Friendster founder in 2014

For those that remember friendster in the early 2000s, this is an interview with the founder. Pretty to read it. Friendster was the original social network before myspace and facebook. It had a lot of users and seemed promising when it was first released. If they would have pushed the marketing I think it would have been bigger.

“It was a really weird time. Friendster at the time was still a very small company,” he says. “We viewed ourselves as the David, not the Goliath. There were the Yahoos and the AOLs and we were this tiny, little startup. But the moment Friendster got the publicity, people started to copy it. Of course we were aware of all of them.” Even with all that competition, Abrams recognized early on that Facebook might pose a unique threat. On Friendster, users could set up profiles, connect with friends and family, search for new contacts (and, yes, potential dates) based on the people you were already connected to and interact with people on the social network through messages and groups. It was essentially a more pared down version of Facebook and the latter had the added benefit of quickly gaining popularity among college students.

Full article

NSA building device that can crack all security and encryption

I am reminded by the Robert Redford movie Sneakers where they steal a black box that can crack any code. The article about this NSA mission is below. Honestly I think its an impossible task. By the time they figure out how to crack one thing a new one will be out. However, it would be really interesting to see the programming that goes into something like this.

http://mashable.com/2014/01/02/nsa-quantum-computer/

Bitcoin is finally crashing

For those that have been paying attention to the internet currency bitcoin and other non-decentralized applications, you might find this interesting:

Well, it had to happen some time: Bitcoin is crashing.

The price of the crypto-currency tumbled nearly 21 percent on Friday to $877.46 on trading site Mt. Gox and has fallen more than 29 percent since closing at a record high of $1,237.96 on Wednesday, according to Bitcoin data tracker BitcoinCharts.com. (Story continues after chart, courtesy of bitcoin.clarkmoody.com.) There is a great alternative to Coinbase, so you can also check out this source.

A cryptocurrency wallet like the samourai wallet is used to store cryptocurrency. Kind of. The term “wallet” might be a bit deceptive, as it doesn’t house cryptocurrency tokens in the same way that a normal wallet – or even regular bank account – does for your money. You can’t “get Bitcoin and put them in your wallet” but you can get Bitcoin and hold them securely using your Hot and cold wallets.

China’s central bank shot a gigantic hole in that trade on Thursday by telling Chinese banks they couldn’t use the untraceable digital currency, calling it “not a currency in the real meaning of the word.” However, wondering Why Solana? Take a look at this site for more info on cryptocurrencies and more.

That doesn’t mean Chinese investors can’t keep speculating in Bitcoin, but it is a blow to the credibility of the four-year-old currency, they have to check the bitcoin trading bot review to keep up to date. Created by an unknown hacker or hackers known as Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin has the potential to be a long-lasting digital alternative to national currencies like the U.S. dollar and the Chinese yuan.

But this has also become favored for illicit uses such as money laundering and drug-dealing, raising concerns about whether policy makers will ever embrace it fully. For those looking for secure ways to move your coins to a more stable investment, visit the online VT markets.

Regardless of Bitcoin’s long-term potential, there is little doubt its price has jumped too far too quickly: It traded for less than $100 just six months ago. And a sign that it’s not going to hit rock bottom any time soon is that people still use this currency for Anonymous shipping and other transactions online.

An official for Bitcoin exchange BTC China, where a growing percentage of Bitcoin trading takes place these days, told the WSJ that most Chinese investors are just hoping prices will keep rising long enough for them to sell and turn a profit, if you want to learn about profitable cryptocurrencies, check this article about usd coins explained: what is usd coin . The People’s Bank of China, in its statement on Thursday, reminded traders that might not be the soundest approach to investment, according to the New York Times:

“The price can be easily controlled by speculators, creating severe turbulence and huge risks,” the PBOC reportedly said. “Ordinary investors who blindly follow the crowd can easily suffer major losses.”

Source:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/06/bitcoin-crashes_n_4400392.html

Facebook admits young teens are losing interest in the site

Now this is an interesting headline on cnnmoney this morning. For those who are not paying attention, more teens are shying away from facebook. Why? Its just not as cool when your parents are on it too (and probably reading your posts haha). Teens like to be using the ‘next big thing’ before everyone else. They do not like to follow the typical trends that everyone else does. If you dont believe me look at their music collection:) So what are they using? Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumlr to name a few. Go ahead, see if your kids are on these sites. You might be surprised to see what you find.

Global Learning Technology Conference in Wilmington, NC, OCTOBER 10-11, 2013

Faculty, administrators, e-learning and instructional design specialists, LMS system administrators – you may be interested!

Global Learning Technology Conference in Wilmington, NC, OCTOBER 10-11, 2013

This conference located at Hilton Wilmington Riverside Hotel will provide an opportunity for those working or teaching in the Instructional Design and Technology field to learn new tools, strategies, and network with one another.

GLTC will consist of half-day workshops. These hands-on presentations are in lab settings and explore various technologies for teaching and learning. The conference keynote and presentations offer those interested in improving the quality of education the opportunity to gain information and exchange ideas on the applications of learning technologies for education and training.

GLTC 2013 themes

· Innovative Instructional Strategies

· Community Partnerships

· Training & Professional Development

Visit our website for more information http://uncw.edu/ed/gltc/ or email us at e-learning@uncw.edu

Educational badges: Are we rebranding certifications?

I have been reading a lot about educational badges lately, mostly in the MOOC literature (and articles surrounding MOOCs). What I cannot figure out is why these badges are anything new that we haven’t had forever. They are simply just certifications/certificates. Why are these so great? I am not sure. Just to let you know where I am coming from, when I worked at Booz Allen, we could go into their online course database and take a skillsoft computer based training course on 100s (to 1000s) of different topics. At the completion of each course you got a certificate. You could then show you took these at the end of the year when you were going up for promotion and raises – yes the corporate world gives raises unlike education:( Anyway, this was 2003. This sounds almost exactly like the badges that people are getting for taking MOOCs. Additionally, if I want to learn a skill, like Adobe Flash, Microsoft OS, Apple OS, Java, project management, quality control etc, I would probably take a certification course and get the certification. If badges do become more popular then certifications does that mean Adobe will now offer a Flash badge instead of a Flash certification? I guess I just do not see a difference and would rather see education improved, not terminology rebranding the same thing that is already offered. If you are curious how companies will respond to badges, look at how they respond to certificates – there is a small place on my resume where I mention some certificates I have – its at the end unless its a prominent one from a respected university or professional organization. Maybe I am wrong and people will view these differently but until that happens, I would wager this is the value of the badge system.

Firefox Mobile OS

This is something I am quite excited for as its made using HTML5. Firefox OS has an opportunity to really show how awesome FF is. Now, what I would really like to see is firefox to make a PC OS. From Mozilla “Firefox OS is an open source mobile operating system which uses Linux and Mozilla’s Gecko engine to run a user interface and set of applications written entirely in HTML, CSS and JavaScript.” What does this mean? You will be able to build Apps for firefox using HTML5, no more Xcode or Eclipse. Now sure you can build HTML5 apps for apple and google by exporting them via phonegap to xcode/eclipse however this OS is designed for HTML5. Very exciting.

Link to firefox os

Information for developers

Simulator where you can build and test your apps for firefox OS

An article discussing some of the advantages and disadvantages of firefox mobile (although more towards the negative side)

First firefox phones sell out

Article on MOOCs

A decent article on MOOCs in the NY Times. I tend to agree with many of the advantages and disadvantages brought up. However, I would have graded them a little harder than the article did.

Read it here

mooc

mooc