STRIVE

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Experienced professionals whose eyes glaze over with expertise may justifiably be dissatisfied, believing that containerization has been discussed many times before. They even would say, "Read the documentation." And in a sense, they would be right. However, new specialists don't know about the times when Ubuntu disks were given away for free and have no experience in compiling operating systems from scratch. So, this statement becomes utopian. Every new technology starts with enthusiasts who fully immerse themselves in its intricacies. For example, early amateur radio operators knew almost everything about radio communications. They could build a receiver with their own hands and catch signals on a homemade antenna. Early GNU/Linux users knew the operating system's inner workings. Many even knew how to patch and recompile modem drivers to set up a network connection. The current generation of users is generally not engaged with such basics, as they are starting to engage with the technology at a lower entry threshold. These processes are happening not only among end users but also among engineers. On the one hand, deep specialization is normal. On the other hand, specialists risk turning into priests who know the magic rituals but cannot fix something at a low level when it breaks. This phenomenon is also seen in the context of containerization. Recently, more DevOps engineers know how to use Docker and Podman. They can create a Dockerfile. However, they feel insecure when asked about namespaces in Linux or confused by a question about how containerization differs from deployment via RPM packages. My name is Tanya, and I am the Senior DevOps Engineer at Plerdy. Today, I would like to discuss the containerization topic from a slightly different angle and shed light on the following aspects: Basic principles on which modern containerization is based The differences between containerization and virtualization What Linux namespaces is Get your cup of coffee ready, and let's get started on this fascinating journey into the world of containerization. Abstraction Levels in Containerization Let’s start with the basics. Hardware-Level The backbone of modern infrastructure is hardware. It is often said that "there is nothing but an interface to the hardware in someone else's data center." But hardware can range from Chinese components with their peculiarities to branded servers from HP or even homemade clusters assembled on Raspberry Pi with individual controllers. Ideally, developers want their code to run everywhere with minimal changes and without worrying about what hardware is being used - SSD, HDD, or even a refurbished floppy disk just for fun. They also don't want to worry about accessing files, RAM areas, and other low-level details. Kernel Level The operating system is used to achieve this abstraction between hardware and software. It provides the necessary system calls that allow interaction with hardware resources. These system calls are often low-level, reliable, and simple. For example, "read 10 bytes, open file, read 10 bytes." In theory, you can develop applications using almost only system calls. Let's say you need to create a Windows application without using high-level libraries. You can directly write the window image to the video card buffer, display it on the screen, and respond to keystrokes. Then, through system calls, you can track mouse coordinates and locate screen clicks to properly handle events like "user pressed button_1". This is possible but not usually used for graphical applications. In this case, reusing existing code is limited and requires highly skilled developers. I mean up to and including writing direct machine code for the processor. Library Level A more common and convenient approach is to use off-the-shelf libraries that wrap system calls in higher-level abstractions and provide convenient interfaces to the computer mouse, network resources, and sound devices. One example is PulseAudio, which facilitates access to audio files and devices. User-Space Level The next level of abstraction is user space. A program running at this level has no direct knowledge of the hardware, operating system, or other low-level details. It is usually just a set of high-level instructions that rely on dependencies in the form of libraries from the previous level. The operating system creates a separate isolated process for our program. It allows the application to not worry about available resources and other technical details. The program runs inside this process under the notion that it is executed in an isolated environment where it owns all the resources. In reality, the operating system manages resources and ensures that RAM is allocated, monitors CPU time allocation, and manages task execution priorities. It can "suspend" one application to perform calculations for another, all according to quotas and priorities. This greatly facilitates development and ensures reliable system operation. How, ultimately, can a program without direct knowledge of the operating system and low-level details interact with all these components and infrastructure? This is accomplished by using dynamically pluggable libraries. These libraries are a set of standard instructions that are set aside in a separate abstraction to simplify interaction and provide programming convenience. Let's look at working in the console and understand how it functions. First, we must put the file command on the ls binary and ensure it was dynamically linked to the libraries. It will not work without them because it relies on their presence in the OS. Next, using ldd, we must determine which libraries the program uses when working. It is important that we connect not just any libraries but quite specific versions of them. In some minor releases, they may fix bugs, optimize something, and fix vulnerabilities. But major changes may add new features and break old ones. In the case of popular libraries, developers try to support all old API calls for as long as possible. Still, they must be removed if they interfere with implementing new architectural solutions. Usually, they warn about this in advance with long and persistent messages that this particular call is deprecated. As usual, often nobody does anything until the last moment if the business doesn't want to pay for it right now. No One Likes Maintenance Maintaining software is hard. Businesses are extremely reluctant to part with money to solve problems that haven't come yet. In addition, there are difficulties in the interaction between the developer and the end user who will run the application. For example, a developer sits on ancient Ubuntu and still can't update. Or, in the olden days, he dragged a library into the application's base somewhere, which was buried under several layers of code and abstractions. So, he takes an artifact of his application or source code and gives it to DevOps. The engineer rolls that application out into the environment, and everything crashes. It cusses that it can't feel legs, it can't feel arms, that library over there was not brought in, and this one is of an unknown version. The calls are wrong. DevOps engineer returns to the developer and says, “It doesn't work. You need to figure out how to run it”. But he may get a response like, "I don't know anything, I have the same leg, and it doesn't hurt; everything works; I checked". And that's where the dilemma comes in - what's the best way to reproduce the environment that the application needs to fully work? Let's assume I will take a bunch of libraries and somehow run them in a test environment. But how do I give the binary to the customer? Should I write a huge instruction on how to set up the environment with the necessary libraries, drag everything in a huge archive, and install it with a set of scripts? Or find a simpler solution? Distributions Maintenance Supporting different operating system distributions is an important task with pros and cons, depending on your situation and company resources. Here are a few important aspects. Pros of supporting multiple distributions: Accessibility to a wider audience. Supporting different distributions makes your application accessible to more users, as different organizations and individuals may prefer different distributions. End-user friendly. Users can install the application with minimal effort using package management tools such as or . yum apt-get Compatibility. Supporting different distributions helps to ensure compatibility with different operating system versions and libraries. Cons of supporting multiple distributions: Complexity and cost. Supporting multiple distributions requires additional effort and resources to test and ensure compatibility. It can be expensive and time-consuming. Development constraints. The need to support older versions of libraries and environments can limit the ability to introduce new features and optimize code. Dependency on distribution maintainers. You may need to work with distribution maintainers to ensure your application is properly integrated and supported. This may require additional effort. Some companies choose to support only a few popular distributions to simplify the development process and reduce costs. In contrast, others strive to provide broad availability and user-friendliness, even at additional cost. Containerization or Virtualization Most companies don't have the resources to support many distributions. You can limit yourself to a small number of distributions. But problems will start when the distribution becomes oldstable, and a small team will have to update all dependencies when upgrading to a new OS version. In this case, the traditional solution is to pack everything into a docker image and send it to the customer. What exactly he will run it on is not so important. Thanks to the abstraction layer, our image will contain everything we need in a portable form. If the DevOps is good, the image will be minimalistic and contain only the essentials. Suddenly, it turns out that the application needs to work with hardware tokens, hard disk controllers, and cash registers. We need full-fledged drivers and can't stuff our kernel into a container. And the OS won't let us do it. In this case, only full virtualization will help, where the host-OS hypervisor will allow us to run any kernel with the drivers we need. This is often a better solution. But now, we will consider a situation when we don't need overhead in the form of many running kernels of a full-fledged OS to run small applications. In the case of a container, we send system calls to the kernel on which all containers are running. Then, we drag the libraries together with the binary inside the docker image. This allows us to tell the process: "Don't go there for libraries, but here. They are in the container." The process knows nothing about the file system or the computer as a whole. The process gets everything from the kernel. When we say, "Give us a list of files in the directory", we send a request to the kernel. The kernel responds to this system call with a list of directory files. We send a request to the kernel, "Please give us a list of network interfaces." The kernel responds with a list of network interfaces. "Kernel, please open a TCP connection for us." The kernel returns a pointer to this connection. That is, the process is basically helpless without the kernel, even though it has brought with it all the libraries necessary for the application. Namespace The Linux kernel natively supports . This mechanism does not require any additional packages to be installed. They are provided right at the kernel level. It allows us to respond to each application's system calls differently. namespaces As this mechanism has evolved, new features have been added to virtualize certain functions. Namespace Kernel version Year Mount 2.4.19 2002 UTS 2.6.19 2006 PID 2.6.24 2008 Network 2.6.29 2009 IPC 2.6.30 2009 User 3.8 2013 Time 5.6 2020 With the advent of this technology, it is now possible, for example, to give different sets of available networks when querying the kernel from applications that run in different namespaces. The table above shows all currently available namespaces. The time namespace is a relatively recent addition, which allows different processes to see different system time or time zones. Let's look at some of them a little closer. Network namespaces provide a means of isolating network resources. They allow processes running in different namespaces to have their own network devices, routing tables, and firewall rules. If an application runs in a separate net namespace, we provide complete isolation of the network from the rest of the system, allowing communication only through dedicated interfaces. On the other hand, mount namespaces provide the application with its own representation of the file system. We can create a specific structure in a container and tell the process, "This is the root of the file system. Use this as the base." In this way, we give the application access only to specific files and directories, thus providing file system isolation within the container. The PID namespace creates isolated namespaces for processes, the User namespace allows us to have our own unique copy of user and group identifiers, and the IPC namespace provides control over inter-process communication. There is also the UTS namespace, which allows us to set our own hostname for each isolated environment. These types of namespaces provide complete isolation and control over resources and processes within the container. Conclusion The current major trend today is to strive for maximum modularity. This approach makes it possible to build customized environments from a set of libraries and ensure they work almost everywhere. This greatly accelerates the introduction of new solutions to the market, provides portability and fault tolerance, and simplifies load balancing. It also will bring other benefits associated with the transition from the "Pets" model (unique, hand-customized services and servers) to the "Cattle" model (homogeneous entities raised and destroyed by the hundreds). However, it is important to remember that Docker is a convenient shell over the standard kernel mechanisms. These mechanisms are used not only in the context of Docker but also in conjunction with many other technologies.

Containerization In 2023: Strive for Maximum Modularity via the Cattle Model

You know that feeling when you work really hard on something for really long and it feels like nobody really notices? Vote for best people and products today at Hacker Noon’s Annual Tech Industry Awards, the 2020 Noonies, are here to help with that. NOONIES.TECH. Speaking of the best people and products in technology, here’s a quick (and interesting!) intro to 2020 Noonie Nominee, , who’s been nominated in the categories. Rick Lamers from Netherlands software development 1. Which 2020 Noonie/s have you been nominated for? Contributor of the Year - PYTHON Contributor of the Year - DATA SCIENCE Contributor of the Year - MACHINE LEARNING Contributor of the Year - OPEN SOURCE 2. Tell us a bit about yourself. My name is Rick, I'm passionate about data science, machine learning, open source and computer science more broadly. After studying CS and dropping out just before graduation I started my own company with funding from Silicon Valley. I strive to make better tools for data science. 3. Tell us about the things you make / write / manage / build. I wrote about & built Grid Studio . But I'm working something much bigger (just released): . https://github.com/ricklamers/gridstudio https://www.orchest.io 4. What are you most excited about right now? Opportunities in applied machine learning. A data driven future with sophisticated automation. Making sense of an ever more complicated world. 5. What are you worried about right now? That those who are most vulnerable will suffer from the Covid-19 crisis. 6. What's the most useful advice you've ever given somebody? Just do it. 7. How has the pandemic changed your life and/or career? It provided clarity about which things really matter in life. And an increased sense of urgency; time is finite. 8. If we gave you $10 million to invest in one thing right now, where would you put it? In young researchers showing great potential who are working in areas of science that could have applications to the fundamental societal challenges. 9. What's an opinion you have that most people don't agree with? Intelligence is mostly nurture (in nature v.s. nurture debate). 10. Which apps can't you live without? Telegram, Reddit is Fun, and Google Chrome of course. 11. What are you currently learning? Kubernetes, and Bayesian statistics. For much the same reasons Hacker Noon decided not to put good ideas behind pop-ups or paywalls — nor abuse your personal data to target you with creepy ads — we also decided that you don’t have to be a #thinkfluencer or have 50k followers on Twitter to earn the recognition that comes with a 2020 Noonie Nomination. Make somebody’s day and nominate them to be recognized in the internet’s most independent and community-driven awards: . NOONIES.TECH

"I Strive To Make Better Tools For Data Science" - Rick Lamers, Data Science Nom

The global insurance industry is now regarded as one of the biggest industries worldwide, so it’s under constant competition between entrepreneurs — everyone wants to get a piece of this pie. Since it can’t resist the advent of new technologies and the recent years provided plenty of those “wow” moments, the industry is now called “insurtech” and has slowly started taking advantage of the situation. Whether you follow the novelties or not, such things as have firmly stepped onto the insurtech stage to bring it to a new level: data security, risk mitigation, motion sensors, and smart contracts are now ordinary features and not gimmicks. Big Data, AI, IoT, and blockchain All these things are now insurtech integral parts but, , I believe that blockchain stands out the most when it comes to practical use that you will notice shortly after it gets widely used. If you are still confused about this technology, I recommend that you read my other article that perfectly explains . alongside IBM what the blockchain is and how it works Smart and complex contracts that replace lawyers and have countless conditions, as well as claims processing, is what will push the industry forward. Hereby, blockchain is what can add the spice to your service and will give the edge when competing with countless rivals worldwide. Double value sounds twice as intriguing, so I invite you with me on a journey toward combining these two things and see what we get. Short-term Operational Improvements A regular insurance case pattern: Slow paperwork flow Countless people to process your contract Middleman fees Finding proper policy Legal restrictions And the list goes on… Then, if an insurance case happens, you can spend another million years waiting to receive a decision: payment approval or denial. The blockchain enables storing a full history of transactions and allows for keeping them in a live mode to ensure every intermediate aspect. But the key feature is a smart contract, an auto-processing algorithm with a variety of status checks that can automatically prevent frauds, detect errors, and assess the external data. At the same time, it can handle incoming claims, increase operational speed and transparency while the associated costs and delays greatly decrease. By immutably recording the events, claims, and payments that are free from manipulations by any party, blockchain proved itself to be a backbone of a successful partnership. It’s crucial that the smart contract is capable of detecting fraud — more than a half of the insurers consider fraud as the number one threat to their prosperity. Also, of them believe it has caused their financial losses, as well as collateral damage to their brand and reputation. With the erratic nature of premiums, it’s important to decrease their cost, and the blockchain is what could ease the financial burden associated with policies to become a win-win solution for both parties involved. at least 10% Another great feature is that it can vastly improve the verification process and remove delays associated with it. The autonomous workflow vastly reduces the expenses and staff dependance, therefore, it improves the customer experience, giving you the edge in a dense competition. You won’t need a number of checks or databases to store all the necessary information and sync it up — thanks to this technology, the companies get new possibilities to establish trust in the digital world. The insurers get access to a universal database that has all the actual info about the clients — it is instantly accessed and easily updated to further boost the operations workflow and secure fraud protection. Also, thanks to the blockchain multi-node structure, the system will keep working even if some nodes go down, unlike a regular server that is vulnerable to attacks. By using this method, the multi-node technique comes out on top in both security and cost-effectiveness departments compared to centralized storage. It also helps insurers spot risky transactions or suspicious customers, and creates a transparent, user-based cooperation model. Medium-term Product Advancements Thanks to their core principles, blockchain-built ledgers can spawn some neat solutions in other areas as well, so let’s check them out: The encryption standards are what enables its regulation with multiple conflicts of interest and guarantees confidentiality, data privacy, and establishes data ownership, creating a digital profile for every person. The recently emerged digital data holders are now used for creating precise actuarial models and market analytics that lead to crafting new policies tailored to the needs of every individual. Instead of using old-fashioned historical profiles or the market average, the contracts are now based on the personalized data and near real-time risk assessment. Thanks to smart contracts, every person becomes a keeper of his/her own data and, for the first time in the digital age, will be able to choose what information should be revealed. Also, with the rise of IoT, the volume of such information could be seriously increased and offer more opportunities to assess the customers better, decreasing the cost of premiums even more. Photo by Hitesh Choudhary on Unsplash Peer-to-peer Insurance The easily accessible and low-cost services create an incentive for family members, friends, or individuals with similar interests to cooperate and create an “insurance pool,” where each member contributes to the loss incurred by the others. The pool fuses individuals with different risk groups, so the premium is calculated individually and is reduced for the lower-risk pool members. This leads to paying less for premiums in case of fewer claims for the same type of coverage for every pool member.  Every participant gets to know the other members, the author of the claim, and how much money there is in the pool in a live mode. The main feature is that all the remaining money is refunded to the members by the end of the insurance period. On top of that, the whole payment and claim system operates as a stand-alone program, eliminating the need for mediators — another factor that cuts expenses. is an Italian P2P insurance platform that has already jumped on the bandwagon and allows their users to create a group with others to share the risk. A person becomes a member by buying a policy from Axieme and can create a new group or enter an already existing one. As a group member, you need to make two types of payments: one to Axieme and the other to a shared account, with both sources contributing to a final payment in the event of an approved claim. Axieme is a Norwegian life/health insurance startup that allows its members to form groups consisting of friends and family members. Each insurance claim leads to a 20% next-year discount and is valid to the point when all the members pay the same price they would be paying without the pool membership. Each new member gives a 5% discount to other members, and because the group size is limited to 10 people, all ten individuals earn a 50% savings. Tribe Reinsurance Insurance allows people to feel more secure if something unexpected happens. Moreover, insurers also want to be looked after. And in case of a major disaster, the amount of payment can be excessive to cope with, so some insurers want to mitigate the risk and be insured themselves. To do so, they pass a piece of a portfolio to other parties by a predefined agreement. The party that purchases the reinsurance shares the same responsibilities, which allows the initial company to create a balanced economy model, secure financial stability, and broaden the spectrum of a client base that was previously unavailable for a sole company. In other words, that’s just 2 or more levels of payments to distribute the risks, much like getting a loan to cover another loan but, instead, lending. The current reinsurance process is fairly inefficient and complex — it takes a lot of time to settle the contract between the parties and, due to the standards mismatch, leads to a different understanding of how the contract should be treated. Meanwhile, blockchain data principles allow both parties to settle all disputes in a real-time mode and automate the information stream, so the insurers have clear visibility of their contracts and risk exposures. Also, within the industry, the benefits include automatic calculations based on the purchased share and information updates about the status of claims. is the blockchain insurance initiative that includes large international companies and aims to explore the potential of a distributed ledger and benefits to all participating stakeholders. The company’s motto is to create a system of products and services developed “by the market and for the market.” B3i On-demand Insurance I just couldn’t pass over the sharing economy, an area that has spawned new, adjustable products. The mobile wave stepped into our lives and the insurance was no different — now every smartphone is capable of purchasing on-demand insurance whenever individuals want. Although this product is a welcome step to meeting the new market needs, it also brings security concerns down the line that need to be promptly addressed. After all, not only does it transform the interaction of the parties involved but also changes the way we protect it. Blockchain not only meets these challenges but is also great against fraudulent activities when a user turns the policy on and off to abuse it in the event of an incoming claim — this possibility is simply prevented. Blockchain has already become a prime option for those who want to move their insurance services to the mobile realm, which has lead companies like and to take advantage of these on-demand solutions. is a London-based company that provides short-term rental insurance. It enables its users to fill the ever-present gap in residential agreements when private property is used for commercial purposes, providing timestamped records of insured assets upon request. GetSafe YRisk Safe-Share Global Adoption Concerns For a few moments you may think, wait a minute — there’s a ton of advantages, why not use the blockchain right now to become one of the first on the market? As a matter of fact, it has almost no drawbacks, but the administrative edge is what can keep it restrained. First, you can’t build a public blockchain net that is accessible to everyone for your business — right now, the only way is a private version that will feature invited members only. It will incorporate your partners, customers, and other insurers into the industry and is now the most preferred option by insurers. Second, the regulatory aspect is painful for blockchain as a whole. For example, the area of the public ledger (the most popular nowadays) falls under the jurisdiction of open-source communities, while the future of private blockchain is still vague and depends on the governance of each country. Actually, today view it as the number one barrier to technology adoption. 48% of companies Funnily enough, the lack of trust is another major factor on the list, which is ironic given how good the blockchain is in terms of security. According to the published on 24 May 2017, blockchain tops the list of less understood technologies with 80% of people unable to explain how it works, even if they’ve heard that such technology exists. Furthermore, users still need to build confidence in the emerging technology as it’s relatively new and unknown to many of them. survey When talking about business owners, the task becomes twice as hard as they should also grasp the business advantages it brings upon itself, not to mention the core technological aspects. Making crucial decisions is a risky affair in itself, and introducing blockchain can only make it spicier, so you gotta “risk it for the biscuit.” The technical limitations are also in place, some of which are: — until now, most of the projects were small-scale, and it’s unclear how blockchain will perform under thousands of active members generating millions of transactions; however, proved these concerns to be in vain; Scalability Thai elections — the process of approving new blocks can also slow down and increase the price that may impede the expected financial advantages; Speed — most of the launched prototypes use a variety of different protocols and development tools that need to be synced; if not, it may create flaws in the final build; Standardization — new stuff — less secured product, as simple as that. Even if it’s made to boost the protection level, it may not prevent security problems if made by developers with no deep expertise. Security What to Expect and How to Prepare Maybe life isn’t like a box of chocolates, but you never know which technology will come into full effect, becoming a new “big thing” for all of us. Now, it’s a near perfect time to take advantage of blockchain or, at least, to view it as a backup plan; it simply gives more than it takes — at least for now. Considering all the pros and cons of this technology, blockchain is here to stay and gain its footing. Will it be the insurance sector? Well, it depends. Knowing your goals and capacities is the recipe to take the best of blockchain, which is a fine option to further improve your service in virtually any of the insurtech qualities: production speed, security, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. Whether you want to press the gas pedal and take the W in a disruption race or simply refine the workflow — be sure that the improvements it brings are worthy, especially for smaller companies. As a result, it won’t engrave your name on the inventors’ board but will certainly boost the product quality for your customers and give the edge in an ever-growing competition. This article is prepared with a help of . X1 Group

Blockchain in InsurTech: How Businesses Strive for Industry Disruption

Image courtesy of Pixabay Walmart needed to improve its business. That’s not normally said about an international mega-corporation that made $482 billion in revenue last fiscal year, but Walmart has set its sights on becoming the world’s largest online retailer. Walmart.com currently offers more than 23 million items for sale, and is rapidly expanding; earlier this year the company announced it’s inviting retail partners and smaller vendors to sell on the site. The company already sees close to 20,000 hits per second on its website and mobile app during the holiday season, so it needs to build a fast, reliable, usable and bulletproof ecommerce system to reach its goals of becoming a leader in the online retail space. That’s why it’s rebuilding Walmart.com with Node.js. The core strengths that make Node.js a good fit for Walmart and other ecommerce sites include: Walmart’s system takes advantage of the asynchronous I/O that Node.js famous for and makes use of its single-threaded event loop model to efficiently handle multiple concurrent request to update it site. Keep Content Consistently Fresh with Node.js: Node.js helps Walmart.com keep its content in front of Google and other search indexing robots with the help or React.js Node.js Keeps Walmart Top of Mind: Node.js creates universal JavaScript, allowing Walmart to take full advantage of its talented JavaScript developers in all areas of its business. Using Available Talent as Full-Stack Developers: If you are interested in more details around Walmart.com’s transition to Node.js, check out the full case study h . ere

Walmart Strives to be an Online Retail Leader with Node.js

In the version of this post, Cate and I discussed many topics including my recent trip to Greece, Australian and British politics and our recent writings and outings. However, for this accompanying Weekly Squeak blog post, I want to discuss one topic in particular and get your feelings and thoughts. Podcast Frequently when a tech event in a smaller country wants to broaden it’s reach and grow, they look to attract international speakers. This generally means switching the main language of the event to English, as it’s often the lowest common denominator language that everyone can understand enough of. I have had recent experience of attending events where the organisers have been enthusiastic and excited about attracting more international speakers and attendees. They try to get attendees motivated and excited too, but often are greeted by a silent room. Why is this? It could be a cultural thing, not every culture is confident and communicative, some are more quiet and introspective than others. But I winder if it’s actually more of a confidence issue, or to be more precise, a confidence over language. When an organiser boldly asks for questions, lightening talk volunteers, or other interactive request, often the room falls silent. I wonder if this is due to many in the room not feeling confident enough in their language skills to feel that they can adequately say what they would like to say or add to a discussion. Maybe I am wrong, maybe I have attended events that haven’t promoted anyone to say anything. But this does lead me to ask a further question. Do events need to broaden their delivery language (or indeed, limit it to 1) to appeal to a larger audience or are there other ways? I have been to events where 1, 2, or more languages were welcome, and that way attendees can then choose which sessions they feel more comfortable attending. or at a larger event, maybe events could hire translators (or volunteer) to allow speakers to deliver in a language they are comfortable in, and allow attendees to also participate in a language they are comfortable with. Maybe within a few years, technology will translate languages almost instantly like the Babel fish in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and these questions will be a thing of the past. Or maybe I’m being overly sensitive, and really, most people are fine with events held in English anyway. I’d love to hear your experiences and thoughts.

Should Conferences Strive to be International?

How I Created a Social Recommendation Network in Brazil

Has AI already learned to think? Will it learn soon? Or is the destiny of even the most advanced programs to remain mere imitators of human intelligence? Let's explore why finding answers to these questions is important. The Turing Test Is Just a Game Let's start with the most famous and widely accepted method for determining whether a machine is intelligent: the Turing Test. Many experts believe that modern AI, especially those based on large language models, passes this test quite effectively. To recap, the essence of the test involves a judge interacting with both humans and programs. The judge's task is to determine which of the interlocutors is human and which is a machine. The AI must therefore mimic human behavior so convincingly that the judge makes a mistake. There are various ways to conduct the test, but the core idea remains the same: if we cannot distinguish between the AI's responses and those of a human, then the machine is considered intelligent. However, amidst all the hype surrounding this test, many people overlook an important point. Alan Turing based his test on the Imitation Game, a popular party game from his time. In this game, two people, say a man and a woman, would hide in separate rooms and respond to questions from the attendees via a manager or typewritten notes. The woman would try to convince the attendees that she was a man, while the man would attempt to convince them that he was a woman. Are you getting the message we're conveying? Yes, everything is correct. The Turing Test is essentially a game in which a machine, following specific rules, tries to outplay a human. However, to win this game, the program doesn't need to be smart; it merely needs to play well. The essence of the "Imitation Game" is imitation. The AI doesn't need to be genuinely intelligent to win; it only needs to mimic intelligence. This means that the only thing that can be confidently proven by the Turing Test is that the AI has learned to pass the Turing Test by imitating a human, nothing more. It is worth noting that it is quite popular to think that even the most advanced AI is nothing more than a "Chinese Room." The essence of this interesting thought experiment boils down to a person who does not know Chinese following instructions to match characters in response to those given by someone who does know Chinese. Thanks to these detailed instructions, it is possible to create the appearance of a meaningful conversation without actually understanding the meanings of the characters. Imitation Is Not a Problem Modern AI agents, according to most experts, lack self-awareness or true intelligence, functioning instead as advanced imitators, mimics, and compilers. But does this hinder them from easily and convincingly carrying on conversations in various styles and on diverse topics? Not at all. They are capable of passing academic and professional examinations, writing poetry and articles, creating graphics and paintings, and even hosting broadcasts and presentations—like Pitch Avatar, which our team is part of. Day by day, we are edging closer to a universal AI capable of handling most of today's professions. And all this, we repeat, without any clear evidence of true intelligence. And in this, surprisingly, there is nothing fundamentally differentiating artificial intelligence from humans. Isn't a large part of our behavior imitation? We follow social norms and imitate parents, teachers, and other authorities. Moreover, we often do this without considering the meaning of our actions. We simply try to copy a model, memorize the rules, or choose behaviors that elicit the desired reactions. A typical example is the average driver who, while learning to drive, does not strive to deeply understand the meaning and evolution of all the traffic rules. And this, we should note, is not always bad. It is impossible to thoroughly understand all aspects, details, and nuances of our complex lives. To save time and effort, a lot has to be taken for granted. So what if AI has mastered this art perfectly, brilliantly manipulating data and imitating humans? Even if it doesn't truly understand or realize what it is doing, the main thing is that it effectively handles the tasks we set for it. This, in turn, frees up our time for creative endeavors and interesting pastimes. Safety and Ethics When it comes to practical applications, it doesn't matter whether AI possesses self-awareness and intelligence or is merely a consummate imitator and compiler. The crux of the matter lies in safety and ethics. From a safety perspective, there is a risk that an intelligent and self-aware AI could get out of control and start acting autonomously, potentially endangering humans. From an ethical standpoint, exploiting intelligent and self-aware AI imposes serious limitations on us, especially if it is proven that AI can experience the equivalent of suffering like biological beings. For these reasons, we must work diligently to develop criteria that can clearly, distinctly, and unambiguously determine whether a machine is self-aware and intelligent. What is intelligence? Despite the significance of the aforementioned reasons, we believe the primary reason is something else. By determining the criteria that make AI intelligent, we can finally get closer to answering one of the main philosophical questions: "What is intelligence?" Not human intelligence, not machine intelligence, but intelligence in general. We call our species Homo sapiens—Man of Reason—but in reality, we have no clear idea of what reason truly is. The only aspect we have a limited understanding of is self-consciousness. Yet, as it turns out, not only humans but also many animals are capable of recognizing their own "I." So, on what basis do we consider ourselves intelligent and deny it to others? Do whales, dolphins, and great apes possess intelligence or not? We won't delve into the complexities of biology, philosophy, and metaphysics. We simply remind you that we lack an unambiguous definition of rationality and clear boundaries between reason and non-reason. Perhaps the main point of humanity's work on artificial intelligence is precisely to make significant strides in the right direction, if not to finally understand this problem. The article was created in collaboration with Andriy Tkachenko Has AI already learned to think? Will it learn soon? Or is the destiny of even the most advanced programs to remain mere imitators of human intelligence? Let's explore why finding answers to these questions is important. The Turing Test Is Just a Game Let's start with the most famous and widely accepted method for determining whether a machine is intelligent: the Turing Test. Many experts believe that modern AI, especially those based on large language models, passes this test quite effectively. To recap, the essence of the test involves a judge interacting with both humans and programs. The judge's task is to determine which of the interlocutors is human and which is a machine. The AI must therefore mimic human behavior so convincingly that the judge makes a mistake. There are various ways to conduct the test, but the core idea remains the same: if we cannot distinguish between the AI's responses and those of a human, then the machine is considered intelligent. However, amidst all the hype surrounding this test, many people overlook an important point. Alan Turing based his test on the Imitation Game, a popular party game from his time. In this game, two people, say a man and a woman, would hide in separate rooms and respond to questions from the attendees via a manager or typewritten notes. The woman would try to convince the attendees that she was a man, while the man would attempt to convince them that he was a woman. Are you getting the message we're conveying? Yes, everything is correct. The Turing Test is essentially a game in which a machine, following specific rules, tries to outplay a human. However, to win this game, the program doesn't need to be smart; it merely needs to play well. The essence of the "Imitation Game" is imitation. The AI doesn't need to be genuinely intelligent to win; it only needs to mimic intelligence. This means that the only thing that can be confidently proven by the Turing Test is that the AI has learned to pass the Turing Test by imitating a human, nothing more. It is worth noting that it is quite popular to think that even the most advanced AI is nothing more than a "Chinese Room." The essence of this interesting thought experiment boils down to a person who does not know Chinese following instructions to match characters in response to those given by someone who does know Chinese. Thanks to these detailed instructions, it is possible to create the appearance of a meaningful conversation without actually understanding the meanings of the characters. Imitation Is Not a Problem Modern AI agents, according to most experts, lack self-awareness or true intelligence, functioning instead as advanced imitators, mimics, and compilers. But does this hinder them from easily and convincingly carrying on conversations in various styles and on diverse topics? Not at all. They are capable of passing academic and professional examinations, writing poetry and articles, creating graphics and paintings, and even hosting broadcasts and presentations—like Pitch Avatar, which our team is part of. Day by day, we are edging closer to a universal AI capable of handling most of today's professions. And all this, we repeat, without any clear evidence of true intelligence. And in this, surprisingly, there is nothing fundamentally differentiating artificial intelligence from humans. Isn't a large part of our behavior imitation? We follow social norms and imitate parents, teachers, and other authorities. Moreover, we often do this without considering the meaning of our actions. We simply try to copy a model, memorize the rules, or choose behaviors that elicit the desired reactions. A typical example is the average driver who, while learning to drive, does not strive to deeply understand the meaning and evolution of all the traffic rules. And this, we should note, is not always bad. It is impossible to thoroughly understand all aspects, details, and nuances of our complex lives. To save time and effort, a lot has to be taken for granted. So what if AI has mastered this art perfectly, brilliantly manipulating data and imitating humans? Even if it doesn't truly understand or realize what it is doing, the main thing is that it effectively handles the tasks we set for it. This, in turn, frees up our time for creative endeavors and interesting pastimes. Safety and Ethics When it comes to practical applications, it doesn't matter whether AI possesses self-awareness and intelligence or is merely a consummate imitator and compiler. The crux of the matter lies in safety and ethics. From a safety perspective, there is a risk that an intelligent and self-aware AI could get out of control and start acting autonomously, potentially endangering humans. From an ethical standpoint, exploiting intelligent and self-aware AI imposes serious limitations on us, especially if it is proven that AI can experience the equivalent of suffering like biological beings. For these reasons, we must work diligently to develop criteria that can clearly, distinctly, and unambiguously determine whether a machine is self-aware and intelligent. What is intelligence? Despite the significance of the aforementioned reasons, we believe the primary reason is something else. By determining the criteria that make AI intelligent, we can finally get closer to answering one of the main philosophical questions: "What is intelligence?" Not human intelligence, not machine intelligence, but intelligence in general. We call our species Homo sapiens—Man of Reason—but in reality, we have no clear idea of what reason truly is. The only aspect we have a limited understanding of is self-consciousness. Yet, as it turns out, not only humans but also many animals are capable of recognizing their own "I." So, on what basis do we consider ourselves intelligent and deny it to others? Do whales, dolphins, and great apes possess intelligence or not? We won't delve into the complexities of biology, philosophy, and metaphysics. We simply remind you that we lack an unambiguous definition of rationality and clear boundaries between reason and non-reason. Perhaps the main point of humanity's work on artificial intelligence is precisely to make significant strides in the right direction, if not to finally understand this problem. The article was created in collaboration with Andriy Tkachenko The article was created in collaboration with Andriy Tkachenko

AI: Intelligence or Imitation of Intelligence?

As a Pacific Islander who recently reached the top of the HackerNoon Web3 writers leaderboard, I feel a deep sense of humility and pride in this achievement. It serves as a testament to the power of continuous learning and the importance of diversifying one's personal investment portfolio. While many focus on spreading their financial assets across stocks, equities, and digital investments such as cryptocurrency, I’ve adopted a different approach. My primary investment lies in Bitcoin, which I firmly believe represents the future of digital capital. However, I have chosen to diversify my portfolio through ongoing education and the development of a diverse skill set. Instead of spreading my financial resources too thin, I have decided to invest heavily in myself. I consider myself a "Renaissance Sovereign Professional," an expert who embodies the concept of being "Retired, Extremely Dexterous" across multiple disciplines. My journey has taken me through various roles, including being a DevExpert at Chainlink, where I leverage my strong background in software development to build secure and reliable Web3 applications. My success as a Web3 Bounty Writer at HackerNoon reflects my commitment to honing my technical writing skills and contributing valuable insights to the Web3 community. Additionally, my experience in the telecommunications industry allow me to serve as a SatComs Consultant at Dialectica, advising clients on satellite communication market for fixed and mobile internet access. My passion for cartography and geospatial analysis has led me to work as a GIS Specialist for OCA Global, where I create impactful data visualizations and spatial analytics. Currently, I am also expanding my expertise as a Smart Contract Security Researcher with Cyfrin Updraft, focusing on advanced techniques for auditing and improving smart contract code. This continuous expansion of knowledge and expertise across diverse domains has allowed me to create a unique personal investment portfolio that is not tied to the volatile fluctuations of financial markets. Instead, it is rooted in the steady growth of my capabilities and the value I can provide across various industries. The key to this approach lies in an unwavering commitment to lifelong learning. I constantly seek out new skills, technologies, and perspectives to enrich my repertoire, ensuring that I can adapt and thrive in an ever-changing digital landscape. Whether I am mastering the latest developments in blockchain technology, staying ahead in geospatial analysis, or honing my writing and communication skills, I view every learning opportunity as a vital part of my personal investment strategy. This diversified portfolio of knowledge serves as a solid foundation for my continued success and impact. My experience as a top Web3 writer on HackerNoon exemplifies the power of this approach. For those looking to build a rewarding and future-proof career in the Web3 space or any rapidly evolving industry, I offer a few pieces of advice. First, identify your passions and skills; reflect on the areas where you excel and where your interests lie, as these will form the core pillars of your personal investment portfolio. Embrace continuous learning by committing to ongoing education through formal courses, self-guided study, or hands-on experimentation. Strive to become a versatile, "Renaissance" professional by blending technical skills with broader expertise, creating a unique combination of competencies. Seek out opportunities to contribute to platforms like HackerNoon, which allow you to share your knowledge and insights with a wider community. This not only fosters your growth but also positions you as a thought leader. Finally, remain adaptable and resilient; the digital landscape is constantly shifting, so embrace change, welcome new challenges, and maintain a growth mindset to future-proof your career. By following this path of continuous learning and diversified expertise, you too can become a Renaissance Sovereign Professional—one who is not only highly valuable to the industry but also financially and professionally resilient in the face of uncertainty. Image: https://github.com/EdwinLiavaa/liavaa.space/blob/main/blog/20241109/pic.png As a Pacific Islander who recently reached the top of the HackerNoon Web3 writers leaderboard, I feel a deep sense of humility and pride in this achievement. It serves as a testament to the power of continuous learning and the importance of diversifying one's personal investment portfolio. While many focus on spreading their financial assets across stocks, equities, and digital investments such as cryptocurrency, I’ve adopted a different approach. My primary investment lies in Bitcoin, which I firmly believe represents the future of digital capital. However, I have chosen to diversify my portfolio through ongoing education and the development of a diverse skill set. Instead of spreading my financial resources too thin, I have decided to invest heavily in myself. I consider myself a "Renaissance Sovereign Professional," an expert who embodies the concept of being "Retired, Extremely Dexterous" across multiple disciplines. My journey has taken me through various roles, including being a DevExpert at Chainlink, where I leverage my strong background in software development to build secure and reliable Web3 applications. My success as a Web3 Bounty Writer at HackerNoon reflects my commitment to honing my technical writing skills and contributing valuable insights to the Web3 community. Additionally, my experience in the telecommunications industry allow me to serve as a SatComs Consultant at Dialectica, advising clients on satellite communication market for fixed and mobile internet access. My passion for cartography and geospatial analysis has led me to work as a GIS Specialist for OCA Global, where I create impactful data visualizations and spatial analytics. Currently, I am also expanding my expertise as a Smart Contract Security Researcher with Cyfrin Updraft, focusing on advanced techniques for auditing and improving smart contract code. This continuous expansion of knowledge and expertise across diverse domains has allowed me to create a unique personal investment portfolio that is not tied to the volatile fluctuations of financial markets. Instead, it is rooted in the steady growth of my capabilities and the value I can provide across various industries. The key to this approach lies in an unwavering commitment to lifelong learning. I constantly seek out new skills, technologies, and perspectives to enrich my repertoire, ensuring that I can adapt and thrive in an ever-changing digital landscape. Whether I am mastering the latest developments in blockchain technology, staying ahead in geospatial analysis, or honing my writing and communication skills, I view every learning opportunity as a vital part of my personal investment strategy. This diversified portfolio of knowledge serves as a solid foundation for my continued success and impact. My experience as a top Web3 writer on HackerNoon exemplifies the power of this approach. For those looking to build a rewarding and future-proof career in the Web3 space or any rapidly evolving industry, I offer a few pieces of advice. First, identify your passions and skills; reflect on the areas where you excel and where your interests lie, as these will form the core pillars of your personal investment portfolio. Embrace continuous learning by committing to ongoing education through formal courses, self-guided study, or hands-on experimentation. Strive to become a versatile, "Renaissance" professional by blending technical skills with broader expertise, creating a unique combination of competencies. Seek out opportunities to contribute to platforms like HackerNoon, which allow you to share your knowledge and insights with a wider community. This not only fosters your growth but also positions you as a thought leader. Finally, remain adaptable and resilient; the digital landscape is constantly shifting, so embrace change, welcome new challenges, and maintain a growth mindset to future-proof your career. By following this path of continuous learning and diversified expertise, you too can become a Renaissance Sovereign Professional—one who is not only highly valuable to the industry but also financially and professionally resilient in the face of uncertainty. Image: https://github.com/EdwinLiavaa/liavaa.space/blob/main/blog/20241109/pic.png Image: https://github.com/EdwinLiavaa/liavaa.space/blob/main/blog/20241109/pic.png

My Journey as a Web3 Bounty Writer on HackerNoon - PART 2

While blockchains excel at computation and temporary data handling, they've historically struggled with managing large-scale data storage – a capability that traditional web servers have enjoyed for decades. Enter Bernie Blume and Xandeum, who are working to bridge this critical gap with an innovative solution that could catalyze what Blume calls blockchain's "Cambrian Explosion." In this exclusive interview, we explore how Xandeum's groundbreaking storage layer could revolutionize everything from DeFi to healthcare, potentially unleashing a new era of blockchain innovation. Ishan Pandey: Hi Bernie Blume, welcome to our 'Behind the Startup' series. Please tell us about yourself and the motivation behind building Xandeum? Bernie Blume: Hey, Ishan. I’ve been working on distributed systems and low-level, “close to the hardware” programming for decades, and through that background, I became a blockchain enthusiast in 2013. Over the years, I saw some parallels to Artificial Intelligence technology. AI had its first hype in the 80s, but couldn’t keep up with expectations, so many great minds left the field. It wasn’t until the 2000s, with the advent of Artificial Neural Networks, that AI finally experienced its Cambrian Explosion. I think someone needs to spark that Cambrian Explosion for blockchain as well, because, sadly, it hasn’t happened yet. And I didn’t see anyone working on it. So I started Xandeum. Ishan Pandey: Can you explain the core mission behind Xandeum and how it differs from other decentralized storage solutions on the market? Bernie Blume: The mission is to unleash the full potential of Web3. As of now, Web3 is stuck in a rut. Can you name a single successful web2 app that has been ported to web3 and is successful there? Everything has to be made “blockchain compatible” in web3, which, in essence, means removing the storage capabilities that every web2 server has had for ages. Today’s blockchains have their CPU (the EVM/SVM, etc.) as well as their RAM, which are the accounts. The Ethereum accounts or Solana accounts can only store limited amounts of data but are very close to the CPU and thus very fast. Centralized computers also have disks and file systems that make them versatile to serve all of today’s apps. The blockchain doesn’t have that disk equivalent today. That’s the missing link to get that blockchain Cambrian Explosion started. Ishan Pandey: In your view, how crucial are data ownership and privacy in the realm of data storage, especially in today's decentralized landscape? How does Xandeum ensure that users maintain full control over their data while protecting their privacy? Bernie Blume: Data ownership and privacy are absolutely crucial. Decentralization is key, and if you really get to the bottom of things, it’s the only reason blockchain technology exists. Decentralization is a huge step in the evolution of humanity. There have been trends, both on the micro and macro level, for eons, that humans strive to be more and more independent, and in control of their own destiny. That, in the grand scheme of things, is what blockchain, and specifically Web3, is all about. We must bring self-determination, self-custody, decentralization of control, and ownership, to the world of data as well, not just to coding. That’s what’s driving and keeping me up at night - building that storage layer for smart contracts, so that the story can go on. For Xandeum, it’s a huge distributed file system that lives on a set of pNodes, our (storage) provider nodes. These pNodes can be considered part of the smart contract chain, in our case Solana, since they are orchestrated and cryptographically supervised by our modified validator and RPC software. Data is paged into equal-sized pages, a concept borrowed from Unix memory management. The status of the pNodes is kept in the PNDB (pNode database) inside Solana accounts. The pages are encrypted and randomized so that no pNode operator has a chance to look into the data they are storing. The key to data ownership is in the Xandeum-enabled apps, which we call sedApps for storage-enabled dApps. These can request an app-specific level of redundancy, as well as control key management for the encryption. Only the user has the private key, just as with regular wallet accounts, and these are being used to optimally encrypt sensitive data. Ishan Pandey: What are the biggest challenges Xandeum has faced in developing its platform, and how have you addressed issues related to scalability and performance? Bernie Blume: The biggest challenge by far has been coming up with an architecture that can run  100% on the Solana chain. We started out with our architecture being our own L1, based on the Solana code base. We quickly figured out that being 100% Solana integrated would have tremendous advantages for us. We could then harness Solana’s momentum and developer base. However, it is not easy to design a solution that can utilize our storage layer on a mixed cluster of both vanilla Solana validators as well as Xandeum-aware validators. This was a big step for us. As for scalability and performance, as mentioned before, we address these by offloading the actual storage of data from validators to a separate but cryptographically connected network of storage provider nodes, dubbed pNodes. Ishan Pandey: As Web3 continues to grow, how do you see Xandeum playing a role in the broader adoption of decentralized technologies? What industries do you believe will benefit most from your solution? Bernie Blume: That is hard to say given the nature of our innovation, a scalable storage layer. When creating Ethereum, the first programmable blockchain, Vitalik Buterin was only speculating about possible use cases. We have a similar situation here, where suddenly smart contract blockchains become capable of storing vast amounts of data. I expect DeFi to profit from it, being able to store documents (like scanned credit reports) right in the smart contract. Insurance and medical applications need a lot of storage. But just porting all the variety of web2 apps, most of which use petabytes to store their customer data, will become possible. It will be that Cambrian Explosion that’s our north star. I can’t wait to see that happen; it’s going to be wonderful. Ishan Pandey: What is your vision for the future of decentralized data storage? How do you see Xandeum evolving in the next 3-5 years, both in terms of technology and market presence? Bernie Blume: The vision is that smart contracts can finally be like normal servers: Execute code (CPU), access “accounts” (RAM), and access storage (disk). Right now the whole company is focused on building the product, and once that important milestone is completed, the whole company will shift its focus in 2026. In 2025 we will focus on building and in 2026 we will focus on adoption. There will be Xandeum hackathons, grants, etc. to help spread the word among devs, i.e. among web3 entrepreneurs, that Xandeum will make their life so much easier, and make them aware they can build so much more versatile dapps, which we call sedApps – storage-enabled dApps. Looking into the next 3-5 years, I expect to see one of the fastest adoptions among devs that I have ever seen. Scalable, smart contract native storage is the missing link that will spark the Cambrian explosion in blockchain that AI saw with ANNs. That means we have all these sedApps, each paying Xandeum storage fees in addition to the regular Solana transaction fees. Ishan Pandey: What advice would you give to developers and startups looking to build decentralized applications or services in the current Web3 ecosystem? Bernie Blume: First imagine blockchain didn’t have today’s limitations; imagine you had all the power of traditional IT (including storage) at your disposal when designing your dApp. Then break it down to what can be done with today’s blockchain - you’ll find it’s quite a limited version of what you imagined in step 1. Then build your dApp on today’s blockchains but keep the timely advent of a scalable storage layer in mind. That way, you will put yourself in a pole position as soon as the race for building sedApps starts. Don’t forget to like and share the story! Vested Interest Disclosure: This author is an independent contributor publishing via our business blogging program. HackerNoon has reviewed the report for quality, but the claims herein belong to the author. #DYOR While blockchains excel at computation and temporary data handling, they've historically struggled with managing large-scale data storage – a capability that traditional web servers have enjoyed for decades. Enter Bernie Blume and Xandeum, who are working to bridge this critical gap with an innovative solution that could catalyze what Blume calls blockchain's "Cambrian Explosion." In this exclusive interview, we explore how Xandeum's groundbreaking storage layer could revolutionize everything from DeFi to healthcare, potentially unleashing a new era of blockchain innovation. Ishan Pandey: Hi Bernie Blume, welcome to our 'Behind the Startup' series. Please tell us about yourself and the motivation behind building Xandeum? Ishan Pandey: Hi Bernie Blume, welcome to our 'Behind the Startup' series. Please tell us about yourself and the motivation behind building Xandeum? Ishan Pandey: Hi Bernie Blume, welcome to our 'Behind the Startup' series. Please tell us about yourself and the motivation behind building Xandeum? Bernie Blume: Hey, Ishan. I’ve been working on distributed systems and low-level, “close to the hardware” programming for decades, and through that background, I became a blockchain enthusiast in 2013. Over the years, I saw some parallels to Artificial Intelligence technology. Bernie Blume: AI had its first hype in the 80s, but couldn’t keep up with expectations, so many great minds left the field. It wasn’t until the 2000s, with the advent of Artificial Neural Networks, that AI finally experienced its Cambrian Explosion. I think someone needs to spark that Cambrian Explosion for blockchain as well, because, sadly, it hasn’t happened yet. And I didn’t see anyone working on it. So I started Xandeum. Ishan Pandey: Can you explain the core mission behind Xandeum and how it differs from other decentralized storage solutions on the market? Ishan Pandey: Can you explain the core mission behind Xandeum and how it differs from other decentralized storage solutions on the market? Ishan Pandey: Can you explain the core mission behind Xandeum and how it differs from other decentralized storage solutions on the market? Bernie Blume: The mission is to unleash the full potential of Web3. As of now, Web3 is stuck in a rut. Can you name a single successful web2 app that has been ported to web3 and is successful there? Everything has to be made “blockchain compatible” in web3, which, in essence, means removing the storage capabilities that every web2 server has had for ages. Bernie Blume: Today’s blockchains have their CPU (the EVM/SVM, etc.) as well as their RAM, which are the accounts. The Ethereum accounts or Solana accounts can only store limited amounts of data but are very close to the CPU and thus very fast. Centralized computers also have disks and file systems that make them versatile to serve all of today’s apps. The blockchain doesn’t have that disk equivalent today. That’s the missing link to get that blockchain Cambrian Explosion started. Ishan Pandey: In your view, how crucial are data ownership and privacy in the realm of data storage, especially in today's decentralized landscape? How does Xandeum ensure that users maintain full control over their data while protecting their privacy? Ishan Pandey: In your view, how crucial are data ownership and privacy in the realm of data storage, especially in today's decentralized landscape? How does Xandeum ensure that users maintain full control over their data while protecting their privacy? Ishan Pandey: In your view, how crucial are data ownership and privacy in the realm of data storage, especially in today's decentralized landscape? How does Xandeum ensure that users maintain full control over their data while protecting their privacy? Bernie Blume: Data ownership and privacy are absolutely crucial. Decentralization is key, and if you really get to the bottom of things, it’s the only reason blockchain technology exists. Decentralization is a huge step in the evolution of humanity. There have been trends, both on the micro and macro level, for eons, that humans strive to be more and more independent, and in control of their own destiny. That, in the grand scheme of things, is what blockchain, and specifically Web3, is all about. We must bring self-determination, self-custody, decentralization of control, and ownership, to the world of data as well, not just to coding. Bernie Blume: only data That’s what’s driving and keeping me up at night - building that storage layer for smart contracts, so that the story can go on. For Xandeum, it’s a huge distributed file system that lives on a set of pNodes, our (storage) provider nodes. These pNodes can be considered part of the smart contract chain, in our case Solana, since they are orchestrated and cryptographically supervised by our modified validator and RPC software. Data is paged into equal-sized pages, a concept borrowed from Unix memory management. The status of the pNodes is kept in the PNDB (pNode database) inside Solana accounts. The pages are encrypted and randomized so that no pNode operator has a chance to look into the data they are storing. The key to data ownership is in the Xandeum-enabled apps, which we call sedApps for storage-enabled dApps. These can request an app-specific level of redundancy, as well as control key management for the encryption. Only the user has the private key, just as with regular wallet accounts, and these are being used to optimally encrypt sensitive data. Ishan Pandey: What are the biggest challenges Xandeum has faced in developing its platform, and how have you addressed issues related to scalability and performance? Ishan Pandey: What are the biggest challenges Xandeum has faced in developing its platform, and how have you addressed issues related to scalability and performance? Ishan Pandey: What are the biggest challenges Xandeum has faced in developing its platform, and how have you addressed issues related to scalability and performance? Bernie Blume: The biggest challenge by far has been coming up with an architecture that can run  100% on the Solana chain. We started out with our architecture being our own L1, based on the Solana code base. We quickly figured out that being 100% Solana integrated would have tremendous advantages for us. We could then harness Solana’s momentum and developer base. However, it is not easy to design a solution that can utilize our storage layer on a mixed cluster of both vanilla Solana validators as well as Xandeum-aware validators. Bernie Blume: This was a big step for us. As for scalability and performance, as mentioned before, we address these by offloading the actual storage of data from validators to a separate but cryptographically connected network of storage provider nodes, dubbed pNodes. Ishan Pandey: As Web3 continues to grow, how do you see Xandeum playing a role in the broader adoption of decentralized technologies? What industries do you believe will benefit most from your solution? Ishan Pandey: As Web3 continues to grow, how do you see Xandeum playing a role in the broader adoption of decentralized technologies? What industries do you believe will benefit most from your solution? Ishan Pandey: As Web3 continues to grow, how do you see Xandeum playing a role in the broader adoption of decentralized technologies? What industries do you believe will benefit most from your solution? Bernie Blume: That is hard to say given the nature of our innovation, a scalable storage layer. When creating Ethereum, the first programmable blockchain, Vitalik Buterin was only speculating about possible use cases. We have a similar situation here, where suddenly smart contract blockchains become capable of storing vast amounts of data. I expect DeFi to profit from it, being able to store documents (like scanned credit reports) right in the smart contract. Insurance and medical applications need a lot of storage. Bernie Blume: But just porting all the variety of web2 apps, most of which use petabytes to store their customer data, will become possible. It will be that Cambrian Explosion that’s our north star. I can’t wait to see that happen; it’s going to be wonderful. Ishan Pandey: What is your vision for the future of decentralized data storage? How do you see Xandeum evolving in the next 3-5 years, both in terms of technology and market presence? Ishan Pandey: What is your vision for the future of decentralized data storage? How do you see Xandeum evolving in the next 3-5 years, both in terms of technology and market presence? Ishan Pandey: What is your vision for the future of decentralized data storage? How do you see Xandeum evolving in the next 3-5 years, both in terms of technology and market presence? Bernie Blume: The vision is that smart contracts can finally be like normal servers: Execute code (CPU), access “accounts” (RAM), and access storage (disk). Right now the whole company is focused on building the product, and once that important milestone is completed, the whole company will shift its focus in 2026. In 2025 we will focus on building and in 2026 we will focus on adoption. There will be Xandeum hackathons, grants, etc. to help spread the word among devs, i.e. among web3 entrepreneurs, that Xandeum will make their life so much easier, and make them aware they can build so much more versatile dapps, which we call sedApps – storage-enabled dApps. Bernie Blume: and Looking into the next 3-5 years, I expect to see one of the fastest adoptions among devs that I have ever seen. Scalable, smart contract native storage is the missing link that will spark the Cambrian explosion in blockchain that AI saw with ANNs. That means we have all these sedApps, each paying Xandeum storage fees in addition to the regular Solana transaction fees. Ishan Pandey: What advice would you give to developers and startups looking to build decentralized applications or services in the current Web3 ecosystem? Ishan Pandey: What advice would you give to developers and startups looking to build decentralized applications or services in the current Web3 ecosystem? Bernie Blume: First imagine blockchain didn’t have today’s limitations; imagine you had all the power of traditional IT (including storage) at your disposal when designing your dApp. Then break it down to what can be done with today’s blockchain - you’ll find it’s quite a limited version of what you imagined in step 1. Then build your dApp on today’s blockchains but keep the timely advent of a scalable storage layer in mind. That way, you will put yourself in a pole position as soon as the race for building sedApps starts. Bernie Blume: Don’t forget to like and share the story! Vested Interest Disclosure: This author is an independent contributor publishing via our business blogging program. HackerNoon has reviewed the report for quality, but the claims herein belong to the author. #DYOR Vested Interest Disclosure: This author is an independent contributor publishing via our business blogging program . HackerNoon has reviewed the report for quality, but the claims herein belong to the author. #DYOR Vested Interest Disclosure: business blogging program business blogging program

Stories, News & Mentions about STRIVE

Strive’s Stories on HackerNoon