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Where are the Billions That Supposedly Back the Tether Stablecoin?

Andrew Orr ·

Tether is a cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar, but regulators and prosecutors are closing in on the company, questioning the amount of Tether’s reserves.

As far as the regulators are concerned, the size of Tether’s supposed dollar holdings is so big that it would be dangerous even assuming the dollars are real. If enough traders asked for their dollars back at once, the company could have to liquidate its assets at a loss, setting off a run on the not-bank. The losses could cascade into the regulated financial system by crashing credit markets. If the trolls are right, and Tether is a Ponzi scheme, it would be larger than Bernie Madoff’s.

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U.S. Justice Department Forms Crypto Enforcement Team

Andrew Orr ·

The U.S. Justice Department is forming a crypto enforcement team to “root out abuse” such as money laundering.

“We want to strengthen our capacity to dismantle the financial ecosystem that enables these criminal actors to flourish and — quite frankly — to profit from what they’re doing,” said Monaco. “We’re going to do that by drawing on our cyber experts and cyber prosecutors and money laundering experts.”

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Steve Jobs Tried to Get Michael Dell to License macOS on Every Machine he Sold

Charlotte Henry ·

There has been lots of conversation and reminiscing about Steve Jobs on the tenth anniversary of his passing. One of those with a story is Michael Dell. He recalled how Mr. Jobs wanted macOS on every Dell machine, and to be paid a license fee for it. As CNET noted, such a deal would have had a profound impact on the future of computing.

“He said, look at this — we’ve got this Dell desktop and it’s running Mac OS,” Dell tells me. “Why don’t you license the Mac OS?” Dell thought it was a great idea and told Jobs he’d pay a licensing fee for every PC sold with the Mac OS. But Jobs had a counteroffer: He was worried that licensing scheme might undermine Apple’s own Mac sales because Dell computers were less costly. Instead, Dell says, Jobs suggested he just load the Mac OS alongside Windows on every Dell PC and let customers decide which software to use — and then pay Apple for every Dell PC sold. “It could have changed the trajectory for Windows and Mac OS on PCs. But obviously they went in a different direction.”

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Anonymous Hacker Shares Twitch Source Code and Payout Data

Andrew Orr ·

An anonymous hacker shares data claimed to be Twitch source code. That’s right, not just Twitch data but Twitch itself, its source code and user payout data.

The user posted a 125GB torrent link to 4chan on Wednesday, stating that the leak was intended to “foster more disruption and competition in the online video streaming space” because “their community is a disgusting toxic cesspool”.

VGC can verify that the files mentioned on 4chan are publicly available to download as described by the anonymous hacker.

I have to chuckle about the part where they go on 4chan to complain about toxic websites. Update: Twitch has confirmed the incident.

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US Army Funds Wearable That Could Treat Sleep Disorders in Real Time

Andrew Orr ·

The U.S. Army is funding a special skullcap that aims to analyze how the brain disposes of waste during sleep. Eventually, the goal is for the device to treat sleep disorders for soldiers in real time.

The $2.8 million award issued through the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium is for the first year of what the research team anticipates will be a multiyear grant from the U.S. Army. The primary goal is to noninvasively measure and modulate the flow of cerebrospinal fluid as it circulates through the brain and clears waste.

I can’t resist linking to Galactic Cowboys.

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Study Shows VR and AR Are Now Mainstream Tech

Jeff Butts ·

The time may be ripe for Apple to go all-in with virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) products. What was once mostly fantasy is now mainstream, according to the sales data. There’s still plenty of room for growth. International Data Corporation “only” expects just shy of $2 billion in sales from VR and AR for 2021. That might sound like a lot of money. However, it pales in comparison to the $289 billion expected of smart home sales. Still, the increasingly popular VR/AR gaming genre should continue growing, IDC thinks. It may even grow faster than other parts of the new mainstream product categories. The analysts predict almost 68% growth over the next 5 years.

IDC expects AR and VR combined to show the most growth out of the three categories, thanks to both businesses and individual consumers. The latter is particularly interested in “robust gaming solutions,” IDC said. Businesses represent the bulk of AR spending today, but IDC thinks the market for AR headsets targeting the general public will grow. It predicted a 67.9 percent compound annual growth rate from 2020 to 2025 for AR and VR combined, which is more than 10 times the next competitor, smart home tech (10.1 percent growth rate).

 

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Instagram Abandons IGTV Branding, Says App is No Longer About Photo Sharing

Andrew Orr ·

In June, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said the app was no longer a photo-sharing app. The Facebook-owned platform is dropping IGTV in favor of “Instagram Video.”

The IGTV app, however, isn’t going away. Instagram tells us it will now be rebranded as “Instagram Video” and will host the “Instagram Video” formatted content, along with Instagram Live videos. But it will not host Reels videos.

With today’s update, users will still be able to upload their non-Reels videos in the same way as before — by clicking on the plus sign (+) in the top-right corner of the Instagram home page and selecting “Post.” Videos can be up to 60 minutes in length.

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Tim Cook Writes Staff Memo as a Tribute to Steve Jobs

Andrew Orr ·

On the 10th anniversary of Steve Jobs’ death, Tim Cook wrote an internal memo to Apple employees. The full email has been obtained by Bloomberg.

I wish Steve were here to see the way his spirit lives on in all of your amazing work. But most of all, I wish he could see what you do next. Steve once said that his proudest achievements were the ones that were yet to come. He spent every day imagining a future that no one else could see and working relentlessly to bring his vision to life.