$500 Million Worth of Cryptocurrency Stolen From Japanese Exchange

Locke2005 shares a report from CNBC: Hackers stole several hundred million dollars’ worth of a lesser-known cryptocurrency from a major Japanese exchange Friday. Coincheck said that around 523 million of the exchange’s NEM coins were sent to another account around 3 a.m. local time (1 p.m. ET Thursday), according to a Google translate of a Japanese transcript of the Friday press conference from Logmi. The exchange has about 6 percent of yen-bitcoin trading, ranking fourth by market share on CryptoCompare. The stolen NEM coins were worth about 58 billion yen at the time of detection, or roughly $534.8 million, according to the exchange. Coincheck subsequently restricted withdrawals of all currencies, including yen, and trading of cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin. Locke2005 adds, “That, my friends, is the prime reason why speculating in cryptocurrency is a bad idea!” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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$500 Million Worth of Cryptocurrency Stolen From Japanese Exchange

Bitcoin Jumps Another 10% in 24 Hours, Sets New Record at $19,000

An anonymous reader quotes Ars Technica: Bitcoin’s price set a new record on Saturday as the virtual currency rose above $19, 000 for the first time on the Bitstamp exchange. The gains came just hours after the currency crossed the $18, 000 mark. Bitcoin’s value has doubled over the last three weeks, and it’s up more than 20-fold over the last year. Bitcoin’s value keeps rising despite a growing chorus of experts who say the currency value is an unsustainable bubble. One CNBC survey this week found that 80 percent of Wall Street economists and market strategists saw bitcoin’s rise as a bubble, compared to just two percent who said the currency’s value was justified. Another survey reported by The Wall Street Journal this week found that 51 out of 53 economists surveyed thought bitcoin’s price was an unsustainable bubble. Less than a month ago, Bitcoin was selling for $8, 000. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Bitcoin Jumps Another 10% in 24 Hours, Sets New Record at $19,000

Solar now costs 6¢ per kilowatt-hour, beating government goal by 3 years

Enlarge / From the Department of Energy: “This photo shows the construction phase of a 16.5 MW DC solar farm built in Oxford, MA. This 130-acre property was previously known as the largest piggery in Massachusetts.” (credit: Lucas Faria/ US Department of Energy ) On Tuesday, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that utility-grade solar panels have hit cost targets set for 2020 , three years ahead of schedule. Those targets reflect around $1 per watt and 6¢ per kilowatt-hour in Kansas City, the department’s mid-range yardstick for solar panel cost per unit of energy produced (New York is considered the high-cost end, and Phoenix, Arizona, which has much more sunlight than most other major cities in the country, reflects the low-cost end). Those prices don’t include an Investment Tax Credit (ITC), which makes solar panels even cheaper. The Energy Department said that the cost per watt was assessed in terms of total installed system costs for developers. That means the number is based on “the sales price paid to the installer; therefore, it includes profit in the cost of the hardware,” according to a department presentation  (PDF). The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a DOE-funded lab that assesses solar panel cost, wrote that, compared to the first quarter in 2016 , the first quarter in 2017 saw a 29-percent decline in installed cost for utility-scale solar, which was attributed to lower photovoltaic module and inverter prices, better panel efficiency, and reduced labor costs. Despite the plummeting costs for utility-scale solar, costs for commercial and residential solar panels have not fallen quite as quickly—just 15 percent and 6 percent, respectively. Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Solar now costs 6¢ per kilowatt-hour, beating government goal by 3 years

Hulu Joins Netflix and Amazon In Promoting Royalty-free Video Codec AV1

theweatherelectric writes: Hulu has joined the Alliance for Open Media, which is developing an open, royalty-free video format called AV1. AV1 is targeting better performance than H.265 and, unlike H.265, will be licensed under royalty-free terms for all use cases. The top three over-the-top SVOD services (Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu) are now all members of the alliance. In joining the alliance, Hulu hopes “to accelerate development and facilitate friction-free adoption of new media technologies that benefit the streaming media industry and [its] viewers.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Hulu Joins Netflix and Amazon In Promoting Royalty-free Video Codec AV1

Bitcoin Surges 10% To All-Time High Above $2,700, Has Now Doubled in May

An anonymous reader writes: In another intraday jump of more than $200, bitcoin surged to a record Thursday on strong Asian demand overnight. Bitcoin jumped more than 10 percent to an all-time high of $2, 752.07, more than twice its April 30 price of $1, 347.96 according to CoinDesk. The digital currency last traded near $2, 726. At Thursday’s record, Bitcoin has now gained more than 45 percent since last Thursday and more than 180 percent for the year so far. “There is no question that we are in the middle of a price frenzy, ” said Brian Kelly of BKCM, in a note to clients Thursday. “There will be a correction and it could be severe, but it’s unclear if that correction will start from current prices of $2700 or from some place much higher.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Bitcoin Surges 10% To All-Time High Above $2,700, Has Now Doubled in May

Smart card Plastc goes under despite $9 million in preorders

Plastc , a smart payment card that can store all your CC details, promised to be the only plastic you’ll ever need to bring when it started taking pre-orders in 2014. Now, almost three years and countless shipment delays later, the company threw in the towel. In a statement posted on its website, Plastc says it has officially shut down on April 20th and will file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. According to a Magnify Money editorial, Plastc raised $9 million from 80, 000 pre-orders. It wasn’t and will not be able to fulfill any of them. The company apparently expected to raise $3.5 million in February, but the investment group ended up backing out. It found another investor willing to sink $6.75 million into the venture, but it backed out at the last minute. Plastc says it needed the money to start its cards’ production — with no funds to keep it going, it had to quickly shut down everything and let all its employees go. It’s not entirely clear why $9 million wasn’t enough to ship even one wave of cards to its very first customers. Now customers are bombarding the company with requests for a refund. They paid for pre-orders, after all, and didn’t back a crowdfunding campaign that they knew could fall through. With no money left to Plastc’s name, though, they might have to chalk it up to experience. Plastc isn’t the only smart card that failed to deliver on its promise. Another one called Coin also stopped making cards in 2016, though it was at least able to ship some orders. Swyp was plagued with issues, as well, while Stratos almost shut down until it found a new owner . Via: The Verge Source: Plastc

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Smart card Plastc goes under despite $9 million in preorders

Hundreds of Cisco Switches Vulnerable To Flaw Found in WikiLeaks Files

Zack Whittaker, writing for ZDNet: Cisco is warning that the software used in hundreds of its products are vulnerable to a “critical”-rated security flaw, which can be easily and remotely exploited with a simple command. The vulnerability can allow an attacker to remotely gain access and take over an affected device. More than 300 switches are affected by the vulnerability, Cisco said in an advisory. According to the advisory, the bug is found in the cluster management protocol code in Cisco’s IOS and IOS XE software, which the company installs on the routers and switches it sells. An attacker can exploit the vulnerability by sending a malformed protocol-specific Telnet command while establishing a connection to the affected device, because of a flaw in how the protocol fails to properly process some commands. Cisco said that there are “no workarounds” to address the vulnerability, but it said that disabling Telnet would “eliminate” some risks. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Hundreds of Cisco Switches Vulnerable To Flaw Found in WikiLeaks Files

Airmule Pays You to Let TSA-Certified Shippers Use Your Luggage Space

These days, most airlines charge you to check a bag. If you have more space than you need in that bag, you might be able to earn extra cash. Airmule is a free app that connects travelers with TSA-approved shipping partners to send stuff overseas. Read more…

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Airmule Pays You to Let TSA-Certified Shippers Use Your Luggage Space

Intel To Invest $7 Billion in Factory in Arizona, Employ 3,000 People

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich met with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, where the company announced it will invest $7 billion in a factory employing up to 3, 000 people. From a report: The factory will be in Chandler, Arizona, the company said, and over 10, 000 people in the Arizona area will support the factory. Krzanich confirmed to CNBC that the investment over the next three to four years would be to complete a previous plant, Fab 42, that was started and then left vacant. The 7-nanometer chips will be produced there will be “the most powerful computer chips on the planet, ” Krzanich said in the Oval Office with the Trump administration. Most Intel manufacturing happens in the U.S., Krzanich said. “America has a unique combination of talent, a vibrant business environment and access to global markets, which has enabled U.S. companies like Intel to foster economic growth and innovation, ” Krzanich said in a statement. “Our factories support jobs — high-wage, high-tech manufacturing jobs that are the economic engines of the states where they are located.”Farhad Manjoo, columnist at The New York Times, tweeted; “As far as I can tell the decision had nothing to do with Trump, but they decided to announce with Trump. Why? There was no federal subsidy or any other credit. So it’s just a marketing decision to give Trump credit.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Intel To Invest $7 Billion in Factory in Arizona, Employ 3,000 People

Take a Free Digital Photography Class From Harvard

Photography isn’t as easy as many people assume, but you can learn the basics on your own . And if you need some structured lessons, this 12-module course from Harvard will teach you everything from exposure settings to reading histograms. Read more…

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Take a Free Digital Photography Class From Harvard