fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
IoT Chain’s DAG code is now available on Github — We are giving away 10,000 ITC to celebrate!
By: Iot Chain
Tags: English, Iot Chain, Contests, Announcements, Github

We are delighted to announce the release of the IoT Chain source code on GitHub. We had committed to making our source code available and are pleased to deliver on this promise. Furthermore, we can confirm that the IoT Chain DAG test network will be released soon as well! This is an important milestone in our journey to building a secure, lightweight OS for the Internet of Things.

You can view the IoT Chain official GitHub here: https://github.com/IoTChainCode/itc-ts

In light of this exciting update, we are running an activity dubbed “Win 10,000 ITC — Follow Our Journey” which will run from February 2–9, 2018. Subscribers who follow our official Twitter accounts and retweet the announcement can earn ITC rewards and will be entered to win a grand prize of 500 ITC!

Date and time: February 2–9, 2018 (midnight to midnight EST [UTC+5])

How to participate:

Follow IoT Chain on Twitter: https://twitter.com/IoT_Chain Retweet the following announcement: https://twitter.com/IoT_Chain/status/959365112216743937 and tag three or more friends Join the official IoT Chain Telegram group: https://t.me/IoTChain Complete the form that will be posted in the Telegram group.You must complete this form to be eligible to receive a reward and to enter the grand prize draw!”

Details:

There are 10,000 ITC tokens available for this promotion. Tokens will be awarded first-come, first-served based on the order of entries received. No additional tokens will be awarded once the cap is reached or the promotion is over.

Those who successfully complete all of the participation steps during the activity period will be awarded one ITC token based on availability

In addition, some lucky participants chosen at random will receive ITC tokens as follows :

First prize (1 total) — 500 ITC

Second prize (20 total) — 50 ITC

Third prize (500 total) — 5 ITC

Notes:
78% din website-uri fac aceste greșeli critice SEO. Al tău e printre ele?
By: Toma Grozăvescu
Tags: Webdesign, Servicii Marketing, Creare Site, SEO, Smarters

Founder & Growth Hacker @SMARTERS Romania, my purpose is to show people that it can be done.

Follow
What is Blockchain?
By: Akshay Gokalgandhi
Tags: Crypto, ICO, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

What is Blockchain:

Haven’t we all come across this term repeatedly? Maybe a colleague in the office or a friend at the tea stall just kept bloating the fact that he made $1 above his investment in Bitcoins (BTC).Well he made that money because of the technology that supports these tokens.

So “What is Blockchain?” after all!

Is Blockchain software?

Is Blockchain a MLM chain?

Is Blockchain some new kind of technology?

So what is it?

“Blockchain” is a digital diary. Just like the one that your parents keep to maintain accounts with your local kiranawalla. The same diary that your parents maintain and a copy of it is stored by the shopkeeper. Both of them maintain a list of products purchased independently. When you ran down the store to buy a pack of bread the shopkeeper made an entry and then your mom made one back at home.

Sometime both of you signed against each others entries to ensure that both of you agreed upon the entry made in the ledger.And this relationship is maintained month on month. Every month fresh entries are made and at the end of the month the family clears the bill and starts a fresh ledger.

Definition

“A blockchain is a decentralized, distributed and incorruptible digital ledger that is used to record transactions across many computers.”

To simplify, “Blockchain” in simple terms is a:

Distributed network of computers (nodes),where each node contains a chain-of-blocks,where each block contains a ledger with a list of transactions, where each transaction is incorruptible and is linked to the previous transactions for the resource it is representing.

One could say blcokchain is a powerful concept that has the potential to change the way the world functions.

Blockchain and Cryptocurrency

Blockchain and Cryptocurrency are not the same, but are used together because of the the Bitcoin that made them popular.

Blockchain is a concept and cryptocurrencies are the applications using that concept to solve real problems.

I read it somewhere which correctly summarizes the relationship

“Cryptocurrency is to blockchain, what email is to internet”.

And there are many other applications to blockchains over cryptocurrencies or tokens. Some of the popular ones are

Identity

Notary

Digital

Assets

Smart Contracts

Digital Voting

Distributed Storage

So to summarize the basics to “What is Blockchain”, it is a technology that is going to change the world. We will come across many different use cases. Some might drop drastically and some might slyly get us to adopt them in ways that we might not realize.

Will get into technical details in another post.
“We Should Get Married”
By: Esther Spurrill-Jones
Tags: Love, Fiction, Marriage, LGBTQ, Engagement

“We Should Get Married”

A ‘Drew and Ewan’ Story

Photo by Estefania Solveyra on Unsplash

“We should get married.”

Drew nearly choked, but not with any negative feeling. He was trying not to laugh out loud. His hands tightened on the steering wheel and he shook his head, trying to keep his eyes on the road. “Are you proposing to me like that on a Tuesday night while I drive you home in the rain? Really?”

“Oh yeah. I’m very romantic.” Ewan’s voice oozed laughter. He squeezed Drew’s knee, sending a jolt through Drew’s body. “I mean it. I love you; you love me.”

Drew snorted. “And ‘We’re a happy family’?”

Ewan laughed, and Drew couldn’t help grinning. Lightly punching Drew’s shoulder, Ewan said, “Sure. I already consider you family. And my mom loves you.”

Drew sighed, a cold splash of reality hitting him in the face. “My mom loves you too. She would love to have you as a son-in-law. If you were marrying her daughter.”

Ewan made a face. “No offense to your sister, but Annalyn really isn’t my type.”

Laughter bubbled up, washing away the cold feeling in Drew’s chest. “Excuse me? Al is a delight.”

Ewan let out a bark of laughter. “We’d kill each other in less than a week. Besides, Wendell might have something to say about this idea.”

Drew shook his head, putting on a very serious expression as he pulled the car into Ewan’s driveway. “Wendell never has much to say about anything. Al does the talking in that relationship.”

Ewan undid his seatbelt and turned sideways to raise an eyebrow at Drew. “You’re trying pretty hard to match me up with your sister. Do you not want to marry me that much?”

Turning off the ignition, Drew turned to face Ewan so he could meet his eyes. “I want to marry you. Even if my parents won’t come to our wedding.”

A happy, relieved smile blossomed on Ewan’s face. “Does that mean we’re engaged now?”

“Yes. I think it does.” Drew shook his head, laughing. “I had this whole romantic thing planned out, you know. I was gonna surprise you with a ring.”

Ewan’s smile grew bigger and brighter. “You could still do that. Let’s pick out rings together, and then you keep them so you can surprise me with mine.”

Drew took Ewan’s hands into his. “Okay, fiancé. Let’s do that.”

♥♥♥
On This Day — State Department Changes Passport Policy
By: National Center For Transgender Equality
Tags: LGBTQ, Travel, LGBT Rights, Ncte15, Transgender

This piece has been modified from one originally published eight years ago today.

Last night the U.S. Department of State announced new guidelines for issuing passports to transgender people. Beginning today, applicants for a gender marker change on their passports will need to submit certification from a physician that they have received “appropriate clinical treatment” for gender transition. Most importantly, gender reassignment surgery is not required under the new policy.

The new rules will also apply to changing a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) for US citizens who were born outside of the United States. CRBAs are the equivalent of a birth certificate.

For years, NCTE has been advocating with the State Department to change their rules about gender markers on passports and CRBAs. Previously they had required proof of irreversible sex reassignment surgery before the gender marker could be changed, although there were exceptions for temporary, provisional passports to allow someone to travel for surgery.

NCTE and other advocates have stressed with the State Department that this policy unnecessarily called attention to transgender travelers whose appearance and gender marker were at odds. In some destinations, this had the potential to create an extremely dangerous situation when a traveler is outed as transgender in an unwelcoming environment or in the presence of prejudiced security personnel.

Fortunately, the new rules represent a significant advance in providing safe, humane and dignified treatment of transgender people.

Mara Keisling, Executive Director of NCTE, commented:
Cytokine storm
By: Miguel Adrover
Tags: Covid 19, Polyglot Poetry, Poetry On Medium, Biology, Poetry

soapy miracles about to burst.

membrane bound swan songs

rebound on protean beams;

transcribed lessons from defeat —

reminders of many more to come.
SSL Sertifikası: Güvenlik Önemlidir
By: Güneş Özcan
Tags: Ssl, Internet, Https, Digital Marketing, Ssl Certificate

Written by

Someone who is interested in marketing and advertising, cinema and art.
I Am Joe Biden’s Dog and I Know How He Really Broke His Foot
By: Joanna Henderson
Tags: Joe Biden, Humor, Politics, Dogs, Pets

Joe and I were playing. We played a lot on the weekend. But here’s a kicker: it was mostly happening in the morning. As for the evening, something else occurred, and it became the real reason why my daddy ended up with an injury.

Guess what happened? Well, what could possibly be in the books when a man wins a presidential election? Celebration! My family was celebrating A LOT! And let me tell you: when Bidens are partying, they party hard.

Daddy knows how to party. Mommy is the cautious and careful one, just like most moms are. But Joe is the king of crazy dancing and rapid shot devouring. The man might be 78 years old, but his spirit is still 30, dancing on a Caribbean Island and enjoying Pina Coladas one after another.

Joe was dancing his heart out after having dinner with mommy and a few other people. Unlike Mister Orange, he’s very responsible during the pandemic: no guests, no unnecessary visitors, just a few family members.

I believe he was showing off his salsa moves. Or was it tango? Or maybe foxtrot? I think daddy may have mixed those up. I blame the tequila. As he was about to spring into a new dance, he tried to grab his 17th glass of wine — and suddenly tripped.

I’m not sure what he tripped on. Mommy suspects it may have been the unopened box of Corona but I think that’s a lie. I saw daddy taking that box to his bedroom, and another one — to his home office. So, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the beer.

But anyway, the poor guy fell. A doctor was called right away. Thank God Joe is fine, but I was a little bit scared. I want my daddy to be fine, as he has to fix all our country’s problems.

I was horribly and utterly shocked when the media blamed everything on me! And Joe didn’t even correct them! Well, to be fair, what would he say? He can’t reveal his dancing moves to anyone, and his drinking skills must remain a secret too. But I’m still very sad! I want to be the First Dog of the United States, not the Number One Hated Dog of the United States, who nearly killed the future president!
The Gift of Dad’s Arms
By: Jack Herlocker
Tags: Hugs And Love, Poetry, Trump Pandemic

The Gift of Dad’s Arms

Hugs and love for COVID-19 and bad awful terrible days at work

I wish

I could send you

one of my late father-in-law’s hugs!

Dad had a way

of wrapping

his arms

around someone and

making it all better

for a moment

even when it would never be…

I would send

a bunch

in a box

that you could put it in your break room

to share

with your coworkers.

Deb’s dad as I like to remember him — playing a game with his family, telling stories and having fun (photo by author)

In reponse to Tre’s story:

Deb’s father was a Presbyterian minister who retired… then went to work for a United Methodist church as a visitation pastor. He would visit the sick and infirm, or comfort the families of those who had just lost someone. At his funeral, people told Deb, “I will miss his wonderful hugs!”
Shape the Future of Vite!
By: Allen Liu
Tags: Blockchain, Announcements, Decentralized Exchange, Techies

Dear Community,

Vite is two years old now. Thanks for your accompany and support so far. Since Vite’s earliest days, we have developed a reputation for our strength and innovation in tech. We have been asked so many times by enthusiastic community members and developers to participate in the tech discussions with Vite core devs, so they can contribute great ideas and even write code. As such, we are pleased to announce the launch of Vite Techie Club, which will hold regularly a series of text-based online discussion events, where we invite all technocrats to incubate Vite’s future plans!

The topic of the first Vite Techie Forum will be Decentralization of ViteX gateways. We are glad to invite two core dev members, Viteshan and Wills Lee, to join the discussion. Here are details:

What will the next generation of ViteX gateway look like? What are some existing solutions to learn from, or should we create something largely from ground up? Will this be a multi-sig or atomic swap solution? Will smart contracts be used? How about relay chain and witnesses?

Meet us, at 15:00, September 22, HKT, on Discord.

Channel: #vite-techie-club

Vite Discord Link: https://discord.gg/f8G5ah7

Rules:
Season Of Everything
By: Arya Parameswaran
Tags: PaperRhymes, Perception, Poem, Seasons, Change

Source: Christianity oday

You have a world of your own,

That rotates around your self,

Where oceans of emotion flow,

On which floats your thoughts.

When dark clouds hide the light,

When expectations rain down on you,

When success rushes away like the wind,

You submerge under the deep ocean,

Whose heart lies unknown.

When the snow covers you,

It’s cold touch and chilled heart,

Hiding you from everything,

You lay still freezing the moment,

Waiting for the warmth that never comes.

When the golden glow shines upon you,

Warmth embracing your soul,

And the sun kissed thoughts go wild,

The moment you rise up in the air and fly,

As high as the sky.

When flowers bloom at your feet,

While birds sing your glory,

And the world spins around you,

You will be as radiant as the morning sun,

And as content as the ocean.

When your world changes,

Just like the ever-changing seasons,

And when you accept the changes,

Acknowledging the temporalities,

Is when the season of everything-ness begins!
A Peculiar Characterization of the Exponential Function eˣ
By: Nhw, Maths Phd
Tags: Math, Mathematics, Exponential Growth

The exponential function eˣ is very interesting on it own because it can be defined using various mathematical concepts such as limit of a sequence, value of an infinite summation, upper limit of an integral and the unique solution of a differential equation. It also plays a significant role in statistics, particularly in the probability density function (PDF) of the normal distribution. Recall that the PDF of the standard normal distribution is

Probability density function of the standard normal distribution

It is well-known that normal distribution is one of the key players in statistics due to the Central Limit Theorem, which asserts that if one has large enough sample size, then the distribution of sample mean will be closed to a normal distribution. However, this is not our main concern of this article.

Furthermore, the exponential function eˣ has many important real-life applications. Some of them are modeling growth in populations, economic changes, fatigue of materials, bacterial growth/decay, and continuously compounded interest.

In this article, we will
Reborn through Reality
By: Sneha Devaraj
Tags: Birth, Live, Poem, Reality, Life

Reborn through Reality

A tale of contradiction

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

It was somewhere I read

To exist is to contradict oneself

Believe it not or maybe do.

To exist is to comprehend

the most complex of phenomena,

Reality.

To birth and consume reality,

And ultimately, be reborn through it.

To exist is to take a chance at living

And to live is the bravest thing at all

Living with yourself

With sides more than two

To the story only you tread.

Rightfully they said

By contradicting yourself.

For only when two stones were rubbed

Was fire ever birthed.
Facing Reality
By: Tomi Esuruoso
Tags: Short Story, Relationships, Fiction, Letting Go, Microfiction

Facing Reality

A 50-word story

Photo by Retha Ferguson from Pexels

Naomi looks up at the night sky, watches the stars gather to form letters that read Marry me?



She wants to respond, but her boyfriend, Sammy, is nowhere to be found.



Naomi startles awake. She knows she must face reality: Sammy is gone, but for his scent that still lingers.
Genghis Khan’s Guide To Fire Safety Tips
By: Trapper Sherwood
Tags: Safety, Fire, Holidays, Security, Christmas

It Doesn’t Take a Barbarian To Know That Holiday Fire Safety Doesn’t Have To Be Difficult. Check Out These Simple Tips.

Graphic by Author

Let’s face it, Genghis Kahn probably didn’t practice ANY of the fire safety tips I want to share with you. Because of his barbarian nature, I’m sure he was a better pyromaniac than a fire prevention specialist! 🔥
THE MVP IS HERE
By: Viso Team
Tags: Android, Bitcoin, Blockchain, Ethereum

Viso wallet, released by technology startup Viso.Global, is available for Android users from the Google Play Store.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vito.visowallet

VISO Wallet the seamlessly fast & secure cryptocurrency wallet.

Easy to use multicurrency mobile application, that allows you to quickly access your VITO and other Assets funds. The VISO wallet harnesses the power of the Waves blockchain, connecting to public nodes in order to retrieve your transactions and send payments in under a second.

Be in control of your cryptocurrencies and blockchain assets.

Wallet features

-View wallet, cryptocurrency, and bank account balances

-View transaction log

-Single master seed backup (This will be the only seed you will ever need in the future for any coin we integrate)

-Single Screen Operation — All wallet functions work on a single screen. No more flipping between send and receive * screens or trying to find your wallet address or QR code.

-Domestic and international transfers and payment in VITO are commission-free.
Data visualization: How is the situation on forest fires in the US and Brazil
By: Fagner Morais Dias
Tags: Database, Forest Fires, Data Science, Data Visualization, Pandas

Data visualization: How is the situation on forest fires in the US and Brazil

Data visualization on forest fires in the US and Brazil

Photo by Matt Howard on Unsplash

Introduction

The year 2020 has come with great challenges to the whole world. This new decade began with the covid-19 pandemic affecting the health and economic systems of many countries and exposed the faults of the organization of many countries counter pandemic. Besides that, in Brazil, the Amazon rainforest is on fire, the forest who absorb quantities of CO² now instead releases it into the atmosphere. The fire in the forest is not just a Brazilian problem, in these lasts months the world saw the fires in the state of California that took down lots of houses and became a big problem to the people who live both near or far from the forest mainly because of the smoke released by the fire.
The New Normal
By: Flannery Wilson
Tags: Covid 19, University, Teaching, Learning, Higher Education

Before the pandemic struck, I was driving one and a half hours each way — for a total of 6 hours every week — to teach my French 1 class in San Bernardino, California.

Back in January, the class started out normally enough. They were a bright group — and diverse — ranging in age from high schoolers to adults in their sixties. In addition to working out of the textbook, we watched classic French films such as La Haine and The 400 Blows.

In early March, the pandemic hit. At the very beginning, no one in San Bernardino had been affected by COVID, so I drove out there to give the midterm.

I didn’t know that this would be the last time that I would see my students in the classroom.

Just like everyone else, our college did its best to keep the ball rolling. Spring break was extended by a week, so we had some extra time to figure out how to transition our classes to an online format.

At first, I wasn’t sure how I wanted to handle the shift. I worried because I would no longer be able to project the textbook onto the screen at the front of the class. I would no longer be able to show my movies. Further, I worried that students wouldn’t have the same opportunities to practice speaking.

Still,

I thought,

I can only do my best.

So I went to Target, bought a whiteboard, and hung it in my apartment. I placed my computer on a stack of books on a table and I was ready to go.

The first day that I tried to use Zoom with the class, my computer camera wouldn’t turn on. I freaked out and told them to log back on in a few minutes. When that didn’t work, I was forced to end class early.

Luckily, the next class session went a bit more smoothly. My camera was working this time, so my students and I were able to see each other. I called on students in the same manner that I would have if we had been in the classroom.

I noticed some interesting things after the transition.

I began to feel that I knew the students almost better than I did in the classroom, because now I could see everyone in their own homes.

I also noticed many of my students trying harder, and I think that may be because you can’t hide as well in an online environment. There’s no such thing as “sitting in the back of the classroom and goofing off” online.

I also found that I preferred giving my quizzes through Canvas. Students found it easier, and I didn’t have as much to grade.

Overall, the transition has been a positive experience for me. I am now able to teach my class from the comfort of my own home. I’m not wasting money on gas, or losing my sanity after hours and hours on the road.

Before this all happened, I was convinced that nothing could replace the traditional college classroom experience. Now I am convinced that these changes were necessary, regardless of the pandemic.

There is no longer a choice. We all have to adapt. Innovation is imminent.
Menelusuri Jejak Syailendra di Batang
By: Yacob Wijaya
Tags: Megalitikum, Candi, Jawa Tengah, Batang

in In Fitness And In Health
SERO events coming up!
Tags: Bitbns, Usdt, Cryptocurrency, Altcoin, Altcoinnews

Dear Bitbns users,

We have an amazing news we are sure you’ll love. A while back, we listed SERO on Bitbns and some pretty cool contests and events with chill rewards are coming up. There are going to be opportunities to grab big rewards.

In collaboration with SERO, we will be conducting special events with exciting rewards. We are starting it with trading reward events in which you can get 1 USD worth SERO on 30 USD worth traded in SERO/USDT market.

Fill this form after completing trade to claim reward: https://bit.ly/2ZQmMAk.

Here’s a quick overview of what’s coming up next:

- SERO FIP — Offering better interest than Bank FDs on your SERO hodling.

- SERO Pool Sale — Stake BNS token to get SERO at upto 50% discount.

- And many other trading rewards and events are coming up in next few days.

As we’ve already been mentioning lately, these events are meant for all our users, whether they’re traders, investors, or hodlers. So prep up, whoever you are!

Warm Regards

Team Bitbns
How to Pick Up That Hot Cashier
By: William, Dollar Bill
Tags: Memoir, Satire, Humor, Magnums, Culture

How to Pick Up That Hot Cashier

Buy a box of Magnum condoms

Photo by mali maeder from Pexels

Reading through a book yesterday whose subject is all about picking up girls and committing crimes, I was reminded by the author that owning a flashy car or wearing expensive clothing are two excellent tools to aid in the pursuit of crashing on hotties.

I’m sure what he said is true — but it reminded me of another way a guy could attract an eager partner. And this hustle is way cheaper than the other two.

My old buddy Savannah, the peg queen, (who’s an escort) was on her way over to my apartment for a visit. When I told her not to be in too much of a hurry because I had to go to K Mart to purchase something essential (what I cannot remember), she requested with some exuberance “oh, good! Can you pick me up a large box of Magnums while you’re there?”

“Magnums! Why Magnums,” I asked foolishly. “Everybody’s been big lately. And I bought a couple of new dildos that are big, too!”

I know. Served me right for asking!

“I don’t know Savannah. I don’t think I’d feel comfortable walking up to one of those young fly girl cashiers and buying a box of big rubbers. Maybe you ought to buy them yourself,” I excused myself from the favor.

That was the end of the discussion. Savannah bought her own rubbers, no doubt. But then I thought…what a great way to pick up a cashier. A guy with a big unit wouldn’t have to indiscreetly make reference to his blessing — thus exposing himself for what he was: a legend in his own mind.

He could simply buy a box of Magnums and then choose the line with the hottest cashier to queue on. And then whamo! He walks up to the counter and presents a $3 purchase that declares unequivocally “I have a big dick!”

Even if a guy doesn’t have a big dick, buying those big boys could at least get him to the promised land. From there, he’d have to finesse the whole deal with some considerable expertise having successfully negotiated the tryst. But guys with game and lovemaking expertise could actually make that happen, I’m sure — even if I’m not one of them.

Regardless, if a dude wants to pick up on an urban chick (or rural while I’m at it), and doesn’t have the cash for a Maserati or Armani suit? Try buying a box of Magnums at the local Walmart, and then line up to make that purchase with the hottest cashier in the joint. Maybe I’m crazy. But it does strike me as an excellent way to introduce yourself by putting your best foot forward (sorry, couldn’t resist) — and at a very modest price.

Me? I’d rather do it with my wit and intellect. Which probably explains why I haven’t been laid since I don’t even want to tell you when.
Daily Bit #139: Rocket Fuel
By: Daily Bit
Tags: Blockchain, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Crypto, Fintech

Photo by SpaceX on Unsplash

Word On The Street

Time to Pay Attention (Again)

Bitcoin shot out of a cannon yesterday afternoon, ripping straight through the psychological $7,000 barrier before leveling off roughly $500 higher.

As is tradition, the propulsion brought the entire market in tow, with $20 billion topped onto the total capitalization in less than one hour. It should come as no surprise that Cardano (ADA), Stellar (XLM), and Zcash (ZEC) were within the top 10 gainers due to their potential to be listed on Coinbase.

So, why the jump?

From the technical side, Bitcoin completed an inverse head and shoulders reversal pattern on daily charts that began filling out in early June. Two past attempts to break through a key resistance level of ~$6,800 came to fruition yesterday with a massive surge in volume that was 2–3 times higher than levels seen since the start of July.

…. but lines on a chart aren’t enough to explain the sudden rally.Business Insider provided another explanation this morning, suggesting that a short squeeze led to the pulsation. For those at home: short squeezes occur when sellers scramble to cover their positions in the event of a price increase. That could check out given the significant of $6.8k.

Then there’s institutional money. There’s been a steady flow of whale money into the market during the decline, the most recent slab coming from Avenue Capital Group’s Marc Lasry, who invested 1% of his net worth ($1.68 billion) into bitcoin.

Granted, a sub $20 million purchase isn’t going to move the needle, but the news will likely bring out more enthusiasm for the market as a whole.

The bottom line: Timing market tops and bottoms is Fool’s Gold. With the downtrend that began on December 17th official breached, we might’ve seen the last of the low $6,000s.
BitBox 9.2020 Rotondo update. The Rotondo update celebrates the…
By: Shift Crypto
Tags: Bitcoin, Hardware Wallet, Updates, Transaction Fees, Security

The Rotondo update arrives exactly at the 1 year anniversary of the BitBox02, which was launched last September after an extensive beta testing program that provided valuable feedback.

The BitBox02 has proven to be an attractive choice for beginners as well as advanced users. We continue to build on top of its strong foundation.

Rotondo

This update is named after the Rotondohütte in the Swiss Gotthard massif. The hut is located at 2570 meters a.s.l, next to the Wittenwasseren glacier and its ice-cold lakes. A sight to behold.

Download our latest update from shiftcrypto.ch/download to get all new features and improvements.

New feature: Custom transaction fees

The next bull run will come someday, and with it, some crazy Bitcoin fee spikes. Unfortunately, it’s very hard to reliably estimate fees automatically, and the recommended fees sometimes are not exactly to your liking.

In that situation it’s important to be able to manually fine-tune your transaction fees. We feel we put off this advanced feature long enough, but it’s finally here! Props to our BitBox family on Telegram for nagging us constantly.

In order to keep the standard interface as simple as possible, we made this an advanced feature. You can switch on “Enable custom fees” in the “Expert settings” section.

“Enable custom fees” in the BitBoxApp settings

When sending Bitcoin, simply select “Custom” in the “Priority” dropdown field. This allows you to enter the desired network fee in satoshis per virtual byte (sats/vB).

When sending, choose “Custom” to set your own network fee

Good reference sites for current Bitcoin fee estimates are Bitcoinfees or the legendary Johoe’s Bitcoin Mempool Statistics. A thorough explanation on Bitcoin transaction fees in general can be found in the Bitcoin Wiki.

How can I stay up-to-date?

We encourage you to sign up to the BitBox news to stay up to date with our latest news, including release notes and bug fixes.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact us at support@shiftcrypto.ch if you have any questions.

Thank you for your continued support.

Shift Team
Survey Reveals Phishing and Ransomware are the top attacks on Financial Firms
By: Jerry Williams
Tags: Cybersecurity, Phishing Attacks, Ransomware, Financial, Surveys

Security researchers stated that Phishing and Ransomware attacks are the most reported types of cyber-attacks on financial services firms. According to the Audit and Consulting firm RSM International in the United Kingdom, around 819 cyber incidents were reported by Financial services firms to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) last year.

RSM said that Retail Banks were the most frequently affected by cyber-attacks (486 security incidents) followed by wholesale financial markets (115 attacks), and retail investment firms (53 incidents). In 2018, financial firms reported around 93 cyber-attacks, in which half of these (48 attacks) were phishing attacks while 20 percent (19 attacks) were ransomware attacks.

RSM said the sudden increase in the companies reporting security incidents was due to the introduction of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws that took effect last May.

“Overall, there remain serious vulnerabilities across some financial services businesses when it comes to the effectiveness of their cyber controls,” said RSM technology risk assurance partner Steve Snaith. “More needs to be done to embed a cyber resilient culture and ensure effective incident reporting processes are in place.”

A recent study revealed that the introduction of the GDPR has resulted in a significant decrease in data leaks and thefts. The study dubbed Data Privacy Benchmark Study from networking company Cisco Systems stated that nearly three-quarter of GDPR-ready companies suffered fewer data breaches in the last year than organizations that have not been GDPR compliant.

The survey report, which is prepared based on data from more than 3,200 security professionals in 18 countries and across all major industries worldwide, also found that approximately 60 percent of companies have met most of the GDPR requirements, with nearly 30 percent more expected to do so within a year.

Country wise, the research stated the level of GDPR-readiness increased from 42 percent to 76 percent, stating that the European countries (Spain, Italy, UK, France, and Germany) were on the higher end of the range. Data security, internal training, evolving regulations, and Privacy by Design requirements were the major challenges faced by organizations while getting ready for GDPR, the research stated.
[Latest] An Update on the Movement of the Tokens for Better Governance
By: Morpheus Labs Team
Tags: Mitx, Bpaas, Cryptocurrency, Morph, Token

Dear Community,

Last week, we announced to our Community on the potential movement of tokens for increased transparency and the evolving business needs.

To re-cap, the tokens will be moved to wallets with specific purposes as laid out below;

20% for Exchanges Related & Token Burn 10% Foundation 10% Team 5% Reserve

Today, we want to share the wallet addresses for those specific purposes.

These wallet addresses are created in accordance with proper governance and proper guidelines befitting that of a proper organization.
Blockchain Forks
By: Shaan Ray
Tags: Bitcoin, Blockchain, Fork, Blockchain Forks, Segwit

A tuning fork.

A blockchain is a decentralized network of nodes that collaborate to validate transactions and store information, as discussed in my previous post. Blockchain technology has some well known limitations: propagation delays, which refer to lag time between when a node sends data and another node receives it a being sent by a node and received another node, transactions getting lost en route to receivers, and even nodes going bad and transmitting false information.

A fork is a change to the protocol, or a divergence from the previous version of the blockchain. When a new, alternative, block is generated by a rogue miner, the system reaches consensus that this block is not valid, and this ‘orphan block’ is very soon abandoned by the other miners.

Hard Fork

Hard forks are deliberate, and occur when there is a major difference of opinion within the community which has built and sustained a particular blockchain, and one (or both) of the camps decides to go their own way. The group that disagrees with the original protocol ‘forks’ off its own version of the blockchain and the members who believe in this fork upgrade their systems to work on this new blockchain, leaving the previous one. Nodes running the previous blockchain are not accepted by the new blockchain. Users who prefer the old version can keep their systems and nodes working on it. The divergence essentially creates two competing blockchains.

Soft Fork

Soft forks involve optional upgrades. Like hard forks, they involve two version of a blockchain. However, unlike hard forks, users can keep running the old version after a soft fork, and still be part of the same network as the users who have upgraded to the new version.

Original blockchain in blue, and the forked version in red. Both can exist simultaneously.

Bitcoin Forks

Bitcoin, the pioneer blockchain cryptocurrency, has had several forks. Recognizing this, the original Bitcoin blockchain (developed by the probably-pseudonymous author Satoshi Nakamoto) is sometimes called Bitcoin Core. Developers can make changes to Bitcoin Core’s blockchain protocol. The following are forks of Bitcoin Core:

1. Bitcoin XT: August 2015

2. Bitcoin Classic: February 2016

3. Bitcoin Unlimited: May 2017

4. Bitcoin Cash: August 2017

5. Bitcoin Gold: October 2017

6. SegWit2x: a proposed fork that has been suspended

Codebase Forks

Codebase fork is a software development term. When a developer works on the source code of an application (it could be blockchain-based, or another software product) to develop (or create) a distinct and separate version of the software, the new version is called a codebase fork.

It is ultimately the decision of the network’s users whether or not they want to upgrade. Developers cannot force changes onto a network. They can only suggest changes. Users decide whether to adopt them or not. On the blockchain, too, the fate of codebase forks is in the hands of users.
Stereotyping is Ruining Civil Discourse
By: Jim Wolstenholm
Tags: Religion, Diversity, Civil Discourse

Stereotyping is Ruining Civil Discourse

I’m not who you think I am even if I am who you think I am

Photo by Shamim Nakhaei on Unsplash

I am white, male and evangelical. I could only choose one of those things for myself.

Every time I hear a statement about the white, male evangelical, I cringe. I just don’t fit that stereotype and it makes me uncomfortable that people may think that I do.

I’m not typical

For example, what does that demographic think about the environment? I embrace the reality and danger of climate change and think we need to act quickly.

What does that demographic think about immigration? I believe we should liberalize immigration and open wide the door to racial diversity.

What do they think about abortion?

Here’s what I think:

What does the white, male evangelical think about the LGBTQ community?

This is what I think:

I fear that when people find out that I am a white, male evangelical they will think they cannot talk to me about pressing social issues and receive a fair hearing.

We tend to think that everyone in a certain group will be exactly what we assume they will be. This hurts our chances to communicate. Even if most of the demographic thinks, speaks or acts in a certain way most of the time, they are still made up of individuals who can surprise our expectations.

What do we need to do?

Every day I pray that we will see an increase in civil discourse. In an age of partisan bickering, slander, anger and disinformation, we need to pause and step back for a minute. We must learn to think rationally instead of emotionally.

We need to learn again the art of listening — really listening. When we take the time to carefully and openly communicate, we may discover that we can find common ground and move ahead. We cannot minimize the importance of compromise when possible. When it is not possible, we must embrace the idea of civil disagreement.

I am a white, male evangelical. I fully support the theological position of the authority of the Bible, the deity of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit in the world. I wholeheartedly believe that we ought to demonstrate the compassion of Jesus in our world, actively engage with our culture to live out the love of God and help all people find hope, joy, love and purpose for their lives.

I wonder if we can put aside our distrust, anger and fears long enough to realize that we live in a wonderful world filled with amazing and diverse people that can enrich our lives.

I certainly hope and pray that we can!
Tonight’s comic is about hurt feelings.
Tags: Comics, Feelings, Robots

More from rstevens Follow

I make cartoons and t-shirts at www.dieselsweeties.com & @rstevens. Send me coffee beans.
Check out Coin Mine Australia’s new video…
By: Kelvin Daley
Tags: Blockchain, Bitcoin, ICO, Ethereum, Announcements

WEBSITE | VIDEO | TELEGRAM | WHITEPAPER | AIRDROP | TEAM

The creative team have done a fantastic job, we couldn’t be prouder of them.

Let us know what you think and please share

Facebook

Twitter
The Laughing Saint
By: White Feather
Tags: Humor, Fiction, Short Story, Spirituality, Life Lessons

“Who is that guy?”

“No one knows his name. Most of the townspeople call him the Laughing Saint. Some people, of course, use more derogatory terminology.”

“Does he come around often?”

“He seems to show up somewhere around town at least once a day; usually when there are plenty of people gathered. His timing is often quite perfect. Whenever tension builds up between people he will show up and make everyone laugh thus easing the tension. Last week there were people protesting police brutality in front of the police station. They were yelling and cussing and waving signs. Then the Laughing Saint showed up and the next thing you know everyone is laughing their asses off and soon they were all dancing — and not just the protesters; the police, too.”

“Sal, you said in your email that your town is not typical and I’m starting to see that. I’m confused about his attire. He’s wearing a saffron Buddhist robe and pink tennis shoes — which seriously clashes — and he’s got a big red clown nose on his face and he’s wearing a purple cowboy hat with a ton of flowers on it.”

“Actually, his attire is always different — except for the Buddhist robe. He’s always wearing that. His hats and shoes and clown make-up are always different, though. At the protest last week he was wearing combat boots and a motorcycle helmet. But he’s always wearing that robe. I don’t get it. There are no Buddhist monasteries around here.”

“Maybe he wears that to deflect any potential violence against him. After all, who’s gonna beat up a monk, right?”

“That is an astute observation, Bernie. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“We can’t hear him from where we are standing but he sure looks animated. Does he tell jokes? Is he like a stand-up comedian or something? Or a clown?”

“Actually he doesn’t talk much. He just laughs. He’ll do a little hornpipe and flail his arms about but he doesn’t usually tell jokes. You know, like a pandemic laughter is very infectious. Just watching him and feeling his energy it’s hard not to laugh.”

“I’m on the verge of laughing right now. Sal, have you heard of the Indian Hugging Saint? I think her name is Amma. She just goes around hugging people. Instead of preaching she hugs and a lot of people are uplifted by that — although I’m not sure if she is still doing that what with the pandemic and all.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of her. Saw some documentary about her. I guess there are plenty of ways of uplifting people besides standing on a soapbox and preaching.”

“Sal, have you ever spoken with this Laughing Saint?”

“No, I never have. Why do you ask?”

“Because he’s walking directly towards us.”
The Telegram Chatbot Revolution.
Tags: Blockchain, ICO, Tlx, Telegram, Ethereum

https://presale.telexai.com/

Long awaited chatbot ICO and startup –TeleX AI is finally ready to launch. The chatbot is powered by AI (Artificial Intelligence), and can provide cryptocurrency related services using an instant messaging application. The Telex chatbot is unique as it is the first bot to manage a cryptocurrency wallet and exchange service from directly within a Telegram chat box.

The Telex AI Telegram chatbot allows users to easily store, send and receive Bitcoin and Ethereum. In addition, the bot can also sell or buy other supported cryptocurrencies simply by sending a message (Note: the bot will charge a small fee for the trade). A cryptocurrency bot eliminates the need to go through lengthy registration, KYC processes or ANY new application installs.

The genius of the bot is the ease of integration, making cryptocurrencies more accessible to more people than ever before. To begin using the bot for the first time — open a chat with the TeleX AI bot and request it to initiate a transfer or trade. Multiple cryptocurrencies can be managed on a single Telegram account and sending coins to others can be done without hidden fees or charges.

How does the bot work?

The Telex AI chatbot can be used by following very few, easy to understand steps.

Starting the Chatbot

Note: You must have Telegram app installed first.

In Telegram, search for the username “telexaibot” to TeleX AI service.

How to deposit, withdraw and send coins using the Chatbot

To see ETH and BTC deposit addresses, use the “/deposit” command and send coins to the address. The balance will be credited once sufficient confirmations are received.

To withdraw, use the “/withdraw” command and select the coin of choice for withdrawal along with the respective amount. Once selected, the withdrawal process will be executed in no time.

Sending coin using the TeleX AI is simple, the user just has to type the “/send” command to start the process. The user will then have to input the receiver’s ID and execute the transaction to transfer the cryptocurrency successfully.

About the ICO

In case you need to know, here is a quick rundown of the ICO:

Yes. There are bigger bonuses the earlier you participate. That’s the way it works. The ICO runs from Nov 21th to Dec 21st, 2017. Tokens will be paid after the conclusion of the ICO. Link up on any of the TeleX social channels if you need help. If you don’t understand it or think it may not be for you then do not participate. Otherwise, come join in on the chatbot revolution.

Information about the ICO & Crowsale is available at –https://telexai.com/

https://presale.telexai.com/
Interfaces in Go
By: Uday Hiwarale
Tags: Golang, Golang Tutorial, Go Programming, Go Programming Language

Implementing interface

Let’s declare Area and Perimeter methods with signatures provided by the Shape interface. Also, let’s create Shape struct and make it implement Shape interface (by implementing these methods).

In the above program, we’ve created the Shape interface and the struct type Rect . Then we defined methods like Area and Perimeter which belongs to Rect type, therefore Rect implemented those methods.

Since these methods are defined by the Shape interface, the Rect struct type implements the Shape interface. Since we haven’t forced Rect to implement the Shape interface, it is all happening automatically. Hence, we can say that interfaces in Go are implicitly implemented.

When a type implements an interface, a variable of that type can also be represented as the type of an interface. We can confirm that by creating a nil interface s of type Shape and assign a struct of type Rect .

💡 We have just achieved polymorphism.

Since Rect implements Shape interface, this is perfectly valid. From the above result, we can see that, dynamic type of s is now Rect and dynamic value of s is the value of the struct Rect which is {5 4} .

💡 We call it dynamic because we can assign s with a new struct of a different struct type which also implements the interface Shape .

Sometimes, the dynamic type of interface also called a concrete type because when we access type of interface, it returns the type of its underlying dynamic value and its static type remains hidden.

We can call Area method on s since interface Shape defines the Area method and the concrete type of s is Rect which implements the Area method. This method will be called on the dynamic value interface s holds.

Also, we can see that we can compare s with r since both of these variable holds the same dynamic type (struct of type Rect ) and dynamic value {5 4} .

💡 You can learn about struct comparison from the structures lesson.

Let’s change the dynamic type and dynamic value of s .

If you read structures and methods lessons, then the above program shouldn’t surprise you. As new struct type Circle also implements Shape interface, we can assign s a value of struct type Circle .

I guess now you can relate why the type and value of the interface are dynamic. From the slices lesson, we learned that a slice holds the reference to an array . Similarly, we can say that an interface also works in a similar way by dynamically holding a reference to the underlying type.

Can you guess what will happen to the following program?

In the above program, we removed Perimeter method. This program won’t compile and the compiler will throw an error

program.go:22: cannot use Rect literal (type Rect) as type Shape in assignment:

Rect does not implement Shape (missing Perimeter method)

It should be obvious from the above error that in order to successfully implement an interface, you need to implement all the methods declared by the interface with exact signatures.