Category Archives: Technology

As businesses across all industries collect vast quantities of personal information for artificial-intelligence applications, a unique law firm in Toronto wants to help them make the best use of that data without crossing legal or ethical boundaries.

Carole Piovesan left a senior role with McCarthy Ttrault LLPs data and privacy group last March, teaming up with long-time health privacy lawyer Mary Jane Dykeman to start INQ Data Law. The pair met at a conference, bonded over their shared passion for the world of data policy, went for breakfast together and within 90 minutes decided to launch the firm.

Now, less than a year after its debut, INQ has recruited three other lawyers, including recent hire Noel Corriveau, who is leaving the federal government after a high-profile role developing AI policy at the Treasury Board. He will put that experience to work on one of the firms main areas of focus: Marketing a framework for the responsible use of AI technology.

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The starting premise is that a lot of companies are nervous to experiment with AI systems, Ms. Piovesan says, adding that laws around data use are fluid and changing and being interpreted all the time." That makes it difficult for businesses to know what exactly they can do with technology such as machine-learning algorithms without raising concerns about personal privacy or the potential for bias.

In an example of an AI system running amok, a Reuters report from 2018 said Amazon.com Inc. shut down a program that used machine learning to scan and rate the resums of potential recruits. The report said the company stopped using the tool after it determined that the software favoured male applicants because it had been trained to look at resums submitted over the previous 10 years, most of which came from men.

Concerns about bias could also arise if AI tools that deal with sensitive issues such as credit ratings or immigration decisions are not designed carefully.

Yet, there is a commercial imperative," Ms. Piovesan says. Companies that have started experimenting with artificial intelligence today stand to benefit substantially from a commercial perspective, from a financial perspective.

The firm markets its AI framework to companies and government agencies, particularly targeting those that work in highly regulated sectors such as financial services, health care or insurance. It also seeks out companies that are actually building AI technology and who want to offer their own customers the reassurance that they have thought through some of the thornier issues around its use.

Ms. Dykeman is also a partner in a small health law firm, Dykeman & OBrien LLP, that she describes as a sister firm to the one she launched with Ms. Piovesan. INQ also advises clients on privacy law and cybersecurity.

Over the course of more than a decade with the federal government, working at both the Department of Justice and the Treasury Board, Mr. Corriveau began to focus on developing AI policy. At one point he worked on a small team under Canadas former chief information officer, Alex Benay.

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The group attracted international interest for building an algorithmic impact assessment tool, meant to assess the potential risk of AI programs before the government deploys them. The project was noteworthy in part because the team developed it using open-source methods, allowing anyone from around the world to go online and see the work being done or even put the tool to use themselves.

Mr. Benay left government for an AI startup, Mindbridge Analytics Inc., in August and shortly after that he moved on to consulting giant KPMG LLP.

Mr. Corriveau said his former boss empowered us to really be aggressive in our change agenda, and his decision to leave government was tied in part to Mr. Benays departure. Im very interested now in changing gears and working with INQ to keep driving that change, but in a way that responds to client demands," said Mr. Corriveau, who starts on Feb. 3.

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Unique Toronto law firm to focus on responsible use of AI technology - The Globe and Mail

This article is written for those who want to get better at using price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). To keep it practical, well show how Lin Horn Technology Co., Ltd.s (GTSM:5464) P/E ratio could help you assess the value on offer. What is Lin Horn Technologys P/E ratio? Well, based on the last twelve months it is 8.75. In other words, at todays prices, investors are paying NT$8.75 for every NT$1 in prior year profit.

Check out our latest analysis for Lin Horn Technology

The formula for P/E is:

Price to Earnings Ratio = Share Price Earnings per Share (EPS)

Or for Lin Horn Technology:

P/E of 8.75 = TWD14.00 TWD1.60 (Based on the year to September 2019.)

A higher P/E ratio means that buyers have to pay a higher price for each TWD1 the company has earned over the last year. That is not a good or a bad thing per se, but a high P/E does imply buyers are optimistic about the future.

The P/E ratio indicates whether the market has higher or lower expectations of a company. The image below shows that Lin Horn Technology has a lower P/E than the average (15.9) P/E for companies in the electronic industry.

This suggests that market participants think Lin Horn Technology will underperform other companies in its industry. Many investors like to buy stocks when the market is pessimistic about their prospects. You should delve deeper. I like to check if company insiders have been buying or selling.

Probably the most important factor in determining what P/E a company trades on is the earnings growth. If earnings are growing quickly, then the E in the equation will increase faster than it would otherwise. Therefore, even if you pay a high multiple of earnings now, that multiple will become lower in the future. A lower P/E should indicate the stock is cheap relative to others and that may attract buyers.

Lin Horn Technology shrunk earnings per share by 20% over the last year. And it has shrunk its earnings per share by 2.7% per year over the last five years. This might lead to muted expectations.

The Price in P/E reflects the market capitalization of the company. In other words, it does not consider any debt or cash that the company may have on the balance sheet. Hypothetically, a company could reduce its future P/E ratio by spending its cash (or taking on debt) to achieve higher earnings.

Such spending might be good or bad, overall, but the key point here is that you need to look at debt to understand the P/E ratio in context.

With net cash of NT$366m, Lin Horn Technology has a very strong balance sheet, which may be important for its business. Having said that, at 37% of its market capitalization the cash hoard would contribute towards a higher P/E ratio.

Lin Horn Technology trades on a P/E ratio of 8.8, which is below the TW market average of 17.0. Falling earnings per share are likely to be keeping potential buyers away, the healthy balance sheet means the company retains potential for future growth. If that occurs, the current low P/E could prove to be temporary.

Investors should be looking to buy stocks that the market is wrong about. If it is underestimating a company, investors can make money by buying and holding the shares until the market corrects itself. We dont have analyst forecasts, but you could get a better understanding of its growth by checking out this more detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

But note: Lin Horn Technology may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a P/E ratio below 20).

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.

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Do You Know What Lin Horn Technology Co., Ltd.s (GTSM:5464) P/E Ratio Means? - Simply Wall St

RAWALPINDI - The Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) is going to organise a two-day Smart Technology Exhibition in Rawalpindi from February 3 to promote innovative technology smart solutions. The exhibition will be held at a local hotel in which renowned IT companies and Institutes from across Pakistan exhibit their products. RCCI President, Saboor Malik, informed that the major aim of this expo was to encourage the business community to be aware of the latest trends and promote the use of advanced technology in promoting trade. There is a need to raise awareness about the use of modern technology in Pakistan and to facilitate customers and encourage Pakistani IT companies. We have to equip us to meet the future challenges of technology and this is the right time to get latest information on Robotics, Business Automation, Smart Health Solutions, e-logistics and 3 D Technologies, he added. RCCI president further added that in Pakistan the IT industry had great potential and urged the government to provide favourable environment for the promotion of IT in different sectors including banking (e-banking), medicine (telemedicine) and manufacturing (e-designing).

With the increase of internet penetration in Pakistan, he said, the IT sector offered huge potential for local companies to join hands with multinational companies.

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RCCI to organise Smart Technology Exhibition on Feb 3 - The Nation

Stanimira KolevaYou may not have direct knowledge of 3D mapping company Here Technologies, but if you drive a smart car, the chances are that it is embedded with sophisticated maps built by this Amsterdam-based tech firm. A global leader in mapping and location services, Here Technologies is working to provide high-definition 3D maps that will be crucial for autonomous vehicles to be able to navigate roads safely. Yet, as the autonomous vehicle project has hit speed bumps worldwide, Here Technologies is switching gear to deploy its 3D mapping technology for more practical purposes like helping to manage smart cities and bringing more efficiency to last-mile delivery.Last year, Japanese firm Mitsubishi and telecom giant NTT acquired a 30 percent stake in Here, hoping to harness the companys strength to reduce traffic and improve efficiency. Following the deal, the two Japanese firms wi...

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Executive Column: We go beyond main cities in Indonesia: Here Technologies - Jakarta Post

Medical researchers have leveraged technology to create major breakthroughs in the past few decades, accelerating the understanding of diseases, and their causes and treatment.

Our accumulating knowledge also has accelerated the ability to translate science into practical therapies, but there are still many challenges: while researchers seek the right drug compounds that can target and deliver treatment for specific diseases, traditional drug innovation models can be slow and come with high costs.

Japans rising biotech company, PeptiDream, is tackling these issues, deploying a unique proprietary drug development technology and an innovative business model that will further research on and development and manufacture of peptides to deliver new medical therapies.

We really want to be a drug discovery engine, says CEO Patrick Reid.

Until recently, most advances in drug delivery have focused on small-molecule and large-molecule drugs, also known as antibodies. But now macrocyclic peptides are emerging as an important new avenue.

How are peptides different? Both small- and large- molecule drugs come with advantages and limitations. The small molecule drugs are chemically synthesized in a lab and taken as a pill or capsule, so the active ingredient is easily absorbed into the bloodstream.Because they are small, molecules can penetrate cell membranes, making these drugs highly effective. But they can be unstable and they break down in the body, creating unwanted side effects. Formulating these drugs to take on specific new targets also can be slow and expensive.

Protein-based therapeutics (large-molecule drugs) aremade by using living cells. They typically are not pills, but instead must be injected or infused. These large- molecule therapies, unlike the smaller-molecule drugs, cannot penetrate cells. But these drugs are easier to design for specific targets typically a cell-surface receptor on the outside of the cell. However, these therapies cannot reach all required targets, and they can stay in the body too long causing side effects.

Enter peptides, compounds that consist of amino acids linked together and can be synthesized in the lab. Pioneering research by Suga Hiroaki, PeptiDream co-founder and professor at the University of Tokyo, established a way to ensure that a new kind of peptide compound can remain stable in the body and find a range of therapeutic targets with high specificity. They can also be broken down by and cleared from the body with greater specificity, making them an important new development in pharmaceuticals.

And these macrocyclic peptides can be combined, using a much larger set of amino acids than occur in nature giving researchers the ability to experiment with many more combinations. PeptiDreams Peptide Discovery Platform System (PDPS) is a proprietary technology that allows drug researchers to make trillions of peptide libraries. Reid describes PeptiDream as platform company that enables his researchers and others to make the process of discovering hits the starting point for developing drugs more efficient.

We are not simply developing a single drug and trying to bring that all the way to approval; we are championing and developing an entirely new class of molecules, Reid says.

The platform has created an unusual set of collaborations for PeptiDream, whose drug discovery partnerships have included Merck, Bayer, Genentech and Novartis. This collaborative network has accelerated peptides development, Reid says, creating a large wave of compounds that should move into the clinic in the next few years.

Our network of partners has allowed PeptiDream to function as company ten to twenty times its actual size, he says. With more than 100 discovery programs in parallel across a wide range of diseases, targets and administration routes, we are expanding the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of these molecules in therapeutics and diagnostics and more.

It also was crucial that PeptiDream, as a startup, was able to focus on developing the platform for peptide drug discovery, something large pharmaceuticals had not done because of the cost and the long, uncertain time horizon. Japan embraced PeptiDream, initially as a largely bootstrapped company, and then when it went public in 2013, Reid says.

In the U.S. and Europe, we probably would have been pressured to borrow funds in order to grow faster, he says. Many companies in the U.S. with internal pipelines fail due to time and pressure constraints. They burn a lot of money very quickly.

PeptiDream is now a $7 billion company and is also a founding investor in a contract manufacturing company, PeptiStar. Collaboration with other companies is crucial, says PeptiStar CEO Kameyama Yutaka, as new ecosystems for research, manufacturing and supply of peptide drugs are developed. In fact, PeptiDream, together with other co-founding investors Shionogi and Sekisui Chemical, has attracted additional ten investors as active R&D collaborators.

In order to accelerate the practical application and market creation of peptide therapeutics as next-generation drugs beyond biopharmaceuticals, the Japanese government also supports PeptiStar, providing 9 billion-yen (about $83 million) grant as part of the governments program Cyclic Innovation for Clinical Empowerment, under the National Healthcare Policy. The money will allow PeptiStar, established in 2017, to become a leader in both scientific and business process innovation, says Kameyama.

The current capacity of peptide manufacturing is limited, and it could be a big bottleneck of peptide medicine developments, he says. This quick fundraising will accelerate the development and commercialization of our ability to prepare the peptide compounds. And the support they have given us will also encourage many other partners in the important development of peptides.

Peptides have not been around very long, and as with any new technology, there is room for improvement, including costs, Kameyama says. We want to make production cheaper and higher quality, and collaboration is a competitive advantage. If a company established its own manufacturing facility, it would take time and money. But with a joint venture like ours, the cost and the sharing of technology and knowledge are very different.

Both Reid and Kameyama credit the Japanese research and business ecosystem with their success. Professor Sugas breakthrough work is just one spinoff of innovation coming from Japanese universities, where a pool of highly skilled research workers has developed.

Japans challenge to create peptide drug market continues. To learn more click here.

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Note: All Japanese names in this article are given in the traditional Japanese order, with surname first.

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How a Japanese Biotech Company Is Innovating Drug Development Technologies - SPONSOR CONTENT FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN - Harvard Business Review

When the history comes to be written of this football season, there will be two stories that dominate. The first, barring some kind of bizarre catastrophe (which would in turn become the standout story), is Liverpools near faultless procession towards their first title in 30 years. The second less impressive, perhaps, but no less commented upon is the arrival of VAR.

Everyone has had their say on the controversial video referee and the consensus of opinion is it has ruined football. I happen to disagree, as I think it just needs to be better thought-out. Junk the nonsensical new handball law and stop absurdly marginal offside decisions (daylight between attacker and defender is a sound proposal), cut the reviews back to a strict time limit and the fuss will die down.

In any case, many of those worried about the impact of technology on the future of football are missing a more profound development: the effect of technology on footballs past. One of the most reliable cliches in sport is the one that maintains all that matters is whats in the record books. That made a lot of sense when the record books were all we possessed of the past. But even then it was never entirely true. Look in the record books and youll find West Germany won the World Cup in 1954. And to be sure, that cant be taken away from them. But its the team they beat in the final, Hungary, the world remembers and reveres. They entertained and inspired a generation.

Nowadays, theres even less reason to focus only on the black and white information of winners and losers. Footage of almost every kick of the ball has been recorded and stored for posterity. That predicament is inevitably reshaping how we think of the game and the way it is played.

As recently as the 1980s, the only full-length coverage of a match you could see on TV was pretty much the FA Cup final, the Scottish Cup final or certain internationals. Thus it was possible for a leaguewinning team to slog their way through a season with very few people, other than the most dedicated fans, really knowing how they performed in each fixture.

By contrast, Liverpools every step has been studied by millions. There is nowhere for the team to hide from the omnipresent cameras and forensic expert analysis. Each year there are more and more full-length games of football screened on TV its a rare day when there isnt a live match to watch. The effect of this blanket coverage has been to make football-watchers more knowledgeable and more demanding.

If all sport is balanced between results and romance, the pragmatists and the purists, then the dial has been nudged a degree or two towards the latters favour. For while a given clubs fans might endure their own teams dull style of play, the rest of us are under no such obligation. So if an ambitious club is seeking to draw a significant neutral following, particularly in the ever-expanding foreign market, it is simply not enough to win. They have to win in style. This is why it was so critical for Manchester City, in trying to become a global brand, to adopt a bold and attractive way of playing. And in seeking to throw off the suffocating weight of history, Liverpool have done the same.

OK, theyve also won titles Manchester City, the Premier League, and Liverpool, the Champions League last year and almost certainly the Premier League this year. If they had achieved the same success by scoring much less, with defensive, counterattacking performances, in which they narrowly got over the line, they would still be in the record books, but not nearly so firmly lodged in our imaginations.

The paradox is that while technology has brought about a blizzard of ever more detailed statistics, its significance is rendered academic by the power of actual sporting experiences. Nowhere is this more apparent than in cricket, a sport that positively fetishises stats.

By way of illustration, Ben Stokes has a Test batting average of 36.94 and a bowling average of 32.94. They are good figures, any international all-rounder would be proud of them, but they are not exactly exceptional. However, thats the only word to describe Stokes the player. Anyone who has watched him over the past year knows that, regardless of his averages. Young kids will view his exploits on YouTube, or perhaps in 3D holograms in the future, long after their numerical breakdown disappears into the dusty annals. And its hard to believe players are unaware of this wholesale capture of their abilities.

Last week it was reported Spurs players had voiced their frustration with Jos Mourinhos training methods. Mourinho is the ultimate results-based coach. If he ever receives criticism, he reminds his audience of all the titles his teams have won. His are unquestionably remarkable achievements and yet his players are apparently complaining about the focus on long balls, flick-ons and throw-ins, which they are said to have described as lower-league sessions. Its likely they wouldnt be making mutinous noises if the new tactics were paying dividends.

But there is also an awareness that such crude tactics are losing their place in the modern game. Its not that theyre necessarily ineffective though Mourinho has enjoyed increasingly limited success with them in recent years so much as that theyre unattractive. Players who have grown up being able to watch Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo each week cannot fail to be acutely conscious of the aesthetics of football. They may all want to win medals but they also want to win the admiration of their fellow professionals, to say nothing of the fans.

Its possible the highly technical advance of Jrgen Klopps Liverpool and Pep Guardiolas Manchester City and, to some extent, Mauricio Pochettinos Spurs turns out to be merely part of a cycle that will lead sooner or later back to a more fundamentalist approach.

In which case, English football will take a step backwards in time. Because history will continue to be written, but in the digital age its also there to be watched, and on the whole people like to be thrilled and inspired by what they see.

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Technology allows us to appreciate Liverpool and Stokes winning in style - The Guardian

Americans are feeling increasingly isolated, and workplace conditions only serve to increase the problem. Thats according to a survey out this week that found three in five, or 61%, of adult U.S. workers reported being lonely, up more than five-fold from 2018.

The report by health insurer Cigna found the spike in loneliness in surveying more than 10,000 adult workers in July and August of 2019. Employees reporting good relationships with colleagues were 10 points less lonely on an 80-point scale, according to the findings.

The trends shaping how we work increasing use of technology, more telecommuting and the always-on work culture are leaving Americans more stressed, less rested, spending more time on social media and less time with friends and family, David Cordani, Cignas president and CEO, said in a statement. For the business community, it is resulting in less engagement, less productivity and lower retention levels.

How to combat loneliness, and how it differs from depression

Sixty-three percent of men reported being lonely, compared to 58% of women, according to the findings. Social media was also tied to feelings of isolation, with 72% of very heavy social media users saying they are lonely, versus 51% of light users.

Trending News

The feelings of not being connected prevailed across generations, with Generation Z, those 18 to 22 years old, scoring the highest, at about 50, on the 80-point loneliness scale, while boomers were found to be the least lonely, scoring about 43.

The findings suggest that employers have a sound business reason to address the issue, as lonely workers are more likely to miss work due to illness or stress, and 12% more of those viewed as lonely did not feel their work was up to snuff than those who view themselves asless lonely.

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More Americans say they're lonely blame work and technology - WDEF News 12

As part of our series looking at the regions young talent, EmergingEuropes Claudia Patricolo speaks to Vladimer Botsvadze, a Georgian who was recently named among the top five technology leaders and influencers by Thinkers360.

By the age of 29, Vladimer Botsvadze was already a globally-renowned social media influencer, a leading marketing professor, a sought-after Fortune 500 consultant and a prominent coach. Now 32, Vladimer is regarded as one of the worlds top experts on marketing and innovation. His work has influenced two million professionals, 10,000 businesses worldwide and has established a world-class reputation for always bringing innovation to the table with every project.

Im proud Thinkers360 has ranked me as a Tech Thought Leader in 2020, he says. Im honoured to be ranked alongside exceptional and globally-renowned thought leaders including Brian Solis, Marsha Collier, Evan Kirstel, Gordon Tredgold and others.

Vladimer has been recommended by the London Business School, Google, KPMG, MasterCard, AC Milan, Forrester Research, PepsiCo, Dell, Accenture, and other leading global brands. Impressive for a young man who moved from Georgia to the US at the age of just 18.After a spell in New York came Washington DC, London and Dubai.

Ive always worked hard,Ive always been disciplined and driven, he says. I demand the ultimate results from myself every single day and Im lucky to live in the best era of history when I can achieve so much through social media platforms, which I use every day for professional purposes.

He quotes James Clear, who said: Its never been a better time for self-motivated people. Anyone connected to the internet has the education of a university and the distribution power of a media company at their fingertips. Curiosity, courage and persistence are the new gatekeepers.

I became obsessed with growth in business and tech, Vladimer adds.It ismedia has been the driving force behind his global achievements. Vladimer is a top influencerwith a total of 125,000 followers from 1,142 cities and 185 countries across all his social media platforms.

With persistence and patience, Ive initiated and continued a process of constant self-education, which has distinguished me as an influencer in digital marketing, social media, digital transformation, and artificial intelligence, he explains.

Among all the social media platforms he uses, Vladimer prefers Twitter as its a joy for him to connect with the worlds best tech thought leaders, professors, journalists, analysts, politicians, entrepreneurs and more: a lot of like-minded individuals who constantly support his journey.

Vladimer quotes another guru of entrepreneurship, Henry Ford: Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.

It isartificial intelligence (AI)that he believes will cause the greatest disruption, and says that organisations should focus on improving their operations, revenue, customer experience, and competitive position.

Technology will eat up everything ahead, he warns. Bookstores were first, then it was people who owned taxi services, then it was the hotel industry which was disrupted by Airbnb and it will keephappening. Speed and convenience win all the time. Voice assistants will dominate this decade, we see more and more people make decisions through devises such as Alexa. We save so much time while using voice assistants. The majority of businesses are investing in voice technology and planning to increase investments in 2020. Companies must adopt a mobile-first mentality to grow and monetise apps that account for trillions of dollars in revenue across the globe. Its imperative to deliver personalised content and create consistent engagement across a brands digital channels. Blockchain, cloud, and VR will also help the new initiatives.

Vladimer says that patience and gratitude have also played a big role in his success.

I was lucky to have met many outstanding people who shared their expertise with me and inspired me to put in the work, he says.

Gary Vaynerchuk has been a great role model, he says.

Im thankful for his daily content which provides value and encourages other people to start growing their businesses, Vladimer says. Gary is the reason why I believe in humanity, kindness, patience, teamwork, and empathy. He has positively impacted millions of people and the world is fortunate to have such an inspiring leader and entrepreneur.

Now it is Vladimers turn to offer advice and inspire young generations.

He suggests that we should constantly think of ways to stand out, and while always being driven by empathy, kindness, and gratitude, not to forget that we were born for greatness. Self-motivation allows you to produce great results, so stay outside your comfort zone. It costs nothing to create content at scale so fire on all cylinders across all social media platforms.

Go for your dreams, explore new things, choose happiness and live without limits.

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'Technology will eat up everything ahead' - Emerging Europe

Over the last 10 years, the Bitcoin ecosystem has attracted developers to dedicate thousands of hours to improve and revamp most of its underlying codebase. Yet, Bitcoin (BTC) is largely the same. The reason for this is that its core set of consensus rules that define its monetary properties, such as its algorithmic inflation and hard-coded supply, remain unchanged.

Time and time again, factions have attempted to change these core properties, but all hostile takeovers thus far have failed. Its often a painful process but one that highlights and solidifies two of Bitcoins biggest virtues: No single party can dictate how Bitcoin evolves; and the absence of centralized control protects Bitcoins monetary properties.

The values that make Bitcoin a popular phenomenon are also those that make developing software atop Bitcoin more challenging than any other digital asset. Developers are limited to what theyre able to transform in order to not undermine its apparatus as a store of value.

Nonetheless, as well see from the examples below, innovation in Bitcoin is possible. It requires creativity and patience.

Since changing Bitcoins core layer requires a quasi-political process that may infringe upon its monetary properties, innovation is often implemented as modules. This development is similar to that of the internet's protocol suite, where layers of different protocols specialize in specific functions. Emails were handled by SMTP, files by FTP, web pages by HTTP, user addressing by IP and packet routing by TCP. Each of these protocols has evolved over time to create the experience we have today.

Spencer Bogart of Blockchain Capital has captured this development succinctly: We are now witnessing the beginning of Bitcoins own protocol suite. The inflexibility of Bitcoins core layer has birthed several additional protocols that specialize in various applications, like Lightnings BOLT standard for payment channels. Innovation is both vibrant and relatively safe, as this layered approach minimizes potential risks.

The diagram below is an attempt to map all relatively new initiatives and showcases a more complete representation of Bitcoins technology stack. It is not exhaustive and does not signal any endorsement for specific initiatives. It is, nevertheless, impressive to see that innovation being pushed on all fronts from Layer 2 technologies to emerging smart contract solutions.

There has been a lot of talk lately about the rate of adoption of the Lightning Network, Bitcoins most prominent Layer 2 technology. Critics often point to an apparent decline in the number of channels and total BTC locked when evaluating Lightnings user adoption. Yet, these metrics arent the most definitive measurement of adoption.

Related: What Is Lightning Network And How It Works

One of the most underrated virtues of the Lightning Network is its straightforward privacy properties. Since Lightning does not rely on global state reconciliation i.e., its own blockchain users can transact privately over using additional techniques and network overlays, like Tor. Activity happening within private channels is not captured by popular Lightning explorers. As such, an increase in private usage of Lightning has resulted in a decrease in what can be publicly measured, leading observers to erroneously conclude that adoption is down. While it is true that Lightning must overcome substantial usability barriers before it can enjoy wide adoption, using misleading metrics to make assertions about the current state of the network serves few.

Another recent development in the field of Layer 2 privacy was the creation of WhatSat, a private messaging system atop Lightning. This project is a modification of the Lightning Network Daemon (LND) that allows the relayers of private messages, who connect the entities communicating, to be compensated for their services via micropayments. This decentralized, censorship-and-spam-resistant chat was enabled by innovations in the LND itself, such as recent improvements in the lightning-onion, Lightnings own onion routing protocol.

There are several other projects leveraging Lightnings private micropayment capabilities for numerous applications from a Lightning-powered cloud computing VPS to an image hosting service that shares ad revenue via microtransactions. More generally, we define Layer 2 as a suite of applications that can use Bitcoins base layer as a court where exogenous events are reconciled and disputes are settled. As such, the theme of data anchoring on Bitcoins blockchain goes beyond Lightning, with companies like Microsoft pioneering a decentralized ID system atop Bitcoin.

There are projects attempting to bring back expressive smart contract functionality to Bitcoin in a safe and responsible way. This is a significant development because, starting in 2010, several of the original Bitcoin opcodes the operations that determine what Bitcoin is able to compute were removed from the protocol. This came after a series of bugs were revealed, which led Satoshi to disable some of the functionality of Script, Bitcoins programming language.

Over the years, it became clear that there are non-trivial security risks that accompany highly-expressive smart contracts. The common rule of thumb is that the more functionality is introduced to a virtual machine the collective verification mechanism that processes opcodes the more unpredictable its programs will be. More recently, however, we have seen new approaches to smart contract architecture that can minimize unpredictability and also provide vast functionality.

The devise of a new approach to Bitcoin smart contracts called Merklized Abstract Syntax Trees (MAST) has since triggered a new wave of supporting technologies for Bitcoin smart contracts. Taproot is one of the most prominent implementations of the MAST structure that enables an entire application to be expressed as a Merkle Tree, whereby each branch of the tree represents a different execution outcome.

Another interesting innovation that has recently resurfaced is a new architecture for the implementation of covenants, or spend conditions, on Bitcoin transactions. Originally proposed as a thought experiment by Greg Maxwell back in 2013, covenants are an approach to limit the way balances can be spent, even as their custody changes. Although the idea has existed for nearly six years, covenants were impractical to be implemented before the advent of Taproot. Currently, a new opcode called OP_CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY formerly known as OP_SECURETHEBAG is leveraging this new technology to potentially enable covenants to be safely implemented in Bitcoin.

At first glance, covenants are incredibly useful in the context of lending and perhaps Bitcoin-based derivatives as they enable the creation of policies, like clawbacks, to be implemented on specific BTC balances. But their potential impact on the usability of Bitcoin goes vastly beyond lending. Covenants can allow for the implementation of things like Bitcoin Vaults, which, in the context of custody, provide the equivalent of a second private key that allows someone that has been hacked to freeze stolen funds.

In essence, Schnorr signatures are the technological primitive that make all of these new approaches to smart contracts possible. And there are even edgier techniques being currently theorized, such as Scriptless Scripts, which could enable fully private and scalable Bitcoin smart contracts to be represented as digital signatures as opposed to opcodes. These new approaches may enable novel smart contract applications to be built atop Bitcoin.

There have also been some interesting developments in mining protocols, especially those used by mining pool constituents. Even though the issue of centralization in Bitcoin mining is often wildly exaggerated, it is true that there are power structures retained by mining pool operators that can be further decentralized.

Namely, pool operators can decide what transactions will be mined by all pool constituents, which grants them considerable power. Over time, some operators have abused this power by censoring transactions, mining empty blocks and reallocating hashing without the authorization of constituents.

Changes to mining protocols have aimed to subvert the control that mining pool operators can have on deciding what transactions are mined. One of the most substantial changes coming to Bitcoin mining is the second version of Stratum, the most popular protocol used in mining pools. Stratum V2 is a complete overhaul that implements BetterHash, a secondary protocol that enables mining pool constituents to decide the composition of the block they will mine not the other way around.

Another development that should contribute to more stability is reignited interest in hash rates and difficulty derivatives. These can be particularly useful for mining operations that wish to hedge against hash rate fluctuations and difficulty readjustments.

Contrary to some arguments out there, there are a host of emerging protocols that can bring optional privacy into Bitcoin. That being said, it is likely that privacy in Bitcoin will continue to be more of an art than a science for years to come.

More generally, the biggest impediment to private transactions across digital assets is that most solutions are half-baked. Privacy assets that focus on transaction-graph privacy often neglect network-level privacy, and vice versa. Both vectors suffer from a lack of maturity and usage, which makes transactions easier to de-shield via statistical traceability analysis at either the peer-to-peer (P2P) network layer or the blockchain layer.

Thankfully, there are several projects that are pushing boundaries on both fronts.

When it comes to transaction-graph privacy, solutions like P2EP and CheckTemplateVerify are interesting because privacy becomes a by-product of efficiency. As these are novel additions to CoinJoin, such solutions can increase the adoption of private transactions by users who are solely motivated by lower transaction fees. Under CoinJoin, their privacy guarantees are still suboptimal, but unshielded sent amounts can be beneficial, as they preserve the auditability of Bitcoins supply.

If lower transaction fees become a motivator and lead to an increase in Bitcoins anonymity set the percentage of UTXOs that are CoinJoin outputs de-anonymization via statistical analysis will be even more subjective than it already is.

There has also been considerable progress in the privacy of P2P communications, with protocols like Dandelion being tested across crypto networks. Another notable development is Erlay, an alternative transaction relay protocol that increases the efficiency of private communications and reduces the overhead of running a node. Erlay is an important improvement since its efficiency gains enable more users to more easily complete IBD and continuously validate the chain, especially in countries where ISPs impose caps on bandwidth.

These examples are only a handful of initiatives in play to transform the Bitcoin framework. Bitcoin, in its totality, is a constantly evolving suite of protocols.

While evolution within a relatively strict set of rules and values can be challenging for developers, the layered approach that weve seen unfold is what makes gradual, effective change possible. Minimizing politicism within Bitcoin and protecting its fundamental monetary properties are necessary parts of the process. Developers are learning how to work within these bounds in a meaningful fashion.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Lucas Nuzzi, director of technology of Digital Asset Research. He heads up DARs research arm, developing original reports and insights on all areas of the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Widely regarded throughout the digital asset community as an expert on blockchain and distributed systems, Lucas has contributed to several major publications. Prior to co-founding DAR in 2017, he was a blockchain researcher and consultant for a handful of years.

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The Evolution of Bitcoin's Technology Stack - Cointelegraph

(WHNT) The Alabama School of Technology and Engineering(ASCTE) announced, in a press release, that they are now accepting applications for the 2020-2021 school year.

The new school will be the states third public, tuition-free magnet school, joining the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham and the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science in Mobile.

ASCTE is the new state magnet high school, created by the state legislature and signed into law by Governor Kay Ivey in April 2018.

ASCTE is seeking students from every school system in Alabama, according to the release.

Our school will serve grades 9-12 and offer internships, co-op opportunities, and field experience with industries and governmental agencies in Huntsville that relate to cyber and engineering. We already have industries and government agencies eager to support the students who will be coming to our school, said Matt Massey, ASCTE President.

The school will open in an interim facility at Oakwood University on August 5, 2020. The school anticipates a first-year enrollment of about 100 students and growing to 350 when the permanent facility will open in August 2022.

Click here to apply or visit ASCTE on Facebook(@ASCTEAlabama).

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The Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering is accepting applications - WHNT News 19