Xiaomi Redmi 5 Images And Specifications Just Leaked

After the successful launch of its Redmi Note 4 in India, it looks like Xiaomi is preparing to launch another phone in its product lineup. The upcoming Xiaomi Redmi 5 just got passed through the Chinese certification site as model number MAE136, while the listing does not include Smartphone’s name, Chinese media has speculated the phone to be the upcoming Redmi 5.

The reports contain specifications of the phone as well as some images. The phone will have a metal build with some rounded edges and similar to the recent Xiaomi Note 4, the device will have a fingerprint sensor on its back. The camera will be in a location similar to iPhone’s, and it will have a LED flash too.

The device will sport a 5″ display, slots for managing its Dual SIM setup and it will pack a 4000 mAh battery. The device will be almost 141 mm tall, and reports say that it will be 8.9mm thick. Apart from battery, screen size and phone dimensions, no other information has come to light, but from the leaked information, it is sure that phone will be aimed at mid to high range smartphone market.

While Motorola and Nokia are preparing to launch some new smartphones at the upcoming Mobile World Congress, it is sure that Redmi 5 will not be launched in the event as the company has already cleared that it will skip the event altogether.

Xiaomi has new Mi 6 also on the line, which, as per some leaks, may be world’s fastest phone on the market at the time of launch. The China of Apple has been trying to grow lately, but companies like Oppo and Vivo have made more sales in recent months, it will be interesting to see what Xiaomi does to get its thrown back.

Source: GettingGeek

Google Wants You to Give Feedback on the Design of Pixel Smartphones

The first generation Pixel phones by Google were received with much enthusiasm by the public. However, the designs of Pixel and Pixel XL was one issue that received mixed reactions. On one hand, people said that its design was similar to iPhone’s and on the other hand others said that it was functional.

The smartphone giant is now seeking the general public’s view regarding the design. This review might come in handy when the second generation of the smartphone will be manufactured.

Pixels product lead, Krishna Kumar wrote in a Pixel User Community post, “I would like to hear your thoughts. What do you like about the design? What do you hate about it? What did we get right? What would you like to see us improve?”

Yesterday’s CNET piece went into particular depth and explained how avoiding an “unsightly” camera bump was an area of focus while designing the phones. The only area where the Pixel phones differ from iPhone is its wedge shape. This shape facilitated for a larger battery to be placed in the phone and allowed the phone to rest on a flat surface.

A recent report said that the next smartphone in the Pixel line might be more affordable and come with water resistance, a feature that was absent in the first generation smartphones. Google is also said to be working on a cheaper version of phone aimed at developing markets such as India.

As the product lead as shown so much interest in the public opinion, we are hopeful that Kumar will be able to answer many questions regarding the design of the Pixel smartphone. One such question being why the Pixel has such a large and empty bottom bezel. You too can submit your concerns and queries via the forum post.

Source: GettingGeek

U.S. Senate Confirms Bitcoin Supporter Mick Mulvaney As Trump’s Budget Director

The United States Senate has confirmed Rep. Rick Mulvaney, a South Carolina Republican and a long-time bitcoin supporter, as President Trump’s budget director, a positive signal for bitcoin. Mulvaney has a reputation as a fiscal hawk and is expected to play a key role in the administration’s plans to make changes in Washington, D.C., according to The New York Times.

Mulvaney has been interested in bitcoin since 2014 after participating in a Small Business Committee hearing on bitcoin. He said it could influence monetary policy. He has also accepted bitcoin donations.

He and Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat, launched the bipartisan Blockchain Caucus in September.

Other pro-bitcoin enthusiasts in the current administration include Peter Thiel, PayPal co-founder who served on Trump’s transition team, Balaji Srinivasan, 21.co-CEO and potential FDA director nominee, and Travis Kalanick, Uber CEO who joined Trump’s team of advisors.

A Narrow Confirmation

The Senate confirmed Mulvaney by a 51-to-49 vote along mostly party lines. Arizona Republican John McCain joined Democrats in opposing the nomination. McCain, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, objected to Mulvaney’s support for military spending limits. McCain said it would be irresponsible to place the future of the defense budget in Mulvaney’s hands.

Mulvaney will lead the Office of Management and Budget with a full agenda, since the administration has to prepare a budget and decide whether to raise the debt limit. The administration has also pledged to introduce a tax plan soon.

Mulvaney favors big changes in Medicare and in raising the Social Security eligibility age, a position Trump opposed during the presidential campaign. Mulvaney’s positions on government spending also are not consistent with Trump’s promises to invest in infrastructure and the military.

Mulvaney blamed Democrats and a handful of Republicans for the government shutdown under the Obama Administration.

Where Mulvaney Differs From Trump

During the nomination proceedings, Mulvaney defended his plan to support entitlement program cuts that Trump said he would protect.

Speaking before the Senate homeland security and budget committees, he acknowledged that his positions on the national debt and spending are not in sync with Trump’s campaign pledges and statements from some advisers.

Mulvaney also said during the nomination proceedings he will continue speaking out about the rising costs of Medicare and Social Security.

Mulvaney said he favors raising the retirement age for Social Security to 70, but he said he would not cut benefits for current recipients. He said he supports means testing to qualify for Medicare.

Democrats warned that the nomination indicated Trump was changing his stated intention to protect entitlements.

A Fiscal Hawk

Mulvaney has questioned the need to raise the national debt ceiling, saying he believed the government should prioritize payments if there is a danger of breaching the debt limit.

Mulvaney, elected to Congress in 2010, is known as a strident deficit hawk. He was a founding member of the Freedom Caucus and a leader in the group’s attempts to remove then-House Speaker John Boehner in 2015.

He supported the government shutdown over the Affordable Care Act and was willing to do it again two years later in an attempt to defund Planned Parenthood.

Mulvaney backs the “penny plan” to cut 1 percent of federal spending each year for five years.

He is among those lawmakers who have opposed infrastructure spending. Trump’s advisers have not said how the government will pay for a proposed infrastructure package that could reach $1 trillion.

Trump’s plan to cut taxes could reduce federal revenue by trillions over the next decade, independent analysts have said. Mulvaney has said reforming the tax code could create growth when asked if tax cuts should be allowed to add to the deficit.

He said Trump should first consider the impact on the overall economy. The best way to cut the deficit or balance the budget is to build economic growth, he said.

Another option is to reduce spending. Trump is considering cutting the Energy and Commerce departments, along with eliminating arts programs.

Source:Cryptocoinsnews

New Blockchain Partnership Proposes Solution for Remote Voting

Two Boston-based companies have teamed up to fast-track the implementation of secure, remote voting in elections through the blockchain.

After a year exploring the potential of protected voting, Voatz, Inc. and Clear Ballot Group, Inc., have decided to go ahead with the partnership in a bid to tackle the issue of remote voting.

Through an open source blockchain platform, Voatz has designed a secure platform for high volume remote voting designed for smartphones and tablets. Clear Ballot, a voting system company, has provided Voatz with knowledge of the election industry, market requirements and a rich sample election dataset. This gives the Voatz team the ability to understand and build support for the difficulties and scale of actual elections taking place.

Nimit Sawhney, co-founder and CEO of Voatz said, however, that the companies need to realize that several questions must be addressed before remote voting on a large scale is possible.

“These include end-to-end verification, voter anonymity, authentication, security, cost, ease of deployment, scalability, user experience and most importantly – public trust.”

The two companies are hoping that this advance in remote voting through the blockchain will bring convenience and added trust to voters when it matters most all through an app on their smartphones. With a sample ballot on their smartphone a voter will only need to bring their phone with them when the polls open; however, it’s projected that through an app built on the blockchain voters won’t have to make the trip to polls in the future.

Voting on the Blockchain

Using the blockchain to secure voting is not a new thing.

In the past there have been several organizations launching blockchain voting services aimed at tackling the issue of voter confidence in elections.

In October of last year, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) developed an e-voting platformbased on the blockchain technology. Through this service it gave shareholders of listed companies on the exchange the opportunity to vote during annual general meetings.

New York University Tandon School of Engineering also unveiled a blockchain voting systemafter concerns were raised over whether the 2016 election was pushed in President Donald Trump’s favor.

While at the beginning of 2017 Nasdaq too has emerged with its own e-voting platform using the blockchain technology.

Voting for millions of people around the world is the one time they can democratically vote for who they believe will be the best leader for their country. If, however, they have no confidence in the voting system, what’s stopping them from not voting if they feel the systems are being cheated?

With the blockchain, though, it provides an answer to maintaining the integrity of voter confidence when its needed the most.

Source: cryptocoinsnews

Ethereum’s Price Rises by Almost 25%

Ethereum appears to be making a comeback with its price considerably rising during the past week from around $10 to over $13, settling at around $12.80.

Ethereum’s Price Rose by Almost 25% Over the Past Week – image from poloniex

The second biggest digital currency returns to a market cap of above $1 billion following news that JP Morgan, Microsoft, BP and other household brands are working on launching Enterprise Ethereum, a modified fork of ethereum to be used for private blockchains.

There were suggestions the household brands will also contribute to the public ethereum blockchain, but no further details were provided.

On other ethereum related news, Melonport, a “blockchain protocol for digital asset management on the Ethereum platform” – according to the greenpaper, sold out its almost $2 million ICO in about 13 minutes with 99% of the token gone in 3 minutes.

This is probably the fastest sell out of any ICO, indicating a huge demand to fund innovative start-ups in the ethereum space specifically and the wider blockchain space more generally.

A Boom in ICOs

Rather than holding ETH, etherumers appear to prefer parking their currency on eth based tokens which may earn returns through price appreciation and through profit-sharing schemes depending on the ICO’s terms.

The legality of these arrangements is not very clear. It is probable that any sale under $5 million is fine, but scams should be expected.

I’ve long suggested the setting up of a non-governing body to ensure some sort of quality and accountability, but its implementation probably suffers from the commons problem – it’s in no one individual’s interest to take up the initiative, but it is in everyone’s interest for it to be established.

The Trump administration is currently very busy, but now that UK is mired in Brexit, USA may take the torch and lead the world in providing some sort of regulation for quality assurance while not hampering innovation.

Specifically, they could fund the non-governing body and initiate its establishment while inviting many leaders in this space to sit on its board or provide input.

Might Eth Overtake Bitcoin?

Bitcoin has seen an incredible rise in 2016, but the digital currency has now stagnated as far as the protocol and underlying innovation is concerned. After almost two years of debate on how to increase transaction capacity, no solution appears likely. Bitcoin may therefore continue to operate for much of this year at over capacity – a first in its eight-year’s history.

Bitcoin based transaction fees are seemingly increasing exponentially. The user experience has considerably degraded to slow, unpredictable and frustrating. Businesses have long called for a solution, but no one appears to be listening.

The currency, nonetheless, leads in brand recognition and is reaping the rewards of a billion or more invested in its infrastructure in 2013. Since then, such investments have fallen considerably, potentially stocking up problems in the near future.

Its main use now appears to be that of acting as a hedge, but that seems to be solely based on its brand recognition and an easily copied limited number of coins which can no longer move conveniently or cheaply.

The currency, therefore, seems ripe for disruption. With the second largest market cap, a well-funded and capable development team, corporate interest, additional functionality in smart contracts, 17 seconds average times for transaction confirmations and plans for unlimited scalability, Ethereum might be best placed for such disruption if it happens.

Whether it will, remains to be seen. It may well be the case that the two currencies have their own niche with bitcoin being like tor – slow, clunky, inconvenient, prioritizing edge cases above all else – while Ethereum might turn out to be bitcoin’s version of Firefox – fast, cheap, convenient, privacy conscious, prioritizing ordinary users while being inclusive of edge cases.

Although there are many races in the blockchain space and even races within races, currently, the one between Bitcoin and Ethereum is the most interesting. How this will play, all will be watching as a general realization and awareness now rises that blockchain technology will soon transform the world.

Source: Cryptocoinsnews