ourworld_web/www_threefold_io
Archived
23
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull Requests Actions Packages Projects Releases Wiki Activity

update blogs

Browse Source
This commit is contained in:
Ehab Hassan
2022-04-20 13:40:40 +02:00
parent 1654135fec
commit a608613047
21 changed files with 745 additions and 0 deletions
Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

3
content/blog/2021/07/_index.md Normal file
View File

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

79
content/blog/2021/07/post-1/index.md Normal file
View File

@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
---
title: "Response - The Internet is Destroying Our Brains, but We Can't Quit" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
description: "The Internet is Destroying Our Brains
excerpt: A response to a poignant article written by P.E. Moskowitz on the dangers of today's Internet." # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
date: 2021-07-01
updated: 2021-07-01 # 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: [why, peer_to_peer, digital_twin, technology]
extra:
subtitle: "" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
author: Sam Taggart
authorImg: /images/people/sam_taggart.jpg
imgPath: images/blog/internet_destroying_brain.png
---
The other day, I came across [a poignant article](https://africa.businessinsider.com/strategy/the-internet-is-destroying-our-brains-but-we-cant-quit-its-a-factory-were-forced-to/z4drxf5) written by [P.E. Moskowitz](https://twitter.com/_pem_pem) entitled "The internet is destroying our brains, but we can't quit. It's a factory we're forced to work in without any pay." As someone who started out in social media advertising (read: trying to capture peoples' attention to get them to buy or do something often by using their data against them), worked in influencer marketing in its early days, and has now gone 180º to help to build a decentralized Internet by people and for people (where people are digitally sovereign), it really resonated with me.
<br/>
<br/>
It's commonly-discussed (see: The Social Dilemma) and quite obvious if you use or have used the Internet and specifically social media, that we are addicted to being online. In fact, we're actually even chemically triggered by social media and other online experiences. Said Jeff Orlowski, director of The Social Dilemma, "Social media powerhouses like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are “designed” to exploit users’ brain chemistry in order to keep them glued to their phones... They were designed to get us to come back. It’s to figure out how to reverse-engineer what we’re most vulnerable to, most susceptible to, to come back. And what we are seeing is a dopamine response in the brain."
<br/>
<br/>
In their article, Moskowitz points out how the Internet is not just like a toxic relationship or junk food, where you can leave or stop yourself from eating, rather it's "an all-encompassing technology, our main economic engine, the tool we are forced to use to meet others and mediate our entire lives."
<br/>
<br/>
The truth is that the Internet *has* become more than an addiction, it's become a necessity to keep up in today's increasingly-digital world. Yet the Internet is not even accessible to about 40% of the global population – and for those who *do* have access, it does not serve us. It's actually the other way around. We are the product.
<br/>
<br/>
"We produce the memes, tweets, posts, and pictures that keep us tethered to the internet, and then that content is monetized in the form of advertisements - revenue users help produce, but do not usually see a penny of," says Moskowitz. We have become cogs in a machine that uses us for its own benefit. Or as they call it, "a factory we're forced to work in without any pay."
<br/>
<br/>
"Our entire society has been reformulated around the internet, much like it was centered around the factory during the Industrial Revolution. If there's an Amazon Web Services outage, much of our society stops functioning. Without the internet, we couldn't find jobs, or, at this point, even friends."
## So, what do we do?
Moskowitz is correct in their thinking when they say the following, "A solution to our current internet-use crisis cannot come at an individual level anymore than one person quitting their job would solve capitalism's poor working conditions. If we want any hope of making the internet less stressful, less back-breaking, and more fulfilling, content creators, gig economy workers, and even casual internet users need to push for a systemic solution."
<br/>
<br/>
Simply pending less time on the Internet or using certain apps instead of others is not going to make much of a difference in the end. There are billions of people on the Internet today to make up for the loss. And the underlying system is still massively flawed and can be manipulated. Bold, widespread, systemic change is indeed what we need. A revolution, perhaps.
<br/>
<br/>
As pointed out recently [in TGDaily](https://tgdaily.com/web/6-dfinity-threefold-are-leading-an-internet-decentralization-revolution/), ThreeFold is that revolution.
<br/>
<br/>
ThreeFold is the engine for a *new* Internet, driven by a movement of people who care about a better future. With more than two decades of direct knowledge of the Internet and Cloud industries, we flipped today's Internet on its head. We rebuilt the architecture from the ground up, with people and our planet at the center of our focus. Instead of relying on centralized hyper-scale data centers owned by a few private corporations, we provide the opportunity for people across the world with access to a network connection and electricity to plug in hardware and provide local capacity, and earn income while they are at it.
<br/>
<br/>
In our model, we prioritize simplicity, security, efficiency, and privacy. The technology runs autonomously, removing human error and malicious intent from the equation. Connections are peer-to-peer, meaning no middlemen get in the way of our content, our transactions, or other data. And importantly, people own their data. What we produce is ours. We decide where it gets stored and we decide who can access it (and for what value). In fact, it's basically impossible from a technical standpoint for anybody to access someone's data without their consent – including us.
<br/>
<br/>
On top of the technology, we provide experiences. People will have one single log-in and verifiable identity, and gain access to the tools (experiences) they need for communication and for work. As we are a decentralized movement, soon, anybody will be able to build anything they like on top of ThreeFold – but it is our vision and belief that the Internet should not be addictive. Rather a tool for all of humanity to connect, learn, and prosper – with people at the center, not treated as products.
<br/>
<br/>
To the author's concern, content creators and gig economy workers would clearly benefit from such a digital world as well. Of course services like Airbnb or Uber or Etsy or even YouTube provide value as they are crowded marketplaces both for providers and customers. That said, they profit from people, typically on both sides of the transaction. In a peer-to-peer world, we can create fair and equal marketplaces where the content or product is owned completely by the person listing it there and the value goes 100% directly from person to person. This means no hidden fees, no uncertainty over ownership, no censorship or control from a third party. Of course it's not all predetermined at this moment, but what I can say is that our biggest concerns in what we create are and will always be fairness and equality (and sustainability / regeneration). So, together, we will bring all of this tolife in the best interest of people.
## Join the Movement
In their article, Moskowitz concluded that "perhaps it is only a matter of time before enough of us say 'enough,' and protest the internet's totalizing grasp on our labor and our lives." But where does protest lead without a viable solution? Maybe this is the type of systemic change Moskowitz could imagine and could stand behind. It's not a band-aid approach, rather a total re-imagination and re-execution of today's flawed and manipulative Internet. It's an Internet by people, for people. Instead of working in the factory, we become the factory co-owners – and the Internet works for us.
<br/>
<br/>
If you believe in what we are building, we invite you to join the movement:
<br/>
<br/>
- [Become a farmer](https://threefold.io/farming)
- [Stay updated on ThreeFold News](https://t.me/threefoldnews)
- [Join the conversation](https://t.me/threefold)
- [Test the technology](https://t.me/threefoldtesting)
- [Follow us on Twitter](https://twitter.com/threefold_io)
- [Buy the ThreeFold Token](https://library.threefold.me/info/tfgrid/#/threefold__how_to_buy_and_sell)
<br/>
<br/>
We are a growing group of people from around the world who not only believe what many of you believe, but we are doing something about it. Let's grow the People's Internet, together.

76
content/blog/2021/07/post-2/index.md Normal file
View File

@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
---
title: "The ThreeFold Grid is by the People, For the People" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
description: "By the People For the People
excerpt: ThreeFold's open source technology powers the peer-to-peer Internet revolution that holds the premise to disrupt the global Internet in many ways." # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
date: 2021-07-08
updated: 2021-07-08 # 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, threefold_grid]
extra:
subtitle: "" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
author: Sam Taggart
authorImg: /images/people/sam_taggart.jpg
imgPath: images/blog/tf_grid_peoples_internet.png
---
What do you think of when you hear the word Internet? For many, it's the websites and applications we consume online as end users. But the Internet is much more than this. And ultimately, every action we take online goes through a complex set of automated processes and protocols to store, run, and transmit data (e.g. photos, videos, messages, other files) across the global Internet infrastructure.
<br/>
<br/>
Today, this infrastructure consists of massive, power-hungry data centers, and is largely privatized and owned by tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Amazon – who also happen to own the biggest online "free" platforms. But there's a catch. By owning both the infrastructure and the digital experiences we consume for free, we were actually turned into products of their business models. Our data is being collected and isn't owned by us anymore. While data has become the most valuable commodity on earth, don't you think it's wrong that we don't own the value of our data today? 
<br/>
<br/>
***"Today, every individual is worth between US $1,000 and $20,000 online, per year. The Internet and Cloud Industry is worth trillions, yet all this value is centralized to a handful of companies. This has to change."***
<br/>
<br/>
ThreeFold's open source technology powers the peer-to-peer Internet revolution that holds the premise to disrupt the global Internet in many ways.
## An Internet By the People
The ThreeFold Grid is formed by people from all around the world that connect Internet capacity to a peer-to-peer Infrastructure owned by humanity. Together, we expand a data-sovereign and planet-positive Internet infrastructure that puts people back in control of their data, and their digital lives. ThreeFold's infrastructure can store all of humanity's data – from personal data to public datasets and security archives – and can run all emerging technologies such as blockchain, IoT, and Big Data – with more efficiency and security.
<br/>
<br/>
ThreeFold flips the current data center model upside-down, and allows people around the globe to connect Internet capacity in the form of hardware, and earn income for it. This decentralized approach means that anyone can take part in the world's largest and fastest growing economy – the Internet and Cloud. 
<br/>
<br/>
You can see now how this new Internet is by the people, but how about the latter? What does the ThreeFold Grid enable?
## An Internet For the People
Now anyone, anywhere can connect to the ThreeFold Grid and use capacity with some key advantages:
### A World Where we Own the Value of Our Data
Today, all of the data we create online sits inside of centralized data centers and we do not own it. ThreeFold turns terms & conditions on their head and gives us, the people, full control of our data rather than third parties. We can keep our data private, decide with whom to share it, and even decide on where it's stored and located. And considering that our personal data is worth between US $1,000 and $20,000 per year, ThreeFold offers a direct way for us to own our digital life and the value attached to it.
### We Exchange Value Without Intermediaries
The "People's Internet" is peer-to-peer. This means connections between senders and recipients are completely end-to-end, eliminating the need for any form of intermediaries from the model. Can you imagine what the world would look like without intermediaries? Let's take an example like Airbnb.
<br/>
<br/>
Today, if you are looking for a place to stay on vacation, you will probably end up using the services of Airbnb. But did you know that Airbnb charges both consumers and property owners for using their service? In a peer-to-peer world, this wouldn't be necessary. You'd simply access a database of property owners (possibly through a peer-to-peer marketplace) and be able to complete the transaction yourselves. No hidden fees, just a direct exchange of value!
### Applications Run on the Edge
In its essence, edge computing brings compute and storage closer to people (and the devices where it's being gathered) rather than relying on a centralized data centers located on the other side of the planet. This is the essence of the ThreeFold Grid. So, data doesn't suffer any latency issues (performance) and it's far more efficient / money-saving. Further, the distributed nature of the Grid allows for true privacy and security. Edge computing is not just a growing trend but, because of the growing number of connected devices and global Internet usage, it's becoming a real necessity.
## But what about the planet?
If you've been following us, you must already know that the Internet is responsible for 10% or more of the world's energy consumption. And with decades of experience in the Internet and Cloud industry, ThreeFold co-founders knew how to turn this around. We developed a lightweight operating system and infrastructure, removing unnecessary layers of complexity from the traditional and Web3 models (actually, blockchains are making it even more complex). The ThreeFold technology is always geared towards maximum efficiency while maintaing performance. And with these advancements, we can already save up-to 90% energy on storage workloads.
<br/>
<br/>
Additionally, the distributed nature of the Grid uses less bandwidth (see above re: edge computing). It's been reported that Netflix alone takes up 15% of the Internet's bandwidth. What if Netflix were to leverage the ThreeFold Grid? If stored closer to watchers, we could reduce network usage considerably.
<br/>
<br/>
Our commitment to the planet goes beyond the technology. Through a partnership with Take Action Global (TAG), we aim to take three times more CO2 out of the air compared to what we put in. Imagine regenerating the earth while using the Internet?
<br/>
<br/>
At ThreeFold, we believe that it's time for us to take back control. As the world turns more and more digital due to the pandemic and even just the natural progression of technology, it's time that we not just realize the problems of today's Internet, but that we do something about it.
<br/>
<br/>
This will happen! So join in, and spread the word! 

91
content/blog/2021/07/post-3/index.md Normal file
View File

@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
---
title: "Building a New Internet From the Ground Up – Part 1: Introduction" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
description: "The ThreeFold Grid Peer-to-Peer Technology
excerpt: The first episode in an approachable series on the inner workings of the ThreeFold Grid." # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
date: 2021-07-19
updated: 2021-07-19 # 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: [foundation,farming,cloud]
tags: [threefold_grid,technology,peer_to_peer]
extra:
subtitle: "" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
author: Scott Yeager
authorImg: /images/people/scott_yeager.jpg
imgPath: images/blog/an_intro_to_the_threefold_grid.png
---
## An Intro to the ThreeFold Grid
If you are a farmer or member of the ThreeFold community, you may be wondering about the capacity provided by the ThreeFold Grid and how it's relevant to individuals and businesses who currently rely on centralized corporate clouds. This can be hard to imagine, because the back end infrastructure that makes all of our apps and services tick is generally invisible to us.
<br>
This piece will be the first in a series where I'll be working to understand what the technical components are and how ThreeFold provides an alternative with distinct benefits for individuals, businesses, and for the planet as a whole. But don't worry, we'll start from the ground level and build up understanding in a way that's accessible to everyone.
## Infrastructure for a New Internet
So, what is the internet? In short, it is a network of interconnected devices that facilitates communication and commerce. These devices include our mobile phones and personal computers, but also the servers that store and process data to provide the end experiences we enjoy. Currently the vast majority of these servers live in massive data centers controlled by a handful of corporations. ThreeFold is changing this, by allowing anyone to connect computational and storage capacity to an open network that is available for all to use, known as the ThreeFold Grid. Our farmers do include some data centers operating on a smaller scale than major cloud providers, and also many individuals connecting nodes at their home or office all over the world.
<br>
On the ThreeFold Grid, servers are known as 3Nodes. A 3Node can be pretty much any modern computer system, offering capacity by running the Zero OS operating system. This is a major distinguishing factor, both from the traditional cloud computing world and also from other projects working to create decentralized networks in this space.
## The OS for a Next Generation Cloud
By starting from the operating system level, ThreeFold is able to provide a network with much stronger security and greater efficiency than anything that came before. Zero OS includes a collection of components, known as "primitives", which provide developers with everything they need. These primitives can be used to migrate existing applications from the legacy cloud and also to create new solutions that leverage the Grid’s capacity in unique ways.
<br>
We're all familiar with operating systems like Windows and MacOS that provide an interface to applications on our personal computers. The OS interacts with the underlying hardware to expose its capabilities in a way that's useful for both the software it hosts and also the humans who utilize it. For example, when you launch an app on your phone, it is the OS that's responsible for connecting it to data networks and providing access to peripherals like cameras or microphones. Things are a little different in the world of servers, where rather than through direct interactions, users benefit through the services provided to the applications we use.
<br>
To extend the example, when you open a messaging app it will connect to a server somewhere to check for new messages and relay any messages you are sending to the recipient. Here we can see a central issue that has inspired the design of ThreeFold’s technology: when our messages pass through servers controlled by others, it creates an open door for surveillance of all kinds.
<br>
ThreeFold farmers, on the other hand, have no administrative access to their nodes. Furthermore, each component offered by the ThreeFold Grid is built with the intention of allowing for secure and private storage, processing, and transmission of information. Of course, sharing is absolutely possible, but only when the creator of data or content chooses for it to happen.
## Three Essential Resources
In the world of cloud computing, we speak of three basic resources provided by servers: compute, storage, and network. The ThreeFold Grid provides various primitives in each of these categories, to fulfill all the same needs served by centralized cloud providers. While our offerings have the special properties discussed above, they are also highly compatible with the most popular tools and protocols currently used in the industry. This makes it relatively simple to migrate the back end applications, also known as "workloads", that provide a kind of connective tissue for all of the digital experiences we enjoy on a daily basis.
<br>
Workloads are pieces of software that provide services. If you upload a file to some cloud storage service, there could be a number of individual workloads orchestrated together in order to ensure the data you want to save is successfully transmitted to and stored in the back end system. We can understand the need for each kind of capacity by looking at the journey that your file might take in such a scenario. Starting on your device, a network connection, some processing, and finally storage capacity are all involved in providing the conditions that allow you to retrieve that file later.
## Network
Networking takes place over cellular connections, wifi, and wired internet lines to move data from one place to another. For our purposes here, those details aren't so important—we'll focus on what happens once communication is completed by whatever means.
<br>
When you connect to the cloud storage service, there are network workloads that transmit your data to the appropriate services that process and store it. This might consist of some routing and also authentication that ensures that you and only you access the files that are associated with your account. On the Grid, we provide primitives for secure peer to peer communication and also for allowing public access to back end services.
## Compute
Compute is what happens with data once it reaches its destination. Computers are mostly just fancy adding machines that take numbers and turn them into other numbers according to a set of specifications, which we call software. In our example, the compute step might involve compressing the information so it takes up less space and also deriving some useful statistics like the file's original size.
<br>
Of course, there are many details we're glossing over here, and the compute resources are ultimately responsible for providing much of our end user experience and the interactivity of the apps we utilize. 3Nodes offer a compute environment that natively runs the vast majority of workloads in use today.
## Storage
Storage, of course, is the disk space where data resides. It can be a little strange to think about, actually, that all of the information you've stored online actually has at least one physical location where it exists as many small electrical charges. On the Grid, application developers can access the disks of nodes directly, in a way that's optimized for energy efficiency.
<br>
We also have more advanced storage solutions that offer unparalleled security and low overhead redundancy, giving users the best possible guarantee that only they have access to their data and that it will actually be there when they go to retrieve it.
## Looking Forward
Taken together, network, storage, and compute are the raw elements that give life to the internet we know and love. On the ThreeFold Grid, these elements are expressed in a way that's both familiar for developers but also pushes the limits of what is possible in terms of technical evolution.
<br>
Thanks so much for joining me on this introductory overview of what the Grid provides. Please join me next time for a deeper dive on some of what we've covered and more specifics about how ThreeFold technology represents a quantum leap for cloud computing.

78
content/blog/2021/07/post-4/index.md Normal file
View File

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
---
title: "Into the Fold – The ThreeFold Movement" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
description: "The ThreeFold Movement
excerpt: It's not by mistake that you're here, reading this post. You can feel that a global shift is happening. And you want to do something about it." # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
date: 2021-07-20
updated: 2021-07-20 # 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: [why, community, peer_to_peer]
extra:
subtitle: "" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
author: Sam Taggart
authorImg: /images/people/sam_taggart.jpg
imgPath: images/blog/the_threefold_movement.png
---
It's not by mistake that you're here, reading this post. You, like I, understand that today's systems need to change. You know that decentralization is needed for better wealth distribution and equal opportunities. And that we need better solutions for our planet. You can feel that a global shift is happening. And you want to do something about it. You want to be a part of it.
<br/>
<br/>
You've dreamt of a different world. A world where people trust and treat each other with respect – and where everyone has equal chances to learn and to thrive. A world where we're not just cogs in a machine that serves only the few, rather we work and co-create as part of systems that benefit all. A world where solutions are sustainable for our planet, or even better, regenerative. This world is not just a dream, though – and you're not alone. Each day, more and more like-minded people are coming together. Welcome into the fold.
## Meet the Movement
To understand ThreeFold, you should first understand where we came from. Since the late 90's, some of the ThreeFold co-founders have worked on Internet storage and cloud technology. And after years of building, and many successful launches, they came to understand that they were part of a broken system that was productizing people and damaging the planet. Despite this, they knew that the Internet held and holds the key to a better world, and that the only way to have a truly sovereign, secure, and energy-efficient Internet was to start from scratch. So we did.
<br/>
<br/>
This is how our story began – and over the past four years we have grown and expanded a team of like-minded and passionate people from around the world to bring ThreeFold to life. But for us, we are still in the beginning of something much bigger to come.
<br/>
<br/>
We don't consider ourselves a company, rather a group of humans helping other humans – and our planet. We believe the world needs to change, and we choose to not just talk, but act, to make that change happen. We cannot and would not want to do this alone. There is a strong, passionate, and growing community around us – partners, farmers, ambassadors, technology testers, other contributors, and supporters just like you.
## Our Mission, Vision, and Values Drive us Forward
Our mission is to build and expand a data-sovereign and planet-positive Internet owned by the people, for the people. This will enable equal chances for people around the world to learn, partake and succeed, and will help to heal our planet.
<br/>
<br/>
Engrained into the work that we do are three key values or principles:
<br/>
<br/>
We believe in **sovereignty**, and in protecting people. Everyone should own their data, and no one else, not even ThreeFold. Our peer-to-peer technology allows every user to be data sovereign – giving them 100% control over their data.
<br/>
<br/>
We believe that everyone should be given **equal chances** to learn, partake and succeed. Internet access is a human right, and at ThreeFold we commit to scale our technology to new regions to empower the unconnected.
<br/>
<br/>
And we unify our practices, partnerships, and products around a single mission – to **heal our planet**. By making our technology actionable, we enable a collective approach to have an impact together.
## Together, We Invite the World Into the Fold
It's important for others to understand who we are. Thus, we identify with and embody three key attributes as a collective, to show the world what the movement is all about:
<br/>
<br/>
**ThreeFold is purposeful.** We exist to help humanity thrive. Our mission is bold and motivates every step we take. We adapt to our evolving environment and passionately strive for excellence.
<br/>
<br/>
**ThreeFold is empowering.** We help people find themselves and do what they love. We provide support to people and projects that help build a better world, whether they have moonshot visions or down-to-earth ambitions. We aren’t the hero of our story – they are.
<br/>
<br/>
**ThreeFold is approachable.** ThreeFold keeps it real. We’re open and honest, avoiding upstage corporate language and phony marketing spins. We don’t see ourselves as a company, but more like humans helping other humans. So being genuine, friendly, and loving comes naturally.
<br/>
<br/>
In its essence, the movement is open and inviting. We've created **a participatory Internet economy**, where anybody around the world can plug in a 3Node and add capacity to the ThreeFold Grid. Together, we're expanding a data sovereign and planet positive Internet infrastructure, owned by the people, across geographical and cultural borders.
<br/>
<br/>
We believe in **collaboration, not competition**. Our technology serves as a responsible underlying layer on top of which anybody can build and create. We have [beautiful partners](https://threefold.io/partners) already on board – and [an alliance](https://threefold.io/aci) of conscious people and organizations who share our vision – and we are constantly expanding our ecosystem across industries.
<br/>
<br/>
And while the ThreeFold Foundation is currently the driving force behind the ThreeFold Movement, we believe in **decentralization**. We have open channels like [a forum](https://forum.threefold.io), [a two-way Telegram chat](https://t.me/threefold), Github ([Foundation](https://github.com/threefoldfoundation) & [Tech](https://github.com/threefoldtech/)), and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/threefold_io), where people can and do contribute, ask questions and provide feedback that goes into our everyday decision-making and actions.
<br/>
<br/>
As I said at the start, you've dreamt of a different world. And so have I. John Lennon once said, "A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality." Thank you for dreaming with us. Together, this will happen!
<br/>
<br/>
Photo by Ahmad Odeh on Unsplash.

64
content/blog/2021/07/post-5/index.md Normal file
View File

@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
---
title: "This ThreeFold Farm Keeps Veggies Warm" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
description: "Meet Blockheating"
excerpt: "Somewhere in the Netherlands, a ThreeFold Farm is supporting the growth of vegetable crops such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers." # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
date: 2021-07-23
updated: 2021-07-23 # 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: [why, peer_to_peer, digital_twin, technology]
extra:
subtitle: "" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
author: Roel Van Sabben
authorImg: /images/people/roel_van_sabben.jpg
imgPath: images/blog/blockheating_intro.png
---
Somewhere in the Netherlands, a ThreeFold Farm is supporting the growth of vegetable crops such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. By directing the excess heat generated from the hardware operations to the greenhouse next door, they are able to achieve an incredible model that benefits both hardware and vegetables.
<br/>
<br/>
Jeroen Burks, CEO of Blockheating, tells us everything we need to know about their sustainable farming operations. As far as he can remember, Jeroen has always been a protagonist of the “no waste” approach. He started by recycling material previously used by the tech industry, mainly in the cloud market.
<br/>
<br/>
"By default, most data center operations replace their power supplies every 3 years, no matter the state they are in. They are being replaced to counter any possible downtime."
<br/>
<br/>
By refurbishing and repurposing “old” power units from data centers, he gives them a second life as electric tractor chargers, lithium ION pack chargers, and more.
<br/>
<br/>
"You just need to trick the unit into thinking it is still powering servers, add some cables here and there, and it is ready for duty."
<br/>
<br/>
His quest towards sustainability started when he was challenged on a pilot project. His friend had bought a new building and was looking for the most sustainable approach to heating it. Jeroen came up with the idea of putting two server racks in the basement and using the heat from that operation, to heat the offices and spaces above. While this project was a success, Jeroen realised that it could be way more efficient, if done with other structures.
<br/>
<br/>
He quickly engaged with a second pilot project where he used two server racks to heat a small greenhouse. This model turned out to be a great combination, which benefited both hardware, as well as farming operations. And so sprouted ‘Blockheating’ -- a data center that provides heat for tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Why specifically these vegetables? Well, the Netherlands has a fair amount of greenhouses cultivating them, and these ‘veggies’ need that heat during summer nights.
<br/>
<br/>
Right now Blockheating has around 400 compute nodes with direct cooling that stores all the heat in a buffer throughout the day, which is then released into the greenhouses during the night hours.
"By doing it the way we do, we grow the internet grid, help grow vegetables and curb fossil fuel usage – in carbon negative compute power!"
<br/>
<br/>
Right now, Blockheating has a portion of their data center dedicated to ThreeFold Farming for a few reasons:
<br/>
<br/>
- The alignment of values is huge
- ThreeFold Farming is easy to manage
- ThreeFold Farming counters wasteful behavior of internet resources, so it's a triple win
<br/>
Blockheating envisions to scale up-to three data centers of this kind, in an interconnected way, with a fiber ring between them. By doing so, they will be able to increase their offering and have a larger impact on countering the wasteful patterns of the cloud industry.
<br/>
<br/>
ThreeFold is proud to have Blockheating as a ‘State-of-the-Art’ Farmer and Partner, and hopes to see many more people and companies inspired by Blockheating around the world, to expand the ‘People’s Internet’ in a regenerative way.
<br/>
<br/>
Find out more about Blockheating here: [https://blockheating.com/](https://blockheating.com/)
<br/>
Find out more about our partners here: [https://threefold.io/partners](https://threefold.io/partners)

65
content/blog/2021/07/post-6/index.md Normal file
View File

@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
---
title: "Building a New Internet From the Ground Up – Part 2: Storage" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
description: "Part two of an approachable series on the inner workings of the ThreeFold Grid. This time, storage" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
date: 2021-07-28
updated: 2021-07-28 # 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: [foundation,farming,cloud]
tags: [threefold_grid,technology,peer_to_peer]
extra:
subtitle: "" # Quotation marks allow colons, semicolons, etc.
author: Scott Yeager
authorImg: /images/people/scott_yeager.jpg
imgPath: images/blog/building_a_new_internet_2.png
---
Welcome back for the second part of this introductory series on ThreeFold Grid technology. [Last time](https://threefold.io/blog/post/an_intro_to_the_threefold_grid/) we took a high level view of all that the Grid offers. This time, we'll be zooming in on storage, covering the low level components and how they can provide a familiar experience like the cloud "drives" and "boxes" we use today.
<br/>
<br/>
The ThreeFold Grid offers several different storage primitives that can be combined in various ways to meet the needs of developers and end users of Grid capacity. Ultimately, all storage services are a way of presenting the underlying hardware to software workloads in various ways, according to the desired features. ThreeFold has created a few unique storage offerings, providing distinct benefits over legacy cloud infrastructure. From the start, every component has been designed for optimal efficiency and they work together to offer an unprecedented level of security.
<br/>
<br/>
Our most basic storage primitive is a "volume", which simply offers some disk space to an application in a generic way. We'll focus more on the innovative solutions that are built on the Zero Database, or Zdb. These are compatible with existing use cases but also represent a quantum leap forward for privacy and security. They are called Zdbfs, Zstor, and QSFS. Let's take a look at each component and how they work together to provide a complete set of tools for developers building on the Grid. We'll also see why this matters to end users of services that are hosted on the Grid.
## Zdb
Zdb is a low level offering that implements with a subset of features from the popular Redis protocol. It is a key-value store, which means that information is indexed like a dictionary. Each "word" in the database is associated with a "definition" or piece of data. Zdb is super fast and efficient, along with operating in an "append only" manner. This means that all new data is added to empty space following the end of existing data, never overwritten. It's like writing in pen on paper without leaving any white space.
<br/>
<br/>
Append only has many advantages, including extending the life of certain hardware and offering archiving features out of the box. The disadvantage, of course, is that old data is retained even when no longer needed. However, this can be addressed by periodically "compacting" the data, to remove what's no longer needed and restructure what remains with the same level of efficiency. We use Zdb as a base layer for more complex storage implementations that benefit from these features.
## Zdbfs
While Zdb has all of those neat properties, it requires that applications utilize a specific database interface. To expand its capabilities, we have the Zdb Filesystem. With Zdbfs, the back end Zdb is exposed through the most common interface used for storing and retrieving data: a filesystem. This is the same format we're all familiar with from the file explorers on our computers. When running Zdbfs, a new "folder" appears on the system, allowing reading and writing to the connected Zdb without any concern for the underlying database. With Zdbfs, nearly all existing tools for working with data can be plugged in to and benefit from the advantages of Zdb.
## Zstor
So far, we've been discussing solutions that utilize storage space on a single node only. While this offers flexibility for developers with a variety of needs, it is also limited in the sense that the failure of a single node would result in the loss of all data. With that in mind, we offer the Zstor solution for spreading data across multiple nodes in a way that provides both resilience against failures and unprecedented security.
<br/>
<br/>
Zstor takes a single file as input, to be stored among a number of nodes as specified in its configuration. The system is flexible and able to cater to different needs for performance, redundancy, and geographical distribution. Understanding what happens behind the scenes requires a little math, but I'll provide as simple an explanation as I can. Zstor has a very unique property: it does not actually upload any of the user's data to the back end nodes, but it is able to reconstruct the data later based on the descriptive information that is stored.
### The magic of erasure encoding
Sounds like magic? Well, let's explore briefly how this is possible. Zstor relies on a technology known as erasure encoding, which was originally designed to protect data against errors that sometimes occur in the normal operation of computer hardware. Rather than simply making copies of the data as backups, a clever scheme is used to efficiently offer the same benefit. With basic redundancy, four extra copies would be needed to accommodate four failures without a loss of data. Erasure encoding can accomplish the same failure tolerance using less than half the space needed for the original data.
<br/>
<br/>
While erasure encoding can be implemented by storing the data itself along with some extra data known as "parity", it can also be implemented without storing the original data at all. As a simplified example, let's say that we want to store the number 13. First, we take each digit individually, 1 and 3. Next, we calculate 1 + 3 = 4 and 3 - 1 = 2. By storing 4 and 2, along with the instructions to reverse these calculations, we have everything needed to get back to 13. If we add one more equation, say 1 - 3 = -2, we can restore the original data using any two of the numbers we've computed.
<br/>
<br/>
Each of our values would be stored on separate nodes, while the instructions to recombine them would be stored in yet another location. If an attacker were to compromise one of these nodes, they would only have a number that's meaningless without the other elements. If a single node fails, the original data can be restored using the remaining nodes, and we can add a new node to bring us back to our desired state. By tuning these values, additional security or redundancy can be achieved. We might decide that we want 9 of 10 values to be present for reconstruction, representing a high level of security. Alternatively, a 2 of 10 arrangement would provide high redundancy, tolerating the failure of 8 nodes.
## Quantum Safe Filesystem
With all of these components working together, we have ThreeFold's flagship storage solution, the Quantum Safe Filesystem or QSFS. It uses Zstor to backup data written to a Zdbfs. This provides the convenient and highly compatible filesystem interface along with the exceptional security and redundancy benefits of Zstor. We call it quantum safe, because even an attacker with a quantum computer would not be able to decode users' data, if they managed to hack into one of the back end nodes—already an extraordinary feat given the exceptional security of Zero OS.
## Bringing it home
So, we've toured a good bit of technology which might be feeling a bit abstract at this point. Bringing this home, our front end experience with these technologies can feel no different than any of the "drives" and "boxes" we use to store our files in the cloud. In fact, ThreeFold has already developed a prototype file browser based on QSFS which has many cool features like editing documents and viewing media directly in the web interface. It's one piece of a full suite of solutions we're excited to showcase and invite the community to test soon.
<br/>
<br/>
I hope you found this piece informative and approachable. Thanks for joining me to learn and explore the wonderful world of ThreeFold technology. We'll cover more aspects of what makes it all tick in future parts of this series. Do you have questions or feel like chatting about what's possible with ThreeFold's technology? We'd love to hear from you on [our forum](https://forum.threefold.io) or in [our Telegram group](https://t.me/threefold).