The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
The technology behind bitcoin could transform how the economy works
To understand the power of blockchain systems, and the things they can do, it is important to distinguish between three things that are commonly muddled up, namely the bitcoin currency, the specific blockchain that underpins it and the idea of blockchains in general.
Continue reading “Ayesha Khanna: The Economist Explains Blockchain Systems of Trust Building”
Interview: Michel Bauwens on Peer-To-Peer Economics and Its Role in Reshaping Our World
EXTRACT
I see a whole new local networking technology developing here. Solar cells are available just about everywhere and so are strong led flashlights that can bridge the distance between the users of a local network and the internet feed…
New Technology Uses Solar Cells As Power Source & Li-Fi Data Node
The new solar ‘Li-Fi‘ solution, which was developed by a research team led by Professor Harald Haas at the University of Edinburgh’s Li-Fi R&D Centre, was introduced at a recent TED Global 2015 event, where Haas “demonstrated how Li-Fi can be used with solar cells to receive data.”
How Developing Nations Can Leapfrog Developed Countries with the Sharing Economy
Electricity is now coming to remote areas in Africa, which never before had access to a centralized power grid. Not surprisingly, the introduction of cell phones has helped precipitate the development of a nascent Third Industrial Revolution infrastructure. Virtually overnight, millions of Africa's rural households have scraped together enough money — from selling an animal or surplus crops — to purchase a cell phone. The phones are used as much for carrying on commercial activity as for personal communications. In rural areas, far removed from urban banking facilities, people are increasingly relying on cell phones to facilitate small money transfers. The problem is that without access to electricity, cell phone users often have to travel on foot to get to a town with electricity in order to recharge their phones. A single solar panel affixed on the tin roof of a rural hut would provide enough electricity to not only charge the cell phone but also power electric lights.
Continue reading “Jean Lievens: Jeremy Rifkin on Leapfrog Technologies”
Fighting Uber's Death Star with a Rebel Alliance of co-op platforms
As Mark Andreessen noted, software is eating the world because once it's developed, it scales to infinity. That means that once a worker's co-op of drivers clones Uber's platform in free/open code, drivers in every city in the world can disrupt the company, throw off its rent-seeking, and fill their pockets with the money the company siphons off for providing very little at the margins. In a long piece on Shareable, Neal Gorenflo articulates a vision for co-op versions of the sharing economy monopolies, an idea that will be explored later this month at the Platform Cooperativism conference in New York.
Continue reading “Charles Mallea: Death to Uber – the Open Source Rebel Alliance”
QED – Goodbye Doha, Hello Adventure!
EXTRACT
I joined the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) well over 3 years ago with a very specific mission and mandate: to develop and deploy next generation humanitarian technologies. So I built the Institute’s Social Innovation Program from the ground up and recruited the majority of the full-time experts (scientists, engineers, research assistants, interns & project manager) who have become integral to the Program’s success.
Continue reading “Patrick Meier: Summary of Recent Accomplishments”
Why Every Organization Needs a Chief of Staff Like This One
I had only 24 hours in the day, but 35 hours’ worth of issues coming at me each day that required decisions on my part. What I needed from my staff was for them to buy me time on my schedule, freeing up white space so I could focus on strategic thinking and managing critical relationships. And more than any one person, my Chief of Staff kept me constantly focused on spending my time where it counted most so that I wasn’t the limiting factor in pushing our organization forward.
Continue reading “Stan McChrystal: The Perfect Chief of Staff”
