I've heard you can do it with credit cards in a round-about way by using 2nd Life to buy Lindens and then convert to bitcoin on the Virwox exchange..

Do 'International Wire' bank transfers work from Lebanon to Hong Kong?   If so you could deposit to mtgox.

This seems interesting..  
A piece in what seems to be a fairly major Chinese language financial site finance.sina.com.cn
( google page rank of 8 )



The story is reposted on finance.ifeng.com and chinadaily.com.cn ... looks like this story might be widely syndicated in China
(ifeng.com is another top 100 website according to alexa rankings)


The story is also picked up in Taiwan:

Jupiterbroadcasting's Techsnap 20 video covers bitcoin news again


Also .. Chris fisher mentions in the show that
1) he wants Jupiter Broadcasting to start taking donations in bitcoin
2) he wants to start taking advertising buys in bitcoin

well you could..  but according to this: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison
You'll only get about 60MegaHashes/second

I haven't done an accurate calculation - but I think you'll take about 1 Month to generate 1 bitcoin if difficulty stays around what it is now. (joining a mining pool obviously)

That motherboard has a pci-e slot.. so you might consider throwing in a new ATI graphics card.

Here in Australia - some merchant bank accounts have a monthly fee irrespective of transactions too e.g $35/Month.
For a the really small scale merchant - or those starting out or just testing an idea.. this can make a difference.

I first guessed that someone who read this thread started this: http://www.bitbob.co.ke
(claming to be the first African Exchange - launching 'soon')

But looking at the whois for bitbob.co.ke - it was created on 2011-05-27  and has a Nairobi address..  (Alex Beavan)

Could still be a foreign run operation I suppose.. but good to see someone setting up some bitcoin infrastructure for Kenya anyway!

Summer?  Which hemisphere?
 

He's definitely an asset.


I think this achievement alone has made bitcoin so much more visible, and more importantly, is a solid demonstration that bitcoin is a legitimate tool for merchants and consumers.
So much of the earlier coverage has focused on black-market aspects such as tax avoidance and drugs - despite there being little evidence that there is much of this really going on. Along with some of the better known merchants such as MemoryDealers, bitbrew, cablesaurus and bitmunchies - OnlyOneTV provides a counterpoint to the  persistent taint that some commentators like to push. Indeed this sort of high profile focus on the positive uses and aspects of bitcoin potentially makes it that much harder for legislators and unfriendly corporations to take kneejerk actions against Bitcoin as a whole.

As far as being a personable bitcoin contact with whom mainstream media can talk, without coming across as a fringe nerd-type - he's currently without peer.

That said, I'm completely unimpressed with the announcement of multiple conference locations for 2012 - apparently with no community consultation, and as far as I can see - no explanation of why fragmenting the attention of potential bitcoin enthusiasts and exhibitors is the way to go.
Surely exhibitors would prefer to get the most bang for their bitcoin by having an annual expo to focus on.
Now of course he's under no obligation to consult or explain, as there's nothing 'official' about OnlyOneTV being *the* world expo organiser for bitcoin for all time.
I had hoped that he'd take a less autocratic approach and simply be the instigator of a more community-based effort in this regard.
Nothing about the way the 1st conference was organised, and the next conferences were announced suggests this though.

It might be easy to point to the fact that Bruce used to promote mybitcoin as a negative - but the situation would have been a problem for a large slice of the community even if he hadn't, and having the show as a platform to shed light on these issues is invaluable.

Some of his more exuberant proclamations certainly fit my definition of 'hype', and he often comes across as more 'marketer' than realist and commentator, but I'm hopeful that he will listen to some of the feedback from the community and pull back from some of the more speculative claims, without losing his enthusiastic style.

Still.. on balance Bruce and the Bitcoin Show have done a lot of good for the public image of bitcoin.

But then... I wonder what the point of this thread is if people don't even read as far as 3 posts back.

Yeah.. I already posted a comment on one of their vids that they should accept bitcoin.
Kinda surprising they don't already really.

The only good I can see in it is it'll demonstrate what a dumb idea it is using the Thai Baht symbol ฿ for Bitcoin.

I also don't understand the point of multiple conferences in one year.  It dilutes any power that a singular global bitcoin conference might have had.

If the announcement had been instead, something like "2012 Bitcoin Conference to be in Hong Kong"   (or some other major financial hub.. London,Singapore,Tokyo etc)
this would have been more impressive.

Anyway.. nothing to stop some other group of Bitcoiners forming a more focused Conference arrangement to compete with the way OnlyOneTV does things.
That too is 'dilution'.. but hopefully at some point some annual conference can become known as *the* conference. 
Despite what many in the community would like - this doesn't appear to be OnlyOneTV's vision - and if they want to ignore the community's ideas, that's up to them really.

Bruce and co. still do a good job of providing some focus and light on Bitcoin issues - so if people don't like the specifics.. they'll just have to come up with an alternative.

Oh.. I see now that Chris Smelser is from Memory Dealers.  That explains that then!

Things are getting interesting when things like this pop up..   Is someone in the forums here behind this one?

This article is basically a short bitcoin intro with a focus on mining.

Despite the negativity on bitcoin as an investment - this piece seems pretty balanced and while it's focused on the risks at the moment, it recognizes the potential too.

There is also a video discussion with Chuck Jaffe about it.

There is a thread in bitcoin discussion on this:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=39638.0

Overall.. I think this article/video could be classed as a 'backhanded compliment' to bitcoin!


2011-09-29 The article appears on nj.com with a  more positive title

Looks fine for me in chrome.


Why the negativity on an enterprising merchant who is actually using these cryptographic currencies?
Low entry-barrier is one of the key advantages of a system like bitcoin.  

We should be encouraging services like this. Good on you Lorna.

Lack of media coverage -  not so surprising.. they're not there to feed every interest group's hype.
No streaming - somewhat disappointing.
Keynote recording with unintelligible audio  -  Well that's a big fail from an outfit with 'tv' in the name.

Anything that can be said about this last point without using swear words - is altogether too kind.

I feel it's only a matter of time before we see the first software agents which roam the internet with their own wallet - making a living daytrading.. and sending occasional pizza offerings to their creator.



Another story on the same issue..

A Sydney radio station aired a piece on Bitcoin last night.. I've been unable to track down any info so far.
Did anyone here hear it?

I forgot to ask my source if the accents were american.. it occurs to me this might just have been a rebroadcast of the npr story.