Hi Nav Coiners!
This week’s update is indeed a special one. Today is the day our Thunderclap campaign ends and our collective voices are heard by over half a million people! Thank you to all of you for helping us spread the word and reach our goals. The winner of the 20k NAV will be drawn directly after the Thunderclap completes. So good luck everyone!
We have some great announcements today and I will start off with what you’ve all come to see:
Navtech Anon Public LaunchDate: Tuesday 1 November 2016
THE UNBREAKABLE CODE It has been real journey getting the new Navtech System up to standard, but the day is finally near. When the system launches, it will be already very close to what we need for decentralisation, so that goal is also closer than ever. If you’ve been keeping up to date with the Beta Testing, you’ll already be aware that we are closing in on the release candidate version with only minor improvements to come. We are very confident we can hit this goal for the public launch approximately 10 days from now. More details below.
If you want to check out what makes the Navtech system so special, head on over and read our whitepaper:
http://www.navcoin.org/news/articles/post/navtech-whitepaper-2016Or if that’s a bit too nerdy, we also have a cheat sheet:
http://www.navcoin.org/news/articles/post/navs-new-white-paper-the-cheat-sheetNavtech Anon BetaIt seems always busy around Nav Coin HQ during these last few months and this last week has been no different. We have successfully patched the minor issues which were reported in the last round of testing and we have successfully redeployed to the anon servers. Since deployment there have been no more reported issues, everything is processing smoothly!
We have started up a new incoming server after having the hard disk issue with the other host and we are now operating again as a cluster. We have also increased the transaction size to the maximum limit we will accept of 10,000 NAV. This puts us squarely into the last phase of the beta test.
Navtech Anon BetaProgress Report
Phase 1: Low value transactions with small test group on single server pair - complete 
Phase 2: Medium value transactions with large test group on single server pair - complete
Phase 3: Medium value transactions with large test group on multi server cluster - complete
Phase 4: Large value transactions with large test group on multi server cluster - in progress
Over my next 4 day work period I will hammer the server with multiple large NAV transactions to make sure the queue is processed successfully. I will also implement a queue checking system so when your wallet looks for an online server it will also check how long the queue is. If the queue is over 30 minutes long then the wallet will try a different server from the cluster. If all servers have queues longer than 30 minutes it will reject the transaction and ask you to try again later.
Apart from that, my main mission before November 1 is to implement as many unit tests as possible. Ideally we would be 100% covered before public launch. I think we can achieve it.
The slow and steady approach has proven useful so far. As anyone in Software Development can tell you that the best software is not rushed and it's always advised to let the dust settle for a while after making any changes to source code in case there are unforeseen consequences. Especially when building a new product.
If you want to see the Navtech Anon System in action and help us with the beta testing, send me a PM with your email address and i will add you to our slack channel.
Nav Coin CalculatorWe have acquired some volunteers from our lovely community and we have been putting them to good use working on some of our side projects while the core team work on the anon beta. The first cab off the rank is the Nav Coin Calculator.
http://www.navcoin.org/calculatorYou can pick a currency and the amount and it will tell you how much NAV that converts to. It’s a great little tool and is the first in our selection of merchant tools. If you put in the Nav Coin address you wish to receive the coins to, it will generate a scannable QR code with the amount and your address pre-loaded. What you enter gets pushed into the URL, so you can even send it as a link for someone else to scan and pay you. For example:
http://www.navcoin.org/calculator?fiat=USD&amount=1000&address=NhFqGhj3yQew951VB54cxi3FSdhYrNEd5EThe address is fully optional and we never record any data which is entered into the calculator. Shahim is working towards implementing SSL throughout the whole site which means soon you will be able to use the calculator over https which will encrypt any information you send to it.
We are so lucky to have amazing community members who are willing to help us out with these projects. If you have any skills which you think could contribute to the Nav Coin eco-system, send me a PM with your email address and i will add you to our slack channel.
Bit squareWe're pleased to announce that we have been added to the Bitsquare Decentralised Altcoin Exchange. Bitsquare is an open-source desktop application that allows you to buy and sell bitcoins in exchange for national currencies, or alternative crypto currencies.
Unlike traditional online exchanges, Bitsquare requires no registration. It's decentralised and transactions happen peer to peer. Because of this, your coins never leave your computer until they are traded. It's private and never broadcasts any identifiable information. It connects to the internet through the Tor network and it implements end to end encryption.
It really is a great way to privately purchase NAV so I encourage you to check it out!
To download their application please visit their website:
https://bitsquare.ioAnnouncement ArticleSophia and Mark have written two press releases which will be going out over the next few days. These are in support of the Anon Launch Date announcement and aim to educate and inform people of our project. The first should be hitting Coindesk and Cointelegraph today or tomorrow.
https://cointelegraph.com/category/business/press-releaseshttp://www.coindesk.com/press-releasesAs always, if you want the news before it’s news, just visit our website:
http://www.navcoin.org/newsThat’s it from the team for this week. Thanks again to everyone and I give a warm welcome to any newcomers. Please feel right at home and don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions you might have.
To keep up with the latest, follow us on twitter and join us on slack!
Talk soon,
Craig.
