China will soon require blockchain users to register with their government IDs

China’s central government has drafted a new regulation that would strip blockchains of their anonymity, requiring users to provide their real names and national ID card numbers when registering for a blockchain service. Trading Bitcoin is already banned in the country, but the policy will place significant restrictions on ongoing blockchain development.

On Friday, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s internet regulator, released a draft of the policy, which would also require blockchain services to remove “illegal information” quickly before it spreads among users. The services will also be required to retain backups of user data for six months and provide them to law enforcement whenever necessary. Users who break the…

Continue reading…

eBay launches a new smartphone trade-in service with instant payouts

eBay announced its new Instant Selling program for smartphones today, which will allow users to list their old phone on the platform and immediately receive an eBay voucher in return. eBay says it’s offering higher return rates than Gazelle, EcoATM, AT&T Trade-in, Apple Give Back, and Verizon Trade-in.

For a 64GB unscratched, unlocked iPhone X, for example, you can get up to $490 on Gazelle, $260 on EcoATM, $450 through AT&T Trade-in, $525 through Apple Give Back, and $500 through Verizon Trade In; eBay values the iPhone X at $679.

For a 64GB unscratched Samsung Galaxy S8, you can get $185 through Gazelle, $85 through EcoATM, $180 through AT&T Trade-in, and $185 through Verizon. (Apple doesn’t accept the S8.) eBay offers $271.

eBay…

Continue reading…

Self-driving school bus project shut down by the government

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has shut down a self-driving school bus project in Florida, calling it “unlawful.” It’s one of the most forceful interventions by the Department of Transportation in the early days of autonomous vehicles. The news was first reported by Jalopnik.

The North American arm of international transportation company Transdev was using one of its pod-like electric autonomous shuttles — called the EasyMile Easy10 Gen II — to carry up to 12 school children at a time. The test was taking place in Babcock Ranch, a tech-forward community in Florida that claims to be the country’s first solar-powered town. A spokesperson for Transdev could not be reached for comment.

Continue reading…

Origami, 3D printing merge to make complex structures in one shot

By merging the ancient art of origami with 21st century technology, researchers have created a one-step approach to fabricating complex origami structures whose light weight, expandability, and strength could have applications in everything from biomedical devices to equipment used in space exploration.