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Transfers. Regulators, Bitcoin proponents discuss digital currency U.S. regulators and law enforcement agencies met yesterday with an advocacy group for Bitcoin, a digital currency that has been under fire for its purported role in facilitating anonymous money transfers and supporting online purchases of illegal street drugs. The meeting in Wash-
A new app lets shoppers flipping through retail flyers purchase items that catch their eye using image recognition technology. The iOS app Pounce allows shoppers to scan images they spot in print
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San Francisco water and power utilities threatened
ington was arranged by the Treasury Department’s anti-money laundering unit at the request of the Bitcoin Foundation, an advocacy group of Bitcoinrelated businesses. It was an opportunity for wide-ranging discussions about the digital currency, a Treasury official said. REUTERS
Image recognition
New app helps shoppers identify items
NEWS
A Cal Fire firefighter monitors the Rim Fire as it burns through a grove of trees near Groveland, Calif. / GETTY IMAGES
media with their device’s camera, then purchase the item online directly from the retailer running the advertisement. “We are able to match an image with an actual product available online,” said Avital Yachin, chief executive of BuyCode, Inc., the Tel Aviv, Israel-based company that developed the app. REUTERS
Destruction. The blaze has destroyed about a dozen homes and 1,000 outbuildings. One of largest fires in recent California history continued to roar inside Yosemite National Park and threatened facilities that
supply water and power to the city of San Francisco. Fire managers reported making headway in their 9-day-old battle to curtail flames roaring through dry brush and forests along the northwestern edge of Yosemite National Park, putting utilities that serve the city of San Francisco in danger. The so-called Rim Fire has charred nearly 150,000 acres or 234 square miles,
Firefighters
2,800
More than 2,800 firefighters have been assigned to the blaze.
most of that in the Stanislaus National Forest west of Yosemite. It has forced the closure of the main park entrance road used by visitors from the San Francisco Bay area.
The blaze also crept to within two miles of a reservoir, the Hetch Hetchy, which is the source of 85 percent of San Francisco’s water supply, and authorities said they were concerned about ash contamination from the fire. Hydropower facilities in the area that provide electricity to San Francisco, about 200 miles to the west, also have been threatened. REUTERS