They risk spontaneous combustion of pre-orders and customers when/if they switch to another company that will potentially ship earlier than them.

True of raid 0, definitely not true of any other RAID level since redundancy and the ability to tolerate one or more totally failed drives is a feature of the others.

BFL should NEVER EVER announce a product withe a release date again. They should squirrel away with the VC and profits from FPGAs then one day go:
"Oh hey everybody, you can buy this awesome device NOW, we have them in stock"

I've reached a point where I respect every word you say in this community, but here you take something for granted and not even question it's legality

You're not required by any law to pay income taxes.

There is hereby imposed on the taxable income of every individual ... a tax determined in accordance with the following table:

I'm sorry I can't find you a source, but it's a bit shift of one digit.  Bitcoins are always stored as an integer number of Satoshis.

int64 static GetBlockValue(int nHeight, int64 nFees)
{
    int64 nSubsidy = 50 * COIN;

    // Subsidy is cut in half every 210000 blocks, which will occur approximately every 4 years
    nSubsidy >>= (nHeight / 210000);

    return nSubsidy + nFees;
}

I said every one of the mare wrong except for maybe the 21 million coin ones. I gave Apple as an example. The Ipod for one is revolutionary it caught on like wildfire. Bitcoin is not an experimental idea. It works the way it is supposed to and it is not changing.

What im saying is it doesnt matter what the secret number is since it has to correspond with the hash. The hash is after you place the bet. Obviously. Where does this hash come from? A random draw?

Strangely enough, I was thinking about just what your friend said.

Many people are nationalists. They are gung ho for their country and everything created around that concept.

I could easily see the scenario where I may be out talking about Bitcoin and some meat head speaking up and saying to everyone and to myself "Here in America, we use DOLLARS"...uhh...derr...

But that proves nothing. They can pick any number they want with any hash they want. You place your bet they use some hash that will screw you.

You get what you pay for. Free advice on the forums should be taken as just that.

Money transmitter as defined by FinCEN is not the same as money transmitter as define by the state of x. They have different standards. FinCEN only updated their rules in the last 2 years with the "informal value transfer system" bit at the end of 5(A). This was not in my state regulations. But, I don't have an official answer from the state.

The scenario I described to them on a previous call was starting a business that offered a website accepting credit card payments in exchange for bitcoins. It took about an hour to explain what bitcoins were, why people would be interested in the business, and what bitcoins are used for. I agree that the reply message was vague as to the reasoning, but, I don't really care to challenge their lawyers on the matter. I really just wanted a yes or no answer. And I got it. So, if you are going to sell bitcoins for dollars -- register as a MSB. It's actually not that difficult. Being a money transmitter (different than MSB) is on a state by state basis and it seems to have a large cost of entry.

The bottom line answer for the scenario you describe to us you would be a Money Service Business. That is because you would be a money transmitter purchasing a valuable and using it as money and doing it by means of transmission. So, if that is enough I hope that helps you. In any case, feel free to call us back. Have a good day.

Here is the transcript:

(5) Money transmitter —(i) In general.
(A) A person that provides money transmission services. The term “money transmission services” means the acceptance of currency, funds, or other value that substitutes for currency from one person and the transmission of currency, funds, or other value that substitutes for currency to another location or person by any means. “Any means” includes, but is not limited to, through a financial agency or institution; a Federal Reserve Bank or other facility of one or more Federal Reserve Banks, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, or both; an electronic funds transfer network; or an informal value transfer system; or

(B) Any other person engaged in the transfer of funds.

(ii) Facts and circumstances; Limitations. Whether a person is a money transmitter as described in this section is a matter of facts and circumstances. The term “money transmitter” shall not include a person that only:

(A) Provides the delivery, communication, or network access services used by a money transmitter to support money transmission services;

(B) Acts as a payment processor to facilitate the purchase of, or payment of a bill for, a good or service through a clearance and settlement system by agreement with the creditor or seller;

(C) Operates a clearance and settlement system or otherwise acts as an intermediary solely between BSA regulated institutions. This includes but is not limited to the Fedwire system, electronic funds transfer networks, certain registered clearing agencies regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), and derivatives clearing organizations, or other clearinghouse arrangements established by a financial agency or institution;

(D) Physically transports currency, other monetary instruments, other commercial paper, or other value that substitutes for currency as a person primarily engaged in such business, such as an armored car, from one person to the same person at another location or to an account belonging to the same person at a financial institution, provided that the person engaged in physical transportation has no more than a custodial interest in the currency, other monetary instruments, other commercial paper, or other value at any point during the transportation;

(E) Provides prepaid access; or

(F) Accepts and transmits funds only integral to the sale of goods or the provision of services, other than money transmission services, by the person who is accepting and transmitting the funds.

I didn't have to insist on anything. They were really professional. The person I was speaking with thought the question was really interesting and importnat to answer correctly. He asked me a lot of questions about who would use bitcoins, why, and what kind of a business model I was considering. I did need to explain how bitcoin was not a ponzi scheme and how that despite the lack intrinsic value people still assign them value.