Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - Telegram ICO's blockchain: questionable security, will probably centralise (davidgerard.co.uk)

Submitted by David Gerard
David Gerard writes: Telegram Messenger did a sort-of-ICO earlier this year for its new Telegram Open Network blockchain, and raised $1.7 billion dollars — in actual US dollars, not Bitcoins or Ether. The technical white paper goes into hyperspecific detail about how the blockchain hooks together — a chain of sidechains of sidechains — but doesn't address security at all. And it will probably centralise. Nikolai Durov from Telegram is extremely smart, but is he smarter than every hacker in the world?

Submission + - First legally-mandated blockchain: India's spam call database (davidgerard.co.uk)

Submitted by David Gerard
David Gerard writes: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has put out a new rule to regulate spam phone call complaints. That's good — but they've snuck in one interesting thing: they explicitly require the complaint database to use "distributed ledgers" and "smart contracts". This is the first time in the world a government has required the use of blockchain by law. Telecoms companies are already complaining they can't implement this new system on short notice, and that it's completely unproven.

Submission + - SPAM: Kodak KashMiner: the Bitcoin cloud mining scheme that never existed

Submitted by David Gerard
David Gerard writes: Kodak's big cryptocurrency announcement at CES in January was the KodakCoin ICO. But there was another announcement at CES: the Kodak KashMiner — a cloud mining operation, using rebranded AntMiner S9 mining rigs. Whatever happened to that? It turns out it ... never existed. Kodak: "We did not make an announcement, the KashMiner is not a Kodak licensed product." The web page is still up, though — and it's amazing.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - The Dilbert ICO: Scott Adams' crypto offering analysed (davidgerard.co.uk) 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Scott Adams, author of Dilbert, ran cartoons a couple of weeks ago about "blockchain." We now know why: he's put up an ICO, the "WhenHub SAFT". David Gerard, author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain, analyses what's actually on offer here. Summary: questionable business plan — Fiverr but paying tokens instead of money — but the ICO itself looks legally solid, which is unusual for the space.

Submission + - Bandcamp: the Holy Grail of online record stores (rocknerd.co.uk)

Submitted by David Gerard
David Gerard writes: Is Bandcamp the Holy Grail of online record stores? Hell yes. Unencumbered downloads in any format you like, excellent discoverability and a ridiculously better experience than any other download store. Musicians too: "The interface and the available tools are all so well-thought-out it’s genuinely a pleasure to use." They also like that they straight-up get 85% of the take.

Submission + - The timing of error messages contributes to them being ignored (byu.edu)

Submitted by sandbagger
sandbagger writes: A new study from BYU, in collaboration with Google Chrome engineers, finds the status quo of warning messages appearing haphazardly — while people are typing, watching a video, uploading files, etc. — results in up to 90 percent of users disregarding them.

Researchers found these times are less effective because of "dual task interference," a neural limitation where even simple tasks can't be simultaneously performed without significant performance loss. Or, in human terms, multitasking.

Submission + - Kim Dotcom's Mega 3, with Bitcoin: two bad ideas that go worse together (rocknerd.co.uk)

Submitted by David Gerard
David Gerard writes: "Colourful racing identity" Kim Dotcom has a scheme for his third Mega enterprise: combining MegaUpload with Bitcoin. It is entirely unclear how anything about this makes sense, but I'm sure that with a trustworthy soul with an impeccable track record like Dotcom at the helm, nothing can possibly go badly for anyone involved.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Handling Windows Updates after October 2016 (slashdot.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: We've read about the changes coming to Windows Update in October 2016. Average Joe and Grandma Flo will end up getting the cumulative update via WU each month which includes non-security updates. For more discerning users with existing Win 7 / 8.1 systems, one can disable WU and download the security-only update each month. But what happens when it's time to wipe and reload the OS? Or what about installing Windows on different hardware? Admittedly, there are useful non-security updates worth having, but plenty to avoid (e.g. telemetry).

How does one handle this challenge? Set up a personal WSUS box before October to sync all desired updates through October 2016? System images can work if you don't change primary hardware, but what if you do?

Or should one just bend the knee to Microsoft, go to the nearest drug store, and stock up on KY?

Submission + - SingularDTV: using Ethereum for DRM on a sci-fi TV show about the Singularity (rocknerd.co.uk)

Submitted by David Gerard
David Gerard writes: SingularDTV is an exciting new blockchain-based entertainment industry startup. Their plan is to adapt the DRM that made $121.54 for Imogen Heap, make their own completely premined altcoin and use that to somehow sell two million views of a sci-fi TV show about the Singularity. Using CODE, which is explicitly modeled on The DAO ... which spectacularly imploded days after its launch. There's a white paper, but here's an analysis of why these schemes are a terrible idea for musicians.

Submission + - Mobilize to attack climate change just like we did in WWII (newrepublic.com)

Submitted by mspohr
mspohr writes: Bill McKibbin has an article in the New Republic which lays out the case for a broad effort to mobilize our resources to fight climate change.
"For years, our leaders chose to ignore the warnings of our best scientists and top military strategists. Global warming, they told us, was beginning a stealth campaign that would lay waste to vast stretches of the planet, uprooting and killing millions of innocent civilians. But instead of paying heed and taking obvious precautions, we chose to strengthen the enemy with our endless combustion; a billion explosions of a billion pistons inside a billion cylinders have fueled a global threat as lethal as the mushroom-shaped nuclear explosions we long feared. Carbon and methane now represent the deadliest enemy of all time, the first force fully capable of harrying, scattering, and impoverishing our entire civilization."
"By most of the ways we measure wars, climate change is the real deal: Carbon and methane are seizing physical territory, sowing havoc and panic, racking up casualties, and even destabilizing governments. "
He includes analysis of just what it would take in terms of industrial mobilization to stop polluting with CO2. The answer is, a lot, but it is possible.

Submission + - Internet Voting Leaves Out a Cornerstone of Democracy: The Secret Ballot

Submitted by Presto Vivace
Presto Vivace writes: Maintaining the secrecy of ballots returned via the Internet is “technologically impossible,” according to a new report.

That’s according to a new report from Verified Voting, a group that advocates for transparency and accuracy in elections. ... A cornerstone of democracy, the secret ballot guards against voter coercion. But “because of current technical challenges and the unique challenge of running public elections, it is impossible to maintain the separation of voters’ identities from their votes when Internet voting is used,” concludes the report, which was written in collaboration with the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the anticorruption advocacy group Common Cause.

Slashdot Top Deals

You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred. -- Superchicken

Close