Educate yourself with MOOC provider edX

EdX is an excellent MOOC provider for people who want to learn online, (MOOC is short for massive open online courses). The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University founded edX in May of 2012.

Ever since it's foundation it has been governed by colleges and universities and it is the only leading MOOC provider that is both nonprofit and open source.

As an online educational organisation edX offers high-quality courses from the world’s leading universities and upscale institutions, that enable anyone to educate themselves on an academic level.

Some of the university level courses are free of charge and there are a wide range of courses made available in computer science, languages, engineering, psychology, writing, electronics, biology, or marketing.

Edx also performs research in e-learning, based on how people use their platform.

Their ultimate mission is to provide quality education for everyone, everywhere and increasing access to high-quality education for everyone, everywhere.

Therefor they have developed ways to allow people around the world to get an education that would otherwise be impossible.

Unlike other MOOC providers like Coursera and Udacity, edX is a nonprofit organization and runs on the free Open edX open-source softwareplatform. This online learning platform is freely available.

On June 1, 2013, edX open sourced its entire platform. On GitHub the source code can be found.

With Open EdX, educators and technologists can build learning tools and contribute new features to the platform, creating innovative solutions to benefit students globally.

Also the platform is made freely available to other institutions of higher learning that want to make the same offerings. Several higher-education institutions use the Open edX to provide MOOC services, such as MIT's MITx platform and some private companies also use Open edX to provide training.

With more than 90 global partners, EdX counts the world’s leading universities, nonprofits, and institutions as it's members. EdX university members top the QS World University Rankings® with the founders receiving the top honors, and EdX partner institutions ranking highly on the full list.

It is possible to get a verified certificate after completing a course and also to automatically update the information about the received cerficate on to your LinkedIn profile.

For more information visit the site: Open edX or edX.

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As of 29 December 2016, EdX has around 10 million students taking more than 1,270 courses online.

More than 70 schools, nonprofit organizations, and corporations offer or plan to offer courses on the edX website.

Online education is available via EdX in English, Mandarin, French, Hindi, Spanish

Edx latest tweet says they are excited to announce two new Microsoft Professional Program tracks, Cloud Administration and DevOps.

The Everybot by Moneual: a robotic mop

After numerous autonomous smart vacuum cleaners, here is the first ultimate robot mop cleaner called Everybot. A project launched at Kickstarter.

This ingenious device by Moneual has seven different cleaning modes to fit the types of floors and furniture layout of your home, and the oval shape allows it to fit into and clean even the hard to access corners. Everybot can be a real timesaver.

Everybot has a number of truly impressive and advanced features: multi-directional sensors to avoid obstacles and the ability to sense vertical drop-offs: so no falling accidents with a staircase or countertop.

The sensors of this smart device can even detect room lighting, which allows it to travel back to a well-lit area after it's done mopping under furniture.

Everybot has a dry cleaning mode too to clear the floor before mopping so it essentially is a vacuum and mopp both.

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Besides mopping and vacuuming you can also use the handle on top to let the Everybot work. It is a multifunctional cleaning tool; also handy to clean windows, countertops or your car.

Japan's new licensing for 11 bitcoin exchangers

As China is withdrawing from bitcoin trading, operating licenses have been issued to 11 bitcoin exchanges by Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) 

The new Japanese law established bitcoin as a legal payment method and is now enforcing new ruling regarding security guidelines for cryptocurrency exchanges.

The licensing enforces certain operational requirements for the exchanges. These include: the verification of customer identities, the segregation of customer accounts and high standards for cybersecurity.

The new regulations are intended to protect investors from fraud and cyber crime, while supporting financial technology innovation.

The registration places several requirements on the companies, such as building a strong computer system and checking the identity of users to prevent money laundering.

Japan is currently uniquely proactive in its cryptocurrency regulations.

Bitcoin payments may be accepted at over 260,000 stores in Japan by this summer as result of partnerships between bitcoin exchanges and major retailers.

Coincheck, which holds most of the bitcoin payment market share in Japan, will bring Bitcoin payments to shops that use AirRegi, a point-of-sale app developed by Recruit Lifestyle, by this summer.

Using AirRegi customers can simply scan the barcode displayed on the app to pay with bitcoin. Coincheck will then process the transaction, converting the bitcoin into yen.

It was also very recently  reported that Japanese banks are considering setting up their own digital currency called the J-Coin.

Japan already had over 4,000 locations accepting bitcoin and considering the tax incentives and the new favourable regulations the country is expected to have a positive impact on consumer confidence and growth of the domestic virtual currency market.

As for the new regulations and licensing the exchange firms are reacting very enthusiastically.

Quoine, one of the 11 bitcoin exchange firms to receive a license said that they are aiming "towards the healthy development of the cryptocurrency industry within Japan and on a global scale."

"Japan has been exploding with demand for both bitcoin trading as well as virtual currency services," said Bitflyer's CEO, Kano.

"The FSA's approval for bitFlyer to operate as a Registered Virtual Currency Exchange, and the agency's openness and forward thinking regulation could not come at a better time for the blockchain space."

Lifehack Finders Nice to know:

Blockchain is a digital leger that is dispersed across networks. It is used in the cryptocurrency space to securely record every transaction between users.

Evolution theory debunked: Hominid footprints found in Crete

Newly discovered approximately 5.7 million years old human-like footprints in Crete question the common narrative of early human evolution.

The discovery of these newly found securely dated human-like footprints in Crete, suggests a different and far more complex reality, mainly because the footprints were made at a time when previous research puts our ancestors in Africa with ape-like feet.

The origin of the human lineage has been thought to lie in Africa. All fossil hominins older than 1.8 million years came from Africa, leading most researchers to conclude that this was where the group evolved.This has been the case ever since the discovery of fossils of Australopithecus in South and East Africa during the middle years of the 20th century.

After that, fossil discoveries in the same region, including the 3.7 million year old Laetoli footprints in Tanzania have founded the idea further that early hominins not only originated in Africa but remained there isolated from the rest of the world for several million years.

Gerard Gierlinski a paleontologist at the Polish Geological Institute specialized in footprints, first discovered the Crete footprints  but identified them as mammal.

After intensive study and research however, together with another scientist named Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki, he came to the conclusion that the footprints were made by early hominins.

Human feet have a very distinctive shape, different from all other land animals. The combination of a long sole, five short forward-pointing toes without claws, and a hallux ("big toe") that is larger than the other toes, is unique.

The new footprints, from Trachilos in western Crete, have an unmistakably human-like form. This is especially true of the toes. The big toe is similar to our own in shape, size and position; it is also associated with a distinct 'ball' on the sole, which is never present in apes.

The sole of the foot of the dicovered footprints is proportionately shorter than in the Laetoli prints, but it has the same general form.

In short, the shape of the Trachilos prints indicates clearly and unmistakenly that they belong to an early hominin, somewhat more primitive than the Laetoli trackmaker.

What makes this discovery so controversial is the age and location of the prints according to Professor Per Ahlberg at Uppsala University.

At approximately 5.7 million years, they are younger than the oldest known fossil hominin and contemporary with the fossil from Kenya, but they are more than a million years older than the fossil called Ardipithecus ramidus which is a fossil with ape-like feet.

This conflicts with the hypothesis that Ardipithecusis a direct ancestor of later hominins.

Prof. Per Ahlberg involved with the study of the footprints says: 'This discovery challenges the established narrative of early human evolution head-on and is likely to generate a lot of debate. Whether the human origins research community will accept fossil footprints as conclusive evidence of the presence of hominins in the Miocene of Crete remains to be seen.'

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Earlier this year, another group of researchers reinterpreted the fragmentary 7.2 million year old primate Graecopithecus (only known from teeth and jaws) found in Greece and Bulgaria as a hominin.

How to use Silica Gel Packets

The Flippist; a flipbookartist

Lifehack Finders Nice to know:

The Flippist is an artist that creates custom made hand drawn animated flipbooks so you can surprise someone in a very personal and fun way on special occasion, like a wedding proposal or an anniversary. For more information visit his website The Flippist.

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Hydaway collapsible bottle: fresh water, fresh environment

Designer Niki Singlaub made Hydaway not only for convenience, but was also inspired to contribute to the reduction of the waste of empty water bottles.

Every minute 90,000 plastic bottles are thrown away so by each one of us using a reusable container this amount can really be reduced significantly.

When you’re not using it; you can fold the Hydaway because it’s so incredibly compact and fits in any pocket, it collapses like an accordion to just over an inch high.

Hydaway is made of flexible, durable silicone that won’t interfere with water’s taste. By unscrewing the top you can also use it like a cup. It is very easy to use daily on the go: in traffic, at workplace, in school, on outings or at events or anywhere else.

Staying hydrated while traveling long distances by plane is very important,
but think of all the water bottles thrown out at airport security?

With this product in your pocket there is no more expensive bottled water purchases and inconvenient security screenings.

Travellers will love to know that you can also clip it to a backpack with the carry handle.

Needless to say that last but not least Hydaway is extremely handy for everyone with an active lifestyle of fitness, athletics and sports. Drinking and staying hydrated go hand in hand with perspiration but when you are out running, hiking or cycling or at the gym you need a practical, easy and light solution so you can move around and/or work out more easily and freely.

Lifehack Finders Nice to Know:

Hydaway can store up to 600 ml (21oz) in its food-grade silicone, but collapses to just over 3.2 cm (1.25in) in height when not in use and weighs only 6 ounces.

Hydaway is an eco-friendly, non-toxic, BPA-free hydration solution made of materials in various fun colours that are tested and certified safe: making it highly suitable for children.

It’s a high quality item: leak-proof, dishwasher safe, and the narrow base lets it fit in most cup holders.

Hydaway can be bought together with a travel case to protect the bottle.

Cross between pomegranate and lemon

Make your own 3D Snapchat Bitmoji