Crypto currencies (in short: cryptos) are not an entirely new phenomenon — we’re almost a decade in — but they are still not as ubiquitous as e.g. bread and butter and so there is a plethora of one-eyed in the kingdom of the blind who make a living of informing “the masses” about the marvelous unknown land of crypto. Snake oil is pouring by the gallons and forming a very slippery slope.

We, the PoC Consortium, are a group of computer scientists, mathematicians, engineers and executives. Many of us are past their 30s or 40s, so we can add a little experience to our formal education.

Last August we decided to invest our knowledge, experience and time to further develop a crypto named Burstcoin into what we believe a global, and future-proof crypto should look like. Burstcoin was at the time in a bad shape and long story short, 10 months later Burstcoin is in an excellent shape and we’re working now towards its perfection.

There are of course other — formidable — development teams we highly respect and who we consider both skilled and versed. Other than that the crypto world as whole is full of young, enthusiastic and ultimately naïve people. No worries, we know we were naïve too. In the 90s, when e.g. Linux was a hype as crypto is today. Naivety passes in time and often the older ones help you to overcome it.

So let’s get to the topic of this post. The so called Crypto “Experts”. The one-eyed in the kingdom of the blind. It gets problematic when these people have aspirations to become influencers. There are way too many of them to name, you can find them on YouTube, Hackernoon, LinkedIn and of course even here on Medium.

One such guy is Josh Constine (and sorry Josh, but you asked for it) a young “technology journalist” with a Master’s degree in Cybersociology, examining the influence of technology on social interaction. Ok.

The PoC Consortium’s social interaction with Josh, Editor-at-Large at Techcrunch happened when we read up his article “Chia versus Bitcoin” — the usual pre-fabricated text how the vaporware Chia will save the world from the energy requirements of Bitcoin. While the topic of energy efficiency is a valid one, the claims of Chia aren’t. Also, for any respectable writer, one would assume him to do some research first and when it comes to Proof-of-Space (better: Proof-of-Capacity PoC, as PoS is taken by Proof-of-Stake already) and to find out there is already a PoC coin since 2014: Burstcoin

We tweeted Josh about being puzzled how he managed to write about Chia and its marvelous all-new Proof-of-Capacity proposal without mentioning Burstcoin.

And with this, the matter should have been put ad acta, Josh should have thought about his quality standards and we all would have enjoyed future more-quality articles. Unfortunately this is not what seems to have happened. It seems, Cybersociology went sideways, maybe writers vanity struck. So Josh formally accepted our suggestion and edited the text.

Now the fellow reader may excuse our overly use of screenshots, but it seems necessary to preserve content in this highly volatile and easy-to-delete digital world. Joshs modification was

And now it got really interesting, because what Josh did was not only an omission of facts, now he was right out spreading false facts a.k.a. FUD

The link leading to http://cryptoverse.wikia.com/wiki/Proof-of-capacitywhich mentions several cryptos allegedly using Proof of Capacity (among them the still nonexistent Chia) and mentions in the “Cons” to Proof-of-Capacity

And this is important to know, it’s mentioned there as a con to the whole “Proof-of-Capacity” concept, not specifically Burst. The rabbit hole goes deeper. As you can see [3][4] there are two links. These unfold to

showing a Bram Cohen (guy behind Chia) speaking. And (after some redirections)

The readers still with us, may observe “Proof of Stake FAQ” there. Nothing to do with Proof of Capacity.

Short break and recapitulation. Josh, Editor-at-large is pointed to the fact of having omitted mention of the Proof-of-Capacity coin — Burstcoin — and in some understandable, but still low, reaction of his “I’ll show you”, he adds that mention with “some developers [sic: plural] consider it [specifically] sustainable to grinding attacks”

Very low Josh and it will cost you a little of your reputation.

If anyone takes their time to actually look through that Video and even if one leaves aside the fact that theres “The Chia guy” speaking, one may find out he actually speaks of so-called nothing at stake problems. An inherent problem to Proof-Of-Stake.

If one was even deeper into the matter, which Josh clearly isn’t, one would have found the SpaceMint research paper which is one of the conceptual forefathers of Chia and which explicitly mentions Burstcoin not being susceptible to grinding attacks.

If one was even deeper into the matter, one would see a so-called “time-memory trade off” susceptibility of Burstcoin mentioned, which — hallelujah — has been taken care of in the last hard fork.

Executive Summary: Beware the one-eyed ones pissing snake oil in your eyes to keep you blind.

Reproduced with permission of the PoC Consortium. Originally published at www.medium.com

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Twitter’s life as a publicly listed company has been short, and bitter for the major part. The San Fransisco, California-based micro-blogging company listed at a market cap of nearly $25B, which was called expensive at the time of the IPO. Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) immediately proved the naysayers wrong, gaining 60% in just 2 months following the IPO. However, the $39.3B valuation was the peak and the ride thereafter has pretty much been downhill. The Micro-blogging platform is today valued at a  market cap of $10.6B, down 58% from its listing valuation and 73% from the post-IPO peak. That’s been Twitter’s story, and it isn’t going to get better anytime soon. The future for TWTR stock looks just as bleak as the past, if not worse. Here is why we would be wary of buying into the micro-blogging platform even at these seemingly ‘cheap’ or ‘beaten-down’ prices.

The company has delivered little to justify valuations.

At the time of its listing, Twitter was valued at a whopping 44.8x its trailing twelve month (TTM) revenue of $534.5M, and the company has achieved little to justify those lofty valuations. Yes, the company has managed to grow its top line at a rate of 56% YoY, but that growth hasn’t dripped down to the bottom line. (Also, growth in recent quarters has dropped to single digits, which is worrisome.) Twitter continues to bleed money, with the company having reported a net loss of $456.9M in FY 2016. Not surprisingly, the TWTR PS ratio has dropped to sub-5 levels, with Twitter stock currently quoting at 4.14x its TTM sales. However, it is hard to justify even these valuations, given Twitter’s bleeding bottom line. The only time Twitter valuations look attractive is when you compare against Snapchat. And well, this isn’t saying much, given that Snapchat enjoys insane valuations which are far from sustainable. All in all, topline growth is the biggest positive Twitter has delivered in the three years since its IPO. Is that good enough? Well, not good enough to justify the lofty valuations.

The emergence of the biggest competitor.

The fundamentals of Twitter are just one-half of the story. And, while the micro-blogging platform has been taking steps to rectify the sorry state of the fundamentals, the story could have gotten just a bit more scary on another front: competition. In fact, the emergence of a new competitor could bring into question Twitter’s status as the number one micro-blogging network. Yes, you read that right. As per various news sources, Mastodon, a relatively new micro-blogging platform founded by 24-year-old Eugen Rochko, is the latest challenger to Twitter’s ‘cult status’ among micro-bloggers. And, people are starting to take notice. According to Jack Morse from Mashable, Mastodon is “an underdog with serious spunk.” Comparing the two networks, Morse writes that the increasingly popular social network delivers a Twitter-equivalent micro-blogging experience, but with better privacy controls.

Read the full story at AmigoBulls.com

The post Can Mastodon Bring Down Twitter? Maybe and Here’s How! appeared first on OzMedia.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the “Ultrasound Market – Forecast to 2021” report to their offering.

The ultrasound market is expected to reach USD 6.86 billion by 2021 at a CAGR of 5.2% during 2016-2021. North America and Europe held the largest share of the market in 2016; however, the Asia-Pacific region is poised to be the fastest growing region during the next five years owing to factors such as rising incidence of chronic and infectious diseases, increase in awareness related to advanced diagnostic and therapeutic ultrasound, and continuously rising healthcare expenditure.

Market growth in the global market is mainly driven by factors such as technological advancements in ultrasound devices; prevalence of targeted diseases; preference for minimally invasive procedures; growing public-private investments, funding, & grants; rising and birth rate/fertility rate especially among emerging countries. In addition, emerging markets (such as China and India) are offering new growth opportunities for ultrasound market players.

The ultrasound market is fairly competitive, with a large number of global and local manufacturers of ultrasound products. General Electric Company (U.S.), Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Netherlands), and Toshiba Corporation (Japan) were the top three players in the market in 2015. Product launches, approvals, & product enhancements; agreements, partnerships, & collaborations; and geographic expansions were the major strategies adopted by most of the market players to achieve growth in the market during 2013-2016.

Companies Mentioned

• Analogic Corporation
• Esaote S.P.A.
• Fujifilm Holdings Corporation
• General Electric Company
• Hitachi Ltd.
• Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Mindray Medical International Ltd.
• Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Shimadzu Corporation
• Siemens AG
• Toshiba Corporation

Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction

2 Research Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Premium Insights

5 Market Overview

6 Industry Insights

7 Ultrasound Market, By Technology

8 Ultrasound Market, By Device Display

9 Ultrasound Market, By Device Portability

10 Ultrasound Market, By Application

11 Ultrasound Market, By End User

12 Ultrasound Market, By Region

13 Competitive Landscape

14 Company Profiles

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/kq2ml3/ultrasound_market

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“We are thrilled to receive this recognition from IAOP,” says Scott Stavretis, Acquire CEO. “Being named as one of the world’s best outsourcing providers  demonstrates our ongoing commitment to provide an offshore advantage to our clients by connecting them with skilled people globally.”

The judging cemented Acquire BPO on the 2017 Global Outsourcing® 100 list of companies that involved a rigorous scoring methodology, including an independent review by a panel of IAOP customer members with extensive experience in selecting outsourcing service providers.

“Buyers understand there are hundreds of qualified service providers and advisors out there, but what they really need to understand is what makes each one exceptional,” says Debi Hamill, IAOP CEO. “The Global Outsourcing 100 and World’s Best Advisors lists have done just that. We are proud to recognize Acquire BPO for being among the highest rated companies in size and growth.”

Check out the full list here:

About Acquire BPO

Acquire BPO is a global business outsourcer headquartered in Australia and with locations in the United States, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic. With a workforce of 7,000 people, Acquire provides a suite of contact center and back office services for clients across many industries including telecommunications, banking and financial services, insurance, media, education and retail. With a strong focus on culture, Acquire has built a team that is passionate about service excellence and innovation—developing and leveraging some of the latest technologies to ensure its clients are at the forefront of their industries.

About IAOP

IAOP is the go‐to association leading the way to improve outsourcing outcomes by bringing together customers, providers and advisors in a collaborative, knowledge‐based environment that promotes professional development, recognition, certification and excellence. With over 120,000 members and affiliates worldwide, IAOP is not only on top of the latest trends but in front of them. Through its expansive global chapter network, premier training and certification programs, knowledge center, member community and more, IAOP helps members learn, grow and succeed. For more information and how you can become involved, visit www.IAOP.com.

Follow Acquire BPO at www.facebook/AcquireBPO and twitter.com/AcquireBPO.

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Donation Point Tap will launch at the ACOSS (Australian Council of Social Service) Expo on 17^th November 2016 and will provide not for profit organisations with the opportunity to offer innovative card acceptance options for fundraising.

Quest Chief Executive, Jan Mason says that Donation Point Tap provides charities with a new channel that independently accepts donations directly without increasing staffing or administration requirements.

Only 500 devices could mean as much as $7,000,000+ in collections

‘We are very excited about the arrival of Donation Point Tap, which was developed to help charities address a decline in their cash-based donation revenues.  By offering a solution that makes donating possible for everyday consumers using contactless payments, we’re helping charities to turn this around’.  

This innovation comes from problems charities are facing, in their inability to accept donations directly.

‘Donation Point Tap provides a new channel for receiving donations that is easy to use and reduces the costs of collecting.  Donation collection can be challenging, managing volunteer networks is time-consuming and using third party charity collectors can reduce the actual campaign dollars received by charities,’ says Jan.

Donation Point Tap combines Quest’s mobile payments technology with a custom designed and branded contactless device that attracts potential donors to the charity’s brand.  The donation amount is configured by the charity, and donors can simply tap their card or NFC-capable mobile phone to make a donation for the pre-set amount.

Funds are transferred electronically to the charity’s bank account each business day, and donation configuration and reporting can be managed by the charity through Quest’s online web portal.

Quest’s Director of Sales and Marketing, Damien Halloran says that Quest is delighted to provide a product that has the potential to transform fundraising.

‘Donation Point Tap has been designed to address a fundraising issue identified by charities we have been involved with.  It is essential to stay relevant when competing for the charity dollar and meet the changing expectations of potential donors.  Accepting card Donations solves this problem by providing the latest contactless technology to reduce reliance on cash donations that also opens up a new channel of opportunity for charities.’

Donation Point Tap removes that barrier of ‘no spare change’ making it easy for anyone to donate using a contactless card or mobile.

The post Charity Donation TAP System Set to Shake-up Collections in Australia appeared first on OzMedia.

Now in their 24th year, the Telstra Business Awards showcase and celebrate the achievements of the state’s most brilliant small and medium sized businesses. As one of Australia’s leading student management software providers, aXcelerate has been recognised for it’s dedication to the training industry and it’s development of a breakthrough e-learning integration aimed at providing training organisations with more accessible e-learning content.

aXcelerate was initially developed as an internal system for the company VM Learning, which specialises in delivering professional development and accredited training courses across Australia. The system was built to assist VM Learning manage and organise their training coordination and government requirements. However, the company made the executive decision to commercialise this system when Managing Director Reay Mackay, realised there no current system on the market like VM’s; a system which can facilitate the management, government reporting and coordination of running a training company.

aXcelerate was launched in 2009 and was defined by Reay Mackay as a ‘leap of faith’, because despite having 20 plus years experience in the training industry and faith in their product, VM Learning had little to no experience in selling software. However, after careful research, product development and an unrelenting commitment to customer service, aXcelerate has more than doubled it’s market share, acquired global clients such as Cotton On and Audi and made significant traction within the e-learning sphere.

During the last year aXcelerate have become an official partner of Rustici Software, who have created the latest specification for learning technology; the Tin Can API. The Tin Can API has been defined as the ‘next generation e-learning standard’ because of it’s ability to collect data from a wider range of learning experiences a person has (both online and offline). Very different systems used for learning purposes such as simulations, virtual worlds, mobile learning, experiential learning and games are all able to be recognised, captured and shared via the Tin Can API on smart phones, tablets and desktops.

The integration aXcelerate have developed with Tin Can API, enables training companies to launch Tin Can compliant e-learning courseware directly from aXcelerate and aXcelerate is one of the first Australian companies to partner with and utilise this technology. This integration removes the need for training companies to go through an external learning management system to build e-learning content, saving them significant time and money. More importantly, the flexibility in the types of e-learning the Tin Can API provides, ensures that a greater variety of content can be developed to suit the unique learning needs and capabilities of students.

Reay Mackay says the aXcelerate team are honoured to be included in the Telstra Small Business category.

“We feel aXcelerate is now emerging as a market leader and is now able to make significant contributions to the e-learning space within Australia; to win the Telstra Small Business award would not only reward our team’s hard work but also cement this leader status.

The award recognition will also assist greatly in both our promotional efforts and furthering aXcelerate growth,” he said.

Winners of the 2016 Telstra Queensland Business Awards will be announced on Friday 15th of July, at the Brisbane City Hall.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Media Contact: Emily Harris
Communications Coordinator, aXcelerate
Email: emily.harris@axcelerate.com.au
(07) 3215 8888

For additional background information, please visit the aXcelerate and VM Learning websites.
aXcelerate: http://www.axcelerate.com.au/
VM Learning: http://www.vmlearning.com.au/
Rustici Software: http://rusticisoftware.com/

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