Interesting content Friday — 2019/06/21
[Article] Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency Could Be Great, if Not for Facebook
I am not into cryptocurrency, and I haven’t seen any killer app to justify all the frenzy. Most of the conversations about cryptocurrencies are about how it is so much better than fiat currency and whatnot, and everybody seems to focus on the details of implementation.
I heard about Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra but didn’t realize it’d automatically be everywhere because of WhatsApp and Messenger. The integration in WhatsApp could be a killer feature and change the global economy, but should Facebook be allowed to launch Libra?
The HuffPost called Libra a joke: “Facebook will keep the interest earned on these assets for itself. Actual holders of Libra coins will leave this profit on the table.”
[7min Video] Google Stadia wants to be the Netflix of gaming
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAlliyFZtXc
Companies have been experiment with video game streaming for many years, but our Internet infrastructure wasn’t ready for it. Small latency is even more critical when you are using teleoperators to drive cars. Our Internet infrastructure improved a lot in the past years, but are we ready now?
If this takes off, over time Google may become huge in the game space; everybody will be able to play videogames from anywhere and from any device that runs the Chrome browser, no more need to buy consoles or a new PC.
[23min Video] James Hamilton, AWS | AWS Re:Invent 2013
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dInADzgCI-s
In this 2013 interview, James Hamilton answers questions about the potential of AWS, how he changed his mind about commodity vs. specialized hardware, data center costs, etc. It is also interesting to see how long some R&D initiatives take, such as their ARM offering that came out in November of 2018 (five years after this interview).
