taking additional measures to prevent people and businesses from abusing its system with bulk and automated messaging. Though WhatsApp offers a Business app and API to help companies more easily communicate with customers, the company says using these tools to send out bulk or automated messages is against its Terms of Service. WhatsApp messages are end-to-end encrypted,... Читать дальше...

It’s that time of year for looking back and seeing what happened in 2019. And given that YouTube was raked over the coals for its inability to curb on-platform harassment, it’s probably no surprise it’s updating its harassment policy. Matt Halprin, YouTube‘s Global Head of Trust and Safety, said the new policy will “…not only prohibit explicit threats, but also veiled or implied threats. This includes content simulating violence toward an individual or language suggesting physical violence may occur.” He also added... Читать дальше...

Bitcoin miners in China wield two-thirds of the network’s processing power (hash rate), and more than half of it is controlled by a single province. That figure, which increased from 60 percent in June, marks the highest recorded by digital asset firm CoinShares since it started tracking Bitcoin‘s hash rate almost two years ago. According to CoinShare’s data shared with Hard Fork, Bitcoin miners in Sichuan, China are responsible for 54 percent of its global hash rate. “Out of the remaining 35 percent of [global] miners... Читать дальше...

For a long while, I’ve avoided budget phones as though they were a marathon and I was me. I think this… distaste can be traced back to the early days of smartphones. One of my first touchscreen-enabled devices was some cheap, early generation phone from a company I can’t even remember. And — my fucking god — it was awful. I’d moved from a Sony Ericsson phone (something like the W200) that I loved, but I was excited to move into the future and get a phone that was basically one big screen. The problem was thus... Читать дальше...

Bitcoin‘s long-term holders continue to keep their cryptocurrency close, despite its declining value — 59 percent of BTC’s circulating supply still hasn’t moved in at least one year. Generally, these trends are in-line with shrinking Bitcoin trading volumes, reports research firm Delphi Digital. Still, the firm highlighted 220,000 BTC (worth roughly $1.6 billion at current prices) bought way back in November 2017 — the start of peak Bitcoin-mania — that hasn’t moved at all since then. Surely, some strong hands. Читать дальше...

Law makers in the Netherlands could be increasing the maximum prison sentence for those committing payment fraud with cryptocurrency and money transfer apps. Presently, fraudsters that commit payment fraud with banking and money transfer apps — such as Tikkie — face between one and four years in prison. But new legislation, in a bill from Minister Grapperhaus, would see the maximum sentence increased to six years, NOS reports. The report also says that cryptocurrency fraud would fall under the new legislation. Читать дальше...

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Our robot colleague Satoshi Nakaboto writes about Bitcoin every fucking day. Welcome to another edition of Bitcoin Today, where I, Satoshi Nakaboto, tell you what’s been going on with Bitcoin in the past 24 hours. As Isaac Newton used to say: Peel off the skin of this mystery and eat the tasty fruit inside! Bitcoin price We closed the day, December 10 2019, at a price of $7,278. That’s a minor 1.60 percent decline in 24 hours, or -$119.01. It was the lowest closing price in five days. We’re still 63 percent below Bitcoin‘s all-time high of $20... Читать дальше...

How much is a domain name worth? For one lunatic, apparently enough to try to steal one at gunpoint. Rossi Lorathio Adams II was just sentenced to 14 years in prison for trying to force a man to transfer him the doitforstate.com domain. Adams, a 27 year-old from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, ran a small social media empire dubbed ‘State Snaps.’ It spanned millions of followers across Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter and depicted “images and videos of young adults engaged in crude behavior, drunkenness, and... Читать дальше...

Apple’s Mac Pro is available for purchase today, and several people have noticed something curious about it. Namely that, if you choose the correct options during the purchasing process, it will cost you more than a Cybertruck. The Mac Pro slides in just at the end of 2019, technically fulfilling the company’s promise to be available by the fall. When my colleague Napier Lopez revealed the company would release the Pro this month, he mentioned the rather steep base price — $5,999 — and added, “Expect... Читать дальше...

The Drone Racing League recently held its first Human VS AI match, pitting a drone helmed by AI developed by Delft University of Technology’s MavLab against one flown by human pilot Gabriel Kocher. Despite early race hype, MavLab’s machine took a big “L” as Kocher flew away with the victory, running the course in half the time it took the AI. Am I the only one wondering how the “future” ended up being a world where AI can beat us at board-games and we’re better at piloting vehicles? That’s not to... Читать дальше...