Blockchain : The Freeland Passport

Blockchain technology has been in the news a lot lately. Most of the attention however was on the cryptocurrencies and ICOs. But that’s a very tiny part of what the blockchain is all about.

There are many different applications of the blockchain technology – some we already know and some are yet to be discovered. But there’s this one particular milestone, which I consider of ultimate importance.

Freeland, which is a set of social, technological, and business experiments has recently announced the Freeland passport. Watch the above YouTube video (in English, or this one in Russian), which showcases the passport.

Now, with the quick “yes” answer to your question of “Is this real?”, let me ask you a question in return: is your mind blown yet? Mine is.

I think this is a very important milestone in major social, cultural, legal, technological, and financial transformations that are already changing the world. This passport is a beautiful bridge between the two very complex, yet very different worlds we now live in – the physical and the digital.

This is not the beginning, and this is not the end. But this is one of those moments in history, which a lot of people today won’t recognize as such, yet the generations to come will definitely point out and understand.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are living in the very exciting times!

The World through the Eyes of the US

The World through the Eyes of the US” is an absolutely awesome visualization that shows how the US saw the rest of the world over the last 100 years. It is based on 700,000+ headlines in the News York Times, thanks to the archives.

We need more of this!

Technology, Ranked

Technology, Ranked” is the list of the 100 most important technologies ever invented by the human kind. Given how much technology we have invented, I think it’s much harder to compile such a list than to argue the choices and order. Overall, it’s quite a fair representation, with, maybe, slightly biased look towards the USA than the global population.

Terrible Maps

Via this kottke blog post I came across the @TerribleMaps Twitter account that collects links and images of funny, non-sense, inaccurate and other terrible maps.  Most of this stuff is quite funny.

Visa List – visa and documents info for 238+ countries

Visa requirements and document checklists are a tricky subject when it comes to travel and tourism.  On one hand, most of this information is public.  On the other – it is often hidden deep in government websites, or not available in English, etc.

Visa List is an excellent website with a really easy user interface, which presents all that information and more for 238+ countries.

Excellent work!