Hello world, this week our very own Editor-In-Chief, Rowan Spencer, takes some hard-earned time off to celebrate his wedding - congratulations to the bride and groom! As Guest Editor this week, we decided this week that we wanted to talk about two really interesting companies that are helping bring blockchain to the masses. 

Below, you can read a great summary on Helium, one of the leading Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DEPIN) companies, which is completely revolutionizing how mobile telecom works. 

And on our podcast this week, hosted by yours truly, we had on Cynthia Huang, Co-Founder & CEO of Dtravel, an incredible decentralized travel ecosystem revolutionizing the world of short term rentals, that is preparing to give Airbnb a real run for its money.

As always, it’s a great time to be in the world of emerging tech. Thanks for joining us on this wild and wonderful journey, and we’ll see you online!

Blake Minho Kim | Guest Editor

The First Ever Web3 Product With Broad Product-Market-Fit

Ok, so it’s been about two months since I learned about Helium Mobile’s plan to expand nationally here in the U.S.A.

And that whole time I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop. But I don’t think it’s going to happen…

…because what I see in front of me might actually be real:

A Web3 product that beats its Web2 competitor on ease-of-use and cost.

The deal Helium is pitching to users, is this:

• BYO phone.

• No contract.

• Unlimited talk, text and data for $20 per month.

• The network piggybacks off T-mobile's network if you’re not in range of Helium’s decentralized data network.

I know, I know — mobile plans are a weird thing to get excited about — so I’ll explain myself.

The reason for all the hullabaloo is that this is the first time a crypto product has made me want to:

1. Change my pre-existing behavior.

2. Make the jump from a well established Web2 service.

Sure, I use blockchain products all the time! But that's usually because there's no pre-existing Web2 equivalent that got its hooks into me first.

(E.g. Using a self-custody wallet to buy NFTs is a 'Web3 only' kinda thing).

Here's the math on why this is getting me so riled up:

I’m currently paying $55 USD per month on T-mobile, the cheaper (Web2) options available to me are:

• Tello, unlimited talk/text/data for $25 per month w/ no contract.

• Mint Mobile, unlimited talk/text/data for $30 per month w/ contract.

• Visible (Verizon's cheap ‘young person’ network), unlimited talk/text/data for $25 per month w/ contract.

Of the three, Tello gets the closest to matching Helium's deal (it only misses on price, by $5).

But that's the crazy part:

When using blockchain products, I tend to assume they're not going to play nice with Web2 networks and will probably incur higher fees.

Helium is somehow cheaper than the competition and can fall back on the T-mobile network (which I'm already paying $55 p/m to access).

Wild!

Netcetera Podcast

All episodes for Netcetera Season 2 will now be mintable and collectible on-chain.

All episodes are free to mint and open edition (aka unlimited) mints, on the OP blockchain, for 30 days after we publish.

Alpha: There will be perks for those who collect all mintable episodes at the end of the season ;)

Quick Bites

• New Projects Can Still Beat Out ‘Big Dog’ Incumbents of Web3 (Here’s Proof)

• Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it's not

• Polygon Labs Cuts 19% of Staff, 60 Roles, for 'Enhanced Performance'

• AI Is Key to Microsoft’s Blockbuster Growth, Quarterly Earnings Show

• Vitalik’s Vision of Where AI Meets Crypto

That's it. That's all we got! Talk next week.
The Netcetera team 👋

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