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Sebastiaan van der Lans

On WordPress, Blockchain, Timestamps & Trust

Transcript: Brendan Blumer at DC Blockchain Summit

Brendan Blumer of Block.one discusses the state of the blockchain ecosystem and its effect on government, regulation, and digital commerce at the Washington DC Blockchain Summit, hosted by The Chamber of Digital Commerce and Georgetown University’s Center for Financial Markets and Policy on March 6-7, 2019.

As it’s full of valuable quotes (like many of his talks), I wrote this searchable transcript, including a table of content:

  • What is blockchain, and why is it important today?
  • What’s the difference between Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies? 
  • Blockchain for Government
  • The Effect of Blockchain on National Security and Military
  • Blockchain Mass adoption
    • Blockchain is Putting a Monetization Model around Open Source Communities
    • The Blockchain Alternative to Facebook
  • Example: An Insurance Company on the Blockchain
  • Retail Banking and Blockchain
  • Influencer Marketing and Blockchain
  • Can Bitcoin fix Hyperinflation?
  • The Role of Blockchain in Cybersecurity
  • What’s Beyond Blockchain?
  • Performance in Distributed Systems
  • Governance in Inter-blockchain Communication
Continue reading “Transcript: Brendan Blumer at DC Blockchain Summit”
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansJanuary 7, 2020July 16, 2020Posted inContent TimestampsLeave a comment on Transcript: Brendan Blumer at DC Blockchain Summit

Transcript: Terry Shane – “By 2025, IoT exceeds 100 Billion Devices”

It’s estimated that by 2025, there will be 100 Billion global IoT devices, sending data and transferring value in the new Machine-to-Machine reality. As everything becomes a “smart device” in the coming Economy of Things, what will be the underlying protocol that makes this all work?

I found this presentation by Terry Shane at the end of 2018. Although I’m not actively following the IOTA project, I really like the automotive future and use-cases he explained in this presentation on the Internet of Things and Distributed Ledger Technology.

Here’s a table of content of the presentation, I especially loved the data-part and the automotive example:

  • Predicting the Future
  • The Next Generation Distributed Ledger beyond Blockchain
  • By 2025, IoT will exceed 100 Billion Connected Devices
  • Data is the New Oil
  • The Blockchain Bottleneck
  • The Tangle was developed for the Internet of Things
  • Overcoming the limitations of Blockchain
  • Use-case: Autonomous Economic Agents (automotive example)
  • IOTA as the Settlement Network for Transportation
  • Radical Business Model Innovation
  • The bIOTAspere Co-Creation Lab
Continue reading “Transcript: Terry Shane – “By 2025, IoT exceeds 100 Billion Devices””
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansJanuary 5, 2020January 5, 2020Posted inContent TimestampsLeave a comment on Transcript: Terry Shane – “By 2025, IoT exceeds 100 Billion Devices”

Transcript: Matt Mullenweg, Interview at WordCamp Europe (2017)

At WordCamp Europe 2017, Matt Mullenweg was interviewed by Om Malik, followed by a Q&A with the WordCamp visitors. They extensively discussed the open web, the WordPress editor ‘Gutenberg’ and WordPress’s future as an operating system for the independent web, among other gems like Matt’s take on ethics in acquisitions in the world of open-source.

Matt Mullenweg, Interview by interview by Om Malik, followed by a Q&A at WordCamp Europe 2017.

In this fully searchable transcript, I highlighted my favorite insights and quotes, and I added a table of contents to improve your user experience. Here you go:

  • Introducing the WordPress Editor Gutenberg
  • Why a new editor? Why Gutenberg?
  • WordPress as an Operating System for Social Media
  • The Open Web in Five to Ten Years
  • The Open Web in a world with Touch, Gestures, and Voice Control
  • WordPress as a Decentralized Search Engine
  • Ethics of Open-Source Acquisitions
  • Google AMP and the Open Web
  • Gutenberg as a Competitive Advantage
  • Will WordPress adopt Web Mention among other Web Standards?
  • Improving WordPress’s Security and Code Standards
  • Why the WordPress Community Learns JavaScript Deeply
Continue reading “Transcript: Matt Mullenweg, Interview at WordCamp Europe (2017)”
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansJanuary 5, 2020January 29, 2020Posted inContent TimestampsLeave a comment on Transcript: Matt Mullenweg, Interview at WordCamp Europe (2017)

Transcript: Steve Jobs at Apple’s WWDC 1997

In 1997, at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC 1997), Steve Jobs did a legendary Q&A. It gives valuable insights into both Apple, as in the art of marketing and development as a whole. I improved and fine-tuned this transcript and added a table of content to make the many valuable quotes searchable and easy to navigate through. Enjoy!

Table of content for Steve Jobs’ WWDC 1997 Q&A:

  • Focusing is About Saying NO
  • The Press and the Stock Price will Take Care of Themselves
  • Proprietary Software versus Adopting Open Standards
  • Being Better is More Important than Being Different
  • From Local Storage to Cloud Storage
  • Gigabit Ethernet Enables Cloud Storage
  • Implement A Vision Faster Through End-to-End Product Design
  • Opportunities for the Software Developer Ecosystem
  • Software Development and App Marketing
  • How to Compete with Industry Leaders: Build What You and your Friends Want
  • Apple Competing Microsoft
  • Pricing and Licensing Apple’s Operating System Rhapsody
  • Empowering Developers to Serve the Market
  • Programmer Productivity
  • Controlling Hardware
  • Marketing Apple with Television, PR, and Newspapers
  • Start with the customer experience, work backward to the technology
  • How to Convince Corporates to Stay with Experimental Software
  • Focussing on Connectivity, instead of Individual Computers
  • Reorganizing and Managing Apple
Continue reading “Transcript: Steve Jobs at Apple’s WWDC 1997”
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansJanuary 3, 2020February 1, 2020Posted inContent Timestamps1 Comment on Transcript: Steve Jobs at Apple’s WWDC 1997

Transcript: Brendan Blumer & Dan Larimer on Voice.com, “Social media has not been a good friend to us”

Block.One is a leader in the blockchain industry. Brendan Blumer is its CEO, and Dan Larimer its CTO. On June 1st, 2019, they announced Voice.com, the blockchain-based social media platform they’re building. As Brendan stated: Social media has not been a good friend to us. It was designed to use its users.

They also revealed the first Voice.com marketing message:

  • Unfriend bots;
  • Unlike shady algorithms;
  • Unfollow being followed;
  • Voice.

Like many of their presentations, this keynote was packed with wonderful insights and quotes. Their thinking truly helps the general blockchain industry forward, that’s why I invest time in properly transcribing them, to make their thoughts searchable and quotable!

Continue reading “Transcript: Brendan Blumer & Dan Larimer on Voice.com, “Social media has not been a good friend to us””
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansJanuary 2, 2020April 26, 2020Posted inContent TimestampsLeave a comment on Transcript: Brendan Blumer & Dan Larimer on Voice.com, “Social media has not been a good friend to us”

Transcript: Brock Pierce – Where does Blockchain Go?

One of the great thinkers in the blockchain space is Brock Pierce. Although I started working with blockchain in 2013, I really started to grasp its potential after seeing this keynote by Brock Pierce in 2017.

Here’s a fully searchable transcript, enriched with slides where I found that relevant.

To improve your experience in navigating the amazing insights and quotes he shared, here’s a table of contents:

  • 3 Macro Trends Enabling Blockchain / Open Source Adoption
  • Distributed Systems, the Spider and the Starfish
  • Financing Blockchain Technology: Venture Capital versus ICO’s
  • Regulation in the Blockchain Space
  • Replacing The Centralized Corporation Model
  • Decentralized Autonomous Communities
  • How To Start A Community, A Movement
  • How to Pitch a Blockchain Project
  • Improving on ICO’s Ethics
  • Blockchain will Replace the old Internet
  • Competition and Integrity
Continue reading “Transcript: Brock Pierce – Where does Blockchain Go?”
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansDecember 27, 2019January 29, 2020Posted inContent TimestampsLeave a comment on Transcript: Brock Pierce – Where does Blockchain Go?

Matt Mullenweg at CB Insights: “Open-source ‘eventually’ dominates every sector it enters.”

I have been a big fan of Matt Mullenweg’s work for more than a decade. In this fireside chat at CB Insights, at the end of 2017, he gives some great insight into WordPress (which he co-founded in 2003), Automattic (the company behind WordPress.com, which received a $300M investment from Salesforce in 2019, at a $3 billion post-money valuation) and his vision on the open web.

With the rise of social networks and closed platforms, Automattic’s mission statement has never sounded so important. It wants to build a strong foundation to empower content creators for decades to come.

Automattic is creating the operating system for the web, from websites to e-commerce to social networks.

Here’s a fully searchable transcript of the fireside chat, discussing:

  • WordPress’ Marketshare and Ecosystem
  • An Independent Platform, to Own Your Destination
  • Open-source Eventually Dominates the Sectors it Enters
  • Regulations and Monopolies
  • Distributed Work
Continue reading “Matt Mullenweg at CB Insights: “Open-source ‘eventually’ dominates every sector it enters.””
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansDecember 24, 2019April 27, 2020Posted inContent TimestampsLeave a comment on Matt Mullenweg at CB Insights: “Open-source ‘eventually’ dominates every sector it enters.”

Transcript: Facebook’s Dopamine-Driven Feedback Loops

Social media has not been a good friend to us. Here are transcripts with insightful quotes on how social media are exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.

In the video, there are quotes by Sean Parker and Chamath Palihapitiya, both were former-executives at Facebook. I made a transcription of the full video, to make their quotes and insights searchable.

  • Quotes Sean Parker
  • Quotes Chamat Palihapitiya
Continue reading “Transcript: Facebook’s Dopamine-Driven Feedback Loops”
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansDecember 22, 2019January 2, 2020Posted inContent TimestampsLeave a comment on Transcript: Facebook’s Dopamine-Driven Feedback Loops

The Decade of Open-Source (2020-2030); Let’s Fix the Web, Together!

Roadmap for The Decade of Open-Source (2020 to 2030):
Let’s Fix the Broken Web, Together!

You made it; welcome to this fresh new decade!

Looking back at 30 years of the internet, we should be proud. Mankind’s achievements are enormous. We have perfectly organized everything in the world, mostly user-friendly at the same time. With Google we find information, we use Facebook and LinkedIn to organize the people in our lives, and we travel with platforms like Uber.

Without the vigorous leadership of giants like these, we would have been nowhere near today’s state.

At the same time, some people feel that the web as we know it is broken. Our devices are optimized to misuse the attention of our beloved ones. Others feel exploited by corporations or affected in our democracies. Recent research by IPSOS learns that people in Europe experience an increasing amount of distrust towards the internet.

However, this will not be a sad story. I’m hopeful and optimistic that 80-90% of all the problems we face with the internet, can be fixed in the coming 10 to 25 years. However, I do believe that the coming decade is a crucial one.

I work full-time with open-source software for over a decade (I co-founded my WordPress agency in 2006), actively contributing (WP GDPR, 1,3M+ downloads & Laraberg, bringing WordPress’ editor to Laravel). From that perspective, I thought it would be valuable to remix powerful insights and quotes of thought leaders in open-source; plotting a roadmap for the new decade.

As the opportunity we have fascinates me, I hereby declare this the Decade of Open-Source. #DecadeofOpenSource

Why should 2020-2030 be the Decade of Open Source?

  • The web as we know it is broken (plagiarism, revisionism, click-baiting, exploitation, fake news, mass manipulation, democracy is at risk…), but …
  • … at the same time, building blocks, big thinkers and best practices are in place to start decently fixing a lot of these problems in the coming 10 years.

“I believe Open Source to be the only way to build a pro-privacy, anti-monopoly, open web.” stated Dries Buytaert, founder of the Drupal CMS. And I couldn’t agree more.

Last June, I gave a presentation for 2,500 developers called “From WordPress to blockchain, the Future is 100% Open Source” at the world’s largest WordPress conference. This article, published at the dawn of the new decade (2020 to 2030), is a follow-up to this presentation.

Let’s Fix the Broken Web, Together.

Here’s how:

  • The Urgency for a Decade of Open Source
  • Adoption of Alternatives to Society-Critical Platforms
  • What we do at WordProof
  • Join the Movement! #DecadeofOpenSource
Continue reading “The Decade of Open-Source (2020-2030); Let’s Fix the Web, Together!”
Posted bySebastiaan van der LansDecember 19, 2019June 11, 2020Posted inContent TimestampsLeave a comment on The Decade of Open-Source (2020-2030); Let’s Fix the Web, Together!

4 Solutions to Fix the Broken Web

Utrecht, The Netherlands – Last Thursday, Blockchain Netherlands organized a meetup dedicated to blockchain timestamping. I presented our vision on how Content Timestamps have the ability to redefine the web as we know it while bringing back integrity. Let’s fix the web, together!

Here’s a summary of my presentation, including four ways to fix the broken web, today:

4 Solutions to Fix the Broken Web with Content Timestamps:

  1. With an Open Source platform like WordPress, as a Publisher or Merchant, you are resilient against Censorship. #OwnYourData
  2. Timestamping an Open Source Fingerprint of this content and its revisions with blockchain, so you have a Proof of Existence; a Certificate of Birth.
  3. Make this Content Timestamp Verifiable by any Human in an Open Source manner; reader, buyer etc.
  4. Make this Content Timestamp Verifiable by any Machine in an Open Source manner; Search Engines, Social Media, etc.

I ended the presentation with WordProof’s plans for 2020 (spoiler: we plan to roll WordProof out to other communities like Drupal).

As extra resources, here are the slides, my vision on timestamps for SEO via Schema.org and 10 reasons why content timestamps matter.

Any questions? Leave a comment below or hook me or WordProof up on Twitter!

Ready to try WordProof? Go for it!
We currently have a free plan too!

Posted bySebastiaan van der LansDecember 18, 2019February 8, 2020Posted inContent TimestampsLeave a comment on 4 Solutions to Fix the Broken Web

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