It also seems hard to know how much is being spent. The link below displays real-time movements of BTC. If I bought my neighbors lawnmower, would there be a record other than this?

http://bitcoinmonitor.com/

Intended or not, that is the way social media works now. It's fake, and if you want to compete with the big boys you buy reviews or followers.

MtGox has a nice secure app for jailbroken iDevices.

I agree we could do a better job being welcoming. For whatever reason, many forums are not.

Welcome fellow bitcoin peer!

That's super generous! Now watch the next poster call bitinstant a scam. 

Perhaps i am missing something? But wouldn't you see that your balance is incorrect as soon as you pay?

It is not in the interest of economic elites to support bitcoin. They became the elites by excluding you from the market. There is no way they want a bunch of poor people trading in ways they can't profit from.
Also, the new world order is fringe element wet dream. No one is at the helm, which is just as disquieting. 

Much better title. 

Perhaps a comparison of several bitcoin models?
For example the llama socks I recently bought are a product produced within the bitcoin economy. The llamas are raised in Vermont(?) just to produce socks sold for bitcoin.  That's different than say a seller on a traditional auction site who also accepts BTC. Or even more distant is a site that sells Amazon codes for bitcoin. In that scenario the seller of the item may be unaware of any bitcoin connection.

Frankly, I think it may be too soon to know where the money is going next. Perhaps as an intermediary in currency trade? Perhaps the huge remittance market will embrace bitcoin? Or maybe it will become the mainstream currency of the Internet?

yes, but they only seemed to really back-off once they were the specific target of the Chinese. Not exactly an act of courage. I don't mean to just blame them either. Cisco makes special routers that keep the "great firewall of China" operational, and there are many others who are complicit.
Eventually they will come home crying when their servers are bled dry by government backed thieves who will vacuum up years of product development and research. I don't know when we forgot that China is a cruel and brutal totalitarian regime. We should be destroying their wall and placing the news of the world in front of their citizens.
Remember this guy?
 

This image is virtually unknown in China. That's what suppressing the truth is all about.

Thanks for the replies guys. It looks like theres a bit more to it than I know. I guess I'm just becoming increasingly skeptical of Google. Their motto is "do no evil". But then they go out and cooperate with the Chinese government to limit free speech and help enforce anti-freedom efforts. I just don't trust Google any more. 

Although the market is small enough to be manipulated to some degree, there is no specific evidence. Why not just attribute this to the growth of bitcoin. After all, BBC news is calling it "light years ahead" in an story today. It may be just be growing because it is a good idea.
 

Your academic advisor not knowing about this is a plus. If your going to be a Doctor then you should be the teacher (it's Latin for teacher, right?) School those suckers!
I delivered an academic talk on bitcoin last year for the Booth school of business's innovation roundtable. The room was filled with economics professors. Even though they knew way more than me about finance, their heads were spinning with new possibilities about what money could be.  The school told me they had more interest in this than any other topic. Several people flew from London just to attend. I think your dissertation will garner similar interest.

I do understand what Mike is saying, however, what about those of us who don't want a google ID? For all I know google will be seen as the most draconian and destructive force ever created by humanity in 10 years.  I would not want them to ID me then. In fact the future of the internet for me is centered on anonymity. I doubt i will use the internet much at all compared to the TOR network.

I would be most interested in a scholarly look bitcoin as a reaction to modern banking. I consider myself to be quite moderate and reasonable. And I do not think that it is radical to call the banks untrustworthy. My government does not have the stomach nor the resources to take on this corrupt system. So, we are doing it ourselves. That is how I view bitcoin.
Don't get me wrong, It's not just some political statement. I would use bitcoin anyway because it is the safest and fastest way to pay anyone anywhere.

At least write a description of the links your posting.

Look at what one poster pulled from his rear:

"BitCoin, brought to you by the same power elite who own the money printing industry."


Haha, soooooooo wrong it's funny.

I do not use proprietary software unless there is no open source option, so go ahead and make me rich.
 

Before anyone calls it, I am now the Czar of bitcoin. 

p.s. I am despotic, not benevolent.