Silas Voerman

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The release and subsequent advancements in blockchain technologies are changing the world at a rapid pace. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC) are starting to amass more interest from businesses and the general public alike. More and more people are willing to look past the novelty of the technology and its associated risks, and are starting to recognize the potential benefits. Specifically, there has been a rising interest in the many new investment opportunities. From low risk micro-investments to high risk gambling, cryptocurrencies offer a whole new world of opportunities that have not yet been subjected to years of manifestation in legislation. This unregulated component of cryptocurrencies is allowing new business models to develop and is attractive to risk favoring investors. New investment opportunities include extremely low-commission online financial exchanges such as Bitstamp, as well as loaning platforms where users can lend and borrow BTC for self-specified interest rates. However, one of the newest and most unexplored concepts is that of Cloud Mining.

What is Cloud Mining?

For the individual, mining BTC and other cryptocurrencies at home can be very costly given the combination of expensive hardware and electricity costs. The concept of cloud mining removes these barriers. In cloud mining, users are able to buy ‘shares’ in a company’s mining hardware power. Users pay a one-time investment sum and are then allocated a certain daily payout. These investments in turn provide the mining company with more financial resources to expand and upgrade their hardware. In the early days of BTC, this proved to be very rewarding for some investors, since the mining difficulty was still relatively low, and the price of BTC was at an all-time high. However, more recently and due to price instability, the cloud mining industry has seen an increasing amount of scams, usually in the form of Ponzi schemes. A well-known example is that of HashOcean, the mining service that recently disappeared with the funds of some 700,000 investors.

Is it worth it?

As a result of the unregulated aspect of cryptocurrencies, there is now a lack of trust within the community when it comes to cloud mining. As long as there are no laws in place to offer some sort of transactional protection to the buyer, there is no assurance that you will see your invested money back. Moreover, as the mining difficulty goes up it only becomes more costly to attain the same returns. This is a sustainability issue in the cloud mining industry, since there is only a predetermined amount of BTC that can be mined.

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/safe-not-sorry-how-to-treat-cloud-mining-right

http://uk.businessinsider.com/photos-iceland-bitcoin-ethereum-mine-genesis-mining-cloud-2016-6?international=true&r=UK&IR=T

http://www.newsbtc.com/2016/02/05/mining-equipment-contracts/

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Augmented Reality

Augmented reality (AR) is the integration of digital content into the physical environment (This differs from Virtual Reality which only displays digital content). In AR, devices display the physical world (usually through a camera feed) and augment this with digital content such as graphics, sounds or video. Through this, digital content is integrated into the user’s physical world, and tailored to different environments, events and situations.

AR compatible devices vary greatly in their level of sensory immersion. For example, AR mobile applications allow you to view your environment through a camera feed and provide content that interacts with the environment on a basic level. More advanced AR devices, such as the Microsoft Hololens, come in the form of a headset that displays digital content in your direct field of view. Hololens will track your movements in real-time allowing you to operate it using hand gestures. It is aimed at full immersion and provides you with sound as well as actively identifying and anticipating the physical space and objects around you.

hololens_productdesign

Augmented Reality in Business Applications

In the business environment, AR is offering many new forms of communicating and presenting information. For example, in manufacturing and design, AR applications can provide employees with live overviews of the different stages of design, and allow product models to be configured and edited in real-time (showing the exact real-life dimensions and specifications). Instead of imagining what a design or product might look like, we can now visually experience it at any step of the process.

Businesses are also increasingly recognizing the value of AR in communication. Virtual meetings, calls, content sharing, and collaboration are all revolutionized by the concept of AR. Employees can now be anywhere in the world, and connect to an augmented discussion room where they can communicate with colleagues as if they were sitting at the same table. Moreover, information sharing is greatly enhanced since every action, sound or experience can instantly be shared with minimal effort. This is also evident in digital marketing. Customers can now browse product catalogues and view them in their homes in real-life dimensions, or try out new clothes digitally before they commit to buying them. Advertising content can now be tailored to the individual and their environment, which will ultimately increase the maximum exposure that can be achieved and adds a whole new dimension to marketing. With all these potential future opportunities in consumer and business applications, AR is set to change the way we interact with our environment as well as with each other.

Sources:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2016/07/22/how-virtual-reality-will-impact-businesses-in-the-next-five-years/#58e571222241

http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/9245-augmented-reality-for-business.html

https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us/apps

http://www.euronews.com/2015/05/05/augmented-reality-the-future-of-advertisement