I’m going to start this post with a big helping of gratitude. I’m so grateful to the 1000’s of readers that helped me get into the field of Data Science and Machine Learning. I was a part-time blogger that turned my passion into a full-time gig in the AI Startup world. This post is my way of paying it forward to you. My Journey I started a blog back in 2006 writing about trading stocks and foreign exchange (Forex).

We are living in crazy times. The (Stock) Market is reaching all time highs when the rest of Main Street is falling apart. Amazon is trading in the $5,000 range and people think the market doesn’t represent the majority of us. I agree. The Market is NOT for Main Street and it will never be. It’s for a small group of the population that’s seeking to reallocate your funds to their account.

My position on whether cryptocurrency is a fad or real changes from month to month. I had a hard time connecting the dots until recently. What changed? I discovered the Uphold Interledger. The Interledger is just what it sounds like, a ledger system between multiple currencies or ‘stores of value.’ It’s based on the distributed ledger that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have made famous. It allows you to easily convert between fiat and cryptocurrencies with a click of a button.

Apple just did something wonderful for your privacy in the next iOS release, it’s making Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) an ‘explicit’ opt-in function now. What the heck is IDAF and what does it mean to me? IDAF is a sinister process where apps share your data with marketers so those marketers can optimize ads and get more people to use the app. That’s all fine and good if you decide to opt-in.

I was on Twitter one day and I came across an announcement that HackerNoon had joined the micropayment world and gotten an infusion of cash from Coil.com. That’s a cool $1 million to implement a new method of web monetization. Breaking: We Raised $1M From @Coil, Will Stream Micropayments from Readers to Writers via the Browserhttps://t.co/iquXY9j2Pm pic.twitter.com/bHRfhaenna — Hacker Noon (@hackernoon) June 10, 2020 I think the current web monetizaztion model is broken and power is concentrated into too many corporate silos.