Different Money For Your Different Life: Paypal Now Accepts Cryptocurrency For Digital Items

Bit by bit, digital currencies are becoming more mainstream.  With a variety of new places to spend your e-loot, it's no surprise to see Paypal is now accepting bitcoin for digital dealings.

As reported by techcrunch.com, this idea has been underway for some time, with Ebay CEO John Donahoe saying that digital currency would play "an important role" for the company.  Wikipedia, Overstock, and other companies have already joined the cryptocurrency club, spurring Paypal's involvement.  They will generate profits from referral fees, which is normal for these type of transactions.

“PayPal is playing the role of the intermediary, but the cost will be left up to the merchant and the payment processor,” said Scott Ellison, a senior director at PayPal.

Paypal will collaborate with the BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin services to secure the cryptocurrency transactions. Currently this will be available for vendors of digital items only, and exclusively in the United States. However, as this technology grows in popularity, many more items in a wider market could be available thanks to your bit-bank.

It's for digital items only!  Get back in the screen, e-presents!

New "Wakie" App To Frighten You Awake

Some people just need that extra nudge to get themselves out of bed in the morning (or midafternoon...we understand.)  Now, a new app is available to outsource your alarm clock and force you to interact your way awake.

According to metro.co.uk, the "Wakie" app was created by Armenian entrepreneur Hrachik Adjamian, and it operates on a simple principal: getting talked awake. It sounds nightmarish to some, but it might be just the thing to motivate a particularly recalcitrant rester.  The Wakie app has a random stranger call you at the desired time, and say...something, anything...to get you awake.

Could it be creepy?  Sure.  But Wakie is already popular in Russia, and that means while you're waking up in America, you could have some happy-hour vodka-infused Russian on the other side of the world barking you awake.

Wakie not only helps you return the favor by searching for "Sleepies" you can rouse, but it also tries to match you up with someone of the opposite gender.  You know, so you can jump right into that "get the hell out of bed and get to work goddamnit" stage of the relationship.

You can download Wakie here.  Sweet dreams!

The wrong side of the bed has gone worldwide.

UPS To Offer 3D Printing; Personal Action Figure Fabrications Expected To Skyrocket

The amazing rise in popularity of 3D printing has taken the technology everywhere from construction to medicine to the International Space Station.  But how does the everyday person avail themselves of its use?  You may need to look no further than your local UPS.

According to money.cnn.com, UPS will be offering 3D printing for customers at 100 participating stores.  They will be the first major US retailer to do so, and the capabilities they offer are extensive.  Using Stratasys 3D printers to create objects from customer-submitted designs, one could concoct anything from a horde of toy soldiers to an entire femur bone (although the latter would run you about $325, it seems like it could be really worth it in a time of need.)

UPS will also offer assistance to connect patrons with outside professionals who specialize in creating 3D file designs, which would be crafted at an hourly rate.  As for the objects themselves, simple items take five or six hours for fabrication, while something more detailed may take over a day (so if you've got your eye on one of those fancy new 3D printed skulls, be sure to give yourself enough time for your replacement to be printed before you try out that self-trepanation.)

Pretty cool, but the installation is such a headache.

The demand at 6 pilot UPS stores was enough to warrant the increase in 3D printer availability.  Who knows, someday you might not need UPS to ship anything at all...your recipient could just pick up their 3D-printed present at the other end of the line.

Wonder how quickly they'll get tired of printing out legions of personal action figures? (Image: photographer Jens Lennartsson's 3D-printed mini-clones.)

R2BeerMe, You're On Fire! New Beer "Droid" Livens Up Office Parties

Need a barman for your next bash, but don't want to hire a human or force one of your friends to mind the taps all night? Thanks to the glory of technology, one company solved that problem. Meet R2BeerMe.

Named after the famous "Star Wars" robot R2D2, this drink-droid is a motorized, remote-controlled beer "kegerator" (mini-fridge turned keg cooler, with tap.) As reported by bizjournals.com, R2BeerMe was created by real estate adviser Charlie Wolff, and it generally tends to protocol by scooting around his firm's office on a modified wheelchair chassis.

Wolff was inspired by hospitality carts that circled his company office during parties, and he rolled with the idea. "In a parallel universe, I had aspirations of building an RC lawn mower," he said. "Everyone has a garage project, right? So, I had put together a wheelchair base under radio control."

R2BeerMe has been known to sport a camera, mood lighting, sound effects, and even a different costumes (including Pancho Villa) for events of all sorts. But most importantly, he's full of beer. And that's a Force you want to be with you.

Now he just needs his sidekick, C-3POT.

Prank Patrol: Iphone 6 "Wave" Charging Is Not A Thing

With all of the cool new features and fancy technology featured in the iPhone 6 and 6+, who doesn't want to believe that they can also make new leaps in charging technology?  Unfortunately, as some iPhone users found out, the charging still happens the way it usually does, and NOT VIA YOUR MICROWAVE.

As reported by firstpost.com, a prank that started on the website 4chan has now left a few fresh models of iPhone fried to a crisp.  The 4chan trollsters had pulled a similar prank last year by telling people their iOS 7 system made their phones waterproof (which, just to remind you gentle readers, IS NOT TRUE.)  Now, they upped their game with a perfectly-plotted "Apple"-style image regarding the new "Wave" technology, which supposedly allows the new iPhones to be charged with a mere spin through your microwave.

Maybe I need to put in some popcorn with it, too?

Your iPhone may be able to find you in the middle of the desert, chart out all the night's stars for you, pay bills with a swipe of a sensor, take calls from around the world, and capture and share images with the touch of a finger, but it cannot recharge itself as readily as brewing up a bowl of Ramen.

See some silly, sad stories and imagery from the Wave prank here.

E-Me, Myself, And I: "Digital Twins" Might Continue Your Consciousness

Many people fear death due to the fact that their impact on Earth will be greatly, if not completely, diminished after it occurs. But what if you could continue to interact with your loved ones via a digital replica of yourself? One scientist theorizes that this may be an option, sooner than we realize.

Think of it as predictive typing for your entire psyche. According to news.com.au, John Smart, the founder of the Acceleration Studies Foundation, believes that within five years, technology will have advanced to the point where our digital alter-egos will be able to make autonomous choices in the same manner that the original human being would. Smart considers programs like Microsoft's Cortana or Apple's Siri to be predecessors to this impending new-you-part-two technology.

Culling from the massive amount of data we have in our smartphones, computers, and other devices, a program could divine our likes, dislikes, values, and opinions, then continue to independently operate as "you." Developments could even enable realistic facial-imitation software. This could not only look out for your interests during your lifespan (maybe it can generate crafty facebook posts for you), but it would also be consoling and memorable after death.

“Where we’re headed is creating this world in which you feel you have this thing out there looking after your values,” Smart says. “When you and I die, our kids aren’t going to go to our tombstones, they’re going to fire up our digital twins and talk to them.”

Your avatar could look like you, or like a better-looking you, or just a giant glowing brain.  It's your afterlife, after all.

Space Station Sunday: The Shuttle Rebuttal

This week on earth, a major decision was reached regarding future transportation options to the International Space Station. In a significant development for manned spaceflight, aerospace companies Boeing and SpaceX were chosen by NASA to supply the spacecrafts that will ferry US astronauts to the ISS after 2017.

According to theverge.com, the two companies will split $6.8 billion dollars ($4.2 billion to Boeing, $2.4 billion to SpaceX) over the next three years to bring their manned-spacecraft certification plans to fruition. Boeing's CT-100 capsule will be developed along with SpaceX's Dragon V2 craft, and both will be rigorously tested by NASA (including a mission with just one astronaut) before becoming the ISS's personal limo service.

Currently, American astronauts hitch rides in the Russian-made Soyuz capsules launched from Kazahkstan. At a cost of $424 million, NASA's contract stipulates six space seats on the Soyuz until 2017, however this deal has grown more tenuous as Russian geopolitics have entered the fray. Boeing and SpaceX have proudly stepped up to the challenge to help make America an independent space power again, a laurel we lost with the demise of the space shuttle program in 2011.

As reported by Forbes.com, the new spacecrafts will have a capacity for up to seven astronauts, plus payload. The Boeing CT-100 will be launched by Atlas V rockets, which are a product of United Launch Alliance (a collaboration of Boeing and Lockheed.) The SpaceX Dragon will be launched via the company's own Falcon 9 rockets. Once certified, the spacecrafts will each serve at least two (but possibly up to six) missions apiece.

“This will enable NASA and its international partners to perform more research on the international laboratory, nearly doubling its research potential,” NASA's Commercial Crew Program Manager Kathy Lueders said.

The spacecrafts will be very durable, with the emergency option of acting as a "lifeboat" for up to 210 days, if needed.

Your new travel options to the stars.

Aboard the ISS, practice has already begun for the rendezvous of an unmanned SpaceX Dragon supply capsule, which is slated to arrive at the ISS on Tuesday. The capsule will be "grabbed" by the ISS's exterior arm-like mechanical appendage, the Canadarm. One particularly fascinating bit of technology aboard the SpaceX is a 3D printer from the "Made In Space" company, which is the first printer of its kind to ever go into orbit. The ISS astronauts will test the printer in hopes of possibly gaining the ability to print tools and small spacecraft parts that wouldn't require a whole launch mission to bring them up...even though soon, there'll hopefully be a lot more of those.

“The work that we have underway…is making the possibility for everyone to someday see our planet Earth from space,” Kennedy Space Center director and former astronaut Bob Cabana told reuters.com. "I know a lot of us are cheering on the success of our Commercial Crew program, not because of what it means to NASA…but what it means to human spaceflight for everyone."

That's right, astro-pioneers...this may help advance your chance to someday slip the surly bonds of Planet Earth.  Until then, watch this space!

Interior of SpaceX's Dragon V2 "Space Taxi."  Swing high, sweet chariot!  (Image courtesy Time.com.)