Privacy and Cybersecurity

This past week, DFL (Deutsche Fußball Liga) invited me to keynote at SportsInnovation 2022. With the football (soccer) pitch at Düsseldorf’s Merkur Spiel-Arena as the backdrop, rival teams played live games as various technologies were demonstrated in real time. Here’s a look at some of my favorite tech from the event. Continue Reading →

You just purchased your first NFT. Where is it? Is it sitting in your account on the marketplace you purchased it from? Do they have custody of your digital asset or do you? Did you transfer your NFT to your crypto wallet? If so, do you believe your new NFT is actually in your wallet? It isn't. That's not how this works. Here's what is really in your wallet. Continue Reading →

In the metaverse (meta: to describe, verse: egotistically short for universe), everyone lives their ideal lives, visits amazing places, hangs out with incredible people, and has photographic evidence to prove it. In a metaverse, every event is epic, so even mishaps are considered exceptional. How might this evolve? Continue Reading →

VisaNet can process more than 65,000 tps (transactions per second). By comparison, Bitcoin (BTC) can only process ~5 tps. Therefore, Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies by proxy) are inherently too slow for practical use. Before you buy into this apples-to-oranges comparison, let's define the word "process." With a little more clarity, you will be better able to frame your thoughts about centralized (VisaNet) versus decentralized (Proof of Work) crypto transactions. Continue Reading →

You can attend the “must attend” event during CES® 2022 whether you’re going to Las Vegas or working from home. The Shelly Palmer Innovation Series Summit will stream live on January 5, 2022 at 11 a.m. ET at shellypalmer.com/live. Continue Reading →

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. Continue Reading →

The interviewer asked, "Is that image real"? There's no way to tell. "What about this video?" It's hard to say. "You can't tell if that's real or fake either." No. Not without analyzing it. "Well, what about the prose? Did a human write this sentence?" It's possible, but it would not surprise me to learn that it was machine generated. "What about the voice in the video?" It's sonically perfect. I'd say 60/40 it's a machine, but I'd need to hear a few more sentences to be sure. "So, what you're saying is that I can't trust my eyes or my ears?" Yes. That's what I'm saying. "Is this the end of truth?" Continue Reading →

If you were Mark Zuckerberg and you wanted to get ahead of potential government regulation of your business, what would you fix first? Would you try to curtail social media addiction, protect privacy, reduce mental health risks, reduce weaponized information, eliminate hate speech, flag misinformation, deal with data governance, or address some other seemingly intractable problem? Here's what I'd fix first. Continue Reading →

China has declared all financial transactions involving cryptocurrencies illegal and is issuing a nationwide ban on cryptocurrency mining. Does this make crypto illegal in China? Not exactly. What does this mean for the crypto markets worldwide? What about the US? How will US crypto be regulated? Are cryptocurrencies considered securities? What about other digital assets? Welcome to the crazy, confused world of crypto regulation. Continue Reading →

If you have an Alexa-enabled device or any Amazon device that is Amazon Sidewalk-capable, you are automatically opted in to sharing up to 80Kbps (capped at 500MB per month) of your WiFi network with Amazon and your neighbors. After I tell you how to opt-out, I'll tell you what it is and why Amazon thinks it's a good idea. If you want to use the service and lend part of your WiFi network to Jeff Bezos, you don't need to do anything. You are opted-in unless you do the following. Continue Reading →