Welcome to Issue 3 of the Witness Files with @picokernel.
In this series, I will be interviewing some of our top witnesses, to get an insight into who they are and what they do.
@picokernel was kind enough to join me for today’s interview. He is the developer behind Squeek, a Twitter alternative for the steem blockchain. He is the first guest on the witness files outside the top 19, and one of our youngest witnesses.
You can find the previous issues of the Witness Files below: Issue 1 with @complexring Issue 2 with @riverhead
Thank you for taking the time to chat with me today.
Thank you! I love this concept. Itís nice to humanize the witnesses. As the network gets bigger and bigger I think witnesses are going to be more important to the network. Itís going to be very important to trust your witnesses pretty soon, and youíre breaking the ice.
Tell me a bit about yourself. Who is @picokernel?
This is a photo of me in a truck in Tanzania
@picokernel is Nate Brune. I am a computer scientists in training. I love to program and make experiments on my little laptop. Unfortunately, programming isnít exactly a social event so at school I do theatre and other clubs. I am a passionate activist and I have strong convictions on just about every topic. I am particularly involved in politics. In my school I run a club called Young Americans for Liberty. We are essentially a Libertarian / Anarcho-Capitalist debate club. My friends and I are thinkers, we enjoy talking about such topics as AI, Religion, Politics, and Philosophy.
I’m really impressed by the fact that you are still in high school. How did you learn to code and develop applications for the blockchain from such a young age?
I started programing in 2010 in windows batch when I was eleven. I remember the fond days of coding ìvirusesî that shutdown the computer and such. I moved to Ubuntu when I was a little older and began learning C++ and Python. HackForums was something I was big into back in the day. On HF I learned a lot of pen-testing techniques and met a lot of cool people. Eventually I fell out of it. There were a lot of undesirables in there. One this is for sure though, it was a learning experience. Ever since, programming has been like a second language to me. I am able to learn new programming languages rather quickly and I have made a habit of it :). I think the number one thing for people looking to get into programming is to practice practice practice. I know itís clichÈ but I honestly think thatís how I learned everything I did. You can verify on https://github.com/NateBrune. Itís filled with junk.
When youíre not on Steemit, what do you enjoy doing?
I enjoy being a ìnormalî teenager. Seven of my guy friends and I had a great time going bowling just this weekend. My best friends are also in a band I and I like to go over and play pool while they practice. I also do the theatre which is, by the way, a great way to meet girls. I am not very good but there are only a few other guys so I always get roles I want xD. I recommend every socially awkward teenager does theatre, it will help round you out.
How did you first find out about Steemit, and when did you first get involved?
I first found out about Steemit from The Dash Times magazine. The Dash Times occasionally does Technical Analysis of Dash and other alt-coins for traders. I was looking at those videos and they did one on ìSteemî I didnít know what Steem was at the time but boy did I fall down the rabbit hole. It was probably one of the most influential videos of my life. I started trading Steem right when it rocketed up and I was pretty successful at trading. After I was finished trading, I realized what I was sitting on. I had already been working on a project called Aether which was a decentralized blockchain based reddit alternative. See any similarities? Aether development has stagnated but Steem certainly hasn’tí.
Correct me if I’m wrong, is it true that you have recently been offered a job to work for Steemit inc. If so, do you know what you will be working on?
Well, I donít want to jump the gun. We are still discussing the opportunity. I haven’t gotten any jobs yet. That is not to say, however, that I am not determined. I have been saying it since I first got into Bitcoin: My dream job is a Blockchain startup. In the event that I get the job at SteemIt I will have to move to Virginia and put off college for a year while I work full time on the Steem Blockchain. The position I am trying for is Blockchain developer which means I would be in charge of core decisions about where the Steem ecosystem is headed. Off the clock I am already working on smart contracts, new witness parameters, and various other ideas. Those are the types of things I would be doing, and I am super excited!
I’m really interested in the Squeek application you developed. Can you tell us a bit more about it, and where things are currently at with that project? Are there any plans to develop it into a mobile phone app, similar to Twitter?
Squeek.io was how I decided I was going to learn about the Steem blockchain. Steem is an entirely new blockchain with new technology packed into it so not everything I have learned transfers over. Squeek is currently being rebuilt from the ground up. Some early choices I made were not ideal for where Squeek is headed today. A crucial market I want to tap is China. I believe that if we can beat the great firewall, we can revolutionize social media. Steem is interesting because it is decentralized and uncensorable. Squeek, in itís early state is just a half-baked twitter clone. In the future I could use my Witness funds to build it into a full grown platform. You may have noticed recently that Twitter is attempting to get bought out but they donít have any bids. I personally think itís because everybody knows Squeek is the future ;)
As a Chinese person, I am definitely looking forward to this. Steem is going to be huge if you could beat the great firewall and tap into the Chinese market.
You have also recently developed Steem Wallet. Tell us a bit more about that. And are there any other projects you are currently working on?
Steem Wallet is a current push to make Steem as accessible as possible. It is simply a multi-tool for Steem Operations. One thing is does well is lets you check balances of users and send Steem to other people. It also letís you vote for witnesses and check your keys. Of course I have new ideas all the time but implementing them with College and High School going on is very difficult. In the future you can look forward to possible mobile applications and further development of Squeek.
How do you see the Steem ecosystem evolving over the next year or two? And what new features and projects would you like to see implemented?
Steem is a really interesting product because of itís plugin infrastructure. That is to say nodes can run other services that are related to the Blockchain. The plugins allow people to create all new type of services that we havenít seen on the modern internet today. There is so much I could say about the possibilities for Steem and I donít wanna go ranting so I will just mention a few important things to note. * Steem allows for whole new ways of monetizing content. New websites can exist that would have never been possible before. * Witnesses are interesting because the top 19 may become dominated by big business or even state entities. * Smart contracts and Confidential transactions are on the roadmap which means we can see Steem become used heavily by business and even DAOs. * Private messaging is coming soon which will by default be encrypted and uncensorable. We may see several competitors to WeChat and the like if private messaging is done correctly * Custom Steem clients are a completely untapped market right now. Squeek is the tip of the iceberg, itís the Minimum Viable Product for me on the Steem Blockchain. We may begin to see instagram, facebook, pinterest, and tumblr all on Steem. We will even begin to see websites we have never seen before.
Like I said… I donít wanna rant, but I can go on for hours.
Wow, you’ve certainly gotten me excited about the future of Steem. I can’t wait to see what will unfold over the next year or two. All the best with your job application at Steemit Inc.
Thank you for your time
I hope I did a good job and I hope the readers enjoyed the interview. I hope you hop onto discord.steemspeak.com if you wish to talk to me, I am on quite frequently. I promise to maintain openness and sincerity in the future. Have a great week!
Hope you enjoyed this interview with @picokernel.
For more interviews with our witnesses, please follow me @nextgen622.
And to vote for a witness, you can go here: https://steemit.com/~witnesses
Jimmy