Stream, the innovator of a blockchain-based token for content creators, has announced that the Stream Token has closed its $5 million pre-sale advisor round. The advisor round was led by Pantera Capital, along with Fenbushi Capital, BLOCKCHAIN PARTNERS Korea, Coinfund, FBG Capital, ZhenFund, and INBlockchain. The Stream Token was conceived as a way to allow digital media creators to actually earn a fair living from their work. Because platforms like YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook have such rigid rules about their content, creators are often exploited, losing an unreasonably large share of their revenue to these middlemen....

Japan declared bitcoin as a legal payment method last April. Even Russia is also now warming up to bitcoin despite previously having major doubts to its viability. This past month, several companies have also held their initial coin offerings (ICOs) as their alternative to IPOs for funding. There was no need to be listed on an exchange and their own cryptocurrencies were offered instead of stock certificates. Even the agreements were handled through blockchain smart contracts....

These car hackers don’t represent an isolated incident, according to U.S.-based insurance-industry group car theft-tracking group National Insurance Crime Bureau. “We think it is becoming the new way of stealing cars,” said Roger Morris, Vice President of the Bureau, “The public, law enforcement and the manufacturers need to be aware.” The laptop computers are likely being used to hack the cars’ electronic ignitions, though one officer in Houston’s auto antitheft unit told The Wall Street Journal that they couldn’t be sure, saying, “We don’t know what he is exactly doing with the laptop, but my guess is he is tapping into the car’s computer and marrying it with a key he may already have with him so he can start the car....

Out of Chicago comes Otobots, a startup that is attempting to be the “Uber of car repair.” They want to bring automotive repair to the customer’s driveway (or worksite, or parking lot of their favorite restaurant). By pairing up customers who need maintenance with experienced mechanics, it gives both parties flexibility in choosing a time and place for the work to be done. Otobots mechanics will do the work at a pre-determined price, so there’s no anxiety or guesswork on the part of the customer about the final bill....

Zite CEO Mark Johnson had this to say about the acquisition: This makes a lot of sense, because an application like Zite creates another distribution mechanism for CNN to engage users while on a mobile platform. However, a recent tweet from Mark Johnson contradicted this notion stating that, This is the first exit for a personalized news mobile app, which makes it significant. The space is extremely competitive, rivaling the personalized startpage wars of the web 2....

According to 15Five, a company whose software allows companies to ease and improve the communication between managers and employees, a recent survey showed that of 1,000 full-time employees that participated, a majority 81 percent expressed that they would rather join a company that valued open communication. That is to say: most people are willing to ignore the prospect of top health plans and job perks like free food, if that same company did not value open lines of communication....

Sorry, but it’s a flat-out excuse. No niche is boring unless you define it as such. Simply take advantage of the following content marketing ideas that work the same miracles for funny and boring industries. 1. Solve Problems Do you know what’s not boring? A helpful post. The one that solves the exact problem a person is struggling with (even if it’s written not in the most exciting manner). People now search for all sorts of things in Google from “how to unclog a toilet” to “how to negotiate a lower insurance payment plan....

Robots Assistants Well, robotic vacuum cleaners, such as Roomba, are not a wonder anymore. There’s now also the Mint, which can wash your floors, and Mirra, a robot that washes swimming pools. At this year’s CES, a window-cleaning robot (Winbot) was presented. While such “smart” and highly functional machines as those from I, Robot or Bicentennial Man do not exist yet, but developers have already created robot assistants, such as Hector, a robot that reminds its owner to take necessary medication, take a walk, or make a call....

One of the most important aspects of DOCSIS 3.1 is that it’s backward compatible, which means there is no digging required to lay cables for a new connection. The technology uses existing cable TV wiring to transfer high bandwidth data. This is a great advantage as, for example, fiber connection require new lines, which can be very costly and has led to a somewhat limited availability in the U.S....

The news isn’t all bad, though. The same companies that are enjoying lower costs to start up their venture can take advantage of that to stretch out their capital and attract larger acquisitions. The average price paid for an acquisition ($71 million in 2011) marks a 77% increase, while companies that were on average 5.3 years old raised an average of $17 million from VCs. In 2011, 45 companies raised $5....

Announced in November, DreamIt Athena is a special program for women-led startups. Companies selected join the regular DreamIt cohort and get access to the same resources – including $25,000 in funding and office space – plus a few perks tailored to women founders, including: Curriculum and speakers on the challenges for women entrepreneurs.Access to mentors through Springboard Enterprises, a network of experts who want to help women launch tech startups....

But it’s been a busy few days for drone operators, and we now have a couple of examples of occasions that bridge the gap between meaningful uses of the tech and just plain fun ones. Vaccinating Prairie Dogs With Drones Biologists in central Montana had a problem: They needed to vaccinate prairie dogs against the deadly sylvatic plague. It’s not that they care about the prairie dogs, exactly. They care about one of the many animals that relies on the eating prairie dogs, the black-footed ferret, could face extinction....

Over the course of a month we put Enclave’s CineHome system to the test with dinosaurs, a few zombie games, and a touch of bass nectar. Setup Setting up standard audio and theater systems is no easy task. Some even require rewiring your living room for better placement of surround sound speakers, and then finding creative ways to hide all the audio cables leading back to a receiver. With Enclave’s CineHome HD system, the setup process was beyond simple....

Everwise is an system designed for companies that want to support and help grow their employees skills and potential to the highest possibilities. Through individually curated employee development experiences and person-to-person or mentor learning, both professionals and companies can grow in parallel. Alongside the latest round of funding, Everwise is also launching the Everwise Enterprise Social Learning Platform. The platform will build on the company’s successful track record of employee development by adding in software that connects professionals to the people, development resources, and experiences they need to succeed....

Over the weekend, the US government issued a ban that prevents US companies from supplying hardware or software to the Chinese tech giant. As a result, companies including Intel, Qualcomm, and Google have been forced to stop selling components and software to Huawei. The new ban will have a significant impact on anyone using a Huawei device, regardless of where they live. US Government Ban On Friday, the US government blacklisted Huawei — effectively banning US companies from supplying hardware or software to the Chinese tech giant, according to Bloomberg....

The whole point of a VPN is to protect your data from external sources. These handy business tools hide your internet activity and are generally used to improve overall security. However, news data laws in India threatened to compromise that security by requiring VPNs to store user data. Fortunately, the provider took a stand. Fortunately, from a user standpoint, there will be “minimal difference” in how this affects the service....

Users will be able to view the videos through Facebook Watch and individual artists’ pages. As part of its announcement, Facebook says that it will feature exclusive music video content from a variety of artists including J Balvin, Karol G, Sebastián Yatra, Alejandro Fernández, and Calibre 50. The platform has previously been working with partners in India and Thailand to build the foundation of a music video experience, but this will be the first of its kind in the US....

Considering Mark Zuckerberg’s frequent promises to fix Facebook, significant changes have been expected for quite some time. Privacy concerns and data misuse have become huge problems for the social media platform, spurring notable backlash from users and critics alike. Fortunately, it looks like they’re actually taking the criticism to heart, as the F8 2019 conference has proven to be the host to a wide range of changes that could actually fix Facebook, or at least take steps in the right direction....

Image Credit: Unsplash By Chris Sardegna College students can now earn a degree while raising a family, managing a career, and maintaining a healthy personal life. While not always easy, finding work life balance is the secret to success for nontraditional college student. Brandman University, a leader in nontraditional degree programs, recently published an eBook to help students find balance while juggling the responsibilities of a college career. A Guide to Better Work Life School Balance is full of practical tips, inspirational quotes, and encouraging statistics that help prepare students for the changing world of higher education....

Answer: Nineteen million hours. Question: How much time is spent on Pinterest in the US per month? (For those who guessed “how long it’s been since the Cubs have won the World Series, let it be known that I hate you.) You don’t have to be a statistician to know that that’s a lot of time. Dave Weinberg and Ariel Remer, co-founders of Pinbooster, realize this – and that is why they created a platform for pinners to monetize their activity....