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No. Bitcoincard is fascinating for it's flexible board and battery-less functionality for sure, but the requirement for the entire world to build infrastructure around it instead of using what's already there is not only lazy, it's downright unimaginative and asinine.
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By using the site you agree that you will not lie about not receiving payments that have been made. You also agree you will not report any false claims against the site as long as the payment has been made. You also agree that you will not lie about sending the site a payment that we never received. You understand that your PayPal account may be at risk and you accept to the chances of your account getting possibly frozen and take full responsibility for your purchase. You also agree that even though we say you will get it in around 24 hours it may take longer than that. If you would like to contact the site with any problems or any questions click here.
Last edited April 18th, 2012
Adorable. |
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It supports Paypal and Dwolla?
Money is money. The distinction between Bitcoin, Namecoin, Litecoin, Paypal, MoneyBookers, NETELLER, or most other online transaction solutions is not clearly made by the average consumer, which is why it will support most every method of payment that the average consumer uses. For those who are disenchanted by this not being a Bitcoin-only device (because bitcoin!), let me first say that the decision came with a lot of thought. The only way Bitcoin will ever succeed is if it's allowed proper competition. Being unknown is not proper competition, but neither is forcing consumers to use only Bitcoin (which effectively puts it dead in the water). Creating a free market environment where you are allowed to use Bitcoin side-by-side with other digital currencies is the best way to outline the benefits of Bitcoin that bitcoiners brag about so often. If this makes you nervous as a bitcoiner, then it means we've failed to provide a valuable and trustworthy digital currency and Bitcoin is inherently flawed. People will eventually choose Bitcoin if it's faster, cheaper, and more reliable for them. As far as adoption speaks, the Ellet is the first truly realistic attempt at getting Bitcoins in the hands of every consumer on the planet. |
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And the bank would generally refund the money, same with fraud on a credit card.
Source? Banks don't typically refund the money from debit card transactions at an ATM that require a PIN. I've actually never heard of banks giving free money away to people who tell others their ATM pin number. Seems like a good way to make money if true. It seems more likely that they'll steal the device thinking it's a tablet than that they'll realise its true purpose.
More likely they will think it's an iPod than a tablet. The size is no where near tablet size as it's smaller than most mobile phones. However, would it possible to build into the technology a "disable" code Matthew - a number which could be punched in to totally disable the device for a set period and which could only be later over-ridden by multi-factor account owner verification? It sounds like something which should be possible.
It's something we are discussing but every feature that enables control also opens the door to potential vulnerabilities later on. A GPS inside the device that only the owner knows the ID of would also be useful in tracking and recovering the lost device or leading the police to their location if stolen, but such a feature would also turn privacy obsessed individuals off out of some rather baseless fears of being tracked for net worth, etc. |
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What is it?The Ellet (as an Electronic Wallet) is a way to send money from the palm of your hand. This device has been secretly developed as the BitDex for over the past 9 months. It comes in at a similar weight and height as the iPod nano 3rd generation and lets you send Bitcoin, Namecoin, Litecoin, Paypal, Dwolla, and almost anything else you can imagine, all instantly from the palm of your hand!
Why is it important?The Ellet solves several issues that payment processors have, but most specifically for Bitcoin it solves these issues:- Needing the blockchain -- Bitcoin requires downloading a heavy blockchain to function properly. The Ellet functions instantly for Bitcoin transactions and incorporates a secure Electrum client written specifically for Ellet architecture.
- Needing to remember complex addresses -- Although the Ellet allows scanning in QR codes, a phonebook style saved address list, and manual entry as a backup, it also transmits it's own addresses on command to other Elletes to allow for anyone with a Ellet to instantly become a Point of Sale merchant.
- Mobility -- Mobile phones and tablets rely heavily on browser features and website functionality to use online wallets to which trust is still required. This obvious insecure and complicated scheme only seems more efficient in a world without Ellet. The Ellet is completely portable, can run for over 40 hours without recharging, and works anywhere you take it for live transactions.
- Security -- Dedicated services require trust in your own technical abilities. Remote storage requires trust in strangers and their technical abilities. As a dedicated, encrypted and hardware locked device, the Ellet is safe from hacking, malware, and even if stolen, cannot be used to take your money. Simply load your encrypted backup into your replacement Ellet if stolen and your funds will be right where you left them.
- Cost and Accessibility -- You need a device of some sort to use Bitcoins. Desktops, laptops and tablets are not cheap (not nearly as cheap as the Ellet with an estimated $30 MSRP) and storing your wallet someplace remote will not help you when you need your coins now. A Ellet gives you a cost effective way to access your money all day, whenever and wherever you need it (and not just Bitcoins, but most any payment system and digital currency you can imagine).
- Lost wallets -- There is no reason why your money needs to be lost due to formats, viruses, site hacks or broken hardware. The Ellet will perform encrypted auto-backups first to it's internal permanent memory, then to your prefered medium, including micro-USB to your computer upon plugging in, or wirelessly to any hosting service you specify. Never lose your money again!
- Diversification -- With a MSRP of just $30, it is highly cost effective to use multiple Ellet's to store large funds long term in vaults, banks, and your favorite hiding place. Your money will be waiting for you whenever you come for it, even 20 years later!
- Reliability -- Ellets are manufactured by one of the largest and well known manufacturers of many of the devices you use daily. We spared no expense bringing the best developers, engineers, UI developers and security specialists to the table.
- Adoption -- To date, there is no better way to start using Bitcoins (or any other digital currencies) than with the Ellet.
- Purchasing digital currencies -- Buying Bitcoins is still a complicated process for most, but this is solved with Ellet reload cards that can be sent through e-mail or shipped to any location in the world.
- Connectivity -- The Ellet can connect on the go to any mobile network around the world, no need for any additional mobile accounts, bothersome SIM cards, or the purchase of any external repeater systems. It also works on Wifi too to provide you with uninterrupted signal to suit your needs.
How does it work?The Ellet is a custom built hardware device that connects over various methods (available methods vary by country) to deliver instant payments. The days of needing your credit cards and wallets are almost gone, and the Ellet is leading the way. For the first time on a large scale Bitcoin and other digital currency technologis are put to use in a practical and professional way for consumers all around the world to start using immediately.
Any useful features?The Ellet has a built-in storefront application for using in place of a Point-of-sale system so that anyone can start accepting Bitcoins (or other digital currencies) immediately. The Ellet can also update automatically from the Ellet store, and wireless download Ellet plugins like margin trading plugins for Kronos.io.
Is this vaporware?The Ellet already exists. It has for some time, but as the founder of the company I take great pride in bringing my ideas to the masses and will not settle for a low quality rushed job. As many people know from my work on the Bitcoin Magazine, I take quality seriously and am somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to bringing my ideas to life. The Ellet will work as soon as you turn it on straight out of the box, almost anywhere you go.
How can I reserve one?We're in no hurry to take people's money as I'm sure we're all tired of seeing threads written by foot-tapping impatient customers wondering why the postal service isn't running to their doorstep! Everyone will have an equally fair chance of ordering one and although we only expect to make a limited run, we expect it to be sold out shortly after. There will be a kickstarter page up within the week to help raise more funds for production. At the moment that will be the only page we accept payments through.
How much does it cost?We're aiming at spending over $1 million USD to get a mere 50,000 units manufactured. After marketing expenses for the USA alone, that puts us at an overall loss at a pricetag of $30, but we are gladly taking that risk under the belief that this experimental project will grow to unprecedented popularity, rivaling even the iPod.
Look for more updates at Elletsys.com and our upcoming article (including a complete photo showcase of real world usage) in the Bitcoin Magazine!
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Hey Matt, when you finally decide to come to vegas for defcon, please bring the shit your smoking while making this video.. thanks! Me want!  You don't smoke "retard", it's just exuded from birth. Sorry. |
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I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took an arrow to the knee. Fucking arrows. HOW DO THEY WORK? |
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Can Bitcoin coexist with other cryptocurrencies?
Of course other currencies will exist regardless of Bitcoin because Bitcoin is still highly impractical in many situations, including ones without electricity or computing power. Try getting a trailer trash family in the deep South to use Bitcoin if you doubt what I say. The obstacles are much more than political and social. It is still not the most practical currency. Paper or coins are STILL quite useful in day to day small transactions (except where high-tech infrastructure and commonly used technology like cell phones are the norm). |
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Just to nip this in the bud - this is what best describes my part in this, as a provider of a portal for selling products from small businesses using Bitcoin. Not a scam per se, just not honest. My only question lies in the claim "New Bitcoin-Accepting Site in UK - Chocolates!". It's vague and misleading. Either you're accepting bitcoins and ordering yourself and as such are not connected to them at all and just using their graphics (misrepresentation, not scam per se, but privacy issues and potential for scamming are there), or you're helping them by setting up a different portal in which case they should have no problem confirming this.
Most small traders don't even know anything about Bitcoins or how to exchange and spend/receive them, are very busy with their businesses as it is, so to give them an incentive to use a Bitcoin payment option, it has to be minimal effort, minimal/zero cost. I intend to get as many of the local small businesses where I live to start accepting Bitcoins through the portal, since it takes only a small amount of my time, and a small amount of money (webhosting). At the moment, it's just the Chocolate Tree, because it's owned by a friend of mine - however, I aim to get some more on board soon. I've literally just got going with this project a week ago, and I'm doing this mostly to promote Bitcoin as a viable currency and payment system. Hopefully enough products will sell through bit-trade ( http://www.bit-trade.co.uk/) to cover the webhosting costs, but I'm not going to make much profit from this. Hopefully things will get to the point where Bitcoin is so widely accepted, a portal site like bit-trade won't be necessary. Finally, if you really want confirmation that this particular site is 'legit', then just contact The Chocolate Tree directly through their email address and ask the owner. Thank you for making that clear. Keep up the good work and good luck! |
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Good question - it would be a fairly unsustainable scam to setup an unsanctioned site to steal coins though.
You'd be surprised how many unsustainable scams in the Bitcoin community there are, especially ones that start out looking perfectly above board. In the case of this site, one way you can tell it's genuine is to put through an order - you will receive an email from an "@the-chocolate-tree.co.uk" address once your order goes through.
Anyone can act as a middle man. The claim is that the company in question is directly accepting Bitcoin (which is news). If it's just you accepting bitcoins and buying chocolate for people, that's not news-- hence my inquiry. Why assume Bitcoin operations are scams until proven otherwise?
Not a scam per se, just not honest. My only question lies in the claim "New Bitcoin-Accepting Site in UK - Chocolates!". It's vague and misleading. Either you're accepting bitcoins and ordering yourself and as such are not connected to them at all and just using their graphics (misrepresentation, not scam per se, but privacy issues and potential for scamming are there), or you're helping them by setting up a different portal in which case they should have no problem confirming this. To answer the question - why doesn't the Chocolate Tree just add a Bitcoin option? Well, that was how this idea came about - I asked them if they would like to do that, and it was clear that this would be either too much work for them, or extra expense to pay their web-coder to implement the Bitcoin payment option. So I offered to setup an Opencart site instead - it doesn't take long, and crucially Bit-Pay makes it a viable and easy route to selling products using Bitcoin.
Again, not trying to start our relationship off on a bad note here new guy, but that isn't proof of anything. I could say that Disney said the same thing to me and just have a bitcoin gateway site to their online Disney store. Confirmation from them will shut me up. |
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OK, maybe Bitcoin-enabled sounds a little stupid - anyway, this is the existing (Paypal) site: http://www.the-chocolate-tree.co.uk/In collaboration with a chocolatier friend of mine, we've just launched a Bitcoin-enabled version of his online shop - you can find it at: http://the-chocolate-tree.bit-trade.co.ukThe shop is Bitcoin-only, uses Bit-Pay as the payment system, and Opencart as the backbone of the site. Trust me, the chocolate is amazing, and some novelty Bitcoin purchases from the community would be much appreciated!  What's a non-bitcoin enabled version of his site look like? Thank you. The reason I asked obviously is because there are so many self-important unsuccessful "companies" (guys running a single page website from their home PC) who think that adding BItcoin to the site makes them notable. Just wanted to make it clear what was going on, that the company in question had a history and wasn't just you. ^_^ EDIT: This does beg to ask though-- why isn't the site adding bitcoin to itself directly? Anyone could be claiming to be representing them with a separate site and just stealing bitcoins. |
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In collaboration with a chocolatier friend of mine, we've just launched a Bitcoin-enabled version of his online shop - you can find it at: http://the-chocolate-tree.bit-trade.co.ukThe shop is Bitcoin-only, uses Bit-Pay as the payment system, and Opencart as the backbone of the site. Trust me, the chocolate is amazing, and some novelty Bitcoin purchases from the community would be much appreciated! What's a non-bitcoin enabled version of his site look like? |
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It didn't arrived in Italy yet  Not sure about Italy. Hang in there mate.  Wow. It made it to S. Korea that fast? Still waiting in Ireland Matthew will never delivar! Magazine is a scam!  Blazr waits beside letterbox - even though he can't remember if he gave his home or work addressAren't you in the USA? Almost everyone in the USA should have theirs by now. If you're outside USA, I honestly have no clue. |
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I received my hard copy here in South Florida. I must say the final product is very good. I thought I had been swindled out of the 1.0597 BTC I paid back on Feb 9th, 2012. It's great to receive a very good product at a competitive price. Although I only ordered this 1 issue, I'm considering subscribing after I finish reading this issue. Nice work by the Bitcoin Magazine team.
I finally received my physical magazine (it was shipped to a ghost address first and forwarded so there was an extra week). Overall, very impressed with the magazine. I think it will be a great tool to build the BitCoin culture. Good to hear and thanks for supporting!
UPDATEI finally got my shipment in South Korea. I would give our print job and work overall a 4/5. It's good for a first run but it's not what I had imagined. Seeing it physically in paper after working on it so long in a desktop environment was like porn in HD-- A lot uglier up close. Of course, I'm speaking as a perfectionist and I'm way too close to the issue as the actual designer, but I have many ideas on how to do things differently for issue #2. So in short, look forward to a much more dazzling second issue from Bitcoin Magazine. Thanks everyone for supporting us! |
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you can receive coins too. they showed that in the video sending coins to your friend on the street.
FYI that is not a proven feature, it's a video to collect investments for development. |
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Also, aren't UK power costs a killer for this to happen longterm?
This service is not intended for GPU bitcoin mining. Hence while a power is a significant component of the price it is not that important. It could be suitable for ASIC and FPGA mining, however. What important is that customers know exactly who has access to the hardware and that it would require a platoon of marines to storm the DC.  Are you going to install rotating antiaircraft turret cannons? Of course, and we shall make it controlled from a website, just pay a few BTC and shoot to your hearts content. I'll volunteer to walk in front of the camera once a day. |
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mattewN when are we getting more information about that bitdex?
After Iceland I'll be flying to the USA for the next few months to work on it there with other projects as well. The prototype is already available, we're just working out the mass manufacturing. It's basically a money issue at this point. Making something of the magnitude we're planning (50,000 units at $30 a pop) will take about $1million cold and it won't move without $100k down, not to mention the fact that $100k is easily eaten by redesigning UI, debugging, molding, plates, PCBs, etc and any mistakes at the manufacturers. Not to mention marking and advertising budgets to get it into every store in the USA as a payment device. This shit is big, but it has to be done right. I believe wholeheartedly that Bitcoincard is being done wrong in every way (advertising, branding, marketing, funding, design, technology, infrastructure, etc). We'll gladly let the free market decide though. The kickstarter goes up soon, but everything in this post is completely unofficial and nonbinding. That's awesome! Will I be able to use it at Barnes and Nobles to buy Bitcoin Magazine? Rofl. The only way you'll be using any Bitcoin enabled payment device to buy the Bitcoin Magazine in Barnes in Noble is if you're buying it off our website while simply happening to be in Barnes and Noble. |
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This would be useful if you were stuck in some city and didn't have cash.
No it wouldn't. Getting cash from bitcoins would be useful. |
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mattewN when are we getting more information about that bitdex?
After Iceland I'll be flying to the USA for the next few months to work on it there with other projects as well. The prototype is already available, we're just working out the mass manufacturing. It's basically a money issue at this point. Making something of the magnitude we're planning (50,000 units at $30 a pop) will take about $1million cold and it won't move without $100k down, not to mention the fact that $100k is easily eaten by redesigning UI, debugging, molding, plates, PCBs, etc and any mistakes at the manufacturers. Not to mention marking and advertising budgets to get it into every store in the USA as a payment device. This shit is big, but it has to be done right. I believe wholeheartedly that Bitcoincard is being done wrong in every way (advertising, branding, marketing, funding, design, technology, infrastructure, etc). We'll gladly let the free market decide though. The kickstarter goes up soon, but everything in this post is completely unofficial and nonbinding. |
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