I do wish I had heard about this before, and not just because of the the giveaway.  Read my post in JR's MasterCoin announcement post why I really do believe that this concept is truly great:   https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=265488.msg3043032#msg3043032   Here's my bitcoin address where I can send and receive coins.  16QVMPtTetYobyKnzrM2mnkuy6dfmMmYG5

I also wish I had more time to buy into the MasterCoin project, but I just don't have the time today or before the end of the month to officially qualify.

Here's why you are most definitely on the right track of creating another coin out of one in the BlockChain itself.  IMO, this is truly brilliant because:

Leveraging something that is already created for you is not a natural engineering instinct.  But, without that concept, many ideas like creating any new coin like this are impractical.  At our company, we term it "inheritance"  where we use one structure that is dependent on other similar structures that are hundreds of times larger.  The net result is to accomplish the impossible, since that use would have required 1000 x the available resources.  (PM me and I'll give you some amazing result we've obtained in our own software designs). 

There are many needed applications for something nearly identical to Bitcoin, but which is not a BitCoin.  Yet, without a huge infrastructure to validate the transactions, any new cybercoin, even if it were identical to Bitcoin would be worthless.  Most of us have considered that almost all the miners' value has been in creating coins.  While miners' apparent value is in creating coins, their real value is in validating transactions.  By creating a new coin OUT OF a Bitcoin you instantly obtain the computing power and services of TEN Petahashes by the end of the year that more importantly, provide the transactional security service 24 x 7.

In my case, I have several separate needs.   I need to be able to create my own type of private cybercurrency for one specific purpose.  In this instance, I need to act as my own reserve currency backed by me.   In another use, I need to be able to tag all the uses of a specific stream of Bitcoin.  But for this use-case, the value backing it will be the value of the actual Bitcoin that carries the information. Two separate uses, neither of which would be practical without creating this within Bitcoin.

Thanks for your help.  But in this case, yes, I do know the email was legit, and it was triggered by someone trying to log into my account from an IP that was certainly not mine.  I will go back and try to discover what part of the world the IP was from, assuming it wasn't faked or multi-proxied.   The second email was also legit and was, as expected, from another browser session, and did indeed log me into my account (again).

I suspect that deciphering the specific language they used, which is still confusing, will have to be reposted to the proper forum by someone with enough stripes.  The reason for my posting was not so much that I needed to know, but that so Blockchain could improve their product.  Without someone informing them, I'm sure what the email said made perfect sense to them, but not me, and I suspect most users. 

The email did seem to indicate that I should be able to change my "wallet alias", which seems to be my "account login name", which very few sites will allow you to change.  So, I guess they are suggesting that if I'm concerned, I should create a new account and transfer balances to the new account?  It doesn't make any sense if that is so.  If that is the advice they intended, then say, "if ... you can create a new account, transfer your balances, and abandon your old account."

[[ .. For bitcoin44me: Of course the email was triggered by an "event", and is most often benign, or a phishing attempt.  However at times, these "events" are the only clues that any user has. Personally, I never want my users to ignore unexpected warnings, nor IMO, should you encourage silence from the uninformed.

And, yes, I've been a CEO and a CTO for 30 years now and have produced software used by millions, some of which might even be be running on your PC, and responsible for some very critical but invisible processes.  That said, I'm closer than ever to becoming a complete technology idiot, since I have yet to learn at the exponential growth rate of information.  If you know how I can accomplish this feat, please let me know.  ]]   

What better free gift for a BitCoin miner....  http://www.amazon.com/mobile-apps/b/ref=topnav_storetab_mas?ie=UTF8&node=2350149011

I received an email that appears that someone "bad" tried to log into my account, since I know I didn't.  However, the email is not at all clear to a newbie, nor is one of the remedies.  Here's the message, and my questions tha follow:


PART 1 >> --- Obviously, since it wasn't me, I didn't click on it. But,

            "If this login attempt WAS made by you this email can be safely ignored ... "

Since this was NOT me, I should NOT ignore it.  And... do what??

            "... however you may wish to change your wallet alias."

It seems to indicate that even if it was me, that I should consider changing my "alias".  Since it was not me, I'd have to assume it is even more important to do so.

So, I went to the site and searched all over, including all the FAQs and help, but found zero reference to any ability to change the alias, or advice on what the email advisory was really suggesting that I do.  I did learn that  "alias" is identical to "wallet identifier" and identical to "login name" to the wallet site, which was not clear.

SO, HOW can I do this?  Create a new account?

PART 2 >> --- Later, I got another email generated directly by my browser.

SO, WHY would it suggest I should change my alias?  Did I trigger a risk itself, and or an indication there was now a risk?

------  Hopefully someone more senior can post this to the BlockChain.info forum so they could improve their messages. 

(Technology Rant:) 
In general, newbies need an easy way to convey what confuses them: What the missing pieces of context are they require to take action?  Those that create the UI's and help docs already have that missing context, and so can't detect or provide what context is missing.  For instance, on any given website, it is seldom clear what to use for the "login name".  Sometimes it needs an "email address", the first part of an email address, (think Google Apps), sometimes a "casual username", and others, a "dedicated username" that differs from the public "handle" or "username".  Obviously jargon is often required, but the definitions must be easily visible with wither flyovers and/or links, along with ALL they synonyms. 

Yes, me too have lost my bitcoins I've never received!!   Could someone please return them??  I you have them, just post them here.

Seriously --- take a look at the large orderbook just now at MtGox --- 8,000 BTCs JUST changed hands in one transaction!   Bid was placed for 76.05 and it just sat there unexecuted for more than an hour, but the bid was lowered by a miniscule amount, and immediately executed at 76.00 USD.