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Posts tagged ‘Bitcoin’

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Our inability to understand the Exponential function

I was reminded of this quote, due to the discussions triggered by the Bitcoin private key database troll website about the feasibility of brute-force searching for the private key of a Bitcoin address.

The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.

– Albert Allen Bartlett

A reddit user made some calculations:

So, if you could use the entire planet as a hard drive, storing 1 byte per atom, using stars as fuel, and cycling through 1 trillion keys per second, you’d need 37 octillion Earths to store it, and 237 billion suns to power the device capable of doing it, all of which would take you 3.6717 octodecillion years.

– PSBlake (reddit)

Pseudorandom

Google developers have confirmed a cryptographic vulnerability in the Android operating system that researchers say could generate serious security glitches on hundreds of thousands of end user apps, many of them used to make Bitcoin transactions.
(via Ars Technica)

The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to chance.

Robert Coveyou, Studies in Applied Mathematics, III (1970)

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The state of sending money to a friend in 2013

Basically, in 2013, it is still exceptionally difficult to send money to a friend and this is leading to a customer revolution.

Jaron Lukasiewicz, Coinsetter CEO at Inside Bitcoins NYC (via)

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Bitcoin for Small Payments

Everyone should walk around with 1-2 bitcoins that they can use for small transactions only. If enough people are doing that, then the volality of currency goes down and the value of the currency increases.

Vinny Lingham, CEO of gyft (via)

BitPay employees pay each other back when someone makes a food run, by pointing their phones at each other and scanning QR codes.

Jeff Garzik, ‪Bitcoin‬ Core-Developer (recently snatched by BitPay) (via)

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We don’t have the technology

One thing humans don’t know how to do is shut down peer to peer networks. We don’t have the technology.

Peter Vessenes, founder and CEO of Bitcoin exchange CoinLab (via)

My first experience with fiverr, and why they should support Bitcoin

I was looking for a special little something to give my wife on our 1st anniversary, and a friend suggested I’d get someone on fiverr to sing her song.

I really liked the idea, and it even took less than 24 hours. Thank you Mou Trego from Cook Islands for singing us a happy anniversary song with your ukulele at the beach!

The payment to fiverr is done via PayPal today. I think it’s very important that they start supporting Bitcoin. It would lower commissions significantly, and allow people who don’t have access to the banking system to participate as service providers as well.

Mt. Gox’s Message to the 2013 G8 Conference

Mt. Gox today announced that “a couple of months ago [they] took a big step and bought a full page ad for Bitcoin right in the middle of the G8 Research Group’s official magazine”. The ad shows a caricature of foreign diplomats, wearing their national currency symbol instead of a head, sitting at a table and discussing important issues. Abruptly, a new member, Bitcoin, opens the door and walks inside. A QR code (made of little coins, see below) leads to a special landing page explaining the benefits of Bitcoin (and Mt. Gox).

The 2013 G8 Conference is kicking into gear from today, and global leaders are discussing economic issues that affect us all. To get the message out, a couple of months ago we took a big step and bought a full page ad for Bitcoin right in the middle of the G8 Research Group’s official magazine with a link to a special landing page.

Download the full publication here (we’re on page 8).

We want to convey a bold message as global opinion on Bitcoin is very diverse. Especially for G8 members it’s important to highlight what’s really important for Bitcoin to change the world:

Bitcoin has the potential to bring together global citizens by enabling worldwide commerce with low costs and ease of entry for all social strata. Rather than dilute, Bitcoin enhances.

Mt. Gox is looking forward to a positive outcome from the G8, and to being a part of the dialogue going forward.

Notice how the QR code is made of little coins…

(It does not decode easily from a high-res file. I assume that when it’s scanned with a smartphone camera from a magazine it works better)

(click to decode an edited version of the QR code that turned the coins into solid circles)

Spring is Coming

I’m hearing of more and more people starting up new businesses with cool, innovative ideas. Spring season in the Start-up Nation is coming.

The differences from the years 2000 and 2008, I think, are:

  1. Crowdfunding (Kickstarter, Headstart)
  2. Affordable IT Infrastructure (AWSGoogle)
  3. Affordable and idiot-proof (read: hackable by software engineers) hardware platforms (Raspberry Pi, Arduino) and sensors (Oculus Rift)
  4. Affordable Manufacturing (3D Printing, CNCPCB)
  5. New, disruptive, open-source software and hardware technologies (Bitcoin, DIY 3D Printing, Flying Machines)

Don’t let the Waze deal fool or blind you – most chances are: you will fail.
But you might just be one of the lucky ones. Starting up is less riskier than ever before. If you’re committing to be the Pig, and you have a solid business model, I say go for it!

PRO TIP: Put your ego aside, and build a team of superstars who complement each other, a team of people who know one another’s strengths and weaknesses.

Hello, world!

I finally started a blog, because I have a lot of things to share. When sharing on Facebook, Twitter, and even Tumblr, everything eventually drowns in endless, unsearchable timelines.

I created this (hosted) WordPress blog today, not wanting to mess around with the open-source version any more. I didn’t think I was going to invest any money in it, but I just fell in love with Ignacio Ricci‘s awesome Spectrum theme, and decided to purchase the pro version. The main reason I did this, though, was being able to pay with Bitcoin ($30, 0.2796 BTC at 107.30 USD/BTC).

Anyway, for starters, I’m going to back-fill my new blog with some of my favorite past posts.

Three eras of currency

Three eras of currency:

Commodity based, e.g. Gold

Politically based, e.g. Dollar

Math based, e.g. Bitcoin

Chris Dixon, investor at Andreessen Horowitz (source: cdixon’s tumblr)