technology

On February 6th, 2018, the US got back into the Space Race in a huge way. The SpaceX Falcon Heavy completed its first test flight, and it did so with a great deal of flair and skillful marketing of space travel, through the use of excellent media coverage, the expression of honest-to-goodness excitement by a company that is freely seeking to conquer the challenge of interplanetary travel and colonization, and a simple and attractive way to show the world what can be done.

(ZHE) — It looks like Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to pay his nuclear scientists more. As the BBC reported Friday, the Russian security officers have arrested several scientists working at a top-secret Russian nuclear facility for allegedly mining crypto-currencies. The suspects had tried to use one of Russia’s most powerful supercomputers to mine Bitcoin. “There has been an unsanctioned attempt […]

(COMMONDREAMS) — Accusing Facebook of discriminating against “quality” content and accelerating the spread of “fake news” with its newly-unveiled algorithm, Brazil’s largest newspaper Folha de S. Paulo—which boasts a print and online subscriber base of 285,000 people—has announced that it will no longer publish its articles on the social media platform. “In effectively banning professional journalism from its pages in […]

(TIM) — Recently, several major card issuers have banned cryptocurrency purchases with credit cards. While it can be easy to think that this is a move specifically to attack crypto, let’s not forget that debit card and bank transfer purchases are still allowed. So why ban credit cards? Well, there are three main reasons why card companies would be […]

(ANTIMEDIA) — We are smack dab in the middle of what future generations will likely refer to as the Golden Age of algorithmic artificial intelligence. Startups galore, all competing to get a paper-thin slice of what analysts say will soon be a $14 billion dollar cake. Currently, the major players in AI development are the governments of the U.S., China, […]

(ANTIMEDIA) South Australia — The government of South Australia wants to create the world’s largest “virtual” power plant, and it’s tapping Elon Musk’s Tesla, Inc. to do the job. On Sunday, Jay Weatherill, the state’s premier, announced the plan, which will see Tesla install its solar panels and Powerwall 2 batteries in 50,000 homes across South Australia over the next four […]

(ZHE) — Update 1305ET: Bitcoin just traded at $7,000 for the first time since Nov 14th 2017. This leaves Bitcoin down 47% year-to-date, the worst start to a year for the cryptocurrency since inception… *  *  * Update 1025ET: Bitcoin’s collapse has continued through the morning to a low price of $7141… Meaning it is down over […]

(ANTIMEDIA)  — The mainstream appeal of renewable energy products will truly be put to the test this year, as Tesla revealed Thursday its plan to establish selling spaces for the company’s solar panels and PowerWall batteries in 800 Home Depot stores around the country. The retail spaces, which will be Tesla-branded and staffed by Tesla employees, will be 12 feet tall […]

(TMU Op-ed) — After Donald Trump surprised even the most pessimistic of us by winning the U.S. presidential elections in 2016, the powers-that-be quickly sought to find a scapegoat to blame for their dismal failures. Supposedly, it wasn’t the corporate media’s fault, the DNC’s fault or the current neoliberal power structure’s fault for ramming down an unpopular candidate down our throat who was […]

(ANTIMEDIA) — Internet giant eBay made headlines this week over its decision to drop Paypal as a payment processor on its site. While this was news in itself as Paypal’s stock price took a dive, perhaps more interesting are the potential options that come with eBay’s new processor, a Dutch company called Adyen. Adyen, which processed roughly $25 billion worth […]