Modern cryptography + more things

1 minutes estimated reading time

Modern cryptography

Keeping Secrets — STANFORD magazine – great article on the origins of modern cryptography. Without Diffie and Hellman you wouldn’t have e-commerce, VPNs or secure messaging. Modern cryptography as we know it goes back to an academic conference at Cornell University in 1977. To learn more about this I can also recommend Steven Levy’s book Crypto, this covers Diffie Hellman right up to what we’d recognise as the modern web.

Culture

The Brain Dump | Motherboard – new Bruce Sterling story

FMCG

Li Ka-shing turns up heat on food investment with vegan cheeseburger | WantChinaTimes – interesting investments in food technology

Luxury

Intel Reveals Details of MICA Smart Bracelet – Personal Tech News – WSJ – interesting that they chose Opening Ceremony as their collaboration partner

Media

Why podcasts are suddenly “back” – Marco.org – they never went away. The challenge previously had been creating a suitable financing model for podcasts. We’ve ended up with a number of routes:

  • The content loss leader for platforms – Joe Rogan’s buy out by Spotify
  • Patreon donations and merchandise – Cocaines & Rhinestones podcast
  • Radio show style sponsorship – the Pivot podcast with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway
  • Radio style adverts – The Economist podcasts

Technology

Non-Microsoft Nokia launches Android N1 tablet with Foxconn — GigaOM – interesting move that could put Hon Hai on a path to becoming a brand in its own right. Hon Hai has encouraged migrant workers leaving to set up franchise electronics stores in the past, which would be their distribution network in China. The big question is how much brand equity amongst consumers is left in the Nokia name?

China’s global internet conference excludes many of the industry’s biggest players | Quartz – why would western internet companies bother going? They are effectively shut out of the Chinese market. Network software and equipment makers have even less incentive as China seeks to undermine stands norms for their own ends