The Internet - The first Worldwide Tool of Unification ("The End of History")

" ... Now I give you something that few think about: What do you think the Internet is all about, historically? Citizens of all the countries on Earth can talk to one another without electronic borders. The young people of those nations can all see each other, talk to each other, and express opinions. No matter what the country does to suppress it, they're doing it anyway. They are putting together a network of consciousness, of oneness, a multicultural consciousness. It's here to stay. It's part of the new energy. The young people know it and are leading the way.... "

" ... I gave you a prophecy more than 10 years ago. I told you there would come a day when everyone could talk to everyone and, therefore, there could be no conspiracy. For conspiracy depends on separation and secrecy - something hiding in the dark that only a few know about. Seen the news lately? What is happening? Could it be that there is a new paradigm happening that seems to go against history?... " Read More …. "The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…5 - Integrity That May Surprise…

Have you seen innovation and invention in the past decade that required thinking out of the box of an old reality? Indeed, you have. I can't tell you what's coming, because you haven't thought of it yet! But the potentials of it are looming large. Let me give you an example, Let us say that 20 years ago, you predicted that there would be something called the Internet on a device you don't really have yet using technology that you can't imagine. You will have full libraries, buildings filled with books, in your hand - a worldwide encyclopedia of everything knowable, with the ability to look it up instantly! Not only that, but that look-up service isn't going to cost a penny! You can call friends and see them on a video screen, and it won't cost a penny! No matter how long you use this service and to what depth you use it, the service itself will be free.

Now, anyone listening to you back then would perhaps have said, "Even if we can believe the technological part, which we think is impossible, everything costs something. There has to be a charge for it! Otherwise, how would they stay in business?" The answer is this: With new invention comes new paradigms of business. You don't know what you don't know, so don't decide in advance what you think is coming based on an old energy world. ..."
(Subjects: Who/What is Kryon ?, Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" Managed Business, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)


German anti-hate speech group counters Facebook trolls

German anti-hate speech group counters Facebook trolls
Logo No Hate Speech Movement

Bundestag passes law to fine social media companies for not deleting hate speech

Honouring computing’s 1843 visionary, Lady Ada Lovelace. (Design of doodle by Kevin Laughlin)

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Volcanic growth for bitcoin in chilly Iceland

The Jakarta Post – AFPJÉRÉMIE RICHARD, Reykjavik, Iceland, March 28, 2018

Philip Salter, head of operations at Genesis Mining, poses inside the bitcoin factory 'Genesis
Farming' near Reykjavik, on March 16, 2018. At the heart of Iceland's breathtaking lava
fields stands one of the world's largest bitcoin factories at a secret location rich in renewable
energy which runs the computers creating the virtual currency. (AFP/Halldor Kolbeins)

At a secret location in the midst of one of Iceland's breathtaking lava fields stands a warehouse whose non-descript siding belies the fact it is ground zero in a digital gold rush for cryptocurrencies that is burning through more electricity than Icelanders' homes.

Iceland's combination of fire and ice not only makes it a stunning site to film parts of the medieval fantasy epic Game of Thrones.

It also offers a unique combination of cheap renewable energy and free air conditioning that is making it a promised land for those "mining" virtual currencies, including bitcoin, using powerful computers that are voracious users of electricity and throw off lots of heat.

And noise.

The din from shelves and shelves of computers whirring inside the 400-square-metre (4,300-square-foot) warehouse rivals a jet during takeoff.

Unlike the dollar and the euro, bitcoin is not issued by central banks. Instead it is "mined" or created in computer "farms" like this one.

It uses computers souped up with six graphics cards tasked with the heavy lifting of thousands of thousands of calculations needed to solve complex algorithms to process bitcoin transactions and be rewarded with bitcoins in exchange.


Cheap and cool Iceland

"It's possible for everyone to do it at home. There is no one stopping you (and) there are no technical limitations," said Philip Salter, head of operations at Genesis Mining, told AFP.

Last year saw a meteoric rise of hundreds of virtual currencies led by bitcoin, which was fetching almost $20,000 per unit in December as both amateur and professional miners jumped onto the bandwagon.

Home miners often use an old computer, have no choice where they operate, and are lucky if they get a fraction of a bitcoin every now and then.

Professionals like Genesis Mining need to invest serious amounts to build and equip a facility like this one with a surface area a third of an Olympic-size pool, but which has a much greater chance of catching part of the 12.5 bitcoins created every ten minutes.

They can choose where to set up operations, however, and that choice can have a huge impact on their profits as the price of the electricity to power and cool the computers varies considerably from country to country.

Iceland is attractive for cryptocurrency mining because of its cheap electricity, which has the added advantage of being generated from clean geothermal energy.

At a 0.065 euros ($0.081) per kilowatt per hour before tax, the cost of electricity is nearly half the EU average.

This makes Iceland one of the most competitive nations in Europe after Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia.

But Iceland also has an advantage in its average annual temperature is about five degrees Celsius (41 Fahrenheit), meaning mining farms can for most of the time just suck in cool air from the outside instead of running energy-hungry air conditioners.

The power usage efficiency "is really good in Iceland because of the natural cooling," said Johann Snorri Sigurbergsson, director of business development at Iceland's power company HS Orka.


Shocking rise in demand

A growing number of firms like Genesis Mining, which was previously based in Bosnia, have chosen to set up shop in Iceland, which means demand for electricity has shot up.

"The demand has been increasing exponentially, especially the last three months," said Sigurbergsson.

The increase has come as the price of bitcoin has plunged from its peak of nearly $20,000 to below $9,000 currently, with analysts saying that the price decline has made operating costs even more of a concern for miners.

Salter, who fears the growing competition in the sector, said bitcoin's "price isn't a very good indicator on how bitcoin mining industry is doing".

He may not have that much more competition from neighbours as Sigurbergsson said HS Orka "will not be able to supply all the demand" from miners wanting to set up operations.

He said his firm is "in the great position of we can pick and choose who we can do business with".

HS Orka estimates that Iceland's three largest bitcoin farming companies in 2018 will consume more electricity than the nation's 350,000 inhabitants.

Miners also have another worry: Even a virtual gold rush attracts real thieves.

Between December 2017 and January 2018, equipment worth an estimated 1.6 million euros was stolen.

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Robot Tessa reminds dementia patients to heat up their soup for lunch

DutchNews, March 26, 2018

Tessa the robot: Photo: Tinybots.nl

A robot which helps people with dementia remember what they should be doing and when will start a mass testing programme from this week. 

Robots and sensors designed to help people live independently at home are considered by the Dutch health ministry to be key to combating the shortage of care workers.  And consultancy KPMG said last year that robots will be able to take over 30% of repetitive household chores within five years. 

The Tessa robot was developed by Dutch robotics company Tinybots, which was launched in 2015. A successful pilot project involving 50 Tessas has been rounded off and now 500 robots have been released for use. Some 300 of them have been ordered in advance for the testing programme and 200 are still up for grabs. 

‘The more research and tests we do, the more we see that a large group of people benefit from having a friend like Tessa,’ said Wang Long Li, one of Tinybot’s two founders. ‘Our dream is to give these people at home and abroad more control over their lives.’ 

Going for a walk

Care staff and family members can programme Tessa using a simple app or send messages via Tessa directly to the patient. The robot can be used to remind people when to have breakfast or to cook and to make suggestions about things to do, ,such as listening to music or going for a walk. 

The NRC quoted the case of Toon van Santvoord, whose Tessa reminds him to eat and to take medication.  At 11.45, Tessa tells him to warm up soup for lunch. Thirty minutes later, the robot repeats the message just in case Toon has not reacted.’

‘Without Tessa, I cannot go away for a whole morning,’ Gertrude van Sandvoort told the paper. ‘My husband forgets I’m away. Even if i just go to the corner shop I make sure Tessa will remind him of what he needs. It works better than a note,’ she says. A three-year subscription to Tessa costs €1 a day.

Monday, March 26, 2018

Facebook runs UK, US newspaper ads apologising for data scandal

Yahoo – AFP, March 25, 2018

Zuckerberg repeated that Facebook had changed the rules so no such data
breach could happen again. (AFP Photo/Josh Edelson)

London (AFP) - Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg took out full-page ads in nine major British and US newspapers on Sunday to apologise for a huge data privacy scandal.

"We have a responsibility to protect your information. If we can't we don't deserve it," he said.

The ads ran in prominent positions in six British nationals, including the best-selling Mail on Sunday, The Sunday Times and The Observer -- which helped break the story -- as well as the New York Times, Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.

Zuckerberg explained there was a quiz developed by a university researcher "that leaked Facebook data of millions of people in 2014".

"This was a breach of trust, and I'm sorry we didn't do more at the time. We're now taking steps to make sure this doesn't happen again," he said.

The ad reflects public statements Zuckerberg made last week after the row prompted investigations in Europe and the United States, and sent Facebook's share price plunging.

He repeated that the social media giant had changed the rules on apps so no such data breach could happen again.

"We're also investigating every single app that had access to large amounts of data before we fixed this. We expect there are others," he wrote.

"And when we find them, we will ban them and tell everyone affected."

There was no mention of the British firm accused of using the data, Cambridge Analytica, which worked on US President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.

It too has blamed the University of Cambridge researcher Alexsandr Kogan, for any potential breach of data rules

Kogan created a lifestyle quiz app for Facebook which was downloaded by 270,000 people, but allowed access to tens of millions of their contacts.

Facebook says he passed this to Cambridge Analytica without its knowledge. Kogan says he is being made a scapegoat.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

The Netherlands is 4th most attractive high-tech centre says US consultant

DutchNews, March 20, 2018

NXP’s Eindhoven headquarters. Photo: Michaelkriek via Wikimedia Commons 

Commercial property services group Cushman & Wakefield said on Tuesday the Netherlands is the fourth most attractive centre for high-tech companies in its annual Manufacturing Risk Index, which looks at 42 countries worldwide. 

‘The fact that the Netherlands is so high in the list is largely due to the development of several knowledge centres and campuses where R&D goes hand-in-hand with concrete high-tech production industry,’ said Jan Verhhaegh, head of Cushman & Wakefield Industrial. 

‘A prime example of this is the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven combined with the new Brainport Industries Campus. In Leiden there is the similar Bio Science park and Delft has its High Tech Campus and Betafactory,’ he said. 

The Netherlands scored only 34th in C&W’s list of traditional production countries, which is dominated by Eastern Europe and Asia.

Saturday, March 17, 2018

Google to expand Groningen data centre, new investment hits €500m

DutchNews, March 15, 2018


Tech giant Google said on Thursday it is investing €500m to expand its data centre in  in Eemshaven, Groningen province. 

The expansion is necessary to meet ‘growing demand from consumers and companies,’ Google is quoted as saying by the Telegraaf. The announcement was made at a meeting in the northern port. 

The expansion will take the company’s total investment in the data centre to €1.5bn. It currently employs 250 people but their number will be increased following the expansion, a spokesman told the paper. 

The building work itself will provide work for 1,200 people.

Thursday, March 8, 2018

EU firms lash out at new net privacy rules

Yahoo – AFP, March 7, 2018

EU firms fear tech giants like Google will have even more power once the
new rules come into force (AFP Photo/LOIC VENANCE)

Paris (AFP) - Dozens of European media, telecom and internet firms criticised Wednesday the EU's new online privacy rules, saying they will effectively hand US tech giants even greater power over user data.

On May 25, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into force.

It is designed to protect users' online privacy, but in an open letter titled "Europe cannot afford to miss the data revolution", the companies said it will "reinforce already dominant players in the data economy".

In their view, the rules "would threaten the development of European startups and innovative companies, online advertising, telecom operators, and other sectors alike; and would undermine the essential role of press and media in European democratic life".

The European Parliament has adopted the regulation but European governments have yet to approve the text.

Under the new regulation, users will be asked once and for all whether to accept cookies, rather than every time they visit a new website.

Users will have the option of going invisible online, while the rules enshrine the so-called "right to be forgotten" legislation.

But the European Commission is concerned over the lack of awareness among both users and small firms of the imminent change.

Who says no to cookies?

Furthermore, it is unclear whether the bulk of users would ever opt out of allowing cookies while browsing -- leaving them at the mercy of targeted advertising from the very tech giants that power their browsing and social media experiences.

While Google, Apple and Facebook are based in the United States, they will also have to apply the new regulations to their European users.

Nonetheless, the European firms fear they will bear the brunt of the changes, potentially depriving EU advertisers of user information they need to connect to consumers.

Among the signatories of the letter is a leading French media association, the SPQN -- of which AFP is a member.

Other signatories include French telecom giants Orange and SFR, German group Deutsche Startups and the European Magazine Media Association.

Speaking to AFP, data company France Digitale's co-chair Jean-David Chamboredon said: "We risk handing over the total monopoly to some operators, which will always find a way to collect user data."

The US tech giants already an outsize role in the French online advertising market, capturing a whopping 92 percent of the sector's growth in 2017.

Monday, March 5, 2018

EU aims to tax internet giants at 'two to six percent': France

Yahoo – AFP, March 4, 2018

The tax-avoidance strategies used by Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple have
cost governments around the world as much as $240 billion a year in lost revenue,
according to the OECD (AFP Photo/Damien MEYER)

Paris (AFP) - The EU will soon unveil a plan for taxing major internet companies like Amazon and Facebook by imposing a levy of two to six percent on revenues in every country where they operate, French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said Sunday.

"The range will be from two to six percent; but closer to two than to six," Le Maire told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

The European Commission has said it will present by end March an overhaul of its tax rules, which currently allow US digital economy giants to report their income from across the bloc in any member state.

That leads them to pick low-tax nations like Ireland, the Netherlands or Luxembourg, depriving other nations of their share of the revenue even though they may account for more of a company's earnings.

"The heads of these companies know themselves that this system can't continue," Le Maire said.

Critics say the tax-avoidance strategies used by the tech titans known as GAFA -- Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple -- deprive EU governments of billions of euros while giving them an unfair advantage over smaller rivals.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says such strategies cost governments around the world as much as $240 billion (195 billion euros) a year in lost revenue, according to a 2015 estimate.

Asked if the proposed rate might be criticised as too low, Le Maire said: "I would rather have a law that can be implemented quickly instead of drawn-out negotiations."

American tech giants appear to believe the European tax revamp is in the cards, with several already announcing pledges to pay more in each country where they operate as governments step up their fiscal demands.

Amazon said last month that it had settled a major tax claim in France and that it would start declaring all its earnings in the country.