Sunday, June 18, 2017

ERC20 token fees on Ethereum network - gas, spam, usability, mass adoption

I've first heard of BTC for the first time in the Wired magazine - article about Silk Road, back then BTC was valued at $13.

I've purchased my first BTC for £73.

I remember bubble of 2013 and emotions related to it.

I remember Ethereum crowdsale but because I wasn't in the first two weeks (2000 ETH per BTC) I skipped that privilege.

I remember DAO, security concerns, hack, hard fork... I actually managed to sell my tokens just before.

This time I've applied for every possible credit card with 0% interest (at some point they started rejecting me) and invested into crypto, but I'm not a great trader and converted some of the gains back into paper money for the repayment fund... Way too early, I poorly assessed state of the market (phases of a bubble) and missed very substantial gains.
(now I understand that it wasn't a bubble, crypto is here to stay for the long haul)

Now I'm back in the game, writing about ICO  - icofomo.com - as well as sharing some lessons about trading - my blog on Steemit - I should actually stick to my own advice and not to trade - invest in a few coins and celebrate in 2020.

I never got a chance to properly learn Solidity (update June 2018: it is changing, welcome to the new reality), I always assumed there are better programmers than me and my unique skillset is somewhere on the intersection of media, technology and connecting experiences. At some in my life I downloaded Chromium source code, compiled it and realised - I'll let the geniuses do the heavy lifting and I'll stand on the shoulders of the giants.

Right now we have a number of ways of releasing own currency, own token on Ethereum or other platforms. Here are some options:

• Ethereum native: ethereum.org/token
• wavesplatform.com - probably one of the first to be fully operational
• Expanse: TOKENLAB
• iconomi.net + cofound.it
• bancor.network

Next month list probably will be much longer and unless it is your core job as a journalist in the space you'll never keep up.

I had a question about the fees... How to send ERC20 token?

It's non-obvious: https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/questions/11818/paying-a-transaction-fee-with-an-erc20-token/11819

In essence - even though you have some token, you still need to own ETH... The official documentation suggests sending small portion of ETH with each transfer of the token, so that there is always enough to pay for the fees:

Ethereum is likely to evolve from PoW to PoS and there are many proposals in the making, the one from the image above is posted here.

Waves is also requiring fee for transfer:

I've posted to Bancor Slack and it seems like there is some fee involved after all as well:


I genuinely believe it is an interesting problem: 
• No fees allow spamming network.
• Aurorefill as suggested in the docs - expensive - also subject to spam.
• Fees denominated in ETH while holding ERC20 - not practical.

It would be nice if miners knew that certain ERC20 have some value and captures small portion of it, rather than requiring ETH... But then that opens a whole universe of problems related to the exchange rate and which transactions should be included on the blockchain (again spam problem).

Fees in ETH are problematic for mass adoption and usability of local currencies - I'm genuinely keen to learn how 

Some another, silly, potentially ridiculous ideas that came to my mind:
• Centralised server sending just enough ETH to complete transaction?
• Off-chain transaction resolution?
• Proof-of-burn and tokens sent from another location?

Update June 2018: Pay Protocol by Aragon Labs - https://github.com/aragonlabs/pay-protocol

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

7 reasons why you DON'T Psychedelic Coming Out Day

19 April

Also known as Bicycle Day:

April 19, 1943, Hoffmann performed a self-experiment to determine the true effects of LSD, intentionally ingesting 0.25 milligrams (250 micrograms) of the substance. - source wikipedia

Bicycle Day is celebrated in San Francisco - FB event.

National Coming Out Day is organised by Psychedelic Society in the UK - FB event - but I don't and you shouldn't either.

1. Politicians are in a better position to assess what is allowed to happen within confinement of your body

Some guys in the suits who went to expensive private schools know better how to keep society under control. Stay obedient and don't confront the authority, just don't take psychedelics.


2. Mainstream media are already putting illegal drugs everywhere



  a) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foE1mO2yM04 - This video (screenshot above) has 77 millions views...
  b) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsr-QfgFRh8 - Silicon Valley (on HBO)
  c) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_(The_X-Files) - see the plot from X-files (Fox)
Manstream media, establishment and Hollywood got it covered, they are planting a seed so no big deal.

UPDATE:
  d) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg00YEETFzg - 592 millions view

3. It's almost legal anyway

As of October 2016 there are five US states with legal cannabis (Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, DC). There are three countries in Europe (Portugal, Netherlands, Czech Republic) with rather permissive laws.

UPDATE: I November 2016 - California, Nevada and Massachusetts vote to legalize recreational marijuana - via Guardian

MAPS - Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies - is working with FDA - Federal Drug Administration - on allowing MDMA to be used in Assisted Psychotherapy. They estimate it will happen in 2021 so no big drama about coming out Today.

Or you can just travel to Amazon jungle and drink Ayahuasca with native tribes. No big deal, that's a major branch of their economy now

4. There are no similarities with prohibition or same sex marriage

Go figure what was happening during the prohibition. Guys like Al Capone were reaping all the profits. And same sex people were in love regardless the law. Psychedelics are deeply embedded in the human nature across all the continents - different plants in different climates - do you really want to make nature illegal? Good idea, let's cut some more rainforest to feed all the animals that will be converted to burgers.

5. You shouldn't listen to drug abusing counterculture criminal, even when he is invited to speak at Google

Rick is such a badass. 30 years and still on a mission. He mentioned Psychedelic Coming Out on a couple of occassions:

Start at 2m14s: "Massive coming out of people who have done psychedelics who have accomplished a lot..."
Start at 45m37s: anonymous donor who pledged $1m would come out if 1000 people joined...

Highest appraisals and compliments to this guy but sorry, you shouldn't listen to him - he is a drug abusing counterculture criminal so no go.
A photo posted by Michal Stefanow ✨💖✨ (@stefek99) on

6. Scientist are already announcing revolutionary studies at Royal Society so you shouldn’t be bothered

Every freakin' media outlet was reporting on LSD research. It only prooves that majority of media, fashion, advertisement, culture people have very good connection with the source. Just don't coming out, please don't bother.

7. Don't trust science because if you look really hard you'll find anything really.

Urban legend says that in one research scientists were afraid to administed LSD to some animals and eventually they mixed it with sedatives. There were some side effects that were accounted as dangers of psychedelics. Look at this study - Retracted article on dopaminergic neurotoxicity of MDMA - that lead to a new law - Rave ACT - look back at 3... Of course they know better so sit quiet, everything is under control.

Cannabis became illegal to stigmatise Mexican immigrants. Drop Acid Not Bombs - probably that was the only way to keep the war in Vietnam going.

In 2016 we have worldwide psychedelic renaissance and it is so cool to be alive in this moment...

(life is good)

And BTW

I don't Bicycle Day and I don't Psychedelic Coming Out Day (you shouldn't too). Action speak louder than words:

  • Take whole family to Boom, a psychedelic mecca in Portugal with a much more sensible drug policy
  • Crowdfund scientific research - Walacea campaign (brain imaging on LSD) smashed the target of £25000 reaching 214%
  • Meet with pioneers at psychedelic conferences (Beyond Psychedelics, Breaking Convention, Psychedelic Science)
  • Fly to amazon jungle and participate in shamanic ceremonies
  • Express your thoughts about "war on consciousness", just search for “banned TED talk”
  • Support financially Psychedelic Salon
  • Surround yourself with visionary art and spreading it to the world
  • Educate others and sharing knowledge (I’m looking for a mentor too)
  • Go to Psychedelic Society meetups (I was to the very first one)

EDIT / UPDATE 7 Sep 2017:
  • Talking about legal history of cannabis:
  • Participating in double blind microdosing study
  • I'm always open to new opportunities, "obstacle is the way" - treating adversity as credential - here is my blockchain CV - I'm for real...

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Syria - climate change - global warming - environmental refugees

A few weeks ago a picture of a boy was all over the place:


At first I was thinking ‪#‎mediapropaganda‬ and ‪#‎newscorporations‬ playing on my emotions. I directed my first attempts towards obtaining reliable source of information. Computer phrase - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_in,_garbage_out - computers operate by logical processes, will unquestioningly process unintended, even nonsensical, input data ("garbage in") and produce undesired, often nonsensical, output ("garbage out")

Human brain is the most powerful computer that we know and I personally adhere to these values - https://genesis.re/wiki#Core_Values - Love, Peace and Respect are on top of the list - I treat them more important than respecting the law (that in some instances is obsolete, while Love, Peace and Respect are above all)

So I was presented with an unprecedented problem. Bombarded by Syria information and having no way of verifying it. And even if I receive a verified information - how do I ensure it presents the larger picture? (not just a view of a wealthy technologist who can afford satellite internet to transmit data)

So here is the root cause

GLOBAL FU**ING WARMING





If we don't stop it - read more on Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_migrant - figure by 2050 might be as high as 250 million

Some of my views are controversial but the way how I see it - if we don't restore balance it will get even worse - it will affect future of planet and it may happen that we reach point of no going back... Where positive feedback loops will kick in:

* white ice cover (that reflects Sun) will melt and transform into ocean (that absorbs heat)
* Siberia will melt and release gases
* speaking of gases - just find some data how much water is required to produce meat - http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/10/how-much-water-food-production-waste - and how much 'gases' are produced in the process

Topic of veganism is completely different story. In fact my moral compass allows me accept responsible use of animal products (don't dwell too much on that). I actually did some research - http://health.stackexchange.com/questions/3660/is-it-healthy-to-eat-meat-of-an-animal-that-died-of-an-old-age - if an animal dies of an old age it might be better for environment to eat it, rather than allow to rot and provide environment for germs. But the animal exploitation on an industrial scale? Not cool. Just to name a few movies exposing the thing:






I highly encourage you to get familiar with work of Daniel Pinchbeck: http://www.pinchbeck.io

I had a privilege of meeting with him on various occasions (in person and online) and I highly appreciate his gift of telling stories.

Breaking Convention: http://www.pinchbeck.io/blog/2015/7/29/psychedelic-initiation-and-the-ecological-mega-crisis-qa-with-russell-brand


Daniel Pinchbeck - Psychedelic Initiation and the Ecological Mega-Crisis from Breaking Convention on Vimeo.

Daniel also announced on his Facebook than a new book is coming: "How Soon Is Now?"

Ecological mega-crisis is an initiation for humanity - much like a shamanic initiation - that will force us, as a species, to reach another level of consciousness, and embody that consciousness in a new social system, as well as a new technical infrastructure.

We must shift our industrial and commercial system away from "planned obsolescence" toward the production of durable and repairable goods. Doing this requires a change in the underlying "game rules" of our financial system.

If we want our civilization to survive - if we want to survive as a species - we will need to reduce meat eating, or eliminate it entirely, and curtail excess travel as well as production of unnecessary goods, reducing our burden on the Earth's natural systems. This is only conceivable through a broad-based, global movement of civil society.

A new social system, a new technical infrastructure

May the the Force be with you.

genesis.re - I don't engage in current affairs, matters, politics, economy - starting from the beginning - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_on_the_shoulders_of_giants - connecting experiences, connecting the dots...

It is not cool to mess with the climate

https://www.climategames.net

(watch the video from the tweet above)

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Google API oauth flow with node.js

I think that video should speak for itself.


I had 25 minutes before I leave for BJJ (brazilian jiu-jitsu) and I was pretty sure I'll manage on time but I've made so many little mistakes in the process and I was a few minutes late. Shame on me - on the other hand I really liked the time constraint and rushing through London.

I should have known better... In reality I make these type of mistakes all the time. I think that it is a nature of work. Don't get me wrong but majority of the people I work with make these type of mistakes too - typos, discrepancies and the true strength is in overcoming challenges and working one step at a time - you probably noticed how many times I've reloaded the browser (all the time).

Enough talking. You have the video, you have the code: https://github.com/stefek99/google-API-demo-tutorial

(readme.md should explain some technical details)

That is just the beginning. You still need to store token somewhere and make actual API calls to use it... From the time perspective everything seems obvious. When starting the amount of components and dependencies can be overwhelming. I knew exactly what to do and even though it took me 37 minutes! (without the video it would be even longer as I would be focusing on other stuff)

 Two major files that make it all possible (server and client):




(full source lives on GitHub and of course remember to keep your tokens, secrets and credentials safe)

Monday, February 2, 2015

Android - Phonegap - Cordova - Plugin - AdMob - Intents

I was recently fiddling with the user flow of an Android app.

It's the location based app so what should happen if location is not available?

Let's go to settings and change it'!

Here is how it looks:

(the demo shows going to settings, dialling a number and showing a full screen AdMob advert)




Source: (hosted on gist)

Trivia:
- Searching for the right plugin: https://github.com/Initsogar/cordova-webintent/issues/42
- Android detection code: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6031412/detect-android-phone-via-javascript-jquery/28236817#28236817 

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Setting CORS (cross origin resource sharing) headers in node.js express app

There is a question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7067966/how-to-allow-cors-in-express-nodejs





The essential part was here:


app.configure(function() {



  // has to be in that order ! ! !



  app.use(cors());



  app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/static'));



 



  // will NOT work like that



  // for files served statically



  // (it took a little while to figure it out)



  



  // app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/static'));



  // app.use(cors());



})
I encourage you to use Nitrous - reflink - because you are up and running in no time, think jsFiddle jsBin codepen plnkr for node apps. On this occasion Rubber Duck method proved itself useful (as always) so no silly questions posted to StackOverflow.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

React Atom (trends in logo design)

Atom by GitHub:

React by Facebook:


[updated] Default icon for apps on Facebook:
[update Wednesday 12 March 2014]



Rocket Yoga by Michal Stefanow:

(actual design work by Mateusz Sarnecki)


I think that apple was first, I remember to use them as reference when crafting the brief:



If we go back to 2011:


I believe I was one of the first to use Cabin Sketch, soon after I started seeing it everywhere! See GoogleTrends graphs below:

Now I expect to see many more logos with atom / nucleus / source / origin / divine / pristine / indigenous / native touches in it :)