The One Predictable Thing About Technology
… Is that it’s unpredictable.
Making predictions about anything is a tricky business. It’s often fraught with problems and compounded by two factors: too many variables and too many people.
Making predictions in the world of technology is about as rough as it gets. You see a trend, a fad, or a new craze, jump on it, extrapolate, and then go and get it all totally wrong.
As an example, at the turn of the 20th century, it was predicted that passenger air balloon travel – pioneered by the likes of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin – would be commoditized and become the pre-eminent means of mass transit. In fact, it would be so popular, by the 1980s, people would have their own personal air balloon as their primary method of conveyance.
Obviously, this gaze into the future didn’t take into account the airplane, which put an end to that pearl of foresight.
The main problem with looking forward is that people do it in such painfully straight lines, as the previous example demonstrates. The telephone is another useful example; who could have predicted mobile phones at the time Alexander Graham Bell was fussing around with the technological equivalent of paper cups and wet string?
No one could have. Furthermore, how could anyone have predicted that these mobile telephones would one day have cameras built in? Or that you could send written messages on them? You only have to go back 10 years, and such ideas would be derided as foolish … Read more
Crypto TREND 2017-01
Everyone has heard how Bitcoin and other crypto currencies have made millionaires of those who bought as recently as a year ago. Gains of 1,000% or more are not just possible, they have been common place with many of these crypto currencies. Someone who bought Bitcoin in May 2016 at less than $500, would have had a gain of 1,400% in about 17 months. Then over the past few days, we saw Bitcoin lose almost $1,000, so to say these crypto currencies are volatile would be a massive understatement.
Since the inception of Bitcoin in 2008, we at Trend News have been skeptical of crypto currencies’ ability to survive, given that they present a very clear threat to governments who want to see and tax all transactions. But while we may still be cautious on the actual crypto currencies, we are very aware of the potential of the underlying technology that powers these electronic currencies. In fact, we believe that this technology will be a significant disruptor in how data is managed, and that it will impact every sector of the global economy, much like how the internet impacted media.
Here are some questions & answers to get us started…
Q: What are Crypto Currencies?
The most well known crypto currency (CC) is BITCOIN. It was the first CC, started in 2008. Today there are more than 800 CC’s, including Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash, Zcash, Ripple, Monero, and they are all “virtual”. There are no “physical” coins or currency.
Q: How … Read more
The Advantages of Paying With Bitcoin
Since virtual currencies have a unique nature, they offer a lot of advantages over traditional currencies. Over the past few years, the world of digital currency is going through a lot of positive changes. There are a lot of cryptocurrencies, but Bitcoin is one of the most popular ones. In this article, we are going to take a look at some of the most prominent advantages of making payment with Bitcoin. Read on to find out more.
1. User Autonomy
For many users, digital currencies allow them a lot more freedom than conventional currency. People can have a better control on how they can spend their money. The good thing is that they don’t have to deal with an intermediary such as the government or bank.
2. Discretion
Another advantage is that things bought with Bitcoin are discrete. Only the user can publish their Bitcoin transactions. Plus, the transactions do not have their name next to them. Apart from this, these transactions are almost impossible to trace back.
As a matter of fact, each transaction has a different Bitcoin address. But that does not mean that these transactions are impossible to trace back. So, if you don’t want to let others know where you have spent your money, you can use cryptocurrencies to make payments.
3. Peer-to-Peer Focus
Another great advantage of the Bitcoin payment system is that it is based on peer-to-peer. In other words, users can receive and send payments without getting approval from any authority. Payments can … Read more
iPhone Application Development – Crucial Role of the iPhone App Developer
As the market of the iPhone grows dramatically, the demand of the iPhone applications is also going on increasing. This development cannot be thought of, without hiring the services of any professional iPhone app developer. This does not mean that developing the iPhone app is very complex in nature.
Nowadays business is all about reducing the risks and assuring the return on investment. This is only possible when the iPhone App Developer is brought into the picture. Some of the areas where the contribution of the application programmer becomes crucial are as follows.
Experience:
If the developer has enough experience, he/she is going to take less time at converting the idea into the programming. He/she knows the current trend of the iPhone application and the designs that are in trend. An experienced application programmer can deliver the completed application in the least time and at the same time assure return on investment. He/she can develop applications that are not only appealing but able to procure business.
Use of SDK:
The knowledge of iPhone SDK is very much necessary for developing iPhone apps programmer. The application developer knows that there are many applications on the Apple store. He/she can make the best use of the SDK to design novel applications by blending the application that is already on the Apple Store. This capability depends on the extent to which the programmer knows the SDK. A thorough knowledge of SDK can make the programmer not only popular but also assure save time … Read more
5 Benefits of Trading Cryptocurrencies
When it comes to trading cryptocurrencies, you have to speculate whether the market you have chosen will go up or down in value. And the interesting thing is that you never own the digital asset. Actually, the trading is done with derivative products like CFDs. Let’s take a look at the benefits of trading crypto currencies. Read on to find out more.
Volatility
While the cryptocurrency is a new market, it’s quite volatile because of the short-lived speculative interest. The price of bitcoin dropped to $5851 from $19,378 in 2018, in just one year. However, the value of other digital currencies is quite stable, which is good news.
What makes this world so exciting is the volatility of the value of crypto currency. The price movements offer a lot of opportunities for traders. However, this comes with a lot of risk as well. Therefore, if you decide on exploring the market, just make sure you do your research and put together a risk management strategy.
Business Hours
Typically, the market is open for trade 24/7 because it is not regulated by any government. Moreover, the transactions are done between buyers and sellers across the world. There may be short downtimes when the infrastructural updates take place.
Improved Liquidity
Liquidity refers to how quickly a digital currency can be sold for cash. This feature is important as it allows quicker transaction times, better accuracy and better pricing. Generally, the market is kind of illiquid as the financial transactions happen across different … Read more
Bad Movie Review – Cool as Ice
If ever there was a film deserving of the infamy of being included in a bad movie night, it is Cool as Ice. This portrait of the early nineties was Vanilla Ice’s first and only starring role, and it’s about as good as you would expect. The nonsensical tagline to the film, “How do you melt a heart of stone? Just add Ice” pretty much says it all. Of course, it arrived 2 minutes after Vanilla’s 15 minutes were over, so it has languished on video for years, and is now developing into something of a cult hit for those who can appreciate how funny awesomely bad movies can be.
One interesting note of trivia: This is the first film for cinematographer Janus Kaminski, whose later credits include no less than Schindler’s List. Wow. I guess we really do all have to start somewhere. On the other hand, this film effectively killed the career of director David Kellog, who waited 10 years for the laughter to die down before directing the probably equally terrible Inspector Gadget. Whoops.
Vanilla plays Johnny, leader of a super tough posse of biker rappers, who apparently go from town to town performing in warehouses where the lights hang at about knee level. This particular gang is so tough, that they don’t even need helmets. Though, come to think of it, massive head trauma might actually explain a lot.
On the way to their next gig, or wherever it is they’re actually going, the … Read more