The online currency Bitcoin hits a snag. Mt. Gox, a major alley of Bitcoin, announced hundreds of millions of dollars are missing in company money. It’s so much money Mt. Gox is filing for bankruptcy.
We learn this through a leaked document. Despite Bitcoin writing a letter claiming they feel ‘squandered’ by Mt. Gox, their net worth fell below $500 per share. Keep in mind a few months ago, that number was in the $900 range. Twenty four hours ago, it was $581 a share. Don’t try to go on Mt. Gox’s website or Twitter page: they both went blank. According to this same leaked document,? Mt. Gox lost over 744,000 Bitcoins due to theft.
So is this the end of Bitcoin? Let’s not go that far. This crisis can be overcome. I just wouldn’t deal with Mt. Gox anymore. I doubt they’ll even be a Mt. Gox after this fiasco. That’s one step. Another is be more honest with the countless investors of Bitcoin. It shouldn’t have to take a leaked document to let people know Bitcoin has been hit by a crisis. I’m glad people know now, but let people know what’s going on, and talk about solutions. I think this is a great lesson for Bitcoin. I think this is almost a trial by fire. Do you think Bitcoin will make it out of this one?
Silicon Valley has become iconic for the many Internet and tech companies that are there. It’s a region in Central California south of San Francisco/Oakland that all of us in the industry owe a debt to. But that might be changing.
Due to the long commutes home, and the not so good public transportation in Silicon Valley, some are proposing Silicon Valley be moved to Oakland. You see, many employees live in San Francisco and some companies are settling there. But keep in mind it’s one of the most expensive cities in the US, and that will start more problems. But Oakland is cheaper and public transportation is better. Oakland is also offering tax breaks. I know, when people think of Oakland, they think of poverty, crime, gang banging, prostitution/pimping, and no opportunities. It was voted one of the toughest cities in the USA. But I see an opportunity here.
If Silicon Valley moves to Oakland, this could change the city’s reputation. I’m sure there are a lot of boarded up buildings that could be turned into gold mines of tech offices. It will be an easy commute between Oakland and San Francisco, the kind of commute not needed with a car. And there are some things Oakland can offer, like Jack London Square and the infamous Raiders. But most of all, these tech companies can tap into Oakland’s untapped reservoir: the youth of that city. There is so much potential there. Push the education system to give them a tech based quality education. Hire high school and college kids for lower entry level work, and turn them on. Offer field trips to these headquarters for younger kids. Teach and hire these kids to these corporations. It won’t happen overnight, but this can be good for everyone involved. Will this work?
The app Flappy Bird has become a major, major sensation. But as of February 9, 2014, Flappy Bird is no longer. Don’t even think about trying to cash in on that name.
Last week, the popular game Flappy Bird was taken down. It wasn’t because of legal or economic woes, but because instant fame and fortune became too much for founder Dong Nguyen. Apple and Google are now rejecting games with the word ‘flappy’ in them. A game designer, Ken Carpenter, had his ‘Flappy Dragon’ app rejected because of this. A gaming designer company named Kuyi Mobile had their ‘Flappy’ ideas turned down.
A few years ago, a young teenager released a video and song ‘Friday’ on You Tube. This song got so popular so quick that the girl was subject to bullying and other social problems. She just got burnout and I don’t think she’s made another song/video since. I think that’s what happened to Dong Nguyen. These days, fame and fortune can happen so fast. With the advent of social media, it can happen. One day, you’re living a regular life. The next day, you’re an instant celebrity, whether you want to be or not. Now for those who want to take advantage: I don’t blame them and can’t hate on them. So long as they’re not copying Nguyen’s exact idea, I say let them do so. And as long as the have Dong’s backing, go for it. I know there’s a huge debate about creative ethics, but as long as it’s done responsibly, I say go for it. Do you think Apple and Google are being too strict with this policy?
First came target. Then came Neiman Marcus. And today, it’s my unfortunate duty to report yet another major hacking.
This time it was Kickstarter. Kickstarter is a website where struggling artists can form alliances, get funding for their work, and maybe even be discovered by a major label or company. By summer 2013, they hosted over 100,000 projects submitted by artists and raised over $700 million in pledges. But last week, their defenses were broken into. Users’ usernames, emails, physical addresses, phone numbers and passwords were compromised. Fortunately, no credit card or financial data was compromised, as far as we know. Kickstarter quickly revamped it’s security system and vows they’ve learned and improved. But they’re being hush about how many people were affected.
Like I said, the good news is the hackers got no financial info this time. But the info they got could easily lead to ID theft. It can also lead to more sinister problems: What if someone uses the personal info stolen to settle scores, or to sabotage someone’s artistic ability and dream? If you’re using Kickstarter, change your password immediately! I’ll go even further: if you’re using the same passwords for other websites, change those too. Kudos to Kickstarter for catching and reporting this breach before it got anymore severe. But this is the third major breach in as many months that we’ve heard about. Is there anywhere that’s safe?
At a meeting Friday, the 7th of February, Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer announced an alliance between her mega search engine site and Yelp. Yelp’s reviews will be incorporated into the search engine.
You can expect to see this partnership unfold in the next several weeks. In a constant struggle to turn around fortunes of the world’s former #1 search engine web site, Mrs. Meyer hopes this integration can help compete with Google, the current search engine king, and Bing, the rising prince. Yelp already has partnerships with Microsoft and Apple. Keep in mind search engines make up for about a third of Yahoo’s annual revenue.
Yahoo’s search engine revenue has increased eight percent in the last quarter. I’m wondering if Yelp will keep the up trend going. Reviews are a huge part of any search engine, and a huge part of most businesses today. How often do you look at reviews before you check into a hotel, or eat at a restaurant, or even call for a taxi? I find myself checking reviews often. So why not combine a popular review site with a popular search engine site to gain the edge? It makes perfect sense to me. Do you think a Yahoo and Yelp partnership will work?
The constitution says, “Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of the press.” That’s according to the US Constitution. Apparently, not all nations celebrate that kind of freedom.
The Turkish government, with the blessing of their prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan , are pushing for their government agency Telecommunications Communications Presidency (TIP) to block websites deemed…ahem…insulting. This is to be done without court authorization or any legal intervention. This adds to Turkish laws passed in 2007 which put Internet censorship almost to China’s level, one of the most censored nations in the world. Erdogan openly called social media sites like Twitter a menace, after these sites helped push protest throughout that nation last summer. Oh, one more thing…Erdogan’s political friends are facing corruption scandals. I’m just saying.
Of course, those in the Turkish government who oppose?Internet censorship are calling these bills and laws Orwellian. Some are even comparing Erdogan to some of the worst dictators of the 20th century. I don’t know if I’d go that far, but this could be a start to a disaster.?Learn a history lesson: If a?government is this?hardcore about censorship it means two things. It either?means they don’t want to be exposed or they’re slowly, systematically but surely?oppressing their own people. I’m not saying Turkey is doing that, but this is what it can lead to. But I do find it interesting this is happening at a time when political scandals and protests are?threatening?the ruling party, the?AKP Justice and Development Party. I also find it interesting this is the same Erdogan appeared?and spoke?in the?form of a?hologram. But this kind of censorship?is potentially very dangerous. Why am I talking about Turkey you may ask? Well, what if this mentality comes to America, or your own country?
