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PopCom

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Held at the Hiraya Siquijor Beachfront Inn, Solangon, San Juan, Siquijor, the activity was participated in by all the population officers/designee from the six municipalities in the province, together with their Sangguniang Bayan Chairs on Health, Sangguniang Kabataan Federation Presidents, and Public Health Nurses.

PopDev shares core programs in San Juan, Siquijor

The Local Government Unit (LGU) of San Juan through its Municipal Health Office (MHO) conducted its annual search for Healthy Buntis Queen on October 13, 2023 at Lala-o Covered Court, San Juan, Siquijor.

San Juan town holds 'Buntis Queen' search

She Was a Chef Fed Up With Fine Dining. It Inspired Her to Start Milk Bar. Here's How She Grew Her Business Sign Up Now: Meet Milk Bar's Christina Tosi at Inc.'s Exclusive Streaming Event at 12 p ...

The Secret Behind the Name That Launched a Baking Empire

It combines a free medical clinic in collaboration with the medical community, an informative Konsulta Forum focusing on PhilHealth’s Konsulta Program, as well as health and wellness advocacy campaigns of the City Health Office and PopCom XII.

Seniors to benefit from various services during Elderly Filipino Week

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO --- The Commission on Population and Development Region (CPD) III recently recognized the outstanding efforts and accomplishments of Barangay Population Volunteers and Workers of Central Luzon in advancing the Philippine Population and ...

PopCom lauds Bayani ng Komunidad awardees

According to the Commission of Population and Development (POPCOM) of the Philippines, the population pyramid of the country is currently constricting at the bottom, which consists of children ...

Median age of Filipinos sees pushing up

Please tell us briefly about your  background. I am a serial founder and inventor with over 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship and technology. I have founded six successful cashflow positive companies since 2001, five are still in business. I am passionate about solving problems, big and small. What's your startup called? And in a sentence or two, what does it do? PopCom is technology company with a software solution to revolutionize automated retail. We make vending machines and kiosks smarter. What is the origin story? PopCom is a company that was born out of necessity. I created the company my own struggles to find vending machines that could sell my rollable flat products Flat Out of Heels ( ) at high-traffic areas like airports. Also absent was the data I relied on to track and monitor traffic and conversion rates through my website and shopping cart; analytics, email collection, retargeting, remarketing–arguably the tenants of successful sales growth–were not possible with  traditional “low-IQ” vending machines. I then assembled a team that came together to change automated retail forever: PopCom was born. flatoutofheels.com What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem? Everyone on my team is an entrepreneur (five of which have exits), 80% of my team members are engineers and 100% of my team is driven, passionate and committed to PopCom and our mission. Combined we have decades of experience in technology commercialization, entrepreneurship, and scaling companies. We are the ones to solve this problem because we care the most. I love working with them because it’s a fun, family environment but we are competitive and obsessed to achieve our goals. If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing? If I was not building a start up I would be traveling the world studying ancient history and being a vegan food blogger. At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics? At PopCom, we celebrate each win but we measure success by our quarterly OKRs and our ability to meet, or exceed, our goals. Currently our core metric is converting customer leads to paying customers since we are focused on getting market traction. What’s most exciting about your traction to date? The most exciting thing about our traction to date is we have big enterprise customers and we have finally secured a big cannabis and alcohol customer, which was a major goal for us on our path to lead the way in empowering retailers to sell regulated products in vending machines. What technologies are you currently most excited about, and most worried about? And why? I am the most excited about blockchain technology and the capabilities to use the blockchain for identity management in order to purchase products like alcohol, cannabis and pick up a prescription. I am the most worried about some forms of AI because I do believe that we are getting very close to the singularity. What drew you to get published on HackerNoon? What do you like most about our platform? HackerNoon has a great audience and is a respected platform in tech. It is a credible source in the world of fake news. PopCom appreciates the inclusion in the Startup of the Year conversation. What advice would you give to the 21-year-old version of yourself? If I could give my 21 year old self advice I would say to keep going, “the hard work will pay off and you will meet all of your ‘40 goals’” What is something surprising you've learned this year that your contemporaries would benefit from knowing? This year I have learned that we really don’t need to raise money from VC to be successful and scale, we can raise millions from the crowd through equity crowdfunding…it’s amazing! PopCom was nominated for in Columbus, Ohio, USA Startup of the Year

Startup Interview with Dawn Dickson-Akpoghene, PopCom, Founder & CEO 

200 Black Women in Tech to Follow on Twitter in 2022

200 mujeres negras en tecnología para seguir en Twitter en 2022

200 femmes noires en technologie à suivre sur Twitter en 2022

टेक में 200 अश्वेत महिलाएं 2022 में ट्विटर पर फॉलो करेंगी

2022 年に Twitter でフォローするテクノロジー業界の黒人女性 200 人

200 mulheres negras em tecnologia para seguir no Twitter em 2022

200 phụ nữ da đen trong công nghệ để theo dõi trên Twitter vào năm 2022

2022 年将在 Twitter 上关注 200 名科技黑人女性

Meet the Winners of Startups in North and Central America

200 Black Women In Tech To Follow on Twitter {2021 List}

Did you like what you read? Subscribe below to receive daily analysis of the blockchain and cryptocurrency space — sign up here. Dear Readers, We Over 70% of executives think they are blockchain experts according to Deloitte. found this tweet pretty funny. Apple’s Steve Wozniak Plans to Get ‘Involved’ in Blockchain Project for First Time Title is self-explanatory What’s the Story? Steve Wozniak made his intentions to get involved with blockchain clear at the ChainXchange blockchain conference on August 13–15th. He plans to participate in a blockchain startup, not directly in cryptocurrency. He explained his fascination with blockchain technology by saying, “It’s so independent! It’s kind of like the internet when it was brand new. I was amazed at the technology behind it.” Wozniak went on to compare the Ethereum platform to Apple’s App Store, as it allows individuals to develop and run their applications. Let’s not forget that earlier this spring Wozniak had called blockchain a “bubble.” However, he then referred to Bitcoin as, “The only digital gold.” At this point, his stance appears a bit ambiguous. However, it is likely that he, along with many other business leaders, have begun to see blockchain as a potential revenue source. Why It’s Important? CoinDesk’s quietly profitable media business Coindesk is one of the few companies in the cryptocurrency space turning a profit. What’s the Story? DCG purchased Coindesk in 2016 for $500,000. This acquisition has turned into a shrewd purchase as Coindesk now has brought in $20MM YTD and is profitable. It’s one of the few companies in the blockchain space that is turning a profit. Coindesk now brings in five million unique visitors a month and has a 25-person editorial staff. On a broader note, this is one of DCG’s shining jewels, along with Grayscale and Genesis. It hasn’t been talked about, but if Coindesk continues to grow, we might see DCG go public in the next few years. Why It’s Important? Rohingya turn to blockchain to solve identity crisis Refugees are turning to blockchain technology as a way to address their lack of officially-recognized identity. What’s the Story? The Rohingya are Muslims living in majority-Buddhist Myanmar. They are commonly referred to as “the world’s most persecuted minority”. The Rodihgya were the target of military violence a year ago this time. A “clearance operation” led by the Buddhist military sent over 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh without passports or ID. The Myanmar government has agreed to take them back, but refuses to grant them citizenship. Understandably, many do not want to return home without an identity. The solution is a blockchain-based idea, led by Rohingya community leader Noor, that will use digital identity cards to help with services such as banking and education. Mainly, a blockchain database will record individual digital IDs which can be issued once people have taken a test to verify they are genuine Rohingya. The idea is fantastic and presents a compelling use case. However, we have one primary concern. The inherent nature of this idea revolves around decentralization. That is, central authority does not need to verify the network for it to exist. In this specific use case, banks and other centralized entities still need to agree to accept these IDs for them to have any validity. It is incredibly unlikely at such a time that they would be allowing of these digital identification cards. Why It’s Important? What We Read This Morning Lily Katz of Bloomberg reports that more people are now searching for the word Rekt than the word Hodl. Bitcoin Bulls’ Favorite Lingo On the Decline as Crypto Prices Fizzle: Coindesk reports that Softbank and Tencent deny involvement in Bitmain’s Pre-Ipo round. Big Investors Deny Involvement In Crypto Miner Bitmain’s Pre-IPO Funding: Nikhilesh De of Coindesk writes about the US government awarding an $800,000 grant to UCSD to fund a distributed ledger platform. US Government Grants $800K to Blockchain Researchers: Follow us on Twitter for witty banter about cryptocurrency and blockchain @amlewis4 and @MichamJake . If you liked this post, please “clap” 50X for us. We’d really appreciate it! Originally published at pop.substack.com .

A Blockchain Company Actually Making a Profit

Did you like what you read? Subscribe below to receive daily analysis of the blockchain and cryptocurrency space — sign up here. Bitcoin set to rally after futures expiration, short squeeze coming, says Brain Kelly Brian Kelly believes Bitcoin future expirations will lead to a price increase in Bitcoin over the next few days. What’s the Story? While most of the focus has been on spot markets, Bitcoin futures have been a good barometer of interest in Bitcoin. Typically, we see Bitcoin increase in price after the monthly expiration date. Bitcoin usually falls the week before the monthly expiration date. To support his point, Brian Kelly cited the April expiration date, in which Bitcoin exploded from a low of high $6000 to over $8000 days after the expiration. In the past, Bitcoin has often fallen the weeks before the expiration date, only to see a sharp uptick after expiration. Other markets such as Bitfinex have seen short interest increase in the days leading up to expiration date. Why It’s Important? Pantera Capital Has Raised $71 Million So Far for Third Crypto Fund Title is self-explanatory. What’s the Story? Pantera is reportedly targeting as much as $175 million for their third fund. This target price is more than 10x the amount of money raised for their second venture fund back in 2016 ($13MM). The increased size of their raise shows that interest in cryptocurrency isn’t just restricted to token investments. It also indicates an increasing appetite from institutional investors. Pantera has invested in cryptocurrency projects such as Bitstamp, Shapeshift, Circle, and Ripple. Their first fund returned more than 10,000% over five years. Why It’s Important? Vitalik Buterin On The State Of Ethereum, The Future Of Blockchain And Google Trying To Hire Him Vitalik Buterin spoke about the future of blockchain, particularly the “high ratio of hype being generated versus actual use cases.” What’s the Story? Buterin highlighted significant progress in regards to Casper (Ethereum’s Proof of Stake Protocol) and sharding (A protocol for improving scalability). These updates seek to enhance the overall usability of the Ethereum mainnet. Vitalik believes regulators should create policies to ensure cryptocurrencies can be used as a viable payment rail. Buterin also mentioned how a Google recruiter emailed him to say he would be an excellent intern candidate. We hope Google or Vitalik were trolling. Nonetheless, Vitalik is working on making Ethereum scalable. The million dollar question is, can he do it? Why It’s Important? What We Read This Morning Distributed System writes about why they are joining Coinbase. Distributed Systems is Joining Coinbase: Mason Borda writes about potential attack vectors in cryptocurrency and how to protect yourself from them. Minimum Viable Security: Qiao Wang explains why TCR’s are worth considering and what problems they might encounter. Token-Curated Registries: Value Proposition and Challenges: Follow us on Twitter for witty banter about cryptocurrency and blockchain @amlewis4 and @MichamJake . If you liked this post, please “clap” 50X for us. We’d really appreciate it! Originally published at pop.substack.com .

Is Vitalik Trolling Google?

Did you like what you read? Subscribe below to receive daily analysis of the blockchain and cryptocurrency space — sign up here. Cryptocurrency investor robbed via his cellphone account sues AT&T for $224 million over loss Title is self-explanatory. What’s the Story? Many people have had their cryptocurrency stolen over the past few years because of something called a phone port attack. In layman’s terms, a hacker would call a telecom company like AT&T, pretend to forget their pin # and AT&T would reset it which gives the hacker access to your cellular account. Most online accounts including cryptocurrency exchanges are linked via cell-phone #s. If you have a cell phone #, you can reset someone’s internet account such as on Coinbase and have total access. It was incompetent of telecom companies to allow such attacks to occur and we are glad someone is doing something over this. Hopefully, they will take privacy and security more seriously. Why It’s Important? There’s Now an Exchange-Traded Bitcoin Note That American Investors Can Buy CoinShares has launched an ETN that trades OTC which will allow investors to buy Bitcoin from a traditional brokerage account. What’s the Story? At the moment, Greyscale is the only OTC Bitcoin traded product and CoinShares should provide healthy competition. The big difference between Greyscale and CoinShares is that CoinShares will mirror Bitcoin returns while Greyscale sometimes trades at a premium or discount to NAV. These types of products help grow the ecosystem because investors can purchase Bitcoin without accessing the spot markets. Both Greyscale and CoinShares will continue to be used as a proxy for buying Bitcoin until an ETF is approved. I expect that these products will have a hard time competing with a Bitcoin ETF if they don’t receive regulatory approval. Why It’s Important? Coinbase Says It Was Signing Up 50,000 Users a Day Coinbase was signing up as many as 50,000 users a day during its peak. What’s the Story? We hate headlines like this. On the surface, it might make it appear that Coinbase is growing rapidly (which could be the case), but sign-ups aren’t a key metric. The more important metric is what percentage of sign-ups were buying cryptocurrency products. Just because users were signing up, doesn’t mean they were buying any products. They could’ve just been checking out Coinbase’s site. The biggest surprise to us was that Coinbase now has over 1,000 employees. To us, that is a more bullish sign for cryptocurrency than their user sign-up numbers. Why It’s Important? What We Read This Morning Stellar explains why their platform is more superior to ICO versus Ethereum. The Great Filter: Why You Shouldn’t ICO on Ethereum: Paradex lays out their plan on how they will eventually list 1 million tokens on their platform. Toward a million markets…: Bitwise announces some new products and advisory members. Bitwise Launches Three New Indexes; Announces New Index Advisory Board: Follow us on Twitter for witty banter about cryptocurrency and blockchain @amlewis4 and @MichamJake . Originally published at pop.substack.com .

Robbing the Bank with A Cellphone

A federal court in Texas has ordered a former employee of a local phone store to pay $6,250 in piracy damages. The woman, who was fired, promoted the piracy app Popcorn Time to customers and also downloaded pirated content herself. The damages award is substantially lower than the $162,500 that was claimed by several movie studios. Millions of people around the world use pirate apps on their mobile devices to stream TV-shows and movies. This is a problem for copyright holders, which have tried to tackle the problem in recent years, both in and outside of court. Hawaiian attorney Kerry Culpepper has been particularly active on the legal front. Representing a variety of movie companies, he has gone after users, site operators, and developers connected to Popcorn Time, Showbox, and other apps. These legal efforts have also spilled over to more indirect targets such as Internet providers and VPN services. Even offline targets aren’t safe it seems. Last December, a former employee of a store was sue for promoting the piracy app Popcorn Time to customers. VICTRA VICTRA Employee Promoted Popcorn Time The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the makers of the film ‘Hunter Killer’, which was later joined by four other movie companies. The filmmakers accused Ms. Boylan of downloading several films. More unusually, the rights holders also accused her of promoting Popcorn Time to customers at the VICTRA store “Defendant promoted the movie piracy applications to her customers to entice them to purchase particular products and thereby increase her own compensation,” the amended complaint read. The claim was backed up by testimony from a VICTRA customer who stated that Ms. Boylan recommended and helped him to install Popcorn Time to watch free movies. This customer was sued in an earlier lawsuit and likely provided the information as part of a settlement. After the customer pointed out Ms. Boylan the filmmakers did some further research which showed that the IP-address connected to her Verizon subscription had been repeatedly used to download pirated movies. Filmmakers Demand $162,500 When VICTRA found out about the allegations, Ms. Boylan was terminated as an employee. However, the movie studios were not done yet and also demanded a large sum in piracy damages. After Ms. Boylan failed to respond in court, the filmmakers requested a default judgment asking for $150,000 in copyright infringement damages and another $12,550 for violations of the DMCA. In a recent order, U.S. District Court Judge Frank Montalvo agrees that the copyright holders are entitled to damages. However, the demands are too high and the final verdict is substantially lower. “Several factors suggest a somewhat lower award of statutory damages,” Judge Montalvo writes, adding that “the facts do not establish Defendant’s direct infringement extended beyond personal consumption.” Ms. Boylan’s downloads for personal use are not the biggest issue, according to the court. What weighs stronger is that the defendant promoted Popcorn Time in a sales pitch, for her own benefit. $6,250 Will Suffice All in all, however, the court doesn’t believe that the movie companies were substantially harmed by any of these activities. “Defendant’s contributory infringement is somewhat more serious as it likely caused more lost revenue than her direct infringement and was done for her own profit. Even so, the total harm to Plaintiffs is unlikely to be substantial,” the order reads. Instead of the requested $162,500 in damages, the court rules that $6,250 is sufficient in this matter. An additional award of $10,680 in attorney’s fees and costs brings the total due to $16,930. The significantly reduced damages amount saves the defendant from potential lifelong debt. However, Judge Montalvo stresses that the amount is probably high enough for her to learn a lesson. A copy of the order issued by U.S. District Court Judge Frank Montalvo is available here (pdf)

Mixing Popcorn and Piracy Can Be Very Expensive 

This morning several news articles celebrated the "return" of Popcorn Time after it apparently went offline a few years ago. This claim simply isn't true, neither is the assertion that the just released version of the app works as well as the previous one. In fact, Popcorn Time is facing a wave of complaints from users experiencing a wide range of problems that simply didn't exist before. Six years ago, the application known as Popcorn Time did something no other BitTorrent-based tool had ever managed to achieve. Rejecting bland text-based interfaces and the need to scour multiple torrent sites, Popcorn Time presented content in a beautiful Netflix-style interface. This simplicity resulted in soaring popularity and attention from copyright holders, who did whatever they could to take it down. However, since the original code was open source, new forks sprang up creating yet another new game of whack-a-mole. A few years ago, Popcorn Time went offline but yesterday was resurrected from the dead with a great new version. At least according to multiple news reports today, none of which are true. While it’s had its ups and downs over the years, Popcorn Time never went away. Yet this morning it was declared as being “back from the dead”, just in time to entertain people “during the coronavirus pandemic.” This narrative was repeated by several tech publications with at least one claiming that the new version works as well as previous ones. That isn’t true either. What actually happened was that the people behind (considered by some to be the official successor to the original software) published version 0.4 of their variant, announcing the release on Twitter. one fork of Popcorn Time Love in the Time of Corona Version 0.4 is out ! Get copy from https://t.co/mD4R2iY7Rl — Popcorn Time (@popcorntimetv) March 17, 2020 Unfortunately for them, the backlash was almost immediate. Users of the software gathering on the official sub-Reddit (/r/popcorntime) listed complaint after complaint, starting with a degraded user interface, traversing sundry other weird issues, and ending with reportedly aggressive VPN marketing. “This latest update is ridiculous. The whole thing is now borked. It doesn’t work anymore, consumes three times more resources and CPU (to the point my computer hangs) just to pretend it’s loading a show,” one user wrote. “[A]nd to make things worse, instead of proper information about seeds, download speed and things you need to know whether a torrent is working or not, it just display ads for the shit VPN.” Only adding to the misery are reports from many users that their previous settings and favorites have been deleted, all accompanied by random software crashes, issues with subtitles, and much more. When or if these problems will be fixed is anyone’s guess but the current advice is to either don’t upgrade at all or if it’s too late for that, uninstall and go back to the previous version which doesn’t have any of the issues mentioned above and works as it’s always done. At least as far as this fork goes, is the first update since March 26, 2016, almost four years ago. The reason for the development hiatus isn’t clear but to return with an update that is causing so many issues only adds to the confusion. As a result, people are asking whether this is even the same dev team but given the secrecy that surrounds Popcorn Time forks in general, proving that one way or another isn’t really feasible. version 0.4 This particular fork has experienced other issues recently too. Early November 2019, the domain registrar handling the PopcornTime.sh domain to the registry to disable the domain’s DNS access. A little under a week later the domain was functioning again but in January 2020 was after the registrar received a . issued an order disabled fake legal complaint Originally published as “ Popcorn Time Isn’t “Back From The Dead” But the New Version is Borked ” with the Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0) license

Popcorn Time Isn’t “Back From The Dead” But the New Version is Borked

Flixxo combines BitTorrents and smart contracts to create the first legal, decentralised content distribution network. Is the creation of an all-star team with deep connections in both blockchain (creators of and are core developers) and streaming platforms (Popcorn time designer is in the team). RSK Rootstock Riecoin Flixxo creates a P2P network where authors can distribute and monetise their own content. They inceltivize the distribution of their media and remove unnecessary intermediate parties by sharing their revenues with the “seeders” — a term coined in the torrents environment that refers to those who have downloaded content, keep it in their computer and share it. Flixxo allows true end users to pay a fair price for watching licensed content in a friendly and safe environment. In short, Flixxo aims to merge the best of P2P distribution networks with Video On Demand platforms like Netflix. Valuable Information: : FLIXXO (FLIXX) Coin Name 189,151,329 FLIXX Total Supply : 68,986,645 FLIXX Circulating Supply : $7,477,118 USD Market Cap : 13% extra bonus to any investor sending more than 150 ETH Pre Ico Price : 1 FLIXX = 0.0934 USD (0.00023 ETH) Ico Price : What real-world problems does it solve and which advantages it provides? Production companies or content authors tend not to find a compelling revenue model for their work, and consumers find themselves committed to VOD (video on demand) services that don’t satisfy their demand for audiovisual content, so they seek that content on illegal, unlicensed networks. The gigantic costs associated with the infrastructure necessary for storing and distributing content, in addition to the endless lines of intermediaries, result into an unreasonable final price for consumers and an inefficient revenue model for the authors. How will Flixxo solve this? By creating a distributed and incentivized peer-to-peer network where every user turns itself into a distributor of content, and by providing a decentralized payment channel, Flixxo gets rid of the middle-men and the infrastructure costs, building up a platform and a community where every author is able to upload content and set the rules of the distribution (such as the price and the incentives for users to share their work), developing new effective business models for his/her content, and where consumers may reach the content they ́re looking for in a legal manner, paying a fair price or even nothing if they are socially engaged with the community. Flixxo literally rids the video industry of it’s most common problems. The platform provides the perfect environment for content creators to distribute their final product and get paid directly by the users for it. Furthermore, hosting and distribution costs will a thing of the past as every single user has a monetary incentive to host and distribute their favourite content on a social P2P network that rewards them for it. As mixture of a social P2P network and content distribution platform, Flixxo will revolutionize the way content is distributed and consumed. Its growth potential is unprecedented as it offers advantages to both consumer and producer alike. Technology and how it works By implementing Flixx (the token that carries value within the Flixxo platform) on top of a social video distribution platform they will engage users in helping improve the network by lending their storage and their bandwidth in exchange for tokens. The users will spend Flixx for consuming the content they really want to watch, and earn Flixx back for participating, for being social. Whether​ ​it​ ​was​ ​a​ ​smartphone,​ ​a​ ​tablet​ ​or​ ​a​ ​desktop​ ​computer,​ ​even​ ​a​ ​smart tv,​ ​a​ ​video​ ​distribution​ ​community​ ​could​ ​smartly​ ​use​ ​a​ ​decentralized, incentivized​ ​peer-to-peer​ ​network,​ ​having​ ​no​ ​structural​ ​costs​ ​and unlimited​ ​scaling​ ​possibilities. Users can earn more Flixx if they choose​ to watch advertisement. This disrupting revenues flow model creates a new ecosystem in which users decide how to monetize their attention and personal information, and then transfer this earnings to the authors of the content they really enjoy. Within this model users reach the content they want to watch, authors monetize and deliver better quality content and advertisers find a way of effectively showcasing their content to their audiences. Team One of the most important aspects of choosing a good investment opportunity in blockchain start ups is checking out the background of the team members. You are looking for a well staffed team that posses an existing track record, experience and connections in the industry they are working in. Flixxo’s team has some very impressive names and relevant connections in the video production and P2P video streaming industry. A core designer of PopCorn time (one of the most popular P2P streaming apps in modern history) is just one of the all star group that makes up Flixxo’s core team. Here’s a list of all team members and advisors for your consideration: Adrian Garelik — Co-founder at RSK Labs Developing Solutions for OTT. Film Producer. https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrian-garelik-016840103/ Pablo Carbajo — Creator of Riecoin. https://www.linkedin.com/in/pablo-carbajo-201563148/ Frederico Abad — UX / UI Creator of PopCorn Time https://www.linkedin.com/in/abadfederico/ Javier D’Ovidio — Co-founder and VP of Operations at EDRANS Al and Big Data https://www.linkedin.com/in/javierdovidio/ Ohla Rymar — Head Marketing and Communication https://www.linkedin.com/in/olha-rymar-b04062150/ Sebastian Wain — Security Auditor https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastianwain/ Rodrigo Saiegh — Content https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodrigo-saiegh-a20824a4/ Michael Terpin — Advisor https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelterpin Dominic Zynis — Advisor https://www.linkedin.com/in/everforgetmenot/ Isolas — Advisor http://gibraltarlawyers.com/ George Kimionis — Advisor https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimionis/ References: https://www.flixxo.com/assets/docs/flixxo-white-paper_v0.5.pdf https://www.flixxo.com https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/flixxo/

Flixxo Is Like Popcorn Time But Legal And It Uses Blockchain Technology To Pay Users And Producers

A time is coming when your thoughts will be the only activity you need to get things done. Have you ever been so caught up with work, you don't want to move a muscle? You are not willing to use your voice because you feel the ideas will escape once you do. So, what do you do when you suddenly wish your favorite songs were playing at that moment, but you feel too lazy to pick up your phone or call Siri's attention to turn on your playlist? If only your thoughts could make the orders, right? Here, you are thinking, "Siri, play me 'Easy on Me' by Adele" and seconds later the sound fills your workspace. Then you think, "Nope, too low. Siri, increase the volume to 10", and the volume gets adjusted to suit what’s on your mind perfectly. Your brain alone processes commands without any effort from your mouth. I guess that can be seen as a grand breakthrough in the history of neuroscience—or probably not! Let's find out what this means for the world collectively. What Exactly is Neurocomputing? Neurocomputing is a branch of neuroscience that deals with the examination of brain patterns and activities. It is a subfield of cognitive neuroscience that scientifically studies the biological mechanisms and reactions of the brain to different experiences. The term applies to the process of reading, analyzing, and interpreting brain activities by utilizing brain sensors and an imaging framework to examine how our brain reacts in response to different emotions. This is usually through the use of a Brain-Computer Interface Device. The framework, in this case, is called the "triad,” a 3-step process of emotion-valuation, sensory-motor, and meaning-knowledge evaluation. With the introduction of Al, neuroscientists hit a new milestone with brain activity studies. The Rise of Neurocomputing Would you have ever imagined that one day, the content of your thoughts could be read by devices? Science fiction? Sure! Why not? We see a lot of that. But reality? That's almost impossible (or so we thought). Lie detectors were the most mind readers, but they can never detect what your thoughts are word by word. However, technology always seems to awe us as time progresses because the technology we once thought only existed in movies is right here! The use of brainwave-controlled devices to read minds began with the invention of Electro Encephalogram (EEG) in the 1900s. History has it that the German psychiatrist, Hans Berger, created the in neurosurgery. first EEG brain recording These devices, fitted with sensors, were used mostly to monitor and record a patient's brain activity. When placed on your scalp, the sensors pick up electrical signals produced by the brain, which can be interpreted. Around 2008, consumer-focused EEG became commercialized for public use. and —both tech companies—were among the early players in this scene as they released EEG headsets with the promise to create mind-controlled video games. NeuroSky Emotive Furthermore, it began being tested in other areas besides video games, like how it could be used to control your phone or other activities by companies like and . iBrain Muse Relief from Brain-Computer Interfaces Technology Innovations and advanced companies like Meta and Neuralink notched it up with their research into Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) - a technology that can pick thoughts directly from brain neurons and translate them into words. This technology uses AI algorithms to read brain activity and decode emotions into words. Between 2017 and 2019, Meta began funding . As of March 2022, the funded Nature Neuroscience, UCSF researchers achieved brain-to-text decoding with an average error rate as low as 3% when it was tested with vocabularies of up to 300 words—a huge advancement from previous studies. this technology research into At the same time, Elon Musk's Neuralink is already making a good deal of progress with its flexible ultra-thin threads that can be implanted directly into the brain, enabling the carrier to control their gadgets/devices with their thoughts. This is already being tested on paraplegics. The technology has been very much welcomed by paralytic patients who need to gain a good level of control over their lives again. Neuralink has already begun testing the brain threads on paraplegics. Case Study of Neurocomputing Although this technological concept sounds somewhat new, neurocomputing has been in the research and development stage for years, and test-flight gadgets are already being produced. The possibilities of mind reading and brainwave-controlled gadgets are endless. Scientists continue to look into ways to integrate them into our lives, experimenting across various sectors with the possible use of non-invasive EEG devices and BCIs. Many of these experiments are often procedures aimed at helping the physically and mentally disabled to communicate their needs and gain some control over their lives. The world is not new to cases of patients who can not speak due to sicknesses, paralysis, stroke, or just being born that way. So when, for the first time in history, researchers at the GrapheneX-UTS Human-centric Artificial Intelligence Centre, University of Technology Sydney, invented a portable non-invasive device that could translate thoughts into words, it was seen as a breakthrough in neurocomputing. Breakthrough at the GrapheneX-UTS Human-centric Artificial Intelligence Centre: At the time, though, the accuracy was questionable, but with the initial goal achieved, it would only take more years of developing it to increase its accuracy rating. We already find Meta and Neuralink taking up this task with BCIs and electron threads. Evolving neurocomputing also makes smooth communication possible between humans and machines, be it our gadgets, robots, or prosthetic arms. The history of neurocomputing and brain-controlled devices left a remarkable mark in the FIFA 2014 World Cup when, for the first time, the symbolic kick-off event for the tournament was led and completed by a paraplegic man using an advanced assisted mobility technology—a brain-controlled exoskeleton. The FIFA 2014 World Cup Kick-Off Event: This technology, by , a collaborative invention of over 100 scientists from around the world, made use of a set of non-invasive electrodes to read the brain signals from the paraplegic and transmit them to the lightweight exoskeleton triggering movements that helped the man complete the kick-off successfully. The Walk Again Project In the same year of the FIFA World Cup kick-off event, the director of the Center for Neuromodulation, Ohio State University, Dr. Ali Rezai, performed a on 26-year-old quadriplegic Ian Burkhart. Paralyzed Ian Burkhart Regained Mobility: life-changing surgery The surgery involved implanting a tiny 4 x 4 mm microchip into Burkhart's motor cortex, used alongside an electrical sleeve and purpose-made algorithms. This allowed the sensors to trigger his thoughts to control his hands and fingers while bypassing his damaged spinal cord. It was a success. This is not the only successful brain implant in the history of neurocomputing; a man paralyzed from the shoulders down has also been able to regain control of his paralyzed muscles by bypassing the injured spinal cord with the into his motor cortex. implantation of two aspirin-sized 96-channel electrode arrays EEG devices and BCIs are greatly contributing to improved quality of life for disabled people. Other Notable Strides: But we can't say that brain-controlled and mind-reading devices are only for the sick and disabled. These devices could also be used to carry out other tasks/activities for the good of everyone: BBC and This Place teamed up to create a mind-reading headset to enable its user to control the with their thoughts—goodbye to remote controls. BBC iPlayer A team led by an Associate Professor at the KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, . Suk-Won Hwang, developed E-Glasses This prototype eyeglass is made up of flexible electrode sensors located between the ears and eyes of the wearer. First, the electrodes consist of an EEG to monitor the brain's electrical activity and an ElectroOculogram (EOG) to track eye movements and transmit both from the glasses to a device for processing and interpretation. This glass can be used to monitor the mental health of the wearer, help them control games with their eyes, and turn on and off the sunglasses mode when the wearer needs it. Nissan and NASA are working together to build a self-driving robot car technology called that can read, monitor, and measure a driver's brain activity to know if he/she is alert to drive or not. Mind Sense In an exciting twist of things, in 2013, NASA came up with the crazy idea of using . Together with scientists from the University of Essex, they launched a project to control a virtual spaceship with the mind. BCIs to control planetary rovers A competition was held in 2016 by neuroscientists at the University of Florida, a competition that had pilot flying their drones to the finish line by using their minds. Brain Drone Race And the list goes on and on. But like every other technology and thing that exists, there will always be pros and cons to consider. The Ethical Considerations of Neurocomputing Neurocomputing is a technology that is already transforming lives, especially for paraplegics, who, in many cases, have been able to get robotic body parts that can be controlled with their minds or bypass spinal cord injuries to stimulate their bodies into motion through brain neuron implants. People who couldn't talk can now communicate their feelings and what they want/need and interact through mind-reading gadgets. For everyone else abled people, organizations, and companies that wish to apply these gadgets in their daily lives or their various sectors, it is very much achievable. It can bring "ease" into certain activities and, perhaps, create a more quiet world. However, the implantation of invasive BCIs into the brain involves a surgical procedure that is almost too risky to be considered. The brain is a fragile organ; damage to it can lead to mental abnormalities or even brain death. As such, the risk of brain implants makes this technology far-fetched for fully functional humans. Paraplegics, on the other hand, can wager these procedures because of the quest to have a better quality of life. A delicate situation, but if that is what it takes for them not to be stuck in a static world at the mercy of others, it is worth the risky shot. This is why BCIs by companies like Neuralink and Meta, although envisioned to cater to all and sundry, are more appealing to the paralytic section of the world at the moment. Because of these concerns, scientists are looking back into non-invasive methods of mind reading. Last year, researchers at the , University of Technology Sydney, invented a portable, non-invasive cap-like device that could translate thoughts into words when placed on the head. GrapheneX-UTS Human-centric Artificial Intelligence Centre Additionally, scientists from the University of Texas, Austin, developed to translate the thoughts in one's brain into actual speech by monitoring the brain's activity involving the use of fMRI and Al language models. a non-invasive technique The accuracy of these techniques was average. However, with the intended goal achieved, it would only take more years of development to increase its accuracy. Still, no one wants to walk around carrying a headpiece with cords sticking out, and neither can they carry fMRI machines all day. Hence, there is a need for less obvious, non-intrusive devices or less risky invasive BCIs. While the world can be swamped by Brainwave-controlled devices that read our minds, it poses serious concerns. One day, like every other day, we'll be carrying out activities with silent thoughts all in our heads, but this is the sad part: organizations would be able to read, monitor, store, access, and use these thoughts when needed. As tragic as this sounds, it is already in progress. The thoughts in our brain are currently our only inaccessible assets, our privacy safe, our most intimate thoughts, and our personal identity—no one should be able to access our minds. Data Privacy: But with the recent discoveries and technologies in neuroscience, this intrinsic privacy may be breached sooner than we know, leaving us truly vulnerable to Big Tech companies and organizations. If we lose control of our minds, if any company can spy into our thoughts, what else do we have left of ourselves? Just like we have on the internet, companies would be able to buy and access our brain data for targeted marketing. The first appeal for every product starts with the brain. You may not be able to say it, but you can think it accurately. Imagine advertisers having that exact information just as we feel it; then, they will be able to market their products in a practically irresistible way. Neurocomputing and mind-reading devices would make brain data available on a massive scale, and this is also very detrimental to us. Think about it; aside from compelling advertising, how safe are you? The brain is where all your secrets lie: your passwords, location, investments, amount of money you own, where you saved your assets, etc. A brain data hack would mean a loss too great to bear. The argument of some neuroscientists that the potential for misuse of neurocomputing and mind reading is so great that there needs to be a revamp of the human rights laws to protect us all is valid. Because this technology has what it takes to interfere with our most basic rights, the current laws are not fully equipped to salvage the situation; we need a new "jurisprudence of the mind" for our protection. So, in all, our biggest challenge is privacy and safety! What's the future? A quiet world. Maybe what we need? Or maybe not. Elon Musk and his company, Neuralink, have been at the forefront, pushing the concept of neurocomputing beyond the idea of it being the help for paraplegics only. For Musk, it would take conceptual interactions to a whole new level where words and conversations don't have to be verbalized, just thought. He calls it "consensual telepathy,” a realm where your speech becomes completely unnecessary. You can walk into a room with people conversing but not conversing because their thoughts are flying invisibly between them. Reading that now, it does sound uncanny. What becomes of our speech? Oh! I know what you are thinking, "there would never be a day when our speech isn't needed,” and of course, that's somewhat true. But come to think of it, before the advent of mobile phones, would there have been a day we thought we'd be so glued to these gadgets we'd rarely appreciate physical communication and rather be embedded in virtual conversations? I don't think so. When all you need is your thoughts to perform the most basic activities like ordering a coffee from a cafe, asking your friend to pass you the popcorn at a movie, communicating a proposal to your boss, conversing verbally on a date, etc., you may slowly lose touch of actual words. Almost the same way, we are slowly losing touch with writing on paper because we'd rather type into our computers, tablets, or phones. Well, there's no denying the fact that it sounds pretty interesting, too. You'd never have to say you don't know how to express yourself because your mind will do all the expressing for you where words would have escaped you. The concept of your feelings will flow just as you feel them, and no matter how disgruntled they are, your receiver will get the exact message with the fear, excitement, contempt, and all the fleeting emotions - conveyed just as it is. Also, the advancement of this technology would eliminate the language barrier. Whatever we think can be communicated directly to the recipient in whatever language desired. What neurocomputing proposes for the future is both unsettling and intriguing, but we really can't stop technology from evolving, and neither can we stop the future. We only hope that measures are instituted to mitigate the cons while we hope for the best.

From Science Fiction to Reality: The Promise of Neurocomputing and Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs)

কল্পবিজ্ঞান থেকে বাস্তবে: নিউরোকম্পিউটিং এবং ব্রেন-কম্পিউটার ইন্টারফেসের প্রতিশ্রুতি (BCIs)

Von der Science-Fiction zur Realität: Das Versprechen von Neurocomputing und Brain-Computer-Interfaces (BCIs)

De la ciencia ficción a la realidad: la promesa de la neurocomputación y las interfaces cerebro-computadora (BCI)

De la science-fiction à la réalité : la promesse de la neuroinformatique et des interfaces cerveau-ordinateur (BCI)

विज्ञान कथा से वास्तविकता तक: न्यूरोकंप्यूटिंग और मस्तिष्क-कंप्यूटर इंटरफेस (बीसीआई) का वादा

サイエンスフィクションから現実へ: ニューロコンピューティングと脳コンピュータインターフェース (BCI) の可能性

SF에서 현실로: 신경컴퓨팅과 뇌-컴퓨터 인터페이스(BCI)의 전망

Da ficção científica à realidade: a promessa da neurocomputação e das interfaces cérebro-computador (BCIs)

От научной фантастики к реальности: перспективы нейрокомпьютеров и интерфейсов «мозг-компьютер» (BCI)

Bilim Kurgudan Gerçeğe: Nörobilgisayar ve Beyin-Bilgisayar Arayüzlerinin (BCI) Vaadi

Từ khoa học viễn tưởng đến hiện thực: Lời hứa về giao diện máy tính thần kinh và não-máy tính (BCI)

从科幻到现实：神经计算和脑机接口 (BCI) 的前景

The New York Times Company v. OpenAI Update Court Filing, retrieved on February 26, 2024 is part of . You can jump to any part in this filing . This part is 12 of 15. HackerNoon’s Legal PDF Series here B. The Complaint Fails to State a Contributory Infringement Claim Count IV attempts to hold OpenAI liable for “materially contribut[ing] to and directly assist[ing] with the direct infringement perpetrated by end-users of the GPT-based products.” Compl. ¶ 179. This claim relies on the doctrine of “contributory infringement,” a species of secondary liability that the Supreme Court has defined by reference to the Patent Act. 35 U.S.C. § 271(b); Sony, 464 U.S. at 435–41. To plead it, a plaintiff must allege: “(1) direct infringement by a third party, (2) that the defendant had knowledge of the infringing activity, (3) and that the defendant materially contributed to the third party’s infringement.” Dow Jones & Co., Inc. v. Juwai Ltd., No. 21-cv-7284, 2023 WL 2561588, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 17, 2023) (cleaned up). Here, the acts of “direct infringement” alleged are the example outputs from the Complaint, discussed above. See supra 12. To proceed with Count IV, the Times must allege that OpenAI “had knowledge” of the Times’s creation of those outputs. Dow Jones, 2023 WL 2561588, at *3. A defendant cannot be contributorily liable without “culpable intent,” and courts may not “imput[e] intent” solely based on the “characteristics or uses of a [] product.” Metro-GoldwynMayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., 545 U.S. 913, 934 (2005). As the Supreme Court explained in Commil USA, LLC v. Cisco Sys., Inc., contributory patent infringement requires more than allegations that a defendant knew there “might” be infringement. 575 U.S. 632, 642 (2015). Instead, a plaintiff must allege that the defendant had actual knowledge of specific infringements. Courts have consistently applied this same approach to copyright claims. Pleading a contributory copyright claim requires allegations that the defendant either had “actual knowledge of specific acts of infringement” or “took deliberate actions to avoid learning about the infringement.” Luvdarts LLC v. AT & T Mobility, LLC, 710 F.3d 1068, 1072 (9th Cir. 2013).[34] As the Fourth Circuit recently explained, this follows directly from Commil, as well as other foundational Supreme Court cases like Sony, 464 U.S. 417, and Grokster, 545 U.S. 913. See BMG Rights Mgmt. (US) LLC v. Cox Commc’ns, Inc., 881 F.3d 293, 308–10 (4th Cir. 2018) (allegations that defendant “should have known” insufficient). Courts in this district agree, rejecting allegations that defendants are “general[ly] aware[] that there are infringements” as insufficient.[35] Here, the only allegation supporting the Times’s contributory claim states that OpenAI “had reason to know of the direct infringement by end-users” because of its role in “developing, testing, and troubleshooting” its products. Compl. ¶ 180. But “generalized knowledge” of “the possibility of infringement” is not enough. Luvdarts, 710 F.3d at 1072. The Complaint does not allege OpenAI “investigated or would have had reason to investigate” the use of its platform to create copies of Times articles. Popcornflix.com, 2023 WL 571522, at *6. Nor does it suggest that OpenAI had any reason to suspect this was happening. Indeed, OpenAI’s terms expressly prohibit such uses of its services. Supra note 8. And even if OpenAI had investigated, nothing in the Complaint explains how it might evaluate whether these outputs were acts of copyright infringement or whether their creation was authorized by the copyright holder (as they were here). Continue Reading . Here [34] The Second Circuit adopted this rule in Viacom Int’l, Inc. v. YouTube, Inc. for the parallel standard under 17 U.S.C. § 512. 676 F.3d 19, 35 (2d Cir. 2012) (requiring actual knowledge or “deliberate effort to avoid [] knowledge”). It also used a similar rule in the Lanham Act context in Tiffany (NJ) Inc. v. eBay Inc., 600 F.3d 93, 107 (2d Cir. 2010) (“contributory [] liability” requires “contemporary knowledge of which particular [acts] are infringing”). [35] Lefkowitz v. John Wiley & Sons, No. 13-cv-6414, 2014 WL 2619815, at *11 (S.D.N.Y. June 2, 2014) (dismissing claim); State Street Global Advisors Trust Co. v. Visbal, 431 F. Supp. 3d 322, 358 (S.D.N.Y. 2020) (same); see also Hartmann v. Popcornflix.com LLC, No. 20-cv-4923, 2023 WL 5715222, at *6 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 5, 2023) (dismissing for failure to plead defendant “would have had reason to investigate the [] infringement”); Hartmann v. Apple, Inc., No. 20-cv-6049-GHW, 2021 WL 4267820, at *7 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 20, 2021) (“general ability to discover” insufficient). About HackerNoon Legal PDF Series: We bring you the most important technical and insightful public domain court case filings. This court case retrieved on February 26, 2024, from is part of the public domain. The court-created documents are works of the federal government, and under copyright law, are automatically placed in the public domain and may be shared without legal restriction. fingfx.thomsonreuters.com

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The last week has been filled with more management drama than I can remember for any individual week. Most notably with the back-and-forth between OpenAI and Sam Altman, who first got fired and later re-hired. The crypto economy faced drama of its own as Binance agreed to settle up to $4.3 billion in penalties with various U.S. federal agencies, along with Changpeng Zhao (CZ) stepping down from his role as Binance’s CEO. Binance Agrees to a Settlement with the DOJ On Tuesday, CZ pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act and to pay a personal finde of $50 million. Additionally, Binance has reached agreements with FinCEN, OFAC, and CFTC, committing to credit $1.8 billion to these federal entities, along with an additional forfeiture amounting to $2.51 billion. agreed It will be interesting to observe how Binance moves forward under the new leadership of Richard Teng, who has been named the new CEO. The news may come of very negative but bear in mind that the charges mostly relates to stuff happening years ago, while this sentence may actually bullish for the broader crypto market as the “Binance risk” is now greatly diminished. Sure, $4.3B is an ungodly amount of money but probably not enough that it will shake the stability of the Binance empire. Argentina’s Pro-Bitcoin Candidate Wins Presidential Election The crypto market resilience over the past week can also be partly attributed to Monday’s rally following the news of Javier Milei's victory in the Argentine presidential election. But while the far-right president has previously support for Bitcoin, it's worth noting that his primary campaign policy centred around 'dollarization' - the replacement of the Argentine peso with the U.S. dollar to address hyperinflation. signalled The effectiveness and potential adoption of this policy remain uncertain and will only be revealed over time. However, what is evident is that President Javier's win has injected a sense of optimism into the crypto market. Noteworthy Mentions Bitcoin Halvening: A Comprehensive Analysis Of Bitcoin’s Supply Dynamics We are gradually approaching yet another Bitcoin halvening event, which is likely to occur around April or May 2024. Historically, BTC halvenings have been a bullish catalyst. Our latest research analyses Bitcoin’s supply and price dynamics around this prominent event. This is an absolute must read. article Industry Shakers Chaos at OpenAI A series of dramas has unfolded at OpenAI. Sam Altman is currently poised to return to OpenAI after being fired as the CEO and subsequently re-hired by Microsoft, all within a week. While the developments are still ongoing, thus far, OpenAI’s board is set to be overhauled, a move welcomed by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who clearly has made the most of the chaos. These unfolding events will likely have a significant influence on the Generative AI competition space, with Microsoft now stepping in at a stronger position. Grab your popcorn! Santander Private Bank Opens BTC, ETH Trading to Swiss Clients Santander Private Banking International, the global arm of the Spanish financial institution Banco Santander, has unveiled a new feature that enables clients with Swiss accounts to engage in investment and trading activities involving Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). While Santander's initial cryptocurrency trading services are confined to BTC and ETH, the bank has outlined intentions to broaden its portfolio to include additional cryptocurrencies meeting specific screening criteria. SEC files new lawsuit against Kraken While Binance is almost being let off the hook, the SEC has launched a new lawsuit against Kraken. Earlier in the year, the crypto exchange was fined $30 million for running a staking service. In the latest development, the SEC has filed a lawsuit against Kraken, accusing the exchange of violating securities laws. The lawsuit claims that Kraken's business practices, internal controls, and record-keeping introduced additional risks to investors, which would be prohibited for any duly registered securities intermediary. Stay Updated - Follow me on Twitter! Enjoyed these insights? There's more where that came from. Follow me on for daily tidbits and updates. Twitter/X Also published . here

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