At the moment, it is not possible to sell a 2nd hand eBook or MP3. This seems fairly reasonable because a re-seller might keep copies of their original files after selling them. This would allow the re-seller to undercut the original publisher and sell the file multiple times. We tend to label this "Piracy". Someone […]
Continue reading →Certified Blockchain Professional - Module 02: Crypto Assets
As previously discussed, I'm doing the Certified Blockchain Professional course. It is self-directed learning, so I'm going through it at my own pace. In order to consolidate my learning, and help organise my thoughts, I'm blogging about my reflections on each module. These are mostly notes to myself - but I hope if you find […]
Continue reading →In praise of slowness
Sometimes - only sometimes - slowness is a feature, not a bug. A few weeks ago, I was reading about a purported use for "smart contracts". If your plane is cancelled, a smart-contract could automatically pay out your travel insurance, the millisecond the cancellation was reported. Nifty, right‽ Slowness for crap reasons There are plenty […]
Continue reading →Transferable Bank Accounts
Here's a (possibly) daft idea. What if you could pay for goods using a transferable bank account? Say you want to pay a friend some money. But you're not physically close enough to hand over cash. You create a new bank account with a unique username and password. As quickly and easily as getting a […]
Continue reading →Certified Blockchain Professional - Module 1
As previously discussed, I'm doing the Certified Blockchain Professional course. It is self-directed learning, so I'm going through it at my own pace. In order to consolidate my learning, and help organise my thoughts, I'm blogging about my reflections on each module. These are mostly notes to myself - but I hope if you find […]
Continue reading →Certified Blockchain Professional - Part 1
Why do I do this to myself? Why? As part of my ongoing MSc, I have to take 3 professional training courses. I've completed my cybersecurity course, and I have a Machine Learning course booked for January. So what to do next? There's a lot of discussion in government1 circles about Blockchain. As with any […]
Continue reading →And now it's… Springtime For Crypto
You've heard of the AI Winter, right? The period where funding for AI dried up due to products failing to meet their hype. I think we're now in Springtime For Crypto1 - named after the musical "Springtime for Hitler" from movie The Producers - where scams abound. You should take a couple of hours to […]
Continue reading →Thinking of uses for BlockChains
Kevin Kelly has written an insightful blog post about Class 1 / Class 2 Problems. I encourage you to read it. I agree with the thesis, but not the specific conclusion. Blockchain tech could unleash collaborations of several million members working on one project in real time, or orgs that are far more leaderless than […]
Continue reading →A weird solar blockchain thing - Rowan Energy
I blog about my solar panels - probably a bit too much! Recently, a reader asked me if I'd heard of Rowan Energy's solar payback scheme - so I took a look into it. Here's how it works: Rowan installer a "miner" next to your solar inverter (the big box that turns DC from solar […]
Continue reading →What happens if you steal someone's Good Tweet™?
Way back in the early days of the Social Web, the writer Cory Doctorow invented Whuffie. Think of it as a way to formalise "upvotes" and "likes" on social media. Whuffie, a form of digital social reputation, replaces money and is a constantly updated rating that measures how much esteem and respect other people have […]
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