I have 3D modelled and am selling (through Shapeways) keychains in stainless steel that carry your own Bitcoin QR code.

Link to the keychain on Shapeways

 

The fact that the Bitcoin network is Internet based has the downside that it doesn't work without a piece of technology, such as your computer or mobile phone. So what if, one day, you were away from your computer, your mobile phone just ran out of juice, and you needed to take a Bitcoin payment from someone?

A physically printed QR code that you always carry on you would solve that, of course. But a QR on a piece of paper folded in your (analogue) wallet just doesn't cut it on the nerd coolness scale. A QR code engraved in a 3D printed stainless steel keychain does, however. You always carry your keys with you. Attach your emergency Bitcoin QR code to your keys, and you always have your QR code with you. Of course, as multiple use of one Bitcoin address is discouraged, this is not for everyday use, but for that few times where you can't take a payment in any other way. Sort of an insurance, if you will.

When ordering this QR code keyring, you will be asked to provide a Bitcoin address. I will generate a QR code containing a "bitcoin:" payment request with your address in it and model it into the keychain model that you see in the photos and then let Shapeways print it and send it to you. This way you will get your very own customized and unique Bitcoin keychain.

Note: In order to maximize readability by a QR reader, it is adviced to spray paint the QR side of your keychain in black and then polish off the paint, so as to improve the contrast between the dark grooves (where the paint stays after polish) and the lighter tops. Also, the keychain will often arrive from Shapeways with polishing rubble stuck in the grooves of the QR code. These need to be peeled out with a needle or similar.

Link to the keychain on Shapeways

Easiest thing would probably be to backup the full Armory data directory, if you are able to. That would save you from having to let Armory build the database again, and you will backup any wallets, transaction comments, etc.

Otherwise you should be able to restore your wallets from your paper backups (hopefully; otherwise they are of no use!), but this wouldn't let you keep your transaction and address comments. You will need to back those up separately.

If I upgrade my cold storage setup to 0.93, would I need to upgrade both the online and offline computer Armorys, or can I just update Armory on the online computer and let Armory on the offline computer stay on 0.92 and still be able to do a cold storage transaction using the two?

So, if I want to run an Armory supernode, I have to run it with the --supernode flag. Do I have to do that every time I start Armory, or just the first time (generating the db)? What happens if I generate the db as a supernode and then later start Armory without the supernode flag? (or the other way around) Will the db then contain both supernode and normal entries, and would that be bad?

Do you plan to add a new start icon for supernode mode (like for offline mode)?

And that's what it does, sorry for not realizing that was what you meant :-)

I don't know the tech details of any of this, but I can say that I have successfully signed a transaction on an offline Armory installation, where the transaction was created in Counterwallet and later broadcast by Counterwallet. I am not using any sort of Counterparty port of Armory (if that even exists); only plain vanilla from the Armory website. Whether this process is reached through Counterwallet doing some magic to a signed message which carries a serialized transaction, as you refer to, I wouldn't know.

Oh, and when signing a Counterparty transaction (which is, in essence, as you know, just a bitcoin transaction) I do not choose message signing. I do indeed choose the "Offline Transactions" button, then "Sign Offline Transaction". You can see the complete process of setting this up and doing a (non multi-sig) transaction from a user perspective in the link in my previous post.

What you're looking for is probably what is described here:
http://blog.pryds.eu/2014/09/how-to-keep-your-sjcx-in-cold-storage.html (a guide on keeping Counterparty assets in Armory cold storage, using Counterwallet as the online wallet. The guide mentions SJCX, but actually it applies to all Counterparty assets, not just SJCX)

Edit: Oh, I just noticed you were going for multi-sig, so this might not be what you want, after all, sorry.

Using a small amount for testing things until you feel safe about them is always a very good idea. That being said, as long as you make sure to create paper backups for both your online and offline wallets, you should be safe. With them you can always recreate your wallets, even on other computers.

Which strategy is best for you to break the learning curve is of course up to you, but what you suggest makes sense to me. Doing transactions from blockchain.info to your online wallet, then to your offline wallet, then back to blockchain.info gives you challenges that slightly increases every time: Receiving coins in Armory (which is the same whether you receive to online or offline wallet), then sending coins from an online wallet in Armory, then sending coins from an offline wallet in Armory.

Personally I did a lot of testing with just online wallets (sending amounts back and forth from Armory and my mobile phone wallet), just to get used to Armory before setting out to try sending from an offline wallet, which does present a slightly more complicated process (but nothing to be worried about). I also did a lot of testing on the testnet network (which both Armory and my mobile phone wallet can access) just to make sure I didn't screw up, or waste a lot on transaction fees.

Welcome. Actually you can do it either way. Several versions of Armory ago, you had to first run Bitcoin Core (either graphical or bitcoind, I believe), and only then run Armory. While you can still do that, Armory will now start bitcoind automatically for you in the background. Bitcoind is the non-graphical version of Bitcoin Core. Don't worry if you've already let the graphical version of Bitcoin Core download the entire blockchain. The Armory/bitcoind combo will use exactly the same blockchain files so you won't end up with two copies of the blockchain or something like that.

In addition, however, Armory needs to build its own database files the first time you run it. They will take up roughly the same amount of space as the blockchain files (unless in the upcoming version of Armory you run a supernode, in which case they will take up ~double the space of the blockchain, but that's pretty techy still, so you might not want to worry about that yet). These database files will also take a LOT of time for Armory to generate.

When Armory has its full blockchain and database files ready, subsequent runs of Armory will take a slight while before it's ready. Starting up Armory will do a consistency check on your wallet, then start bitcoind which will, in turn, check for new transactions, download and append those to your local copy of the blockchain ("synchronizing with network"), then Armory will update its database files to match any newly downloaded transactions ("build databases"). On my Intel i7 with 16 GB RAM it takes just over 2 minutes from I launch Armory till it's ready for use, so I generally just leave it running throughout the day.

I am unaware of whether running a supernode (in Armory version 0.93 and above) will speed up startup time?

I think this would be best achieved with the widget staying where it is, but make it very transparent, almost invisible. Then, when the user hovers the mouse in the vicinity (maybe 100 pixels) of the widget, it becomes opaque. Make that one setting, and then opaque all the time another. And maybe disabled completely a third. Just my 5 cents.

About a month ago the Australian BitcoinDoco project released the first episode of its documentation series on Vimeo. Now, planning to also release it on Youtube, the project is accepting volunteer translations of the subtitles, hoping that the documentation series will also gain a wider audience globally.

If you feel comfortable with your language skills, and want to volunteer a bit of your time in the good name of Bitcoin, help is wanted for translating and proof-reading/reviewing into your language through this site:

https://www.transifex.com/projects/p/bitcoin-doco-subtitles/ (feel free to request your language if it is not already mentioned)

There is also a set of guidelines.

What I'm really waiting for, when it comes to applications of the Storj network, is a Dropbox/Copy/etc. like application that will live sync your files directly to the network from your desktop or mobile. I.e. a native app, not website.

Value has definitely has seen rising until now, so it doesn't seem unfair to guess even higher value once the network goes live.

The beta is divided into three groups, A, B and C, whereof the two first require you to have participated in the crowd sale, unfortunately. But you will still be able to participate in beta group C at an advantage to those who wait for the public launch. Only requirement for group C is for you to hold 10,000 SJCX, which you can start buying now if you want, in order to be ready for beta C launch. You can easily buy in small increments, if you want, e.g. through Poloniex or the decentralized Counterwallet exchange.

Yeah, that GUI looks very compelling, indeed. It seems that the designer fully understands "keep it simple, stupid". I just hope it will be combined with options to have a higher level of control for power users, as is most often the case for open source software. And if I'm not mistaken, it will, through the text based version, which is great.

Edit: Oh, you meant the GUI of MetaDisk, of course. I don't think there will be a command line version of MetaDisk, but that's probably not necessary either.

I did a little mock-up of how my DriveShare setup might look sometime in the future:



Just for the fun of it :-)

Technically, you should be able to use any kind of storage that your system can access. I've heard several people plan to share space from a tiny computer like the Raspberry Pi through external USB-harddrives.

Only when beta group C is about to start, it will be determined who can participate, and that is those people who can prove they own 10,000 SJCX. So the best thing you can do to prepare yourself, is get some SJCX. You can do so at Counterwallet's decentralized exchange or at Poloniex, to name a couple. Poloniex is probably where the most volume is.

In the current beta test you'll win some valuable data for the Storj project to make it better once it's further in development.
I later beta tests you will be able to earn SJCX. Depending on which stage of the beta you want to participate in, you must have contributed to the crowd sale, though. More details at http://storj.io/earlyaccess.html

I actually picked up NO harddrives for this. Still want to see how it works out. Planning to utilize the empty space in my existing drives to begin with, and then move from there.