[Music]
What's up everybody? For the week ending April 16th, my name is Marks and this is Freedom Tech Wrap.
Freedom Tech Wrap is a weekly source for news and project updates in the freedom and independent technology space.
We live in a highly connected world. Freedom Tech lets you decide how you want to connect and where you want your data to live.
Freedom Tech Wrap is an independent show. If you want to support what we are doing, you can send us value through your Podcasting 2.0 app.
Your support and feedback are greatly appreciated. And now, on to the news.
First up, we have something major that is going on in the United States. People are calling it the Patriot Act, version 2.0.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed FISA, F-I-S-A, 702, Surveillance Expansion Reform.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a two-year extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA 702,
a controversial warrantless spying authority. Critical reforms aimed at stopping the abuse of the law were rejected during the voting process.
The bill now moves to the Senate, where it requires passage before an April 19th deadline.
Opponents argue against the need for a rush and emphasize the importance of getting it right in the Senate.
For those who have not been well-versed in U.S. politics, the bill first goes in front of the House of Representatives, which has over 300 people in it.
It passes there, and now it goes over to the Senate, which has 100 people in it. They will review it, and if it passes there, then it goes in front of the President to be signed into law, or the President may veto it and reject it.
So we are at this point now where the Senate has an opportunity to vote yes or no on it, and we're really hoping that they vote no, because we don't need to continue this mass surveillance that is going on.
As part of this, Edward Snowden jumped back on to NOSTR and made a plea today.
First, he indicated that he has had difficulty connecting to relays over TOR, but that's a discussion for another day.
He asked U.S. citizens to call their senator and then linked to a tweet with more information.
So I'm going to read the tweet. This is from Elizabeth Goytin.
"Urgent! Please keep the calls coming. Call this number, 202-899-8938. Again, that's 202-899-8938. Call that number ASAP to be connected to your senators and urge them not to pass RISAA, which contains a terrifying provision from @RonWyden that will force U.S. businesses to serve as NSA spies.
And then this is actually part of a larger thread. That was the first of 12 messages. If you would like to read her entire thread, you can go onto Twitter and look up Elizabeth Goytin.
If you are a U.S. citizen, I urge you to consider Elizabeth's words and call that number, call your senators, and let them know how you feel. You have until, you know, really call them now because they're voting on Friday.
Next up, MePremierBitcoin. We've talked about them before. They are a nonprofit that is educating people in Latin America and then probably more around the world as they grow about Bitcoin.
So, MePremierBitcoin has released a student workbook in 2024. This is the 2024 edition. It's a comprehensive 10-week Bitcoin education curriculum available for free and under an open source license.
The curriculum covers Bitcoin's history, technology, and global impact, aiming to educate people about the benefits of using Bitcoin. In 2022, the workbook was taught to 38 public school teachers in El Salvador and now supports over 25 educational projects across 15 countries through their decentralized and self-governed node network.
MePremierBitcoin encourages users to contribute by becoming translation maintainers, joining the movement, applying to become a node in their network, and donating to support their cause.
So, if you would like to learn more about MePremierBitcoin, go check them out. And you can download the workbook for yourself if you would like to, you know, read through it and maybe pass it along and teach others around you.
The country of Paraguay is reconsidering a previous mining ban in favor of selling excess energy to Bitcoin miners. This is a theme that we have talked about repeatedly on this show.
And that is, it seems like the narrative is starting to shift in the world, where for years people were saying that Bitcoin is boiling the oceans, is ruining the environment, is bad for the earth. But now a lot of people are coming around to the fact that when you have increased energy production, you have higher standard of living, you have more productive societies.
And in order to build out energy infrastructure, you need a lot of upfront capital, and then you need people to buy that energy. And a lot of times there is a chicken and egg problem. And so Bitcoin comes in and helps solve that chicken and egg problem.
So Paraguay seems to be jumping on this. Let me read from the No BS Bitcoin article.
Now go back to that previous bullet point about selling the energy cheaper to Brazil and Argentina. Doesn't that hurt Brazil and Argentina? In the short term, you could probably make an argument for that.
But in the long term, no, because what that's doing is Paraguay is now going to make more money off their electricity selling it to Bitcoin miners, which then they could turn around and increase their energy production even more.
Meanwhile, Brazil and Argentina now have an incentive to bring in Bitcoin mining to their country and bolster up their energy production. So short term, yes, they're not going to get the cheap energy that maybe they were used to, but long term, it's a win for both countries.
A public hearing will take place on April 23rd to discuss the pros and cons of Bitcoin mining in Paraguay. The "experts" estimate that banning Bitcoin mining would cost Paraguay around $200 million annually.
Last news story for the day, sticking around in the same part of the world, and that is a database containing personal information of 5.1 million Salvadorian citizens leaked.
A threat actor leaked a database containing personal information and photos of 5.1 million citizens of El Salvador. The leaked data included high definition photos, identification documents, numbers, names, dates of birth, contact details, and residential addresses.
Initially available for purchase at only $250, the hacker released the information for free after not receiving payment. La Prensa Grafica, a prominent Salvadoran newspaper, reported on the incident before deleting the article.
So this giant leak of data is really concerning, very unfortunate, and I hope that all the people who have had their data leaked are able to secure their information and secure themselves moving forward.
Boost and Zaps! Thank you to everyone who has streamed Zaps and I'd like to give shoutouts to our boosters. Top booster for this week is SeanDunn206 with 5000 Zaps and posted a salute emoji. Thank you Sean, really appreciate that.
Mutiny Wallet came in with a zap on Noster of 1337. Very leet of you. Next up we have LuckyMofo with 1080 Zaps and it said "Thanks for the show, Marx. What is the name of the rock tune you always play at the end?"
Well, I answered your question on Fountain, but I'm going to answer it here as well. The name of the song is Recreant by a band called Arson Car. They are on Wavelike, you can go look them up. Arson Car as in like, you know, burning a car. And that is Recreant.
The next two zappers or boosters we had were Joel W coming in with 333 Zaps and The Wild Hustle with 200. Thanks to all of you, we appreciate your support.
Now speaking of support, we have two grants to talk about today, both from OpenSats and both of them are long-term support for developers. First one is for Pablo F7Z. I apologize if we've already discussed it here.
I discussed it on Noster already, and so maybe that's why I don't go back and listen to all my episodes over and over again. So I don't remember if it was on there. Pablo has contributed significantly to various Noster projects such as NSEC Bunker, Noster Development Kit, Shipyard, Highlighter, and Wikifredia.
So if you've been watching the show, you freaking know who Pablo F7Z is because we talk about him every single episode. So really cool to see that he is getting long-term support. With the support from OpenSats, Pablo plans to focus on developing niche relays, improving event database synchronization, enhancing localized flows, promoting client discoverability, and maintaining and extending NDK. And probably still doing all the other stuff that he does.
So the grants to the Noster Fund help sustain the long-term support program and support key contributors like Pablo F7Z.
And then the next one who got it was Hazard149. Well, actually, I don't actually know if it's pronounced "hazard." That's just how I read it in my head. HRZD149.
Long-term support granted to HRZD149, recognition and financial backing for his contributions to the Noster ecosystem. He is the creator of Nostrudel, a fast web-based Noster client for exploring the protocol. Also the developer of Blossom, which we talked about on a previous episode, which simplifies file storage and organization in the Noster network.
It's effectively trying to do file decentralization on the internet, which has been tried a bazillion, jillion times. But this one's a bit novel in that it's using Noster to coordinate all this. And then the files are still stored on more traditional places like S3 or it could be on a home server. Wherever you want to stick it, it could even be a web torrent.
Ongoing development that will be supported. Continued work on Nostrudel and Blossom, including adding features and functionalities. So while Nostrudel is an important client to continue working on, I honestly think that one of the big reasons OpenSats gave him this grant is to build out Blossom.
I see Blossom as having a huge potential if someone can finally help solve this web file sharing problem that many people have been trying to solve for generations. Generations, really? Okay, decades.
All right, we have an event coming up. Bitcoin++ is happening in Austin. Bitcoin++ is an international Bitcoin developer conference focusing on advanced topics related to Bitcoin protocols and development. The event will take place at the Palmer Events Center in Austin, Texas from May 1st to May 4th. Attendees can expect engaging discussions and presentations on various aspects of Bitcoin's script.
So if you are into that, go check out Bitcoin++ in Austin. I personally went to BitBlockBoom last weekend up in Dallas and it was awesome. Really enjoyed it. Saw a ton of great people there. Met a bunch of people who I've chatted with online, but finally got to meet them face to face.
And I just want to put a recommendation out there that if you've never ventured out to a Bitcoin or Nostr or really any kind of meetup, go do it. It's awesome meeting some of these people face to face because you see their personalities online and they are a certain way online.
But then you see them in person and you can see the human connection with them. And I know it sounds silly, but it really creates more of a bond when you're able to have that human interaction. And they still are the same people that they are online, but you get the whole picture. They come into higher fidelity.
So I would just recommend that you try and find a meetup that's happening in your area and go sometime. And if there are no meetups happening in your area, then start one. It's as simple as just saying, I'm going to be at this coffee shop or this deli shop or barbecue place, or I'm going to a bar.
And yes, those are all food destinations. You can do a public library. Most public libraries have conference rooms that you can check out for free or for a small fee, but you can reserve something and just post it out there and say, I'm going to be here.
Don't make it a public place because you're obviously inviting strangers from the internet to come meet up with you, but do it in a very public place and do it in a safe way. But I think it'll be very rewarding if you haven't tried that out.
Okay, let's move on to the project updates software releases portion of the show. And we have a lot and what we're trying to do something new this week is that we have categorized them now and a lot of other shows do this like the Bitcoin Review and I think even Rob the whole recap does this.
So we're going to do it too. We are going to categorize them. We have Bitcoin, Nostr, Privacy and Security, and then AI.
First up, Sparrow Wallet. Man, Sparrow is awesome. It is such a good desktop wallet and it's so important for the Bitcoin ecosystem. So I'm really grateful that it's here.
So anyway, Sparrow Wallet version 1.8.5 Whirlpool over decentralized Soroban, updated Samurai Whirlpool client for improved privacy, faster initial server connections through optimized fee rate fetching, easier restart of Sparrow Wallet in a different home folder via tools menu, additional features such as hyperlinks, seed QR display and seed retention during wallet changes.
We have Wasabi Wallet version 2.0.7 and the updates here completely new interface overhaul design with improved user experience and enhanced privacy features. Hardware wallet support, added support for Trezor safe three providing increased security options for users.
We have improved full RBF accuracy. RBF is replaced by fee. Enhanced defense against double spending attacks through more precise monitoring of unconfirmed transactions. Last, better privacy warnings, detailed information provided to help users avoid creating change outputs and maintain privacy.
We have a few updates for Blockstream Green, Android version 4.0.27, iOS 4.0.26 and desktop 2.0.3. The updates include various improvements such as added features like push notifications for lightning payments, import/export of liquid accounts and enhanced security options.
And there's also the typical bug fixes and overall performance improvements. This release aims at providing a more seamless and secure experience for users. Doesn't every update try to provide a more seamless and secure experience for users? I think so. But anyways, go update if you need to.
Phoenix Wallet version 2.2.2, updated fee estimation for on the fly channel. This update introduces a change to fee estimation for on the fly channels, making it more accurate and consistent with other methods. The wallet now allows users to import localized seeds in English, French, Spanish and Czech languages, although using non-English seeds is considered experimental.
Improved background reception payment functionality increases the likelihood of successful transactions even when the app is running in the background. Phoenix version 1.4, the server counterpart of the Phoenix Wallet, has also been released alongside the wallet update.
Bolts backend version 3.5.0 and Bolts web app 1.3.2. This release features a WebSocket API to subscribe to swap status updates and miscellaneous fixes and quality of life improvements for taproot swaps.
BISC has an update, version 1.9.15. This update includes bug fixes and improvements for its decentralized Bitcoin peer-to-peer exchange network. Offers that get disabled now provide reasons for their disablement. Additional currency options were added to WISE, and new account holders must provide a name.
Similar requirements for PIX and Moneybeam accounts were implemented. Users can now mediate failed or closed trades. A new BSQ market cap chart has been added. BISC 2 beta is available for testing separately from BISC 1 without any issues.
Enuts version 0.4.0 beta has scan and paste LN URLs. With that, it has support for LN URL pay via copy/paste and QR code scanning.
BCH32 LN URL encoding/decoding allows users to easily paste or scan LN URLs. Translation issues were fixed and minor UI improvements were made for Android and iOS devices. Added a loading indicator during Mint edition. Resolved bugs in restoration process and displayed pending Lightning invoices in history.
Last Bitcoin project update, we have LNcast. Lightning Address Message Broadcasting. LNcast is a user-friendly application for mass messaging on the Lightning network. Featuring an intuitive interface and real-time tracking capabilities. Supports simultaneous messaging to multiple LN addresses, making it efficient for large-scale communications.
Importing addresses from CSV files and offers preset features for managing multiple address books and customizing messages accordingly. Provides a comprehensive record of sent messages, ensuring easy access to previous interactions and streamlined communication processes.
Nostr.build has released an AI Studio. Introducing AI Studio in beta for Nostr.build creators and advanced account holders, providing access to generative AI products.
Available now for eligible users with options for three different AI models.
DreamShaper is a stable diffusion model that has been fine-tuned to be better at photorealism without sacrificing range. SDXL-Lightning is a lightning-fast text-to-image generation model that can generate high-quality 1024 pixel images in a few steps.
StableDiffusion is a diffusion-based text-to-image generative model by Stability AI. Generates and modifies images based on text prompts.
Encourages account holders to test the feature, report any issues, and share their creations. Accessible through the left menu bar, with tutorial videos provided by thefishcake.
Nostr.build is a web-based distribution service that provides a broadcast and export service for downloading and distributing Nostr data across major relays on the network. This feature helps ensure widespread distribution and increased resistance against censorship.
All data shared using this service becomes publicly available on multiple relays, enhancing visibility and resilience.
Nostr.sync.live is a free and open source tool that allows you to share your Nostr data with other Nostr developers.
Nostr.signer is a native mobile app allowing remote signing of Nostr events through push notifications and securely stores private keys.
Nostr.signer was created during the Bolt.fun hackathon for Nostrasia. The app was developed by Jacob, Quinton, and Roland from the Albi team.
By pasting or generating new pairs of Nostr keys within the app, users can easily connect to apps supporting NIP46 and receive push notifications for signed events.
Although no longer being actively developed, Nostr.signer remains open source, encouraging contributions and further development by interested parties.
If you are someone who would like to work on something like this, if Nostr is interesting to you, and if how we do key management is interesting, here is a project that is just sitting there for you to contribute to.
You could pick it up, you could run with it, fork it, turn it into your own thing if you want to. But it's sitting there ready for someone to play with.
And then we have a small service that is being offered by Nostr.band and this is called X2Nostr. And it is an open source service by Nostr.band allowing you to cross post your tweets to Nostr.
So, if you would like to do that, there you go. I have been trying, I actually finally opened up a Twitter account, X account, for my, to match my profile that I have on Nostr.
And I forgot how limiting the characters are on Twitter. I know it sounds stupid, but I have become so accustomed to typing longer notes on Nostr and reading longer notes on Nostr, and I don't feel like Nostr is really noisy with having longer notes.
It just feels so incredibly limiting on Twitter. Totally get Twitter's history. I have been a Twitter user since a long, long time ago and I have been around on it for over a decade.
Almost two decades, because it has been around almost two decades. So, I am not a novice to Twitter, but man, Nostr is such a refreshing thing to use.
And going back to Twitter, you realize how limiting it can be.
Okay, let's look at the privacy and security section. I had three in here, but then I realized two of them I already talked about on previous episodes, so I am going to skip those.
But the third one that I have is called Hushline. This is a lightweight, secure, and anonymous tip line platform.
Hushline is a free, open source platform offering anonymous tip lines for various purposes, such as journalism, education, and workplace communication.
Designed for use by journalists, schools, and businesses, Hushline provides a secure channel for receiving tips and reports without revealing identities.
Suitable for diverse settings, including newsrooms, educational institutions, and corporate environments, Hushline ensures confidentiality and safety for those who utilize its services.
By enabling anonymous reporting, Hushline empowers individuals to share important information without fear of reprisal or exposure.
Super easy and simple to see why something like this is important.
I can't tell you how many times my company has sent me a survey saying, "This is going to be anonymous. Please fill this out."
And then they sent it to my work email address, and I fill it out on the work company corporate network where they have my keys and SSL and all that stuff.
So, yeah, great to have a way to set up totally private anonymous stuff. I've not tried using this project, but if you need something like that, go check out Hushline.
Okay, our last section for today is AI, artificial intelligence.
We just have two projects here. First one is Satoshi7B. This is an open source, Bitcoin-centric, large language model.
Satoshi7B is an open source, large language model that focuses on Bitcoin content released by the Spirit of Satoshi team.
Fine-tuned on Q&A dataset covering Bitcoin principles, technology, culture, Austrian economics, and non-woke politics.
So this is cool. They've taken a lot of the models that are out there and then added context in for all of those categories.
Intended for use as a Bitcoin education, culture, and economics assistant.
And then we have Ollama version 0.1.32. The release introduces improved VRAM utilization and reduced out-of-memory errors.
New models added include Mixtrall 8x22B and Wizard LM2.
Enhanced GPU utilization leads to better performance when running large models.
All right. Well, that's it for news, project updates, and all the other stuff this week.
This is Freedom Tech Wrap. If you find this weekly source useful, please share it with your people.
You can also support us through Value for Value in your podcast app or on Noster.
If you have any feedback for us, send it our way on Noster to marks@nosterplebs.com.
That's M-A-R-K-S @ Nosterplebs.com.
To close it out, we are doing something a bit different this week.
Instead of a song, I'd like to introduce you to Zappy 21st, a movement to support open source builders.
On the 21st of each month, I will be zapping builders. That's it.
It would be great if you joined me, if you'd like to.
If you want to hear more, stick around. There will be a short song at the very, very end,
but it's not a normal track like you're used to.
For the rest of you, thanks for listening to Freedom Tech Wrap, and remember to live independent.
Later.
Okay, thanks for sticking around. Let's talk about Zappy 21st.
This was my first article that I've natively published to Noster.
I've written on blogs over the years, but I've never written something that long-form natively on Noster.
So I published this on Obla.news, and I would like to just read through it.
I'm not as good as the guy Swan, or maybe I'm better. Who knows?
Well, I guess you know, because you can judge me right now. But let's read through it.
Zappy 21st, a monthly day of support.
Summary is, this April 21st, find a dev and zap them.
If you'd like, add a message telling them how awesome their work is, and tag it with #Zappy21st.
Let's flood the feeds with #Zappy21st messages, and surface great open-source developers to others.
Next month, on the 21st, we'll do it all again.
And now on to the article.
Recently, there has been discussion on the socials about supporting open-source developers,
specifically those who work on Bitcoin and Noster.
There is a small-ish camp of people who think that Bitcoin should remain as-is.
It's perfect. Don't mess with a good thing.
Many others think, correctly in my opinion, that Bitcoin needs to be maintained and even enhanced.
As long as the changes make Bitcoin better money, we should evaluate, go slow, and keep things simple.
Who will maintain Bitcoin and other open-source projects?
Will devs do it out of the goodness of their heart?
Builders gotta eat. Food ain't free.
A handful of institutions, both non-profit and businesses, provide grants and long-term support to developers.
This is great, and I hope that continues.
However, there is more that we can do.
There is more that you can do.
Zappy 21st.
I propose we make the 21st day of every month the unofficial Zap a Builder Day.
It's simple. On day 21 in the current month, find a developer and zap them sats.
Created in the spirit of value for value and #GrowNoster social experiment,
I'd love to see people make this part of their monthly routine.
It's common for certain days of the month to have meaning.
The first day marks the start of a new month.
The fifth day is a common day when mortgage payments are due.
In the United States, on the 15th day of April, taxes are due.
So now there is the 21st day, the day you send some value to devs.
Who are you gonna zap?
Any open-source developer. Start simple. Don't overthink this.
If you're using a Noster client that you love, go find one of the contributors and zap them.
If you're using Bitcoin or Lightning regularly, find a Bitcoin or Lightning dev.
There are many other great freedom tech tools like wallets, sovereign computing apps,
and privacy tools that have developers behind them.
Zap a developer.
I say developer, but I really mean contributor.
Remember the designers, product, support, and project people who also contribute.
I'm intentionally not giving names of developers here because I don't want to favor one over the other.
Every open-source developer is important to different people based on the tools they use.
So go zap the people in your realm.
I'm only publishing this on Noster, and now I'm reading it on a podcast.
But I'm happy if the idea spreads beyond that.
Noster is the perfect place because you can so easily find a core dev and zap them.
No need to track down their website, hoping to find a wallet address, or request a Lightning invoice.
Join the zaps.
While everyone is excited about block 840,000 or 840,000,
havings come and havings go, but the 21st is always here for you.
Every month, reliably, quietly doing its thing.
Just like those open-source devs you rely on so much,
they're here every month, reliably, quietly doing their thing.
Let's show them some love.
This April 21st, find a dev and zap them.
If you'd like, add a message telling them how awesome their work is and tag it with #zappy21st.
Let's flood the feeds with zappy21st messages and surface great open-source developers to others.
Next month, on the 21st, we'll do it again.
That's the article.
I invite you to join in.
So after the having happens, zap some devs on the 21st.
Zap some builders. Zap some designers.
Every single week, I read through a bunch of projects that have open-source people working on them.
Just pick one of those and zap them if you want to.
But I think it's great to support the people who are building the tools that we depend on every single day.
Now, if you've stayed this far, I'll treat you to a 25-second track from Wave Lake that really fits all of this.
It might be a new favorite way to end every episode. We'll see.
Here is the track. It's just called "Dot Dot" by the band IROH.
[music]
[Explosion]