I read this in the November 15, 2006 PE Week Wire (they have the URL for the site wrong) and I’m not sure that I “get” it:
Yuzoz Ltd., an UK-based developer of a random number generator using data derived from space phenomena such as solar flares, the Northern lights, and the movement of the clouds on Venus, has received $500,000 in first-round funding from DesCap.
At first I wasn’t even sure if Venus had clouds (it does, although Mercury doesn’t). I know true random number generation is important for things like cryptography but doesn’t this sound like a hoax? Their website claims that they’ll give away prizes based on the random picks of “the stars”. Given that the whois information for the site is hidden, I think this might be a hoax. If it isn’t, what the heck is the point of this technology/service/whatever?
Anyone have any ideas or thoughts that could shed light on this?