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content/blog/africa_regen_summit_ii/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+---
+id: africa_regen_summit_ii
+title: "Africa Regenerative Futures Summit | Volume II"
+image_caption: Africa Regen II
+description: We recently hosted the second edition of the Africa Regenerative Futures Summit in Zanzibar. Read about our experience.
+date: 2023-11-21
+taxonomies:
+    people: [sam_taggart]
+    tags: [community, why]
+    categories: [foundation]
+extra:
+    imgPath: africa_regen_summit_ii.png
+---
+
+*The below is an update from a summit we held here in Zanzibar this past weekend called the Africa Regenerative Futures Summit. It was a follow-up of [an event we hosted in July](https://youtu.be/GIBlmID7g5o?t=246&si=KYEExcPFHUCU7HKY). And we aim to continue to host this as a series of gatherings around OurWorld, ThreeFold, and other planet-first people-first projects and individuals who are supporting or want to support Tanzania and the African continent as a whole.*
+
+<br>
+
+On the 16th of November, we had a roundtable covering important relevant topics (Cyber Pandemic, AI, Quantum Computing, etc.) and explaining the core vision of OurWorld and ThreeFold in context to what is currently happening in today’s world as a whole.
+
+<br>
+
+Over the course of Friday and Saturday morning, we delved into an exciting array of projects, with a focus on experiencing two inspirational mornings that provided valuable insights into the current landscape of OurWorld and its affiliated initiatives.
+
+### **Friday Morning Highlights**
+
+**OurWorld Infrastructure (Kristof De Spiegeleer):** Kristof gave us a deep dive into the foundational aspects of [OurWorld](https://ourworld.tf) Infrastructure, explaining the [ThreeFold](https://threefold.io) technology and how it serves as a foundation for a wide array of impactful projects.
+
+<br>
+
+![](kristof_regen.jpeg)
+
+<br>
+
+**Hub Culture (Stan Stalnaker):** Stan Stalnaker presented his [HubCulture](https://hubculture.com) platform, highlighting its role and impact as a Network State.
+
+<br>
+
+**Fumba Permaculture Project (Franko Gohse):** Franko shared his work on the [Fumba](https://fumba.town/) Permaculture Project, detailing its sustainable and regenerative initiatives.
+
+<br>
+
+**Naledu Health (Stephanie Ndungu):** Stephanie is a wonderful project to raise awareness of breast and other cancers in Kenya and reach out to local women and children to screen them for free. Her idea will be to devise an AI-powered SMS solution that could help them seek treatment if they show symptoms.
+
+<br>
+
+![](steph_regen.jpeg)
+
+<br>
+
+**Dark Matter Labs (Raj Kalia):** Raj Kalia presented the vision and initiatives of [DM Labs](https://darkmatterlabs.org/About), offering a glimpse into the innovative ventures they are supporting.
+
+<br>
+
+**HedUnity (Tim Degraye):** Tim presented his company HedUnity and his first wifi headphone which can stream lossless uncompressed Hi-Res audio up to 96kHz 24-bit, [Unity](https://www.getunity.com).
+
+<br>
+
+### **Saturday Morning Startup Sessions**
+
+**TechBridge Institute (Justine Mahinyila):** Justine presented his exciting new project to help Tanzania’s technology community, ensure inclusive and equitable quality education, promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, as well as sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
+
+<br>
+
+**Sikana (Greg Flipo):** Greg discussed the [Sikana](https://www.sikana.tv/en) project, how he sees the future of the platform, emphasizing its significance and contributions within the OurWorld ecosystem.
+
+<br>
+
+![](greg_regen.jpeg)
+
+<br>
+
+**HATCH (William Chamberlin):** William introduced [HATCH](https://hatchexperience.org), a global network of changemakers, illustrating its potential to drive positive transformation on a global scale.
+
+<br>
+
+**Chatafisha (David Machuche + Victor Muhagachi):** David and Vic shared insights into ReFi Tanzania and Regen Tech, showcasing their [projects](https://chatafisha.com) that aim to make a positive impact on communities.
+
+<br>
+
+**Sarufi (Kalebu Jordan):** Kalebu shed light on the development of conversational AI tailored [for African languages](https://sarufi.io), addressing a critical need in tech accessibility.
+
+<br>
+
+![](kalebu_regen.jpeg)
+
+<br>
+
+On the fourth and final day, we spent time with some of our friends participants from Dar Es Salaam and Kenya to understand each others’ collective goals and put together a collaboration plan, which involves deploying ThreeFold infrastructure locally and working together in the coming months on developer sessions and hackathons. The team is really looking forward to supporting and working together with this community and we’ll [provide updates](https://forum.threefold.io/t/introducing-dunia-yetu/4147) as we have them.
+
+<br>
+
+![](group_regen.jpeg)

content/blog/introducing_mycelium/index.md

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+---
+id: introducing_mycelium
+title: "Introducing Mycelium"
+image_caption: Introducing Mycelium
+description: ThreeFold is implementing a planetary network, aiming to allow efficient, end-to-end encrypted communication with other participants on the network.
+date: 2023-09-19
+taxonomies:
+    people: [lee_smet]
+    tags: [technology, grid, peer_to_peer]
+    categories: [foundation]
+extra:
+    imgPath: introducing_mycelium.png
+---
+
+*Lee is working on a very exciting new project called Mycelium, our own Ipv6 overlay network. Thanks to him for taking the time to create this short write-up on what it is and why it is needed.*
+
+<br>
+
+As part of the grid, ThreeFold is also implementing a planetary network. This peer 2 peer network implementation aims to allow efficient, end-to-end encrypted communication with other participants on the network. Currently, we are using Yggdrasil as the core technology for this network. This is an open source implementation, and we have been using this since of grid v2.
+
+<br>
+
+Over time, some problems have been noticed. We have since spent time looking into these issues, and performed an analysis of the root cause(s).
+
+### Yggdrasil’s Limitations
+
+To start, it should be noted that Yggdrasil is an experimental routing protocol (based on DHT’s), which is currently still in an alpha stage. We very much admire the fact that they have been able to create a standalone network with worldwide participants from scratch. Over time, the network has grown, in part due to the grid, but also because a lot of individual participants joined and started running a node.
+
+<br>
+
+After investigating, we reached the conclusion that the current architecture has some scalability issues. While we have no doubt that these will eventually be solved, the importance of the planetary network in the grid is unfortunately too big to be able to wait for this. Additionally, Yggdrasil uses a technique called crypto key routing, and uses a tree structure for its routing info. This means data follows the “shortest path” in the tree, rather than the physical shortest path, which might deviate from this. As such, we have decided to implement our own Ipv6 overlay network, Mycelium.
+
+### Implementing Mycelium
+
+As previously pointed out, the main goal of our network is to be efficient, and end-to-end encrypted. Every node in the network is identified by a key pair. The address of a node is derived from this key pair, and data traffic between 2 nodes is encrypted using a secret derived from the key pair of both these nodes. As a result, every 2 nodes in the system use a different secret for encryption, and we can verify that the address used by a node is indeed owned by it (i.e. it has the corresponding private key). We have based our initial implementation (loosely) on the babel routing protocol.
+
+<br>
+
+Therefore, sending data to a remote node will follow the shortest path in terms of latency (i.e. the fastest route). The network adjusts itself in case nodes disappear or join, and multiple paths to a given destination are possible.
+
+<br>
+
+We are also considering implementing more advanced use cases in the future, though this remains to be seen at this stage. We are gearing up for some larger scale testing on the grid in the near future (after all, we do have multiple thousand nodes at our disposal to verify scalability), and will adjust as needed once these are done.
+
+<br>
+
+*If you'd like to dive deeper, take a look at the Mycelium manual [here](https://threefoldfoundation.github.io/info_cloud_production/tfcloud/mycelium/mycelium.html).

content/blog/reliability/index.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 id: reliability
 title: "Building Reliability into a Decentralized Internet Infrastructure"
 image_caption: Building Reliability
-description: 
+description: Through a combination of technical and strategic advancements, our journey towards a dependable and trustworthy decentralized Internet infrastructure is underway.
 date: 2023-12-06
 taxonomies:
     people: [sam_taggart]
@@ -14,19 +14,19 @@ extra:
 
 In today's digital landscape, the development of a decentralized open-source Internet infrastructure marks a significant leap forward. However, while the foundational structure of this innovation brings promise, its inherent reliability isn't guaranteed. After more than five years of building and expanding the open-source ThreeFold Grid, it's now time we pivot towards commercialization. Ensuring a robust, dependable, and trustworthy offering becomes paramount. In this post, we'll share the various ways that the ThreeFold Grid is and will become reliable.
 
-### Technical Redundancy
+### **Technical Redundancy**
 
 Our quantum safe storage ystem, coupled with replication, and web gateways, presents a pathway to achieve technical redundancy already. While these capabilities exist, we admit that at this time it is too complex for a starting user. Making this easier through refined tooling and a strong user experience will be imperative in order to allow a wide audience to take advantage here.
 
-### ThreeFold Cloud
+### **ThreeFold Cloud**
 
 Our upcoming commercial offering, TF Cloud, will bolster reliability and trustworthiness. Through TF Cloud, we will need to provide comprehensive service, robust support, service level agreements (SLAs), and streamlined payment methods, including credit card options. The development of user-friendly tooling will significantly simplify and easen the process as well, enabling users to deploy and maintain reliable workloads effortlessly.
 
-### Farming Pools
+### **Farming Pools**
 
 The introduction of farming pools in TF Grid 4.x will play an important role in fostering reliability as well. These pools not only contribute to resource pooling but also offer visibility into the network's participants. This transparency enhances trust and aids in identifying reliable contributors within a decentralized framework.
 
-### Establishing Reputation and Transparency
+### **Establishing Reputation and Transparency**
 
 Building a system that emphasizes reputation and complete visibility regarding service levels and uptimes is pivotal. By offering insights into each participant's performance metrics, Grid users will be able to more effectively choose a trusted provider.
 

content/next/index.md

@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ A 100% owned subsidiary of the Cooperative in a chosen jurisdiction (probably BV
 
 ### TF Grid 3.x Goes Fully Decentralized
 
-ThreeFold DMCC has been instrumental in supporting the expansion of the TF Grid over the last years. It is thanks to the generous funding and support of many contributors that the grid has been able to achieve its current state. ThreeFold DMCC will in the future limit its effort on TF Grid 3.x and focus completely on TF Grid 4.x. For this reason, TF Grid 3.x must move to become fully decentralized.
+ThreeFold DMCC has been instrumental in supporting the expansion of the TF Grid over the years. It is thanks to the generous funding and support of many contributors that the grid has achieved its current state. ThreeFold DMCC will need to limit its effort on TF Grid 3.x and focus completely on TF Grid 4.x. For this reason, TF Grid 3.x must move to become community-run.
 
 <br>
 
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ The minting rules are becoming more strict thanks to a recently-passed Grid Enha
 
 ### TF Cloud Builds Commercial Offerings
 
-ThreeFold Cloud will build and commercialize services, reserving and purchasing the capacity it requires  on TF Grid 3.x and TF Grid 4.x using TFT.
+ThreeFold Cloud will build and commercialize services, reserving and purchasing the capacity it requires  on TF Grid 3.x and 4.x using TFT.
 
 <br>