Bitcoin Forum

The "Bitcoin for Dummies" episode airs tomorrow, and the youtube preview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BwzF7nhq48) has 20k views!  Will there be an obvious bump in bitcoin searches after it airs?

In the past, I think all bitcoin publicity hype has been just that - hype, with no effect on bitcoin usage.  Even if people stopped by the bitpay CES booth every minute, that would come to about 2k people over the whole CES.

A secondary measure might be the "what is bitcoin?" video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um63OQz3bjo), which has 884,257 views right now.

After or even during the episode the price will drop as people wonder where the pop is and panic sell.  Swing traders will continue to cash in.  Many days later the price will slowly rise due to the mildly increased exposure.  I personally believe the rise will be greater then the fall. 

people watch these shows for the limbic system hack:
they get their emotions driven!

Notice they do not watch it for financial advice.

I personally have never googled anything after a series except the series wiki perhaps.

No offense, but your not the norm, try watching something engaging, something educational.. and then maybe you will google things after..

Watching the Simpsons isnt exactly engaging..

While unfortunately, I do think he is "the norm" I do also believe there are enough people who will google it and talk about it over the "water cooler" to increase bitcoin awareness.

Buy some bitcoins now before they're all gone!  haha

Im Canadian, we have inquiring minds...   it might not translate to others.. :)

I talk about it around the coffee machine (water cooler so to speak) at work. This is actually how i learned of it and am up to about 18 BTC. I now hold more BTC than the person who introduced me and I have introduced a few others. Its very easy to see how Bitcoins could go viral.

Also telflone I am Canadian too. GO CANUCKS!

Im sure if our current leader had his way they would.

Ehhhhh!

I have some respect for Harper, Canada has done wonders in the last 4 years..

But I do see what your saying..  

In Canada, Film Board Pays YOU!

I watched an episode of the littlest hobo the other day...  havent saw that show in 25 years!

Bittenbob, where abouts are ya ?

Toronto. I give Harper 0 credit because he gets credit for all of Martin's fiscal policies. If it were not for his banking regulations that Harper would have done away with given the chance then we would have been right in the shitter with the USA/ The intrusions into privacy and his stupid dumb on crime omni bus crime bill are going to set this country back generations. He wants to lock up small time pot growers longer than child rapists (MMS for pot will be higher than rape). It is truly a dark period in our countries history.

I whole heartedly agree with you on that, the war on drugs is stupid, specially with pot. But personally I think he has a LOT of pressure to tighten up the drug laws from big brother down south.. Locking up pot growers and smokers is hilariously dumb, and infringes on our basic rights. It should be treated like Alcohol or tobacco.  And how about Mcsquinty, raising tax on booze, like we dont pay enough already...

PS. Steeltown here :)

Yeah the booze tax is silly but that is the law. The law mandates that minimum alcohol prices must rise with inflation. At least in the case of that the money goes into ontario's coffers which pays for health care. Ultimately it is a voluntary tax buying booze which fundamentally I don't have a problem with.

Another stupid thing is the LGR. You have to register your cat, dog and car but not your guns now. The outright destruction of this information is what is truly wasting money because if we decide in the future to reinstate it the cost would be outrageous. And don't get me wrong I love to shoot guns but you can never be too careful when it comes to firearms.


Any progress Canada has made over the past 4 years is thanks to the people and not any government.

Well we will have to agree to disagree! :)

I have an issue with the LGR, but its too late now, and yes, since it was instated, we certainly shouldnt stop or destroy the info now that its recorded.  I still say they were concentrating on the issue the wrong way, the old saying, outlaws will be the only ones with guns argument..

The law about raising taxes in unison with inflation is fine, but my paycheck isnt raising fast enough to keep up with the "Immediate change in gas prices" so to speak, if you get what Im saying.. An analogy, gas is just an example of a thought process Im trying convey.

Inflation sucks and my wages also havent gone up at all in the past 4 years. As for gas, well when I moved to the big city I had to get rid of my cars because I apparently live in the most expensive part of the country for insurance. As for the old argument on guns, it wasnt illegal to own guns as long as you are properly licensed so that saying is false. What it does provide is incentive to lock up your guns and to make them not easily accessible (for thieves).

On the opposite end of the spectrum I have seen crazy shit with guns in the states. People driving around with AK-47s and enough ammo to start a war every day. In detroit its just crazy how many gunfights there are every day and how many shootings go on. Like I said I love shooting guns but definitely feel safer with the regulation.

We're not all nuts down here.  In West Virginia, we all have guns and use them frequently.  Very rarely does a human get injured by a firearm.  But wild animals are infinitely tastier than store-bought meat, not to mention much cheaper.

Well, we wont get into the ol' americans and their guns speech! lol :)

They must be regulated, and it should not be your god given birth right to bare arms.

I work intimately with armed guards nearly everyday, and have taken my courses every year as required by my job and I wouldnt have it any other way. Yet I own no restricted guns, I dont feel a need to personally defend myself with a handgun, let alone a monster ar14 or ak74/47 those are simply ridiculous hunting or otherwise.

Thats what my guards are for.

Would I be this way if living in the US?..  No way, I would pack absolutely. But thats because of the job I have.

One of a million reasons I love Canada..

I see guns and the internet as two very similar things in regards to regulation.  Any effort will be futile. Technology will always prevail.

http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/20/is-printing-a-gun-the-same-as-buying-a-gun/

Awesome article, Im actually in the process of making a 3d printer...

Which printer?

Yep... You just force people to hide their actions with regulations.  Better to live in small communities where you feel welcome and aren't afraid of your neighbors if you ask me.  People cause violence against each other out of a feeling of isolation, not because you allow them access to weapons.

Wanna hear a cool concept/phrase

"Open Source Manufacturing" :)

I have the majority of the hardware except the extruder, Im leaning towards reprap, makerbot is ok too, but I think reprap is the one that will satisfy my needs..

Any suggestions?  there are a few more worth mentioning, I just cant remember their names..

I would recommend RepRap...better to build it yourself and learn how it actually works.  Plus, there is a very strong IRC community.

At the moment - bit coin  (with a space) is showing up at position number 6 in google's Hot Searches.
(not sure if it got any higher - it says the peak was 5hrs ago)

http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends?q=bit+coin&date=2012-1-15&sa=X

Peak 5 hours ago makes sense when many people in the USA are now sleeping.

Yep... 6PM PST was 9PM EST, when the episode aired.

Curious it is bit coin and not bitcoin, but w/e, as long as they are looking for it and finding it.

Nice catch!  But since the graph is unitless, and is likely rarely searched for as two words, about all that can be said is that searching went from 0 to >0.
https://i.imgur.com/BOJg7.png

There are a bunch of articles coming out about the episode, my favorite title is by the Onion AV Club: Tonight's Good Wife will appeal to your inner Satoshi Nakamoto fanboy/fangirl (http://www.avclub.com/articles/tonights-good-wife-will-appeal-to-your-inner-satos,67677/)

I had been thinking that, like the conferences, the episode would have more effect on speculators than the public.  But now I'm thinking that the exposure might actually draw in new users, too (in a week or two, of course).

3% of the US population watches that show.

Forgot to mention that it was top pick of the night at Onion AV Club:

"Wacky virtual currency" - that's a good way to put it.

My favorite part of the episode....

"Can't you track it down by IP address?"
"Oh yea, I can!"
"Here's the IP address it came from.. 127.09.07" (yes, they even said zero nine, dot zero seven)
" ??? that's our IP address... oh noes!"


Apparently there are only 3 octets and must contain a single zero in front if there's only a single digit in that octet.

Good line, but I think maybe not only in America.   :P

i thought, starting an IP address with 127 is just like all those telephone numbers start with 555-...

how about this https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=59908 ?

this is such a stupid turn of phrase and is exactly why i don't watch tv. people who say 'only in america...' need to die -- it's rarely even a self-deprecating joke about a national stereotype, but rather always referring to an arbitrary concept which the speaker finds incredulous.

only in america do we use the phrase only in america

plus, the show is clearly misrepresenting bitcoin, which would be obvious if people knew anything about how an inflationary monetary system works  :D

You can't use a real IP address (or phone number) on a show that might have millions of viewers. Good old Tommy Tutone really caused grief for anyone with 867-5309 as their phone number!

good on that. i hear the general attitude was very positive and they said the word tens of times, so everything went better than expected.

Me too! I'm almost done building the Thing-o-matic. Which one are you working on??

heh +1

So he could say 127.0.0.1, its safe and correct at the same time. :P

281-330-8004

Moving back on topic, google trends (https://www.google.com/trends/?q=bitcoin&ctab=0&geo=all&date=mtd&sort=0) still hasn't been updated for Jan. 16th, but Wikipedia has, and it's a doozy (source (http://stats.grok.se/en/201201/bitcoin)):

https://i.imgur.com/zgdhu.png

If google trends also shows a ~6x increase in searches, we'll be approaching if not exceeding the peak traffic back in June.

Im leaning towards reprap, heard good things about it here, keep in touch, I will have some questions for you later! :D

https://i.imgur.com/quB6D.png

Looks like about a 4x increase in searches for bitcoin.  We'll see if that leads to forum signups in a few days, which I believe are a lagging indicator.