So clever, so depressing: the English town of Clifton, having dwindled in economic strength over the years, has responded to the loss of its last place to shop with a giant vending machine. The so-called Speedy Shop—really, an over-sized, building-shaped machine standing alone in a dreary parking lot—is meant to help bring some economic life back to the town.
Legendarily unaffordable Tokyo is no longer the priciest metropolis in the world—it has been supplanted by another, far more inaccessible city. Want to take a guess who it is? It’s not New York. It’s not San Francisco. The world’s most expensive city is…
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Is it governments that control the economy? Banks, perhaps? Or maybe even the people? Nope, in fact, it’s rating agencies—and the there are three in the US that practically control the entire economy.
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You think rents are high in San Francisco? Try Williston, North Dakota. No wait, don’t—there’s nowhere to live. According to a new study by Apartment Guide, the most expensive rents in the country can be found in this relatively tiny North Dakota town.
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You probably won’t be surprised one bit to learn there’s a new Bitcoin competitor out there. A group of cryptographers just announced the creation of Zerocoin, an ultra-anonymous cryptocurrency that’s otherwise a lot like the dozens of other newly launched cryptocurrencies.
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At first, it’s kind of charming. Look how well the Swiss treat their cows! A helicopter is dispatched just to carry an injured bovine stuck in the mountains! It’s not an uncommon sight in the Alps, either: in Switzerland, insurance that covers helicopter evacuation for your family also includes your cows.
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For the past century, an obscure mathematical principle called Zipf’s law has predicted the size of mega-cities all over the world. And nobody knows why.
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Arguing that it is "not a currency in the real meaning of the word," Chinese authorities have banned financial companies from using Bitcoin. This is to "protect the status of the renminbi as the statutory currency, prevent risks of money laundering and protect financial stability." [New York Times]
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As the Silk Road came tumbling down today
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Manufacturers and consumers alike better brace themselves: memory chip prices have hit a two-year high because of a major fire in a massive Chinese production plant.
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