elexonic

[elexonic]

In the first week of February, “thousands of executives” will attend MicroStrategy’s digital “Bitcoin for Corporations” conference with the intention of investing. According to CEO Michael Saylor, Bitcoin will replace gold as well as bonds, the S&P 500, and even the Dow as the primary currency index. MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor is undoubtedly the biggest Bitcoin bull in the market right now. Not only did the CEO…

[elexonic]

By Viktor Katona of Oilprice.com January 2021 is still far from over yet the pages of Oilprice already boast 6 articles about Guyana being the hottest drilling spot in the world. This is hardly surprising, considering the hot streak that ExxonMobil had over the past 5 years, with new companies coming in and stepping up the drilling game. The interest globally attributed to Guyana has aggravated…

[elexonic]

Happy New Year Elexonic

[elexonic]

THE AR/VR ECOSYSTEM — ARE WE THERE YET?

Digi-Capital’s virtual and augmented reality forecast is for global revenue to grow from over $13 billion this year to more than $67 billion by 2024. Yet today’s market is still evolving beyond its early stage of offering related point solutions to specific problems, to becoming a fully functioning ecosystem in its own right. Different parts of the market are moving at different rates, with many shifting pieces to the puzzle.

https://elexonic.com/2020/08/02/the-ar-vr-ecosystem-are-we-there-yet/

[elexonic]

THE 5G CORONAVIRUS CONSPIRACY THEORY HAS TAKEN A DARK TURN

Mobile phone masts in the UK are still being attacked by arsonists on a daily basis because of a conspiracy theory linking 5G to the spread of coronavirus. New data seen by WIRED UK reveals that dozens of attacks have taken place in the last fortnight, with conspiracy theorists targeting both infrastructure and key workers in the misguided belief that they are somehow spreading coronavirus. In one incident, a broadband engineer was spat at in the face by an enraged member of the public. The engineer is now ill with suspected coronavirus.

Wired UK

This story originally appeared on WIRED UK.

Since March 30, there have been 77 arson attacks on mobile phone masts across the UK, with staff working on mobile infrastructure also reporting 180 incidents of abuse. There have been 13 additional incidents of sabotage reported, ranging from failed arson attacks to attempts to damage mobile network infrastructure in other ways. From April 20 through May 5, more than a week after the supposed peak of attacks in early April, there were 16 arson or sabotage attacks on mobile phone masts. When failed or attempted attacks are added to the tally, that number increases to 74.

The figures from the mobile phone sector are mirrored by Openreach, which is responsible for maintaining much of the UK’s broadband infrastructure. The company has recorded 63 incidents of abuse directed towards its staff while out working since April 1, with conspiracy theorists often filming such encounters while shouting and swearing at terrified key workers. Footage of these confrontations is then shared on social media. In the last two weeks of April, Openreach recorded 20 incidents of this nature.

https://elexonic.com/2020/05/09/the-5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-has-taken-a-dark-turn/

[elexonic]

DOCTORS ARE TESTING WHETHER ESTROGEN COULD HELP MEN FIGHT COVID-19

More men than women have fallen severely ill or died from COVID-19, and now two clinical trials will probe whether sex hormone differences might explain the trend, The New York Times reported.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic first emerged in China, men around the world have been more likely to require intensive medical care or die from the disease than women, according to the Times report. For instance, men make up about 75% of the COVID-19 patients in intensive care or on ventilators at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Dr. Sara Ghandehari, a pulmonologist and intensive care physician, told the Times. And as of early April, infected men in New York City were dying at about twice the rate of infected women, according to NPR.

The trend may be related to the high prevalence of heart and lung conditions in men, who also generally smoke cigarettes, consume alcohol and are exposed to outdoor air pollution at higher rates than women, Sarah Hawkes, professor of global public health at University College London, told NPR on an episode of Morning Edition. In addition to these factors, though, “there’s quite a lot of good evidence that … female immune systems are essentially a lot stronger,” she added.

https://elexonic.com/2020/04/27/doctors-are-testing-whether-estrogen-could-help-men-fight-covid-19/

[elexonic]

RESEARCHERS UNCOVER THE ART OF PRINTING EXTREMELY HARD STEELS FLAWLESSLY

For millennia, metallurgists have been meticulously tweaking the ingredients of steel to enhance its properties. As a result, several variants of steel exist today; but one type, called martensitic steel, stands out from its steel cousins as stronger and more cost-effective to produce. Hence, martensitic steels naturally lend themselves to applications in the aerospace, automotive and defense industries, among others, where high-strength, lightweight parts need to be manufactured without boosting the cost.

However, for these and other applications, the metals have to be built into complex structures with minimal loss of strength and durability. Researchers from Texas A&M University, in collaboration with scientists in the Air Force Research Laboratory, have now developed guidelines that allow 3-D printing of martensitic steels into very sturdy, defect-free objects of nearly any shape.

https://elexonic.com/2020/04/20/researchers-uncover-the-art-of-printing-extremely-hard-steels-flawlessly/

[elexonic]

The world is facing an unprecedented challenge with communities and economies everywhere affected by the growing COVID-19 pandemic. The world is coming together to combat the COVID-19 pandemic bringing governments, organizations from across industries and sectors and individuals together to help respond to this global outbreak. The outpouring of global solidarity and support sparked by this shared challenge has been phenomenal.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is leading and coordinating the global effort, supporting countries to prevent, detect, and respond to the pandemic.

Everyone can now support directly the response coordinated by WHO. People and organizations who want to help fight the pandemic and support WHO and partners can now donate through the COVID-Solidarity Response Fund for WHO at www.COVID19ResponseFund.org.

https://elexonic.com/2020/04/13/covid-19-solidarity-response-fund/

Support fundraising efforts

You can donate now:

HELP FIGHT CORONAVIRUS

Swiss Philanthropy Foundation

Bitcoin wallet: 1Q3y3KKybXkXSnys86ri3a1U1oucdAWdPS

Credit Card donation

United Nations Foundation on Facebook

Donate with Google

Supporters of the COVID-19

[elexonic]

IS THERE A CRYPTO CONNECTION?

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, recently posted a video urging the public not to rush to banks for cash withdrawals. Does this relate to crypto?

“Your money is safe at the banks,” FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams said in a video posted on Twitter by the government agency. “The last thing you should be doing is pulling your money out of the banks now, thinking that it’s going to be safer someplace else.”

“When I first watched the video, I thought it was from SNL [Saturday Night Live] or The Onion – that’s how ridiculous it is,” Wilshire Phoenix CEO Bill Herrmann told Cointelegraph in an April 6 email.

The FDIC came into play after the Great Depression

During the Great Depression, people rushed to their banks, withdrawing as much money as they could, out of fear. This left banks with an inadequate amount of cash to pay out customers.

Since the FDIC’s inception in 1933, McWilliams said no one has lost any of their FDIC-insured capital. Near the end of her video statement, she urged people to keep their funds in a bank insured by the agency.

https://elexonic.com/2020/04/12/is-there-a-crypto-connection/

[elexonic]

IBM PRAISES CEO FOR PLAYING A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN BLOCKCHAIN DEVELOPMENT

In a letter to the shareholders, IBM has acknowledged that one of the main achievements of the new CEO is the expansion of its blockchain business.

The document notes that its technology portfolio is “built for the future”, with blockchain being one of the technologies underpinning this belief. It denotes IBM as:

“…a leader in hybrid cloud, data and AI, security, blockchain, enterprise services”.

Discussing the recent appointment of the new CEO, it notes that Arvind Krishna:

“Played a significant role in developing IBM key technologies: artificial intelligence, cloud, quantum computing & blockchain”.

Blockchain is revenue multiplier

Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) plays an important role in IBM’s offering. Although, there is no information about how much revenue it generates for the company. It was previously reported that blockchain technology is a significant driver of the company’s cloud revenue:

“When you look at the direct attribution of the actual dollars spent on blockchain, we are seeing that for every dollar spent, $15 is spent on other cloud services.”

IN 2019, IBM’s cloud offering generated more than $21 billion in revenue, which is over 27% of the company’s total revenue.

IBM was a major contributor to Hyperledger Fabric and has been involved in the Blockchain space since the community’s earliest days.

https://elexonic.com/2020/04/04/ibm-praises-ceo-for-playing-a-significant-role-in-blockchain-development/

[elexonic]

The coronavirus outbreak reached a somber milestone in the U.S. on Thursday (March 26) — the nation now has more coronavirus cases than any other country in the world.

There are now at least 82,174 cases of the new coronavirus disease, COVID-19, in the United States, according to worldometer, a website that tracks coronavirus cases. That’s higher than the case count in either Italy (which has  80,589 cases) or China (which has 81,285 cases).

Nearly half of all U.S. coronavirus cases are in New York, which has reported more than 37,700 cases.

Just a few days ago, the World Health Organization warned that the U.S. had the potential to become the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.

U.S. coronavirus cases have soared in recent weeks — at the beginning of March, the county had reported only about 100 cases total, according to worldometer.

Coronavirus cases in China, where the outbreak began, initially increased rapidly, but leveled off after about Feb. 20.

https://elexonic.com/2020/03/27/us-is-new-epicenter-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic/

[elexonic]

After five days of negotiations, Senate leaders and the Trump administration the White House said early Wednesday morning that Senate leaders and the Trump administration have reached a deal on a $2 trillion stimulus package to help relieve the economic impact of COVID-19.

https://elexonic.com/2020/03/25/senate-white-house-reach-deal-on-2-trillion-stimulus-package-to-lessen-covid-19s-economic-impact-techcrunch/

[elexonic]

In the fight against the lung disease COVID-19 caused by the corona virus, a newly developed Cuban drug has proven itself in China. But so far, hardly any notice has been taken of it in western latitudes.

China’s President Xi Jinping recently thanked his Cuban counterpart Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel for supporting the socialist island nation in combating lung disease COVID-19 in China “through preventive and control measures.”

https://elexonic.com/2020/03/23/cuban-drug-proves-itself-in-the-fight-against-corona-virus/

[elexonic]

First, there were property rents. Then came interests. As modern civilization evolves, people always find new ways to earn money without actually producing, or even doing all that much. This concept is today known as “passive income.” Technological progress also expanded the meaning of passive income. Today, people can claim YouTube advertisement revenues, dropshipping and even creating online courses as their favorite way to earn passive…

https://elexonic.com/2020/03/22/passive-income-in-crypto-is-the-new-way-to-earn/

https://unity.money/

[elexonic]

America is in a haze right now. It seems like half the country is in denial of the danger while the other half is awaking from apathy and frantically trying to prepare. This is creating a fog of confusion as one side screams “it’s nothing but the flu, stop buying up the grocery store…!”, and the other side just keeps stocking goods, though in an inexperienced way that prioritizes comfort over practicality.

https://elexonic.com/2020/03/21/from-quarantine-to-tyranny-to-rebellion-where-is-the-line-in-the-sand/

[elexonic]

Japanese and Taiwanese epidemiologists and pharmacologists have determined that the new coronavirus could have originated in the US since that country is the only one known to have all five types – from which all others must have descended. Wuhan in China has only one of those types, rendering it in analogy as a kind of “branch” which cannot exist by itself but must have grown…

[elexonic]

Paging MacGyver As more and more parts of the world find themselves in total or at least partial lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic, many people have been unsure what, if any, outdoor excursions are permitted. Just to be safe, a man in Cyprus decided to use his drone to make sure his pet dog still got its exercise without venturing out himself, according to the New…