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Reader poll: Ready to try your hand at cryptocurrency mining?

In this week's reader poll, we want to know whether you're a cryptocurrency millionaire, or if you're still wondering whether you need a pickaxe and a GPU to effectively mine Bitcoin and Ethereum.

As the price for Bitcoin rises and falls dramatically, more users are wondering how they can get in on the action — and for good reason. Earning a few Bitcoin, or Ethereum, or any of the other cryptocurrency, could mean thousands of dollars in profit, and your home gaming machine may be able to churn them out using some simple software. Have you tried to mine bitcoin? Are you thinking about setting up a mining rig? Are you already swimming in a Scrooge McDuck-style room full of them? Let us know in this week’s reader poll.

How interested are you in #cryptocurrency? We'll be discussing results on the Close to the Metal podcast tomorrow. https://t.co/tmZvPewZcx

— Digital Trends (@DigitalTrends) July 10, 2017

Mining cryptocurrency is surprisingly easy, assuming you have the proper hardware. Our handy guide to mining will walk you through all the steps necessary to start making money, if you’re so inclined. Just make sure to take into account the increase in your power bill that comes along with it.

You should know, however, that cryptocurrency is a volatile market, and not just in the sense that the value can change overnight. Without much regulation, sites that act as wallets may be shut down by hackers or those interested in taking the coins for themselves, or the site’s proprietors may shut it down and disappear in the night with your hard-earned cash. There are ways around this, and they involve keeping codes locally stored, or even using a physical coin wallet that keeps your money safely stored away from the prying eyes of the Internet.

It isn’t just Bitcoin that’s causing quite a stir over the last few weeks. Another cryptocurrency, Ethereum, has begun to take hold thanks to some innovative new practices and support from the tech community. It’s just one of many cryptocurrency options out there, and like any of them, hype and user interest will drive its success.

Join us at 10:00 AM PST on Tuesday, July 11th as we discuss the implications of the newfound vigor for cryptocurrency, as the Bitcoin price skyrockets into thousands of dollars each. We’ll also talk hardware pricing, and try to explain the sharp rise in price on mid-range cards like the RX 480 and RX 580 on the secondary market.

After five years with Apple silicon, from the original M1 MacBook Air to the M5 MacBook Air released earlier this year, I've watched these chips mature not just on the spec sheet, but in real-world workflows and overall efficiency.

The new M6 chip might sound like a routine generational upgrade, but it's the company's first chip built on a 2nm manufacturing process, which brings meaningful improvements over previous Apple chips.

Gemini Notebook’s mobile app now has a built-in recorder for capturing lectures and meetings as sources. You can record directly where you’ll use the material, skipping the separate recording app and the file upload afterward.

Google announced the feature on X, highlighting classroom lectures and team meetings as potential uses. It also works for capturing your own thoughts, so you can talk through an idea and bring that explanation into your notebook while it’s still fresh.

In 1950, Alan Turing asked whether machines can think. Rather than argue over definitions, he turned the question into a party game, where an interrogator trades typed messages with hidden players and tries to work out who is who. Since then, chatbots have gotten so good that they have already fooled humans in modern versions of the test.

So, four researchers from Paris Cité University asked the obvious follow-up question in a new study published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports: can AI at least catch its own kind?