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Done. (Small IT consultancy/webhost)
Looking forward to this phrase turning up some results in the search engine(s) down the track!
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Keiser Report: Hierarchy of Fraud (E388) Host Max Keiser talks to John Perry Barlow, founding member of the EFF and board member of the Freedom of the Press Foundation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcV7nQtEXnA&feature=youtu.be... In the second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to 'the Thomas Jefferson of the internet,' John Perry Barlow about his new website, pressfreedomfoundation.org, started with John Cusack and Daniel Ellsberg and dedicated to circumventing financial blockades and, thus, enabling donations to such groups as WikiLeaks and others dedicated to transparency and journalism. ... Bitcoin first mentioned at around 21:40 John Barlow:
We will accept donations in bitcoin...
Personally I think Bitcoin's got a ways to go before I consider it to be a reliable and fungible currency.
I think that it's somewhat subject to manipulation.. but it is actually reaching a point where I think it's an increasingly reliable currency,
but you know a really reliable currency has to be credible in all venues.
You can't just have this sort of... Unix weenies thinking that Bitcoin is good.. you gotta have the people down at the grocery store thinking it's good - and we're a long ways away from that.
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Wired, Tired, Expired for 2012: From Stellar to Suck Michael Calore 2012-12-24 http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/12/wired-tired-expired/?pid=4182&viewall=true... Longtime readers will be familiar with Wired/Tired/Expired, our snarky cultural scorecard that began appearing in the magazine way back at the dawn of Wired. (Actually, it started as Wired/Tired, and Expired was added in 2002.) Not content to let a good idea sit on the shelf, we've asked product reviews editor Michael Calore, the office's most opinionated loudmouth, to weigh in on the topics most deserving of this year's honors. Actually, on second thought, maybe we should have let this sleeping dog lie. ... Payments WIRED Venmo It's a simple tool for sending money to your friends. Venmo is mobile-centric, so it's built to work over SMS. There are also simple apps for iOS, Android, and the web. Best of all, if you tie it to your regular debit card, there are no fees involved. Once you establish a tit-for-tat friend relationship with somebody, you can send them money just by typing a quick text. Venmo is simple, elegant and awesome. This year, I used it to pay a $5 bar tab, split a $32 charge for a pizza delivery, and buy a $1,000 bass guitar from a friend. And did I mention there are no fees? TIRED PayPal PayPal is getting long in the tooth, and it needs to innovate. Better systems for mobile micro-payments between consenting adults have emerged. Also, NFC-based credit systems like Google Wallet and POS systems like Square are planting flags in PayPal's potential growth areas. It's still popular on Craigslist, eBay (duh) and other near-anonymous person-to-person markets, but PayPal needs to unlock the social component of swapping cash if it's going to avoid getting passed. EXPIRED Bitcoin At the height of its popularity, Bitcoin was trumpeted as a viable alternative currency for the internet age, a monetary system engineered to prevent theft, gaming, and criminalization. Then came the malware, the black market, the legal ambiguities and The Man. Today, you can't even use it to buy Facebook stock. ... Note that iTunes also got an 'Expired' - so there's no point complaining to the author that Bitcoin still exists and is running fine. He knows - but just doesn't care. |
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How Washington went social in 2012: the top 10 moments in politics and technology Jolie O'Dell 2012-12-26 http://venturebeat.com/2012/12/26/politics-social/... 3. Romney’s tax hack When a hacker managed to get hold of Mitt Romney’s tax returns — documents more than a few Americans were eager to see — he held them for ransom in a most unconventional way. No, not a bucket of fried chicken. The story: “In the letter, the hacker threatened the release of the tax returns to ‘all major news media outlets’ if the $1 million Bitcoin ransom is not received (the hacker also politely suggested people should ‘Google it if you need a lesson on what Bitcoin is’). The person also set up a bit of a race for Romney: first to pay the sum will receive the goods.” ... |
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Fear Not Deflation Jon Matonis 2012-12-23 http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/12/23/fear-not-deflation/... Deflation in the context of bitcoin has been cited frequently in the popular press as a detriment to its widespread adoption. ... Krugman could not be more wrong. Deflation is not a problem in the traditional monetary system and it will not be a problem in the bitcoin economy. ... |
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Bitcoin’s Potential Impact on the Global Gaming Industry Steven Stradbrooke 2012-12-21 http://calvinayre.com/2012/12/21/business/bitcoins-impact-on-global-gaming-industry-ao-vid/One of the more popular discussion panels at the recent Social Gaming Asia Summit 2012 featured BitInstant’s Erik Voorhees and Roger Ver discussing the Bitcoin ‘crypto currency’ and its potential impact on the global gaming industry. The dynamic duo wowed attendees with their description of a payment system that offered both transnational convenience, security and anonymity. CalvinAyre.com’s roving reporter Angelia Ong was sufficiently intrigued to corral Voorhees and Ver for an in-depth followup. ... |
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I'm new to localbitcoins.com and I find the escrow process a little unclear.
Admittedly I haven't spent much time trying to figure it out - but that's largely because I don't fully understand the *why* of it.
There are 2 main things I think an explanatory graphic needs to do.
1) Explain the procedure from distinct perspectives of Bitcoin-buyer vs Bitcoin seller
(The example images above seem to try to describe the whole process from a birds-eye view - not working for me.)
2) Explain the motivations.. the *why* (again, from both perspectives)
e.g1 - Bitcoin buyer worried that some random who isn't even interested in Bitcoin is just using the service to get a guy with wads of cash to meet him in a dark alley.
e.g2 - Bitcoin seller worried... I dunno? That someone is just going to steal their smartphone - what is the point for the seller?
(you do have a password on your phone and bitcoin wallet.. right? although.. I suppose someone could rubber-hose the password out of you)
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I had a recent discussion with some EFF guys over Bitcoin.
They are way more candid if they are not being forced to speak on the record.
I highly doubt the EFF's lawyers are advising them to not accept Bitcoin. I will just leave it at that. Calling them pussies serves only to persuade them that the Bitcoin community isn't grown up enough for them to take seriously.
I hear you - but I'm concerned they're going down the same path as the EFF by pussyfooting around. It would have been better if the EFF had never mentioned Bitcoin rather than the aboutface they did. They didn't take due care in crafting their statement about Bitcoin. As a result of failing to emphasize that the EFF had *specific* reasons relating to their *unique* advocacy role - their statement has been taken by many non-profits as a general warning. On the one hand it's nice of the pressfreedomfoundation to use their blog to address the people who have asked about Bitcoin - but if they are only going to end up deciding against it, citing nebulous reasons, again - it would be better if they just kept quiet. |
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I just want to take the opportunity to say 'pussies!'. Hopefully they'll come round and get out from under the shadow of the EFF's lawyers. |
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2012 Year in Review – Top 10 Gambling Related Stories (Part 1) Hartley Henderson 2012-12-20 http://www.osga.com/artman/publish/article_10661.shtml... 4. New Virtual Currency for Wagering: Since the passing of the UIGEA and the difficulty getting payments to and from offshore gambling sites, many in the industry believed that the only real solution for U.S. facing gambling sites would be for the offshore sites to coordinate their own type of banking system or use a currency that can't be seized by the DoJ. In 2012 that currency became a reality for some offshore sites. Bitcoin has been around for a few years but the complexity of how the system works and the huge fluctuations in valuation have made it unfeasible for most. Last year Switch Poker decided to offer Bitcoin as a payment option and numerous bitcoin only sportsbooks, poker rooms, bingo sites and casinos became quite large and profitable. Seals with Clubs, Strike Sapphire and BC Casino had revenues that were as large as many offshore casinos and poker rooms and Satoshi Dice, which only launched in April of 2012 has processed over $15 million in bets, averaging over $50,000 a day in wagers and the projections just soar from there. There are indeed some limitations to bitcoin, but the currency can be bought and sold like any other currency and all transactions are open source and are verified by bitcoin users making it impossible for customers to contend they didn't actually place a wager. Consequently charge backs don't happen. Most importantly all bitcoin transactions are anonymous so it would be impossible for the DoJ to determine if a transaction has taken place in the United States, Europe or even Antarctica. Winnings are always paid back in bitcoin from the casinos and the customers have to use one of many bitcoin currency exchanges to sell it back for real American dollars. Consequently the banks can't block the transactions under the UIGEA because payments don't come directly from an offshore gambling establishment but rather from a bitcoin trader. And using a currency exchange isn't illegal under the UIGEA or any other American law. For that reason after my article was written about bitcoin on OSGA.com, numerous U.S. facing offshore operators sent emails asking for more information on the currency and ways that they could incorporate it as a payment method into their existing sportsbooks, casinos or poker rooms. ... |
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