In my most recent from April, I said computation for blockchain processes — such as for NFT transactions — use exorbitant energy. That translates to a carbon footprint and environmental damage (exacerbating climate change, pollution), but is it really how things are? Just now, I did a search for terms…

Late 2021. Facebook changes its name to Meta. FB had acquired Oculus as covered in a serious Zuckerberg, Gary Vee interview. Focus is shifting to Web 3 and metaverse projects. Twitter now supports NFT avatars. Apple to add crypto payments feature. Alphabet (Google) planning AR…

What I really wanted to do was write about why crypto prices are low despite all the interest and demand. Crypto prices are lowered again today due to the correlation with stock prices. Why? Because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. If you don’t believe me, here is a screen…

Part one looked at workings of Web 2.0. Relating to media and information, it’s a top-down structure. Content and access are subject to a lot of filters and bureaucracy spanning advertising, service providers, govt agencies and the purview of tech corps like Google. Cable News is an example of the…

On March 30th, an NFT was sold by Time Inc. for magazine cover art from the 1950s for 1.35 Ether ($249,196). This was via SuperRare.co, where Time has other listings for covers that have sold for similar sums. https://superrare.co/artwork-v2/time-space-exploration---january-19th,-1959-22480 Backstory and definitions for Non Fungible Tokens are best found elsewhere…

I’ve played Cyberpunk 2077 on Google Stadia, and it’s amazing. Stadia is one of the platforms it runs very well on because it’s a streaming service not requiring the latest hardware. Seriously, it is very good. A futuristic Grand Theft Auto with a deep story. You can fully customize your…

Not ‘the’ CIA just CIA, which is part of their rebranding introduced in January. A good overview of the rebrand is in this piece on Ad Age. It has a decidedly urban hipster feel, emphasizes diversity, and has been likened to iconography used in pop-up shops. I think it looks…

Ministry of Truth is from Orwell’s 1984. The main character worked there. His job was to propagandize information, such as by altering records to match the the ruling party’s official messaging. The context of the story is an oppressive government that surveils everyone’s life very intensely and and uses slogans…