Decentralization is a more important phenomenon than blockchain, a senior executive at South Korean tech giant Samsung said in an interview with computing magazine JAX Jan. 10. Speaking about the future of blockchain, Ricardo J. Méndez, Technical Director at the firm’s innovative technology arm Samsung NEXT, forecast a consolidation of the space in the coming year, but underscored the importance of reshaping centralized […]

Several tobacco shops in Paris, France, have started selling Bitcoin (BTC) for fiat despite regulatory uncertainty, Reuters reports Tuesday, Jan. 8. Reuters has learned that the world’s largest cryptocurrency can now be purchased at six tobacco shops throughout Paris. However, in a contradicting report French magazine Capital has claimedthat there are as many as 24 shops currently participating in […]

Carmaker Ford has announced plans for a major shake-up of its operations in the UK and mainland Europe. It is expected to lead to thousands of job losses across Europe, including the UK, although cuts at its UK factories are not thought to be imminent. But Ford Europe boss Steven Armstrong said should the UK […]

The US will work with allies to “expel every last Iranian boot” from Syria, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says. Mr Pompeo warned there would be no US reconstruction aid for areas controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad until Iran and its proxies had left. He also criticised ex-President Barack Obama’s Middle East policy, saying […]

Late last year, the Trump administration released the latest national climate assessment on Black Friday in what many assumed was an attempt to bury the document. If that was the plan, it backfired, and the assessment wound up earning more coverage than it probably would have otherwise. But much of that coverage perpetuated a decades-old practice, one […]

A Purdue University alumnus is using clean, solar energy to drastically reduce the electric bill for his northern Indiana hog farm with the help of a company based in the Purdue Research Park. Kraig Resler, an alumnus of Purdue’s College of Agriculture, partnered with Emergent Solar Energy to find ways to reduce energy costs, protect the […]

Most of us know there are many health benefits to eating organic food. But is the farming practice all that healthy for the environment? A new study suggests organic food might have some serious consequences for the environment when compared to conventionally produced food. Here’s what it found. STUDY: ORGANIC FARMING COMES WITH A ‘CARBON OPPORTUNITY COST’ Researchers […]

Latest commitment part of broader ambition to reach 50 percent recycled content by 2025 Nestlé Waters North America (NWNA) announced in December that it will achieve 25 percent recycled plastic across its U.S. domestic portfolio by 2021. The company plans to continue expanding its use of recycled materials in the coming years, further setting an ambition to […]

Maui on Dec. 31 became the first Hawaiian county—and one of the latest cities and counties across the United States—to ban polystyrene plastic (more commonly known as Styrofoam) food containers. The purpose of the ban is to reduce pollution and encourage recycling across the island. Yet, a recent report on the impact of a proposed Styrofoam ban in Oahu, […]

The past few years have seen a merging of the personal and professional in the Facebook founder’s annual goals, but the execution has a left a little to be desired amid increased company scrutiny. Every January, Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg posts his annual resolution for the year. Based on this year’s promise, cracks […]