Why People are Going Crazy Over Bitcoin and Other Digital Currencies

Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are on a tear this year, surpassing the returns seen in stocks, bonds and most other investments. The price of bitcoin has tripled since the beginning of the year, surging above $3,000 for the first time Sunday before dropping by more than 10 percent the next day. Returns for ethereum — a lesser known but quickly growing cryptocurrency — have been even more dramatic: It’s gained nearly 5,000...

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6 Hot Internet of Things (IoT) Security Technologies

IoT Security TechnologiesInternet of Things (IoT) security breaches have been dominating the headlines lately. WikiLeaks’s trove of CIA documents revealed that internet-connected televisions can be used to secretly record conversations. Trump’s advisor Kellyanne Conway believes that microwave ovens can spy on you—maybe she was referring to microwave cameras which indeed can be used for surveillance. And don’t delude yourself that you are immune to IoT attacks, with 96% of security professionals responding...

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Snapchat is losing twice as much money as it did last year

Snapchat Profit LossSnap reported its earnings for the first time since becoming a public company in March of this year. Its daily active user count clicked up to 166 million, a 5 percent increase over last quarter, up 36 percent from this time a year ago. That puts it behind Instagram Stories, a competitor launched by Facebook that copied heavily from Snapchat and has already passed 200 million users. It also means...

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Shopify: The Invisible Selling Machine

Ecommerce Online Digital ShoppingFrom the ­unlikely setting of Ottawa, Shopify has ­quietly been powering an e-commerce revolution.

Shopify has done a pretty good job hiding itself from the world. The company’s e-commerce platform was involved in purchases by more than 100 million individual shoppers in 2016, yet it is invisible by design, enabling the end-to-end operation of its customers, some 400,000 individual retail shops and brands. It proudly operates not from San Francisco or...

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Google Targets Mobile Back-End Development

Google Mobile Back End DevelopmentWith front-end mobile coding taken care of in the recent release of Android Studio 2.3, Google targeted cloud-based back-end development at its recent Google Cloud Next '17 conference. While the show addressed cloud development in general, Google's mobile focus was exemplified by new serverless computing initiatives that provide back-end functionality for Android, iOS and Web apps. These include an update to Google App Engine -- its nine-year-old serverless runtime environment...

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6 Mistakes Your Ecommerce Store Must Avoid

Ecommerce DesignEcommerce marketers have four basic objectives. To start, they must bring new visitors to their store. Next is to convert more of these visitors into customers. Then they must look at ways to increase the average revenue earned per customer session. Finally, they must create incentives for these customers to return for future purchases. Apart from bringing new visitors to your store, the rest of the marketing objectives are all directly influenced...

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Could Google give fintech apps a needed boost?

Google Chrome Mobile FinTech AppFintech companies that have developed products for the under-served have a big challenge — reaching their intended customers. Google and the Center for Financial Services Innovation are hoping to change that. The tech giant and CFSI, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting financial health, have been collaborating on ways to help customers wade through financial apps in the Google Play store. They are also trying to guide developers on building...

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How to Get Started in Ecommerce for Less Than $100

Affordable Ecommerce DevelopmentStarting an ecommerce business can be stressful. Not because it's difficult, but because there's just so much information out there. It's hard to know what to do and when. Sure, you can figure it out through trial and error, but that can get expensive. Fast. Throwing your computer at the wall can seem like a better solution. But, before you launch your laptop at the drywall, keep reading. The four steps I...

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