Bitcoin Exchange to Operate as Bank

From Ars Technica:

Bitcoin Central, a Bitcoin exchange that is popular in the eurozone, says it has secured approval from regulators to operate as a bank under French law. The announcement could be another sign of the cryptocurrency's growing legitimacy.
The news was announced in a Thursday post on the Bitcoin forums. A representative for Paymium, the French company that runs Bitcoin Central, said the firm had partnered with the French payment processor Aqoba and the French bank Credit Mutuel to create a Bitcoin-based payment service. Users will be able to deposit funds in either euros or bitcoins, and to easily convert between the two.

House Votes Against UN Regulation of Internet

From The Hill:

The House on Wednesday unanimously passed a Senate resolution introduced by Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) that calls on the U.S. government to oppose United Nations control of the Internet.

The 397-0 vote is meant to send a signal to countries meeting at a U.N. conference on telecommunications this week. Participants are meeting to update an international telecom treaty, but critics warn that many countries’ proposals could allow U.N. regulation of the Internet . . .

Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) said both the White House and lawmakers were united against U.N. control of the Internet.  "I think that we are all very, very proud that there is not only bipartisan, but bicameral support underlying this resolution, and there is complete support across the Executive Branch of our government," she said. "In other words, the United States of America is totally unified on this issue of an open structure, a multi-stakeholder approach that has guided the Internet over the last two decades."

Now to make sure we keep control of the internet out of the hands of the House and Senate.

Breaking Into the App Store

From The Register:

Apple's App Store and the Google Play store each claim to offer over 700,000 apps to choose from, but only a tiny fraction of them bring in significant revenue for their developers, according to research from analyst firm Canalys.

In fact, the company says, of the $120m in total revenue generated from paid app downloads and in-app purchases in the US during the first 20 days of November 2012, fully half was split between just 25 developers. . . .

Given the huge volume of apps available in both major app stores, developers who don't already have a strong brand presence will find it increasingly difficult to crack the market, the company says, citing discoverability as a particular problem.

Read the rest.