Go ahead, pass laws. Governments can’t kill bitcoin, even if they try

Bitcoin is a famously dececentralized cryptocurrency, a system of storing value, and a somewhat less-effective transaction medium. It allows near-instantaneous transfers all over the world without a middle man or regulatory body giving it the go-ahead. Fans of cryptocurrency fear government regulation could ruin it, but they shouldn’t be concerned. Any attempt control bitcoin simply won’t work.

Beyond the difficulties presented by the decentralization of bitcoin itself, governments and regulatory bodies have shown they lack understanding of technological topics, and bitcoin is one of the most complex. As governments struggle to ban technologies like Tor and encryption, it seems impossible to imagine them gaining the ability to truly impact bitcoin – and its alt-coin contemporaries – in a way that could impede its progress.

Historical precedent

The oversight jitters are understandable. There have been some attempts at regulation over the years, and now that bitcoin’s value has spiked to unprecedented new heights, there is greater discussion than ever from governments around the world. Perhaps it’s no wonder that half of those surveyed in a recent report of bitcoin owners claimed they didn’t want any regulation of cryptocurrency in the coming years.

The blockchain it’s built upon does not require an institution to operate it.

In December 2013, the Chinese government banned financial institutions from using bitcoin, causing a downturn in the cryptocurrency’s value that would set a precedent for its worth over the coming years. Less than a year later, in April 2014, several Chinese bitcoin exchanges had their bank accounts closed. That spurred concern that government oversight limiting access to fiat currency (traditional, ‘real world’ currency) could be lead a wave of future regulations to curtail bitcoin’s growth. Yet loopholes in the crackdown meant many exchanges stayed in business, and bitcoin’s price rose some 25 percent in the 10 days that followed.

The U.S. has made localized attempts to regulate specific aspects of bitcoin. New York State requires a “BitLicense” for bitcoin related businesses, with specific rules for employee vetting and identification. Just last month, the IRS won a landmark ruling to gain access to information about 14,000 historic Coinbase accounts, in an attempt to gather back taxes from owners.

While some of those instances are more concerning than others, none of it has stopped bitcoin’s growth. That reveals the flaws of any future attempts to crack down on bitcoin’s use.

Bitcoin’s intrinsic impossible oversight

There are several key components to bitcoin, and its fellow cryptocurrencies, which make them successful as methods of transaction, and stores of value. They’re easy to transfer, no middle-man is required, and they can’t be linked to owners who don’t want to be identified. These are all big problems for any government wanting to have a greater say in how they operate.

Jaap Arriens/Getty Images

Anthony WallaceAFP/Getty Images

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Bitcoin is not linked to any territory or financial institution. There are tens of popular exchanges, and even if there weren’t, all you need are wallets and a network connection to be able to conduct bitcoin transactions. The blockchain it’s built upon does not require any one institution to operate it, and indeed is the complete antithesis of such an idea, operating as a public ledger rather than a private one.

Without that central location to shut down, any meaningful crackdown would have to be a global endeavor. Even if a country was to somehow prevent bitcoin transactions from taking place within their borders, a simple VPN or Proxy system would let users operate internationally with little issue.

The question is not whether #bitcoin should be regulated, but whether it *can* be regulated. The reality is "No". The rest is nostalgia.

— Andreas M. Antonopoulos (@aantonop) December 31, 2016

If governments could effectively stop a peer to peer network, they would’ve shut down the illegal practices of torrent websites over a decade ago. Even the success of the hydra-like torrent sites isn’t a perfect analogy for bitcoin, though, because cryptocurreny’s legal status is far easy to debate.

A fairer comparison would be the so-called dark web. Although individual sites, servers and people involved with various activities on there may occasionally be arrested for illegal activities, it would be ridiculous to think any government could regulate the entire network. Trying to ban bitcoin or regulate it in a manner that allows actual oversight would be much the same. It’s impossible on a technical level.

Even tracking individual people who own specific wallets is difficult. While the public blockchain might allow governments or law enforcement to track down certain bitcoins, tying them to a real-world person is very difficult. An owner can hide his or her identity with a VPN, Tor, or even physically move a wallet into cold storage (offline) form, making it invisible to the world.

Is there any wonder that bitcoin is being used for money laundering, ransomware and other organized crime tactics? Take the additional step to throw your bitcoins through a tumbler that jumbles up your bitcoins with many others, and then spits them out into another wallet not linked with the original, and the trail quickly goes cold.

The caveats

The most serious impact regulation could have on bitcoin, is in limiting the ability to “cash out,” converting the cryptocurrency into more traditional, fiet currencies like U.S. Dollars. Making that difficult could cause problems in the short term, though it would need to be a strategy that was enacted all over the world. Almost all global currencies can be traded online without difficulty, so if even one territory still facilitated a trade in cryptocurrency into local denominations, those could then be traded for and cashed out in turn.

If Bitcoin itself was regulated against, then users could simply trade it for another currency.

If bitcoin itself was regulated against, users could simply trade it for another cryptocurrency, and then cash that one out instead. With hundreds of cryptocurrencies now in existence and more emerging all the time, it would be nigh on impossible to stop unless all currencies were barred.

As regulation in other industries has shown, sweeping legislation is incredibly complicated to implement and even more difficult to enforce.

The effectiveness of any such regulation also assumes the need to cash out. Many people see cryptocurrencies like bitcoin as an evolution of existing currency. If we were to reach a point where bitcoin could purchase services and goods of all sorts, why would you need to cash out at all?

If that seems farfetched, just consider the fact that hard cash is uncommon in many countries. Digital transactions online and in person preclude the typical need for real-world money. Cryptocurrencies could be the next part of that evolution.

If you can’t beat’em

Ultimately, the best response to bitcoin is not to limit it, but to embrace the technology and try and work with it.

It certainly won’t be easy, as bitcoin doesn’t operate in a manner that makes integrating it with existing financial models easy. As we discussed in a recent piece on Digital Trends, it’s more like a new version of gold than it is Paypal. Yet it could be both, at some point in the future.

Governments like Japan, which now grants bitcoin legal tender status, or Saudi Arabia, which is working on its own cross-border cryptocurrencies, clearly see the writing on the wall. Bitcoin and its contemporaries are not going anywhere, and any attempt to stop them would be futile.

Helping to create the future of cryptocurrencies with the users and developers would be a much smarter and more effective stance for governments and regulatory bodies to take. Here’s hoping they do.

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Zach Braff reprises his ‘Scrubs’ character to read a script written by an A.I.

What would it take to get actor Zach Braff to revive his lovable Scrubs character J.D. for the first time since the show’s conclusion in 2010? The perfect script … written by an artificial intelligence, apparently.

This week, certified geek Braff took to Twitter to record himself reading a version of one of the show’s closing monologues, only created by a generative bot trained on real Scrubs scripts. According to its creators, Botnik Studios, the ensuing offbeat A.I. masterpiece can be summed up as, “the exact average episode of Scrubs.” Well, kind of.

In which I perform the final monologue of a Scrubs script written by a computer. Happy Holidays. pic.twitter.com/49ftogeB05

— Zach Braff (@zachbraff) December 18, 2017

“The truth is, every patient suffers from dementia,” Braff reads. “I’m not gonna change all of that, after all — the right thing is not always the best thing to do. You’d know that if you ever worked in a hospital.”

That may sound pretty average, but the script then veers into oddball territory when we hear that, “A hospital is a lot like a high school: The most amazing man is dying, and you are the only one who wants to steal stuff from his dad.” He also informs us that, “Being in a hospital is a lot like being in a sorority. You have greasers and surgeons and even though it sucks about Dr. Tapioca, I’m not even that sad.” The final stage direction of the script? “He exits, smugly echoing.”

If this all reads like a predictive text message gone wrong, you’re actually halfway accurate. As with Botnik’s recent Harry Potter story-generating bot, the Scrubs script was created through a custom keyboard which predicts which phrases should come next, much like the keyboard on your smartphone can do. In this case, however, the fact that it was trained on frequent recurrent word pairings and sentences from Scrubs means that the results sound oddly like they could have come from the show itself.

Best I could do pic.twitter.com/m0HVEHFGNm

— Joel Kelly (@JoelKellyDesign) December 18, 2017

Braff was seemingly so taken by the Botnik-written script that he actually reached out to the other former cast members of Scrubs to try and get them to join in the fun. Sadly, there’s been no response thus far.

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No holiday cheer for Theranos — blood-testing startup must pay $4.6M in refunds

The holiday season likely won’t do much to lift spirits over at Theranos, the failing (yet somehow, not yet completely failed) one-time VC darling. The blood-testing startup that was once heralded as the future of health tech has since unraveled under a string of controversies and investigations surrounding its supposedly proprietary techniques (which turned out to be anything but). And now, Theranos is issuing $4.6 million in refunds to Arizona residents who used the company’s services.

The payout comes as a result of a settlement reached with Arizona attorney general Mark Brnovich earlier in 2017. Any Arizonan who used Theranos will receive a complete refund, even if their tests proved to be accurate. While the average refund will be around $61, at least one individual will receive more than $3,000 in the settlement.

According to Brnovich, Theranos’ ads “misrepresented, omitted, and concealed” information about the accuracy of its techniques, as well as the nature of the techniques themselves. In addition to the refunds, Theranos has been banned from owning or operating any lab in Arizona for the next two years.

“Our office is proactive and aggressive in protecting Arizona consumers and these refund checks are proof that we are going to go after companies that violate Arizona consumer protection laws,” Brnovich said in a statement.

Theranos, of course, denies any unlawful activity, and noted that just 10 percent of its thousands of blood tests sold between 2013 and 2016 were ultimately voided. Regardless, the company has had a very difficult time recovering from its multiple setbacks over the last several years.

Surprisingly, however, Theranos has not shuttered altogether. In 2016, the company’s CEO Elizabeth Holmes unveiled a new blood-testing device at the annual meeting of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry in Philadelphia. Called the the MiniLab, it was said to run accurate tests on a few drops of blood for diseases like Zika. Given the striking similarities between MiniLab and the company’s failed previous venture, it came as little wonder when the medical community didn’t exactly jump at the opportunity to adopt the new technology.

At the beginning of 2017, Theranos fired over 40 percent of its workforce, leaving the company at just over 200 people. And now, with a $4.6 million payout ahead, it’s unclear what 2018 will hold for the flailing startup.

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YouTube TV won’t come to Roku or Apple TV until 2018

The app is scheduled for a launch in Q1 of next year.

This past November, YouTube TV finally started making its way to the big screen. The app first launched on Android TV and Xbox One consoles, and this was soon followed up with a release on select Samsung and LG smart TVs. Two of the biggest platforms still missing out on YouTube TV are Roku and Apple TV, and it looks like we’ll have to wait a while longer before we get to use it.

YouTube TV was originally scheduled for a launch on Roku and Apple TV at some point before the end of 2017, but when speaking with CNET, a representative from YouTube stated that this has been pushed back to Q1 of 2018. The reason for this delay is unknown, but it certainly is irritating for owners of either television platform that have been anxious to give YouTube TV a shot.

Since its launch, Google has expanded YouTube TV to over 80 markets across the United States in an attempt to get as many people using it as possible. I enjoyed my time with YouTube TV when I had it, but as good as the service already is, a delayed launch on Roku and Apple TV isn’t going to do anything to help it.

The YouTube TV television app.

Competitors like Sling TV, DirecTV Now, and even newcomers like Philo are already available to use on Roku, and even T-Mobile has plans to jump in the Internet-based television market at some point next year. Apps for Roku and Apple TV should make a lot more people consider using YouTube TV, but with so much stiff competition in this industry already, Google will be looking at a pretty tough fight going into the new year.

T-Mobile is getting into the streaming television business with Layer3 TV acquisition

YouTube signs deal with two music labels ahead of new streaming service

Universal and Sony join the mix.

Following Google Play Music and YouTube Music, Google is expected to launch its third streaming service at some point in 2018. Referred to as “YouTube Remix,” YouTube just signed two deals with major labels in the industry to help give the service as much of a fighting chance as possible.

The current YouTube Music app.

According to Bloomberg, YouTube has signed deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. Part of the deal has to do with allowing YouTube to continue to host uploaded videos featuring songs by the labels, but there’s also a clear intent of adding more content to the new streaming service.

Sony, Universal, and Warner are all on board for YouTube Remix.

For years now, YouTube’s been at arms with music labels about whether or not it’s paying enough money to copyright holders for users that listen to songs for free on the website. With the launch of YouTube Remix (or whatever it ends up being called), YouTube will likely make a strong push to convert regular YouTube users to paid Remix subscribers to help strengthen its relationship with these labels.

In addition to Universal and Sony, YouTube has also signed a deal with Warner Music Group.

We’re anticipating YouTube Remix to launch at some point next year, but it’s still unclear how much it’ll cost or where it’ll fit in with Google’s other music services.

Google reported to launch its third music streaming service in 2018

Amazon’s Echo Spot is now on sale and already sold out

The Echo Spot is here, but you can’t have one just yet.

During Amazon’s fall hardware event this year, one of the more eye-catching announcements was the Echo Spot – Amazon’s futuristic alarm clock with a circular display and the full power of Alexa. The Echo Spot officially went on sale today, December 19, but it’s already out of stock.

Amazon actually sold out of the Echo Spot back around Thanksgiving, and while you can still technically order one right now, it won’t arrive in time for Christmas. Stock for the black Echo Spot is expected to be replenished on December 28, but there won’t be any additional white ones until January 5, 2018.

Both colors of the Echo Spot cost $129, and at least in my opinion, this is the best-looking Echo to date. I’m currently using the Google Home Mini on my nightstand to play music and get my butt out of bed in the morning, and while it works great, having a display for showing the time and other information just sounds awesome.

If you’re okay with waiting a week or two after placing your order to get your hands on the Echo Spot, click/tap the button below to purchase one now.

See at Amazon

Honda’s Clarity Plug-In Hybrid is a luxury car at a bargain price

The Honda Clarity line is now complete. After introducing the lease-only pure EV back in July, the Plug-In Hybrid and Fuel Cell models are here; I got to test-drive both at a recent event and came away impressed. Besides badges and refueling ports, the Clarity vehicles look identical. But their powertrains are different enough that it’s almost like driving three completely different cars.

While the differences behind the wheel are noticeable, the platform itself and the interior mostly make for an enjoyable driving experience regardless of your drivetrain preference. The Fuel Cell version of the car handled nicely during my short time with it, but the limited refueling infrastructure means it’s still an early adopter car, particularly for those lucky enough to live near fueling stations.

It’s the Plug-In Hybrid (starting at $33,400) that will appeal to most customers. As with the EV before it, Honda has created a luxury experience in a midclass four-door sedan. With a range of 340 miles, the Clarity Plug-In Hybrid is ready for road trips. For drives around town and commutes, the battery achieves a range of 47 miles (via a 17kWh battery pack), which is more than enough to run errands and get you to work. Like every Clarity variant, you’ll be comfortable sitting anywhere in the cab no matter where you’re going. The seats are plush and enveloping, so much so that and even my 6-foot 3-inch frame found ample room in the backseat.

On the road, the Clarity Plug-In Hybrid’s suspension is incredibly smooth. Backroads revealed some body roll, but no more than you would expect from a midsized sedan. Considering its size and weight, it did surprisingly well on the Napa backroads I encountered.

The car has three selectable driving modes: Sport, Eco and HV, plus “normal” mode wherein the car tries its best to use the battery until it’s depleted or you stomp on the accelerator. Each of these modes performs as expected, but HV requires a bit of a tutorial. Press the HV button once and the car holds its current battery level. Press and hold the HV button and the car charges the battery to 57 percent.

The Plug-In Hybrid also has regenerative braking paddles to the right and left behind the steering wheel. Respectively, these increase and decrease the friction and energy generation of the car. The odd thing is that in any mode besides Sport, whatever level you set, it disappears after pressing the accelerator. So you’re constantly adjusting the regenerative braking while driving. It’s a weird choice for Honda to make, but it does allow for a more interactive driving experience.

While behind the wheel, I also had a short demo of Honda Sense, the automaker’s semi-autonomous driver-assistance system. The route that Honda set for me avoided the highway, where these driver-assistance systems are meant to be used. On the Napa backroads, though, I was able to activate adaptive cruise control, which worked well. The lane assist was fine in the straights, but anything other than a gentle corner and the system wasn’t able to keep the car in the lane. Again, this is during limited tests, not on a highway. So it works, but it’s not as polished as what you’ll find on, say, the Nissan ProPilot.

Even if the lane-assist portion of Honda Sense isn’t the best on the market, what’s nice is that the whole package is standard on all variants of the Clarity line. The only reason to upgrade to the $36,600 touring version of the Clarity Plug-In Hybrid is if you want leather seats, steering wheel and trim, a power adjustable seat and satellite navigation. With CarPlay and Android Auto also standard, it really comes down to your love of leather.

Fortunately, if you’re not a fan of CarPlay or Android Auto, Honda seems to have corrected latency that I noticed on the standard infotainment system when I tested the EV version of the car back in July. What’s more, the right side blind spot camera also kicks in faster than it did when I test-drove the EV.

Ultimately, the Clarity’s design is really the biggest strike against it. I like the front, but as you move toward the back the car starts to look … odd. Still, if you can get past the looks, the Clarity Plug-In Hybrid is a smooth cruiser with a luxury interior at a midlevel price point. It offers impressive value for anyone looking for a hybrid that doesn’t skimp on comfort.

Check out all of Engadget’s year-in-review coverage right here.

Source: Honda

Formula E’s Montreal race cancelled over ‘financial fiasco’

Formula E may be increasing acceptance of electric racing and EVs in general, but it has faced plenty of problems between bleeding cash (it lost $39.4 million US in the year ending July 2016) and races being moved or pulled in Brazil, Russia and the UK. And now, those problems just got magnified. Montreal has canceled its portion of Formula E after Mayor Valérie Plante’s administration learned that the previous administration of Denis Coderre had committed up to $35 million CAD for the July 2018 race. Plante’s team had only wanted to suspend the 2018 race to consider its options (such as moving from downtown to an established racetrack), but killed the race outright after Formula E said that a pause wasn’t acceptable.

The city is going to be on the hook for cancelling the race, and Montreal It’s Electric owes $6.2 million CAD in unpaid bills. Plante believed that going forward with the race would have cost considerably more, though, and argued that it has long been clear that the Formula E race was headed for a “financial fiasco.” It was also a matter of principle, the mayor said — Montreal can’t waste taxpayers’ money on “poorly planed projects that don’t serve them.”

It’s not hard to see exactly why Plante would be willing to axe the race. Few cities are so determined to host motorsports (including Formula E) that they burn through public funds to make races happen, yet Coderre was all too eager to do it — and the benefits weren’t as clear as he made them out to be. While Coderre said it was about promoting sustainable energy efforts, it also cost businesses money (by shutting down shops near the race) and created massive transportation headaches. We’d add that Montreal and Québec at large are particularly sensitive to abuses of public funds, having endured corruption scandals for years.

Formula E was “surprised and disappointed” by the decision. It’s not completely out of options, though. Even if there’s no backup race, it can count on a second New York City race that same month to wind down the season. And it has new races in Rome, Santiago and Zurich to keep things going. Nonetheless, this isn’t what the league wanted — especially when it’s losing money, it needs to convince cities that electric racing is a net positive rather than a burden.

Via: The Verge

Source: CBC

YouTube TV apps for Apple TV and Roku are coming in early 2018

If you were hoping for the dedicated YouTube TV app to show up on your Roku or Apple TV this year, you will need to wait just a little longer. When announced back in October, we were told that apps were headed to the Xbox One, Apple TV and Roku “in the coming weeks.” When reached for comment, a Google spokesperson claimed that there is no delay, and that the roll out is happening as planned.

YouTubeTV is available across 84 different metro areas, and can be viewed on Chromecast, Xbox One, Android TV and newer Samsung and LG smart TVs. YouTube told CNET that in addition to the Roku and Apple TV apps, YouTube TV will also come to older smart TVs, like Samsung TVs from 2014 and 2015, as well as Sony sets that use older Linux-based operating systems. YouTube TV competes with regular cable, of course, but also Sling TV, Hulu Live TV, PlayStation Vue and DirecTV Now, which are already available on more devices, including the Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Roku.

Via: CNET

YouTube deals with Sony and Universal pave the way for music service

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that YouTube’s subscription music service could launch as early as March, but that ongoing and unsolved negotiations with Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group could prevent that launch date from happening. Bloomberg now reports, however, that both music labels have signed long-term agreements with YouTube.

The Sony and Universal contracts set royalty rates for music video rights holders and, importantly, promise a more aggressive policing of user-uploaded copyrighted songs. Warner Music Group signed a “shorter than usual” deal with YouTube in May, an agreement that didn’t appear to meet Warner’s piracy-fighting expectations. With these agreements in place, YouTube can now more fully pursue its Spotify-like subscription service, which will reportedly feature content not available on YouTube’s free service.

YouTube hasn’t historically gotten along well with the music industry, which believes that the site doesn’t adequately police misuse of copyrighted material and has held back the industry’s growth. Also, while Warner’s agreement with YouTube was shorter-term than usual to afford the company “more options in the future,” it’s unclear how long Sony’s and Universal’s contracts are for. However, if all goes well going forward, we could have yet another music streaming service on the market very soon. Because we definitely need more of those.

Via: Bloomberg