My most recent "big/small" IFPS array. The past few months I've began contacting D.Tube broadcasters about mirroring their content on one of many home storage nodes. This is my 13th build right now, growing in capacity each time. Stay with me through the end of this post and I'll let you know how we can all share in the profits with a tiny (low power consumption) system just like this...
Many of these content creators have begun the process of transitioning away from a "free Youtube" and onto the wide open frontier of d.tube, which runs on the IPFS (Inter Planetary File System). I think IPFS has some very interesting and exciting features, but there are some strange things to get used to:
Garbage Collection
Youtube has spoiled us all. Upload a video to Youtube and forget it. Most people don't think they'll ever get censored or removed, until it happens. Enter D.Tube, upload it and maybe it will be there for.... a few days, reliably. This is because the underlying storage filesystem of D.Tube runs on IPFS and is subject to garbage collection. By issuing the ipfs pin command on a node under your control, you can help keep the videos live as long as you want. The more copies of the videos, the better for the entire environment. No worries, no garbage man.
P2P Video Delivery
The decentralized P2P web! By participating in IPFS as a node operator, you are growing the web like we did back in the 90's with old fashion BBS (Bulletin Board Systems) . We are facing a moment in time where people are actually walking away from the conglomerates like Amazon and Google and bringing our content home. Rather than paying for expensive bandwidth and trusting companies with no face, we are putting slices of the Internet on our own personal devices. 10 gigs on a mobile device, 1TB on a spare laptop, 10TB on a tiny server it's up to you. Slice up however much you want to share. The more copies of a video, the faster and more robust the community can grow. Much like Napster of the 90's but decentralized we can grow this filesystem to the moon (quite literally). We no longer have to rely on their infrastructure, we can have our own.
Earn Cash with Early Adopters
If your favorite Youtube broadcasters are not already looking at alternative outlets, just wait...they will soon. Youtube censorship is just beginning. As these broadcasters begin moving and/or spreading to new platforms, let's be proactive in welcoming them. Right now (Sept 2018) there is no working decentralized marketplace for storage. That is coming, but it's not here yet.
I recommend contacting broadcasters direct and offering to pin their content to your own filesystem for a fee. I've been successful at offering ipfs pinning at a rate of 10 STEEM per video (up to 500MB) on 3 IPFS node. This includes pinning the entire array of:
- Source Video
- 240p
- 480p
- 720p
- 1080p
- Snap Hash (main photo thumbnail)
- Sprite Hash (generated scrub thumbnails)
Upon payment and setup, I then share the IPFS hash keys of my nodes.
Like anything, many times the broadcaster will respond with skepticism. But if they have an open mind to learn how this new environment function, and with a little persistence I can win them over. I try my best to develop a good working relationship with my clients and will go the extra mile to help them learn along the way.
If you would like some help in this new approach to earning an income them contact me. I am building a network of storage hosts like me. If you have a good internet connection and have some extra space for a small server, then let's talk! If you have friends with fiber or high speed DSL/Cable, then reach out to them. Work out a deal to place your nodes at their house. I can build and ship a server and we can share profits, even if you are not the technical type!
If you are tech savy, feel free to jump into the details:
Mike
steem.chat @ mikebhou