Microsoft & ethereum

Microsft announced a collaboration with the Enjin gaming system which saw a 50% rise in ENJ, ETH completed its latest hard fork.

ETH

Ethereum’s Istanbul hard fork went live at the end of the week. The fork is the third this year and is the latest upgrade as the network moves towards Serenity (ETH 2.0), Ethereum’s transition from its current proof of work consensus mechanism towards proof of stake consensus. The fork occurred as previously expected at block number 9069000. 

https://www.bitrates.com/news/p/microsoft-boosts-enj-by-50-eth-completes-hard-fork-dec-9

life during the ice age

Cool interesting read.

....

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-figured-out-how-animal-life-could-have-survived-snowball-earth

edge or fog computing coming on strong in 2020

What is this edge or fog computing trend ? 

Both edge and fog computing provide similar functionalities where smart devices or items or sensors push data and analytics to cloud platforms.

“Fog computing and edge computing are effectively the same thing." 

 Both are concerned with leveraging the computing capabilities within a smaller simpler server / gateway or sensor hardware device and process and share data via a localized network to carry out computation tasks that would ordinarily have been carried out in the cloud. More advanced AI and data processing still are done on the cloud.   

Both technologies can help organizations reduce their reliance on cloud-based platforms to analyze data, provide intelligent automation and analysis.

The main difference between edge computing and fog computing comes down to where the processing of that data takes place.

Edge computing usually occurs directly on the devices to which the sensors are attached or a gateway device that is physically “close” to the sensors. 

Fog computing moves the edge computing activities to processors that are connected to the LAN or into the LAN hardware itself so they may be physically more distant from the sensors and actuators. Think NB-IoT or LoRa or mesh networks and those types of IoT technologies.   

stellar for payments and more

https://www.coindesk.com/stellars-plan-to-win-global-payments-play-nice-with-the-finance-cops

I like stellar. Have used it.  Bought it. Validated it. Forked it.  

" It seems like we are on the cusp of these things actually making people’s lives better " 

blockchain smart contracts lawyer and data feeds

Cool stuff going on in blockchain and side chains and smart contracts. 

" OpenLaw, the smart contract pioneer from New York, has partnered with Thomson Reuters to conduct a proof of concept (POC) that tests how Contract Express and the OpenLaw system can work together to log hashed data points from contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. That in turn has made it possible to begin with a Contract Express document and turn it into a smart contract with digital currency transaction and self-execution elements. 

The POC included executing smart contracts ‘on-chain’ from data inputted through Contract Express. "

https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2019/10/17/thomson-reuters-links-with-openlaw-for-smart-contract-express-project/

ai solves Rubik cube

"Artificial intelligence research organization OpenAI has achieved a new milestone in its quest to build general purpose, self-learning robots. The group’s robotics division says Dactyl, its humanoid robotic hand first developed last year, has learned to solve a Rubik’s cube one-handed. OpenAI sees the feat as a leap forward both for the dexterity of robotic appendages and its own AI software, which allows Dactyl to learn new tasks using virtual simulations before it is presented with a real, physical challenge to overcome."

https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/15/20914575/openai-dactyl-robotic-hand-rubiks-cube-one-handed-solve-dexterity-ai

This year, 22 cyberattacks have shut down city, county and state government computer systems

So almost 250 mayors from cities across the United States have signed a resolution agreement not to pay ransoms when it comes to cyber attacks, ransomware, and hacks. 

It's a stand against the multiple ransomware attacks that have crippled city and countht government computer systems in recent years. Baltimore and Atlanta come to mind. But 250 out of thousands of cities and mayor's mean there is a long way to go. 

What is a  ransomware attack ?

Ransomware attacks usually use some form of malware to lock out users. Lock out networks, databases, cloud access, mobile phones, applications, etc. And  unless the hackers get paid, they won't unlock the system.  Quite a few have demanded Bitcoin or other crypto tokens and even gave details on how to create or sign up for  a bitcoin wallet and buy and sell Bitcoin. 

So these random or Targeted Cities have been picked off one by one, with seemingly little recourse. Cities and governments have  been prime targets for ransomware attacks because many city IT departments lack infosec knowledge and experience and these  politicians can't afford to let certain services remain frozen for too long.  Atlanta couldn't pay people or operate common city services.

There have been over 25 attacks on cities in the USA this year.  And many times it is some organized crime syndicate or nationstate. That means many of the attackers aren't some 13 year old hacker learning computer science and information security stuff.