*By Jacqueline Corba*
Blockparty, a ticket-selling start-up, wants to block the bots from nabbing all the good seats and prevent ticket fraud by using blockchain technology to sell concert tickets.
"There's enough people who've had fake tickets outside Madison Square Garden or other venues, and we're really trying to solve those problems, " the Blockparty co-founder and CEO Shiv Madan said Thursday in an interview with Cheddar's Crypto Craze.
Blockparty launched over Memorial Day weekend, selling tickets for the [Elements Music Festival] (http://ampthemag.com/the-real/blockparty-launches-publicly-after-ticketing-vip-events-at-elements-lakewood-music-festival/) in Lakewood, Pa. More than 7,000 people attended.
But concert-goers will have to wait before purchasing their next concert ticket on the company's mobile app. Madan said Blockparty won't sell tickets for events until later in the summer concert season.
Blockparty attaches a digital identity to a ticket, so when users buy or sell a ticket, their information is stored on the blockchain. The company's service is free for now, but Blockparty plans to introduce ticket fees based on the size of the event.
Currently users can buy tickets ー when they're available ー with fiat, but Blockparty plans to eventually accept cryptocurrencies too.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/how-blockparty-is-applying-blockchain-to-concert-tix).
Amid a backdrop of ongoing tariff uncertainty, more and more gamers are facing price hikes. Microsoft raised recommended retailer pricing for its Xbox consoles and controllers around the world this week. Its Xbox Series S, for example, now starts at $379.99 in the U.S. — up $80 from the $299.99 price tag that debuted in 2020. And its more powerful Xbox Series X will be $599.99 going forward, a $100 jump from its previous $499.99 listing. The tech giant didn’t mention tariffs specifically, but cited wider “market conditions and the rising cost of development.” Beyond the U.S., Microsoft also laid out Xbox price adjustments for Europe, the U.K. and Australia. The company said all other countries would also receive updates locally.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said Thursday that the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. in the current fiscal quarter will be sourced from India, while iPads and other devices will come from Vietnam as the company works to avoid the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on its business. Apple’s earnings for the first three months of the year topped Wall Street’s expectations thanks to high demand for its iPhones, and the company said tariffs had a limited effect on the fiscal second quarter’s results. Cook added that for the current quarter, assuming things don’t change, Apple expects to see $900 million added to its costs as a result of the tariffs.
Visa is hoping to hand your credit card to an artificial intelligence “agent” that can find and buy clothes, groceries, airplane tickets and other items on your behalf.
Shares of Deliveroo, the food delivery service based in London, are hitting three-year highs on Monday after it received a $3.6 billion proposed takeover offer from DoorDash.
X, the social media platform owned by Trump adviser Elon Musk, is challenging the constitutionality of a Minnesota ban on using deepfakes to influence elections and harm candidates.
The State Bar of California has disclosed that some multiple-choice questions in a problem-plagued bar exam were developed with the aid of artificial intelligence.
