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  • Avid Gamer Billy Brown Spent 7 Years in His Pajamas

    Avid Gamer Billy Brown Spent 7 Years in His Pajamas

    We all know a few people who like playing video games. We might even enjoy a spot of Fortnite here and there every once in a while. Luckily, not many people take things to the same extreme as Billy Brown, the British gaming fanatic who spent seven years in his robe and left the house no more than 10 times.

    Highlighting the Culture of Isolation

    According to the BBC, Brown left the house only to visit the doctor’s and dentist’s over the course of seven years. The rest of the time he spent sleeping and playing video games.

    Finally, the young UK gamer has realized the harm his addiction was causing and is setting about helping others from following his fate of a life of isolation in a self-imposed prison. He said:

    “I would never go outside to socialize or interact with other people. My entire existence was online.”

    Billy Brown didn’t have the best of upbringings which perhaps explains his retreat into the world of gaming. His mother was repeatedly hospitalized for mental problems and Brown was taken into care several times, attending school just 13% of the time during his GCSE exams (around age 14-16).

    He did go on to attend a community college but soon after dropped out and turned to gaming, residing in chat rooms and online forums, and reading up on politics. His world was taken over almost entirely by the online game “Echo chambers,” as Brown was attracted by its extremism and cybercrime.

    Billy Brown Lost Touch with the World

    Brown, now 24, said that over the years, he became increasingly “eccentric” and lost touch with reality:

    “I can count the number of times I went out in a seven-year period on both of my hands… I wasn’t sure why I was alive, why I was here… I realized if I didn’t do something I wouldn’t be here in a year or two years.”

    He finally made the decision to get help and joined the Real Ideas Organization’s (RIO) Game Changer program, designed for young people to overcome and face issues they have so that they can prepare for the real world in education, work, or training.

    Today, Brown is actively helping other people to improve their lives as well through tabletop gaming.

    Stilling an Avid Gamer but Doing It for Good

    Brown has created a board game which he plans to develop into an app that helps young people build their social skills. While it sounds somewhat ironic that the video game addict is using gaming to help other addicts, this time around, participants are encouraged to meet up physically once a week to improve their social skills.

    Let’s hope that his idea at least provides some solace to the gamers who may have their lives overcome by their addiction… but will at least step outside the house one in every seven days.

    Featured image from the BBC.

  • Google Concedes to Change Policies After Employee Walkout

    Google Concedes to Change Policies After Employee Walkout

    In what seems to have become a malaise in large corporations, a recent sexual allegation against a senior executive at Google’s parent company Alphabet has burst its seams, per a Fortune report. There were rumbles of discontent among employees at Google following the huge payoffs given to Alphabet’s senior executives who were eased out of the company for sexual harassment.

    This perhaps was not the best time for such controversy to occur at Alphabet. The ill-feeling has been buoyed by the coverup of the harassment case involving Richard DeVaul; an executive whom employees believe should have been dealt with for his actions back in 2015 when the case occurred.

    Employees perceive an air of injustice in the way such matters are being handled and took it upon themselves to stage a protest.

    google
    Source: BBC

    In an effort to pacify the staff, Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai sent a public message to employees on Thursday saying:

    “Going forward, we will provide more transparency on how we handle concerns. We’ll give better support and care to the people who raise them. And we will double our commitment to be a representative, equitable, and respectful workplace.”

    Google has been able to keep its clout as one of the most influential companies globally. Beyond its overwhelming presence within the business circle, regulatory authorities are now keeping a close tab on the company’s operations.

    The permissive culture in the company’s inner workings is something which many employees are not comfortable with. They think executives have taken the relaxed atmosphere a tad further in their relationship with coworkers.

    Against this backdrop, the protesters demanded more flexibility in the measures available for reporting harassment.

    Employee Walkout at Google Serves to Change Policies

    While the company ceded to some of the changes demanded, Pichai did not address the demand to have an employee as one of the board representatives. The company has nevertheless succumbed to making arbitration in sexual harassment and claims of assault an optional requisite.

    Other commitments which Google has agreed to include the provision of regular, detailed reports about the occurrence of harassment claims and whether they led to the dismissal of staff members involved, and the publication of an internal guide on the investigation processes of harassment cases in the company and others.

    The demands are also expected to cater to thousands of contractors working with Google. The “excessive” consumption of alcohol will also be discouraged by managers especially at work.

    Featured image from Shutterstock.

  • Security Vulnerabilities Found at DJI the World’s Largest Drone Maker

    Security Vulnerabilities Found at DJI the World’s Largest Drone Maker

    As if it wasn’t bad enough that our online footprint increasingly leaves us exposed to breaches and hacks. Now those pesky things flying above our heads have become a target as well. The Internet of Things is taking so long to get off the ground because it’s simply way too insecure and easy for hackers to breach any device–from a cardiac monitor to a self-driving car. And now DJI drones are thrust into the spotlight.

    Cybersecurity experts Check Point found major vulnerabilities in DJI drones that leave usage patterns and user data at risk from intruders. While the company claims that the bug in its software has now been fixed, the cat has been let out of the bag, alerting people to the fact that drones in the sky may be potential targets of criminal wrongdoing.

    DJI Drones Had Already Been Prohibited by the US Army

    The Chinese manufacturer DJI drones had already been prohibited by the US army in August of last year after discovering multiple flaws with the software. The Shenzhen-based company is best known for creating drones for photography and videos for consumers and professionals but is also branching out into corporate solutions.

    US-based security firm Check Point said the DJI software made it easy for introducers to see user data, photos and videos taken by them (of other people) and even track their flight paths.

    The cybersecurity firm undertook its own investigation into DJI drones after the US Army cited vulnerabilities last year. DJI itself had also initiated a bug bounty program for white hat hackers to look for possible loopholes and vulnerabilities in the system.

    Check Point informed the Chinese drone maker in March this year of the problems. The company finally resolved them in September, double the time needed to resolve such an issue according to Check Point experts.

    In a statement, DJI applauded the cybersecurity firm and also reassured customers that there was no evidence that these vulnerabilities had been exploited. But it has to make you wonder how safe the things flying above our heads really are.

    Featured image from Shutterstock.

  • 220 Central Park South Is Immune From Faltering Manhattan Prices

    220 Central Park South Is Immune From Faltering Manhattan Prices

    If Sting likes 220 Central Park South in Manhattan, it has to be pretty good. The massive apartment building is nearing completion, and some of the apartment buyers’ names are starting to leak out.

    When the project was sold back in 2015 there was a lot of secrecy surrounding the investors, but now it looks like that has all changed.

    The Manhattan real estate market isn’t looking great. It’s hard to point to one reason why sales are off. The nascent global economic crunch may be playing a role, and the increased attention of law enforcement authorities could also be a factor.

    When the apartments at 220 Central Park South were being marketed, the Manhattan real estate market was booming. September sales were down almost 40% from the same month in 2017, and the prices fell by almost 10%. That isn’t great, but one “country” seems to be in a class of its own.

    220 Central Park South Is Rocking It

    The buyers at 220 Central Park South are an elite bunch.

    People like Andrew Zaro, who is the chairman of Cavalry Portfolio Services signed on to buy in the building. His wife Ofer Yardeni, CEO of Stonehenge Management, is also there, along with hedge-fund manager Ken Griffin who is on the hook for more than $200 million USD worth of apartment space.

    Despite the softness in the overall Manhattan real-estate market, according to Donna Olshan of Olshan Realty:

    “This building cannot be considered a proxy for the market. It’s its own country.”

    The building does have some amazing amenities to offer its jet-set apartment owners. 220 Central Park South was designed by Robert A.M. Stern and features an athletic club, basketball court, golf simulator, as well as a play area for the kids and private dining rooms.

    Robert A.M. Stern also designed 15 Central Park West, which has attracted some of the same buyers.

    Changing Market Conditions

    Outside of a few bastions of strength, the high-end real estate market isn’t looking so hot. The post-2008 free money party that bailed out the global financial system is in the process of unwinding. That means falling asset values, and higher interest rates.

    Then, there is the graft.

    Between 2008 and 2014 around 30% of the apartments in large-scale Manhattan developments were sold to foreigners, or LLC’s. A foreign investor or LLC isn’t inherently a dishonest entity, but many are looking for a way to stash big cash in something secure (especially the LLC crowd).

    Incidentally:

    “The Census Bureau estimates that 30 percent of all apartments in the quadrant from 49th to 70th Streets between Fifth and Park are vacant at least 10 months a year.”

    The buyers at 220 Central Park South seem to have gotten in on a sweet deal. Given the fact that many of them are hedge-fund and investment managers, it probably shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that is the case. The rest of Manhattan, on the other hand, could be in for a rough couple of years.

    An Uncertain Future Is Here

    The boom years were great, but now it looks like the good times have come to a halt. Places like Hong Kong, London and Manhattan are beginning to see cracks in their real estate markets, which could get worse as the US-led trade war starts to bite hard.

    There’s no telling where the floor is in terms of prices, but the ceiling is probably in.

    Featured image from Curbed NY.

  • Data of Almost 700,000 Amex India Customers Exposed Online

    Data of Almost 700,000 Amex India Customers Exposed Online

    Data about Amex India customers was exposed online via an unsecured MongoDB server. The 689,272 records included details like the customers’ names, phone numbers, email addresses, PAN card numbers, and the “type of card” description fields.

    The breach was discovered by the cybersecurity firm Hacken on October 23 and announced by Bob Diachenko, Director of Cyber Risk Research, who contacted the American Express incident response team. The company has promptly secured the database from public access.

    “5 Days in The Wild”

    Amex’s MongoDB database was easy to access using the search engine Shodan and the BinaryEdge tool, a platform that scans data and exposes available databases. According to the cybersecurity expert, the data had been available for at least five days when he discovered the breach.

    Bob Diachenko gave all the details of his discovery on the company’s blog:

    “According to the search results from BinaryEdge.io, the database had been first indexed on 20th October meaning it had been in the wild for 5 days before I had spotted it!”

    Diachenko added that the encrypted data included over 2.3 million records, most of them containing sensitive data, such as names, Aadhar numbers (the Indian equivalent of the SSN), PAN card numbers, addresses, and phone numbers.

    A Subcontractor Caused the Breach

    According to Bob Diachenko’s research, Amex India wasn’t directly in charge of the database, but one of the company’s subcontractors responsible for SEO or lead generation. Amex India told Hacken that there was:

    “no evidence of unauthorized access.”

    And that the database was securely encrypted.

    Diachenko has a long history of unveiling MongoDB databases. Last December, he discovered a leak that exposed data belonging to 31 million users of Ai.type, a virtual keyboard for smartphones.

    Bod Diachenko stated in 2017:

    “The danger of having [an] unprotected MongoDB [database] is huge. In January 2017, 27,000—or roughly a quarter—of MongoDB databases left open to the internet were hit by ransomware, and again in September 2017 three groups of hackers wiped out an estimated 26,000 MongoDB databases. The cybercriminals demanded that the owners of those databases pay around $650 in Bitcoin to regain their data.”

    India Has the Highest Number of Breaches

    Data breaches happen more often than you think. Every hour, almost 262,000 data records are lost or stolen, according to the Breach Level Index.

    In 2017, India was the country that registered the highest number of breaches in the world, with over 33,000 breached records. Despite the large number, the effects of a data breach in India cost less than in Western countries.

    The Ponemon Institute’s 2017 Cost of Data Breach Study also revealed that the estimated probabilities of a data breach in India are 40.1%.

    Featured image from Shutterstock.

  • Floyd Mayweather Ambushed as Japanese Fight Deal was a Set-Up

    Floyd Mayweather Ambushed as Japanese Fight Deal was a Set-Up

    When news broke earlier this week about Floyd Mayweather fighting Japanese kickboxing sensation Tenshin Nasukawa in Japan, it was met with much skepticism. Apparently, Floyd was ambushed by Japanese fight company Rizen and the whole press conference was a set-up to give Rizen some exposure in Western markets.

    I originally wrote two days ago that something was fishy in regards to the Tokyo press conference to announce the fight. It seems I was right. But to be fair, even a broken clock is right two times per day.

    Almost predictably, 50-Cent came out on social media to pour scorn on the fight and surmise Floyd was going broke.

    The Truth about Floyd Mayweather and Rizen

    Floyd released a 300-word statement on his Instagram page on Wednesday to clear up the issues pertaining to the supposed New Year’s Eve bout against the Japanese kickboxer. He basically called the fight off and said he was scammed by Rizen.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp49AUphcLu/

    Floyd took to Instagram to claim that he was supposedly in Japan discussing a private behind-doors 9-minute exhibition fight for a small group of wealthy people.

    But by the time he got to a pre-arranged press conference, the Japanese MMA company Rizen Fighting Federation flipped the script and announced a real fight on New Year’s Eve in Japan. Here is Floyd’s take on the press conference:

    “This exhibition was previously arranged as a ‘Special Bout’ purely for entertainment purposes with no intentions of being represented as an official fight card nor televised worldwide. Once I arrived at the press conference, my team and I were completely derailed by the new direction this event was going and we should have put a stop to it immediately.”

    Is Floyd Telling the Truth?

    Mayweather claims he went along with the press conference so as not to cause any disturbance, but in reality, this is exactly what it has caused. The myriad of YouTube boxing channels who have been reporting on this story since the press conference are still not sure that Floyd is telling the whole truth.

    Some of the channels are covering these three possibilities:

    Option 1: Floyd was completely blindsided by Rizen and what he said in the statement was the truth.

    Option 2: Floyd kind of knew what was happening, but by the time he got back home he was talked out of the fight by his advisers and friends and then released the statement.

    Option 3: Floyd completely knew what he was getting himself into, but had cold feet as and called a halt to the proceedings before it went any further.

    One thing is for sure. Wherever Floyd Mayweather goes, intrigue and controversy go along for the ride. He should hurry up and fight Manny Pacquiao for a second time while his name can still write 9-figure checks.

    Featured image from SportingNews.

  • How Billionaires are Getting into Power Game with Election Donations

    How Billionaires are Getting into Power Game with Election Donations

    Whatever the results of the US midterms, one thing that was hard to miss is the obscene amount of money spent by candidates and election donations in the whole exercise. According to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), the 2018 midterm elections were the most expensive congressional election in US history.

    With an estimated total bill of $5.2 billion, they even surpassed the 2016 election figures which were just over $4 billion.

    It’s true that elections are often awash with money and the candidates running have the strong backing of influentials. Billionaire candidate, J.B. Pritzker, who just became the next Illinois governor spent a whopping $171.5 million of his own fortune for his campaign.

    His opponent, Republican Bruce Rauner, a private equity billionaire, spent almost $60 million of his own money in the race. J.B. Pritzker, a venture capitalist, and Hyatt Hotel heir also dethroned Donald Trump as the richest American politician with a net worth of estimated $3.2 billion.

    The trend to openly acknowledge the use of money to influence the electorate has been widely known for some time, but this particular strategy doesn’t work every time works and in 2016 it failed to sway the results in favor of the candidate.

    Hillary Clinton spent almost $768 million on her unsuccessful presidential campaign, twice as much as Trump who spent $368 million.

    The US elections have more become like a battle of billionaires who can create influence over the elected person and promote their field of interest.

    Just like in the case of Michael Bloomberg, who made political donations of $38 million in the US midterms to flip the House of Representative towards Democrats and also promote causes like climate changes, anti-gun, and education policies.

    Michael Bloomberg is not alone, Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, heads of an international casino empire, topped the chart with $113 million donations and were also the largest individual donor in 2016 Trump campaign.

    Thomas Steyer and Kathryn Taylor, staunch supporters of Democrats for decades gave nearly $50.7 million in donations.

    The biggest billionaire loser in this race was Donald Trump himself, who helped to rake in millions in private donations through his friends for Republicans, and now has to deal with both split Congress and the new leadership in the house to pass his policies.

    So what drives the billionaires and rich people into politics? According to a senior fellow at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business, it’s more like a power trip for these billionaires, who have achieved all their materialistic goals and now want to experience real power. They said:

    It’s psychic satisfaction for megalomaniacs.

    In politics, you can sway millions in your favor and this is the place where they can experience a real power game.

    Featured image from Shutterstock.

  • $17.8m for the World’s Most Expensive Rolex Watch

    $17.8m for the World’s Most Expensive Rolex Watch

    Time is money, or so they say. This is literally true when we talk about the world’s most expensive Rolex watch which was sold last year for $17.8 million.

    Even most billionaires would think it’s obscene to spend so much money on an item so small. But perhaps it is the ultimate show of decadence that you can strap so much cash around your wrist while flipping the bird at the playa-haters.

    World’s Most Expensive Watch Belonged to Paul Newman

    In a recent article detailing the 10 most expensive Rolex watches ever sold, former acting megastar Paul Newman’s 1968 Cosmograph Daytona Rolex came in at number-1.

    Although Newman’s Rolex might not have the same sentimental value as ‘the watch’ belonging to Butch in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, it does have the monetary value to kick-start a military coup in a backward banana republic.

    Paul Newman’s watch became the world’s most expensive Rolex to ever be sold back in 2017 when it was bought for an unprecedented $17.8 million by an anonymous bidder at a New York auction.

    The watch was originally a present from Newman’s wife, Joanne Woodward, and was purchased back in 1968 from Tiffany & Co in New York for an undisclosed fee. She engraved the watch with “drive carefully” as Newman was getting into motor racing at the time.

    The actor went onto wear the watch for the next 15-years before giving it to his daughter’s boyfriend at the time, James Cox, as a present.

    Although details are sketchy about the watch’s story since and why it was for sale, I would guess it’s because someone would pay in the region $17.8 million for it. At the end of the day, it’s just a watch!

    Has the World Gone Money Mad?

    Yesterday I wrote about the world’s most expensive car, which is the $13 million Sweptail by Rolls Royce. It seems that the limitless wealth and spend-ability of some people know no bounds.

    Although it is still an extraordinary show of wealth to buy a car that costs upwards of $10 mil, rocking a $17.8 million Rolex is taking it to the next level.

    Has the world gone mad? One would assume it had to be sane in the first place for that statement to be true. If someone is willing to spend so much money to own the world’s most expensive Rolex watch, fair play to them I say.

    Featured image from N Business.

  • Robin Hood Prop C Tax Approved in San Francisco

    Robin Hood Prop C Tax Approved in San Francisco

    In what seems like poetic justice, another interesting occurrence to come out of the US midterms was that San Francisco voters supported Proposition C (Prop C) yesterday, an initiative to introduce a tax on the city’s companies with revenues of more than $50 million.

    The money is intended to help reduce homelessness, one of San Francisco’s most pressing problems over the last few years.

    The companies that will have to contribute to combat homelessness include financial services companies and tech giants, like Uber Technologies, Airbnb, and Cisco Systems. Prop C passed with 60% of votes in favor.

    The Tax Will Raise $300 Million a Year

    The annual tax can vary from 0.175% to 0.69% and adds between $250 and $300 million to San Francisco’s homelessness relief budget.

    San Francisco has been spending $250 million per year to overcome the housing crisis. And the city’s spending on preventing and reducing homelessness is expected to rise by 80% next year.

    Authorities will use the money to provide housing options for nearly 5,000 people. Besides paying for beds and shelters, they will fund services like mental health, addiction treatment, and housing aid.

    San Francisco has almost 7,500 people who experience homelessness. Many blame it on the tech industry, which generated a significant increase in real estate prices.

    The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $3,261 per month, while the price for a median house in the city is higher than $1.5 million. Way too much for people who don’t work for the tech giants.

    The Tax Generated Hard Debate in the Tech Industry

    Proposition C divided the tech industry. Salesforce, on one side, sustained the measure, spending $6 million promoting the initiative, and CEO Marc Benioff spent other $2 million from his fortune to market the “Yes on C” campaign.

    Benioff told CNN Business:

    “This is a city with 70 billionaires. We have some of the most successful companies in the world. We need a lot more funding, and we need a lot of action now.”

    Not all billionaires running successful businesses in San Francisco share the same values as the Salesforce boss. For many of them, the initiative isn’t going to solve the homelessness problem. Among the people who spoke against the action, the most vocal were Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, and Mark Pincus, CEO of Stripe.

    They also pointed out that the new “Robin Hood” tax wouldn’t treat all companies the same. Financial companies will have to pay more than tech businesses. Jack Dorsey used Twitter to complain about the effects the tax could have on fintech startups.

    In the third quarter of 2018, Square registered net revenues of $882.12 million, a 51.7% increase from last year.

    Featured image from Shutterstock.

  • Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian Warns Against “Hustle-Porn”

    Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian Warns Against “Hustle-Porn”

    Alexis Ohanian has made his mark on the internet. He started Reddit with fellow University of Virginia student Steve Huffman in 2005, and the, “front page of the internet,” sold a year later to Condé Nast. The exact amount that Alexis received from Condé Nast isn’t known, but he is thought to be worth around $9 million USD.

    Clearly, Alexis Ohanian worked pretty hard to make Reddit a reality. He was dealing with some pretty nasty circumstances at the time. His mother had just died from brain cancer, and his long-time girlfriend had been the victim of a serious injury. He thinks that Reddit was his only outlet for his feelings, but it wasn’t necessarily a healthy direction for him.

    Alexis Ohanian Says Don’t “Succumb to Hustle Porn”

    According to Alexis, there is a lot of bad advice out there for young entrepreneurs. He referred to “hustle porn” at Web Summit as one of the most toxic things that a founder can model themselves after.

    Working long hours on a project is taxing. Younger people have big dreams, but they may not realize that grinding out a project for 15+ hours a day won’t necessarily lead to success.

    Alexis told the conference that:

    “This idea that unless you are suffering, grinding, working every hour of every day, you’re not working hard enough… This is one of the most toxic, dangerous things in tech right now.”

    It isn’t difficult to see how founders could become unhealthy as a result of bad work habits. The idea that more work means more success can lead to a burn-out or severe physical consequences.

    Healthy people rarely work long hours on a regular basis, which should be a wake-up call for founders who are throwing themselves into their project without regard for their health.

    “Such Utter Bulls**t”

    Apparently, Alexis Ohanian has strong feelings about startup founders and unhealthy work habits. He described taxing yourself on a project as:

    “It’s such bulls**t, such utter bulls**t. It has deleterious effects not just on your business but on your wellbeing.”

    It’s easy to forget that your project may not be a big hit. For every Reddit that makes its founders millionaires, there are numerous startups that end up going nowhere. Positivity is important, but getting paid for your time is also vital for a person’s professional success.

    Bridging the gap between passion and profit isn’t easy, and massive amounts of work probably aren’t going to lead to happiness of any kind in the long-term. Alexis tells young founders:

    “When you’re struggling, talk to someone. It can be a professional, a family member, or even a stranger can be helpful in getting you into a better headspace.”

    Keep Healthy, Be Happy

    Mental health is sometimes a scary phrase in the professional world, but many people struggle to find happiness in their work. Physical health is equally important, if not more so.

    Most millionaires or billionaires will tell you that keeping a healthy work/life balance is vital, which is worth keeping in mind if you are feeling stressed because of work.

    Physical exercise can also be a big benefit to professionals, especially people who do jobs that don’t require a lot of physical work. Keeping fit makes a person’s overall energy rise, which will help anyone to perform better.

    It seems like the truly successful people out there don’t push themselves to the brink, which is probably something we can all learn from.

    Featured image from Wikipedia.