As 2022 winds down, I thought it would be fun to review the 10 most popular stories by page views on shellypalmer.com. Obviously, 2022 was a transitional year for crypto, the world of decentralized finance, Web3 and the metaverse. It was also “the” year of AI. These stories reflect those trends, although some of the topics may surprise you.
1. My MetaMask ETH Wallet Was Hacked
My MetaMask Chrome Extension Wallet was hacked. The ETH is gone forever. Even though I can clearly see that address of the wallet that stole it, there’s nothing I can do to get it back. I’m just writing this blog post as a warning for anyone who thinks keeping more than a few hundred dollars in a “hot wallet” is a good idea. I always keep a small amount of ETH in my MetaMask wallet to buy virtual goods and NFTs and game tokens, etc. I have been aware that the wallet was vulnerable to attack, but this hack is remarkable. They must have figured out my password – which is hard to do. Here’s a chronicle of the events. I’ll keep it updated. Read more.
2. Stable Diffusion Porn
“Porn leads tech” is axiomatic, so it should surprise no one that some of the earliest, most innovative (and most provocative) images being created using the open source AI image generator Stable Diffusion are NSFW. Read more.
3. AI and Art
Jason M. Allen’s piece “Théâtre D’opéra Spatial” recently won first prize at the Colorado State Fair Fine Arts Competition in the category of “digital arts/digitally-manipulated photography.” It was created using an AI image generator known as Midjourney and the human competitors are furious. Should they be? Read more.
4. Staking ETH after the Merge: Pool or Solo?
Ethereum is a few days away from “The Merge,” its transition from Proof of Work (mining) to Proof of Stake (staking). The promised benefits of Proof of Stake (PoS) include a significantly higher number of transactions per second (tps), reduced environmental impact (PoS requires far less energy than mining), and greater scale. Where mining rigs are expensive, require a lot of electricity, and require specialized skills to efficiently operate, PoS rigs only require average hardware, a static IP address, and the ability to read and follow directions. Read more.
5. The Observable Metaverse
When someone says “the metaverse,” what do they mean? At the moment, the observable metaverse is a continuum that spans experiences from virtual reality (VR) through mixed reality (MR) to augmented reality (AR). The experiences are different, but some of the most successful metaverse projects share many common creative and technological attributes. What are they? To help figure it out, we’ve been developing a framework we call the Standard Model of the Metaverse. Read more.
6. Understanding “The Merge”
The most significant event in the short history of Web3 will most likely occur on September 15, 2022. That’s when Ethereum, the largest smart contract blockchain (with the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap), is scheduled to enact an existential operational change. If it fails, “The Merge,” as it is colloquially called, is almost sure to take the crypto markets down with it. But even if The Merge is 100 percent successful, it will come with profound implications regarding censorship, regulation, and the future of money. Read more.
7. Tokenomics: Understanding the Value of Crypto, NFTs, and DAOs
What’s the best cryptocurrency to invest in? Will the value of this NFT go up? Is the DAO I’ve been thinking about worth joining? How much BTC should I buy? Is this stablecoin really stable? How much can I really earn from this Web 3 or metaverse “play to earn” game? After you get excited about a project, your next step should be a deep dive into its tokenomics – it’s the key to understanding the true value of any token-based investment. Read more.
8. Moore’s Law 2022
Remember Moore’s Law? It basically says that the number of transistors on silicon will double about every two years while the cost of the computers is halved. This suggests exponential growth of chip capabilities and immense downward price pressure on chips. Most experts agree that Moore’s Law is no longer true. (Some experts will argue it was never true, but that story is for a different day). Read more.
9. Laundering Crypto
Some people think crypto transactions are anonymous. They insist that crypto is a great way to launder money. It isn’t. In practice, crypto transactions are not anonymous; they are pseudonymous. In general, crypto transactions are a terrible way to launder money because the sender and receiver of every transaction are publicly viewable on a blockchain. However, there are some cryptocurrencies, some digital wallets, and some decentralized applications (dApps) specifically designed for crypto laundering. And they are very, very good. Let’s explore. Read more.
10. Why You Think Your Devices Are Listening to You
At a dinner party the other night, a very accomplished business person told a story about how he and his wife were certain that their devices were listening to their conversations. “I was talking to my wife about a pair of designer shoes that she wanted to purchase, and not 10 minutes later while she was doing some online research for work, she saw an ad for that exact pair of shoes. She hadn’t searched for the shoes; the ad just appeared. Clearly, our computers or our phones are listening.” Some people nodded in agreement, and others began to chime in. Read more.
Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it. I am not a financial advisor. Nothing contained herein should be considered financial advice. If you are considering any type of investment you should conduct your own research and, if necessary, seek the advice of a licensed financial advisor.