Brave Browser, a popular blockchain-enabled web browser, has integrated native support of InterPlanetary File System, or IPFS, to strengthen the access to the decentralized web. According to a Jan. 19 announcement, Brave has integrated IPFS into its desktop web browser for Windows, macOS and Linux, enabling users to install the protocol in a couple of clicks. IPFS is a peer-to-peer hypermedia protocol designed to make the web faster, safer, and more open. The protocol aims to supplement or possibly even replace the Hypertext Transfer Protocol, or HTTP, which is a major client-based protocol used to transfer web pages across a …
Decentralization is not a luxury; it is a necessity. In a prescient article in The Atlantic back in 2012, science fiction writer Bruce Sterling referred to the likes of Amazon, Facebook and Google as “The Stacks,” predicting the insidious power grab that has happened in the last decade. As the giant tech companies consume more and more of our lives, the fact that technologies that enable us to push back against them are being developed is not only encouraging: it is essential. Since Bitcoin (BTC) began the process of decentralizing payments in 2010, we have seen the process of disintermediation …
The failures of centralization in protecting individual and business data have been highlighted repeatedly over the past few years. Facebook, Google, Twitter, Microsoft, Sony and many more have all faced large-scale data hacks that have exposed the private information (and more) of their customers. The problem is not just data theft — banks, financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges have all suffered at the hands of malicious actors. Yet, huge amounts of information about our lives and livelihoods are still entrusted to centralized organizations, simply because that has always been the way things are done. With the onset of Web 3.0, …
With the coronavirus pandemic forcing many businesses to adopt work-from-home policies, the demand for video conferencing programs appears to have increased. Indeed, by late April, video conference app Zoom was seeing 300 million daily meeting participants, a 50% rise from the 200 million recorded at the start of the month. Amid its growing popularity, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed significant privacy flaws with Zoom. SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, even reportedly banned employees from using the software on account of these vulnerabilities. Blockchain projects are now getting into the video conferencing arena, looking to leverage the novel …
It is hard to resist the vision spun to us by Meta (formerly Facebook) and other virtual world platforms. A digital utopia that can transform lives in multiple ways — whether how we socialize, work or even stay healthy — is a hard one to refuse. This is especially true when considering that these platforms are being described as the biggest technological disruption to human life and a multi-trillion dollar opportunity for businesses. However, there is skepticism from some that this is all too good to be true — at least for now. The technological architecture that would allow this …