I was hoping to read something about the protocols. For example, how do they handle access control (e.g. so that only friends can see my status, photos, or so that groups can be managed)? How are updates broadcasted (without polling)?
In the first release/MVP stage AKASHA will resemble a lot to Twitter/Medium in this regard, in the sense that your published entries will be public and visible by everyone.
That being said, access control is on our roadmap but it is not a priority at the moment.
The updates are broadcasted via the Ethereum network through a smart contract that records and dispatches events associated with profiles such as new entries.
This way, the people that follow you on AKASHA will receive in their stream a notification letting them know that a new entry has been published and can be accessed via IPFS at hash X.
Can people join this network without downloading an application - will it be available in the browser? The reason I ask is most decentralized applications up to this point require a download to start your own node (zeronet for example). Availability from the browser I believe is important for decentralized applications because it lowers the barrier to entry for consumers.
PS., not sure if you noticed, but some of your comments on this page are marked dead. I have no idea why this has been done to you.
In the first phase an application is needed as interacting with the Ethereum/IPFS network currently requires a local Ethereum/IPFS node.
IPFS for example is currently working on a javascript implementation that would make it usable from normal browsers and basically "invisible" for average users. Ethereum also has some efforts in this direction but most likely we will see these things coming together somewhere around Q3/Q4 2016.
When these options will be available we will definitely make use of them as we understand the potential adoption gains we can have by removing the need to install an app.
In the meantime we were thinking to setup a few IPFS gateways that would serve a static version of the content in the form of a normal website (http://akasha.world for example).
This way people can at least access the content/read/share it over traditional Web 2.0 mediums. On the other hand, if they want to interact with the network (publish/comment/vote) then they would need to install the app. Not the best solution, we know, but seems like a decent compromise while the tech "gets there".
> PS., not sure if you noticed, but some of your comments on this page are marked dead. I have no idea why this has been done to you.
I have no idea why this was done either...Did I broke any HN posting rule without knowing?
