cryptocurrencies

“Opportunities for Education in the Metaverse” [Downes] + “What Should Higher Ed in the Metaverse Look Like?” [Schaefer]

On 05/20/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, accessibility / UDL, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), Canada, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, cryptocurrencies, digital learning, distance education, education, education technology, emerging technologies, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, interaction design, interactivity, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, Metaverse, Mixed Reality (MR), MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, presentations, professional development, remote teaching and learning, trends, United States, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, web-based collaboration, Web3, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Opportunities for Education in the Metaverse — from downes.ca by Stephen Downes

Excerpt:

This short presentation introduces major elements of the metaverse, outlines some applications for education, discusses how it may be combined with other technologies for advanced applications, and outlines some issues and concerns.

Also relevant/see:

What Should Higher Ed in the Metaverse Look like? – from linkedin.com by Joe Schaefer

Excerpt:

The Metaverse is coming whether we like it or not, and it is time for educators to think critically about how it can benefit students. As higher education continues to evolve, I believe every learning product and platform working with or within the Metaverse should, at least, have these functionalities:

Addendum on 5/23/22:

Gensler warns as crypto crashes: ‘The public is not protected’ [Pimentel]

On 05/20/2022, in business, cryptocurrencies, economics, legislatures / government / legal, United States, by Daniel Christian

Gensler warns as crypto crashes: ‘The public is not protected’ — from protocol.com by Benjamin Pimentel
The SEC chair had sounded alarms about crypto’s risks, and now those risks are in plain sight.

Excerpt:

SEC Chair Gary Gensler warned Congress Wednesday that consumers and investors are vulnerable in an increasingly volatile crypto market now reeling from a sharp downturn.

Citing the recent collapse in the crypto market’s value, Gensler said, “This is a field that is now worth $1.2 trillion. Two weeks ago it was supposedly worth $2 trillion.”

“The public is not protected,” he testified at a House Appropriations Committee hearing on the proposed budget for the SEC and the FTC. “They don’t have the disclosures from these entrepreneurs.”

From DSC:
A topic for personal finance courses? Economics courses?

Radar trends to watch: April 2022 — from oreillky.com by Mike Loukides
Developments in Programming, Biology, Hardware, and More

5 Digital Transformation Themes for Higher Education — from
Explore key topics and event recordings from our latest deep dive into Digital Transformation in Higher Education.

The semiconductor decade: A trillion-dollar industry — from mckinsey.com by Ondrej Burkacky, Julia Dragon, and Nikolaus Lehmann

Drilling down into individual subsegments, about 70 percent of growth is predicted to be driven by just three industries: automotive, computation and data storage, and wireless.

Addendum later on 4/8/22:

10 Legal Tech Trends for 2022 and Beyond…with Thought Leaders’ Insights! — from netdocuments.com

Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mechanism is a climate disaster. Environmental groups have a fix. [Roach]

On 04/06/2022, in Blockchain, cryptocurrencies, geography / geology, by Daniel Christian

Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mechanism is a climate disaster. Environmental groups have a fix. — from protocol.com by Sarah Roach
Ending proof of work would cut bitcoin’s carbon footprint by an estimated 99%.

Excerpt:

If bitcoin could just cool it with the whole “using copious amounts of energy to mine magic internet money” thing, that’d be great. That’s the message some environmental groups are putting out there as part of a new campaign pressuring the bitcoin community to clean up its act with a code change.

Greenpeace USA, Environmental Working Group and other organizations began a campaign called #ChangeTheCode this week in an attempt to turn up the heat on bitcoin investors. The cryptocurrency currently relies on a proof-of-work process that puts miners in competition with each other. That mechanism is used by miners to confirm and record crypto transactions, providing a greater level of security, but it also takes a heavy climate toll due to the amount of energy used and the associated carbon emissions. There are other options, including proof of stake, that use vastly less energy.

Technology Trends for 2022 — from oreilly.com
What O’Reilly Learning Platform Usage Tells Us About Where the Industry Is Headed

Excerpt:

It’s been a year since our last report on the O’Reilly learning platform. Last year we cautioned against a “horse race” view of technology. That caution is worth remembering: focus on the horse race and the flashy news and you’ll miss the real stories. While new technologies may appear on the scene suddenly, the long, slow process of making things that work rarely attracts as much attention. We start with an explosion of fantastic achievements that seem like science fiction—imagine, GPT-3 can write stories!—but that burst of activity is followed by the process of putting that science fiction into production, of turning it into real products that work reliably, consistently, and fairly. AI is making that transition now; we can see it in our data. But what other transitions are in progress? What developments represent new ways of thinking, and what do those ways of thinking mean? What are the bigger changes shaping the future of software development and software architecture? This report is about those transitions.

O’Reilly Answers
We’re very excited about O’Reilly Answers, the newest product on the platform. Answers is an intelligent search that takes users directly to relevant content, whether that’s a paragraph from a book, a snippet of a video, or a block of code that answers a question. Rather than searching for an appropriate book or video and skimming through it, you can ask a specific question like “How do you flatten a list of lists in Python?” (a question I’ve asked several times).

Also see:

Radar trends to watch: March 2022 — from oreilly.com
Developments in AI, Blockchain, Education, and More
Fifteen women in technology share their experiences of the working world — from technative.io
Future Today Institute’s 2022 Tech and Science Trends Report — from futuretodayinstitute.com

The Conversation: Twitter Trends 2022 — from marketing.twitter.com

Excerpt:

Billions of Tweets reveal tomorrow’s big movements.

The biggest movements start quietly. An idea becomes conversation becomes a seismic cultural shift. And if you want in on what’s next, listen to what people on Twitter are saying right now.

To help you out, we analyzed¹billions of Tweets over a two-year period to find three must-know trends about to go big. From The Great Restoration to Fan-Built Worlds to Finance Goes Social, the talk on Twitter reveals the underlying shifts in power shaping where the world is going.

10 Breakthrough Technologies for 2022 [MIT Technology Review]

On 03/18/2022, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, biology, copyright/ownership/NFTs, cryptocurrencies, economics, emerging technologies, engineering, health, IT in HE, Metaverse, robotics, society, technology (general), by Daniel Christian

2022 10 Breakthrough Technologies — from MIT Technology Review; with thanks to Mr. Paul Czarapata for posting this out on Twitter

About the list:

Our annual list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies highlights the technological advances that we think will have the biggest impact on the world in the years to come. Every year, our reporters and editors survey a wide range of topics, from medicine to energy to digital technologies, to select advances that will affect our lives in meaningful ways. Some have already started to change the way we live and work, while others are poised to do so soon. This is the 21st year we’ve published this list. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into the future.

Also relevant/see:

Artificial intelligence is everywhere now. This report shows how we got here. — from popsci.com by Charlotte Hu
What’s AI commonly used for nowadays and how much funding does it get? All these questions and more are answered in the new Stanford index report.

How to navigate the next chapter of telehealth [mckinsey.com]

On 03/07/2022, in 5G, cryptocurrencies, emerging technologies, future, health, Metaverse, society, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, tools, trends, United States, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, Web3, by Daniel Christian

How to navigate the next chapter of telehealth — from mckinsey.com

Excerpt:

The use of telehealth has soared during the pandemic, broadening access to care while also allowing providers, patients, and payers to consider possibilities, from expanding care at home to managing costs. But stakeholders have starkly different views on this next wave of healthcare: In a recent McKinsey survey, two-thirds of physicians and 60 percent of patients said they agreed that virtual health is more convenient than in-person care for patients, but only 36 percent of physicians find it more convenient for themselves. Explore these insights to understand the ongoing transition of IRL (in real life) to URL (virtual) medical care offerings…

Also from McKinsey, see:

What technology trends will—and should—lead business agendas in 2022?

Excerpt:

We asked leaders in industry, academia, and at McKinsey to share their perspectives on the technology trends likely to headline business agendas this year, the ones that could—but shouldn’t—slip through the cracks, and what executives should think about when considering new technologies. Here is what they told us.

Metaverse. Web3. Crypto. 5G.

These are just a few of the technologies grabbing headlines at the start of 2022. But what technology trends truly sit atop business agendas this year? Which might be under executives’ radars but should be surfaced? And what should business leaders keep in mind as they consider these trends?

Why the World’s First Virtual Reality High School Changes Everything [Steve Grubbs]

On 03/01/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, accreditation, attention, Augmented Reality (AR), change, changing business models, collaboration, communities of practice, content development, aggregation, repositories, copyright/ownership/NFTs, creativity, credentialing, cryptocurrencies, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, distance education, education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, global / globalization, graphics, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, immersion, innovation, instructional design, interactivity, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, Metaverse, multimedia, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, parents/guardians, participation, platforms, simulations, social learning / networks, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, United States, vendors, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, wearables, web-based collaboration, Web3, XR - extended reality, youth, by Daniel Christian

Why the World’s First Virtual Reality High School Changes Everything — from steve-grubbs.medium.com by Steve Grubs

Excerpts:

The recipe required key ingredients to happen. In addition to an accredited school to manage students, admissions and the for-credit learning, it also needed a platform. That’s where EngageVR comes in. There are other platforms that will ultimately host schools, perhaps AltSpace, Horizon or others, but the first is on Engage.
…
The bottom line is this: creators, coders, educators, entrepreneurs, investors, corporations, parents and students all played a role in finally bringing the first global virtual reality high school to life. It won’t be the last school to open in the metaverse, but to all those involved in this inaugural launch — the Neil Armstrongs of your age — a special tip of the hat today for having the vision and the willingness to launch a better and more equitable era of education.

Also see:

World’s First Metaverse VR High School Speech & Debate Tournament Announced for March — from victoryxr.com
NFT in Edu: What Does the Future Hold? — from gettingsmart.com by Rachelle Dené Poth
Geo Guessing Is Even More Fun In VR On The Meta Quest — from vrscout.com by Kyle Melnick

Preparing your business for the metaverse — from currency.com by Raphael Sanis

Contents

Also see:

Get Ready To Market In The Metaverse — from forbes.com by Sarah Malcolm
Exploring the metaverse: What laws will apply? — from dlapiper.com by Tom K. Ara, Mark F. Radcliffe, Michael Fluhr, & Katherine Imp
Meta’s AI Tech Lets You Craft VR Worlds With Your Voice — from vrscout.com by Kyle Melnick
HTC Vive Announces Viveverse, A Cross-Platform Metaverse — from vrscout.com by Kyle Melnick

Key Technologies That Power The Metaverse [Howell]

On 02/27/2022, in 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), Blockchain, copyright/ownership/NFTs, cryptocurrencies, experimentation, future, internet, machine-to-machine communications, technology (general), by Daniel Christian

Key Technologies That Power The Metaverse — from 101blockchains.com by James Howell

Living in a world of unicorns [Huff Eckert]

On 02/24/2022, in 5G, Asia, business, change, cryptocurrencies, education technology, entrepreneurship, future, game-changing environment, health, India, innovation, internet, Metaverse, society, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, trends, United States, by Daniel Christian

Living in a world of unicorns — from pwc.com by Vicki Huff Eckert
Venture-backed giants are scaling up and transforming markets as varied fintech, electric vehicles, and healthcare.

Excerpt:

During the pandemic, edtech unicorns raised (on an annualized basis) eight times the annual amount raised from 2016 through 2019. Tutoring platforms Byju (based in India) and Yuanfudao and Zuoyebang (based in China) received massive investment (each attracted $3 billion to $4 billion in funding between 2016 and 2021). The Business Standard reported that Byju had 100 million registered students and 6.5 million paid subscribers as of September 2021.

This trend is just getting started—the convergence of the metaverse, crypto, and 5G has the potential to create a web 3.0 economy that we can’t yet fully envision, and that will evolve over the course of the decade.

Forbes Blockchain 50 2022 [various at Forbes.com]

On 02/19/2022, in 21st century, Adobe, Asia, Blockchain, Canada, cryptocurrencies, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, Europe, ideas, India, innovation, UK, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Forbes Blockchain 50 2022 — from forbes.com; edited by Michael del Castillo and Matt Schifrin; reported by Maria Abreu, Nina Bambysheva, Justin Birnbaum, Lauren Debter, Michael del Castillo, Steven Ehrlich, Chris Helman, Katie Jennings, Jeff Kauflin, Javier Paz, Jon Ponciano, Marie Schulte-Bockum
Cryptocurrencies hog the spotlight, but blockchain’s biggest innovations are below the surface, saving billions each year for the world’s largest companies.

Excerpt:

You’ve come a long way, blockchain! Since our inaugural roundup of the Blockchain 50, published in 2019, the billion-dollar companies (minimum, by sales or market value) on our annual list have moved beyond test projects and now rely on “distributed ledger” technology to do serious work. A lot of the action is in the back office, verifying insurance claims or facilitating real estate deals. It has also become vital to supply chains, whether checking the provenance of conflict minerals like cobalt or tracking auto parts for Renault. Nearly half of the Blockchain 50 are based outside the United States; 14% are Chinese. New this year: venture capital firms, which as a group invested more than $32 billion in the sector in 2021.

Not easy to follow this at all…at least not for me. [Christian]

On 02/12/2022, in 21st century, cryptocurrencies, economics, privacy, by Daniel Christian

The DOJ’s $3.6B Bitcoin Seizure Shows How Hard It Is to Launder Crypto — from wired.com by Andy Greenberg
A couple allegedly used a “laundry list” of technical measures to cover their tracks. They didn’t work.

Excerpt:

“What was amazing about this case is the laundry list of obfuscation techniques [Lichtenstein and Morgan allegedly] used,” says Ari Redbord, the head of legal and government affairs for TRM Labs, a cryptocurrency tracing and forensics firm. Redbord points to the couple’s alleged use of “chain-hopping”— transferring funds from one cryptocurrency to another to make them more difficult to follow—including exchanging bitcoins for “privacy coins” like monero and dash, both designed to foil blockchain analysis. Court documents say the couple also allegedly moved their money through the Alphabay dark web market—the biggest of its kind at the time—in an attempt to stymie detectives.

From DSC:
Easy to follow/understand, isn’t it!?! Not.

The 4th Largest Crypto Theft Shows DeFi Weakness as Hacker Nets USD 325M in a Wormhole [Kmieliauskas]

On 02/05/2022, in business, cryptocurrencies, economics, by Daniel Christian

The 4th Largest Crypto Theft Shows DeFi Weakness as Hacker Nets USD 325M in a Wormhole — from cryptonews.com by Linas Kmieliauskas

Learning Ecosystems

Gensler warns as crypto crashes: ‘The public is not protected’ [Pimentel]

Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mechanism is a climate disaster. Environmental groups have a fix. [Roach]

How to navigate the next chapter of telehealth [mckinsey.com]

Living in a world of unicorns [Huff Eckert]

Forbes Blockchain 50 2022 [various at Forbes.com]

Not easy to follow this at all…at least not for me. [Christian]

The 4th Largest Crypto Theft Shows DeFi Weakness as Hacker Nets USD 325M in a Wormhole [Kmieliauskas]

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