lightning network (1)

Hello you,

The digital age we enter is full of promises and new-found dangers. Our brains are given unique possibilities to learn and create everyday. They are also constantly under attack. Rogue companies trick our brain chemicals for profit. Just like fast-food is engineered for elevated levels of sugar and fat, information delivery is engineered to provide dopamine hits. As our brain is dedicated to information processing, we have to be aware of what gets in. In the context of our brain, Brillat-Savarin’s aphorism also rings true: “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are”.

1. 🔑 We live in a hyper-personalized digital world. The more data you give to companies, the more tailored your experience with their product will be. Is this a fair balance of power? Terence Eden’s doesn’t think so: Personalisation is Asymmetric Psychological Warfare.
2. ⚡️ The Lightning Network aims to fix the scaling problem with Bitcoin. If it reaches further adoption, it will revolutionize the entire payment experience on the internet. This excellent post covers the User Experience of the Lightning Network while this one gives more technical information about routing payments through multiples nodes.
3. ⚡️ People are building stuff on the Lightning Network. Check out Satoshi Place, a mix between The Million Dollar Homepage and Reddit Place.
4. 🤖 Do you want to have home-made Indian Food at home but are too busy to even take time to cook? The MechanicalChef is here for you! Not for me though, I love cooking. The video is impressive and hilarious at the same time. We’re far away from kitchen automation.
5. 👨‍💻 What if you had your own open-source self-hosted version of IFTTT? That’s what Huginn wants to be. It’s still a bit rough on the UX side, but has great features and a promising future!
6. 🔑 This post from Paul Graham about cities and ambition raise good points about how a city’s dominant culture influences its economic power. According to him, Paris is style-focused, NYC is money-focused, and Silicon Valley is… power-focused. Surprising, heh?
7. 🎧 This festival in the South of France is now on my watch list. Pointu Festival gives a hell of a line-up, in a dream location, for free.
8. 📺 Netflix released a new documentary series that immerses viewers in the artists, makers, designers, players and coders who are revolutionizing the new digital worlds through screens all around us. Watch at least the first episode!

Speak soon,

Marc

Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh (Heaven’s Mirror Observatory)