Lawmakers and Federal Reserve officials are so concerned about Facebook’s plans to launch a new digital currency that they’re contemplating a novel response — having the central bank create a competitor.Momentum is building for an idea that was once considered outlandish — a U.S. government-run virtual currency that would replace physical cash, a dramatic move that could discourage major companies like Facebook from creating their own digital coins.
Facebook has approved two new cryptocurrency tipping apps, according to the small team of dogecoin enthusiasts that developed them.
Lead developer Alejandro Caballero announced on reddit that the social networking giant has approved both his Doge Tipping App, which is restricted to dogecoin, and his Multicoin Tipping App, which got the official nod just this morning.
The latter allows 14 altcoins to be used to reward posts on Facebook in a very real sense, rather than merely giving them the standard ‘like’. The full list reads: dogecoin, digibytes, einsteinium, fedoracoin, mintcoin, reddcoin, quark, worldcoin, vertcoin, karmacoin, earthcoin, trollcoin, HTMLcoin and donationcoin.
This is not the first time digital currencies have appeared on Facebook. CoinDesk reported last month on QuickCoin’s wallet app that allows users to send bitcoin to anyone on their contacts list as simply as messaging. However, the new apps look to be the first dedicated tipping services on the platform.
Facebook today announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Oculus VR, Inc., the leader in immersive virtual reality technology, for a total of approximately $2 billion. This includes $400 million in cash and 23.1 million shares of Facebook common stock (valued at $1.6 billion based on the average closing price of the 20 trading days preceding March 21, 2014 of $69.35 per share). The agreement also provides for an additional $300 million earn-out in cash and stock based on the achievement of certain milestones.
Oculus is the leader in immersive virtual reality technology and has already built strong interest among developers, having received more than 75,000 orders for development kits for the company’s virtual reality headset, the Oculus Rift. While the applications for virtual reality technology beyond gaming are in their nascent stages, several industries are already experimenting with the technology, and Facebook plans to extend Oculus’ existing advantage in gaming to new verticals, including communications, media and entertainment, education and other areas. Given these broad potential applications, virtual reality technology is a strong candidate to emerge as the next social and communications platform.
“Mobile is the platform of today, and now we’re also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow,” said Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. “Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate.”
Since we did the first story about the capabilities that Titan Aerospace offers — drones capable of flying for five years at 65,000 feet — we feel compelled to write about their reported purchase by Facebook.
That’s right: not SpaceX or Northrop Grumman or Orbital. Facebook. The story is being covered in the financial and tech press, with TechCrunch having broken the news. The start-up will reportedly be bought for $60 million (NOT billion) to help provide Internet access to Africa and other underserved locations.
TechCrunch says Titan “would start by building 11,000 of these unmanned aerial vehicles,” specifically the Solara 60 model.
