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diff --git a/memos/WM-078.txt b/memos/WM-078.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb793cd --- /dev/null +++ b/memos/WM-078.txt @@ -0,0 +1,222 @@ + + + + + + + +Document: WM-078 P. Webb +Category: Life 2025-12-23 + + Planning and implementing the Neue Internet + +Abstract + + Accidentally discovering that my disparate ideas have a unified theme + +Body + + It appears that what I've been obsessed with for several years, the + idea of a "Neue Internet," is what I've been unintentionally building + towards. High-level: social network, domain registry/registrar, + payments, code hosting, video, operating systems, and hardware. In + other words, if the internet was invented in 2026, what would it look + like? What's the infrastructure? + + Ideas are free, so I have no problem sharing them (especially when I + already have the best domains for them, hehe). Execution + is everything. + + With that said, here's what I envision: + + 1. Payments + + The RFC (7231)[1] for the HTTP 402 "Payment Required" code was + "published" June 2014, more than a decade ago at the time of this + writing. The word published is in quotes because the section for + it just says "The 402 (Payment Required) status code is reserved + for future use" (it was introduced in January 1997 in + RFC 2068[2]). Cloudflare and Coinbase recently teamed up to + release primitives for HTTP 402 based on crypto coins called x402. + Bitcoin (Lightning) also has a version of this called L402. + There's an opportunity for someone to abstract these into a single + API to make accepting payments easy; kinda like the crypto version + of Stripe (without the hidden requirement/mandate that one is + forced to use hosted iframes to process money; this is for PCI + compliance, lest you wish to fill out a 100+ page document that + absolves them of any fraudulent activity occurring from you using + their raw API instead). + + This project will live at `neue.cash`. + + 2. Social (Part I) + + Back in 2016 I became increasingly aware of social media making + people angry and irritable. With hindsight, we know that other + countries were intentionally sowing discord amongst us and + profiting from it (fear and anger is fantastic for engagement and + increased engagement = money). Cool. This was also the era where + news outlets couldn't get enough of the term "filter bubble" and I + decided that maybe filter bubbles are good. After all, I prefer to + talk to a large handful of people across different spaces...when + there's too many voices, things tend to get ugly; that's when I + discovered Dunbar's Number. In essence, a guy surmised that most + people only ever truly know roughly 150 people in their lifetime. + What if you had a social media platform where every group had a + 150 person limit? They'd essentially be a bunch of self-contained + forums. I took that idea, added Myspace's top friends feature, and + started prototyping my social network. I had a decent beta but I + eventually realized that REST fucking sucks for relational data + retrieval so I shut it down while I learned GraphQL and start over + from scratch. I got distracted by a blockchain project for half a + decade and by the time I got back my social media platform, + Bluesky and Mastodon existed. I lost steam to work on a closed + platform while these open platforms were doing a decent job. + + This project lived at `socii.network`. + + 3. Identity + + My blockchain distraction was a DNS alt-root that launched late + 2019. 15 years earlier, I was a high-school kid who frequently + skipped lunch to do research on the library computers (and + participate in DJing, music production, and Megaman Battle Network + forums). A random Ask Jeeves moment led to discovering what a TLD + was, ICANN, and the price to apply for a new TLD. I filed this + information in the back of my mind as a future dream. Well, + Handshake (the blockchain project) was the realization of a dream + I thought I'd never get the chance of achieving; creating TLDs and + building infrastructure for people to build cool shit and host + sites on dope domains! + + I'm aware just how nerdy that sounds, and you're right to assume I + didn't get laid in high-school. + + My time working on Handshake projects ended due to infighting, + greed, and more infighting. I sold my TLD portfolio, open sourced + code, and archived plenty of blog posts to help future builders. I + got so close to that dream and I refuse to let it die, so I'm + working on a better implementation, IMHO, called "Dap." It + addresses the primary technical complaints of Handshake (pre-mine + and squatters), increases security (Blake3 Proof-of-Work), and + massively reduces energy consumption compared to most blockchains + (Verifiable Delay and Verifiable Random Functions). You want and + need a solid foundation for the Neue Internet, after all. + + This project lives at `dap.sh`. + + 4. Code Hosting + + Github is owned by Microsoft and Microsoft supports AI replacing + humans, ICE, and war criminals. It's not difficult to understand + why I'd want an alternative. Even before Microsoft spent a $7.5 + billion on acquiring Github, I dabbled in self-hosting my code and + using other services. I don't like any of them. Bitbucket is a + joke, Radicle is cool af but confusing (how tf do you do private + repos?), RhodeCode is old, cgit is too limited, Gitlab is too + bulky and power-hungry, Gitea is difficult to customize, and the + rest of them are just Github clones with lackluster design. For + me, simply being an alternative isn't enough. + + I mocked up a repo UI in SvelteKit and refined it over a few + weeks. I'm pleased with the design direction and the new + terminology I created for this next-generation code forge. Looking + forward to getting it into production so I can move my code to it + and keep Github as my bookmark manager for useful repos. + + This project will live at `eol.sh`. + + 5. Video (Social, Part II) + + Man, video is hard. Especially when THE place to upload video is a + Google product; YouTube. Ugh. + + I love YouTube, I use it literally every day. Am I logged in? + Absolutely not. I'm only logged into Google for clients that use + it and even then, I am only logged in using Brave browser. That's + all I use said browser for. Thankfully, YouTube employs "shadow + profiles," which essentially learns from my watch habits to + algorithmically curate a selection of content to watch. I'm also + subscribed to several creators via RSS (I'm surprised Google + hasn't yoinked that capability out of YouTube yet). + + With that said, I felt gross about being logged in to Google while + in my main browser and uploading my gaming clips. I dreaded doing + it so much that I just wouldn't upload at all. Then I read a blog + post on Hacker News where someone claimed they saved millions (or + thousands, I forget) of dollars on video storage fees by using + Cloudflare R2. That piqued my interest so I asked Claude how to + programmatically use ffmpeg to create video playlists at varying + resolutions. I turned that into an API, tested it on a few videos, + and decided to make a new video platform. + + Competing with YouTube (and Google) is a waste of time; they throw + away amounts of money that'd change my life, on an hourly basis. + Nah, a free platform is not sustainable, ESPECIALLY if it's + involving video. I think I have a winning solution: + subscription-based video platform where videos are capped at 5 + seconds or 5 minutes. Supporters can tip Creators, Creators take + home 85% (highest in the industry), everyone's happy. I'm spending + 2026 proving my thesis that this can become profitable. I'm also + taking some of my favorite ideas from my social network and + applying them here. + + This project lives at `nickel.video`. + + 6. OS & Hardware + + "Liquid Ass" is what people are calling Apple's Windows Vista + moment. Embarrassing. The guy who led the ass design just left to + work at Facebook. Microsoft literally puts ads into Windows and is + increasingly antagonistic with their customers. An aggressive + operating system is crazy in this age of AI. Good grief. Oh, and + Apple is also experimenting with ads in the OS. I've long resisted + uttering the phrase, "This wouldn't happen if Steve Jobs was still + alive," but man, it's true. The Apple I fell in love with had + taste and poise (mostly). I will say that Apple _hardware_ is + fucking phenomenal, no one has them beat on that front (I did send + back my year-old M2 Mac Studio because my M1 MacBook Pro is still + chugging along quite well). + + Meanwhile, Linux is having a **fantastic** year. Framework and MNT + Reform laptops are beloved and Valve's upcoming gaming PC is an + internet darling. I think they proven that modular computing can + and will be profitable. This is the best time for Apple to + resurrect the Jonathan Computer, a modular marvel envisioned under + their roof in the mid-1980s. Current leadership would never do it + (I believe Phil Schiller would entertain the idea), so I intend to + sherlock them...in about 30 years or less. Hardware is hard and + what I lack in resources and recourse, I make up for in vision and + sheer force of will. + + The "desktop" paradigm we've used since modern computing's + inception is tired. We compute on several devices with differing + form factors daily, either for work or leisure. We also interface + with remote systems and generate so much data, most of which is + governed on such systems. Technology has advanced enough for + local-first software to be the norm, not some niche feature for + nerds. "Oh noes, people will be confused, we have to save them + from themselves!!" Treat people with respect and teach them. If + you can't/won't do that, move aside. Better yet, close this tab + and angrily talk about me to your friend group, I need my legend + to grow. + + The project lives at `systemsoft.works`. + + I left out email and messaging and that's because I don't yet have a + compelling vision for either. I think JMAP is a solid improvement + over IMAP but also feel like it could be better. For messaging, I + just want a modern cross-platform Miranda IM. Or better yet, why not + combine the two? Email is just long-form messaging, right? A nicely + designed Delta Chat client would probably be enough for me tbh. + + Most of my ideas start within the confines of legacy constraints + until I realize (or remember) that innovation lives _outside_ the + confines of existing infrastructures and norms. You don't need + permission to change the world, you can just...do it. Impossible is + not a word, it's an excuse. 🕸️ + +References + + [1] <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc7231#section-6.5.2> + [2] <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2068#section-10.4.3> |