Adidas Wilson's Blog, page 94
August 18, 2017
Tons of Coinbase users fled the platform after it rejected bitcoin cash — now the $1 billion startup is in the center of a raging storm
The world of cryptocurrency is not exactly a calm place. And for Coinbase, one of the hottest and most valuable startups in the sector, this week’s remarkable news around bitcoin put the company in the center of a raging storm.
The big offense for Coinbase, which operates a platform for buying and selling cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, was its decision not to support bitcoin cash — the new cryptocurrency that was spun out of bitcoin this week.
Many Coinbase users unleashed their wrath, accusing the company of being everything from a scam to a tool for the National Security Agency. Some threatened to sue. The $1 billion startup also lost users in droves, with 12-hour wait times over the weekend as users scrambled to transfer their bitcoins to competitors that would support bitcoin cash.
The angry reaction, and the risk of a big loss of customers, raised questions about the future of what has been one of the crypto world’s biggest success stories.
For now, though, Coinbase’s backers aren’t sweating it. And they say they don’t anticipate the drama having much of an effect on the startup, which has been raising money on terms that would value it at roughly $1 billion.
“There’s no one on the board or any investor who doesn’t completely back the point of view that we should err on the side of safety and trust,” said Barry Schuler, a partner with DFJ, an investor in Coinbase.
“From an investor’s point of view, we invested in Coinbase because they have made a voluntary commitment to be regulated,” Schuler said, “and to focus on being trusted and safe — as safe as you can be in an experimental environment like this.”
Though Coinbase didn’t participate in Tuesday’s currency launch, Schuler said Coinbase could change its policy as early as next week, depending on how bitcoin cash matures.
Another Coinbase investor, Fueled founder Rameet Chawla, even suggested that Coinbase may increase the strength of the original bitcoin down the line by establishing faith in the legacy currency.
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That’s because Coinbase’s conservative approach may make cryptocurrency more accessible to potential users who are afraid to dabble in technologically complex digital currencies.
“They’re a huge net positive on bitcoin, making it really easy on people who are not early adopters,” Chawla said.
Mass exodus of coinbase users
With 9 million users and $20 billion exchanged, Coinbase has its hands on a lot of the digital currency floating around. And while investors support Coinbase’s decision to sit out the initial bitcoin split, many customers felt betrayed by the company.
A scan of the Coinbase community forums shows a host of angry topics such as “What if Coinbase is NSA tool to destroy BTC (bitcoin cash)?” and “Dear Coinbase, if you not release my funds in 1h I am going to sue you.”
Coinbase wouldn’t disclose how many users withdrew bitcoins in anticipation of bitcoin cash’s arrival. But things looked rough. Coinbase users experienced delays of about 12 hours on withdrawals over the weekend because of the number of people moving bitcoins.
Despite this, sources close to the situation said the company expected to see many people return to Coinbase while simultaneously storing newly acquired bitcoin cash in a different digital wallet.
“Ultimately, Coinbase is an exchange for buying bitcoin, but people are free to use their own wallets and take control of their wallets anyway they want,” Chawla said.
The ‘hard fork’
The introduction Tuesday of bitcoin cash was known as the “hard fork.” It resulted in a cloned currency with different technological protocols from those of the original bitcoin. The fork was a means of dealing with disagreements in the bitcoin community over how to evolve the technology to handle increased demand.
The hard fork followed a process similar to cell division in biology, in that the two currencies were the same at the point of division but will pursue different paths moving forward.
Users storing their bitcoin in a digital wallet that accepts bitcoin cash on Tuesday found themselves with a bitcoin cash coin for every bitcoin they had at the time of duplication. Bitcoin and bitcoin cash do not have the same value, however, so duplication is not the same as a doubling in worth.
Why Coinbase sat out on bitcoin cash
In a statement on Twitter on Tuesday, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote that the company was agnostic to which currencies its users trade and that it was not opposed to adding new assets in the future.
“Our goal is to be the safest, most trusted and compliant, and easiest to use,” Armstrong wrote. “Not the first to market with new assets. Especially at scale, it takes time to ensure any new asset we add is well tested and secure.”
Generally speaking, Coinbase isn’t quick to take on new currencies. Founded in 2012, the exchange still trades only bitcoin, ether, and litcoin — all digital currencies the team has deemed stable and technically secure enough for an amateur investor to put money into.
We have made this decision because it is hard to predict how long the alternative version of bitcoin will survive and if Bitcoin Cash will have future market value.
So it was of little surprise to those close to the company when it issued a statement last week advising that customers who want to access both bitcoin and bitcoin cash would need to withdrawal from Coinbase by this past Monday.
“We have no plans to support the Bitcoin Cash fork.” David Farmer, the director of business development at Coinbase, wrote. “We have made this decision because it is hard to predict how long the alternative version of bitcoin will survive and if Bitcoin Cash will have future market value.”
Users were irked because Coinbase’s decision not to accept bitcoin cash meant that anyone with bitcoin stored in Coinbase’s digital wallet would not receive what many saw as free bitcoin cash.
Others were concerned that Coinbase would secretly keep the bitcoin cash that was generated Tuesday. In a statement last Friday, however, the company denied that this would happen.
“Coinbase would not keep the bitcoin cash associated with customer bitcoin balances for ourselves,” the company posted on Twitter.
Investors like Schuler, however, saw the Coinbase’s trepidation as part of its core business strategy.
“The whole cryptocurrency-blockchain space is a bit like the Wild West right now — just like the beginning of the internet,” Schuler said. “But slowly and surely, it’s becoming institutionalized. Coinbase represents that — being legitimate and offering as much trust and safety as possible.”
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Litecoin Predicted As One Of The Best Investing Options – Bright Future For LTC Investors
As recommended in a lately-published article in Seeking Alpha – Litecoin or known as “the silver to Bitcoin Gold” could be one of the best digital currencies investment asset to look out for.
If you are keeping an eye out for the recent development of digital assets prices, almost everybody noticed how Bitcoin (BTC) surged with no stop against the US Dollar to not reached heights before. As rumors, theories and analysis spread around it is predicted by many that Bitcoin, the first very famous cryptocurrency is near of reachiing mainstream adoption.
But do not be confused that only Bitcoin is a good option to buy into. That shows just how promising digital currencies could be and one more reason why to spread your portfolio.
Following Bitcoin, as a Second-option many point their finger towards Ethereum which with a 3,000 percentage point growth this year climbed its way as the second-largest digital currency in the market. As a factor that hoisted up its fame is that it can run Smart Contracts allowing to create dApps and progress blockchain technology.
The Silver in the community – Litecoin, by Geoffrey Caveney writer in Seeking Alpha should be considered as the third in position following the big two. His comment relate with the topic that keeping in mind it is one of the only three (Litcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin) that is being supported to be traded in the could-be most famous exchange platform right now: Coinbase.
“There are at least a half dozen other digital currencies out there that are about as big and well-known as litecoin, including several that have larger total market caps at the moment, so it’s a big deal that only litecoin is supported by Coinbase along with bitcoin and ethereum,” Caveney writes. But Coinbase’s approval is not the only reason to consider buying Litecoin, he adds.
So now for some time, taking over the media and crypto community was the activation of the Bitcoin scaling upgrade known as “Segregated Witness or SegWit“. This subject was around in the crypto world for more than 2 years now and it did get quieter when the SegWit activation was ‘Locked-in’ as it was part of the proposed SegWit2x. But there were those that did not follow this event so a ‘hard-fork’ was chosen and it activated on August 1. It was when Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was created with the Split of Bitcoin Blockchain Network.
But even that it was a code written and meant for the Bitcoin Blockchain, the firs to try it and activate it was Litecoin in May. The best side was that there was no war between the community so no split was needed and everybody was behind 100% the upgrading change.
This as supported by Caveney shows that the following and smaller cryptocurrency is more adaptive to upgrades and improvements being the first one to do it than the Gold-counterpart at which the community had to be parted and the drama continued.
Analyzing its Roadmap, you will eventually see how clear Litecoin Future is and for what of an example it should be taken. It is on its way of adding Lightning network [which will improve the scalability of transactions] and investigating anonymous smart contracts.
So while Bitcoin is dominating the crypto space at the moment, Litecoin is also worth paying attention to.
Caveney stated:
“A small slice of litecoin, say half of 1% of your portfolio, is worth considering with the slice of profits you may be taking on your bitcoin right now,”
In the last 24 hours Litecoin has increased 3.32 percentage points and it is being traded at the $44.69 level against the US Dollar with a $2,345 billion market cap. (from coinmarketcap)
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This 25-year-old made a fortune in bitcoin — now he travels the world partying and plotting the future of money
Jeremy Gardner was returning from a safari in South Africa — where he flew out to attend AfrikaBurn, a regional Burning Man festival — when he came into cell service. He checked Twitter, where he follows other bitcoin watchers, to see how his investments were doing.
“I saw that bitcoin had broken like $2,500 — all the crypto assets had exploded in value,” Gardner told Business Insider. “And all of a sudden, my net worth in five days had doubled in value. That, to me, was nuts.”
Created in 2008, bitcoin is a new kind of payment system that allows people to buy things and send money with anonymity. There are no banks or middlemen. Transactions are recorded on a digital ledger called a blockchain.
Cryptocurrencies (of which bitcoin is the most popular) have been on a tear in 2017. Bitcoin surged in value from about $200 per coin in 2015 to above $4,000in August.
People like Gardner buys assets, called tokens, with the expectation that their value will go higher. At age 25, Gardner is a self-made millionaire.
“By dedicating my life to crypto assets and blockchain technology, I’ve made more money than I would have ever expected to make in my entire life — by a long shot,” he said.
He dropped out of college (twice), works part time at a venture-capital firm that invests in cryptocurrency-related companies (for a $0 salary), and travels the world evangelizing bitcoin.
In 2013, a friend offered to buy Gardner some bitcoin in exchange for cash. He’d been following the controversy around Silk Road, an online marketplace that allowed people to use bitcoin mostly for “buying drugs off the internet and speculation,” according to Gardner.
It piqued his curiosity, and he bought in, turning his gains back into cash as fast as he could.
“There was this realization that I could — with just an internet connection— exchange value with anyone in the world who also has an internet connection,” he said. “No longer did I have to rely on a centralized intermediary, a troll under the bridge, such as a bank or a government.”
He turned most of his savings and stock holdings into cryptocurrency investments. Over a few months, Gardner became a true believer, branding himself a “bitcoin booster” on Twitter. In 2014, he founded the Blockchain Education Network, a network of cryptocurrency clubs at universities around the world.
Over the past few years, Gardner has planted himself firmly at the center of the global cryptocurrency community. In 2013, he launched a startup, Augur, a market-forecasting tool that runs on blockchain. The company raised $5.3 million in a crowdfunding campaign in 2015.
Today, he works a “fairly full-time gig” at Blockchain Capital, helping the firm source new investments in cryptocurrency-related companies and then advising those companies. His role as an entrepreneur-in-residence does not pay, but he receives “carry,” a share of the profits that the firm makes on investments. He’s also working on another startup in stealth mode.
As the value of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rises, Gardner’s net worth has climbed. He declined to share how much money he has made investing in digital currencies.
“For me, the price increases are kind of like ‘told you so’ moments. Like, I knew this was going to happen,” Gardner said. “It’s obviously cool when it happens very quickly, but every time it goes up really quickly, I expect it to go down very quickly … I’m in this for the long term.”
Residents of the Crypto Castle mingling during a holiday party. Melia Robinson/Business Insider
His investment gains subsidize his living in San Francisco, where he shares a three-story house with a half-dozen other tech entrepreneurs. The home, known among tenants as the Crypto Castle, is a landing pad for people working in cryptocurrency-related technologies.
“Over a half-dozen people in the time they’ve lived in my house have become millionaires as a result of crypto,” Gardner said.
He travels most weekends in a month to cities like New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Hong Kong. When asked what his biggest living expense is, Gardner said, “Alcohol.”
“As I’ve seen my wealth grow, it’s important to me that I give back to this industry that’s given me so much,” he added. “So when we go to conferences, I’ll bring a bunch of people out and buy bottles at the club, pay for dinner and stuff.”
Gardner said coming into wealth had created a new set of challenges. His investments are split into several cryptocurrencies, so he has to pay closer attention to where his money is and how it’s managed, he said. He no longer attends networking events for cryptocurrency entrepreneurs because he will be bombarded with pitches and made uncomfortable.
There’s most likely a bubble in the market for cryptocurrencies, and some speculate it could burst. Gardner is stockpiling cash so he can buy up tokens when that happens.
Gardner believes mainstream adoption is only a matter of time. He expects bitcoin will reach a value of $10,000 per coin in the next five to 10 years.
“We’ve been told that it’s going to die so many times. And yet here it is, stronger than ever. I think there’s a certain sense of vindication if you were investing in this technology and people were calling you stupid for a long time,” Gardner said. “We’ve gone from a point where the success of blockchain was unlikely or infinitesimally small and is now guaranteed.”
Source:
http://www.businessinsider.com/jeremy-gardner-bitcoin-entrepreneur-30-2017-8
Bitcoin Cash Is Now More Profitable to Mine Than Bitcoin
Bitcoin cash’s surge above $500 today is changing more than just the the net worth of its investors and users.
The rising price is also creating the incentive for miners to dedicate computing power to the bitcoin cash blockchain, one that could find them moving away from bitcoin. With the new push, bitcoin cash miners are making around 2% more mining on bitcoin than they do on bitcoin cash.
And that spread could further increase with an upcoming adjustment on bitcoin cash that will make it even easier to mine.
Block 479,808 (set for this weekend) will likely trigger a difficulty adjustment downwards 50%, and if the prices of bitcoin and bitcoin cash stay the same, this means miners will make almost double on bitcoin cash what they would on bitcoin.
However, even with this threshold met, not all things are equal on both chains.
The bitcoin blockchain charges higher fees on transactions, so miners must take into account the extra 1.5 BTC per block on bitcoin (about $6,000 USD). By comparison, bitcoin cash has very low fees (typically under $50 USD).
Lastly, depending on the block times, bitcoin currently gets the 100 confirmations needed to spend the mining reward faster than bitcoin cash. (Currently, bitcoin takes about 17 hours and bitcoin cash takes about 34 hours).
Further, combined with the higher liquidity, bitcoin may still emerge as more attractive to mine at the moment.
Source:
https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-cash-closes-profitability-parity-original-blockchain/
3 Methods for Defending Against Cyber Attacks on 3D Printers
With cyber attacks on 3D printers likely to threaten health and safety, a team of researchers has developed three novel methods to combat them.
“They will be attractive targets because 3D-printed objects and parts are used in critical infrastructures around the world, and cyber attacks may cause failures in health care, transportation, robotics, aviation and space,” said Saman Aliari Zonouz, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.
He co-authored a peer-reviewed study entitled “See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Feel No Evil, Print No Evil? Malicious Fill Pattern Detection in Additive Manufacturing” that was published at the 26th USENIX Security Symposium in Vancouver, Canada. It’s the security community’s flagship event, highlighting the latest advances in protecting computer systems and networks. Among several unique techniques, the research team from Rutgers and the Georgia Institute of Technology is using cancer imaging techniques to detect intrusions and hacking of 3D printer controllers.
“Imagine outsourcing the manufacturing of an object to a 3D printing facility and you have no access to their printers and no way of verifying whether small defects, invisible to the naked eye, have been inserted into your object,” said Mehdi Javanmard, study co-author and assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers. “The results could be devastating and you would have no way of tracing where the problem came from.”
3D printing, also called additive manufacturing, plays an increasingly important role in industrial manufacturing. But health- and safety-related products such as medical prostheses and aerospace parts are being printed with no standard way to verify them for accuracy, the study says.
Even houses and buildings are being manufactured by 3D printers, noted Javanmard.
Instead of spending up to $100,000 USD or more to buy a 3D printer, many companies and organizations send software-designed products to outside facilities for printing, Zonouz said. But the firmware in printers may be hacked.
For their study, the researchers bought several 3D printers and showed that it’s possible to hack into a computer’s firmware and print defective objects. The defects were undetectable on the outside but the objects had holes or fractures inside them.
Other researchers have shown in a YouTube video how hacking can lead to a defective propeller in a drone, causing it to crash, Zonouz noted.
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Game of Thrones Fans Noticed Jon Snow Has a Powerful Ally He Hasn’t Used Yet
Game of Thrones has made a point this season to—among the dragon battles and sex scenes—include some long, boring scenes between Cersei and Tycho Nestoris of the Iron Bank. I know, I know, it’s not much fun to watch Cersei discuss her credit score while an army of undead is marching South, but the Iron Bank has a huge role to play in all this. Many fans believe that money could be Cersei’s ultimate downfall once the Iron Bank sees a better business opportunity in Daenerys than Cersei.
But the bank could also be another potential ally in the north, with a vested interest in Jon Snow’s cause as well. As one Reddit user explains:
I believe Jon should also be prioritizing proving to the Iron Bank that the Wights exists. I’ve thought for a while about how the White Walkers only seem to plague Westeros, while the rest of the ASOIAF World is so enormous and would remain seemingly unscathed by Westeros’ complete and utter fall in the coming Winter. Shouldn’t there be some army or ally in the Eastern Lands that would have a vested interest in ensuring the entire continent of Westeros wasn’t turned into an army of the dead? Seems to make sense that the Iron Bank would be exactly those people. They have a major interest in ensuring the Westeros economy stays intact and continues to funnel gold into their banks across The Narrow Sea. Upon learning of the coming threat to a major interest of theirs, wouldn’t the Iron Bank be motivated to provide sell-sword armies and resources to help man The Wall and defeat the White Walkers?
This is assuming Jon Snow is able to pull off his dumbest plan yet and secretly kidnap a single wight from the White Walker army. But, should the Iron Bank be convinced of the White Walker threat, their best investment would be in the salvation of the human race. That’s a pretty sound business model. The White Walkers probably aren’t going to pay taxes! Plus, since Cersei has mistakenly already paid back the Lannister debts in full, the Iron Bank has no more use for her—especially if she’s going to burn down all of King’s Landing to keep her crown.
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The only problem? Another would-be king has tried to sway the Iron Bank to his side before, as the Redditor points out:
Davos and Stannis weren’t successful with the Iron Bank the last time around, but this situation seems different enough and with an enormous plus side, that it should have prompted Davos to have at least thought of and suggested the idea of recruiting them to the North’s cause!
That’s true. Davos and Stannis couldn’t get the bank on their side. But Jon Snow has a far more lucrative business opportunity for the bankers. Humans will make more money alive than dead! And money right now would be a huge help for Jon. He needs to manufacture a bunch of dragonglass weapons, and the only way to do that is with some expensive industry. He also needs to ensure the support of the Northern and Southern lords, and that’s a whole lot easier with the bank on his side. Maybe this will come into play as part of the super Game of Thrones theory. Sure, a bank swooping in to save the day isn’t necessarily an exciting twist, but George R.R. Martin has gone through incredible lengths to create a functioning fantasy world, which includes its own important economy. Our guess? We haven’t seen the last of the Iron Bank.
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Netflix’s ‘Marvel’s The Defenders’ Poised for Binge-Viewing
There are no standard “ratings” for Netflix. But “Marvel’s The Defenders,” the streamer’s newest original series in the street-hero franchise, could be one of its biggest hits ever, independent research indicates.
The four preceding Marvel series leading up to “Defenders” — “Daredevil” season 2, “Jessica Jones,” “Luke Cage” and “Iron Fist” — were among the top five most-viewed recently released Netflix originals in the first 30 days after their premieres, according to data from marketing-analytics firm Jumpshot, provided exclusively to Variety. Teen-suicide drama “13 Reasons Why” took the No. spot.
It seems safe to predict that “The Defenders,” as the culminating mashup with each of the four characters uniting against a common enemy, will turn in similar binge-heavy viewership as well. Netflix released all eight episodes of the limited series at 12:01 a.m. PT Friday. The show stars Charlie Cox (Daredevil), Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), Mike Colter (Luke Cage) and Finn Jones (Iron Fist).
The analysis from Jumpshot shows the relative number of U.S. Netflix viewers who watched at least one episode of each series. The data is presented as a index, benchmarked against the most-viewed Netflix original in the comparison, “Daredevil” season 2. For example, “13 Reasons Why,” the second most-viewed premier in the first 30 days, garnering 48% of the viewers that “Daredevil 2” received.
Of the series studied, “13 Reasons Why” was the only Netflix original that showed any growth in week-over-week viewership in the first month of release, with an 18% increase from week one to week two. That reflects strong word-of-mouth buzz for the controversial show.
“Stranger Things” was the seventh most-viewed Netflix original premiere in its first 30 days, but it had the lowest week-over-week decline in viewership, per the Jumpshot data. It’s not a surprise that shows see a viewing drop-off after the first week, given Netflix’s binge-friendly release strategy.
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Netflix’s ‘Marvel’s The Defenders’ Poised for Binge-Viewing Pop, Data Indicates
August 17, 2017
Common Food Additive Promotes Colon Cancer in Mice
A popular food additive used in everything from dill pickles to ice cream is now linked to colon cancer, thanks to the way it impacts the gut.
Emulsifiers are added to most processed foods to improve food texture and extend shelf life. But it also throws off healthy levels of intestinal bacteria, triggering chronic, low-level inflammation that promotes colorectal cancer, according to a new study.
To be clear, scientists identified the potential cancer-promoting effects in an animal study. But the way I see it, it’s best to steer clear of these ingredients since various other studies suggest they impact the gut in unhealthy ways.
The finding comes on the heels of another gut breakthrough where researchers discovered fungus may trigger Crohn’s disease. Clearly, the microbiome greatly influences our disease risk. That’s why I make gut health the centerpiece of my practice and my personal health regimen.
Let’s take a closer look at this important new study, including ways to avoid this harmful class of processed food additives.
Hippocrates is famous for declaring that food is medicine. But his quote came long before the creation of lab-derived ingredients and processed foods. Here, we have just another example of how ingredients we often overlook can spell disaster for our health. In the recent food additive and colon cancer study, researchers at Georgia State University’s Institute for Biomedical Sciences found that mice that regularly consumed dietary emulsifiers experienced exacerbated tumor development. The results appeared in the journal Cancer Research.
For this study, researchers focused on two of the most commonly used emulsifiers called polysorbate 80 and carboxymethylcellulose. They fed mice doses comparable to the cumulative amounts people would eat daily in processed foods. While the following findings need to be replicated in humans, I’m not taking any chances and will continue to avoid these “detergent-like” ingredients.
Consuming emulsifiers drastically changed the species composition of the gut microbiota in a manner that made it more pro-inflammatory, creating a niche favoring cancer induction and development, researchers pointed out. Alterations in bacterial species resulted in bacteria expressing more flagellin and lipopolysaccharide, which activate pro-inflammatory gene expression by the immune system.
Source:
https://draxe.com/food-additive-colon-cancer/
Indonesian Travel Startup Valued at $2 Billion After Expedia Deal
Traveloka Holding Ltd. raised $400 million in a funding round led by Expedia Inc. that conferred a $2 billion valuation on Indonesia’s largest online travel startup, a person familiar with the matter said.
The person asked not to be identified discussing private information. Expedia said it was contributing $350 million to Traveloka’s financing round, a major investment into a five-year-old startup backed by China’s JD.com Inc., Sequoia Capital, East Ventures and Hillhouse Capital. That brought the total amount the company has raised in the last two rounds in the past year to $500 million, Expedia said. Traveloka representatives weren’t immediately available for comment. The Information first reported on its valuation.
Jakarta-based Traveloka is capitalizing on Southeast Asia’s online boom. The region of more than 600 million is home to an online travel market predicted to quadruple to $90 billion by 2025, according to a report by Google and Temasek Holdings Pte.
“Traveloka is the clear online travel leader in Indonesia, and is expanding aggressively throughout Southeast Asia,” Expedia Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi said in its statement.
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Alexa Can Now Read Audiobooks to Your Pets So They Feel Less Lonely
On April Fools’ Day this year, Amazon spoofed itself with an introduction to PetLexa, an animal-friendly version of its Alexa voice assistant. Now, it’s actually releasing something real—audiobooks for animals.
Today, Audible announced a new brand of books with Cesar Millan, a longtime dog behaviorist and Emmy-nominated host of the TV series Dog Whisperer With Cesar Millan. The series, Audible for Dogs, aims to help make dogs “calmer and happier,” with titles such as “A Dog’s Purpose,” “Soldier Dogs” and “The Art of Racing in the Rain.”
According to Audible, the series was inspired by a 2015 academic study, which found dogs that listen to audiobooks were more likely to have lower stress when left alone than those that listened to music. When Audible teamed up with Milan’s Dog Psychology Center to study 100 dogs over four weeks, playing Audible content through Echo devices for the dogs, 76 percent of dog owners reported their pets were calmer and more relaxed after listening to the audiobooks. (Dogs reportedly responded better to books read by narrators that were the same gender as their primary owner.)
“Dogs are social animals, so they need to engage with someone, and the purpose of Audible for Dogs is to make dogs feel there is someone with them,” Millan said in a statement. “The person performing the audiobook is actually keeping your dog calm and taking the dog to a resting state, acting as an extension of you.”
It could be yet another good use for the millions of Amazon Alexa-powered Echo devices now in households around the U.S, as marketers and media companies continue developing ways to incorporate voice-activated content.
However, while dogs might appreciate the AI-powered entertainment, the series might be more comforting for humans that feel the emotional weight of leaving their four-legged friends all alone. In a new testimonial video released today by Audible, Millan talks with a woman about how the books have helped her dog, Buddy, when she’s away.
Source:
http://www.adweek.com/digital/alexa-can-now-read-audiobooks-to-your-pets-so-they-feel-less-lonely/
