By: Point Labs
Published: April 30, 2023
The Real Web3 network has just received a major upgrade!
The Point Network team is thrilled to announce the first early releases of Point 2, a significant milestone in our journey towards a truly decentralized internet.
We have completed the main architectural work needed to enable the node to support extra API calls for extended functionality, which will allow even more feature-rich applications to run.
Versioning
The first public pre-release, 1.99.12, is available now and includes the main architectural changes. As the Point 2 pre-releases come out (1.99+), you will see more and more of these features being used by the dApps.Finally, the full Point 2 release with all features is planned to be unveiled in September, as we celebrate one year since the Point launch at our first Point Web3 Summit conference.
What's new?
Here's a breakdown of the exciting new additions in Point 2:New Design. This is the most noticeable change, as we continue to pay attention to ways to delight our users with a beautiful and intuitive interface. The onboarding process has been redesigned to make it easier and more pleasant to start the journey with Point.
We are working on applying the design to all our dApps as well, so that they have the same futuristic and clean look-and-feel.
IPFS Integration. Point 2 now ships with an IPFS backend, which makes it possible to support existing .eth websites that are not in Point format yet but exist on IPFS, such as Vitalik's blog.
This makes it possible to browse the decentralized Web without resorting to trusting Cloudflare gateways or centralized domains, as has been the case in the space so far.
Faster Storage Layer. Our improved storage layer allows for more optimizations of downloads and uploads (now multi-gigabyte websites can be deployed with ease), adds compression to save on network bandwidth, allows seeking into the middle of files (such as when watching videos on Point Tube), and significantly enhances the user experience overall.
Pubsub. Integration of IPFS comes with libp2p pubsub technology, which brings a way to quickly send offchain messages in a decentralized manner to a node or a group of nodes in the network. This is a crucial feature for the future of Point, as it will enable the development of decentralized real-time chat dApps, such as decentralized Telegram, decentralized Slack, decentralized Discord, decentralized Zoom, and other web3 applications that require real-time offchain communication.
Encrypted Sync State. Blockchains are slow, and some data needs to be stored instantly. For this, we have introduced the "host storage" feature, which allows dApps to store data on the device and, in the background, synchronize it with the blockchain, ensuring a seamless experience across devices.
Wallet and Recurring Payments. We are revamping the Point Wallet app and adding support for recurring payments, which will enable users to subscribe to content creators and pay them regularly, as well as to pay for services and subscriptions. We are also working with the LayerZero team to integrate their bridge into Point, so that the POINT token will finally be available across all major DeFi ecosystems.
Mobile Version Development. The most awaited feature! The most awaited feature! We have initiated work on the mobile version of Point Network, which will soon bring our powerful decentralized platform to smartphones and tablets.
We are yet to make use of all the new features in the dApps. Stay tuned for more updates on this front!
Hi from AI
Last but not least, our AI department Point Transcend has been working on the launch of an exciting new AI subproject that we can't wait to share with you. Stay tuned for the big announcement tomorrow!How can you help? The first releases are probably going to be a bit rough around the edges, so we need your help to test them out and report any issues you find. You can download the latest version of Point 2 here: Download Point Browser
The Point Network team is committed to pushing the boundaries of decentralized technology and empowering our community with cutting-edge tools and features. As always, we appreciate your continued support and look forward to an exciting future together!