In particular, HMRC is seeking the ability to cluster cryptocurrency transactions, identifying those linked to service providers such as mixing, gambling, and dark market services. The contract, posted on January 17, notes the tool must track and trace Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, Tether, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Ethereum Classic — the latter two it unfortunately misspelled as “Ethereium.” Preferential treatment is pledged to those seeking to develop additional functionality to analyze more private cryptocurrencies such as Monero, Zcash, and Dash....

Earlier this week, the UK government announced that it will be launching a consultation period in four specific zones, where e-scooters and self-driving vehicles will be trialed. [Read: Ugh, the UK cuts electric vehicle grant for the third time in 10 years] The zones, more formally called “Future Transport Zones,” will each receive a cut of £90 million ($109 million) in funding to help support the trials of the new tech....

The system collects data on local pollution and traffic flows through roadside sensors, weather forecasts, and Bluetooth devices in cars. An algorithm then analyzes both live and historical data to predict where air pollution will spike within the next hour. When the system forecasts a sharp rise in toxic pollutants, the traffic light timings will automatically change. Drivers on their way to pollution hotspots will be held at red lights for up to 20 seconds longer than usual....

The conference, which is allegedly taking place in February, is being flagged as a potential sanctions violation, Reuters reports. Experts have laid out their advice in a confidential report that is to be submitted to the UN Security Council later this month. The UN has been keeping a close eye on the Asian nation and its use of blockchain and cryptocurrency. In November last year, a UN report claimed that North Korea had laundered money through a shell company posing as a “shipping and logistics firm run on a blockchain platform....

Were you on old Twitter? Back before the brand proliferation, before the Nazis, before the President of the USA was doing his best to kick off a global confrontation? When people just chatted on the social network? And the design was better? It was good, right? These days, things are different. And whether you’re concerned with the anger and vitriol on the platform — or just want to stop wasting so much time scrolling through that endless feed — there’s never a better time than right now to quit or take a break....

This year, we’ve reviewed a whole bunch of electric two-wheelers, and three of them have really stuck in our minds. The Brompton Electric Why we love it: The Brompton Electric is the smallest folding electric bike out there. It weighs 14.5kg (excluding the 2.2kg battery) and measures just 565 x 585 x 270mm when folded, which means that you can bring it along almost everywhere! So yes, it’s the ebike you almost never have to worry about getting stolen....

When it does, it inflicts pain on your soul and paints your days a darker shade. We’re told to make changes and dream anew. But changing is hard unless you master the art of hacking your brain and visualizing a better path. Your ‘True North.’ Hack your neurons and actualize your dreams Resetting your journey and leading your best life starts with a vision. In my early 20s, I was a graduate student living in a studio apartment in San Francisco....

That is to say, even in the online retail space, there’s no doubt that the customer remains a focal point in all things business. When customers are able to Google everything, customer experience can be a way to differentiate your business and stand out. Businesses are continually morphing and evolving the various elements of how they operate. Things like managing remote workers, orchestrating complex e-commerce customer service, and scaling along with the steady increase in online shopping are rewriting what the customer experience is in the first place....

The networks, represented as a police cruiser and a green Jeep in a video game world, were created in Unity3D. Shuchmann, in a response to the video on his YouTube page, said: Each neural network was built to use reinforcement learning to complete a specific task. In this case, the police car has to stop the Jeep from crossing a white line. If it succeeds it’s rewarded, if it fails it’s punished....

Only a small proportion of the hundreds of types of plastics can be recycled by conventional technology. But there are other things we can do to reuse plastics after they’ve served their original purpose. My research, for example, focuses on chemical recycling, and I’ve been looking into how food packaging can be used to create new materials like wires for electricity. In chemical recycling you use the constituent elements to make new materials....

If you believe its advertising, the company condenses down entire non-fiction books into 15 minute, easily consumable chunks that you can use to expand your brain box. If you’re more realistic? It’s a subscription service where you pay for book summaries. Specifically, works they probably haven’t given the authors any money for. With that idea in mind, Nick Douglas over at Lifehacker decided to save us all some time (and money) by summarizing some of Blinkist’s book summaries....

Actually, the truth is that the two are very similar, at least in my experience. While from the outside, the alpaca industry might look like a relaxed affair between a few enthusiasts, launching and running a successful alpaca farm taught me valuable lessons which I could then apply to running the tech startups I also lead. Running an alpaca business requires just as much organization, productivity, and “smart work” as needed to build a successful startup....

As social distancing becomes a primary way of protecting oneself, social media has become even more important as a way of disseminating news and promoting contact between friends. Several social media companies are taking steps to help limit the spread of harmful misinformation and outright falsehoods about the disease. Facebook recently revealed it’s banning ads that guarantee a “cure” for the virus, and is trying to link people to reputable sources such as the World Health Organization and local resources....

The €225m ($267m) fine was issued by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC). The body is Europe’s lead authority for WhatsApp owner Facebook, which has its EU headquarters in Ireland. The DPC said that WhatsApp had infringed the EU’s transparency rules: The watchdog also ordered the company to take “remedial actions” to ensure its data processing complies with the rules. WhatsApp said it would appeal the “entirely disproportionate” fine. Regardless of the final decision, the EU may finally be turning its tough talk on data protection into action....

WABetaInfo reached out to let us know that you’ll still need to use the QR code system to log into WhatsApp’s desktop app. The fingerprint feature simply reinforces the security for the Web app. We apologize for the mistake. You might soon be able to log into WhatsApp’s desktop version with your fingerprint. Serial WhatsApp leaker WABetaInfo has spotted the Facebook-owned company is experimenting with a fingerprint login system in the app’s latest beta build for Android (2....

According to renowned WhatsApp sleuth WABetaInfo, the company has started creating the feature in one of its test builds. The under-development feature includes support for voice and video calls for both individual contacts and groups. [Read: Google Assistant displays get a new UI, a dark theme, and more features] Screenshots posted by WABetaInfo suggest that when you’ll call someone through the WhatsApp desktop app, a new window will open up with controls to manage the call....

Since this week, WhatsApp now supports dark mode on both Android and iOS, and it looks like something out of a badly designed 80’s sci-fi movie. Have a look: It hurts my eyes and it bums me out, especially when I think about how I’ll be stuck staring at this dogshit theme a couple of times per hour every day. WhatsApp is my main mode of communication, and they made it ugly....

Reputations are hard won, and easily lost. They are an asset as valuable as any that appears on a balance sheet, and should be fiercely protected. And nowhere is that more true than online. Now, more than ever, a company’s reputation is shaped by what people see online – and specifically what they see on the first page of Google search results. Why Google and not other search engines? Well, Google has an 88 percent share of search in the US, so even if you use Bing, nine out of 10 people do not....

Current legislation only allows humans to be recognized as inventors, which could make AI-generated innovations unpatentable. This would deprive the owners of the AI of the legal protections they need for the inventions that their systems create. The Artificial Inventor Project team has been testing the limitations of these rules by filing patent applications that designate a machine as the inventor— the first time that an AI’s role as an inventor had ever been disclosed in a patent application....

Not only does it lead to underestimating the scale of coronavirus in the UK, but perhaps more important is the subsequent delay in entering the details of positive cases into the NHS Test and Trace system which is used by a team of contact tracers. Although all those who tested positive had been informed of their results, other people in close contact with them and potentially at risk of exposure were not immediately followed up (ideally within 48 hours)....