Bitcoin Forum

Greetings!

I am pleased to announce my new idea!

The Bitcoin Bus
http://throughad.com/

Fill this bus up with your pixels. We will make sure it gets printed on a real bus! See example (http://throughad.com/bus.jpg). Next time we do trains (http://throughad.com/train.png)!

Use common sense with your selection. Do not buy pixels in the wheels for example. (This is a limitation of square pixels) I did my best to block-out unusable pixels

The way it works is that you click on Buy Pixels and choose if you want the left, right or back side of the bus. You can now select the pixels you want, by holding your mouse button down and dragging your mouse until you reach your preferred selection. Now click Continue >> You can now upload your image to the server. After this is done the system ask you to type in URL, Title and Alt values for your picture, you do not have to provide these, as you can select I will fill details later >> The only thing left is to enter your email address so the system can send you a payment bitcoin address.

You can bet on me standing ready with a camera for a lot of pictures, if we get the bus filled up!

Accepting bitcoins for one big bitcoin ad on a bus, 131VvhSxE2fCWziQ54gfXfNXLtbdVFAQjB

Please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions. We're
looking forward to providing you with first rate service.

Own a piece of history!

Sincerely,

Kris

Why do I get the feeling someone will eventually put CP on the bus. This will end badly.

very interesting idea

couple of things: you probably want to block-out unusable pixels and also would be useful to let users know pixels to inches ratio

Indeed that would end badly   :o

Thank you!

I will see what I can do, but it will most probably be pixel to centimeter.

What city is the bus in?

I'd guess in Denmark!

Denmark - Copenhagen

It will drive around the capital, day and night.

This has to happen. Count me in.

What's the total price needed to make it happen?

Seems like a good opportunity to do some bitcoin advertising. Maybe we could all pitch in for a large ad for bitcoin itself, prominently displayed on the side? It would be shame to have this filled up with random ads for bitcoin-related projects without a central bitcoin logo and something like a weusecoins.com or bitcoin.org link.

Awesome evoorhees,

I will have the total price for 1 day, 2 days, 1 week for you on Monday, when the company I am going to use wake up.

But the amount of pixels * the current amount is not far fetched.

Best idea ever!, you will even have my support on that one.

I can keep the pitch in safe on this address: 1MjyWLY1Rvx7rtqKwymA6Mo1gXF1UaFB8G   The address is hosted on WalletBit, so it's safe.

Until we decide for a go on the giant Bitcoin Ad.

Mail sent to We Use Coins

watching...

I'm blocking out unusable pixels right now. Thank you.

Hi I added the backside of the bus, how about a big Bitcoin logo there? Wouldn't that be something.


http://throughad.com/bitcoin.png

Is the Screw Banks! to much?  ;)

The giant bitcoin looks great on the back.

4.8k BTC for the whole bus is a lot. Many we should only purchase pixels on the back.

What city is the pixle bus in? I really hope you guys pull this off. very cool idea btw.

idea: - reserve space on bus for qr codes and let local business link the qr codes to their business for free (provided they start accepting bitcoin)

I have a 32-foot motorhome that would be perfect for something like this that I thought would look good splashed in Bitcoin.  Problem is I never use the motorhome, nobody sees it much, and I will probably sell it.  Maybe I'll put it up for sale and ask for bitcoins.  Its exterior is smooth fiberglass and would accept vehicle wrap very well, plus it would still look decent after the wrap was taken off.

You are totally right, it looks insanely great, I get the total amount to 4543 BTC, $23396, 141089 DKK  You can bet on the price to be at least 70000kr, but this just means we can have two bus driving around in difference places. Because whatever is left, I will use for another run.

The bus will be driving around in Copenhagen the capital of Denmark, day and night.

Thank you and thank you for another great idea. Use QR codes on the bus, and people can use smartphones to easily go to your website. I think everyone has a smartphone in Copenhagen...

LOL!   ;D

You disagree?  :P

Remember to upload your images in high resolution, while keeping the aspect ratio. Will look so much better once I purchase the wrap.

I will be away from the computer all day tomorrow on business, only receiving notifications on my phone. So if you want to ask something you can do it now.

It's safe until the amount is large enough to have a "theft" - either internal or otherwise.

Just based on experience and common sense - nothing against you personally or your service. 

Solutions? how does the OP create enough trust and security to make this work?

1) Don't be anonymous in any way.
2) Get an insurance policy and provide proof.

History proves you right, sadly. But if large amounts would be my incentive to "theft" I would have ran taking WalletBit with me a year ago. As you see it was founded July 15 2011

That simply means the amount of bitcoins you had access to wasn't high enough to make you fake a theft.  But everyone has a number.

Why do you want to stay anonymous?

The thread is going a little off topic, guess that's ok.

What do you mean? How am I anonymous, You cannot blame me for not posting my home address for every man, women and child to see, when I have a fine business address.





Guess I'm just a exceptional unique human being.

https://walletbit.com/about/contact

Do what you want, but anyone who trusts any kind of bitcoin balance to someone who doesn't provide full contact info and an insurance policy OR be in a country where they can be sued, is a fool.

Maybe you are right, Nonetheless, I do value your input, I just like to believe I have proven myself in other ways.

Have a look at the marketplace board some time. There are plenty of transactions that get by just fine through PM'ed exchanges of bitcoin addresses and e-mail addresses. Most people won't reveal their full names, addresses, or provide an insurance policy. It happens all the time, turns out great, and nobody's a fool because of it. Sure, it's good to be cautious, but don't you think you've taken it a little far to say that you need full contact information and an insurance policy to make a simple trade? By the way, I was able to find some more information on Kris by doing a few quick searches. He's not completely anonymous.

I added advertisements to speed things up a bit. We really do want a bus promoting Bitcoin.

http://throughad.com/Zoo_Bus-resized-600.jpg.png

Copenhagen- Many businesses are taking advantage of the cost-effectiveness of vehicle wraps, including industries that you wouldn't think would use vehicle wraps, for example a zoo.

People visit zoos every year, but just like other businesses the zoo industry is looking for unconventional advertising techniques such as vehicle wraps to boost sales and customers.

In the above vehicle wrap there's a giant constrictor snake squeezing the Copenhagen city bus. This vehicle wrap provokes viewers to think of one thing zoos are known for, giant snakes. What better way to increase visitors than advertising something they are dying to see that your business offers!

Vehicle wraps continue to be the most affordable type of outdoor advertising. They get the most amount of views from potential customers for every dollar spent. Even when you are out of town or in traffic your brand continues to be advertised.

May have to forego the word screw because little kids ride the bus, and if they don't, they're on their bikes watching the bus go by. Kids know that screw means fuck, and if they don't, their parents sure do, and it's them that will force the ad off, but I'm pretty sure that the bus company wouldn't approve it in the first place if they're worth their salt.

That said, excellent idea.

~Bruno~

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I wouldn't mind trusting Kris with a few bitcoins to support this great idea. I live in Copenhagen and would love to see this bus around town!

Let's get down to business and discuss content. For example, how many pixels (xy) does qr code require?

YAY!!! that where i live!

Great idea. I hope it will succeed.
Good luck!

*subbed*

Just changing server to make it run smooth, it was running very bad here, Sorry for the downtime guys and gals. When it stops saying "Changing server to make it run smooth!" you know that it is running on the new server.

WalletBit just purchased a humble spot on the right side of the bus.  ;)

Thank you sir, but to succeed I need your help and other people's help.

I'll assume that the contact info is in the form of an image to ward of email scrappers, though that no longer works since the advent of imagereaders to overcome that ploy.

That said, I'm happy to report that finding Kris would not be a problem for, as another user has already pointed out, he's not that hard to find. Although I won't post any of my findings, one can easily locate his home address, see family members, and know what kind of dog he owns.


This post alone, Kris, should get a few more pixels sold, thus helping to get this bus out of the mud.

For clarification purposes, is it the finished sold pixel image the one that is going to be placed on some bus, or some other content? I'm referencing the following image from the Million Dollar Homepage (http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/) as an example of what I'm inquiring about.

http://digitalpersuasion.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/milliondollarhomepage.png

Although I'm well aware that this project of yours is meant to bring more awareness to Bitcoin, and the following suggestion may be premature at this stage of the bus-idea-game, but I'll offer it up nonetheless.

Warning!: Justin Bieber is about to mentioned by me--again. Please bear in mind that he's used only as an example.

(possibly for the States or Canada) Picture, if you will, the first ever fan generated, pixelated advertised bus, where all the pixels MUST be purchased with Bitcoin. A true fan would bend over backwards to lay their hands on bitcoins so that they won't miss out on this unique opportunity. Sound far-fetched! Then the person reading this isn't thinking outside their mining rig. (I reckon I didn't have to use his name after all)

~Bruno~

Can you clarify a few things Kris. You are proposing a bus covered in hundreds of small ads. If everyone buys the minimum 100 pixels, then there will be 15,983 ads on the bus. Are you sure such ads will be even readable on a moving bus?

Maybe the minimum purchase should be 1000 pixels? That would mean 1598 ads on the bus, which is still a lot for people to read on a moving object.

Kris, you _could_ have edited those terms that you copied from other site. I guess no paint in a bus can be animated ;D

I think it would be better to gather bitcoins to buy several bigger btc-related ads/images to be printed on a bus rather than 1000s of small ads that nobody can read. A big "BITCOIN"-text on a side of a bus for example. And everyone pays a little bit of the ad and you could see progress somewhere etc.


Anduck

Yes I would like to place the finished pixel image on the bus, hopefully both sides and the back.

I am betting on some big players, buying big spots, or like austonst idea, which is also awesome by the way.

I edited this
^{Images must NOT be animated (imagine how messy the homepage would look)}

To this
^{Images cannot be animated (it is just not possible yet on a bus)}

 ;D

You are more then welcome to pitch in on this address: 1MjyWLY1Rvx7rtqKwymA6Mo1gXF1UaFB8G

For one full side of the bus, we would need ฿2,113.20 in terms of ฿0.30 per 10 x 10 pixel block

Awesome idea. Good luck!

You're saying that there doesn't exist a single honest person in the world. That's ridiculous.

Unless you're first to do this: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/719475/media_intergration_t_shirt_video_screen_shirt/

Bob: Father Christopher, the Church needs a new paint job.
Father Christopher: And?
Bob: (After a short pause.) New plants around the Church would be nice.
Father Christopher: AND?
Bob: (Still puzzled.) A new organ?
Father Christopher: AND?
Bob: (Gets it!) Four young lads have recently become members.
Father Christopher: (Drooling) Fetch me the checkbook, Bob.

Tomorrow, I'll post a conversation with the Dalai Lama.

There's the hacker bus tour right now where you can pay cash to get bitcoins should it come to your euro town
http://www.hackerbus.eu/

Organized by the guy who runs Torservers.net ... haven't seen the design maye he could use your bitcoin ad (:

That would be a first!  :o

I will try and email them, see what they say.

Great idea! Will you be selling physical Bitcoins to people from the bus? That would be cool.

Just put CoinDL on the Bus! Best of luck to Kris with this project...I'd really like to see an IRL picture of it when it happens.

Of course I am not saying that - every person in the world doesn't take bitcoin deposits. 

But it's not ridiculous when you combine it with anonymity.  A person starts a bitcoin service and remains anonymous to keep the option open of one day committing theft and getting away with it easily.  I'd love to hear other reasoning, but I won't comment further in this thread, as I don't want to derail it any further.

And on that remark, here is another example.

http://throughad.com/bus2.jpg

From what I can read, and the people I talked to, I think we can manage to get a great deal for 4 weeks, IF we get all the pixels filled up. But right now, One week maybe 2-3 days is the goal, depending on how things develop.

Damn! For some odd reason I was under the impression that the ad would stay up much longer than that. Not a deal breaker for me, and will continue to support you, but damn!

~Bruno~

Yes it is hard to imagine how some cheap plastics slapped on a bus would cost that much. But they probably know it is an great advertising method and therefore the price.

Just seems like a good idea to make a lot of money with yet another of these "1,000,000 pixels" sites.    The finished bus will be an absolute mess, with random text strewn all over it and almost impossible to read.

If you wanted to do some good, raise some money and print ONE big sign on the bus just advertising Bitcoin in general. 

I'm sure that upon further discussion, this issue could be resolved to most everyone's satisfaction.

On a not-so-off-side note, did we miss the bus on the following or can a new adventure be started from scratch? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEfDF4_JfdQ

~Bruno~

I took both of your suggestions, and made one big bitcoin ad.

฿0 out of ฿691.20 for one big bitcoin ad on the back right side of the bus -> 1MjyWLY1Rvx7rtqKwymA6Mo1gXF1UaFB8G

Not exactly what I meant :)

This example has just one big advertisement, not hundreds of small ones. There is no comparison between your project and the above bus.

Maybe you should consider just making  one large advertisement, on one side of the bus only?

Well it is just an example, just to show people what it might look like.

I hope Im not being argumentative here, but I would propose only advertising on the right hand side of the bus. That will enable you to advertise on two buses for the same cost.

The right hand side of the bus, has more visibility to people standing at a bus stop. Many people play with their phones while waiting at bus stops. The bus arrives at the stop and takes on passengers. All the other people standing at the bus stop will have the advertisement right in their faces. They can see the ad, scan the QR code and browse directly to the advertised site.

Indeed the right hand side of the bus is probably the best place, that's why I placed the "pitch in" ad there.

I've just transferred 3.456 BTC (0.5%) of the required amount. Now we just need 199 more donators  ::)

In the event that not enough people chip in, feel free to transfer the money back to the sending address (1Fv6HW...) :-)

Will do, thank you!

These buses look really cool. I might consider buying some pixels.  ;D

Excellent idea! it's a bit like the 1 million pixel page someone did a while back.

I am in awe of the great response this idea gave.

FYI I added PayPal and Laybit (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=76915.0) as possible donation methods for the Big Bitcoin Ad.

We still need your help to make this happen.

Regards
Kris

No animated advertising for buses you say?

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2008/05/animation-adver/
http://buzzer.translink.ca/index.php/2009/09/digital-screens-show-animated-ads-on-the-side-of-your-bus/
http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/lenticular-billboard-mcdonalds-yawning-ad
http://gothamist.com/2011/03/07/mta_considering_animated_tunnel_ads.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aItU9P6fHc

http://www.technoframe.co.uk/led-bus-screens.html

 ::)

I hope anyone uploading graphics is uploading properly formated CMYK, fully vector images (.eps or .ai). Anyone uploading raster jpegs and tiffs and gifs will be sorely disappointed in the result!  And if you don't know what vector means, you shouldn't be uploading artwork for publishing :)

How awesome is that?  :o  Let me raise the price on the pixels...  :-\

You just said it better.

The images should NOT be "high resolution"... they shouldn't have a resolution, because that means they're rasterized :) Vector images do not have a resolution or pixel count.

"You said it much better."  ;)

Someone doesn't like The Bitcoin Bus. It is heavily under attack.

Someone is DDoSing your website? :(
There seems to be a bunch of children that live here and have fun doing useless things like that to Bitcoin-related websites and services.

Hopefully your security is up to snuff.

Well the access log is going wild, Don't worry I did not put the bus website on my most secure infrastructure which WalletBit for instance is running on. So no worries there. But maybe I should up the resources a bit for this particular server.

You can still access it a bit here http://throughad.com/get_pixels.php the front page is getting hammered.

Wait what, how can one page be completely unresponsive, but other pages on the same server are working fine...?

The front page does a lot of database connections and the sub pages doesn't

I don't know how to promote it even more, I did my best to inform everyone about this noble endeavour. Any ideas?

Is it still possible to get to the front page? I keep getting redirected to the get_pixels.php page.

Maybe the idea should be scaled down and relaunched as getting a small billboard on a bus or at a bus stop.

Or how about making a game where ads are displayed behind some coins that you click on or hover over clear and some of the coins pay out bitcoins? I think the free bitcoins sites seem to survive quite a while.

did you promote it on reddit.com/r/bitcoin ?

I fail to see how anything shy of a brain wallet or encrypted paper wallet is SAFE.

This is a brilliant idea, please post lots of pics if it happens! Also, seeing as the exchange rate just went through the roof, you should probably hurry while your collected BTC are most valuable :) I wish I had a business to advertise :P

Did my best to promote it, now it is up to people.

Looks like the site is down right now. Does going to it show the outlines of the bus and logos of CoinDL and others?

Hi Kris,

unfortunately, if you want something to happen, it's always up to yourself. If you want this to happen, then you make it happen.

It's hard and though to be the driving force behind any project. Simply advertising it a little bit, and then hoping and/or thinking it will happen by itself is setting yourself up for failure.

If you really want it to happen, then you work hard, and exhaust all possible methods to gain traction and recognition for the project.

Did you send an e-mail to all merchants at this list : https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade ?

This project is dead if you leave it 'to the people'.

- Herodes

I still don't really see how a million tiny images that are too small to see when a bus whizzes past will help us at all.    One large bitcoin advertisement makes way more sense to me, but there you go.

Exactly.  Then people will know what the hell we're advertising :)

Sorry but I'll say it again.  Selling pixels will be nice and lucrative for the person running this, but will do nothing for Bitcoin.

I still have the funds that was given towards this, a total of 3.59073763. I'm still keeping them safe until we reach our goal.

But one big bitcoin advertisement is the way to go.

http://throughad.com/

Advertising Bitcoin really is the way to go. But Advertising mainstream is ex-pensive, and it will be hard if not impossible for us to quantify the return.

But it's definitely thinking in the right direction.

Find a celebrity who speaks positive about BTC and it,s benefits in the media is priceless and will be effective or a big online  company how adopts BTC first could be win win situation.

Most of the forum people have what in comen? IT or TECH were whould u spend ur BTC directly on.?

Except for BMR en SR like websites there isn,t much to spend BTC on YET, if more legal companies could start excepting BTC like coinabul ect. does we have to....

Write a simpel guide on "how to easy implement BTC acceptence into ur business"
some easy to follow guide even for noobs but understandable for bussines people..

 

A real simple and cheap advertisement is to rename your wifi/BlueTooth name to something with bitcoin.

DONE. Brilliant!