MiddleOut

Home Page
Client Page
Service Page

MiddleOut - Nick Higgins, Gabriel Pascualy, Mandhiraj Singh

Inspiration

We asked ourselves what we would do if we started the internet over! We believe that the internet can be used for digital transactions without centralized mediation. In particular, we wanted to tackle the idea of device sharing. For example, if someone owns a television or display in a popular area, they could connect it to the Ethereum decentralized network using a device, like a Raspberry Pi. Then someone interested in advertising/using this device, they could issue a transaction to the smart contract. Through the Raspberry Pi, the television would know its contract had been filled and could display whatever the user requested, without any need for the owner of the television to be involved.

What it does

Allows Ethereum users to use our interface to interact with the Ethereum decentralized network! Through our interface, users can create and execute smart contracts to rent out devices, such as televisions or webcams, to display or record information for a period of time. This allows people to share their devices through the trustless network without a middle-man.

How we built it

First, we mapped out what it meant to be a decentralized application (Dapp) and figured out how we could use the Ethereum network alone to create contracts between users, in exchange for use of smart devices. We decided to build a web application using Meteor.js that users could use to interact directly with the blockchain. Our system handles both types of users: services and clients. Services can create contracts on the blockchain, through our UI, to make available for purchase. Meanwhile, clients who want to execute these contracts can set up a transaction to the services in exchange for use of their smart device.

Challenges we ran into

Installing the Ethereum tools took much more time than we would have liked, and in the end we could not get it on each team member's computer. Although, the biggest time strain was creating a private network of nodes among our computers, that we could run our web application and display through. Finally, because Ethereum is still a relatively new frontier, the only support and FAQs available were not always helpful.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Understanding how Ethereum network and blockchain works under the hood, creating smart contracts on our group's private network, and working through the entire night, right up until the deadline.