Bitcoin Forum

I just saw this in twitter

https://twitter.com/chijs/status/603599293602234368


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CGBqWyMWMAEPZC4.jpg

there is no details or info about the project

So does it still mine, even after I turn off the switch?

Besides being a crazy stunt, what does it cost, what's the hashrate, and what's it's power draw?

Have the guys talked to 21 Inc.? Maybe they can get a $116 million cash infusion from a bunch of VC firms!  :)

The bulb have to be connected to internet in some way. They just need a simple interface to activate or deactivate mining (heat). In the summer you can just use the light. In the winter, you mine all the time. Or they can simply add on switch on the bulb.

Very neat idea do you have more details?  I assume it's running wifi.  What's the efficiency on electricity?

Thanks for sharing.  Very cool.

We want more infoz!

Color me interested. Looking forward to more details.

Reminds me of the first asicminer USBs ...
Wow new toy, gotta buy em ...
asicminer made a fortune selling them (initially well over 2000% cost), but almost every single person who bought them paid more in BTC than they ever made in BTC.
But I guess that's normal for BTC miners, everyone always has a reason why it's OK why they lost BTC :P

This is what most people forget when they are bashing 21inc!

You know how the ASICMiner had that little blinking LED? This one can really put that to shame!

I can just see a room filled with these, all blinking randomly.....  :)

Someone was bound to have a " Bright Idea " sometime... sorry for the pun.  I'll take a 1000w bulb please.  It's neat to see these ideas but come on.  Is 2015 the year of Bitcoin swag and novelties or what?

Dangit now I need bigger LEDs for my stickminer. Gotta stay competitive!

It's all about the Bling! ;D

When does PRE-ORDER begin?

These are likely to be geared towards commercial markets...  You get a "free" bulb or heavily subsidized, but bitfury gets to mine from your power connection.
pretty soon we won't actually own things... we'll just pay to use them instead.  Bitcoin created a platform to be able to do this since the manufacturers of things can get "paid" via mining.

I'm leaving if it gets to that point. 21e6's idea discussion is already worrisome.

I wonder how hard it'd be to proxy the connection away from the manufacturer's pool to your own?

More 'thinking outside of the box' . The data furnace.


 http://arstechnica.co.uk/business/2015/05/data-furnaces-arrive-in-europe-free-heating-if-you-have-fibre-internet/ (http://arstechnica.co.uk/business/2015/05/data-furnaces-arrive-in-europe-free-heating-if-you-have-fibre-internet/)

You don't already use your miners for heating?
Winter starts here in 3 days ... my night time mining is almost 3x what is was a few months ago :)

My furnace only ran this winter when I wanted it quiet in the house. I still air-dry my laundry to an underclocked A1 Dragon. Pretty nice, but now Northern Hemisphere summer is kicking in.

The more I look at these the more I want one.  If it does have wifi and mines from simply being plugged in I would love to have one to try.

I would even pay a little bit for one to play with.  Such a unique miner.

i will never buy such a thing! :)

You guys realize this is a joke right? Bitfury is obviously taking a stab at 21 inc and their absurd "miner in everything connected to a wall outlet" plan.

I realize this, but it does not stop me from wanting one.   And for all we know it could just have their logo on it for fun, they could be laughing that anyone thought possibly real.

Unfortunately, it's not a joke.
Well, it is, but it's not about 21

Can you folks elaborate on this? I understand the general "Internet of Things" mining premise, and don't think it really has legs. Nevertheless, I am curious.

What do you actually know?

I would love to hear some stat's as well.  They looked like they used oversized led bulbs (almost look like some of the changing color light bulbs).   I'm wondering if they put a raspberry pi in it with wifi then some kinda usb stick miner within it.  And with LED it should not produce much heat on light.

jimmothy = always being wrong  ;D

This brings "bright future" to a total new meaning...

I know Samsung is working with Ethereum allegedly to make this decentralised internet of things network work. All the electrical appliances of the future will be communicating with each other and using blockchain decentralised consensus...think Terminator/Skynet meets your toaster... 

Why would that be a joke? Every company in my opinion will start to do things like that.
Bitcoin chips in all device!

No.

No what??  :P You will not do this? I guess you focus on big company.
That ok and I respect that but I will also be happy to get some home miner or IOT miner.  ;D

I can't disclose information given to me privately.
However, BitFury did discuss their CE mining plans back in January publicly.
Watch here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTIIX4vFJZY) starting around 33:00

Guy

Thanks Guy!  ;D

You're welcome. I wouldn't seriously wait for "IOT miners". It's a vaporware story, good only for attracting investors.

This is generally what I though about the 21 Inc announcements. They seemed best suited as a presentation for Venture Capital firms, and not geared at all towards potential customers.

I can understand why a "newcomer" to the Bitcoin mining space would want to attract investors, but I didn't seem that a firm already established (e.g. BitFury, Bitmain, yourself) in the Bitcoin mining space would care. That's part of why I am interested.

Thanks for sharing what you can.

21 Inc (previously 21e6) are not newcomers. We were incorporated more or less in the same time.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=334759.msg3594454#msg3594454

OK, so then why aren't you guys going down the same path? Are the Venture Capital guys in Israel smarter than the VC guys in California?   :)

Yes, it's a flippant question and I ask only because in the 21 Inc "thread" the pedigree of the investors seems to shine brightly.

Because it's a stupid idea.

https://twitter.com/bramcohen/status/601159325973946368

Why is it a stupid idea ?

Probably for a lot of the same reasons discussed in the 21 Inc spec thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1065077.0).

I'm generally opposed to IoT, and bitcoin-mining (or, more likely, spamming) IoT devices in particular. One of the biggest spambots from the last few years was a refrigerator - I really wish that was fiction, and it's only going to get worse. If you have a device which needs to produce heat, sure tuck some chips in it and run it when you need heat. But don't just tuck chips in everywhere. There's no way to make half-mining devices as power-efficient as dedicated miners, and if the device is just going to use its satoshis for its own things, why even bother letting it mine when you can just buy it a partial coin once a year for $10 and call it good? Saves having a thousand microdisbursements dusting up the blockchain. Really, a jillion baby miners each with its jillion microtransactions is going to seriously clutter the network, and cost more than just having a central miner in the house doing the work that all the little baby devices intend do to (but are much worse at it).

huh ? what jillion transactions ?

hmmm ..... would make for a nice distributed transaction confirmation infrastructure .... talk about suporting the network! Still, I don't want one.

Some of the reasons:

1) You'll get sub transaction fees dust
2) Certification nightmare
3) CE is very price sensitive. I don't see the incentive for a manufacturer to integrate mining ASIC
4) No incentive for the customer to buy or use such a device. If you want Bitcoin dust, go to a faucet
5) You're forced to design small ASIC (not necessarily a bad thing, but still, it might not be the best cost effective ASIC and package design)

btw, BitShare / BitSplit isn't a new technology. It was done back in the FPGA era.

I believe that the only home mining we'll see in the future will be in specialised heaters, like what BitFury experimented with back in the winter of 2013/2014 in Russia, before they started to fail on producing ASICs and concentrate on pre IPO publicity stunts like the bulb.

It's 25 TH/s (about 10K BitFury rev1 chips):

http://imgur.com/b9qlyw9.jpg
http://imgur.com/b9qlyw9.jpg (http://imgur.com/b9qlyw9.jpg)

No.

1) It won't happened
2) If it will happen (it won't...), it won't amount to substantial hash-rate
3) If it will happen (it won't...) and it will amount to substantial hash-rate (it won't...) all the hash-rate will be directed to 21 pool. It's not solo mining.

Yes.

Still, I don't want one.

Why can't a GENERIC light bulb mine to p2pools and a split in the revenue could be arranged right?

So many potential models here we don't have to follow a BitFury version.

So it could happen.
It could work to decentralize mining.
No fabricator would want to lose control over their current share of hashpower.
No fabricator would want to have completely decentralized units like the light bulb flood the market and cut the possibility for them to have a reasonable share of the hash rate.

How hard would it be to go generic?

I would want the function to select my own pool.  I would think they would be able to do that as Im guessing it has a raspberry pi or something such as that running to control it.

I still would buy one if decently priced for fun.  I think would be a cool item. 

I think the risk of "flooding the market" with Bitcoin mining lights bulbs is approximately zero. I just recently received an advertisement from Home Depot (a nationwide USA home improvement center). They have Phillips 60W equivalent light bulbs (i.e. 800 lumens) in a package of 2 for $4.97!

I think Bitfury will be hard pressed to get close to that price. This of course assumes that the reason people buy light bulbs is to light up dark areas (like I do), and not to do Bitcoin mining in a novel form factor.

I think what was shown is an amazing stunt, and quite novel. It's just not a viable product as a Bitcoin miner.

I would agree it is a neat gimmick product.  It is one that would not ROI chances are, but be for people to play around with and for fun.   

Compared to the "big boys" in light bulbs there is no doubt that they would never reach their prices.   Only chance would be to go to one of the big guys and try to get them to put it in their bulbs.  But I think they would see the added cost and say no pretty quick.

And really some energy efficient light bulbs (espically led) will last quite a while.  So changing light bulbs does not happen near what it was like 10 years ago.  I remember those old filament bulbs that would burn out.  You had to keep a few spares around just in case.  I only have a few spares compared to many back then.  Just not a need to change out light bulbs much for me.

This is a very interesting idea. Essentially what's happened is that a company has found a way to try and dismantle a data center and distribute the servers out to individuals that need the heat. As described, they pay the electric bill, and you supply the fiber-optic Internet connection.

It's not clear what happens when you decide you don't want/need the heat any more. While the heat and electricity are similar to mining, the Internet requirements are hugely different. You don't need a big Internet pipe for mining, but you do when you are essentially hosting a server (i.e. the Data Furnace) in your house. As I think others have said, some small classes of heating devices might make sense to have a Bitcoin mining component as part of them.

While I can only imagine it as a technology demonstrator, you really shouldn't compare it to a regular (LED) light bulb in terms of pricing.  You'd have to compare it to one of those 'smart bulb' things that people throw too much money at while the rest of us flick a physical switch.  While the price of those has come down quite a bit, especially form large manufacturers like GE, slap a brand name on it, make spiffy videos and generally say 'iPhone' a lot, and there's the $50+ pricetag; http://www.lifx.com/collections

Thanks for posting.  I don't feel so bad buying energy efficient bulbs now... they are a bargain compared to those.  They do have impressive stats though.

I don't see a lot dropping this premium on a light bulb but I could be wrong.  But it is a cool idea to have wifi lights.  For 40 to 100 dollars each I will be getting up and using the wall switches :).

I'm quite happy with my IR-remote'd RGB LED spots and the LED filament bulbs I got back when they were first introduced.  Might replace them with new ones (remote phosphor tubes around the filaments), but probably only when those come down in price.  I honestly don't have a need for smart bulbs and couldn't care less about controlling my lights from my smartphone. "Have the light come on when you get home!" .. that's what the cheap PIR sensor is for and has the added benefit of throwing some light around for anybody, not just me as long as my phone's on me with BT turned on.  /rant

But yeah, smart bulbs already have all the now-termed-IoT stuff on board, adding a mining chip isn't difficult and doesn't eat that much into profits for the brands that already charge an arm and a leg anyway.  Just because they can, doesn't mean they should, though :)  Other than as a 'wannahave', I'd see more of a viable market for the lavalamp miner ;)

switch by the door DONE.

Do you realize how much energy you could be saving by not having to lift up your arm a few times per day? This is a game changer.

A 2000 calorie diet means a human body consumes an average of 100W power.

Yea for 40 dollars on cheapest one of those wifi bulbs I find it hard to get past just using a switch.  I mean items like my fan have 4 lightbulbs so 120 dollars for the "cheap" one.  To retrofit a entire house would be very pricy.

A cheap energy efficient lightbulb even if left on some would be a LONG time to get to the 120 dollars mark on savings.  But I guess that is not what this is really about.

I still think it's 100 percent a gimmick.  But I want one to play with.   I know it will never ROI but one miner light above some miners would just be fun.

I don't understand why people are focusing on the bulbs and not the switches.  I would think a wifi enabled light switch would be a better use of the technology, as it could then control any number of devices and not be tethered to a bulb.  For your fan scenario, it would mean 1 switch instead of 4 bulbs.

EDIT: The light switch cover could even double as a giant heatsink.

I think I'll wait until about 6 months after they go "on sale" whatever that means. There should be some real steals on Ebay when folks try and unload those "electricity guzzling" mining light bulbs. I'll then buy one to put alongside the USB Block Erupter, the U1/U2, and the Blue Fury.

Of course now that I'm a Hero kinda guy, maybe they'll give me one to review. Maybe I better shut up about how stupid they are.....  :)

I hope BitFury make many thousands!!!

*grumble grumble* I'll have to buy at least one for the museum, at some point.

Honestly that is a genius plan.  Did not think about that but one switch could do the 120 dollar on "cheap" wifi bulbs.

I can think of two reasons they don't.  One that is most likely they did the math and would rather sell you bulbs at 40 each compared to a single switch.  Other is some might not be confident changing  switch.  I think probley everyone on this board could manage doing it, but I'm sure there are some out there that would use a electrician.

Again I'm guessing the making more money is main reason they don't.

First the lava lamp miner... now wifi switch.  OGNasty what is your next invention? :)

While these "inventions" are cute, they pale in comparison to the NastyFans Minted Seats (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=352515.msg3773054#msg3773054) in my opinion.

I hope one day to add your 5 oz one to my collection - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=826527.0

I just love that it's above normal on ounces.  Both are no doubt great coins

Aren't you the guy that did the "special $10 ATX paper clip jumper"?

If so, is there a combo deal?

Maybe you need to work in marketing at BitFury or 21Inc! :)

Nope wish I could take credit for jumpers.  I do always use a paper clip and electric tape on mine though (besides evga's that come with one).

Bitmain made the most used ATX one I would say.    You can get a pack of them on ebay.   Also if you get a cheap psu tester you can use that to keep it on aswell and if you need it you have a psu tester :).  

And I love BTC any maker is welcome to send me an offer :).   I don't think I would be a fit for 21 Inc though.  I don't share their vision.

What is that you say? NastFans Minted Seats you say?

You deserve a few plugs for the Lava Lamp idea.

Man, this is so hyped up. When can I pre-order?  :)

I honestly doubt we see it for sale.  I think it was more for fun and to show off being first to do it.

I would be very suprised if Bitfury sales them.  But I hope I'm wrong I really would like one.

Why don't we start incorporating asic chips into HUMANS!

wait until all the crude lightbulb jokes people make up with this.......

Your bulbs do not emit light?
If they do emit light, what portion of that 60W goes to the lighting solution?  What is the lighting solution?  How much waste energy (read: heat) does the lighting solution + the mining solution produce?  What cooling is required to prevent both the mining and the lighting solution from failing?

LED, for 'white' lighting, is already one of the most efficient forms, and a '60W equivalent' bulb puts out a decent amount of heat; those bulbs aren't primarily heat sinks just because it looks groovy.  Add another 60W in mining power to that, and you most definitely have to cool things actively, if not to keep the mining chip from overheating and throwing out error after error (if not plain dying), then certainly to keep the LED emitter's phosphor from degrading and/or the LED emitter itself from releasing the magic smoke.

Can it be done? Sure.  Does it make sense?  Nah.

Assuming the bulbs are placed below a large fan. This is not always the case, and running a ceiling fan specifically to cool your light bulb miners adds how much power dissipation to the total?

How much heatsinking and/or airflow is required to keep a 50W device cooled below about 80C? Incandescent light bulbs don't really have that temperature requirement, so can run 100W or more with only ambient air. But what's the added material cost to dissipate 50W passively inside a glass shroud (common on ceiling-fan lighting installations) while maintaining less than 80C internal (chip) temperature?

Are these bulbs gonna run wifi, or have some in-built mains-wiring network interface? What's the added cost (and size) of building wifi or mains-network transceivers for each device? What's the added infrastructure cost of a wifi or mains-network access point for your local network? How are you going to configure all of the individual devices? Will they need another separate central machine to coordinate pool settings and such, or will each one have its own config page to keep track of?

Will it be possible to continue mining even when the light is turned off? By what means do you enable and disable the light without cutting power to the entire bulb? What additional infrastructure (or changes to existing infrastructure) is required to support this?

Considering all that, how is it a better idea (cost-effective, power-efficient, reliable, easier to install, maintain and operate) to build a network interface and additional heatsinking into a dozen independent devices requiring you to run multiple ceiling fans (if that's possible with bulb covers) to cool them, and then rewiring your house or adding additional devices to be able to mine during the 18 hours a day the lights are turned off, than it is to build a compact device with a couple 10W fans and a single ethernet connection that you can tuck in the laundry room and forget about most of the time?

Can you think of a single benefit that comes from combining a light bulb and a miner?

Let's say home miners have two options (both using the same chips):

Option 1: 60W, 200 GH/s lightbulbs for $80 each (0.3 W/gh and $0.4/gh)

Option 2: 400W, 2000 GH/s blade style miner for $500 (0.2 W/gh and $0.25/gh)

In what scenario would it make sense to go with option 1?

Solomining with cheaper and more efficient hardware is still a better option.


There's no reason a home miner can't be practically dead silent. I replaced the fans on my SP20 and BTCgarden miners and they were so quiet you couldn't here them from more than a few feet away.


A regular miner already gives off heat and can be remotely controlled. Adding a light bulb doesn't change this.

If your goal is to recycle heat (i.e. save money), then it would definitely make sense to go with the cheaper and more efficient miner (option 2).

I don't equate this to the "stick miner" at all. The USB stick miner has never pretended to be anything but that. It wasn't going to be added to anything that wasn't a Bitcoin miner, so there was no attempt to lure people into thinking that mining was going to be "free". Also at the time their biggest competition was GPU's. They beat them handily in just about every category, except the Block Erupter had no after-market once difficulty and more efficient ASIC's crushed the BE100. GPU's could be sold as just that, or turned to another coin (e.g. Litecoin).

I guess it's possible that ASICminer could have chosen to push their technology into unrelated products, but they didn't. I think they realized all the surrounding infrastructure wouldn't be present (e.g. cooling and Internet access) if they added it to a bunch of other devices.

Has anyone on these forums actually seen one of these device live?

All we have seen is those pictures in thread.  I wish bitfury would make a release or more information.  But I doubt they do as I dont think they will want to sell individual's these mining light bulbs.

I really hope someone makes these though.  I just want one to play around with.  Could be fun with multi color have light up different colors for different events. 

Maybe the light starts out as RED, and turns GREEN when it starts to make money?  :)

I think they will be a "niche" fun item so sadly I think it would never turn green :).

I've been trying to think of things for light bulb to do.  Best one I have is turn a color when a certain BTC address receives money, or when a pool sends out payout.  Some things like shares accepted would be horrible with light.

It's coming during 2015!! We can buy one :)

http://www.coindesk.com/bitfury-light-bulbs-mine-bitcoin/

100% agree. Its basically a novelty device that doesnt make sense if you are serious about mining a reasonable amount of coins.
even loud hardware can be put in a spare room or a shed, and will be far more cost effective, and not require every lamp in your house being a heating element.

They should make a product for commercial applications too.  You can do some decent mining in that setup vs. home.  Lots of buildings replacing older lights...

IOT market to triple to $USD 1.7 Trillion by 2020

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/internet-things-market-triple-1-140200967.html (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/internet-things-market-triple-1-140200967.html)

I wonder if it's possible to send enough information by powerline networking to have the controller hub hooked into a building's wiring, and have all the devices connect to it that way.  Obviously the price of adapters would have to both shrink significantly and come down in price, but it may be more feasible than using wi-fi in all the devices and require controllers in all of them as well.

As has been said, I think the only practical products you could substitute ASIC chips in would be those that already produce heat.  Otherwise even if it is a novelty product, why would you pay MORE for a novelty product and have no regard for ability to ROI when you could just buy stickminers and bulbs and reap all the same rewards of those for less money? Or go buy an old S1 and watch the blinking lights...  This is not designed to be a product for us, this is a product for them, their marketing team's job will be to convince us otherwise.

Has anyone ever experimented with stickminers using peltier elements to use the heat to offset some of the electricity use and boost efficiency (even by a small margin)? *COUGH* sidehack??? *COUGH*

Yes if done right you can use electricity wires.  It makes a fun project and I personally was surprised with speed, was much faster then I expected.  Mine seemed good till I put to many on it then slowed down.

I price wise a wifi dongle will beat the electricity parts for over lines by quite a bit.  So I predict wifi.

I wondered the same thing.  My pool's light operates by a signal that is sent through the power line.  I'm not aware of any retail networking devices functioning in that scenario though.

I'm probably misinterpreting that, but powerline communication devices are quite readily available.  I don't know how well they work in the U.S. on the typical dirty lines, but in the EU they work fine.  With laptops, tablets and smartphones, wifi is much more popular, though.

Edit now that I remember what term they're typically sold under: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=powerline+adapter

The project Novak's working on involves signal injection into a power feed sorta like powerline networking, so we might get around to playing with messing with mains one of these days. I was just thinking the other day that one of Philipma's favorite ideas, the oil-radiator spaceheater miner, would be a good thing to have mains networked. Stick a receiver "hub" plugged into the wall at your switch and send signal to two or three heaters around the house without needing any wifi infrastructure (or range limitations). Using a central "controller" with mains signalling to controllerless lightbulb miners might work if the chips are designed to use a basic protocol like UART; cook up a simple transceiver chip that basically converts addressed packets and sends them directly to the chips' data bus. Your receiver hub could enumerate each lightbulb miner as a separate device, like sticks in a USB hub, and pipe it all off a single cgminer instance if you wanted. Most of what you need to run data over mains is a carrier wave modulated with your signal data and a really really good highpass filter to block your 50/60Hz from the transceiver. Not really all that cumbersome.

Not saying it's a particularly efficient idea, but if lightbulb miners are going to happen I'd rather see something like that than I would a separate controller, cgminer instance and wifi transceiver in every single bulb. It makes a whole lot more sense for machines whose existence is to produce heat. Lightbulbs are a stupid idea because all the developments in lighting from the last several decades are designed around making them produce less waste heat, so taking a 60W-equivalent efficient light and making it a 60W light again (with several times the initial cost) seems pretty backward.

Yeah, what he said! :)

What about peltier elements, ever messed around with them as a means to dissipate heat? They've become quite inexpensive and could serve as an intermediary to the heat sink and offset some amount of power use?

I would only use these in "ninja" applications where I didn't have to pay for the electricity, like a desk lamp at work, or maybe in a garage.  I like my lights to be as cool and efficient as possible, I'm not seeing either of those aspects in these bulbs.  Novel, but not practical.

Can we stop pretending this makes any sense financially? I think just about everyone is in agreement that these things will never be competitive and are purely a novelty item for hobbyists/beginners.

They even say as much themselves in that interview;

You better hope there is a quantity discount. There are 71 light bulbs in that sign.  :)

Not going to hide that rig anywhere!!!

I can see it now ... hey why has the electricity bill doubled from $2k to $4k ?
Oh, that's coz we made $1 bitcoin mining ...
(and spent $1k on new light bulbs ...)

So nothing would change from light bulbs that mine to deicated machines. Unless you have millions to spend everything is a "hobby".

Why all the negativity? Everyone knows it's all about "securing the network"! :)

Exactly what it's being secured from isn't clear. Maybe ISIS will attack Bitcoin? The more hash, the more secure it is, right? If this is right, then we must be at least 1000x more secure than 18 months ago.

Yeah that's what everyone says who mines and loses BTC ... it's just a "hobby" :D
Though, based on that assertion, it seems it's a hobby for everyone ...

Decentralization is securing the network from a single entity controlling the majority of the hashrate. It's considered cost-prohibitive for any one company to build that much hardware, so overly popular pools are a more likely threat.

But if one company is able to put a few hundred GH in every household (paid for by said households) and controls the pool being mined at...

Why always assume only the bad thing that can happen?

I think not allowing users to choose the pool would be a shot in the foot for them. They said that they plan to run some kind of p2pool. Chill.

it's headed that way... look at millenials etc... they own very few things... uber, no cars, bike and car rentals as needed etc... I really do foresee that the desire to own physical things is going away with younger generations.  they want to use them, but not own them outright...

Call me old school, but I really like owning things. Means I can break them and then fix them without anyone else getting involved. Or improving them. Or loaning them out to friends. Leasing stuff forever makes it easy to be transient, but it also makes the guys that own the stuff you're leasing that much richer.

Not every company building mining devices into every single thing ever is going to allow you to choose your own pool. Not saying BitFury's lightbulbs will be that locked down, but I expect it to happen to a lot of other things.

I don't always assume only bad things happen. I always assume the rich and powerful base all decisions on being more rich and/or powerful by taking advantage of the customer base (sometimes deceptively).

Look at 24H, 1W and 1M pool distribution here: https://www.blocktrail.com/BTC
It seems that 21 is finally deploying their 3rd gen (2nd attempt to do Intel 22nm)
BitFury is more or less stable, probably decided not to deploy their 28nm and concentrate on the 16nm (just a guess).
It will be interesting to see KNC over the next weeks.

I'm aware. This is why I've said it will be interesting.

http://www.kncminer.com/blog/newsarchive
..."six to eight times when deploying this new mining platform Solar in the 'old' 28 nm farms"...
Six to eight times of the 'old' 28 nm farm isn't 0.07 w/GHs

Real estate is cheap compare to electricity. Not hashrate, but efficiency.

just got new insights into how light bulbs increase the efficiency of mining..   Light bulbs attract flies.  The flies use their wings to cool down the light bulbs (like little fans), thus making the bulb cooler to mine; thus increase the efficiency of the mining.  This is a genius invention by Bitfly.

You cut off the most important part of that quote which is "KnCMiner's stated goal at this node is to increase the efficiency in the mining farms six to eight times when deploying this new mining platform Solar in the 'old' 28 nm farms"

I'd think if KNC managed to achieve any impressive specs they would have come out immediately boasting them instead of a "goal".

You'd have to find a dumb chicken farmer to take that deal.  Why would he want a BTCbulb when all he wants is heat?  A heat bulb will produce heat more efficiently than a mining bulb that also produces a bit of heat as a by-product, there's no benefit to the chicken farmer here.

Don't forget that the chicken farmer also has to supply Internet access. He probably doesn't already have that there.

I am a chicken farmer.  My chickens love the cold.  The chickens would take the zero degree day over any 110 F day anytime.

mildly back on topic: http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/launching-a-high-tech-product-is-as-easy-as-screwing-in-a-lightbulb

Yep, because that's more readily accessible than a single USB port and a single open-source executable which can run on almost any platform. Not that I don't like educational tools - the stick miner I'm building is more or less deliberately that - but when I think about "I wanted kids to be able to do it" I don't immediately think about access to mains power and $300 smartphones.

Mining ak-47.  Good idea or not?

https://i.imgur.com/oEHyYk8.jpg

Ya Mains power and kids go POOF.

$300 dollar smartphones? Won't a knock off work?

They say "this could all be controlled with an iPhone" but yeah there'd probably also be an Android app. Or if it's webconfig-based, but that could greatly increase the internal processor requirements (unless they go the ASICMiner route).

But yes, I know from experience that "Mains power and kids go POOF" is a very accurate statement. Educational tools for bitcoin are a great idea, but it's probably a slightly greater idea to make educational tools for bitcoin that are a bit safer. Who knows though, they might do some good with these.

Just pointing out an emerging trend with younger generation

ahh, so it is not joke or something....:)

anyway, cool gadgets for geeks and techies, otherwise for sure without ROI and just for "I'm mining with my light-bulb" feeling. And pink looks nice..

Yep, and you're probably right, but as a twenty-something I can safely say most young people are idiots.

This.

/thread

Impressive growth to BitFury pool in the last week:

https://www.blocktrail.com/BTC
https://www.btc123.com/mining/

Probably not due to a massive installation of mining light bulbs :)

https://twitter.com/BitfuryGeorge/status/606062996411031552

Mixed of unconfirmed rumors, from various sources, take it with a grain of salt, non of it confirmed:

- 0.35 - 0.37 J/GH at the wall
- Air cooling, probably by replacing old BF3500 hashing boards
- Immersion cooling "on hold"
- UMC 28
- Working on TSMC 28 and TSMC 16

Let's see when and where the growth will stop.
Still waiting for KNC deployment ...

http://bitcoin.sipa.be/growth.png

In a graph-y graph - click for large, but basically the crimson river going up up up is them:
https://i.imgur.com/wFuq7Zh.png (https://i.imgur.com/wFuq7Zh.png)

Good visualization.

I believe Bitfury won't be dumping their mined btc as it has been done as of late by other large mining operations.  This should increase btc price steadily (less sell supply).

Why?

There were repeating rumors from multiple sources regarding massive liquidation by BitFury 8 months ago on the exchanges.
I know from first hand, not rumors, that they're selling a lot OTC.

Where are you pulling the data for that from?

Combination of Blocktrail.com and my own parser (second opinion / catching any strays, recording some additional info - e.g. the block size vote indicators as of late)

Can you publish it online (Azure free tier?) and change Y axis to PH/s estimation ?

If I get the data I'll see if there is a way to represent it even better, I feel like a data day.

Nah, it's really not in any web-friendly sort of language, with charting done manually in either LibreOffice or OpenOffice, depending on which one vexes me least after respective updates :)  This sort of thing is best left to either organofcorti (though I guess he's sticking to weekly statistics for a reason), or any of the existing live services (who choose pie charts for a reason, presumably).  As for Ph/s estimation.. I could, but I'm not a fan of it.  While it's interesting to see some big numbers, in terms of pools' relative statistics, absolute Ph/s is somewhat moot every difficulty adjustment.  Number of blocks solved / %, to me, made more sense.

Have at it - though I can't give you the data as per Blocktrail's terms, their API is extremely easy to use - there's plenty of others.  The pool discrimination factors are something else - see organofcorti's blog, latest block count, comments section for some pointers.

Anyway, we're hijacking Bitfury's thread - back to their pool performance (Iceland - 2:1 - Georgia), Tbilisi relief, and/or lightbulbs? :)

Someone sent me the following: http://www.leaguelineup.com/pantherpride/images/School_logo_Transparent.png
(Edit: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/3ay5yz/bitfury_or_panther_pride_logo_looks_suspiciously/)

btw, BitFury CTO (Valery Nebesny) finally revealed his face: http://www.bitfury.org/team

Given that HS logo was around back in 2012 2011 even and BitFury's slightly more humble beginnings, I wouldn't be surprised if it were a template or nabbed.  If it turns out it was nabbed, maybe they can sponsor the team ;)

Well, they did cancel Top Gear, after all :)

Meanwhile:
https://i.imgur.com/x9cvcoF.png (https://i.imgur.com/x9cvcoF.png)
organofcorti's block maker stats page isn't up yet, and I haven't adjusted mine to account for some minor findings

;D

Thanks for the updated graph. You really need to automate it ...

Good find! Self-taught chip designer, not a self-taught logo designer :)

Just to point out from the reddit thread as well - seems this logo's been used (mostly by sports teams) since the late naughties (are we still calling the 00's that?  Wait.. 00.. *checks spondoolies logo*) and probably before that.  You'd have to get lucky to find the original designer, but at this point it's so watered down that I'm not sure it's little more than trivia.

I thought dogie was going to plan something? :)

I was working on some data gathering, but considering there's a lot that's not technically on the block chain, that's a lot of work in days with far too few hours :)

---

As a further aside, this bit of news got lost in the Tblisi flood & aftermath:
http://cbw.ge/technology/bitfury-group-developing-modern-technologies-in-georgia/
( Follow-up to http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150601006854/en/BitFury-Acquiring-Privatized-Land-Plot-Republic-Georgia#.VYrLRvmqpBd )

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/3bv70j/bitlamp_prototype_tested_in_odessa/

Short summary of the above:

Configured via a Web interface in terms of pool, as well as the light bulb parameters (e.g. color, brightness, etc). Looks kinda like a "Party Bulb" with multiple colors and such. The example showed 2.6 GH/s. No mention of power consumption. Supposedly available at the retail level late in 2015. No mention of price or geography for retail sales.

seems pretty interesting, convert houses to these, switch your office out, etc.. low hash rate but it adds up and for a lightbulb you cant expect much

2.6GH - is that one of their old chips?

So the bulb, the PCB, chip and heatsink, controller board, wifi dongle, all for 2.6GH/s.  Brilliant.

Might as well be.. who would notice, really? :)  I suppose they can't really do much with the demonstration pieces at these events, otherwise I'm surprised that nobody plopped the dome off to take a peek underneath.

Half of these things are already in smart LED bulbs available for cheap anyway.  Find one that has the bare minimum required to tell the chip what to hash and can get result data back from it, and all you have to add is the ASIC.

---

'guess it's been another week-ish, so:
https://i.imgur.com/HMvyTPa.png (https://i.imgur.com/HMvyTPa.png)
BitFury still on the rise.

Actually I think the brilliance is adjustable!!!  :)

Just couldn't resist the pun, though I completely agree.........

exactly.. lot of stuff out already it seems

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=wifi+led+light+bulb+review

Yeah I think Phillips has the wifi bulbs that adjust color based on the TV show you watch

i.e. missing all the data that will point out why no one should buy them ...

i.e. make money for Bitfury, lose money for everyone else.

Oh, where have I seen this happen before ... ... ...

It has half of the components of a smart LED bulb.

Who the hell even spends their money on this useless crap anyways? And That's still not justification to putting mining chip(s) in them, especially to -as Kano pointed out- likely provide no positive return for the consumer.

The only way this will fly in the mainstream crowd is if they market these as smart bulbs and give them away to customers for free, and have them locked to their own pool.

Yes, but now you get the additional benefit(?) of being placed on a map ;)
http://bitlamp.club/

It will be interesting to find out how it prices out, and where they try and sell them, both geographically and which merchants.

Just think, you can hand them out to your family members at Christmas!!!  :)

You do realise they will make less bitcoin than they cost to run in electricity for most people if not everyone?
(who doesn't make someone else pay for their electricity)
... ignoring the possible extra cost of also having to buy one ...

If they can build them slightly better than the competition, but also slightly cheaper than the competition, such that they end up with the same shelf price and power consumption even with the miner running, they might get more sales on gimmick alone and people won't realize they're paying more than they should to get a bitnickel per year.

I tend to follow what you post with interest sidehack, because you are a very knowledgeable/resourceful person when it comes to hardware.  But I have to ask quite skeptically, where does this magical efficiency come from, at no extra cost? Markets tend to equalize, if all this power consumption & cost-savings was available, shouldn't A) it have already materialized by competition in the market, otherwise B) There isn't enough of a market for the competition to bother with it, in which case this is a waste of time by Bitfury (as if that wasn't already apparent).

The only possibility I can see for them to try to keep the end-costs lower than the competition to compete in their department is by handling all the sales and distribution themselves. That seems like a waste of time though, considering they could be using their chips in full-sized stand-alone miners that they could sell for -what I would only imagine due to minimal competition currently- more of a mark-up than a stupid lightbulb that will never ROI, if even generate positive revenue.

My BTC0.0000738

If it makes you feel better, I was being pretty cynical - as I have been about the entire lightbulb idea so far.

Let's say the average existing smart LED right now pulls 10W and costs $50 shelf including all the wifi and crap. If BitFury can design a smart LED that pulls 8W and costs $45 shelf, and then adds their chip to it so now it mines and also draws 10W and costs $50 shelf, they can basically trick people into buying it because its initial and operating costs are the same as a competitor's product but this one also mines bitcoins! The customer doesn't have to be alerted to the fact the pathetic mining speed will never actually reach a pool payout, nor does the customer have to be alerted that he just bought an 8W $45 bulb but now it runs 10W and cost $50 to support that pathetic mining speed which will never reach payout.

slight aside - I'm sure they'll post this in their official thread anyway - Bitcoin's Best Funded Miner BitFury Rasies Another $20 Million (http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-miner-bitfury-rasies-20-million/) [coindesk.com]
( and rather unrelated: background piece on BitFury (http://www.bne.eu/content/story/bitcoin-miner-steps-out-light) [bne.eu] )

Edit: whoops, where'd the image go..
https://i.imgur.com/Ps21EIq.png (https://i.imgur.com/Ps21EIq.png)

I would have thought that at roughly $116 million, 21 Inc. would have the distinction of "Best Funded Miner", no?

You would think so. But, they needed a catchy headline, right? Nobody wants to read "Second Best Funded Miner" haha

I'd prefer "worlds least-funded miner" because then you know the business runs more efficiently.

This lightbulb is pure gimmick, but it worked, and worked well. We are talking about them...
Although, have a missed a review by someone reputable on the forum? Here in hardware maybe?

I don't know if people are buying them, or has anyone known someone with a unit?

I enjoy looking at the prices of hardware, and used miners is the biggest part of that time.
The Bitfuy miners I can buy are nowhere near an S5's efficiency.
Density is not Spondoolies offerings. Although cooling plays a big weight against density if you have to make that choice. If you cant run them cool enough, figure out a different way. You shouldn't depend on any miner to clock down.

Bitfury is self-mining and B2B right?
Do they perform any real business with home miners or lower volume customers?

I think all of the companies who have decided the little guy doesn't matter you should monetize every action and I do not mean with money up front.
Having a communications channel means everything.

Most miners I've talked to and met from here would welcome competition in the current mining landscape.

I think these companies are doing everything to look big in the bitcoin landscape. Monopolies have been forming, but think of the people who have been scammed.

Obviously my experience with Bitfuy is limited. I also did

People have been talking about BitFury since its inception, and for good reason; their 55nm chip remained competitive for a very, very long time.

Haven't seen any reviews.  http://kuna.com.ua/bitcoin-mining-lamp/ suggested they would do a review of it, so keep an eye on them?

I'd guess they may be giving some out at events, but even so I've seen very few people even talk about them, tweets with pictures not from an event, instagram or facebook posts or etc.  Which is mildly odd - unless there's NDAs involved - as bitlamp.club suggests there's quite a few around.  Heck, there's one well within a day's driving distance pinpointed on the map to a house in the middle of nowhere; I do hope they randomize those coordinates a little bit :)



Right.

No.

Bitcoin Forum > Economy > Marketplace > Service Announcements  > The official information resource for BitFury Group (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=896350)
( plus @bitfurygroup (https://twitter.com/bitfurygroup) @bitfurygeorge (https://twitter.com/bitfurygeorge), BitFury@facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BitFury), etc. )

While BitFury is potentially not 100% clean, they're no BFL / Hashfast / KnC / BlackArrow.  Bit of a random thing to say in this context?


...not finish your sentence? :)

Fell straight asleep at the keyboard heh, too many hours in this week :)

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

;D

Looks like BitFury's relative growth has stagnated;
https://i.imgur.com/0X41xAf.png (https://i.imgur.com/0X41xAf.png)

Possible new player (/[dots]/ coinbase, later replaced with '/reserved/'), 4 blocks in last 2 days: 18ikmzPqk721ZNvWhDos1UL4H29w352Kj5

https://i.imgur.com/v8m60Kx.png (https://i.imgur.com/v8m60Kx.png)
Thus concludes BitFury's relative rise, at least for now, as well as the graphs until something interesting happens again; or somebody can go set up a realtime version.  Until such a time: http://organofcorti.blogspot.com/ :)

I wonder if the folks at Bitfury have to wear sunglasses when visiting the farm, considering all the "Mining Bulbs" they must have by now......  ;D

This is a totally flippant comment considering the title of this thread. Nobody in their right mind will attempt to accumulate any serious hash rate using anything other than a purpose built ASIC miner. Just my jab at the "Everything that uses electricity should be miner" crowd.

Peculiarly, mentions of MBP have been removed from BitFury's press page (http://www.bitfury.org/press).

https://i.imgur.com/Z3jkjNH.png (https://i.imgur.com/Z3jkjNH.png)
https://i.imgur.com/PjMfgfj.png (https://i.imgur.com/PjMfgfj.png)

Thanks for the update. The next 30 days should be very interesting.

yeah im curious how this turns out, seems like it would only be useful as a fun way to light up the house or office..

https://i.imgur.com/0Ukmshw.png (https://i.imgur.com/0Ukmshw.png)
Although primary goal has not yet been achieved, solution is near.

I would put one in one of my mining areas for fun.   I think it would be a neat toy.

I don't expect these to be ROI machines.  Just fun miners to play with.

I get the impression that their partnership ended a long time ago. Dave Carlson just seems to be into mining and his "franchise program" (whatever that is) now and not hardware development. He was really just a reseller of Bitfury hardware anyways.

As I said:

https://twitter.com/BitfuryGeorge/status/632264181471772672

vs:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1156770.0

Interesting times ahead ...

Yeah, it's still odd to remove previous press releases though :)  Doesn't matter - their climb continues, while this month should be heating up overall :)

@SP: Yeah, I saw that - have it open in another tab to update the wiki - how convenient a timing, though, right? :)

Indeed.

BW.com of course launched their cloud mining op that's supposed to run LK Group's 14nm effort.

To swing this thread semi-back on topic ( where's the lightbulbs? ), some more pictures of BitFury's old efforts pop up:
http://www.cybtc.com/article-1891-1.html

I'm still trying to figure out why anyone would buy a "mining lightbulb". The economics are just NOT making any sense, even treating the thing as just a toy.

If they would put it on the market at prices comparable to a regular 'smartbulb', then treating it as such, I can see a market even among those who have no idea what Bitcoin mining is Bitcoin transaction verification services are :)

---

https://i.imgur.com/h4L0MOv.png (https://i.imgur.com/h4L0MOv.png)

---

In other news, BitFury have revealed a bit more of their plans with regard to 16nm tech:
http://www.8btc.com/bitfury-chinese-market

Some key points from that:

• Plan to expand into non-Bitcoin computation-heavy industries
• Plan to expand into China and further into North America
• 16nm preliminary calculations: 5 times more efficient than 28nm*
• Aiming for 400Ph/s (roughly the current network capacity) 6 months after deployment

* Their claims on 28nm was 0.2J/Gh, which would make their claim for 16nm be 0.04J/Gh

Not much further detail on the bulb though :)

Interesting, thanks.
The article doesn't cover BitFury 28nm results. When they're selling hosted hash-rate, they're claiming efficiency of 0.35 J/GH for maintenance calculation.

I guess being private and all they don't really have to worry about posting any specs - nobody who could verify it anyway.  Not suggesting that they are doing this, but in that position you can of course claim any efficiency you want, and with it maintenance/operating costs, that'll maximize profit.

Indeed.

very minor website change, new 'research (http://www.bitfury.org/white-papers-research)' section (currently only containing Smart Contracts on Bitcoin Blockchain (http://bitfury.com/content/5-white-papers-research/1-smart-contracts-on-bitcoin-blockchain/smart-contracts-on-bitcoin-blockchain.pdf))

That mean that a lightbulb could be pretty good.  ;D

Kuna never did end up reviewing one, as far as I can tell, and bitlamp.club isn't exactly seeing much activity.  Who knows if they still plan to bring it to market.

---

https://i.imgur.com/nPOCjAq.png (https://i.imgur.com/nPOCjAq.png)

In case anybody haven't seen yet, we have published extensive research on block size increase: http://www.bitfury.org/white-papers-research

I did :)  Did you (BitFury Group) read all the feedback in the Reddit thread - regarding your research - that gained some traction in terms of developers' eyes?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/3j7nhd/bitfury_report_on_block_size_increase/

( and... lightbulb? :D )

Yes, we have read comments of Bitcoin developers and find them quite informative. We are glad our research paper gained interest in the Bitcoin community. Keep an eye out for our new researches!

Can you say any new news on the lightbulb?   It seemed the prototypes looked like pretty finished.   Can we still expect to see them out in public?

If so any timeline?

It takes quite a bit of work to take it from production prototype to actual mass production unit. And then there's regulation that requires FCC, CE etc testing and verification that the final product still needs to pass. So timelines are not completely dependent on us, and we would rather not commit to any date we can't keep for sure.

Speaking generally then, do you think we'll see anything this calendar year?

We have published new research on the topic "Proof of Stake vs Proof of Work": http://bitfury.org/white-papers-research
You are welcome to read and comment this paper here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=896350.80

Personally, I count 3.5 months. I agree it doesn't seem that BitFury is in any hurry to actually sell a "Mining Lightbulb".

Maybe they came to their senses?  :)

21inc will present something on cisco forum on Sept 22.
Competitive mining bulb/router/appliance?

Perhaps they have realised that by releasing the Lightbulb they would also be opening up to scrutiny their ASIC which so far they have been very careful to hide any info on from the general publc.  :)

Rich

It would be surprising for them to make a public product.  But they claimed they would be doing it, and I think each of these would be high profit margin items (ie price jacked up).

I still say I would buy one even at a high rate to have a mining lightbulb.  So I hope they release it.

https://i.imgur.com/5IcU2RY.png (https://i.imgur.com/5IcU2RY.png)
KnC's rise has stalled, BitFury's on a slight decline, but they did once again mention their expansion plans.

As a follow up, was there anything about 21 Inc. on the Cisco Forum (September 22). I assume it was the "$400 Bitcoin Computer" and nothing else? Anything more substantial than they have on the website?

if it was just a gimmick imho to show the IPO folk who invested 121 million with 21 and show a product

no DEV is gonna pay 400 bucks for a device when he can just build his own to make an app

it is a brilliant play off the BFL scam..get a lot of IPO bucks show a product ..thus you can't be sued for not providing the goods (lame thou they may be)

if 21 imho was really serious about development and such a device they would have open sourced the works ..up to a point I guess they could and just show
devs how to use make this on a pi or laptop or anything

the hardware limitation shows they just don't think it will fly on its own..whatever bells and whistles are in their 400 buck pi

so if they want devs good luck...most devs will see right thru this and certainly will not buy a pi for 400 bucks with some gimmicky software etc

but hey it probably keeps the IPO $$$ coming in which is the real plan imho :)

Although I initially saw the lightbulb as a gimmick, I read now some documents regarding Lifi. If there would be a combination of an ASIC with an Lifi-device, I think this could boost. In shopping-malls, for example, are thousands of lamps, i.e. this would mean that you would be mining during business times. So after all, I think this could become a very interesting project.

I would buy one as something to take apart and have a play with. :) Worth it for that alone to have a look at and make some measurements on a Bitfury chip. The Antmoiner R1 has so far proved to be very good value for money, and even pays for the electricity it's using if you clock it up a bit.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1196852.msg13077334#msg13077334

Question is if and when we are going to see this lightbulb?



Rich

why would you install hundreds of wifi/lifi-dependent lightbulbs when you could use the 'normal' kind and instead buy a dedicated multi-terrahash bitcoin miner?

Think Walmart they run thousands of light bulbs in their stores.

Think supermarkets.

Think department stores.

Just because all these places happen to have light bulbs in them, does not change the simple facts of economics.  Putting mining chips in a lightbulb is not even remotely as cost-efficient as building dedicated miners (which have slim enough margins themselves these days), plain and simple.  

Why in the world would an intelligent company choose to replace for example their $1 light bulbs with $50 "mining" bulbs, which will earn back maybe net $20 in their lifetime?  Having a chip in them does not make the light bulb more efficient, and it makes zero fiscal sense.  If they were in the business to mine bitcoin, they sure as shit wouldn't be doing it via lightbulbs...

Can anyone give me a rational explanation of why a large company would put these lightbulbs in their stores instead of ordinary light bulbs, from a cost and reward point of view.

But just think, when the light bulb part fails for whatever reason, you get to throw the whole thing away. That includes the mining chip that you paid for.  :)

I am with Finsky on this. These gadgets which combine mining with an unrelated function will do nothing of use for the purchaser. This also completely ignores the network infrastructure required to support hundreds of mining light bulbs in the store. It works to sell to 2-3 to the "Bitcoin Enthusiast" where two more WiFi gadgets don't matter. It's another thing entirely when there needs to be a 2nd private network once your WiFi environment balloons due to the mining light bulbs.

The only way Bitmain will sell a significant number of light bulbs is if they manage to get them down close to the cost of "conventional" light bulbs with similar capabilities - which pretty much means they HAVE to compete with "smart" bulbs or their hardware cost to make the things is gonna kill them.

 That's STILL going to limit their market quite a bit, most folks have ZERO interest in "smart light bulbs", but some folks like to play with the programability stuff.

Bitfury* but I think it will be useful for some at first, and not for others like most things in the mining world.  Then one day they may reach the efficiency of conventional bulbs and bring cost down making them interesting for larger scales mentioned for stores etc.

Usb miners (which are made even simpler than mining lightbulbs) have been refined for years now, and they still are not profitable no matter the quantity. It's an industry of scale, even <1kW miners are going by the wayside, and as long as these standalone miners are in popular existence, light bulbs, pod and USB miners will not be sound financial investments, but rather niche products.

If a mining light bulb were able to turn a small profit, then a rack full of dedicated mining equipment could turn a considerably larger one, and keep cheap light bulbs where they belong.  I can't think of any rational reason for a large company (let along individuals for any reason but curiousity/tinkering) to put ASICs in light bulbs.  Unless the manufacturer was earning the mining revenue off their customer's electricity, which would simply be deception.

Well here's the deal...I don't think it was ever intended for large companies to use these light bulbs for mining according to the following quote anyway:

“We believe that the project’s focus should not be on making money from bitcoin mining, but on creating innovative solutions with main purpose to use this product for educational purposes and fun,” said BitFury CEO Valery Vavilov

So yeah basically an alternative to a USB miner for people with interest in learning about bitcoin technology, and giving them a touch of the bitcoin blockchain ecosystem.  Obviously we (miners) know USB miners aren't money makers so these most likely won't be either, but still could be fun toys that teach more about bitcoin.

OK, so if the BitFury theory is that the "Mining light bulb" isn't an economic thing, why make it a light bulb? Why not a low priced "21 Inc Bitcoin Computer" like gadget? That seems every bit as useful to the "inovative solutions.....educational purposes and fun" plan as anything.

If they ever produce them for actual sale, we'll know what came of it. Of course maybe the "Everything that has electricity should be a miner"  hangover is finally setting in and they really don't have a clue about what to do with it.

Just my $.02 on the idea.

I would buy a few if they are economic light bulbs, and i know ill help a little with descentralisation  ;D

Lets be honest, a light bulb is about the easiest thing there is to set up instead of having to run on a computer, and I think a "night light" would be cool for kids rooms etc.

I would buy a few for the man cave, and some for the office.  TBH I would most likely give them as gifts to some of my younger cousins so they could learn about bitcoin, and help secure the blockchain!

You might find that setting up the Internet access is required for your "night light". I am assuming it will have WiFi, so that may, or may not, be as trivial as you think, depending on your location. At home I would have to somehow feed in the WiFi info (i.e. SSID and password). At my work place, it's even worse with the security controls in place for WiFi access. I won't be bringing a mining light bulb to my office, for a variety of reasons.

Of course maybe BitFury has thought of all this and made it completely trouble free.

I would very much like to hear about an actual person that purchased one and their experience. How much did it cost? What did they have to do to setup the Internet access? Did they get to choose the mining pool?

So far it's a "vapor demo mining bulb".