Daily Archives: August 18, 2017

Imagine walking into your bank and telling the cashier you wanted to open a savings account.

Youd expect to be offered a small choice of terms and rates and you probably would not expect any of those rates to be absolutely best in class.

What you would not expect is to be offered an enormous swathe of savings options including many accounts from other financial institutions. A Dutch bank, or a Swedish one? Yes, these lenders want your sterling savings too, it seems, and in the near future you may be able to save with them and get some exceptional rates via accounts operated by your own, existing banks.

Welcome to open banking something that sounds like technology jargon but which, whatever words you use, is real and revolutionary. And about to arrive in Britain.

I confidently predict it will change the way we save cash, and very quickly.

The British love cash. There is an inherent...

Read this article:

How technology is about to transform the way we save cash forever - Telegraph.co.uk

Before Arizona could be recognized as a leader in blockchain technology legislation there was one major challenge helping lawmakers get your head around exactly what the technology is.

It was very difficult, you know, trying to explain to people, said Arizona State Rep. Jeff Weninger, R-Chandler. You never want to vote for something that you dont fully understand and this is, to say the least, a tough thing to get your head around.

Weninger sponsored a bill that makes Arizona one of a handful of states to accept electronic signatures on contracts, a law that is made possible through the use of blockchain.

Blockchain is best known as the technology behind bitcoin, the system that lets people use digital currency in place of standard government-issued money. The technology was created in 2009 as a decentralized, replicated, peer-to-peer review network to serve as a public ledger for bitcoin but quickly found other uses in online data verification and the transfer of value.

Weninger called his bill a little stab at getting acceptance and understanding of the new and often misunderstood technology that backers say could ultimately lead to more-secure voting, money handling, identification and more.

Lawmakers have called the new technology bulletproof, saying that it adds a level of trust in the management of records and identity management, among other applications.

One such application is the electronic signature law passed by Arizona. Using blockchain, an encoded, or smart, contract allows the technology to act as a witness to an agreement, validating, overseeing and imposing terms of the contract with no need of a middleman or third-party organization.

In March, Gov. Doug Ducey signed Weningers bill, HB 2417, to recognize signatures and smart contracts secured though blockchain as valid forms of contracts.

Ducey said the smart-contract bill shows Arizona to be a state thats really leading the way in embracing and recognizing these new technologies, said Patrick Ptak, a spokesman for the governor.

Blockchain technology is new and emerging, Ptak said. It kind of started out as an application for Bitcoin but now industries across the spectrum are seeing new applications for it from finance to healthcare to law and its something that we think has a lot of potential. I think that were just barely tapping its potential uses and applications.

Blockchain works by recording transactions whether they be digital currencies, smart contracts or something like an electronic vote as blocks of data, with each updated added to the others chronologically hence a blockchain.

This encryption algorithm of blockchain has been called un-hackable due to the nature in which it distributes information to multiple parties creating a shared database. Because blockchain is decentralized, there is no one central computer that can be hacked. If one computer were to be hacked, every other computer running that database would cry foul.

What makes blockchain appealing is that it allows a standard for trust for online transactions, or a starting point for untrusted parties to carry out transactions without a normal intermediary such as a bank.

In Arizona, lawmakers are looking forward to numerous possibilities that a future with this technology could provide.

It (blockchain) adds a level of trust for a citizen to know that their data is being properly managed, but also having access to knowing who and for what purposes their data is being looked at, said Tommy Leander, a legislative assistant for Rep. David Schweikert, R- Fountain Hills.

Schweikert in February helped launch the Congressional Blockchain Caucus, saying it is critical for members of Congress to begin comprehending both their current applications and future use cases. Weninger also credits Schweikert with inspiring the smart contract bill.

Weninger, who said he shared YouTube videos of TED Talks with fellow lawmakers in an effort to help them understand blockchain, said that despite the confusion his colleagues were eager to be at the forefront of this technology.

Democrats and Republicans like being at the tip of the spear of new technologies and new ways of doing things, he said.

Weninger added that besides business applications, he hopes to see more government applications of blockchain in the future.

I think the technology will get better, I think the proof of concept will get better and here in Arizona well keep expanding, he said

As one of a half-dozen states to embrace blockchain legislation, Arizona hopes to see new companies come to the state, Ptak says.

Arizona, in general, has been a national leader in being the first to recognize and embrace these technologies and youre seeing the result in that a lot of tech companies are now coming to Arizona and coming to the Phoenix area, Ptak said.

Cronkite News reporter Joe Gilmore contributed to this report.

Original post:

Arizona edges to front of states eyeing blockchain technology - Arizona Daily Star

A group of high-tech business owners joined Montana Sen. Jon Tester on Thursday at the Bozeman Public Library to discuss how the state could continue to attract and retain high-paying jobs for the state.

The forum, Tester said, was to hear from the technology community about issues important to them. The senator sat alongside a panel of four business owners in the Gallatin County area and heard from each of them before taking questions from the audience.

To the folks out there doing, I want to say thank you, he said.

The panel included Stan Abel, chief executive officer of SiteOne Therapeutics; Bill Stoddard, founder of NorthFork Financial; Pat LaPointe, managing director for Frontier Angels; and Ali Knapp, president at Wisetail. The four presented what their companies do and offered their suggestions on improving the business climate to the senator.

Traditional tech-hubs like San Francisco, San Diego and Cambridge, Massachusetts, are getting crowded and extremely expensive, Abel said. The time to try to attract more businesses in Montana is ideal, he said.

All our competitor states are recognizing this opportunity that there are people that want to get out of those major tech-hubs, Abel said. South Dakota, North Dakota, Utah, Texas, Nevada I mean, theyre all offering aggressive incentives to leave those states and put their business there.

Knapp said the state should extend STEM science, technology, engineering and mathematic programs across the state to rural areas. Montana is really great at having the programs in Bozeman and Missoula, she said, but in rural areas these programs are lacking or dont exist.

She also said that public lands were a big recruiting tool for companies and should be protected.

This has been a huge advantage for us, and its something that we just need to keep in mind to continue recruiting methods, she said.

Other suggestions included upgrading infrastructure, providing more opportunities to seek start-up funding, mental health services in rural areas and bridging the gap to rural parts of the state.

Lance Trebesch, CEO of Ticket River in Harlowton, said that rural Montana is in decline. The company is the biggest employer in its county and aims to employ people from Harlowton, he said.

But its tough, Trebesch said. And its tough because the education. The schools in these rural places, and you know this very well, are not getting enough funding.

Tester praised Trebesch for establishing a business in a rural area like his hometown. He acknowledge that rural school systems need to have better opportunities for kids.

Its a fundamental building block for economic development, Tester said. If you dont have a good K-12 system, no families are going to move there.

The discussion was centered on improving the business climate in the state, but the senator also took the opportunity to talk about the opioid problem in the state. Tester directed his attention to Abel and the companys pursuit of non-opioid and non-narcotic pain medication.

The drug and opioid problem is a social catastrophe happening right now, Tester said. The senator asked Abel if there was anything at the federal level that can be done to help speed up a eight-to-10-year process in developing the non-opioid pain medication.

Its going to take all of us to combat this problem, but it will take us some time, Abel said.

Continued here:

Tester talks technology with local business leaders - The Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Time for dinner, Charlie!

No answer.

Dinner, Charlie!

No answer.

Charlie?

Charlie is texting on his phone. Or maybe its one of those computer games again. Either way, hes not paying attention.

Is this just the typical nuisance? Or is it something worse? Is Charlie actually addicted to his cellphone?

Lisa Strohman, a clinical psychologist and technology wellness specialist, says many kids really are addicted to their phones, their tablets, their technology. She spoke about the issue earlier this summer at the annual conference of the National Association of Secondary School Principals in Philadelphia.

Strohman, the author of Unplug: Raising Kids in a Technology-Addicted World, also is the director of the Technology Wellness Center in Scottsdale, Ariz., which she cofounded with Melissa Westendorf. The women met while they were in the Drexel and Villanova joint degree program in law and psychology. Strohman also founded Digital Citizen Academy, which provides programs to educate children, parents, and educators about the safe use of technology.

Here are some of Strohmans thoughts.

I understand that cellphone use in schools was a big topic at the recent conference. Most schools, because of parental pressure, allow students to bring cellphones on campus. A large part of that is due to fear, based on the shootings that have happened and were highly publicized. Parents want to know they can get ahold of their children.

But were at a tipping point. A lot of the schools want to invest in technology but its creating more distractions, more disruptions, more social and emotional issues on campuses. Weve given these kids devices that connect them to the world, so thats what theyre doing. But now theyre not paying attention to the teacher.

Handout

Lisa Strohman, a clinical psychologist and technology wellness specialist.

Now that school is about to begin, how can a parent wean a child off of technology if its been overused during the summer? For a parent, its about setting a clear back-to-school message. We get new pencils, new paper, and we have new rules for technology. It should be as normal as doing those other things. You set the expectations ahead of time.

One of the things parents dont know is that scientific research now shows that when you use technology continuously anything over a four-hour period it starts to rewire the brain and causes the pleasure center to be altered. If you put an image of the brain of a technology-addicted youth next to one of a youth addicted to a substance, such as drugs or alcohol, you cant tell them apart.

We suggest a tech-free Tuesday, where kids learn they can take a day off from technology. Or you can set specific times around dinner and lunch when phones should be off. In the home, modeling is important. Dont be on technology all the time yourself.

How do you know if your child is following the guidelines youve set? Every internet service provider has programs that can help parents monitor; it allows them to read text messages or shut down data when theyre in school. Typically, these are free resources. There also are products that parents can buy. But I always say, start with what youre already paying for.

How do you know if your child is showing signs of a technology addiction? The easiest way to tell is if theres a mood shift. If you see a depressed mood, withdrawal, isolation, irritability. I realize Im pretty much describing every teenager in America. My recommendation is to ask kids to hand over their phones at night. Dont let them sleep with their devices. If theyre unable to part with them or leave them off for a specific amount of time, thats a sign.

The average age that kids in the U.S. are getting their first devices is now about 7 years old. Consider that Steve Jobs didnt let his kids use iPads. Bill Gates didnt give his kids cellphones until they were 14. The guys developing the technology industry understand.

If you have a child with a family genetic disposition for addiction, and you hand them a cellphone that potentially activates this really robust dopamine reward system, then when they get to the age when drugs and alcohol are accessible, theyll be at higher risk.

We have to start teaching our children balance. Theres online life and offline life.

What are other potential dangers of addiction or overuse? When you tap into the addiction center of the brain, theres increased potential for suicide, anxiety, and depression. And theres a loss of academic potential. Technology is causing kids to have what some people call technology-acquired Attention Deficit Disorder.

Theyre sending naked pictures of each other and then getting suspended. How far behind are they when they come back? Its a slippery slope. Were just getting the data on this now. What were seeing is that kids are starting to lose their way, based on one or two bad decisions they make online.

And we all know about the dangers of sexual predators online.As parents, we cant block every site. But we have to understand that the more unrestricted access your child has to the internet, the higher the risks.

What is Digital Citizen Academy and how do you see it combating technology addiction? It provides education and prevention programs for schools K-12, teaching digital citizenship, about things such as cyberbullying and plagiarism. The curriculum weve developed is age appropriate and theres also a segment for educators and parents. Educators working in concert with the parents is the best approach for protecting and preparing kids.

Were finding that in the schools using the programs, were reducing technology infractions significantly. Kids ultimately want to do the right thing. If you start early, theyll make better choices. A lot of parents are overwhelmed, but we know that it works. If we make changes now, it doesnt have to be as overwhelming and scary.

sandybauers10@gmail.com

Published: August 18, 2017 3:01 AM EDT

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5 Questions: Is your child addicted to technology? - Philly.com