November 10th AMA session with PlanetWatch CEO

18 November 2021 AMAs, Blog Comments (1)

November 10th AMA session with PlanetWatch CEO

In this article you will find the answers that our CEO, Claudio Parrinello, gave in the AMA session on the 10th of November.

Before answering your questions, let me first start with some announcements.

It was a bumpy start for the App with consequences on Kaiterra and Awair sensor onboarding. Most issues are related to location errors, so we have decided to fix all location errors by brute force for the time being. In November, eligible streams from Kaiterra and Awair sensors will be rewarded even if the location is not the correct one. Retroactive reward adjustments for these sensors with regard to location errors have almost all been processed by now.

Please note that because of the size of the network, daily rewards distribution is not instant, for a number of reasons, so there is no point in opening a ticket at 15.01 p.m. CET because the reward round could take up to two hours. Also, please note that the 50% of Type 3 additional reward funded by PlanetWatch will be issued daily two hours after the standard distribution.

Following today’s distribution, rewards will be issued with regularity. We are still checking some issues in relation with Awair streams, will update you in the coming days. Again, November is an extended testing period. There may still be the need for small adjustments.

Type 1 Airqino: there have been some delays related to manufacturing issues, but next week we should be able to start selling the first part of the Q4 2021 batch.

Concerning Type 3 Kaiterra, unfortunately, delays were announced to us some days ago by the manufacturer, because of a global procurement issue. The first lot is now expected to reach us by the end of this month. Next week hopefully we will have an update on the first lot of the Q4 2021 batch. As you know, we organise sensor batches by quarters. However, as soon as we get a significant sensor shipment, we start selling sensors according to the order in the waiting list. So, don’t be surprised if somebody gets a purchase link and other people in the same batch do not – it all proceeds according to the waiting list.

We received quite a number of job applications and that is very good but we need some time to reply. We thank you for submitting your application.

Regarding tickets: please think twice before opening a ticket. If you do not send all required info when you submit a ticket, the ticket will not be processed. Please, be specific – “I have a problem with rewards” is not informative enough. The ticketing system is not a chat 🙂

You can report tech bugs on the Discord channels. Please report issues in the “feedback-and-more” channel. This is more helpful than opening a ticket about a bug.

Also, you can submit your technical questions for our first Tech AMA, that will be held on Monday November 15.

Now, the best part: next week there will be a major announcement!

Another announcement is that PlanetWatch will participate, at the end of the month, at the DeCipher Event in Miami. DeCipher is an Algorand ecosystem convention and I will be speaking. I suspect that during that event we might be able to release a second major announcement.

Here you can find PlanetWatchers’ questions to Claudio

My question is surrounding COP26. With the recent increased media focus surrounding this, sustainability and climate change, what are your thoughts on COP26, how it’s gone, the appetite for genuine change from government/businesses, and where do you see the opportunities for PlanetWatch (and the data we share) off the back of all of this?

The draft agreement was published and contains vague recommendations, instead of hard commitments on e.g. giving up on carbon and fossil fuel subsidies. Also, vague references to mitigation of temperature increase, funding to developing countries, etc. emission reductions. There is a feeling of “too little, too late”. I believe Greta Thunberg is right to criticise and push for more. Nonetheless, awareness is growing very fast, which is good news for PlanetWatch!

In a previous AMA it was stated that NY residents can continue to pay in FIAT on the PlanetWatch website. However, there is no option available that I can see. Please can you update the community on this commitment?

The commitment was not indefinite. It was meant to last until there were options for NY residents to buy PLANETS. At this time, NY residents and in fact anyone on the planet can use DeFi to get PLANETS, which was not the case when I discussed NY last time. Having said this, we are working to get listed on additional exchanges, including those which are NY-compliant.

How did the idea for the PW project evolve? Were you, Claudio, the main character who had the idea for PW?

Yes, the initial idea was mine. The concept was then fully developed via discussions amongst the Founders and with some key external partners. By the way, I am an ideas guy, but execution is king. And the king of execution in PlanetWatch is Mr. Ivan D’Ettorre. He is ideas+execution, unlike me. So kudos to him, kudos to the technical team and kudos to the whole team of PlanetWatch.

Hi Claudio, it has been over a week now and Synaps have failed to reset my KYC. PW Support have already passed my request on and I have contacted them directly, still nothing, not even a reply back from them.

We are talking a lot to Synapse, asking them to unlock and reset blockched accounts. We will keep you posted. This must be improved quickly, otherwise we will look for alternative solutions, but it is true, it is not working perfectly as it should. We are working on it.

Hello Claudio, you mentioned that with the new app it would be possible to check the waiting list for the sensors. When will the functionality be available?

It is on the tech road map, but it is very thick, so we have to prioritise in a hard way. No ETA yet.

Hey Claudio just wanted to say I’m a big supporter and PlanetWatch keeps up the great work!! Questions: Who do you plan to sell the data to and will that be the main source of income? Also how do you plan on selling the data to them? Are there any other companies selling this sort of data and how does PlanetWatch stand out compared to them? Thank you

Please, do refer to what I said in a recent AMA. The unique selling point in our outdoor air quality data, for example, is in the word: hyperlocal. Many companies just skim governmental data which are published on the web, put it on a map and then interpolate between actual sensors with some algorithms. Our challenge is to build and manage a proprietary, dense network of sensors. The reason for this is that in order to detect and analyse some phenomena, like local pollution peaks, you need sensors in every street: our challenge is to build such a hugely dense and comprehensive network. I suspect that we could already claim that we have the largest managed air quality sensor network in the world. Managed means that we know each and every sensor, we know how it works and we put the data together in real time.

How long after I purchase the License should I be receiving the email about my position on the waitlist?

In the future, we aim to send it within two weeks. In the past, we failed to keep this delay.

When will 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication) be available for all logins to PW? I am afraid that someone could easily take over my account.

We will evaluate this option for the Tech Road Map.

My question is the following: Would it maybe make sense to have a Status-Website where everyone can see where current issues of the project are, what is being done to resolve this and for how long the problems are already existing?

We will look into this. For the time being, we are launching a Telegram PlanetWatch Announcements Channel.

Keep watching the Planet and get ready to help us make it greener by staking your Planets!

1 thought on “November 10th AMA session with PlanetWatch CEO”

airvisor says:

18 November 2021 at 14:26

Well done, clear and uncluttered.

We fully support you.

Finally a model that can be implemented anywhere, and can raise air pollution awairness on a local and global scale. We both pursue the same.

Reply