The crypto crash has spooked many investors, but blockchain bros have high hopes for one nascent application: GameFi. A portmanteau of “game” and “decentralized finance,” the model offers a chance at earning cash by gaming. Players who complete in-game tasks are rewarded with crypto and NFTs, which can then be traded for real money. It’s a tempting pitch on paper. But play-to-earn shows signs of plateauing before it enters the mainstream. In April, active users shrunk by 24.9% to 9.22 million, w
Ah, Uber. I’m just not sure what the company wants to be with its ever-expanding brand and platform. One day it’s a platform for flying cars. The next day it’s all about bikes, then it decides to let taxis share its platform. And yesterday, it set its sights (or site, to be specific) much higher than ride-hailing and food delivery to something akin to life concierge, launching a new range of service offerings under the brand. Let’s take a look at their offerings and share some thoughts on the m
John Deere is announcing the acquisition of a state-of-the-art algorithm package from artificial intelligence startup Light. For those of you wondering when driverless vehicles will truly begin to make their mark on society, the answer is: today. Up front: No, you won’t be seeing green tractors rolling themselves down city streets anytime soon. But the timeline for fully autonomous farming is being massively accelerated. Today’s purchase is all about John Deere’s need for speed — and accuracy, b
According to Doctor Nando de Freitas, a lead researcher at Google’s DeepMind, humanity is apparently on the verge of solving artificial general intelligence (AGI) within our lifetimes. In response to an opinion piece penned by yours truly, the scientist posted a thread on Twitter that began with what’s perhaps the boldest statement we’ve seen from anyone at DeepMind concerning its current progress toward AGI: My opinion: It’s all about scale now! The Game is Over! Someone’s opinion article. My o
What would you do if you discovered malware on your iPhone? Your first instinct might be to turn the darn thing off to stop malicious snooping. Unfortunately, even that might not be enough. A new type of malware conceived by researchers at the Technical University of Darmstadt would be able to run even when your phone’s power is off. And no, I’m not talking about an NSA-style fake power-off screen. “Baloney!” you shout. How can malware run without electricity? The simple answer is that these day
While marketing’s purpose has remained (relatively) static since its inception, the way this is achieved is in a constant state of flux. Fundamentally, marketers want to convince their target audience that their product or service is worthy of their attention. The way professionals go about it has changed dramatically over the years. 30 years ago, you may have reached consumers through local papers and physical mail. Now? You may be looking at TikTok and Spotify. To try and get a handle on what
After more than two years of disruptions, lockdowns and uncertainty, employers are facing a new reckoning in 2022: getting staff back into the office. Dubbed by some the “great hybrid return to work”, employers across a range of industries are being forced to consider what the work environment will look like for staff. In an environment where labor is tight, just how much can businesses prod employees to come back into the office? And how can bosses design a solution to meet the needs of the col
A Tesla has many capabilities, but going off-road isn’t one of them. So what can you do if you really, really, really want to take your car over some muddy, uneven terrain? Well, I’d recommend getting in touch with a bunch of wild YouTubers called The Real Life Guys. They decided to solve this problem once and for all. How, you ask? Well, by transforming a Tesla Model 3 into a six-ton tank with giant tracks. Yes, you read that right, a tank. The entire process — which you can watch in the video
There are plenty of instances in the Web3 world where projects feature stolen art that’s turned into NFTs without creators’ permission. DeviantArt, an online art and design community founded in 2000, is now opening up its NFT protection tool to everyone. Until now, that tool was available only to DeviantArt community members. But now any artist can sign up for it. Here’s what you get: the free version allows you to upload 10 images, and you’ll get alerts if anyone is using your art as an NFT. Yo
When the draft of a Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked to the press, many of us who have been studying privacy for vulnerable individuals came to a troubling realization: The marginalized and vulnerable populations whose online risks have been the subject of our attention are likely to grow exponentially. These groups are poised to encompass all women of child-bearing age, regardless of how secure and how privileged they may have imagined themselves to be. In overt