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I've been working on nostr a lot recently. specifically a new damus client that works on all platforms called notedeck, powered by a sqlite-like relay called nostrdb (using lmdb instead of sql), as well as looking into bolt12 and silentpayment/onchain zaps. Hit me with your best questions!
this territory is moderated
91 sats \ 1 reply \ @ek 6h
How do you imagine key management on nostr will evolve over time?
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214 sats \ 0 replies \ @jb55 OP 6h
this is nostr's greatest weakness. I suspect we will have something like one key per app you use, and you simply broadcast all of the keys associated with your account. this way you don't need to copy your nsec everywhere. I think all other solutions are just way too complicated. having a single key is a huge weakness, and I've never had a really good answer to this question.
maybe the identity key is never used for decrypting any secret stuff just in case, and we use device keys for encrypted content.
maybe we eventually switch to frost-based keys for multisig.
maybe we just have a key-rotation spec for when your key leaks. this spec is already mostly done as of a recent in person nostr dev meeting. the problem is getting everyone to adopt it which will take a long time for each app to implement this logic.
for now we out here yoloing keys into apps or using bunker/remote signing. don't put money in your keys 😅
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22 sats \ 1 reply \ @ek 5h
Do you still work on lightning stuff unrelated to nostr? If so, how much time do you spend on lightning vs. nostr?
Do you think we will see another lightning implementation next to Eclair, LND, CLN, LDK and Electrum anytime soon? Did I forget one? 🤔
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122 sats \ 0 replies \ @jb55 OP 5h
yes i still work on lightning stuff. i recently put together the rust version of lnsocket:
which powers:
i love lightning and will continue to hack on it and integrate it into damus products.
I'm also working with spiral on bringing a graduated wallet to all damus clients!
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30 sats \ 1 reply \ @ek 5h
What do you think about the outbox model? I’m not sure if Damus already supports it or has plans to support it.
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100 sats \ 0 replies \ @jb55 OP 5h
I built nostrdb specifically to support the outbox model (which is now fully integrated into ios, android, and desktop), since i wanted the client to only talk to a trusted local relay, as connecting to random relays can cause DoS/verification issues.
It's better to just dump data in from remote relays without trusting if the results actually match the filter or not.
We don't support it yet, but it should be pretty soon. We are building a DM app in notedeck. This is where outbox is really important so that you don't sent giftwraps to public relays, only the users inbox relays.
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Haha, sorry to hit you with a technical question, but I literally just tried installing Damus on a Windows 11 (Intel) but when I try running it, Windows tells me that the platform isn't supported.
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67 sats \ 0 replies \ @jb55 OP 4h
ugh our binaries releases have issues. will fix
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give us some of your dating advice, siiiiiiir
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9 sats \ 1 reply \ @ek 5h
Is there some context that I'm missing?
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a little bit, yes :P
...but it's a SECRET!
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @jb55 OP 5h
stop trying so hard and just talk to people without trying to get anything out of the situation. if you hit it off, shaboink and continue on then great. if not you made a good friend along the way. worse thing is trying too hard for the wrong person.
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9 sats \ 0 replies \ @ek 5h
What do you think about a 28-year-old chasing a 16-year-old? hahaha
🙈
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Hey jb! Big fan since I learned about you via the TFTC podcast. What are your thoughts on all this AI stuff? Is it a bubble? Or will all of us be plugged into the matrix by 2050?
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454 sats \ 1 reply \ @jb55 OP 5h
It's a quantum state of simulatenous being overhyped, underhyped and oppropriately hyped. I find I can't use it for low level C stuff without it messing everything up and slowing me down, while simulateneously producing really good code for fixing bugs and writing tests.
I hate it and love it. I hate fixing the slop but I like that it is getting the code written that I don't want to write.
One things for sure, it's not going away, and it's only going to get better.
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Thanks JB big fan of Damus! Hopefully development picks up with content discovery. Can’t wait to see what yall develop!
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What’s the biggest challenge in creating a nostr alternative for YouTube?
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146 sats \ 1 reply \ @jb55 OP 6h
File storage. Luckily, nostr devs haven't been slacking here. We have multiple solutions:
  • blossom which is an http spec for plug and play blob storage to get around the centralization of media and file hosting
  • martti malmi has been working on p2p file storage techniques. just last week he was showing me his new app called hashtree/filetree, which allows you to share merkle trees of directories/files that can be replicated using webrtc.
  • I have been interested in integrating bittorrent v2 more tightly into the file sharing solutions on nostr
There are lots of promising things in this area, as long as it isn't ipfs. ipfs is terrible.
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Excellent! That’s basically the last element I need to be fully divorced from Big Tech services.
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The majority of Nostr users who stuck around are about 3 years in at this point.
What's one thing you think is needed for Damus specifically (and Nostr in general) to be relevant 3 years from now?
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305 sats \ 0 replies \ @jb55 OP 6h
We need to create solutions for people to find their own communities. Stacker news has done this well with their equivalent of subreddits.
At damus we have been working on a topical community spec which implements something like a decentralized reddit.
We need to keep expanding use cases to attract more users. Once this starts snowballing with viral apps that interoperate, we have a much greater chance of success.
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I was just re-listening to our podcast convo again a few weeks ago. One of my favorite episodes I've done, thank you again for taking the time to do that!
What's a dream podcast you'd love to be a guest on?
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210 sats \ 0 replies \ @jb55 OP 6h
even though he's not very well liked in the bitcoin community, i think more mainstream podcasts like lex friedman or of course rogan would be huge for nostr. We haven't really broke into the mainstream yet and normies keep talking about bluesky which is horribly centralized. it's a bit sad, we should be working harder to reach outside the bitcoin community.
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What do you believe is the biggest vulnerability and/or problem with Nostr that more people need to be focusing their energy on?
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255 sats \ 0 replies \ @jb55 OP 6h
I think the biggest problem is the community thinking the general population are going to install a separate signing app to use nostr apps. the nostr dev community loves complicated technical solutions to things. there are more and more nips every day that is making the protocol very complicated. if we keep going down this route, it will turn off new devs. we need to re-focus our efforts on keeping the protocol as simple as possible.
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0 sats \ 8 replies \ @anon 6h
Silentzaps 🤙
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94 sats \ 7 replies \ @jb55 OP 6h
onchain zaps without doxxing your utxos will be huge
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0 sats \ 6 replies \ @ek 6h
What’s bad about lightning zaps? That most don’t use native lightning, but ecash?
But on-chain zaps will require amounts above the dust limit, and they’ll be more expensive for the receiver to spend, no?
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249 sats \ 5 replies \ @jb55 OP 6h
there's nothing wrong with lightning zaps, but onchain zaps are simpler to custody and don't have liquidity issues.
I had this thought recently since the blocks are so empty, could starting using onchain for actual payments against instead of just jpgs.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @ek 5h
Will onchain zaps also not have the issue that their receipts can be faked?
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77 sats \ 0 replies \ @jb55 OP 5h
i think we can make the unfakable by construction, although I haven't though too much into it yet. they will always be verifiable as real to yourself since they will be sent by a trusted node that is covered by a signature. lightning zaps work the same way.
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0 sats \ 2 replies \ @ek 6h
But can they scale, considering the block size limit? I would think not many will actually use onchain zaps because fees will else go through the roof.
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162 sats \ 1 reply \ @jb55 OP 6h
they won't scale, but people will bounce between them depending on where fees are at. anything I can do to help contribute to a healthy fee market! at least people would be using it for monetary use cases to price out spam.
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50 sats \ 0 replies \ @ek 6h
Ahh, ok, makes sense, thank you!
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0 sats \ 2 replies \ @harrym 6h
I wanted to try a Linux version, so I just checked the releases. Will the Debian (Intel) version work on my AMD hardware?
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73 sats \ 1 reply \ @jb55 OP 6h
you'll want debian (arm) for non-intel cpus. compiling from source is also super easy and is the best way to use the up to date version. there will be a new release soon that has lots of new features.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @harrym 5h
I realize this is not a support thread, but ARM seems inappropriate for AMD (install failed anyway). The X64 version installed but failed setup; I guess this the one that should work. Should I create a github issue?
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Great job, man! Congrats and thanks.
Over the next few days, check this post if you wanna trade your CCs for sats.
What’s been the biggest headache so far in developing Damus?
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256 sats \ 0 replies \ @jb55 OP 6h
the biggest headache is getting people to care about decentralized social media. turns out most people don't really care. people do care about getting paid, so that has been a key marketing point for us.
it's a tradeoff though, because lots of people don't like that it appears to be a bitcoin-only social network, which is of course not true. This is limiting growth as bitcoin still turns lots of people off for some reason.
Other than that, the biggest headache is trying to split my time between maintaining three major products: damus ios, nostrdb, and damus android/notedeck. luckily there are lots of people helping these days, even our product manager who is vibe now coding solutions instead of just filing issues 🤣
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @k00b 2h
Cage match: rust vs C. Who wins?
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Car 2h
Congrats on notedeck! It's my main driver for nostr these days.
Have you thought about micro apps inside of the deck. I think one of the coolest things nostr has going for it is the interoperability in its own ecosystem. Thinking more inline with how slack or notion does it?
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Angie 3h
Quiero todos esos enlaces
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Do you think bitcoin will be huge in africa?
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @jb55 OP 4h
the internet connectivity is so poor, maybe cashu would be best. not sure.
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Hypothetical situation: Canada’s gonna make an economic/political/cultural alliance: Europe or the US? 🤠
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @harrym 5h
Looks good! I've been waiting years for a Linux native client as good as Gossip, but with zaps :) Will make sure to try it when all the good stuff is included next quarter.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Taj 5h
Great work Will, Nostr is the move but SN has a bunch of amazing features, any that you'd like to see on Nostr?
Ln login is the move imo
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @jb55 OP 5h
we need better algos for promoting content in a decentralized way. SN does this well! (minus decentralized)
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Is canada totally cucked? I don't believe it is, but some here might say so. What's your view?
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11 sats \ 1 reply \ @jb55 OP 5h
canada is pretty chill until:
  • someone breaks into your house and you go to jail for defending yourself
  • going to jail for buying raw milk
  • going to jail for selling medium rare burgers
  • go to jail for misgendering someone (hate speech)
  • not being able to leave your province or go to restaurants during health lockdowns
yes pretty cucked when you want to do something that the libs don't like. otherwise pretty chill.
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I didnt know about a lot of these things.
As for burgers I prefer them well done, but everyone should be able to have the cchoice. I'm more concerned about getting sold some cloned beef nonsense.
going to jail for buying raw milk
I heard the way around this is to buy/sell "cow shares."
someone breaks into your house and you go to jail for defending yourself
Outrageous.
Seems like, as for most countries, the solution is in organizing private citidels. People coordinate resistance much better in small groups.
Anyway, thanks for all the contribution you've made for the space.
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Your recent Africa trip looked amazing - which countries did you visit there, and what were your favorite and least favorite things about them?
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @jb55 OP 5h
zimbabwe, botswana, south africa, mauritius for african bitcoin conference. favourite things:
  • feels like you're on an alien planet, its like a snapshot of the earth before humans built cities
  • ABC was once of the best bitcoin conferences I've been to in a long time. The currency and banking is so broken in africa, and the connectivity is really poor. This means you have real builders building bandwidth-sensitive applications that are trying to solve real problems. This is so different than recent north american or asian bitcoin conferences where all they want to talk about is treasury companies.
least favorite things: god damn mosquitoes. honestly suprised i made it out without getting malaria.
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