blockchain is bringing about Internet 3.0. Are you going to be involved?
The internet revolutionized the way the world operates, stays connected and communicates -- that was Internet 1.0. Internet 2.0 then arrived, to overhaul static web pages, making them more dynamic, as well as strengthen mobile applications and the responsive web.
At this point, today, we are entering the next phase -- or Internet 3.0, which many experts are calling it (check out this CoinDesk article). Internet 3.0's central factor? blockchain technology, which seeks to decentralize everything from banking to healthcare to real estate.
Video-streaming is poised to play a major role in the coming Blockchain world: As online content has exploded, video-streaming has become the de facto way to watch movies and videos online. It's also led to the "cut the cable cord" movement. Blockchain will enable this trend.
Today, the majority of efforts in the video storage, computing, encoding, networking and streaming categories are led by three dominant brands: Amazon Web Services, or AWS (34 percent), Microsoft (11 percent) and Google Cloud (8 percent). AWS is so big that it generates the major portion of Amazon's profits -- some $10 billion-plus in annual revenue, TechCrunchsays. AWS hosts data for megacorporations like Comcast, PG&E, and Netflix, which all rent space on its servers.
Streaming and encoding are areas ripe for disruption, as Blockchain technology expands storage options by spreading data across the blockchain computer network. Streaming video will be able to tap into underutilized computers through the Blockchain, which will dramatically reduce streaming's cost, in ways detailed below.
Startups such as VideoCoin see this trend as an opportunity and are entering the arena by providing the means for video content to be distributed at a fraction of the price. Haley Minor, an investor in VideoCoin as well as CEO of Live Planet, recently shared some thoughts with me about the ways in which Blockchain technology is poised to take over online video-streaming.
Video changed everything. Where there used to be text blogs, we now have vlogs, youtube channels, Facebook Live, snapchat and podcast interviews.
Where images or text used to appear in digital ads, we now see animated GIFs. Live video-streaming, meanwhile, has become insanely popular across mobile apps and social media. Companies like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon have put old-fashioned video rental out of business, and DVDs are quickly becoming a thing of the past. "Video is exploding -- growing by 25 percent per year," Minor told me. "All companies now use video for marketing." (The explosion of video-streaming and thoughts about its future use are further reinforced in this ReCode article.)
Since video usage is significantly increasing every year, improvements in the way it is stored and streamed are becoming all the more essential.
Blockchain technology is an unanticipated breakthrough and its capabilities are far-reaching.
