Along with all of the scheduled speakers, Blockstack Berlin has also invited some dApp developers to debut/demonstrate their new and exciting decentralized application(s) at the Blockstack Berlin event. The dApps to be presented at the Blockstack Berlin event have either been built or are being built for use on the Blockstack ecosystem.  We have attached – for your convenience – a list of dApp developers scheduled to present at Blockstack Berlin.

This is the second installment of our series of profiles on the dApps (developers too) to be presented at Blockstack Berlin.  Our second dApp profile is on Coins.

Coins

The first decentralized encrypted cryptocurrency portfolio management tool created on top of Blockstack.

Developer (s):

• Thomas Osmonson (profile picture no. 6) – Independent designer, developer, and street photographer. Does a lot of work for @plotlygraphs, and maker of @usecoins.
  
• Chase Wackerfuss (profile picture no. 6) – Web Developer & UI Designer, Musician & recent new hire at Blockstack
  

Version No. 1 was a joint development (live on Blockstack)

Version No. 2 (coming soon) will be developed solely by Thomas Osmonson  (Note: We heard from Mr. Osmonson that Mr. Wackerfuss has gone to work* with Blockstack – wonderful job to both of you.)

Social:

• @aulneau_ (https://twitter.com/aulneau_)
• @vackerfoos (https://twitter.com/vockerfoos)

Website: Coins (Coins)

Social: @usecoins (Coins)

Other:

Thomas Osmonson (An independent designer, developer, and creative director.) for Ineffable.co.

The purpose of Coins is to allow the user to manage the user’s token or coin portfolio in a secure and decentralized way.

Basically, Coins uses the power of Blockstack to bring us a token and coin management application platform that:

• is decentralized, secure and encrypted
• supports multiple currencies, tokens and coins
• provides a powerful metrics UX (user interface)

Coins is the token/coin portfolio management solution – decentralized, secure and encrypted, supports multiple currencies, tokens and coins with a powerful metrics platform and user interface (UX). 

For more on Coins, please visit this link here. For a more personal and close-up look at Coins, please visit with Mr. Osmonson at Blockstack Berlin – go Blockstack Berlin.

So, when you amass a stack of tokens, don’t reach for the piggy bank, think COINS – the secure environment in which to manage those assets. 

Visit the Blockstack Berlin site here.

The post Blockstack Berlin: dApp Developer Presentations – COINS with Thomas Osmonson appeared first on The Stack Cafe™.

Let’s take a quick peek at Coins.  What is Coins?  According to Coins (above screenshot from Coins’ website), Coins is the first encrypted cryptocurrency portfolio management tool (application) created on top of [sg_popup id=”3″ event=”hover”]Blockstack[/sg_popup].   Coins is in beta but fully functional on the Blockstack ecosystem.

The purpose of Coins is to allow the user to manage the user’s token or coin portfolio in a secure and decentralized way.  The Coins application (dApp) provides for both live and historical performance data in a variety of ways: cross-portfolio, by portfolio, by holding, or by token type.  The application also includes multiple views to look over your portfolio – dashboard and activity feed mode for individual portfolios or holdings.  Basically, Coins uses the power of Blockstack to bring us a token and coin management application platform that:

• is decentralized, secure and encrypted
• supports multiple currencies, tokens and coins
• provides a powerful metrics UX (user interface)
  

And, Coins has some exciting new features that will be coming very soon, that include:

• custom reports (e.g., add labels, exchange data, wallet IDs, and more…)
• trading between coins (e.g. to help the user track the performance and opportunity cost)
• custom news (e.g. giving the user insight into current events and investments)
• mobile app interface coming soon too

So, when the user buys those tokens and/or coins and needs a secure environment in which to manage those assets, Coins is the solution – decentralized, secure and encrypted, supports multiple currencies, tokens and coins with a powerful metrics platform and user interface (UX).

And remember, when the user uses Coins in connection with the Blockstack browser (which provides the portal into the Blockstack ecosystem – the new decentralized internet):

1. no one has access to the user’s information (data is encrypted only for the user to see or share…)
2. and the data and storage of the same is controlled by the user (this is done on the storage platform the user selected via blockstack browser (at install or anytime – with multiple storage platforms planned).

To get started with Coins, first make sure you have the Blockstack Browser installed and running (See Blockstack: Getting started… and/or here) along with your Blockstack ID (e.g. thestackcafe.id) you secured in the browser.

Then, navigate to the Coins login button (icon) which will start the application using the Blockstack browser on your local machine (screenshots may be slightly different depending on updates to blockstack browser).

As you can see, the Blockstack link will pop-up to make sure that the user signs in with the Blockstack Browser – the portal to the Blockstack internet ecosystem.

The Sign In Request will appear – as you can see the .id appear will be the user’s Blockstack ID – (e.g. thestackcafe.id).  Next, the user clicks approve to sign-in request and launch the Coins dApp.

Once the sign-in request has been approved and authenticated via Blockstack, the user can start creating a new portfolio of various tokens and/or coins.  In this case, we called our new portfolio – Test: Coinapps on Blockstack (see below)

Once the new portfolio has been created, the Coins dApp will land on the confirmation page and then ask the user to add a new holding – coin or token – Create A Holding.

Below, we see the landing page for the data entry related to the new holding that is being created in our new portfolio Test: Coinsapp on Blockstack.  For illustrative purposes, we will add a bitcoin holding into the appropriate fields and then click – Create Holding.

The next screen – All Portfolios and Holdings, is the place to view the portfolios created and all holdings – coins or tokens – in each portfolio that was created.  In addition, the user can add additional portfolios, view performance metrics – hourly, daily,… and view the portfolio in either a Dashboard view or an Activity Feed as shown below in the respective screenshots.

Activity Feed (see Edit, sell or Delete the coins/tokens) or click Dashboard view to return to the previous screen view.

The Coins dApp also provides some additional settings criteria on the Setting page – e.g., delete or destroy all data (no going back from there).

And, when you are finished managing your token or coin portfolio, and the user signs out, the user will be directed to the initial Login with Blockstack landing page as shown below.

Using Another Browser (not Blockstack’s Browser) – Another way to access the Coins dApp, is by starting on the Coins website.  If the user is on the Coins website, the user can find the login button there too – Log in with Blockstack (see the below screenshot). 

The user will follow similar login procedure as shown above.  The only difference in this instance is that the user could be using another browser on the internet and may want to access the Coins app to manage a particular coin or token portfolio created on the Coins dApp. 

If this is the case, once the user clicks on the Log in with Blockstack tab, the user will be asked via a pop-up page to open the Coins dApp with the Blockstack Browser (the appropriate and only way for the user to avail itself of the full functionality of the Blockstack internet (security, encryption, …).

What a great dApp! Coins has brought the blockstack community the first working decentralized secure and encrypted portfolio management platform for coins or tokens. Go check out Coins and try out the portfolio management application and begin creating some new coin or token portfolios.  Add those tokens and coins.

Note: If you do not have the Blockstack browser, please see this link (note – to enable the full functionality of any dApp built for the Blockstack ecosystem (e.g., building a new internet, a decentralized internet, re-decentralizing the internet) you need to use the Blockstack browser).

Thanks again for visiting The Stack Cafe^TM and we look forward to hearing from you. Please help us put out the word on Web^3.0 by posting a comment below and signing up for e-mail notifications for future updates (right side-bar). Let’s help build the new internet | The Decentralized Way^TM. A decentralized internet | The Way The Future^TM.

The post Blockstack: A New Decentralized App – Coins appeared first on The Stack Cafe™.

The image above (featured image) is the home page for the blockstack browser after you have it installed, configured and running.

1. First you need to go to www.blockstack.org and install the appropriate version of the Blockstack browser (this is an install via Mac OS – Note Linux and Windows are available too):

2. Choose the appropriate version and install the Blockstack Browser.

3. Download and save the file – In this example we are using – Blockstack-for-macos-v0.21.4.dmg (FYI – the latest version is 0.22.1 – See Blockstack Browser Install.

4. Then, move the Blockstack.app into the appropriate folder (e.g., Applications folder in this instance).

5. Begin the install process: e.g., select ID, create password, write down key-chain phrase (DO NOT LOSE THIS ITEM – IMPORTANT), re-enter key-chain phrase … and login) Once installed, click on the blockstack application and the Blockstack Icon will appear in the top menu bar (see right corner – ):

Click on the Get Started tab –

6. Enter an e-mail address:

 

7. Choose a robust password:

8. IMPORTANT! – Write this phrase down and DO NOT LOSE IT if you want to be able to recover your installation (identification) in the instance that you lose it –

• this is important so write it down and keep it in a secure place for your access only:

9. Re-enter the key-chain phrase –

• verification to make sure it has been written down for key-chain recovery and do no show this to anyone else to make sure it is safe and secure (so you and only you can use it to access recovery of your account etc.)

10. Choose a Storage Provider –

• either the default or another storage provider available –
  • at the present time only the default storage provider is available (see next image):

 

 

11. Voila’ – you did it and you are not up and running with the Blockstack browser and can begin using the features presently offered –

• applications etc.:
  • add a username (this is where you can purchase a unique “.id” to use with Blockstack dApps)
    
  • add social site verification
  • use your wallet tied to this identification
  • and other things…
    

 

12. Then, click the Blockstack Icon and a menu will drop down –

• Home
• ID
• Wallet and
• Settings.

13. Click on Home and a new tab or window will open which will resolve to the Blockstack Browser home page.

• Note that the address line – localhost:8888 | Blockstack Browser –
  • which opens the browser to run on the local device – e.g., computer etc.
• On this page you find the various menu items –
  • Home, IDs (view your personal identification code)
  • Wallet (view your personal wallet associated with your unique ID)
  • Settings (various items –
    • storage provider selection
    • change password
    • backup keychain
    • api settings).

Video walk -through: In addition, another Blockstack community member took the time to prepare a great step-by-step video – Walk-through of the Blockstack Browser, December 2017.

Resources re: Blockstack and dApps

• Blockstack
• @blockstack
  • dApps on Blockstack
    • Graphite
    • @graphite

Note: If you do not have the Blockstack browser, please see this link (note – to enable the full functionality of any dApp built for the Blockstack ecosystem (e.g., building a new internet, a decentralized internet, re-decentralizing the internet) you need to use the Blockstack browser).

Thanks again for visiting The Stack Cafe^TM and we look forward to hearing from you. Please help us put out the word on Web^3.0 by posting a comment below and signing up for e-mail notifications for future updates (right side-bar). Let’s help build the new internet | The Decentralized Way^TM. A decentralized internet | The Way The Future^TM.

The post Blockstack: Getting started… appeared first on The Stack Cafe™.

The grid above shows the inter-connected nodes or computers connecting to each other to form the decentralized internet network/grid to send/receive information or data in the early 1970’s.  The images below show how computers talk to one another (via the layer or protocol stack and packets). (See – “How The Internet Works?” – published on Stanford University’s website.)

TWO COMPUTERS CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET

PROTOCOL STACKS AND PACKETS

Today, the modern internet (some 20+ years old from the introduction of “www”) is far more complex in its size and implementation.  Presently, some parts of the internet are decentralized (hardware, IP and TCP) while the application layer (stack) – in particular, has become more and more centralized (e.g., more data controlled by fewer and fewer companies – think social media, search, devices, online commerce, walled-gardens…). The current system with all of the good things is not completely fulfilling its original vision – full decentralization (i.e., we should own our data…). And, apparently, some other people and companies believe the same thing.

One company in particular – BlockStack, and the people involved with Blockstack – its team, its investors, its open source community of developers, its users and its open support community – appear to believe in a fully decentralized internet (read the Blockstack documents e.g., white paper…).

Basically, it appears that Blockstack wants to re-decentralize the internet, in particular – the application layer (stack) of the internet (e.g., see – Blockstack and its documents e.g., white paper…). Blockstack’s team and others, are working tirelessly to bring us new tools, infrastructure and applications – with a tie-in to the distributed ledger or blockchain.  And with these new tools, Blockstack enables the user to own his/her/its data and maintain and protect his/her/its privacy and security (e.g., encrypted decentralized storage, authentication & identity).  How is Blockstack doing this?  Well, not to go to far into the stack, Blockstack is developing key tools and infrastructure so that software developers and programmers (coders) can build single-page applications (dApps – (e.g., in javascript) in which the user controls not only his/her identity & authentication (e.g., think encrypted identification) but is also in control where and how his/her information (data) is stored on the decentralized internet.

So one might envision – one universal form of encrypted identification that is unique to the user that allows the user to securely participate in a decentralized internet and control his/her data that is generated from using the decentralized internet (e.g., imagine an internet with no middlemen, no passwords, and no massive centralized data repositories to breach).

Just imagine, if you have control (e.g., identity, data, storage and it is secure) and not the centralized companies, the possibilities appear to go on and on…  And, just like the early days of the network/internet (see above image from 1973), Blockstack is at the early stage of building the re-decentralized internet.

Please go see for yourself – visit Blockstack – and visit here again for updates and information on, among other things, Blockstack’s vision for the re-decentralization of the internet and the stack.

Here is a screenshot of Blockstack’s home page at www.blockstack.org.

Note: If you do not have the Blockstack browser, please see this link (note – to enable the full functionality of any dApp built for the Blockstack ecosystem (e.g., building a new internet, a decentralized internet, re-decentralizing the internet) you need to use the Blockstack browser).

Thanks again for visiting The Stack Cafe^TM and we look forward to hearing from you. Please help us put out the word on Web^3.0 by posting a comment below and signing up for e-mail notifications for future updates (right side-bar). Let’s help build the new internet | The Decentralized Way^TM. A decentralized internet | The Way The Future^TM.

^* Licklider 1960’s

The post The Internet (Centralized and the Decentralized?) appeared first on The Stack Cafe™.