Miscellaneous
Blockchain-based microgrid gives power to consumers in New York
Something odd is happening on President Street in Brooklyn. While solar panels on the roofs of terraced houses soak up sun, a pair of computers connected to the panels quietly crunch numbers. First, they count how many electrons are being generated. Then, they write that number to a blockchain. Read More...
Is crowdfunding the future of horticulture?
Just before Christmas I tentatively embarked on something that looks set to change the course of my life. I had returned from South Africa a few months earlier with seed of many threatened members of the protea family and I was forced to make some decisions. I had to set up a nursery to study the Read More...
Growing food… without soil
According to a 2010 report from the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, the UAE is dependent on imports for 85-90 percent of its food needs. Azzato said that the company's fully computerized system, which makes use of a high-tech greenhouse, enables them to grow salads year-round, thereby lessening Read More...
Japan considers making bitcoin a legal currency
Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic party is planning to propose legal changes that would define bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as currencies. The changes would mean bitcoin could be more tightly regulated and taxed, and are likely to lead to more investment in developing cryptocurrency Read More...
Zero Percent turns to crowdfunding to prevent food waste
Distributing food to the needy is often more problematic than supplying it in Chicago. Good food goes to waste at downtown restaurants because nonprofits, many of which are located on the outskirts of the city, don’t have the resources to go pick up leftovers. So Zero Percent, a startup based Read More...
Fintech could be bigger than ATMs, PayPal, and Bitcoin combined
Are you ready for the brave new world of financial services? We’re about to enter the most profound era of change for financial services companies since the 1970s brought us index mutual funds, discount brokers and ATMs. No firm is immune from the coming disruption and every company must have Read More...
Solar cars might be impressive. But vegan diets are better for the planet
As a professional race car driver, I’m all too aware of the impact driving has on the planet. That’s why I don’t work with any fossil fuel companies and, since 2007, I have adopted an acre of rainforest for every race I run in order to offset the unavoidable emissions of my race Read More...
Bill Clinton on his diet: 'I might not be around If I hadn’t become a vegan'
No greasy fast food, here: Even when Bill Clinton is on the road he adheres to his plant-based diet. While campaigning in Las Vegas for his wife, Hillary, the former president popped into vegan cafe Simply Pure. Clinton was in great spirits, reports Politico, chatting with patrons and owner and Read More...
Africa’s big banks are betting on fintech startups and bitcoin to beat disruption
African banks have been late to the fintech party, but after leaving huge swaths of the population to get their financial services from telcos (most famously Safaricom’s M-Pesa in Kenya), banks here are increasingly seeing the continent as a testing ground for new financial technologies like Read More...
How athletes are going vegan and staying strong
I’ve been dancing since I was 3,” says Juliet Doherty, an 18-year-old ballerina. “When I was training, I was told protein, protein, protein all the time, but I would get so lethargic.” In an effort to increase her stamina, Juliet started eliminating meat from her daily menu Read More...