update blogs

content/blog/2021/05/_index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+transparent: true
+---

content/blog/2021/05/post-1/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+---
+title: "ThreeFold’s Planet Positive Plan" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+description: "ThreeFold is taking not just a sustainable approach, we’re setting the plan for a planet positive Internet." # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+date: 2021-05-15
+updated: 2021-05-15 # Comment-out this line with a # if content is unchanged
+draft: false # Make it "true" if you don't want Zola to "publish" yet
+template: blogPage.html
+taxonomies:
+  categories: [farming, cloud, foundation, aci, twin]
+  tags: [threefold_grid, digital_twin, why, technology, farming]
+
+extra:
+  subtitle: "" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+  author: Sam Taggart
+  authorImg: /images/people/sam_taggart.jpg
+  imgPath: images/blog/threefold_regenerates.png
+  
+---
+
+There’s no question that climate change is one of the biggest, if not the biggest threats facing humanity today. If we care at all about future generations and the health of our planet, we have no choice but to address these threats, and fast. That’s why one of our biggest aims is to lower the energy usage of our digital lives. But ThreeFold is taking not just a sustainable approach, we’re setting the plan for a planet positive Internet.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Recently, we released information on how our infrastructure saves up-to-90% on energy consumption compared to existing models. We achieve this mainly thanks to an extremely efficient storage system and the concept of a Digital Twin.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+From [a storage standpoint](https://library.threefold.me/info/tfgrid/#/threefold__energy_savings_storage), we reduce energy by avoiding copies, implementing a multi-layer system, not using fast disks, through read/write caching, and more. With [Digital Twin](https://library.threefold.me/info/tfgrid/#/threefold__energy_savings_digital_twin), we have taken a very different approach to how we exist in today’s digital world. Rather than existing 100 times in a huge system of client-server architecture, now we exist only once. We believe that we can run 25 Digital Twins with [the same energy](https://library.threefold.me/info/tfgrid/#/threefold__bulb_comparison_twin) as used by one light bulb.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Saving energy is one thing, but there will still be remaining energy. This needs to be offset by carbon credits. Now, in order to regenerate our planet, we [work together with Take Action Global](https://library.threefold.me/info/tfgrid/#/threefold__carbon_negative) to let students farm carbon credits. This has the potential to offset energy usage 100% by the end of 2021, and we have, as an aim to take 2x more carbon out of the air than we put in.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Our planet needs better solutions across industries. No more talking. Now is the time to act.

content/blog/2021/05/post-2/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+---
+title: "A Scalable and Secure Operating System" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+description: "To create a new Internet from scratch, ThreeFold had to start at the operating system level." # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+date: 2021-05-18
+updated: 2021-05-18 # Comment-out this line with a # if content is unchanged
+draft: false # Make it "true" if you don't want Zola to "publish" yet
+template: blogPage.html
+taxonomies:
+  categories: [farming,cloud,foundation,twin]
+  tags: [threefold_grid,technology,]
+
+extra:
+  subtitle: "" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+  author: Sacha obeegadoo
+  authorImg: /images/people/sacha_obeegadoo.jpg
+  imgPath: images/blog/zero_os_blog.png
+  
+---
+
+Just like a brain is an interconnected network of neurons, the Internet (or internet) is a global interconnected network of computers and devices that communicate with each other via the [Internet protocol suite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_protocol_suite) (TCP/IP). The communications infrastructure of the Internet consists of hardware components and a system of software layers that control various aspects of the architecture.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+To create a new Internet from scratch, ThreeFold had to start at the operating system (OS) level. An operating system is a software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. And this is how Zero OS was born 
+
+## What makes Zero OS special? 
+
+Zero OS is a stateless and lightweight operating system. Given it has no shell, remote or server interface, it is much safer than the big majority of the OSs on the market. When storing your data on Zero OS, it is fingerprinted and made available only when requested by you or those you provide access to.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+The state of an application represents its state of being in a given moment in time. Think of a stateless transaction as vending machines, a single request and a response. In ThreeFold’s Internet infrastructure, this can be represented as data being accessible only when requested. 
+The only way to access data on Zero OS is via the private key (or fingerprint) of a user. In that sense, the data is not accessible unless the data owner requests access to it. 
+
+## How does Zero OS apply to developers?
+
+Thanks to its lightweight architecture, Zero OS is a perfect fit to run microservice architectures and emerging IT workloads such as IoT, Blockchains, Big Data, and more. A key benefit of microservice architecture is the freedom it offers you to choose the best runtime for the task at hand. 
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Let’s take the example of decentralizing service-oriented developing teams. A common challenge there is that most of the time they don’t really understand the applications they are exposing. But no one knows the data infrastructure of the applications better than those who craft them. 
+<br/>
+<br/>
+ThreeFold permits decentralized developer teams with the ability to share keys (access) to the developing environment on Zero OS and the gateways to the world wide web within the secure peer-to-peer overlay network. This is game changing. Also with all the automation frameworks provided, it creates the perfect environment to develop current and emerging technologies. 
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Put shortly, decentralized development and integration is now officially an organizational or cultural change, not a technical one anymore.
+
+## Zero OS allows anyone to provide sovereign capacity
+
+Given stateless systems separate the OS configuration and user data, Zero OS simplifies the  maintenance and the deployment of digital workloads, while making it impossible to hack into user data on a hardware level. 
+<br/>
+<br/>
+3Nodes provide all the storage, compute and network primitives for a new internet infrastructure. Given they are booted with Zero OS, anyone can now participate in the Internet economy without jeopardizing user data sovereignty and security.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Conclusively, Zero OS is ultra secure, perfect to develop current and future technologies, and enables anyone to take part in the planet positive and data sovereign Internet brought by ThreeFold.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Learn more about Zero OS and the grid primitives [here](https://library.threefold.me/info/threefold/#/internet4__tfgrid_primitives).
+
+
+
+
+ 
+

content/blog/2021/05/post-3/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+---
+title: "How ThreeFold offers Data Sovereignty" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+description: "ThreeFold is building the engine for an Internet where people can finally be data sovereign." # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+date: 2021-05-23
+updated: 2021-05-23 # Comment-out this line with a # if content is unchanged
+draft: false # Make it "true" if you don't want Zola to "publish" yet
+template: blogPage.html
+taxonomies:
+  categories: [farming,cloud,foundation,aci,twin]
+  tags: [data,why,threefold_grid,farming]
+
+extra:
+  subtitle: "" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+  author: Sam Taggart
+  authorImg: /images/people/sam_taggart.jpg
+  imgPath: images/blog/threefold_data_sovereignty.png
+  
+---
+
+If you’ve seen [The Social Dilemma](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaaC57tcci0), you know all too well that today, people are being turned into products. Everything we do online – all of the data we upload and all of our digital activities – is tracked and oftentimes used against us. Targeted advertising is just the beginning.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Personal data is used by algorithms to make incredible important decisions, like whether someone should receive financial or health support or benefits. In China, people are now even receiving “scores” for their behaviors. It sounds like Black Mirror, but it’s real life.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+That’s the scary part. The good news is that things don’t have to be this way. ThreeFold is building the engine for an Internet where people can finally be data sovereign.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+With [today’s Internet](https://threefold.io/info/threefold#/threefold__why_intro?id=everyone-should-be-autonomous), infrastructure is centralized. Companies provide services in exchange for your personal data, which is stored on servers in hyper-scale data centers owned by private companies.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+In ThreeFold’s model, those servers are called [3Nodes](https://threefold.io/info/threefold#/threefold__3node), and rather than sitting inside centralized data centers, they sit inside the homes or offices (or small data centers) owned by independent people and organizations called [Farmers](https://threefold.io/info/threefold#/threefold__farming_intro?id=what-is-3node). But the data inside is owned by the person or persons who put it there. They maintain access right as well. From a technical standpoint, data is dispersed across 3Nodes by [an algorithm](https://library.threefold.me/info/threefold/#/threefold__part5_ultra_efficient_storage?id=the-space-algorithm-of-storage) that makes it such that nobody can access it. In addition, connections are peer-to-peer, meaning data goes directly between sender and recipient rather than passing through intermediaries as it does today – bringing further levels of security.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Thus, people can finally be data sovereign, knowing their data is safe, and truly theirs.

content/blog/2021/05/post-4/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+---
+title: "A Smart Contract for all IT workloads" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+description: "The Smart Contract for IT allows you, your company or your community to execute the storage and running of your files and applications securely with consensus and automatic billing." # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+date: 2021-05-25
+updated: 2021-05-25 # Comment-out this line with a # if content is unchanged
+draft: false # Make it "true" if you don't want Zola to "publish" yet
+template: blogPage.html
+taxonomies:
+  categories: [farming,cloud,foundation,aci,twin]
+  tags: [threefold_grid,technology]
+
+extra:
+  subtitle: "" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+  author: Sacha Obeegadoo
+  authorImg: /images/people/sacha_obeegadoo.jpg
+  imgPath: images/blog/smart_contract_blog.png
+  
+---
+
+ThreeFold was inspired by the blockchain burst when it was created in 2016. After doing a comprehensive scan of the technological space we realized that Blockchain holds the best technology to store (1) Smart Contracts and (2) Transactions in an immutable way. We created our own blockchain database: Rivine to host the Smart Contract layer before switching to the Parity Substrate of Polkadot and our Transactional blockchain to the Stellar Network.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+While we use blockchain technology, ThreeFold is much more than just "a blockchain project" as we apply many more revolutionary technologies. We decided to use Parity Substrate as we don’t see the need to create something if there’s already great technologies out there that we can already use. Today we’re proud of our Smart Contract for IT layer and approach the ThreeFold Grid v3.0 release this year which will expose its full potential to interact with the primitives of the grid.
+
+## So what is this Smart Contract for IT about?
+
+The Smart Contract for IT allows you, your company or your community to execute the storage and running of your files and applications securely with consensus and automatic billing. You could compare it as a fingerprint check and your data would be accessible only if presenting your private key (fingerprint). Let’s maybe go through the process for a better idea of how this works.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+The smart contracts are like recipes for chefs to cook exactly what you want. In that sense they need to be very accurate and as descriptive as possible to deliver what you need. In the case of ThreeFold, the smart contracts would define different sets of Internet resources you would need to store files, run applications, or communicate across the network.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Whenever you want to reserve more resources to store your latest album or run your applications, you will define the resources you need to your 3Bot or Digital Twin (your personal virtual system administrators) which will then look at different smart contracts that are available and choose the most appropriate package. For e.g. Reserve 3 PB of Storage in Switzerland across 7 nodes. 
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Following that, your 3Bot or Digital Twin will create and register the smart contract in the blockchain database in a few seconds, providing you with all your specific needs. It will also store and secure some instructions to the BCDB for the nodes to meet smart contract completion. 
+<br/>
+<br/>
+ThreeFold had to make sure that user data would remain ultra-secure. Inspired by storage and communication algorithms used in space, we integrated it between the Smart Contract layer and Zero OS. The algorithm splits data into unrecognizable ‘slices’ that are distributed via network connections to different nodes locally or across the world, and that can be reconstructed only with your fingerprint. 
+
+## More than the average Smart Contract
+
+Via your Smart Contract for IT, you can also define a consensus mechanism and create multi-signatures for smart contract execution or completion to deliver appropriate digital services in for example work related activities. 
+<br/>
+<br/>
+The beauty of the Smart Contract for IT is that it can work with thousands of connected nodes for the proper execution of any digital requirements on the infrastructure, verify if consensus was reached or not, download the right files to execute the smart contract and verify them, make sure that no hacker or outsider can ever gain access or influence its execution and more. 
+<br/>
+<br/>
+If you want to learn more about ThreeFold’s Smart Contract for IT, read more [here](https://library.threefold.me/info/threefold/#/internet4__smartcontract_it).
+

content/blog/2021/06/_index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+transparent: true
+---

content/blog/2021/06/post-1/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+---
+title: "How You Can Join the People's Internet" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+description:  "An entirely new Internet economy that is owned by all of us. Add capacity, earn income!" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+date: 2021-06-09
+updated: 2021-06-09 # Comment-out this line with a # if content is unchanged
+draft: false # Make it "true" if you don't want Zola to "publish" yet
+template: blogPage.html
+taxonomies:
+  categories: [farming, cloud, foundation, aci, twin]
+  tags: [threefold_grid, farming]
+
+extra:
+  subtitle: "" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+  author: Weynand Kuijpers
+  authorImg: /images/people/weynand_kuijpers.jpg
+  imgPath: images/blog/join_the_peoples_internet.png
+  
+---
+
+Yes, that's right. With ThreeFold, you *can* become the Internet! Let me quickly explain. 
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Today's Internet is powered by hyper-scale data centers which are owned by large corporations. With +80% of the global infrastructure and +60% of the global Internet networks owned by a bunch of companies, the Internet became a real business with us humans being the products of that business model.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+ThreeFold creates an entirely new Internet economy that is owned by all of us and makes the traditional cloud model of building data centers obsolete. With ThreeFold, independent people called "Farmers" plug in 3Nodes (hardware) from their homes or offices anywhere around the world. And they earn income for it. 
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Together, they power a new, data-sovereign, and planet-positive Internet owned and powered by the people. This is a game-changer.
+
+## So, how do I get a 3Node?
+
+You can buy one of the ready-made nodes from cooperatives around the world. This is a good and very easy way to support the ThreeFold project and to "BE THE INTERNET."
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Today you can buy a 3Node via our website. We are also working with our farming cooperatives to decentralize the provisioning and distribution of hardware to a glocal approach (a global network of local networks). 
+<br/>
+<br/>
+But what if 3Nodes are not immediately available? For example, last week we had a huge influx of orders for our Titan V2 3Nodes and sold out the entire batch with 3,000 extra orders. We're now talking with many hardware distributors to make sure we can satsify all these orders, but this could take a while.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+So if you are a little bit more adventurous, and want to build your 3Node from the ground up, yourself, here's how to do it:
+<br/>
+<br/>
+To "become the Internet" is fairly simple (but does take some technical knowledge and effort). Here's what you'll need:
+<br/>
+<br/>
+
+- A computer with an INTEL or AMD brain, some memory, and some storage cabilities.
+- A smartphone on which you can download and run the "ThreeFold Connect" app. This will provide you with a wallet (to receive your farmed TFT and to pay a very small amount of TFT to get started).
+- A laptop / desktop (and USB stick) to launch your online 3Bot, configure your farm, download your bootloader and burn the bootloader to a USB stick.
+- Some technical knowledge, interest and 45 minutes of time.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+
+If you are still here and reading, we're good to go! I go through the whole process in a 3-minute video which will give you a quick overview of how to set up your farm. (Click through to the video on YouTube and find helpful links in the description.)
+<br/>
+<br/>
+
+<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uxIZcsEsOUE" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
+<br/>
+<br/>
+
+Prefer a different format? We also have forum topics live about [the pre-requirements](https://forum.threefold.io/t/requirements-to-set-up-your-own-3node/831) and [how to set up your 3Node](https://forum.threefold.io/t/how-to-set-up-your-own-3node/833) (the steps I share in the video).
+<br/>
+<br/>
+
+Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading this post and we hope to have you as part of our growing, global farming community. If you have any questions, please head to [our forum](https://forum.threefold.io/c/farming/diy-farming/) or feel free to join us on [our ThreeFold Farmer chat](https://t.me/threefoldfarmers) on Telegram.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+
+Photo by [Nicholas Green](https://unsplash.com/@nickxshotz?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) on Unsplash

content/blog/2021/06/post-2/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+---
+title: "It's Time We Stand Up For Our Data" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+description: "As consumers, we should be able to trust that our data is truly safe and secure. And today, we cannot. It's time we stand up for what is ours." # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+date: 2021-06-17
+updated: 2021-06-17 # Comment-out this line with a # if content is unchanged
+draft: false # Make it "true" if you don't want Zola to "publish" yet
+template: blogPage.html
+taxonomies:
+  categories: [farming, cloud, foundation, aci, twin]
+  tags: [data, why, peer_to_peer]
+
+extra:
+  subtitle: "" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+  author: Sam Taggart
+  authorImg: /images/people/sam_taggart.jpg
+  imgPath: images/blog/data_leaks.png
+  
+---
+
+Do a quick search for "data leak" on your search engine of choice, and you'll likely see headlines like this:
+<br/>
+<br/>
+
+- Personal Details of Over 3.3M Volkswagen Customers Exposed in Data Leak
+- Billions of emails and passwords appear in largest data leak ever
+- Here's How the IRS Could Have Prevented the Tax Data Leak
+- Time to Change Your Password: Tips on Protecting Yourself from Online Scams
+<br/>
+<br/>
+
+Week after week, month after month, year after year, companies are being hacked, private consumer data is being compromised and released, and we somehow begin to think that this is the reality of our world, something we just have to deal with.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Internet security, cyber attacks, and data leaks are a global threat – and increasingly so as the world moves more digital, and smart people with malicious intent try to take advantage. But this is not normal, nor should it be. As consumers, we should be able to trust that our data is truly safe and secure. And today, we cannot. It's time we stand up for what is ours.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+That's where ThreeFold comes in.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Many of today's issues around cyber security and data privacy come from the lack of innovation in the IT industry over the last decades and the reliance on centralized hyper-scale data centers. ThreeFold has disrupted this model in a few ways:
+<br/>
+<br/>
+First, we started from the ground up. Some ThreeFold co-founders have been working in the cloud & storage space for over two decades, having built components of the cloud and Internet still used today. They knew that the only way to have a truly secure and data sovereign Internet was to rebuild the architecture and the technology components from scratch. So they did. A few years down the line, we've created a new operating system, a smart contract for IT, and a peer-to-peer network that can be scaled to anywhere by anyone.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Second, we removed people from the equation. IT has become so overly-complex that people are required in order to maintain it. Because of this, "backdoors" are needed to allow these gateholders to enter the systems and make necessary fixes. But this can lead to human error, and also allows people with malicious intent to make their way in as well. With Autonomous IT powering the ThreeFold Grid, the technology runs and heals itself, and drastically reduces the opportunity for humans to interfere.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+And lastly, your data is owned by you. Rather than relying on centralized data centers, the ThreeFold Grid is an Internet grid made up by independent ThreeFold "Farmers" from around the world who plug in capacity from their home or office. While they own the hardware, they do not own the data inside. User data is stored across multiple devices, and proprietary data storage algorithms ensure that the data cannot be retrieved by anyone besides the user – not the farmer, and not even us.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+As Einstein said, "We can't solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them."
+<br/>
+<br/>
+
+We have a lot more information in [our wikis](https://library.threefold.me/info/threefold#/) about the technology, but what we want to emphasize here with you is that we don't have to accept data leaks and hacking. There is an answer to the cybersecurity issues the world is facing. And that answer is ThreeFold.

content/blog/2021/06/post-3/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+---
+title: "How ThreeFold Will Give Internet to 43% of the World’s Population" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+description: "Proper access to the Internet helps to protect people’s freedom of speech and thought, as well as access to knowledge and information." # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+date: 2021-06-22
+updated: 2021-06-22 # Comment-out this line with a # if content is unchanged
+draft: false # Make it "true" if you don't want Zola to "publish" yet
+template: blogPage.html
+taxonomies:
+  categories: [farming, cloud, foundation, aci, twin]
+  tags: [farming, threefold_grid, why]
+
+extra:
+  subtitle: "" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
+  author: Sacha Obeegadoo
+  authorImg: /images/people/sacha_obeegadoo.jpg
+  imgPath: images/blog/threefold_access.png
+  
+---
+
+The United Nations publicly ruled Internet access to be a human right in 2016. Proper access to the Internet helps to protect people’s freedom of speech and thought, as well as other fundamentals such as access to knowledge and information.  
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Nonetheless, as of 2019, about 43% of humanity remains unconnected to the Internet, creating huge inequalities in access to information and knowledge. It is essential to take the necessary steps to strengthen the relationship between governments and people while still upholding all human rights.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+ThreeFold created an infrastructure that is easily affordable and jointly operated by network peers to make the modern Internet open and fair to everyone. Anybody with a network connection and electricity can add capacity to the ThreeFold Grid. We're looking for farmers around the globe and we're also partnering with farming cooperatives to develop localized strategies and meet the specific needs of their region. Plus, the Foundation will incentivize and sponsor the extension and scope to areas that require Internet capacity the most, to ensure a fair and equitable delivery of the Internet to all.
+<br/>
+<br/>
+Want to join the biggest internet revolution? [Be part](https://farming.threefold.io) of it, today.