Five Minute Blockchain • TruBlo Newsletter No. 43: Microsoft to use ChatGPT for Bing • Apple unveils AI-narrated books • Web3 Music ecosystem
Five Minute Blockchain – No. 43
05.01.2023
Estimated reading time: 4 min 38 secs
Welcome. All the best to you for 2023 from the TruBlo consortium and the funded projects.
TruBlo aims to find new and innovative applications for “trustable content on future blockchains”. Given last year’s turmoil, “future blockchains” (a term we used from the beginning) seems the correct perspective now. There are many aspects that need to be sorted out so that the expectations and hopes towards blockchain technology can help all of us towards the next level of high quality, and now, and now, and information technology.
2023 will be the third and final year of TruBlo. We have concluded the three open calls. Now the goal is to analyse, connect and learn from the experience and findings of our 45 funded projects. Step by step, we will publish results from individual projects and the entire ecosystem of teams and ideas.
What do you expect of 2023 about trustable content and the broader use of blockchain technology? What are the key trends? Will blockchain technology make a jump forward, or will development slow down?
“The administration believes that the digital asset space is unregulated and thinks they can get away with anything. They are eager to plant a flag and send a message.”
– Renato Mariott, a former federal prosecutor for the Department of Justice Securities and Commodities Fraud Unit Renato Mariott, on CoinDesk TV’s “First Mover“
TRUST
The debate over the TikTok ban in the US
There is considerable debate about whether TikTok, the social media app with short videos, should be banned in the US. There are two main reasons: Young users seem to be glued to their smartphones consuming entertaining, never-ending content – this observation leads to concern among parents and officials. Another factor is a deep distrust of whether TikTok, which a Chinese company has developed, uses the platform to collect data about their global, often western, audience. Because US and Chinese relations deteriorated last year, the debate about banning TikTok entirely is simmering.
Currently, Brendan Carr, commissioner for the powerful FCC (Federal Communications Commission) in the US, points to India as an example. TikTok was banned almost two years ago in India, and Carr is quoted saying that India set a “significant precedent”.
Microsoft plans to use ChatGPT for better answers on Bing, resulting in a challenge to Google
Chat GPT from OpenAI, released by the end of November 2022, has created a lot of excitement regarding the capabilities of artificial intelligence. Have you already tried to let ChatGPT write a text for you? The software, currently free to use, performs various writing tasks based on user prompts, and the results are impressive.
Now ChatGPT will be used as a tool to compete with Google. According to “The Information”, Microsoft plans to release a version of its search engine Bing, which uses ChatGPT to answer user searches. The goal is to have better answers because the user’s intent might be better understood and answered this way.
Microsoft has invested one billion US-Dollars in OpenAI. Another small but interesting fact: Bing might only be the second choice in the search engine market. But it is a serious business. Microsoft generates a yearly revenue of $9 billion US Dollars in advertising. Furthermore, the market share of desktop searches for Bing has risen from around 4% to now almost 9% since 2019.
“Apple has quietly launched a catalogue of books narrated by artificial intelligence in a move that may mark the beginning of the end for human narrators. The strategy marks an attempt to upend the lucrative and fast-growing audiobook market – but it also promises to intensify scrutiny over allegations of Apple’s anti-competitive behaviour.”
How generative AI might turn the open web into a Dark Forrest
How do you prove you are a human in a system where robots generate more interactions? Here is a link to a thought-provoking essay discussing the perspective of a future internet turned into a so-called “dark forest”. The “dark forest theory” describes an increasingly life-like but life-less online state. Don’t miss the great graphic that stacks the different layers of the web (open web, “cosy web” with tight spaces, dark web).
Web3 music ecosystem in 2023 – 140 companies and platforms
One big hope for creators is that blockchain technology could enable a direct channel to fans without an intermediary. Right now, this does not seem very realistic. But the technology, in theory, would allow for direct sales of NFTs – be it photos, videos or music.
How does the Web3 music landscape look right now? Click on the link to see a comprehensive overview created by Musciben & published on Twitter.
BLOCKCHAIN
TON Network launches decentralised file-sharing platform
The Telegram Open Network (TON) was started by Telegram in 2019. Now a new offering called TON storage wants to overcome limitations in long-term storage. The core idea of TON storage is to offer financial incentives to node operators.
Quote:
“Anyone can become a node operator on the TON network and receive payments from other users for hosting files — even if operating just one node”.
“Consortia in the blockchain domain comprise enterprises collaborating to expand their work on shared ideas and objectives. Blockchain consortia bring competitors under a common roof to solve shared problems using decentralized network solutions.”
Question: How did these collaborations evolve in the face of recent market troubles?
The world is facing an unprecedented rise in food waste over the past years. While yields from farming have increased the competition in the food market is one reason for high amounts of food which is never consumed.
The UN Environment Programme Food Waste Index revealed that 17% of the food available to consumers is never eaten but thrown away. In total, 900 million tonnes of food are thrown away, according to a 2021 global report. This includes supermarkets, households and restaurants. 60% of the food waste occurs in households. Numbers for the EU estimate on a per capita base Europeans waste up to 127 KG of food every year.
To combat this pervasive problem, an early-stage project called TRUFLE has emerged. TRUFLE leverages blockchain and deep learning technologies to provide a revolutionary solution for food waste reduction. The early-stage project was started by an innovative European SME called INLECOM. The company has offices in Brussels, London, Athens and Dublin.
Introduction to TRUFLE and its revolutionary food waste reduction solution
TRUFLE aims to provide full auditability, trust and transparency of information reported by retailers, food service providers and consumers about their discarded food and is linked to existing solutions, reliably classifying and quantifying the quantity of food waste with the scope of incentivized food-waste reporting. The solution is expected to pave the way for incentivised food reporting mechanisms to trust information from users and link trusted data to food waste reporting incentives.
The predictive capability enables TRUFLE to provide real-time insights and data to food suppliers and distributors about their products. By leveraging the power of blockchain and deep learning, TRUFLE can reduce food waste and increase the trust and exchange of information among its partners.
The TRUFLE platform is designed to be a fully-integrated supply chain solution. It comprises two main components: a blockchain-based ledger and a deep learning algorithm. The blockchain-based ledger securely stores and manages data about product supply and demand, allowing for accurate and secure data sharing between partners.
The project recently published a short descriptive video on how the solution works.
Benefits of TRUFLE’s blockchain and deep learning technologies
TRUFLE’s blockchain and deep learning technologies provide a range of benefits to food suppliers and distributors. By leveraging the power of blockchain, TRUFLE can ensure that all data is securely stored and protected. This makes it easier for food suppliers and distributors to share information and data, reducing the risk of data loss or theft.
The deep learning algorithm also enables TRUFLE to forecast demand for certain food items accurately. This predictive capability can help food suppliers and distributors avoid overproduction and reduce food waste. By leveraging the power of deep learning, TRUFLE can also identify patterns and trends in food demand, enabling food suppliers and distributors to optimize their production processes.
How TRUFLE’s technology works
TRUFLE’s technology is based on a combination of blockchain and deep learning algorithms. The blockchain-based ledger securely stores data about cases of food waste, allowing for accurate and secure data sharing between partners. This data is then used by the deep learning algorithm to accurately forecast demand for certain food items.
The deep learning algorithm is powered by a neural network that uses a range of data points, such as past sales and weather patterns, to create accurate predictions. This predictive capability enables TRUFLE to identify and reduce food waste in real time. The platform also includes various features, such as automated order processing and tracking, that make it easier for food suppliers and distributors to manage their supply chains.
TRUFLE’s impact on food waste reduction
TRUFLE’s technology has the potential to revolutionize the way food suppliers and distributors manage their supply chains. By leveraging the power of blockchain and deep learning, TRUFLE can enable food suppliers and distributors to accurately predict demand for certain food items and reduce food waste. This predictive capability can also help food suppliers and distributors optimize production processes and reduce operational costs.
The use of blockchain and deep learning technologies also has the potential to increase trust and exchange of information among food suppliers and distributors. By securely storing and managing data about product supply and demand, TRUFLE can help food suppliers and distributors share information and data securely and efficiently. This can help increase transparency in the food supply chain and reduce the risk of data loss or theft.
How TRUFLE’s technology can increase trust and exchange of information
TRUFLE’s technology can increase trust and exchange of information among food suppliers and distributors. By leveraging the power of blockchain, TRUFLE can ensure that all data is securely stored and protected. This makes it easier for food suppliers and distributors to share information and data, reducing the risk of data loss or theft.
Deep learning algorithms also enable TRUFLE to accurately forecast demand for certain food items. This predictive capability can help food suppliers, and distributors better plan their production processes and reduce the risk of overproduction. By providing real-time insights and data about product supply and demand, TRUFLE can help increase trust and exchange of information among its partners.
Examples of TRUFLE’s implementation in food waste reduction
A key goal of the project is to provide a simple and reliable way to report on food waste, where the people involved are motivated to provide data for better food management.
Food manufacturers, supermarkets and other members of the food chain will be able to uwe TRUFLE to optimize their production processes and reduce operational costs. By leveraging the power of deep learning, TRUFLE can accurately forecast demand for certain food items and help food manufacturers avoid overproduction and reduce their costs.
Challenges faced by TRUFLE
Despite its many benefits, TRUFLE’s technology is not without its challenges. One of the main challenges is data accuracy and consistency. A key challenge is to motivate people who are part of the food process chain to report food waste when it happens.
This might sound counterintuitive. But a future goal here could be to reduce the amount of food waste from around 17% too much less – which would help everyone involved to save costs and avoid losses from food which has never been consumed.
Another challenge is scalability. As the number of users increases, TRUFLE’s technology must be able to scale up to meet demand. This requires the platform to process large amounts of data quickly and accurately.
Solutions for overcoming the challenges
To overcome the challenges faced by TRUFLE, the platform must prioritize data security, data trustability and scalability. To ensure data privacy, TRUFLE must use cutting-edge encryption technology to ensure that all data is securely stored and protected. To address scalability, the platform must process large amounts of data quickly and accurately.
TRUFLE must also ensure that its deep learning algorithms are accurate and current. By leveraging the latest deep learning algorithms, TRUFLE can ensure that its predictive capabilities are accurate and reliable. This will help the platform accurately forecast demand for certain items and reduce food waste.
Conclusion
TRUFLE is a revolutionary technology transforming how food suppliers and distributors manage their supply chains. By leveraging the power of blockchain and deep learning, the platform can accurately predict demand for certain nutritional items and reduce food waste. TRUFLE’s technology can also increase trust and exchange of information among food suppliers and distributors, enabling them to share data securely and efficiently.
Welcome to a new edition of the TruBlo newsletter. We aim to collect and link to the most relevant content in the field of blockchain, trust and content from the past week, with optimism for blockchain technology, but not as cheerleaders. We are an EU-funded research project supporting 45 early-stage teams working on “trusted content for future blockchains”. Please forward this newsletter to colleagues and friends if you think they would be interested in this.
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes 54 seconds (apologies, we are a bit longer this week).
Updates this week
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I can’t think of a field in tech that has had as much polarisation and as much useless noise as crypto. Behind all the noise, a lot of very clever people are quietly building highly complex and technical infrastructure, scaffolding and plumbing that might mean you could build billion-scale consumer services on this stuff in, say, five years.”
Source: Benedict Evans, Newsletter Nr. 457 (20.09.2022)
PROJECT
Projekt of the week: Enarxis – better management of EV loading stations
Enarxis project will use blockchain technology for reputation management for users of Electric vehicle (EV) loading stations, specifically in the hospitality sector.
Why in the hotel sector? Because EV loading stations have become as essential for hotel guests as WiFi was a few years ago. There are two problems: What if people reserve a station but then do not show up – but because of the reservation, the station is still blocked for use by others? Similarly, what if people load their batteries but then do not leave? Both issues will be managed with an app developed by the team behind Enarxis. The team was recently selected for an accelerator program by Visa and had earlier been funded by TruBlo.
A report on how state-sponsored trolls from Russia targeted a movement (the Women’s March of 2017) and its leaders in the US. The goal was to weaken the movement by attacking the leaders and sowing doubt:
“They posted as Black women critical of white feminism, conservative women who felt excluded, and men who mocked participants as hairy-legged whiners. But one message performed better with audiences than any other. It singled out an element of the Women’s March that might, at first, have seemed like a detail: Among its four co-chairs was Ms. Sarsour, a Palestinian American activist whose hijab marked her as an observant Muslim.”
A second quote helps to understand how the tactics work:
“Ladislav Bittman, who worked for the secret police in Czechoslovakia before defecting to the United States, compared Soviet disinformation programs to an evil doctor who expertly diagnoses the patient’s vulnerabilities and exploits them, “prolongs his illness and speeds him to an early grave instead of curing him.”
Passwords: Why four random words are better than a complex phrase
Julia Angwin from The Markup shares a reminder on how to construct hard-to-crack passwords. The critical knowledge is that four random words (for example” “Sunshine Expected Today Brooklyn”) are hard to crack (because of the number of possible combinations) and easy to remember. There is no need for a complex, hard-to-remember phrase. For illustration, here is a link to an XKCD strip about this particular topic.
In her newsletter, she goes a step further and talks to Jeremi Gosny, an expert in the space of password security. They discuss how the need for safe passwords has changed. The critical advice: Make sure that you have a different password for all accounts, not the same across all your logins. The interview is interesting, and there are several relevant and recent observations in the space of individual password security.
Quote from the interview with Jeremi Gosny: “Where we find the most success as password crackers is targeting passwords that are generated by humans, because humans across the globe still tend to think alike. Despite our language and cultural differences, our brains are only capable of coming up with a finite space of patterns.”
The New York Times reports strong subscriber growth for 2. Quarter 2022
The New York Times is one of a few newspaper/news organisations that are successfully moving from the old print/advertising world to digital subscriptions. Developments are tracked worldwide in the hope of learning about potential patterns that could be applied to ailing news organisations elsewhere. The most recent update from the company is the second-quarter results for 2022. In total, 230.000 new subscriptions in one quarter mean that the goal of 10 million total subscribers could be achieved much earlier than planned.
In Germany, posting hate content in Germany can have direct consequences as a result of new laws.
“German authorities have brought charges for insults, threats and harassment. The police have raided homes, confiscated electronics and brought people in for questioning. Judges have enforced fines worth thousands of dollars each and, in some cases, sent offenders to jail. The threat of prosecution, they believe, will not eradicate hate online, but push some of the worst behavior back into the shadows.In doing so, they have flipped inside out what, to American ears, it means to protect free speech. The authorities in Germany argue that they are encouraging and defending free speech by providing a space where people can share opinions without fear of being attacked or abused. ‘There has to be a line you cannot cross,” said Svenja Meininghaus, a state prosecutor who attended the raid of the father’s house. “There has to be consequences.'”
Five AR/VR trends: Free analysis of current market development
“Immersive workouts. Workplace training simulations. MeditaThere’sps in virtual reality” – these are just three scenarios which could soon define a growing market for AR (Augmented Reality) or VR (Virtual Reality). Market research CB Insights has a free 26-page study about recent trends for AR/VR, and the study is available after free registration. Salvador’sactive company so far in this field has been Meta, but now Apple seems to get ready to enter this particular market with new hardware offerings.
Instagram will allow longer stories. Stories shorter than 60 seconds will no longer be broken into small segments.
“Now, when you post a Story that’s under 60 seconds in length, it won’t be broken up into segments. The company began testing the change with select users late last year and has now rolled it out to all users worldwide…The new change is a welcome addition to the app, likely for both users and viewers. Users will now be able to post uninterrupted Stories that won’t be broken up, and on the other hand, viewers will no longer have to continually tap to get through a long video that they may not actually want to see. But, the change could also be a turnoff for people who liked the simplicity of short, bite-sized Stories.”
Based on an analysis of 2,5 million podcasts episodes with at least 10.000 listeners, Rephonic found that:
“Over the past nine years, podcast episodes that are at least 60 minutes long have slowly but surely become less common. They made up over 20% of all podcast content in 2013, decreasing to under 17% in 2021. Why? It could be the rise of short and frequent daily news podcasts. Or perhaps as podcasting becomes increasingly accessible, it attracts more indie podcasters with less budget to spend on producing long episodes.”
Other findings:
The average top-performing podcast releases a 37-minute episode every 5 days
The top History podcasts have the longest delay between new episodes
Fiction podcasts should record longer episodes to attract a large audience
“At a conference hosted today by the Banque de France, EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness said that the Commission plans to propose legislation for a ‘possible’ digital euro in 2023 to enable parliament and the European Council to debate it. The digital euro work is currently in the prototyping phase, and Banque de France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau confirmed that a decision on whether to proceed would be made at the end of 2023, with a potential launch in 2026 or 2027.”
Ethereum Merge reduced global energy consumption by 0,2%
“The Ethereum merge this week slashed global energy consumption by 0.2%, Vitalik Buterin wrote in a tweet Thursday, citing a crypto researcher. The long-awaited event successfully transformed the blockchain from a proof-of-work consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake. Proponents have touted the transition for making Ethereum an almost-net-zero technology. The switch also makes gas fees, or transaction costs, lower and means the network will be able to process transactions faster.”
Argentine airline to adopt NFT technology for tickets
Airbondi, a low-fare airline from Argentina, plans to issue flight tickets as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This means that passengers can do more with them. For example, they can sell or transfer the tickets to other persons three days before departure. The underlying technology was developed by Travel X, and the company’s website is worth a visit. The company aims to reimagine travel using blockchain tech.
Nomura and 17here’s banks have invested in FNALTY, which uses blockchain for central bank settlements
“Fnality, formerly known as the Utility Settlement Coin, tokenizes money deposited at a central bank to enable the settlement of DLT-based transactions with on-chain digital currency. It is expected to launch its first currency, the British Pound, next month as it has been formally recognized as a payments system by HM Treasury. Other planned currencies are euros, U.S. dollars, Japanese Yen and Canadian dollars.”
There’s almost no use of bitcoin as a currency. The official Chivo Wallet is hardly used, and they never did get it working correctly. Businesses have taken down their “we accept bitcoin” signs.
There’s almost no use of bitcoin for remittances.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds have gone up in smoke — which is as if the US spent hundreds of billions — with nothing to show for it.
Crypto crashed. As well as screwing over local bitcoin holders, this halved the face value of the government bitcoin reserve.
El Salvador can’t borrow internationally. The IMF won’t talk to them while bitcoin is in place. The price of Salvadoran sovereign debt has fallen through the floor, as has El Salvador’s credit rating.
The Bitcoin Volcano Bonds supposedly had $1.5 billion of buyer interest lined up — then Russia invaded Ukraine, and those buyers vanished.
The ground has not been broken for Bitcoin City. I’m pretty sure it never will.
Estonia approves first crypto bank after new legislation
“Striga, a bitcoin and cryptocurrency bank, became the first virtual asset service provider (VASP) to gain regulatory approval in Estonia following the country’s revamping of its digital asset legal framework, per an announcement from the Financial Intelligence Unit.”
Striga is the new name used by Lastbit, a US start-up team. The project had already introduced Mastercards in connection with crypto accounts. The team has been part of YCombinator, a start-up accelerator.
The Washington Post has a special about the story of crypto so far, chapter by chapter.
“Crypto is among the most urgent of current tech topics, driven by billions of cryptocurrency trades weekly — bitcoin and so many others — and a cultural stigma perhaps unseen in finance since the days of the Wall Street wolves of the 1980s. Almost since its creation, crypto has been characterized by sudden wealth creation, surprise hacks, big scams, bold promises and shattered dreams.”
Since the beginning of the SportChain project, when it all started as an idea, huge progress has been made. This progress consists of several individual milestones that have been achieved and are further explained below. SportChain is a two-phase project and is currently approaching the end of phase one.
Market Research
At the beginning of the project, we started with market research to determine the issues and needs of the sports and related industries to figure out where to place SportChain within this landscape. In this market research, the sports and associated industries, such as the betting and insurance companies, were involved.
Identified Business Opportunities
Through our market research and its results, we identified business opportunities. These opportunities supported us when designing the architecture and where the focus of SportChain should be directed.
Designed an Architecture
We have designed a SportChain architecture that drastically enhances the state-of-the-art digital processes within the sports industry. Also, we added features to increase data security, privacy, and trust in the sports data. The figure below shows the high-level architecture.
Figure 1: SportChain high-level architectural view including actors, components and main interaction flows
Implemented a Proof-of-Concept
Part of phase one was also the implementation of a proof-of-concept of the SportChain design. The most relevant parts are the SportChain portal, the integration with VIDwallet, and the integration with VIDcredentials studio.
SportChain Portal
The SportChain portal is the heart of SportChain. It offers the user interface between the users and the SportChain services. For instance, this portal will use team managers, league officials, notaries, and data reputation and analytics consumers. SportChain portal allows team managers to manage the team credentials, such as creating, issuing, or revoking player credentials. League officials use the SportChain portal to manage the league by issuing credentials for team managers and notaries and are also able to create matches and enter sports data that are being notarized by a dedicated notary afterwards. Last but not least, the portal offers a data catalogue that data consumers can use to search for data sets and statistical operations that will be performed on notarized data.
Figure 2: SportChain portal’s landing page with the different login options
VIDwallet Integration
VIDwallet is an SSI identity wallet developed by Validated ID. This identity wallet has been integrated into SportChain so that the actors can identify and authenticate themselves towards SportChain and also store and manage their digital identity data within their domain to ensure data security and privacy.
VIDcredentials Studio integration
VIDcredentials studio is a tool for credential issuers that provides a rich user interface with an advanced user experience. This tool is developed by Validated ID and has been adopted and integrated into SportChain, adding additional functionality to SpotChain. For instance, player credentials, special achievement credentials, or role credentials such as notaries or team managers can be issued and managed through this integrated tool.
Outlook
So far, exciting results have been achieved, but the journey for SportChain does not end here. Instead, the SportChain team is planning further to develop the platform, not only the basic functionality but also by implementing new exciting features. These planned features are detailed below in a short outlook.
Notarization Data Anchored on Blockchain
As data notarization is the process defined where a trustworthy party with special permissions, a so-called notary, verifies data and notarizes that these data are correct. This process can be performed in analogue and also in a digital way.
SportChain enables the data notarization of sports data, which have been entered by a league official. The notary verifies these data and confirms their correctness. In SportChain, the notarization process is based on hashing the data set that is being notarized, followed by timestamping and electronically signing these notarization data. This way, a verifier can verify if a specific data set has been notarized and also when this notarization was performed. As a new feature, SportChain plans to anchor these notarization data on a blockchain, in particular, on the Alastria blockchain. The benefit of having these data on the blockchain follows the general benefits of blockchains, such as transparency, immutability, decentralized and improved security. This new and exciting feature is planned to be implemented in phase two of SportChain.
Data Analytics Based on Notarized Data
Data analytics, reputation systems and forecasting systems (also known as Artificial Intelligence) have been hyped in recent years. This is because these methods offer enormous potential when applied correctly.
SportChain offers a data catalogue consisting of available data sets and data processing methods such as data analytics, data reputations and forecasting. All of these data processing methods use as input data only the notarized sports data. This way, the authenticity and integrity of these data are ensured, which elevates the trust in the calculated results. SportChain plans to implement data analytics such as various statistics and a basic reputation system that utilizes notarized input data stored on the Alastria blockchain. The reputation data could be used by a recruiting team to support their decision-making process. The benefit is the increased trust based on the ensured
properties data authenticity and integrity. This feature is planned to be released in phase two.
Contact
Contact SportChain: Please click on this link to the project page, including an overview of the team members.
Welcome to a new edition of the TruBlo newsletter. The big news this past week was the successful merge of Ethereum. Our main question for selecting information and links: How is the field of blockchain, content and trust evolving?
TruBlo: Full list of 45 funded early-stage projects
We funded 45 early-stage projects, with €75K each. Selected projects will have the chance to get a second round of funding with an additional €100K. You can scroll through all projects on the website; each has a short profile.
This was a huge step for the platform. The new approach of proof-of-stake instead of proof-of-work will sharply reduce energy needs. How the change will affect the future of Ethereum remains to be seen. This week the cryptocurrency is down about 10%.
“The metaphor that I use is this idea of switching out an engine from a running car,” said Justin Drake, a researcher at the non-profit Ethereum Foundation who spoke to CoinDesk before the Merge happened.”
The Economist: “The future of Crypto is at stake in Ethereum’s switch”
“Proof-of-stake will require 99.9% less energy to maintain. The effect on emissions will be as though, overnight, the Netherlands had been switched off.”
The Economist ($, free registration possible to read article)
A larger number of crypto start-ups at YCombinator’s current batch
Despite the recent downturn, the newest YCombinator cohort of start-ups has 30 crypto teams. YCombinator is the top incubator program for new tech companies, with an impressive track record of large firms which started there.
Microsoft Teams popularity results in new cybersecurity challenges
“…according to research released by Vectra yesterday, versions of Teams for Windows, Mac and Linux are storing authentication tokens in plain text on the underlying device. This is significant because it means attackers can gain access to authentication tokens and other information if they hack a system where Teams is installed. This vulnerability highlights that enterprises can’t afford to rely on the security of consumer-grade, public-grade communication platforms when they’re communicating sensitive information, IPs and other data.”
Open source AI software: Stable Diffusion released
You might have heard of Dalle-E. Now there is another software able to generate images from text, and it is open source.
A week or so ago, Stable Diffusion was released, and the world went crazy, and for good reason. Stable Diffusion, if you haven’t heard, is a new AI that generates realistic images from a text prompt. You basically give it a description of the image you want, and it generates it.
Apple gradually takes a larger slice of global advertising revenues; the number of people working in that area at the company has by now doubled. This is not without potential controversy because Apple had introduced privacy rules reducing the ability to track users for companies like Facebook.
In discussions in Europe and the US, the goal is to have less “chaos” with charging ports. But not everyone agrees. If companies are forced to use a specific system, what happens to innovation in the long term? Quote from John Gruber, writing on Daring Fireball:
“Proponents of the EU’s USB-C charging port mandate speak as though bringing order out of chaos is still a problem to be solved in the mobile phone world, like it was 15 years ago. It’s not. Market forces generally work, and in the case of charging ports, they have: there are only two meaningful phone charging ports today, USB-C and Lightning. There is no chaos. There are good arguments for Apple to switch the iPhone to USB-C (high-speed data transfer, particularly for the 4K video footage iPhones have long been capable of, being at the top of the list), and good arguments against (zillions of iPhone owners with zillions of existing Lightning cables). But that should be for Apple to decide.” (Daring Fireball)
Instagram fined 400 million for child privacy violations
“The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) fined Meta, the owner of the social network Instagram, EUR405M for what it labeled a violation of child privacy statutes under the GDPR. DPC mentioned three issues with Instagram’s privacy settings that led to the penalty:
Users under 17 can open business accounts.
Business accounts for minors still display user contact information.
France: Journalists sign charter towards better climate change reporting
Journalists and media professionals in France signed a charter defining guidelines for climate change reporting. This includes revisiting growth models for the media companies themselves. One of the goals is to investigate and report on real solutions.
Binance to end support for stablecoins offers users to switch to their own
“Binance claims the move is to “enhance liquidity and capital-efficiency for users”, but the conversion and Binance’s related decision to stop trading on spot pairs involving those same stablecoins seems like an attempt to increase the status of its own stablecoin against that of rivals.” (Source: Web3isgoinggreat)
Several leading financial institutions in the US, including Fidelity, Schwab and Citadel, are behind a new crypto exchange called EDXM. Observers are unsure whether this is a sign of more profound interest or a delayed project coming out in crypto winter.
African Start-up “Metaverse Magna” receives funding for decentralised gaming
This February, Africa and emerging market-focused Nestcoin raised a pre-seed round to build, operate and invest in its web3 applications, including crypto content platform Breach Club and gaming guild Metaverse Magna (MVM). Nine months after its launch last December, the latter has completed a seed sale token round of $3.2 million at a $30M fully diluted valuation.
UK Treasury mandates that crypto exchanges report breaches or pay fines
New rules are applied in the UK in response to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The goal is to cover all valuable digital assets, which results in crypto assets being part of the sanctions list. If platforms do not report breaches quickly, they face fines for such delays.
Welcome to a new edition of the TruBlo newsletter. We are funding 45 early-stage blockchain ideas to explore new options for “trusted content on future blockchains”. A list of all TruBlo projects is here: https://www.trublo.eu/projects/
Our main question for selecting news and links: How is the field of blockchain, content and trust evolving?
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a suit against Kochava, a US-based data broker.
“Kochava’s data can reveal people’s visits to reproductive health clinics, places of worship, homeless and domestic violence shelters, and addiction recovery facilities. The FTC alleges that by selling data tracking people, Kochava is enabling others to identify individuals and exposing them to threats of stigma, stalking, discrimination, job loss, and even physical violence. The FTC’s lawsuit seeks to halt Kochava’s sale of sensitive geolocation data and require the company to delete the sensitive geolocation information it has collected.”
Two-thirds of UK youth are not interested in crypto
A survey conducted by youth marketing agency Seed in May 2022 showed low interest in cryptocurrency among young people in Britain.
“Responses revealed that 66% of so-called ‘zoomers’ aged 18-24 are not interested in cryptocurrency, with 10% willing to try it but won’t prefer it over other investments. It canvassed 2,000 people during May, which was the depths of the crypto crash. Women are even less interested in crypto, with three-quarters giving it a thumbs down. In contrast, half of men are willing to give it a try.The situation for NFTs was even worse, with 70% believing non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are scams.”
People buying guns with cryptocurrency leave a digital trail
Gun owners in the USA want no or minimal data registration about purchases and ownership. But buying weapons with crypto could leave an unintentional digital trail.
Sources: Netflix plans to launch ad tier in November, to be ahead of Disney+
In July, the company announced to plan for the introduction in early 2023. Now it looks like the launch will be done earlier for markets in the US, Canada, UK, France and Germany.
Google blocks TruthSocial app because of violent content
TruthSocial is a social media platform initiated by former US president Donald Trump after being banned from Twitter. Now it seems Google will not allow the app to be downloaded via the Google Play Store.
French government uses AI to detect undeclared swimming pools
In France, homeowners must declare a swimming pool for accurate property tax. Authorities are now using machine learning software to analyse aerial photos.
“The software, developed in partnership with the consulting firm Capgemini and the US digital giant Google, was tested in nine regions — Alpes-Maritimes, Var, Bouches-du-Rhône, Ardèche, Rhône, Haute-Savoie, Morbihan, Maine-et-Loire and Vendée — and revealed more than 20,000 undeclared swimming pools, according to a report by the directorate. “
A tweet can be edited for up to 30 minutes, and the edit history will be shown to users. The feature has been requested for a long time, though critics feat that the edit option might open the door to misuse.
Little kids yelling “poop” at Alexa are driving up profits for some songs
“Pecunia non olet” is a Latin proverb that means “Money does not smell”. Now, some musicians report that songs with the word “poop” are getting many plays. The assumption is that this happens because little kids yelling “poop” activate Alexa.
According to a blog post by the Helium Foundation, the platform wants to free up resources needed to develop and maintain its own blockchain and instead plans to switch to Solana.
“Developers behind the Helium network – a grid of medium-range wireless hotspots pitched as an alternative to hard-wired internet service – are proposing to migrate away from the project’s own blockchain onto Solana, in pursuit of faster transaction speeds, higher uptimes and more interoperability with other blockchains as key reasons. The Helium Foundation wrote in a Medium post this week that the new proposal from the Helium core developer team would improve the operational efficiency “significantly.” The proposal to move toward Solana and away from Helium’s own blockchain, officially known as HIP 70, “addresses network speed, reliability and scalability”.
Misplaced decimal allowed traders in Georgia to cash out at 100x the regular price
Coinbase tries to get its money back after discovering that in late August, Georgia traders could cash out crypto at 100 times the intended market rate. The Georgian Lari (GEL) exchange rate was 290, not 2,90. As a result, an estimated 900 traders could sell their holdings at a considerable profit. Coinbase is now seeking payback; accounts have been locked in some cases. The misplaced decimal point was not detected for seven hours.
Market analysis: The state of crypto banks in 2022
Users: From October 2021 to May 2022, Crypto.com saw its user base grow from 10M to 50M, an increase of 400%. Similarly, the number of Nexo users doubled from over 2M to over 4M from September 2021 to May 2022. Crypto lending has surged over the last two years and publicizes a vision of financial services where lenders and borrowers avoid the traditional financial firms that position themselves as the gatekeepers for loans or other products.
Company size: While some crypto banks are facing hiring headwinds, others are unperturbed amid market volatility. In June 2022, BlockFi announced a 20% layoff — the company headcount dropped from about 850 in January to about 680 by the end of July. Meanwhile, Nexo’s LinkedIn headcount has jumped nearly 60% since January 2022.
