EncryptoTel weekly digest 27.05.20
5G record from the USA, Bitcoin for Harry Potter and the future office according to Facebook
Nokia has reached a new data transfer speed record in 5G networks
The Finnish company Nokia said it set a world record for data transfer speed in 5G networks. According to the company, tests in Dallas (Texas) achieved a speed of 4.7 Gbps. Testing was conducted at 800 MHz band of the commercial 5G spectrum, with the help of EN-DC dual-connect technology.
Dual Connect EN-DC is a technology that enables local 5G services in global 4G-LTE networks. Thus, users can simultaneously connect to both 5G and LTE. This approach allows mobile operators to deploy 5G services in highly loaded zones without the cost of building a full 5G Core network core.
The company emphasized that this speed is the highest achieved using EN-DC technology.
Especto Bitcoinus: The author of Harry Potter books asked to tell her about Bitcoins
The writer Joan Rowling, the author of the popular Harry Potter saga, tweeted that she did not understand what bitcoin was and asked to explain the principle of cryptocurrency to her. Twitter literally exploded.
It all started with the fact that on May 15, CoinDesk correspondent Lee Kuen published a half-joking tweet in which she wrote that she would “die of happiness” if Joan Rowling ever noted her in her tweet. In response, Joan Rowling wrote: “I do not understand Bitcoins. Please explain”. In response, explanations for the leaders of the Bitcoin community from different countries showered. Among those who commented on Rowling’s tweet was the founder of the Ethereum ecosystem, Vitalik Buterin, who called bitcoin “digital currency,” which is not backed by anything but has value like a collectible. A popular twitter account among bitcoin users @bitcoin noted that the Gringotts bank exists in the world of wizards, and Bitcoin is able to save wizards from having to store their funds in this bank, which, recall, was robbed in the first Harry Potter book (“ Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone ”).
In the thread, Rowling even got Elon Musk, who noted that in comparison with the currencies issued by central banks, bitcoin looks quite “stable”.
Commission for Bitcoin transactions jumped 3 times after the halving
The Bitcoin network has recorded an increase in transaction fees. In the following nine days after the halving, miners earned one 1.5 more on transactions than in the whole of April.
Since May 11, when halving happened the reward for the mined block was also halved to 6.25 BTC, the average commission for transactions in the Bitcoin network increased by 220% to more than $ 6.40, according to Bitinfocharts. On halving day, transaction fees averaged just under $ 2 dollars. Transaction fees began to rise on the Bitcoin network even before the onset of halving. And by May 11 they had already jumped by 400%. As early as April 26, the commission was about $ 0.62.
After reducing the reward for the mined block, transaction fees became the main source of income for miners. According to Coinmetrics, in the nine days after the halving, miners earned 1176 BTC on commissions, while for the whole of April their income from commissions was only 818 BTC, and in March — 1251 BTC.
Augmented reality office: Facebook talks about the future remote office
The founder and head of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, said that he considered the experiment with employees working remotely to be successful, and announced that in the next five to ten years, “remote workers” could account for up to 50% of Facebook’s workforce. According to him, he previously feared that the transition to remote work would lead to a sharp drop in employee productivity, but it turned out that this was not so and some of them, on the contrary, became even more productive.
Facebook shared on the blog what remote work might look like in the future. The company plans to create a “super-productive” workplace in “mixed reality” using AR and VR tools. In their demo video, a person in the VR helmet uses a regular keyboard and virtual displays which he controls with gestures.
Apple and Google have published tracking APIs
Google and Apple announced the launch of the first public API (Exposure Notification API), which allows you to create applications to track contacts with people infected with COVID-19. Companies themselves do not plan to create such applications. This should be done by developers acting on behalf of public health organizations. Tracking will occur via Bluetooth. According to Google and Apple, the technology has the highest possible level of privacy, including encryption of all Bluetooth metadata.
According to the companies idea, those infected with the coronavirus will be able, if they wish, to inform everyone with whom they contacted that they are at risk. For example, users A and B, not familiar with each other, simultaneously visited the same cafe. During this time, their smartphones exchanged anonymous identifiers via Bluetooth. After a few days, user A learns about the coronavirus infection and decides to report this to everyone with whom he interacted. After that, user B will receive a notification that someone (the data is anonymized and not personified), with whom he has been in contact for the last days, is infected with Covid-19.
According to companies, thanks to such solutions, users will be able to learn about potential contacts with patients. True, such a toolkit for creating tracking devices met with rather sharp criticism from many users.
Follow us on:
Twitter https://twitter.com/encryptotel
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/encryptotel
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/encryptotel
Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Encryptotel/
