President Biden, on his way out the door, has permanently put over 625 million acres of federal waters off-limits to oil and gas exploration. This is the move of a spiteful old man eager to undercut one of the highest priorities of his successor, President-elect Donald Trump: U.S. energy development. It is also a desperate pitch to post an asterisk next to his name in the record books; yes, Biden is one of the most unpopular presidents of all time, but at least, as noted in the White House statement accompanying the move, “President Biden will have conserved more lands and waters than any other U.S. president in history.” Please take note, presidential historians. Reducing acreage available for oil and gas exploration is a profoundly ignorant and damaging measure. As the world races toward broad-based adoption of artificial intelligence, advanced semiconductor manufacturing, cryptocurrencies and other new technologies, every country is vying to have not only scientific superiority but also the massive amounts of cheap electricity that the new industries require. According to a study from the Bank of America, electricity demand in the U.S. grew by only 13 gigawatts over the last 13 years. But thanks to the growth of energy-intensive industries like AI, demand will soar by a projected 70 GW through 2030. With coal plants being retired, and given the intermittent nature of solar and wind power, the U.S. will likely face “grid stability” concerns. It will also continue to rely heavily on fossil fuels. Some indication…Biden’s climate narcissism could destroy America’s energy advantage
I Forgot My Cards And… So What?
Dateline: Woking, 8th January 2025.I travel a lot. And I forget things a lot. So I forget things a lot while I am travelling. On my last trip to Asia I left my payments cards in a hotel safe in Singapore and didn’t realise until I was through security at the airport on the way out of the country. And because of this… well, nothing. It’s a sign of the times that my life was not affected in the least.Subscribe nowContactless EverywhereWhy didn’t the loss of my cards interrupt my business trip? You already know the answer. It was because I had my phone with me and all of the places that I would be visiting were developed countries where all points of sale have contactless interfaces. For everything up to the contactless payment limit (eg, coffee with a colleague) it’s just tap and go, and for payments over that limit (eg, dinner with clients) it’s, well, just tap and go. All thanks to the miracle of CDCVM (“customer device cardholder verification method”).If you are not familiar with CDCVM, here’s a quick primer on high-value contactless payments that I wrote a few years ago to explain how authentication options work with the contactless no-CVM (cardholder verification method) limits. In summary:The no-CVM payment limit (£100 in the UK) is for “tap and go” transactions where there is no PIN, signature or anything else required from the customers who are waving their cards over the contactless readers. This limit must be set…I Forgot My Cards And… So What?
Instagram blocked LGBTQ+ content by accident, Meta claims
Instagram recently blocked teen users from viewing the results for numerous LGBTQ+ terms by accident, according to a spokesperson for Meta, the platform’s parent company. The restrictions were reported by User Mag, which found that teen users searching for content related to dozens of hashtags including #lesbian, #bisexual, #gay, #trans, #queer, #nonbinary, #Tgirlsarebeautiful, and #lesbianpride were instead shown a blank page with a message directing them to the platform’s sensitive content policy. That policy prohibits content “that impedes our ability to foster a safe community,” and includes material that may be “sexually explicit or suggestive.” SEE ALSO: Instagram announces new tools to fight sextortion and help teen victims “These search terms and hashtags were mistakenly restricted — an error that has now been fixed,” a Meta spokesperson told Mashable. “It’s important to us that all communities feel safe and welcome on Meta apps, and we do not consider LGBTQ+ terms to be sensitive under our policies.” Meta attributed the issue to technology that helps limit user exposure to sensitive content mistakenly misclassifying several LGBTQ+ terms, making them temporarily restricted. Instagram’s new teen accounts limit sensitive content by default. Teens between the ages of 13 and 15 need parental permission to change the setting. Mashable previously reported on claims made by adult LGBTQ creators that Instagram has shadowbanned their content. The platform has tried to address general concerns regarding “non-recommendable” content, with mixed reviews from affected creators. Meta told Mashable that LGBTQ content isn’t considered sensitive and is eligible for recommendation,…Instagram blocked LGBTQ+ content by accident, Meta claims
The Year Of The Stablecoin
Dateline: Woking, 31st December 2024.Stablecoins are already big business. More than $150 billion worth of Tether (USDT), Circle (USDC) and other tokens backed by fiat currency (in theory, at least) are held by people around the world and volumes are growing. Revolut has joined the likes of PayPal with its own stablecoin and despite Europe’s new regulations, the growth of stablecoins of various kinds will undoubtedly accelerate through the coming year.Subscribe nowWhat Are Stablecoins?While “stablecoin” originally meant a cryptocurrency with a price algorithmically maintained at a constant level against some external benchmark, the term has come to mean any asset intended to maintain a specific price and backed by reserves such as fiat currencies, commodities, or even other cryptocurrencies. Within that category, volumes are dominated by dollar-backed stablecoins such as Circle’s USDC and Tether’s USDT that have exploded in popularity, with the consequence that their issuers earn some pretty decent profits through the yields on the underlying assets (eg, U.S. Treasuries).Why the growth? Well, the first point to note is that the use of these stablecoins is not confined to developing markets that lack banking infrastructure. According to Chainalysis (October 2024), the UK is Europe’s largest crypto economy and a key driver of the region’s growth, particularly with respect merchant services and, of course, the stablecoins that dominate the European market, making up nearly half of total inflows (with notable growth in both retail and professional use). Stablecoins far exceed bitcoin for fiat currency trade, with the euro accounting for…The Year Of The Stablecoin
AI ready to hit its stride in schools in 2025
Experts predict that 2025 will be the year artificial intelligence (AI) truly gets off the ground in K-12 schools. 2024 laid the groundwork for AI to reach a level of “maturity” in education, with the federal government releasing guidance on the issue and growing numbers of teachers getting professional training on the technology and classes on data science available to students. Now, a development that once baffled educators and administrators is ready to go mainstream. “I think the system was still in reaction mode. I think we still saw a lot of uncertainty as to where and how AI fits into education. I think you saw this in the way that AI was beginning to be implemented into technology that facilitates classroom management,” said Zarek Drozda, executive director of Data Science 4 Everyone at the University of Chicago. “I think, over time, going into this next year, that you’re going to see more maturity come to the system even further,” Drozda added. A report from his group found that since the 2020-2021 school year, 2,500 teachers have had more than 71,000 hours of data science professional development, and 277 schools have added data science classes. Earlier this year, the federal government released a 74-page AI toolkit for schools that focused on safeguarding student privacy, creating plans to integrate the technology to fit student needs and how to use it to assist with learning. Educators are now using AI to help speed up lesson plan creation and…AI ready to hit its stride in schools in 2025
Trump tells SCOTUS that only he can save TikTok from ban
TikTok, the popular viral video platform, is still slated to be banned in the U.S. next year. And with 2024 coming to an end, the January 19, 2025 ban date for TikTok is fast approaching.Just weeks before Christmas, the Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear an appeal filed by TikTok and its parent company ByteDance. The oral arguments in that case are set to begin Jan. 10.However, President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, just one day after the pending TikTok ban, is urging the Supreme Court to just grant a stay on the TikTok ban deadline date.Why? Because Trump humbly claims that only he can solve the issue and save TikTok from being banned.Trump to SCOTUS: Let me save TikTokIn his message to the Supreme Court, Trump asserts a myriad of reasons as to why he’s uniquely positioned to address the supposed national security concerns tied with TikTok being owned by a China-based company while simultaneously saving the platform from a ban.In the brief, Trump drops how many followers he has on TikTok (more than 14 million) and how the platform played a crucial role in his successful reelection campaign. The president-elect makes mention of Brazil’s recent ban on Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, to showcase a similar case of “historic danger” when a government bans a social media platform. In addition, Trump also cites his expertise as the founder of “another resoundingly successful social-media platform,” Truth Social, to show why…Trump tells SCOTUS that only he can save TikTok from ban
Social media companies might use facial recognition to ban underage users under UK plan
The United Kingdom may soon force social media firms to seek out and remove underage users from their platforms. The UK’s Office of Communications, more commonly known as Ofcom, has set out a plan to force tech companies to use facial recognition to ban social media users who are underage. “The sort of thing that we might look to in that space is some of this facial age estimation technology that we see companies bringing in now, which we think is really pretty good at determining who is a child and who is an adult,”Jon Higham, Ofcom’s head of online safety policy, told The Telegraph in an interview. “So we’re going to be looking to drive out the use of that sort of content, so platforms can determine who’s a child and who isn’t, and then put in place extra protections for kids to stop them [from] seeing toxic content.”Ofcom told the Telegraph that up to 60 percent of eight to 11-year-olds have social media profiles, despite most major social platforms requiring users to be at least 13 years old. Lots of kids, as one might expect, lie about their age online. “What we see is 22 percent of children are online with a profile which suggests they’re an adult because at the moment all too many platforms basically let children self-certify how old they are,” Higham told The Telegraph. “It doesn’t take a genius to work out that children are going to lie about their age.” Tweet may have…Social media companies might use facial recognition to ban underage users under UK plan
Elon Musks X raises Premium+ subscription to $22 per month
Here’s a holiday gift from Elon Musk to X’s most loyal customers: The cost of your subscription is going up by nearly 40 percent.According to a new page on X’s Help Center titled Premium+ Price Adjustment, the X Premium+ subscription will now cost $22 per month in the U.S., up from the previous $16 monthly fee. Annual subscription costs to X Premium+ are also rising, from $168 to $229 per year.The move from Musk’s social media platform was announced over the weekend and officially went into effect on Dec. 21 for new subscribers. Current subscribers will not receive any grandfathered rates. Current Premium+ subscribers received a notification that their current subscription will be moved to the new $22 per month pricing model after Jan. 20. Any renewal charges before then will still go through at the old rate.Users outside the U.S. will also be hit with price increase, with costs even higher than the U.S. rates in some countries. For example, subscribers in Canada will see prices go from $20 to $26. In Australia, the Premium+ price will jump from $26 to $35. And, as TechCrunch points out, some countries such as Nigeria will see even bigger jumps in cost where the Premium+ price will leap from roughly less than $5 to a whopping $22.It should be noted that these rates are for subscriptions made directly through X’s website. X charges extra to cover costs when signing up through a mobile device and purchasing through a third-party marketplace like Apple’s App…Elon Musks X raises Premium+ subscription to $22 per month
The Impact Of AI On Financial Services: The Three Body Problem
Dateline: Woking, 23rd December 2024.You’ve probably heard of the “Three Body Problem”, the outstanding Chinese future fiction novel by Liu Cixin or maybe you saw the Netflix series based on the book. The three body problem in the title is a real problem in physics: the motion of two bodies can be calculated with precision but adding a third body introduces unpredictable chaos. With the arrival of non-human financial services customers just around the corner, I think we are about to see a similar dance in the universe of retail financial services. We can take some reasonable guesses about the impact of some technologies, but when we attempt predict the impact of AI on products and services where we have not three bodies interacting, but three bots interacting—the bank bot, the regulator bot and (soon) the customer bot—things look very complicated indeed. Read moreThe Impact Of AI On Financial Services: The Three Body Problem
Fans arent happy that NFL Redzone is running ads again
“Seven hours of RedZone football starts here.” That’s how Scott Hanson opened Sunday’s broadcast, with his usual upbeat energy — but this time, with a twinge of irony. Why? Because last week (and again this week), the NFL’s RedZone channel — long celebrated for its uninterrupted, ad-free blitz of touchdowns and drama — broke its sacred covenant: it ran commercials.Naturally, fans are losing it. Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted When the Dec. 15 broadcast featured ads, an NFL spokesperson told Awful Announcing it was just a “test.” Hanson even threw out an apology for claiming the broadcast would remain commercial-free, which, spoiler, it wasn’t. Fans hoped it was a one-off. A hiccup. A blip.But then came Sunday. And yeah, those ads were back.For those unfamiliar, NFL RedZone offers a fast-paced, all-access look at every touchdown and pivotal moment across the league, stripping away the downtime and fluff typical of most game broadcasts. It has earned a devoted fanbase precisely because it prioritizes constant action.That’s what makes the sudden presence of commercials feel like such a betrayal to its audience. The shift, subtle as it may seem, represents a breach of what made RedZone unique. X (formerly known as Twitter) has been flooded with backlash, with fans accusing the NFL of putting profits over the integrity of the service. Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted While the NFL has yet to confirm…Fans arent happy that NFL Redzone is running ads again