Deyner´s Notes!

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.... . .-.. .-.. --- / .- -. -.. / -... . / ...- . .-. -.-- / .-- . .-.. -.-. --- -- . / .... . .-. . / -.. . .- .-. / .-. . .- -.. . .-. .-.-.- .-.-.

Samuel Morse himself would not have believed that his invention could have survived beyond a few dozen of years. Living in an era of innovation and creativity, many of the inventions of that time born and died in a matter of years, but Morse Code, was used extensively by many many years since its inception back in 1835. As many inventions by in time, Morse Code actually has grandsons spread all over the world, and those grandsons make their grandpha so proud for being the first one in opening a successful and incredible road to a future where representing things as a code makes life easier for people just like Morse Code did with those people in the past.

Representing things as codes has indeed helped many people and bussiness to ease some things that otherwise, could have been a little more complicated. Starting from Morse Code to the present day, many people and companies have been involved in the bussiness of develop better codes, better readers and better ways to improve people´s life....simplifying things thru codes, increasingly reaching a greater number of use cases for them.

All started with a need, an idea and....sea sand?

Back in 1949, a young graduate student was wrestling with the concept of automatically capturing information about a product. He was specifically researching on technology that could solve a problem proposed a year before in 1948 when a local food chain store owner approached Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia asking about research into a method of automatically reading product information during checkout. Norman Woodland and Bernard Silver were the two in charge of solving the problem.

Fig 1. *Bernard Silver and Norman Woodland, the inventors of the barcodes (https://www.timetoast.com)*

Norman believed that the dots and dashes of Morse Code would to be a good model to follow due to that code could represent letters and numbers with symbols, but he could not figure out how to use those patterns to solve his problem. Then, one day as he relaxed at the beach in Miami, he idly drew dots and dashes in the sand. As his fingers elongated the dashes he looked at the result and...he knew he had finally solve it!

In an interview with Smithsonian magazine in 1999, Mr. Woodland said: “I poked my four fingers into the sand and for whatever reason — I didn’t know — I pulled my hand toward me and drew four lines. I said: ‘Golly! Now I have four lines, and they could be wide lines and narrow lines instead of dots and dashes.”

...and so, in this peculiar way, the barcode was born. It was not the usual barcode as we can see it today in stores and printed in every box of a given product. The barcode as we know it today didn't exist before 1974. But what did exist was its strange circular predecessor, that one invented by Mr. Woodland. In the same interview with Smithsonian magazine he said: “Then, only seconds later, I took my four fingers—they were still in the sand—and I swept them round into a circle.” ...as he believed that way the code could be read in the same way in any direction that it was read.

He and his partner would receive later in 1952 a US patent over that idea(they called it: “Classifying Apparatus and Method”). It was a total success but implementing the reading of this code was too difficult for the technology of that time; so years later it was improved by IBM engineer George Joseph Laurer giving birth to what we now know as actual barcodes. And that, linked to the invention of the laser, revolutionized forever the way to track a product and get information about it in just seconds.

Fig 2. *The very first barcodes weren't bars at all! (https://www.explainthatstuff.com/)*

Fig 3. A simple “Hello Coil” encoded into a barcode as we know it today.

Linear barcodes are commonly referred to as first-generation barcodes and has many advantages, for example: as data is generated in one direction is easier to generate those patterns compared to generating data in multi-dimensions, they´re easier to scan and read which allows people to use simple and inexpensive scanners to read the codes and their implementation reduces labor costs improving productivity and production management, but as many things in life, this kind of codes despite having many advantages has some disadvantages too: they can only store a small amount of data and once distorted, the information cannot be scanned correctly and they also depend on external databases to complement the information they offer.

That is why, over time, and given some basic needs and requirements that normal barcodes could not meet, the appearance of new and innovative codes became necessary: the time of QR Codes began!

A new type of codes: having time for a quick read!

QR Codes(Quick Response code) is not something new as many people believe. It was invented back in 1994 but widely used nowadays.

A team of developers led by Masahiro Hara at Denso Wave in Japan created QR codes in 1994. These were technological enhancements on traditional barcodes, which helped the company track automobile parts faster. The technology could also encode more details that a single scan could decipher in a matter of milliseconds.

QR codes are 2D, so they represent information in two directions: vertically and horizontally. That’s how they’re able to hold much more details than possible with 1D codes like regular barcodes. The Denso Wave team also came up with a position detecting pattern consisting of square marks to optimize the speed of reading codes. Each QR code has these marks. Today, a QR code can encode thousands of characters.

Fig 4. A simple “Hello Coil” encoded into a QR Code.

When Denso Wave invented QR codes, it just wanted to automate inventory management in a way that traditional barcodes couldn’t. The intended application was purely industrial, but the technology’s capabilities and versatility inspired its gradual adoption in other industries, including consumer advertising. The information stored in a QR Code is usually URLs, but anything can be stored, from contact data to calendar data, email addresses, phone numbers, SMS opening, plain text and geolocation. You can even request a cryptocurrency payment by encoding the request into a QR Code. :)

Additionally, while the company patented the invention, it waived the rights and released the technology’s specifications to the public. The waiver allowed individuals or companies to leverage standardized QR codes as they wished, free of charge and that quickly helped spread its use as a replacement for barcodes in many sectors or industries wishing not to rely in a separate database to store some key data for a product.

There are about 30 different types of QR Codes(one for each use case: URL, email, App download....) One awesome property of QR Codes is you can fully customize it according to your personal needs or to match your brand requirements. QR Codes can be customized with specific designs and color options. You can customize the shape and form of the corner elements and the body of the QR code. You can also set your own colors for all QR code elements and add a gradient color to the QR code body even. And, as you, dear reader, could see in the previous image, you can even embed a small image in QR Code to make it look more customized according to your needs....really awesome!! :)

Fig 5. A heavily customized QR Code leading to my Twitter profile.

As barcodes, QR Codes has advantages and disadvantages too. Despite been widely accepted because the ease of use and the ability to store more information than a regular barcode, QR Codes can indeed become distorted as happens with regular barcodes which can lead to improper reading by a device; besides, when people are scanning a QR Code the scanning device can never really know where the code is going to lead you, so, unless you have specifically configured the scanning tool not proccess automatically the decoded info(like automatically open links in browser) you could end with a virus in your phone or PC or maybe redirected to a pornographic site on the Internet and last, but no least, as QR Codes do not rely in any databse to get the info from the information encoded into a QR Code could be potentially outdated which can lead to misinformations and the actual need of replacing all outdated QR Codes which is a laborious and expensive process.

There are other types of 2D codes like Datamatrix Codes which can encode the information just like QR Code does with few differences between each other and as so, they have almost the same uses, benefits and disadvantages.

As technology continues to progress at a faster rate than ever and the human mind never stops looking for better and improved ways to do certain things, it is completely understandable that the evolution about how to represent certain types of information goes from some printed ink paper(bars and squares) to the tech side....here we go Morse Code: welcome to the future!! **:)**

Morse Code has a techie grandson!!! :o

Yep, as weird as it can sound after a long way going from dots and dashes to bars and squares, we have come to the techie side of this matter.

Some people would have wondered sometime if putting a tiny chip in a box containing information about that specific product would make sense...after all, BarCodes and QR Codes are printed in paper...what about printed chips?

NFC (Near Field Communication) is a wireless technology which allows for the transfer of data such as text or numbers between two NFC enabled devices. NFC tags, for example stickers, contain small microchips with little antennas which can store a small amount of information for transfer to another NFC device, such as a mobile phone.

Fig 6. An NFC Tag in form of a sticker, you can program that chip the way you want and then, retrieve that info just like that – it looks like dots and dashes elongated into thin or thicker lines isn't?...remember something? **:)** *(https://seritag.com)*

You can read more about NFC history here, but the fact is that it is completely possible to print a chip with some sort of information, stick it in a given product, poster, voucher or whatever you want and then read the information provided by using another NFC powered device...how cool is that?! **:)**

Putting it simple: those tiny chips are small and cheap enough to integrate into all sorts of products: from business cards to prescription bottles and even ruggedized labels meant for outdoor use. They can be bought in bulk (they even come packaged like stickers, as you can see) and then program them for your (or your company) own purposes.

An NFC Tag itself consists of three basic components: an NFC chip, an antenna and something to keep it together. The NFC chip is a tiny microchip which contains a small amount of memory and the technology to allow it to communicate. Those tiny devices are passive, meaning they don't have any power source. Instead, they literally “draw power” from the device that reads them, thanks to magnetic induction. When a reader gets close enough to a tag, it energizes it and transfer data from that tag.

Fig 7. *“When a reader gets close enough to a tag, it energizes it and transfer data from that tag” (https://xamoom.com)*

Adding data to an NFC tag is called encoding and you can encode almost the same kind of information you can store or encode into a QR Code: text, URL, ID, email or a telephone number; however, the amount of information encoded depends on the type of NFC chip used. In fact, most NFC tags can store only about a sentence of text which makes sense given NFC tags are generally regarded as being a reference to data rather than a data store itself.

NFC Tags can be encoded and re-encoded several times using an NFC capable phone and an App used for this purpose and you can lock the small device so no one(even you) can be able to alter the information provided later.

NFC Tags have found their application area in mainly 4 places: asset management, marketing, information access and personal use but can be used in almost any imaginable place you can have in mind. Despite been a relative new technology, NFC Tags have found their place really soon in the growing industrial market helping people and bussiness to track products and promote services in a very “techie way” :)

While NFC Tags technology sounds exciting and very promising most experts believe that NFC Tags will not replace QR Codes and they will sit alongside each other having both their advantages and disadvantages and complementing each other. QR Codes are free to create and free to print while NFC tags will always cost something – even if that cost is gradually falling to pennies till today and that´s a disadvantage they have but in the other hand NFC tags can be hidden behind a brand logo or discreetly within the liner of a handbag making them impossible to remove yet completely readable which is an advantage they have over printed 2D codes like QR Codes or BarCodes.

Final thougths...by now

From Morse Code representing letters and numbers to NFC Tags encoding small amounts of information, an extensive path has been traveled that has led humanity to improve the way in which information is encoded and made accessible to the end user with the possibility of leaving traceability while accessing it with ease.

BarCodes, QR Codes, DataMatrix and NFC Tags could be only the begining, the tip of the iceberg, regarding coding and accesing some product information or simple data as an example. What we think as a clear end other people like me believe it is just the start, the begining of the road...after all, human mind nevers stops thinking: Samuel Morse lead the way but in human timeline we are almost in the same space than him, contemporaries somehow...no one knows what does the future hold...we just need to wait...

By the way: upper piece of Morse Code at he begining of this article means:

“Hello and be very welcome here dear reader.”

...and now:

... . . / -.-- --- ..- / .. -. / -. . -..- - / .- .-. - .. -.-. .-.. . .-.-.

“See you in next article!” :)

If you are an enthusiast of historical photograph and amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!

...and if you valuate our work and want to support good and amazing content exclusively for you, do not forget to get a Coil subscription...it is a small fee to get great content for you and learn a lot!!!

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This is the third part of this series dedicated to those forgotten photographers whose photos have made history preserving important events for posterity. Maybe you have seen the other parts already but if not, i invite you to step by HERE and HERE and take a look. Today we have another special guest to our blog: Felice A. Beato: a pioneering photographer who is considered among the first ones to take images from East Asia(China, Japan, India) and one of the first known war photographers!!!

He is also known for his portraits, views and panoramas of the architecture and landscapes of Asia and the Mediterranean region and for bringing a new and fresh point of view of the Asian way of life to people on European Continent and the Americas. His photos showed to people in the West how many people lived on the East: their customes, their architecture, their believes...

He was a pioneer in almost every aspect of photography: his images of such events as the Sepoys Rebellion in India, the Second Opium War in China and the Sudanese Colonial Wars in Sudan represents itself the first substantial body of photojournalism known. In many particular ways he influenced other photographers, mainly in Japan, where he worked closely with numerous other photographers and artists, leaving a rich heritage in terms of mode, composition and photographic style.

Who was Felice Beato?

He was born in Venice, Italy in 1832. Italian by birth but British by adoption, Beato's early life is little know. Many aspects of his early life remain hidden for history and what is known is largely due to some notes and certificates recently discovered in 2009.

Fig 1. *Felice Beato (possibly a self-portrait) as seen in 1866 (https://en.wikipedia.org)*

However is well known that his association with photography began in the 1850s, when he formed a close relationship with his brother-in-law and noted photographer James Robertson. Robertson introduced Beato to the photography world and together explored the magnificent Islamic architecture of the Constantinople area whilst experimenting with new photographic techniques: one of the first well know photos taken by Beato is the “Sultan Ahmed’s Blue Mosque” photo taken circa 1855.

Fig 2. *Sultan Ahmed’s Blue Mosque photo by Felice Beato in 1855 (https://en.wikipedia.org)*

His association with Robertson is a total success opening a photographic studio in Constantinople in 1854 called: “Robertson & Beato”. Together, they traveled to Malta, Greece and Jerusalem between 1854 and 1857 in several commercial photographic expeditions, resulting in some of the first quality images taken in these places.

Fig 3. *Photograph of the Bridge of the Porta Reale, Valletta, Malta, 1856. Felice Beato. (https://www.antikvariat.net)*

Fig 4. *Photograph of the “Dome of the Rock”, Jerusalem, 1856. Felice Beato (https://www.metmuseum.org)*

Fig 5. *Photograph of the west facade of the Library of Hadrian in Athens, Greece, 1856. Felice Beato&James Robertson (http://sites.middlebury.edu)*

Soon Beato and company became renowned photographers by their time and as Beato’s reputation developed, he began working independently on his own projects. Beato's fascination with religious sites lead him to travel to Jerusalem but the more he traveled the world the more intrigued he became by the way of life of people living in other parts of the globe far from what they know as the “civilized part of the world” by that time.

That's the reason why he launched himself into a career that would take him to distant parts of the world willing to take pictures of those particular ways of lifes and then, back in home, let his contemporaries to know the existing wealth beyond European borders.

His travels led him to Crimea, India, China, Japan, Korea, Sudan and Burma, places where he spent a considerable amount of time taking pictures from to document its architecture, people and landscape.

Fig 6. *Shops and Street, Chinese City of Pekin, October 1860 by Felice Beato (https://commons.wikimedia.org)*

Fig 7. *Rich japanese lady riding a norimono or sedan chair with a bodyguard, 1866 (https://monovisions.com)*

Fig 8. *Photograph of group of Friendly Warriors in Desert at Assouan, Sudan, 1884(http://www.luminous-lint.com)*

His work by that time was focused on collecting foreign people's experiences and their way of life but Beato's work was also driven for other reasons beyond pure social interest: in those times the world saw many bloody wars scattered among almost the whole known world. Wherever Beato went, there was a recent war ongoing or almost finishing. Given his expertise in foreign countries customs, his previous experiences photographing the Crimea War and and his refined photographics techniques, he was hired by the War Office in London to document the effects of the fighting of the India’s First War of Independence, from there Beato's life would never detach from these violent scenarios where he took some of his most iconic and at the same time terrible photos.

First war photographer...?

Beato is know too by being one of the first known war photograpers.

He was told once that he was always photographing in the middle of adversity and misery.

From the Crimea War to the Second Opium War in China he documented some of Asia’s most violent conflicts and was steadily gaining recognition as an established war photographer and somehow one of the founding fathers of photojournalism. Unlike some contemporaries who prefer not to show the destroyed bodies on the ground or the devastations of war, Beato tried to capture through his lens the dark side of the war and the evil inside the human nature.

Is is widely accepted that Beato took the firsts photographies of corpses on a battlefield during the siege of Lucknow in the middle of the Sepoys Rebellion in India.

Fig 9. *Interior of the Sikandar Bagh after the slaughter of 2,000 indian rebels, April 1858. This is one of the first photos in history depicting dead bodies (https://scroll.in)*

Due to the fact that he travelled alongside the soldiers during their campaigns, Beato witnessed the actual events which he later restaged in his photographs. Always accompanied by a full caravan of native workers every time helping him set up the camera and travel comfortably, he was able to closely photograph the vast majority of the conflicts of the time.

Fig 10. *British Empire troops in Handoub during the Sudanese Colonial Wars(https://www.metmuseum.org)*

Fig 11. *Interior of the Redan, Russian Battery, Crimea, 1854 (https://www.rct.uk)*

Fig 12, 13. *Inside the Taku Forts after the capture of this fort by British and native forces durinf the Second Opium War, 1860, China (http://www.executedtoday.com)*

Beato is known too for bringing information about some rare customs that were usually used in some Asian countries of that time such as crucifixion, a painful moment that he captured several times with his lens and most people believed extinct.

Fig 14. *Bandits being crucified by Burmese villagers. Beato's work shown european people that those methods still were used.(https://cvltnation.com)*

In addition, Beato created the first hand-coloured photographs of Japan. To do this, he worked with artist and journalist Charles Wirgman, who eventually became his business partner. Later, Beato employed Japanese watercolour artists to tint his photos.

Fig 15. *Japanese criminal about to be beheaded, hand-coloured photo previously taken in black&white by Felice Beato. (https://cvltnation.com)*

The last country he visited before returning to Italy was Burma. Arriving in 1887 and leaving in 1905, Beato opened a curiosity shop in Mandalay, where he sold photographs, furniture, and other artworks. Eventually, Beato returned to Italy, where he died in 1909.

Legacy and acknowledgment

Beato's scenes of the architecture and people of East Asia are as well known as his war images. In his initial steps into the world of the photography, his work was closely related to Robertson's work but later, despite being heavily influenced by other artists, he developed his own methods which led his photography earning a place in the annals of history.

By that time most of photographers avoid showing dead corpses and the violence of war and Beato’s images went much further, with not only dead or dying soldiers in the foreground but showing the adversal effects of war in people's life. It was these gruesome additions that marked him as an innovator, the first photographer willing to show the reality of death and destruction on the battlefield. While his images of corpses and skeletons gained him notoriety, the poignancy and starkness of the ruined buildings in many of his Indian scenes are a documentary tour de force.

Final thoughts...by now...

This is the 3rd part of a series of articles dedicated to ancient photographs. Many more series regarding vintage photos who immortalized weird and amazing things and their photographers are coming...just follow me to ensure don't miss even one of the articles that will be published.

So if you are an enthusiast of historical photograph and amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!

...and if you valuate our work and want to support good and amazing content exclusively for you, do not forget to get a Coil subscription....it is a small fee to get great content for you and learn a lot!!!

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When we talk about Micropayments today we are necessarily talking about a whole new world inside the payments system´s world. Micropayments system aren´t new, but in practice, have been applied successfully for a relatively short time. So what we have today are complete systems allowing people and companies to stream small amouts of a given asset to pay for something (something usually accessed in real time but not necessarily). :)

This article is closely related to other articles written in this blog. In fact, it is the second part of an article titled “Micropayments: beyond content creators.” where is covered what is a micropayment and give some examples of real use cases for micropayments. Something introductory and easily explained to get people quickly introduced to this incredible world.

The second part of this series of articles deals with one specific use case of Micropayments: improving the life of poor people in developing countries. We will see Micropayments from the point of view of the poor people, people living in developing countries where those systems, if correcly applied, could be a way to access some things that otherwise could not be possible accessed by them, mainly by turning the spending of a given asset into something more fair and humanized, allowing them to spend according to what they obtain or access without blowing up their regular income.

Micropayments field experts have identified several use cases for this not so new technology. From streaming digital media to publishing and advertising sector, Micropayments can be applied in a wide range of sectors of society and the economy as well. Back in 1998, MP3.com president Michael Robertson put in context the idea of ​​paying only for what you want when he said: “it’s ridiculous to spend $16 on a CD if all you want is one song.” – yes, it is ridiculous and, strange as it may seem, some visionary people and poor people always tend to think the same: the first because they see a great bussiness opportunity here and the later because given the low income they have, they only spend the minimun covering basic need;, they need what they need, nothing else. :)

Can Micropayments help poor people in developing countries?

Poor people need better payment services, that´s a fact. That´s why some people and companies around the world work together to bring the poor the possibility to spend huge amounts of money(comparing with their anual income) diluted over time or give people the ability to pay for time or megabyte consumed in other cases.

We can find remarkable examples in some African countries like Uganda and Kenya where M-Kopa, a revenue-generating social enterprise that sells lighting systems to the rural poor, sells a home solar energy system valued in $200 USD which is too much to cover for any of its customers to pay at one time, but the same as what a household could expect to spend on kerosene in a year to get their homes illuminated with kerosene lanterns. To help people get access to those lighting systems, the company charges customers a small payment up front, followed by micropayments of about 46 cents made daily by cell phone over the course of a year. After 12 months, customers own their systems outright—or can continue paying and get an upgraded version. Daily payments are made through M-Pesa, a mobile phone based money system.

Fig 1. *M-KOPA company offers electrical energy in African homes through micropayments. In the photo, part of the equipment distributed by M-KOPA (https://www.smartgridsinfo.es)*

Many developing countries are using digital payment providers to process government paychecks, pensions, and social benefits by depositing them directly into digital accounts and most of those payment providers allow remmitance of micropayments like PromptPay, which is an E-payment launched by the Bank of Thailand early in 2017. PromptPay allows almost instant and fee free micro transfers of digital money helping millions of users to set up their own small bussiness and process small digital payments in exchange for products and services offered.

Digital micropayments can also be used to help poor people to pay their debts in a more fair way. Making multiple, small payments each month can help you pay down debt sooner or keep your balances in check in the first place. And you’ll likely find it much easier to manage small payments than one large payment when your bill arrives.

Fig 2. *Not only for poor people...Micropayments can help ALL people to to pay their debts in a more fair way. (https://www.forafinancial.com)*

Allowing poor people to pay for things in a micro-digital recurrent way could allow financial institutions the ability to advance funds into remote areas and have regular repayments that do not significantly inconvenience the user and still let those institutions to profit on their funding activity while help less favored people. It is a fact that financial institutions do not care about financial inclusion of poorest mainly because they stated that those people are unable to pay the agreed amounts on time...but what about if those agreed amounts could be streamed digitalized and splitted in several tiny payments? It is a possibility that today´s technology allow, even in remote areas, but some people(and companies) refuse to accept.

Financial inclusion has always been a dream for many people around the world. According to some studies, the world presently has around 1.7 billion financially excluded adults. Some statistics provided by FINCA International tell us that 76% of the poorest people, in 20 countries across Africa, Eurasia, Latin America, the Middle East and South Asia, are financially excluded. Digital-based micropayment systems can provide to people living from lower income to have access to a means of payment for buying microproducts as well as to store, send and receive payments of small amounts in their community.

Micropayments for poor people could be a source of income even by giving them the possibility to save the proper way by not spending money in things they do not need or do not want, like a full music CD if they only want a single song :) This technology can prove to be an alternative for banking services for the lower strata of society, and all that´s needed is a cellphone, Internet conectivity and and the goodwill of institutions and governments backing up the people.

Final thougths...by now

Micropayments can help poor people to have a better way of life. Because their income is too low, spending must necessarily be made in small amounts. It is a world still unexplored by many companies but can be profitable for both sides. As the M-Kopa example show us: there is no way both sides(companies and poor and unbanked people) could not benefit from each other while using this technology.

Maybe we could see in a near future more and more companies using micropayments to get to those people banished from traditional banking systems while helping each other to build a better world for the entire human race...it costs nothing to dream!

If you are an enthusiast of historical photograph and amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!

...and if you valuate our work and want to support good and amazing content exclusively for you, do not forget to get a Coil subscription...it is a small fee to get great content for you and learn a lot!!!

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⌛ Reading time: 10 minutes

Several countries(and the whole world) are commemorating this year the 76th anniversary of “The Normandy landings”: what we know as “D-Day”. That day(June 6th, 1944) Allied forces landed by the french region of Normandy in an attempt to secure 5 beachheads to start the Allied invasion of Europe.

It was a victorious day but dark in many ways: more than 19 000 people died while the landing took place. There are still in the world living people who took part in that landing(or took part in the defense against the landing) that remember that day as “The Longest Day” of their lives; referencing the events of that day seemed endless.

Many things have been written about that landing and year after year governments, countries and people gather together to commemorate that day, its meaning and the lives that were lost. D-Day is usually remembered in the press and social media via iconic photos that were taken that day, like those that were taken by the war photographer Robert Capa who was the first photographer landing with Allied forces in Normandy. He took a series of photos who became iconic over time: The Magnificent Eleven.

I want to remember that day from another point of view: from the forgotten heroes point of view, from those who were called crazies and those who stayed home waiting for their loved ones to return. Remembering the forgotten we can commemorate as well!

They called him CRAZY!

One of first soldiers to charge the beach on D-Day was a Canadian bagpiper who said he only survived because German snipers thought he was too crazy to shoot. On June 6th, 1944 a canadian soldier named Bill Millin played the bagpipes as he was landing to boost morale as Allied troops stormed beaches in Normandy.

Fig 1. *Before D-Day, Bill Millin plays the bagpipe for these comrades in England(https://www.dday-overlord.com)*

England's War Office had officially banned bagpipers from the war's front lines, saying they would attract enemy fire. But Millin got a pass because of his Scottish heritage. **:)**

Armed with nothing but his instrument and a kilt. He recalled later talking to German soldiers who said he was spared because they thought he was crazy, so he was not shooted at all as remembered by himself: “I didn't notice I was being shot at. When you're young, you do things you wouldn't dream of doing when you're older.” – he said for a New York Times interview years later.

Dark fate in bloddy waters: stories of brothers

Many people in the world know that the film “Saving Private Ryan” is loosely based on the Niland brothers' story: real events that happened those days when Allied forces were landing in Normandy. The story of Niland brothers is well known because of Steven Spielberg's film gave them popularity and it is a wonderful and sad story at the same time: only two survive the war and two were killed in action on consecutive days.

Fig 2. The Niland brothers; from left to right: Edward(survivor), Preston(killed in June 7th), Robert(killed in June 6th), and Frederick(survivor, private “James Ryan” in the film Saving Private Ryan is loosely based on him)(https://en.wikipedia.org)

But they were not the only brothers who went to fight the WWI and died on D-Day.

The brothers Bedford Hoback and Raymond Hoback, were both killed on action on D-Day. The two brothers were from Bedford Town and enlisted the army together. The youngest, Raymond, joined just to be with big brother Bedford. After joining the National Guard, they were assigned to Company A, 116th Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, along with several dozen other young men from the town. Together, the Hoback brothers were part of the First Infantry Division that stormed Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944.

Fig 3. *Bedford and Raymond Hoback: the two brothers landed on June 6th, 1944 in Normandy and were killed in action. Raymond's body was never found.(https://www.dday.org)*

They were among the first ones landing that day and according to the records they couldn't have lived long due to the first waves of Allied landing were those one who recieved heavy fire from german lines. Several of the men in their company reported that they saw Raymond's body lying on the beach near the water's edge, but they didn't know whether he was wounded or dead. They think that his body got taken out to sea by the tide.

The family recieved in a short period of time two telegrams stating that one brother was killed in action and the other was killed and supposedly his body could not be recovered left, leaving the family mired in the deepest pain. But here is a coincidence of destiny which

that always comes to try to mitigate hopelessness for good souls: one day family received the most unexpected gift in the mail.

It was a letter and a small package. The letter read: “I was walking along the beach D-Day plus one. I came upon the Bible and as most any person would do I picked it up.” The handwritten letter from an American soldier accompanied Raymond's most precious belonging: his Bible.

Fig 4. *Raymond's Bible found on June 7th by na american soldier and sent back home. Hoback's sister is the legal owner.(https://dailypress.com)*

Accidentally an american soldier found Raymond's Bible and he picked it up from the sand to keep it from being destroyed and he just thought that Raymond's parents, would like to have it...something that had belonged to Raymond, so he send it back to home, bringing Hoback's mother a little joy into the pain.

That day, besides the Hoback's brothers, landed in Normandy the Stevens twins and the Powers brothers who were also from Bedford town, but unlike the former the latter did survive D-Day. A total of 20 Bedford youth died that day.

...Their story and the story of Bedford boys worth a movie, don't you think dear reader?

D-Day was also experienced from across the Atlantic.

By the time americans were waking up on the morning of June 6, 1944, the first and second waves of American troops had come ashore under relentless German fire on the beaches of Normandy. Most people didn't know what was happening that day due to the invasion date was keept top secret to secure the success. Once the invasion was taking place, it was no longer necessary to hide what was happening from general public.

Once announced, the whole World stopped. Big cities like New york experienced moments of impatience and despair as shown in the photos taken by combat photographer Phil Stern. He was an U.S. Army Ranger wounded in Sicily and recovering from his wounds back home. Early that day he listened the news and pick up his camera and went outside trying to catch the historical moment... from the other side of the Atlantic.

If Robert Capa's pictures are iconic photos of D-Day from easter side of the War, Stern's photos are their equals, but on the opposite side, from home.

Fig 5. *New York Times news ticker in Times Square announcing “Allied Armies Invade Europe.“(Phil Stern Archives)*

Fig 6. *Fulton Street, people walk by a hard-to-miss sign outside a church announcing “INVASION DAY Come in and pray for Allied Victory.” (Phil Stern Archives)*

Fig 7. *New Yorkers gathering together in the streetsto listen to latest news from the Invasion Day. (Phil Stern Archives)*

Also, some other incredible images were captured by other photographers(Howard Hollem, Edward Meyer and MacLaugharie), showing how tense was New York City on D-Day as news were spreading.

Fig 8, Fig 9. *People get petrified while listen to the news or go out of work or churches to listen better(https://www.dailymail.co.uk)*

Fig 10. *Children salute the French flag at a French school in Manhattan early that day.(https://www.dailymail.co.uk)*

The invasion day, D-Day, was experienced across the Atlantic too. By the time americans were waking up that day, thousands of young men were laying down over the red waters of Normandy beaches giving up their lives to history forever.

Waverly B. Woodson, Jr: a story to remember.

Between all the units landing that day in Normandy beaches there was a single unit made up of black soldiers: the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion. Their strange mission was to raise a curtain of hydrogen-filled balloons high over Omaha and Utah Beaches.

Fig 11. Members of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion setting up the first hydrogen-filled balloons over Omaha Beach on D-Day.(https://www.history.com)

The 320th was all but written out of the story of D-Day and would have gone unnoticed if it wasn't for a story written by one of its members, a black medic named Waverly B. Woodson, Jr.

Fig 12. Waverly “Woody” Woodson Jr. was on the first wave when landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day.(https://www.history.com)

Corporal Waverly “Woody” Woodson Jr., was a 21-year-old medic from West Philadelphia when he splashed down in four feet of churning sea and waded toward Omaha Beach around 9 a.m. on the morning of June 6, 1944. A German shell had just blasted apart his landing craft and killed the man next to him and even himself thought he was dying.

Despite been seriuosly injured he managed himself to set up a medical aid station. For the next 30 hours he tried to survive German snipers while continuing his work as a medic: he removed bullets, dispensed blood plasma, cleaned wounds, reset broken bones and at one point amputated a foot. He also saved four men from drowning. Having treated at least 200 men, Woodson finally collapsed from his injuries and was transferred to a hospital ship. Once he recovered he required his immediate transfer to Omaha Beach again.

In the summer of 1944, Woodson was a star. Newspapermen came to interview the modest pre-med student, and the local paper in Philly called him “No. 1 invasion HERO.” Many people, including his commanding officers and several generals, thought his actions were enough to grant him the “Medal of Honor”. He was recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross—the second-highest military award—but that the office of Gen. John C. H. Lee believed he had earned even more than that.

As happened with many black soldiers and others “non-white-male” soldiers in WWI and WWII, as time passed his popularity was its way down till reach the point of complete oblivion. He died in 2005 without been granted the “Medal of Honor” or any other kind of distinction. Recently, Mr. Woodson relatives, launched a petition to the US Congress to raise his Bronze Medal to a Silver Medal as a start to pave the road to get the posthumous “Medal of Honor” for this American hero.

As a curious fact, Mr. Woodson brother served with the famed Tuskegee Airmen, the first black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps (AAC), a precursor of the U.S. Air Force....coincidence of fate maybe?

Final thoughts...

D-Day was, as said before, a victorious day but a darker one because the amounts of lives lost on each side, no matter which side you look at. Year after year nations and people around the whole World celebrate this day remembering people fallen, usually always the same people. Let´s commemorate this day by remembering those who participated and were forgotten by history: they´re heroes too and they deserved it...

Want to finish by leaving you, dear reader, with a simple statement: we should always remember that War is something really unnecessary, it is an event planned by men for other men to die instead...stay safe!

If you are an enthusiast of historical photograph and amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!

...and if you valuate our work and want to support good and amazing content exclusively for you, do not forget to get a Coil subscription...it is a small fee to get great content for you and learn a lot!!!

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⌛ Reading time: 8 minutes

One-year celebrations are always something special no matter what you celebrate: your baby's first year, first year of marriage, first year of friendship at social media sites... That's why today it is an important day to me because i am celebrating my first year here at Coil! **:)**

Since the very beginning, just a year ago when i joined Coil, i decided to be consistent, to be honest and mainly, write not to please others but to express myself about the things i like and share my thoughts with the world: i write because i like to write and let others know what i think and what i like.

I was thinking the best(or the right) way to write this post today and at the end, i realized that the best way i could do that is to interview myself to let my friends, followers, enemies and haters know me better. **:o**

So, dear readers, here you have. In the followng interview we will see the very experienced journalist “ME” interviewing “MYSELF” ...the reason: “MYSELF” is celebrating his first year at Coil and “ME” wants to know more about this blogger. Without further delays...

The Interview!!!

**ME**:

First of all, tell us a bit about you: who are you, where you come from?

MYSELF:

My full name is Deyner López Fernández and i live in Cuba. I was born in June 4th, 1984 in the eastern part of Cuba in a small country town. My mother is an Agricultural Engineer and my father was a Dentist.

I studied all my life with just one idea in my mind: no matter what profession i was going to choose, it would have to be linked to the computer world, so here i am: after 18 years of hard studies i graduated from University with the title of “Computer Engineer” and now i am an IT guy working as Network and Systems Administrator for a Real State company here in my native Cuba and working remotely as Forum Administrator for an UK company(by the way this month i am celebrating too my first year discovering that company!!!)

I am happily married with a beautiful cuban lady and i am father of almost two: i have one little baby of almost 2 years and another is on his way out next July. My family is everything to me. I consider myself a devoted father because of a bad experience i had when i was 15 years old: i lost my father in a car accident, too early in my life. He does not know how necessary he would has been in my life, i only enjoy 15 years of his loving cares and presence. He went away too early. That´s maybe the cause i am so loving and careful with my son.

**ME:**

How did you find Coil?

**MYSELF:**

I was mainly a bounty hunter in my earlier days at the cryptocurrency world. I discovered a platform called Cent which is like a blogging platform plus social media site and where you can write posts and people can “seed” that post by donating small amounts of ETH(Ethereum)...Then i wonder myself if there was on the Internet another site like Cent where you write and you get paid in cryptocurrency. I was trying to reach to some other social media sites asking people and making deep Google searches about this matter when suddenly one search result hit my laptop screen: it was Coil website in Google search results!

I took a look at the website and i found the concept of web monetization quite interesting so i decided to give a try to Coil and opened my own blog in their platform and here i am after 365 days!

**ME:**

You are a native spanish speaker, why did you choose to write your articles in english?

**MYSELF:**

Nice question dude! Yes i am a native spanish speaker but i choose to write my articles in english because two reasons: as i checked the blogging platform inside Coil i was aware that the vast majority of people interacting one way or another with the website came from english speaking countries, or at least they interacted in that language: most serious articles were written in english so i thought there was a chance to get more exposure for my writings if i wrote my articles in that language. The second reason was that i always wanted to improve my english level a bit and writing was, i thought(and i still thinking), one of the best ways to do that.

**ME:**

I can see you have several articles written by now. Could you share some statistical data about your blogging journey inside Coil?

MYSELF:

Yes, of course. Spending time at Coil has been an awesome journey for me. Through 365 days since i found this awesome platform i´ve written about 60 articles with more than 500 upvotes total. I have 78 followers till now and since i started recently to try to measure the traffic delivered to my blog posts using this technique i have had more than 1000 unique visitors reaching one way or another my articles in the blogging platform.

The article with most upvotes(22) since the beginning is “First photographs ever taken from Jerusalem” and my first 6 articles were a basic copy/paste from the originals i wrote at Cent (still original content from me **:)** )

I spent about 6-8 hours writing an article. I use Picfont Editor to design and edit header images and Capsulink services to create shortlinks for my articles when i shared them on social media. I have articles with more than 2500 words even!

My preferences when writing? History, stories behind vintage photographs, Cuban funny and historical facts, cryptocurrency and investment world...it is a personal blog after all!

**ME:**

60 articles, wow! Do you have one prefered article among all those articles you wrote? Which is that article and why?

**MYSELF:**

Yes i have a prefered one. Each article is a complete journey for me as a blogger and each one has a special meaning but Working dad...cool dad: the maddness behind it* is the prefered one. That article was written to honor the event of the birth of my first child and to let the people know the process of being a cool dad while being a working one...It is really difficult, especially for new parents, to find some balance between two activities but we must find it some how.

**ME:**

What is the “CBC”? Positive or negative experiences?

**MYSELF:**

CBC stands for “Content Builders Club”. It is a private Telegram group created by the amazing Ken Melendez where some Coil creators gather together to share ideas, discuss interesting topics, let other people know about your latest articles or interesting links or resources to become a better blogger and why not, even a better person. It is a small group and we are proud to be part of such amazing community.

CBC has been like a family house for me, full of brothers, sisters and even uncle Srdan. **:)**

That Telegram group is an incredible source of positive vibes. While we have some arguing as any good family have for sure, we are a very close group, supportive, where members are always ready to help.

There have been some misconceptions about the main goal and purpose of this group: while some people think this is only a group to share the link to our latest articles to get upvotes, the thing is this group have been here to help each others to know us better and to support each others. We do not ask for upvotes or free promotion: we just want to have some place to gather together to express ourselves regarding Coil ecosystem and our personal writing work inside the platform and give opinions on how to improve it to make it better.

It is to easy to criticize something when you have not been there, involved and commited or when you have been there, but you have not achieved the result you expected for. We have not kings or queens: we have members!!

**ME:**

What does Coil mean right now for your life? How do you see your future inside the platform?

**MYSELF:**

Coil means many things right now in my life: it is a place to express myself in more than a couple of characters as a writer or blogger, a place to unleash my creativity, to improve my knowledge of english language and to find good friends and learn from them there is more in our lifes than those things we can see with our own eyes.

I imagine myself in a near future as a regular blogger inside the platform with many, many followers interested in the content i provide. I will continue writing for sure. **:)**

**ME:**

Finally, do you have some advices for newcomers?..any final words you want to express to your readers?

**MYSELF:**

Yes. For newcomers i only want to tell them that writing good content it is not always an easy task, even writing content!. If you start fast and feel like in the middle of the path things start to get slower...take a break, and start again!

For my readers: thanks for being here for me, for read my content. You can expect many more articles, fun facts and incredible stories. Just keep following me and if you want to support creators you can get a Coil subscription which is a small fee which will help us to bring you more quality content! Thank you all!!

**ME:**

Thank you very much!

**MYSELF:**

Thanks to you for allowing me reach the community and express myself celebrating this important day, this important milestone! This is my first interview you know?...in my whole life! I hope I have done everything well. **:)**

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⌛ Reading time: 9 minutes

As time passes and humanity gets involved in new and terrifying situations, most people seems to forget those terrifying situations of the past. A past not so past, of which there are still open wounds, comes to us on a daily basis through the news or social media sites to remind us that mankind has arrived where it is through difficult and winding roads.

Mankind has heroes everywhere. Right now we have heroes fighting the actual Coronavirus Pandemic that lashes the world, some kids(and even adults) have fiction heroes taken from comic books or pictures and for the majority of people some of their parents are heroes too....But in the popular imagination the most remarked heroes, real heroes, are those heroes came out of wars.

Manfred von Richthofen(the Red Baron) from WWI, Vasili Záitsev from WWII, George Washington from American Revolutionary War... they´re all examples of heroes amidst a whole constellation of them. Feats, incredible facts and a mind-blowing stories are covering those heroes lives...and they have another thing in common: publicity. Back in those days, those historical days, and right now in present times even, their figures were and are exploited as publicity material; giving them a wide coverage among society. That´s why they´re so recognized as real heroes...icons to follow may i say. And there´s no doubt that they deserve that title because their lifes were uniques but the truth is that there are other heroes out there that earned their place in that constellation but, unfortunately for them, those times were times where racism was an accepted fact and in most cases regular people were not taken into account for promotions or advertising, no matter how heroic their efforts were...with few exceptions.

People has almost forgotten “The War to end all Wars”, the First War World War or WWI. More than 100 years separates us from that terrifying event and it seems the time has taken its toll to our memories and we have somehow forgotten some facts, some stories and some heroes. Betrayed by their social extraction or their skin color, WWI had several non publicized heroes that remained in the darkness to this days.

No song was sung in their honor and almost no painting was painted regarding their achievements, but they lived hard, fight hard and some of them died hard even. Here are some invisible and forgotten WWI heroes brought back to light in more liberal times.

*❶* Khudadad Khan: the first soldier of Indian origin to be awarded the Victoria Cross.

Khudadad Khan was born on 26th October 1888 at Dabb village, Chakwal, in the Jhelum District of the Punjab, India. He served in the First World War with the 129th Baluchis, and was the first soldier of Indian origin to be awarded the Victoria Cross.

Fig 1. *Khudadad Khan, the first indian soldier to be awarded with the Victoria Cross(LIVES OF THE* *FIRST WORLD WAR)*

His merit? On 31st October, 1914, at Hollebeke, Belgium, the British Officer in charge of the machine gunners detachment to which Khan belong, was wounded, and all the others machine gunners belonging to other detachments were out of action by a shell, Khudadad Khan, though himself wounded, remained working his gun until all the other five men of his gun detachment had been killed. Thanks to his bravery (and to his fellow baluchis bravery) , Germans were held up just long enough for new Indian and British reinforcements to arrive. They strengthened the line, and prevented the German Army from reaching the vital ports. He was left for dead by the enemy but despite his wounds, he managed to crawl back to his regiment during the night.

He was evacuated to England for treatment and received his VC(Victoria Cross) from King George V on 26th January 1915.

*❷* Henry Johnson: the first Americans to be awarded the French Croix de Guerre.

Soldier Henry Johnson was called by many names because of his bravery act while standing on guard in the Argonne Forest on May 15, 1918 by the end of WWI: the “Black Death” or the “One-Man Army” were two of the nicknames he earned by his actions.

Fig 2. *Henry Johnson wearing the French “Croix de Guerre” for his bravery during WWI (https://www.mentalfloss.com)*

Private Johnson was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on July 15, 1892. Enlisted in the United States Military on June 5, 1917, he joined the all-black New York National Guard 15th Infantry Regiment, which, when mustered into Federal service, was redesignated as the 369th Infantry Regiment based in Harlem.

Once deployed at French territory they were relegated to menial work like loading and unloading shipments and managing food supplies: their skin color prevent them to take place among their white brothers in combat actions. But the French army was a different thing: they requisitioned the black American soldiers to fight in the French trenches as they need more men to fight back the german attempts on taking french trenches: US commando were pleased to give them to french side.

On May 15, 1918, Johnson and a fellow Soldier, Pvt. Needham Roberts were standing on guard near Argonne Forest when received a surprise attack by a German raiding party consisting of at least 12 soldiers. Outnumbered in a 6:1 ratio both soldiers fought back the german attack but soon private Roberts fell wounded. Although Johnson himself had received three gunshot wounds and injuries from grenades during the struggle, he still went to the aid of his injured comrade who was captured by the enemy, and continued to fight until the Germans fled. Was verified later that Johnson using only his knife in hand-to-hand combat, killed multiple German soldiers and rescued his fellow soldier while experiencing 21 wounds in his body.

For this act of bravery he was awarded the French “Croix de Guerre” and returned home as a celebrated hero but few months later he was completely forgotten in a segregated society, dying poor and forgotten in 1929.

*❸* Nurse Rimma Ivanova

WWI acts of bravery were not limited only to men. Rimma Mikhailovna Ivanova was a Russian nurse participant of the First World War. She was the only woman in the Russian Empire, awarded the military Order of St. George 4th Class.

Fig 3. *Rimma Ivanova was a Russian nurse and the only woman granted a military order medal by Russian Empire during WWI.(https://www.rbth.com)*

She was born in 1894 in Stavropol and after the outbreak of the First World War, she entered the nurses' courses in Stavropol and then, she volunteered as a nurse in the Russian army.

In 1915, during a battle near the village of Dobroslavka in Belarus, nurse Ivanova noticed that two officers from her squadron had been killed and the soldiers were starting to retreat, so enemy forces began to advance and threaten to kill all wounded soldiers lying down in the field. Ivanova quickly gathered the remaining troops around her and led the counterattack. Even though the soldiers managed to take enemy ground, Ivanova died from a fatal injury.

Souls are colorless or single color: the color of bravery

The examples mentioned below are only a small portion of many bravery acts that took place during WWI. In fact, we can spot many bravery acts from the ranks of people who did not belong to Europe at that time, because the WWI was fought mainly in Europe but gather people from every corner of the planet Earth.

Chinese, Gurkhas, native Africans and many other nationalities were involved, one way or another, into this incredibly deadly war.

Fig 4. *Chinese workers at labour camps in northern France during WWI (http://www.remembrancetrails-northernfrance.com)*

Poeple have forgotten individual heroes because the color of their skin or their gender mostly, but have forgotten too the collective effort of thousands of people who contributed to a favorable outcome of the war, like the Chinese joint effort in labour camps in France where thousand of chinese people worked day and night making roads and rails, repairing machines and doing blacksmith and carpentry work for the allies, freeing native troops for front line duties.

Another example of joint effort into fighting the enemy that is almost forgotten was given by native African troops. Because at that time, Africa countries belongs almost entirely to European countries was inevitable that the Black Continent was not involved in war efforts.

Fig 5. Nigerian soldiers get on a train wagon to be taken on board for Europe, soldiers like this ones fought on the side of Britain in World War I(https://www.dw.com)

The War records say that almost two million Africans were killed when the continent was drawn into the conflagration of World War I. Many of them fought in their homelands but many of them were taken to the Old Continent to fight a War that was not their War. Despised by their superiors for considering them as an inferior race, they were used as cannon fodder on countless occasions but they show a degree of bravery that leaves their own commanders perplexed so many times.

Irvin Cobb was a journalist and a very well-known writer for the Saturday Evening Post. His experiences of meeting black soldiers on the frontlines in Europe changed the opinion of many people around the world about the merits and degree of courage shown by soldiers of different races during the WWI... his writings helped to turn private Johnson a hero, for a short time.

Coob himself wrote, referring to Johnson achievement:

If ever proof were needed, which it is not, that the color of a man’s skin has nothing to do with the color of his soul, this twain then and there offered it in abundance

...and he was right, not only because of private Johnson feat but for the achievements of thousands of different skin color people who fought a War which did not end any of the upcoming Wars.

Final thoughts...

The Great War or WWI was not a war fought by white men only...not just white, not just men as you, dear reader, can see.

There were many many more bravery acts which led common people turn out to be war heroes but many of them were simply forgotten after the initial euphoria unleashed by the press of their time. Serve this little article as an eternal reminder that the color of one men or the gender of one person has nothing to do with the degree of bravery, courage and passion that can turn a common people to become a real hero.

So if you are an enthusiast of historical photograph and amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!

...and if you valuate our work and want to support good and amazing content exclusively for you, do not forget to get a Coil subscription...it is a small fee to get great content for you and learn a lot!!!

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⌛ Reading time: 8 minutes

January 3, 2009...the first block of Bitcoin was mined, the “Genesis Block” with a reward of 50 Bitcoins...and it started a digital revolution that has lasted until today; unstoppable, has no time to finish. Today we can find ourselves diving into the blockchains sea where we can find well stablished prehistorical monsters like Bitcoin and Ethereum as well as new fishes trying to find their place in that vast ocean deeply explored and, paradoxically, also quite unexplored.

Different blockchains have different use cases, going from a wide range of possibilities: Store of Value, Descentralized Apps Development, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Device Tracking, Quality Control, Data Authenticity Management, Supply Chains...and many, many more. Today we can take advantage of the descentralized concept even to keep our private data as “real private” in a world where monetization of personal data has become an everyday thing and big players like Facebook and Twitter seize your data in exchange for a “free” service to the world.

Descentralization concept is something developers and device manufacturers want to apply to help us to recover our privacy. We have DAPPS (Descentralized Apps) mimic the same behaviour as Facebook and Twitter but running completely descentralized over a given blockchain where you own your data and everything you say or post is recorded forever...Now, developers and techie guys wants to go one step further in descentralization development and are integrating those descentralized apps into our cellphones and even more: they want to offer us cellphones completely integrated into a given blockchain where even call and SMS services work descentralized!! **:o**

What are blockchain powerd cellphones?...Do i need one?

Blockchain powered cellphones are intended to be the gateway to Web 3.0 or descentralized web. In this future version of the internet, blockchains and similar technologies would support decentralized applications that look and feel like the mobile apps we use today but run on public, peer-to-peer networks instead of private servers.

It is widely know that one major impediment to mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency and dapps in everyday life is that these technologies are too difficult to use for regular people. Better user experiences, simplified key management and full blockchain services integrations in a friendly and simplified environment could change the way people see and value cryptocurrency and dapps.

If techie guys all over the world would like to choose some kind of technology from which all could be started...that technology must be an already accepted and widely used technology giving easy access to everyone...and that technology already existed: cellphones!! The same way blockchain history started with Bitcoin first block mined, the history of Web 3.0 would start with our old friends being modified...our beloved cellphones. :)

Fig 1. Our cell phones were the chosen entry point for the next general adoption of Web 3.0

Blockchain cellphones are not brand new as we would expect. Do not get me wrong: they're new as real gadgets but old as an idea. The first ideas about integrating blockchain services in a native way into our cellphones comes from a few years ago; but only recently those ideas have been able to be brought to life when tech giants like HTC and Samsung have realized about the huge power of descentralization for the future and as pioneers, they have shown some interest into integrating those services in some of their phones.

The first company designing a blockchain powered cellphone was HTC. Phil Chen is the decentralized chief officer at HTC and explained in early days that “the idea behind these phones stemmed from the fact that people didn’t own their digital data and had no digital identities, being observed and their data collected and sell in exchange for free access to some services” (like some Social Media sites)...that needs to be changed...

Fig 2. *Phil Chen, Decentralized Chief Officer at HTC Headquarters (https://www.cnbc.com)*

Since then several companies around the world, like Samsung, have integrated natively, support for some Dapps like crypto wallets on some models of cellphones they produced. The idea of having a full degree of anonymity, preserving all your personal information privately and your keys in your phone while keeping the regular services like Call and SMS texting all together in your phone is very interesting and promising in a short term, so big companies will start investing in this area really soon but some of them have already invested.

Samsung Galaxy S10 includes a secure storage system for cryptocurrency private keys(Samsung Blockchain Wallet), allowing users send and receive securely all major and non-major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, ERC20, Tron and more. It allows even to take look at the world of DApps, allowing users to browse and explore a growing ecosystem of the latest blockchain-based fintech, social media and health DApps.

What's more...S10 users adding XWallet(Pundi X Crypto Wallet) to the Samsung Blockchain Wallet will be able to move cryptocurrencies between the two apps in the same phone. This is a clear example of two rival manufacturers of blockchain smartphones, Samsung and Pundi X, benefiting of working together on crypto adoption.

Fig 3. Samsung Galaxy S10 includes a Blockchain Wallet and a DApps explorer(https://news.samsung.com)

HTC joined the party with its Exodus 1, which is an Android phone with a secure enclave that allows you to keep possession of your own keys, and potentially your own data. It’s effectively an Android phone like any other with all the same functionality, but it has one additional locked area that’s protected from Android’s insecurities.

One step ahead, Exodus 1s allow users even to mine cryptocurrency (it isn't going to make you rich, in case you wonder :) ). HTC said that this is officially the only mobile phone till today that can run a full Bitcoin node, allowing it to propagate transactions and blocks anywhere.

Fig 4. HTC Exodus 1s, a phone being able to run a full Bitcoin node according to its developers at HTC (https://www.muycomputerpro.com)

Finally we have Sirin Labs and Electroneum. The first build the Finney cellphone(and a whole ecosystem around their bussiness). Finney is a blockchain powered smartphone having a cold crypto wallet and a DApp explorer; all powered by their propietary operating system(SIRIN OS) and they even have a token (SRN Token) allowing their users to directly purchase products and services from SIRIN LABS.

Electroneum, more focused on cheap and affordable solutions to bring the crypto world even closer to their clients, began selling an $80 Android phone that can mine cryptocurrency(ETN).

Fig 5. Electroneum M1: you can mine cryptocurrency! (https://newslogical.com)

We should mention apart Pundi X's blockchain powered cellphone. This cellphone is called “BOB” which stands for “Blok on Blok” and it is the world's first modular blockchain powered smartphone. Running two operative systems over one single hardware, it allows users to switch between PundiX’s blockchain OS, which powers the decentralized services, and Android.

It will also be customizable. PundiX says the phone will come with a “MOD Assembly Kit,” with detachable parts that allow buyers to modify the device’s external look. We must note that BOB runs on Function X OS, which is an open-source operating system and it uses at full the blockchain ecosystem. This means that every task on the phone, be it sending texts, making calls, browsing the web, and file sharing, all happen on a decentralized network, making it highly encrypted and thus secure. If you do not want to use the full blockchain functionality, you can always switch to a beautiful Android 9.0 Pie in the traditional mode. Each unit of the BOB is a node that supports the entire Function X blockchain system. :)

Fig 6. Meet BOB! (https://www.tokenpost.com)

Having a blockchain powered smartphone have some advantages indeed, like having better security, more portability for crypto owners(because the hardware wallets are installed in the device, natively) and better DApp access, not to speak about the privacy we can have because we will be able to own our own data and secure our transactions directly from our device, storing our personal keys just in there...AMAZING!!!

But, as everything in the world, having our keys stored inside our own device have some drawbacks too. :(

What happen if I lose my phone or it gets stolen or irreparably damaged? Your keys, and possibly eventually your digital data, are physically stored on that device. Unless you plan carefully, you can lose much more than just the value of the phone and a few contacts. With a normal phone you can call Google or Apple and run through a recovery process to get the keys to your account back, which will at least restore the data you backed up....but that's impossible with some blockchain powered smartphones.

That why some companies like HTC are developing something called Social Key Recovery. Employing a well-known algorithm for sharing, the mechanism splits your key into five different parts, so you can share it among your family and close friends. When you lose your phone, you can call up three out of the five friends to recover it.

Final thougths...by now

No matter what, blockchain technologies have begun to explode into the smartphones world. Companies are trying to introduce, in a smooth and easy way, the blockchain world and its advantages to their user base and i guess they will succeed, because the people are hungry for new ways to communicate and collaborate with each other, but only for new secure ways to do that, ways allowing the final user the freedom to choose, the freedom to own and the freedom to offer and even to sell if they want it to.

Blockchain powered cellphones will be the entry point to a massive cryptocurrency adoption in a near future if companies can be able to bring cheaper and reliable devices to the people.

So, do i need one? Only you can answer that question. If you value your privacy and want to start living today the world of tomorrow maybe you should need to take a closer look to some candidates. To be honest you can have several things blockchain cellphones offer to you just in a regular phone only by installing some apps to your operative system. But there's no doubt that having one gadget which natively support blockchain functions will bring you closer to the experience of living the Web 3.0 from another perspective...so, finally: is up to you!!

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