Bitcoin Forum

http://www.vendingtimes.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=EB79A487112B48A296B38C81345C8C7F&nm=Vending+Features&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=3928B5BC746E4A2FBF53C550B52919DA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDOcLros-w0

Nice find.. :)

I like

This is amazing!

so awesome haha  ;D

Really really cool!

Let's hope, that in a few years from now, people will look at this and go: "Did they really have to do all that, just to pay with BITCOIN?" since by then, paying with bitcoins would be easier that paying with coins.

If anyone thinks they can make this system go faster, Then your either Not thinking it though, Or your smart as hell.

Im shocked at how fast they got it to go, What about people sending coins and then Not waiting for confirmations? Surely nobody wants an vending machine that has to sync to the blockchain, Wait 10mins for 1confirm just to get thier item, Im wondering how the HELL they managed to get it to go so fast, The only thing that i can think of is them skipping the Confirmation stages... But then that allows me to walk up, Dump 100coins in, Shut my phone internet off so that i dont resync and Bam, I have free credit in the machine untill i resync my phone with the blockchain.

Perhaps they do it with Prefunded accounts? Such as BitPay or e-wallet style services That way there Isnt a block chain, Just account to account....
...
I just see thse machines as "HACK ME NOW, PLEASE TRY TO HACK ME" subjects for people, Lol. Imagine these machines inside highschools, Sooooo many kids would be trying to mess with it

Or... how long does it take to get a pack of popcorn out of a normal machine when you DON'T have a coin in your pocket? You have to get out of the building, go to the nearest convenience store, buy a pack of gum, get the change, walk back into the building, put the coin in the machine.

Look at all the steps you've saved just by pulling your cell phone out of your pocket and using Bitcoin!

:-)

For the price of a coke ( or a few) they can take the risk. If they have 1000 machines that take bitcoin how many transactions will be not confirmed?

Its not that easy to double spend. It has nothing to do with the fact you will switch your phone off later.

To be able to buy something from machine, you will have to broadcast the spend to the Bitcoin network. The machine will check that. It would check against few nodes around the globe to get the transaction broadcasted.

In related news you can steal cokes from a vending machine w/ counterfeit USD (or stolen credit cards) too.

Trying to time a double spend in meatspace where there may be video of you for something as trivial as a free coke seems about the stupidest criminal act one can make.

Also not sure how you get the idea that turning phone off would get you free product.   The machine doesn't trust your phone it trusts the blockchain.  Non-confirmed transactions CAN be double spent but not the way you describe and it is a non-trivial task to pull off.   For low value real world transactions the risk is very low probably lower than losses due to stolen credit cards in CC enabled machines.

Exactly, plus they can build a certain amount of insurance into the price of each Coke so that over the long haul, they're still making profits even when transactions don't confirm.

Well, considering the machine never has to store private keys, even high-schoolers shouldn't be able to do too much damage with it.


(Famous last words.)

That actually is a good point.  Most vending machine vandalizism is criminals busting them open to get the cash not the cokes.  An empty vending machine can have $400 or more cash (less now as they started accepting CC).  Less risk than robbing a 7-11 and you likely will get more.

Bitcoin vending machine is less "interesting" to criminals (although likely will draw interest from hackers) because no cash.

Might be giving guys who break into vending machines too much credit  ;)

Less cash but now there's a tablet computer to take.

Seriously? do you think it will be hanging out there once in the wild ?

Glass must be half empty a lot with you..  ::)

Not to mention many companys would prolly endup with a much cheaper bulilt in method, Such as a cheap LCD display, With a touch mesh atop of it

Now the vending machine needs an IP address and internet connectivity, but cool none the less.

Now that they have a working prototype, they can work on getting the parts cost down.  I'm sure the finished product won't have a tablet on the front that you could rip off.

Breaking into this machine means the vandal can't get any cash which is a great feature.  It also means that the owner doesn't have to send anyone out to empty the coins/bills; they only have to go out to restock the machine.  Since the machines will be connected to the internet, they can notify their owner whenever they are low on a product, too.

I have used vending machines that take credit cards - having a network connection isn't a far stretch, it just is less common. I am sure that the interface could be dramatically simplified for all users to figure out easily.

Internet will be ubiquitous very soon and this is future tech so I don't think the network connection is really a problem.

I'm excited for more real world applications of bitcoins that work like this.

Once armory is lightweight, it's watching wallets will be perfect for this.

Not even close,  the people running vending machines are not the same people running local shops.  And its not easy to get cooperation for internet access. Which leaves 30$+ cell data connections     accounts that will NOT accept bitcoins as payment

Why does the cell phone need to accept btc as payment to fund it's cell data plan....thats irrelevant.
Atop that, Who says this thing is even connected to the internet? On that topic, All it really needs to do is ping every 10mins to keep the prices correct, Why do i think it doesnt need the internet?

Well. Because my fucking GameBoyColour could trade pokémon without the internet.
the machines could simply use someform of LAN styled Wi-fi gateways, Like how you cell phone or NDS can act as a "Hotspot" for everyone to use it's connection, If it has one.

"Turn on vender" "Phone see's WIFI access point and connects" "Vender see's phone" "phone says, 'i want this product'" "Vender says 'give me money first at his QR code'" "phone says OK and sends 1btc to that QR encoded address" "Vender gets the coin, And drops the food"

I dont see a need for the internet with this One transaction, But for continuous usage it would look more like
"Turn on vender, PRICE CHECK,via dialup56k internet" "Phone finds WiFi gateway" "Vender allows phone to connect" "phone asks for product" "Vender says product costs yz.abcdefgh, Send money to this QR code" "Phone says OK and sends yz.abcdefgh" "Vender gets the coin, and drops the food" "MARKET PRICE CHECK every 30mins via 56kdialup"

The machine Does Not Need to sync to the blockchain, Unless someone can give me a reason as towards otherwise why it must.

If you want to trade in BTC without being connected to blockchain and announced transactions, you will have a tough time to think it up working.

For example, one could pay by giving an address with given amount and private code for that address, but still, the vending machine must check if it is still in the blockchain and ASAP transfer that money out of that address.

Everything will be connected. Soon or later.

Ahhhhh Thats what i missed, The sending of fake coins, DOY!

It could just use a low bandwidth connection to the vending machine operator's private server systems which do the actual blockchain checking.
These servers could even issue the payment addresses to the machine so that the private keys never need to be stored on the vending machine or even travel to/from it.

 

How about this simple thought.

There is vending machines in nearly every school out there..

How many schools DONT have internet? let alone a Wireless router..?

Or how about a shopping mall, because they NEVER have internet either...

Having an internet connection is a non issue...

Have you never seen a credit card enabled vending machine?  Even in VA they are getting a lot more common.  They don't use a retail cellphone plan.  I mean the average vending machine round trip communication is maybe 1kb.   The service is more like $5 to $10 per month for low bandwidth connection.

Also, cellular carriers have very steep discounts available to very low bandwidth and/or SMS-only plans that are used for machine automation and control. I think this has something to do with them not needing to guarantee 911 service to such "telemetry" applications.

Yeah it is the same technology as cellular alarm backups.  We have one (because we have no landline and internet isn't 99.999% reliable).  It costs about $7 more per month and that is likely with some retail markup.  Someone deploying a thousand vending machines likely can get a contract in the $2 per unit per month range.

Unless this is all wild speculation please give some links with these low monthly cell plans  the best i can find min $10 a month with 2500 sms messages

Also i worked at an alarm company and their deal was 1.50$ per text message assuming they wouldnt get many messages... But false alarms are pricey so they still charged customers over $7 a month for the service  over and above hardware costs

Well its stuff they won't give you pricing on up front usually - and I'm sure that anyone who has struck a good deal with a carrier wouldn't be chatting about it much. An example though, is this link from Telstra NZ (http://www2.telstraclear.co.nz/products/wireless/price-plans/#Telemetry%20199+%20users%20-%20Off-Peak%20%2811pm-6am%29) - scroll to the bottom for some of their telemetry rates.