japan – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Coincheck loses $400 million in massive cryptocurrency heist

Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck just made history, and not in a good way. It has lost around $534 million worth of NEM tokens, one of the lesser-known cryptocurrencies, after its network was hacked on January 25th, 12:57pm EST. The attackers remained undetected for eight hours, giving them enough time to steal 523 million tokens kept in a “hot wallet, ” a type of storage that’s connected to the internet for easy spending. While the exact value of the stolen coins are unclear due to the ever-changing nature of cryptocurrency — it’s $400 million at the very least — Coincheck might have already lost more than what Mt. Gox did a few years ago. Mt. Gox, which was also based in Shibuya like Coincheck, was the victim of another massive cryptocurrency theft back in 2014. It lost between $400 and $480 million from the heist, prompting Japan’s legislators to pass a law to regulate bitcoin exchanges. Despite the comparable figures, Coincheck’s hack didn’t quite affect the market the way Mt. Gox did. Mt. Gox, after all, handled around 80 percent of Bitcoins back in the day when there weren’t a lot of exchanges yet. Also, affected Mt. Gox users didn’t get their money back. Coincheck suspended its trading and withdrawal for all cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin, but the company promised not to run from its customers. It said it will use its own money to reimburse all 260, 000 affected users, though it didn’t specify when it will start disbursing funds. Source: CoinDesk , BBC , Bloomberg

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Coincheck loses $400 million in massive cryptocurrency heist

US regulators charge three bitcoin operators with fraud

Today the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced that it has filed a federal civil enforcement action against three virtual currency operators. The details of one case remain sealed, but the other two companies facing charges are CabbageTech and Entrepreneurs Headquarters Ltd . The charges include fraud, misrepresentation, misappropriation and more, and are the first enforcement actions since the CFTC allowed trading bitcoin futures. Bitcoin has been on a rollercoaster recently. Its value has been in a freefall; two days ago, it tumbled below $10, 000, losing half of its peak value in less than one month . According to Coinbase , it’s risen a bit as of this writing. Bitcoin’s value is currently in the mid-$11, 000s. There are also fears that bitcoin and other cryptocurrency could threaten the security of the global economy; as a result, the US isn’t the only country taking action. China is moving toward an “orderly exit” from bitcoin mining because of its use of resources, as well as its affect on investors. Back in December, South Korea (which is the third largest market for cryptocurrency, after the US and Japan) banned all anonymous cryptocurrency accounts and enacted new regulations for monitoring exchanges. In a joint statement, the CTFC Enforcement Director and the Securities and Exchange Commision Enforcement Co-Directors made clear that the US government will be keeping a close eye on cryptocurrency action. “When market participants engage in fraud under the guise of offering digital instruments – whether characterized as virtual currencies, coins, tokens, or the like – the SEC and the CFTC will look beyond form, examine the substance of the activity and prosecute violations of the federal securities and commodities laws, ” they said in a joint statement. Via: Reuters Source: CFTC (1) , CFTC (2)

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US regulators charge three bitcoin operators with fraud

Toyota plans to offer more than 10 EV models by the early 2020s

Toyota recently hinted that it was finally ready to embrace pure electric cars , and now we have a better sense of what that commitment entails. The automaker has outlined its goals for low- and zero-emission cars in the next decade, and it expects to field “more than 10” EVs worldwide by the early 2020s, starting with China before spreading to markets like Europe, Japan and the US. And by 2025, every Toyota and Lexus will either be EV-only or have an electrified option like a hybrid or hydrogen fuel cell . Not that the company’s goals are especially ambitious. It hopes to have sold somewhere over 1 million zero-emission cars (either pure EVs or hydrogen models) by 2030, and 5.5 million with some kind of electric powerplant. That sounds like a lot, but it’s fairly modest in practice. Ford has said that it wants at least 10 percent of its sales to be EVs by 2020, while GM hopes to have 20 EVs on the market by 2023. And of course, Tesla may well beat Toyota’s numbers far in advance. There were roughly half a million Model 3 reservations by August , and that’s not including other EV models. Nonetheless, the targets are important. Even though Toyota is hedging its bets by making hydrogen a part of its future, it’s treating EVs as a significant part of its lineup. And when Toyota is clearly one of the world’s largest car brands, that’s bound to make an impact on what people drive. You may at least consider an electrified car where it wasn’t an option before. Source: Toyota

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Toyota plans to offer more than 10 EV models by the early 2020s

The U.S. vs. Japan Giant Robot Duel Finally Happened, and These Guys Aren’t Messing Around

We’ve been waiting for this international giant robot fight since 2015 , and this month it finally happened. To refresh your memory, American robotics firm MegaBots challenged Japan’s Suidobashi Heavy Industries to a mecha-vs.-mecha fight, the challenge was accepted, and trash-talking ensued. To be honest, I was a little worried that this duel was going to suck. I figured there’s no way these guys would actually deploy giant chainsaw swords and fire projectiles that could do any kind of actual damage, and I also thought that a concern for safety would limit the fighting tactics they’d use. I was wrong. These guys aren’t messing around. And during the two duels, the fear of the pilots inside the cockpits is palpable. I don’t want to spoil anything, and I’ve cut the video into the two duels. Here’s the first, which is practically over before it begins: Here’s the second, which is filled with some surprises and OH SHIT moments: I eagerly await the rematch!

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The U.S. vs. Japan Giant Robot Duel Finally Happened, and These Guys Aren’t Messing Around

China Plans 600 MPH Train To Rival Elon Musk’s Hyperloop

In addition to relaunching the world’s fastest bullet train, China is working on developing technology similar to Elon Musk’s Hyperloop, which will allow passengers to travel at speeds up to 4, 000 km/h (~2, 500 mph). The first stage of the company’s plan, however, will be to create a network of these “flying trains” operating at 1, 000 km/h (~600 mph). Shanghaiist reports: Earlier today, the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), one of the nation’s major space contractors, announced that it had begun research and development into a new, futuristic type of transport which would operate via supersonic “near ground flight.” The system would presumably be similar to that of the Hyperloop, proposed earlier this decade by Elon Musk, in which capsules would fly at ultrafast speeds down reduced-pressure tubes, dramatically reducing travel times. Of course, the CASIC isn’t looking to reach speeds of 4, 000 km/h right away. The first stage of the company’s plan will be to create an intercity network of these “flying trains” operating at 1, 000 km/h. In the second phase, this network would be extended and the max speed of the pods increased to 2, 000 km/h. Finally, in the third stage, the speed would be boosted all the way up to 4, 000 km/h — five times the speed of civil aviation aircraft today. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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China Plans 600 MPH Train To Rival Elon Musk’s Hyperloop

LG’s latest 4K monitor puts four displays in one 42.5-inch panel

LG’s Apple-flagship 5K monitor may have stumbled on its release , but the company’s newest display looks like it’ll cover all the bases in terms of sheer flexibility and screen real estate. The LG 43UD79-B, as it’s cleverly called, is a 42.5-inch UHD panel with a 3840 × 2160 resolution, plus a nice range of gaming and productivity-focused features. On it’s face, the 43UD79-B is an IPS panel with 1000:1 contrast ratio, wide 178-degree viewing angle and support for over 1.07 billion colors. Although its 60 Hz refresh rate won’t quite stack up against the latest gaming monitors, according to a press release from LG the 43UD79-B does boast a Game Mode, Black Stabilizer and Dynamic Action Sync mode. For gamers with Radeon GPUs , compatibility with AMD’s FreeSync dynamic refresh rate technology will also prevent screen tearing and visual stutters. Around back, you’ll find two HDMI 2.0 inputs, two HDMI 1.4 inputs, one DisplayPort 1.2a port with FreeSync and a USC-C port that can also handle a DisplayPort signal. With all those ports, the monitor can act as a screen for up to four different devices simultaneously, using a variety of split-screen configurations and picture-in-picture support. Using the two standard USB 3.0 ports, the monitor can also control two computers from a single mouse and keyboard. Finally, with two built-in Harman Kardon speakers and an included remote control, the panel could easily double as a 42.5-inch 4K TV once all the spreadsheets are closed. According to AnandTech , the 43UD79-B goes on sale in Japan on May 19th for about 83, 000 Yen (or about $745 US), but pre-order pages have started showing up stateside for a hair under $700 .

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LG’s latest 4K monitor puts four displays in one 42.5-inch panel

The Great Japan Potato-Chip Crisis: Panic Buying, $12 Bags

Demand for potato chips has surged in Japan this week, with products on offer for 6 times their retail price online after Japanese snack company Calbee halted the sale of some of its most popular chip brands. From a report: Calbee’s pizza-flavored chips were going for about 1, 250 yen ($12) on Yahoo Japan Corp.’s auction website Friday. One bag usually sells for less than 200 yen. Photos of near-empty shelves at their local supermarkets were trending on Twitter. The crunch came after Calbee warned on Monday that it will temporarily halt the sale of 15 types of potato chips due to a bad crop in Hokkaido, a key potato-producing region. The northern island was hit by a record number of typhoons last year. Calbee, which has a market value of 507.9 billion yen and is 20 percent-owned by PepsiCo Inc., has a 73 percent market share of potato chips. Potato chips are a big deal in Japan, a country also known for its senbei rice crackers and Pocky sticks. Calbee’s potato-snack products were the most and second-most popular snacks in a TV Asahi poll of 10, 000 people and 13 confectionery makers last year, and the subject of a primetime show that lasted more than two hours. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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The Great Japan Potato-Chip Crisis: Panic Buying, $12 Bags

Sony’s new superthin E Ink tablet costs just $700

Despite being the only horse in the niche race, Sony continues to develop E Ink devices. The company has tried to sell higher-end professionals on edit-friendly displays since it released the 13.3-inch Digital Paper in 2014, which cost a whopping $1, 100. The latest version , DPT-RP1, incrementally improves on its predecessors. But its $700 price tag might still be hard to stomach for a device ultimately trying to out-value regular paper. The new Digital Paper keeps the 13.3-inch size but boosts the resolution from 1200 x 1600 dots to 1650 x 2200 dots. It’s also lighter and thinner, with new quirks like using NFC to unlock. Unfortunately, the model still only reads PDFs. But Sony is also pairing it with a Digital Paper App for desktop that converts websites and documents to PDF form and sends them wirelessly to the DPT-RP1. You’ll have to ping the edited documents back to the hub computer to upload them to the cloud, though, as the device doesn’t appear to have that capability. While Sony’s slowly driven the price down, knocking $100 off later in 2014 before reaching its current $700 price point, it’s still an expensive way to mark up PDFs. And it’s no longer the only E Ink-editing game in town, with startup reMarkable’s E Ink device launching last fall. But with the latter still honing its prototypes, at least the latest Digital Paper will almost certainly come out soon. It’s scheduled to go on sale in Japan on June 5th. Via: The Verge Source: Sony

Japan’s Scientists Believe They’ll Be the First to Reach Earth’s Mantle

Once again, scientists are looking inward to explore the next frontier. Researchers at Japan’s Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) announced this week that an excavation is planned in which the team will attempt to successfully drill all the way through Earth’s crust for the first time in history. Read more…

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Japan’s Scientists Believe They’ll Be the First to Reach Earth’s Mantle

Uber exec accused of stealing from Google made $120M while working on the side

Anthony Levandowski giving a presentation in Japan in 2011, when he worked for Google. (credit: shinnygogo ) New legal filings in the Waymo v. Uber litigation lay out more of Google’s allegations against ex-Googler Anthony Levandowski, who now heads up Uber’s self-driving car unit. According to a Google document filed in court yesterday, Levandowski created “competing side businesses” as early as 2012 while he was still working for Google. That’s when Levandowski is said to have incorporated a company called Odin Wave LLC, with a physical address at a building he owned in Berkeley, California. Odin Wave submitted an order to a hardware maker asking for a “customer-fabricated part” similar to what Google used in its self-driving cars. Google employees investigated Odin Wave, noted the connections to Levandowski, and questioned the engineer about it, but Levandowski denied having any ownership, according to Google lawyers. Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments