Bitcoin Making Inroads into Rural Philippines with WiFi Hotspots
Reaching consumers in regions where Internet access is limited to non-existent is very difficult. One startup in the Philippines is changing that, by offering free WiFi access to its customers buying shampoo. Keeping in mind how roughly four billion people in the world have no Internet access, it will be difficult to let Bitcoin make an impact in those....
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The recent terror attacks in Paris has left a deep scar on the world as we know it. As a result of this tense situation, government officials find themselves in an awkward position to make sure events like these can never transpire again. French law enforcement is pressing to ban the usage of public WiFi, as well as Tor, whenever a state of emergency is....
July 3, 2015: Pinky Natividad, CEO of startup accelerator Katalyst.ph, travelled out to Paniqui, Tarlac to hold the first of many in a series of workshops aimed at promoting free and open source technologies. Among the technologies that Natividad covered was Bitcoin. Many among the crowd were relatives and even spouses of OFWs—overseas workers that regularly remit funds to support families in rural provinces in the Philippines. Natividad demonstrated many applications, including a Bitcoin wallet and ATM. Katalyst.ph believes that the full potential of open source and free technologies such....
Bitcoin outfits have been making the rounds recently, doing more and more outreach outside of the typical circles—i.e. startup conventions and the like. The Bitcoin Organization of the Philippines (BOP), for one, regularly engages “laymen.” They hold weekly meetups, which are announced via their invite-only Facebook group, which has almost one thousand active users, and is beginning to rival the “Bitcoin PH” universal/general/generic bitcoin user group that has roughly four thousand active Facebook users. (The latter is large and attracts Bitcoin users from all over the world, whereas the....
New York City's public spaces are going wireless thanks to a public-private consortium that's bringing gigabit WiFi connectivity through the new LinkNYC network, TechCrunch reports. The LinkNYC network, funded by advertisements, will be more than 100 times faster than average municipal WiFi and 20 times faster than the average home internet service in NYC. Users will be able to download a two-hour high definition movie in as little as 30 seconds. The project is promoted by CityBridge, an NYC-based consortium of telecom businesses. The FCRC will host a public hearing on the proposal before....
When internet connectivity finally starts to go mainstream in underbanked and unbanked regions, such as Africa, Bitcoin could greatly benefit from that. However, Kenyan government officials are attempting to regulate public Wi-Fi access by requiring users to register with the government. It goes without saying that giving people free access to public WiFi without them providing some form of identification opens the floodgates for illegal and illicit internet activity. Usually, public wi-fi hotspots will require you to enter a mobile phone number or an email address before you can connect....