I have used Synalabs, which are good but the price is demoninated in BTC and this has been steadily rising. Kalyhost were also good.

 What's your experiences with other providers?
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade#Dedicated.2FVirtual_Server_Hosting

 - secure and private enough to trust with Bitcoin spending money
 - only a bit of bandwidth needed, but can always upscale if needed
 - yet cheap
 - not USA if possible (legal crap)

 -j

 
 Would anyone be interested in investing in these 2 funds combined into one?
I'm not offering any analysis, I'm just offering exposure to the commodity markets by subscribing to these systems for a fee and then offering them to you.

 I've selected these 2 because:

1) Commodities are expected to rise with inflation. If you want to diversify your assets but remain bearish on stocks this is a great way to do it.

2) The trade interval is a matter of days for both. This reduces fees and the amount needed to invest.
The fees are particularly low if the investment is pooled.

 I'm just putting out feelers to see if anyone is interested in this kind of thing.

Fund 1:



Fund 2:



I have had access to a good broker before but if there is interest I will investigate how safe this is from bankruptcy. Brokers aren't supposed to go bankrupt but one has recently so this could be a new challange to protect against.

As to whether I can be trusted and everything, well I'll have to work on that if there's enough interest, giving my identity etc to those who are interested.

 -j

This effects those who, in particular, like to store wealth in precious metals and like the option to trade these for things like Bitcoin without risking it through bust banking.

Dear Customer,

We are writing to advise you of a change of services we
currently offer to our customers with a Full Holding. Since
the launch of GoldMoney in 2001, we have continued to change
and adapt to the global increase of compliance requirements
for payment service providers. Due to this growing trend of
regulation we have decided to suspend the following services
until further notice with an effective date of the 21st
January 2012:

* The facility to make and receive payments in precious
metals to or from other GoldMoney Full Holding customers.

* The facility to convert directly between the various
currencies.

Basic Holding owners do not have access to these features
and are therefore not affected by this change.

Our research has proven that our customers' use of the metal
payments and currency exchange services is not significant
and we trust that the suspension of these services will not
be inconvenient for the majority of our customers.

In accordance with our Customer Agreement, we are providing
advance notice of this change to our services that will take
effect on the 21st January 2012 at 12am local London time
(GMT). You will be able to make metal payments and currency
exchanges up to this date.

We continue to provide a secure and reliable platform for
the purchase, sale and storage of your precious metals. This
includes enhancing our systems, introducing and adjusting
our products and services, and making our website the most
effective tool for managing your precious metals portfolio.

With this in mind, we have prepared a brief survey to gauge
your interest in current products and also possible future
products we may introduce, depending on the feedback we
receive from you. The survey can be completed at the link
below. All feedback received is anonymous unless you choose
to provide us with your contact details.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/goldmoney

We thank you for your continued business, and we will
sincerely appreciate any feedback to help us determine the
products and services that are of most interest to you.

Kind regards
Your Relationship Management Team

 -j

 I'd like to host the blockchain via Bittorrent, seed it from my VPS and announce on http://openbittorrent.com/

 But how do I create a .torrent from rtorrent?

 It's easy to do on the desktop but wasn't so clear from the commandline. I used:

Code:

btmakemetafile udp://tracker.openbittorrent.com:80 ./namecoinDatabase

in the end.

Links:
rtorrent: http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/
Transmission howto create torrent (desktop): http://wiki.foresightlinux.org/wiki/display/docs/How+to+create+a+Torrent+file
How to do it from Windows: http://torrentfreak.com/how-to-create-a-torrent/
The linux Bitcoin & python doesn't seem to be available from the Bittorrent website anymore ( http://download.bittorrent.com/dl/BitTorrent-4.0.2.tar.gz etc is 404) so I used Bittornado

edit... working on it...

I guess now I have to start rtorrent and add that .torrent file?

p.s. if you're thinking of doing this I suggest don't host it on the same machine as one with a live wallet.

Is it working for you?

edit:

Already hosted here :p
http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/Bitcoin/blockchain/

There should be some checks and measures and more easy for new users to import a blockchain, and md5sum checking too.

 Absolute minimum needing to purchase would be US$10,000.

 If it was to go ahead you would be dealing with a registered company. If you want to sell your share you are free to do so to anyone you wish to. The shared ownership contract would be copied from an example from mainland Spain and available in English. If >$40,000USD could be raised then a rental income could be possible too.

 There are a number of places to invest in depending on the funds available.

 I'm mostly gauging interest right now as I don't expect to raise enough to make this work. If you are interested pledge an amount you would invest (suggest as USD), and anything else.

 -j

so, a cousin has a 1 year old baby...

 Kind of hard to buy a present for.

I remember hearing friends who had a rich uncle who invested like $100 when they were born and setup something that meant they could cash it at 18.

Hmm... Perhaps i could be the rich uncle.

Send a few physical coins.... Send a few BTC by email?

Or maybe something more cute? I had a friend who's dad bought him a basic car when he was born. When he passed his test the car was worth a few thousand. He crashed it.
Hmm... Buy a painting? Something like a painting is less money orientated but still can go the investment purpose, what do you think? Any other ideas? Security is something to think about, small enough to get in a safe deposit box might be a good idea...

 
 I was wondering... in war, why not just print a load of enemy cash and drop it over their border?

I did a search but it was only used for propaganda during WW II:
http://www.psywarrior.com/WWIIAlliedBanknotes.html

...rather than for full debasement.

Some highlights from the article though:

The British were attacking and attempting to undermine this military currency because they knew that by regulation these notes were issued strictly to the armed forces. The notes were valued at ten times their face as long as they were used in a military establishment. If a soldier tried to use the note in the local civilian economy it was worth only face value. Thus, if he tried to go on the black market or purchase illegally outside of the military canteens and barracks he suffered a 90% loss. This unusual method was a safeguard against the general public attempting to acquire and use the military currency. It worked well for the German economy, but made an easy target for the British propagandists.

The original idea came from the Political Intelligence Department, but the technology and printing was done by a private firm under the strictest security. The printing staff put 5 percent by quantity into bombs already loaded with newspapers and/or leaflets so that a drop of one million units of propaganda would have fifty thousand 50-pfennig notes included. When supplies ran out, a phone call to PID would mysteriously produce further parcels of banknotes delivered from nowhere on the backs of nondescript lorries.

These propaganda notes are punched with a small hole. This hole was used to run a fuse to a balloon. The notes were sometimes floated over France, and the slow-burning fuse released them over a wide area.

Under the code name “Grenville” SOE in London printed large amounts of Japanese military currency for the use of agents in the field in the Far East, and for the intended purchase of rubber and other essential commodities

on the Central Reserve Bank of China 50 cents note of 1940 they dispersed the English letters "C G W R S." The letters allegedly represent "Central Government Will Return Soon."

^hmm, we can't say that for sure though can we?

Sometimes the Chinese were less subtle. Three Federal Reserve Bank of China notes depict Confucius allegedly making an obscene finger gesture while striking a typical pose with folded hands. This vignette was later revised, so there may be some truth to the story. The note is actually known as "The Vulgar Wiseman" by collectors

We should add that true students of PSYOP will remember when something similar occurred about 30 years later. In 1968 North Korea captured the United States Navy vessel Pueblo. The crew was put on display as part of North Korea’s propaganda campaign to show the guilt and sorrow of the "criminals." Three of the crewmen in the front row showed their resistance to being used in anti-American propaganda by making a symbolic (half-victory sign) gesture with their finger.

Also from http://www.psywarrior.com/Vietnambanknote.html -

Three British pacifists managed to sneak into the Air Force Base at Wethersfield in the United Kingdom in summer 1966. The young men eluded the security officers at the Strategic Air Command base and commenced to hand out leaflets to the passing airmen. These handbills were excellent reproductions of United States one dollar bills. One hundred thousand copies of the fake banknotes were produced. The printer was found and charged with forgery. Ten thousand copies of the banknote were mailed to the United States but the Federal Bureau of Investigation intercepted the shipment and confiscated them all.

 I just read a rumour that all international USD payments get routed with an additional hop through the USA, even if it's going from (for example) an USD denominated account in say, Panama to a USD account in Bermuda.

 Is this true? I think it's relevant for anyone trying to cash out BTC.

 I guess changing currency would avoid this right? It might explain some unexpected higher fees.


edit:

"Intermediary instructions

An intermediary bank is required when sending a payment in a currency that is not the domestic currency for the destination country. For example a USD payment to HSBC in Hong Kong will need to be routed via a US Bank.

Do not worry if you have not been provided with an intermediary bank for a payment. Our dealers are able to locate the correct intermediary using their banking directories"

^ I wonder who Gox use and how stable the intermediary is.

Article on Slashdot:
http://ask.slashdot.org/story/11/11/10/1748242/ask-slashdot-post-quantum-asymmetric-key-exchange

""Quantum computers might be coming. I'd estimate that there's a 10% chance RSA will be useless within 20 years. Whatever the odds, some of the data we send over ssh and ssl today should remain private for a century, and we simply can't guarantee secrecy anymore using the algorithms with which we have become complacent. Are there any alternatives to RSA and ECC that are trustworthy and properly implemented? Why is everyone still happy with SSH and RSA with the specter of a quantum menace lurking just around the corner?""

Some select comments so far:

"There is no known attack on ECC using quantum computers."
"1978 crypto is supposed to be safe against quantum"
"the vast majority of us don't need to keep our data secure for the next century"
"not all encryption algorithms are susceptible to quantum computers"
" I expect that there are some limitations on entanglement"
"There are however non-factoring based cryptography that are not as of yet known to be vulnerable to quantum computing"
"You should keep in mind that although theoretically there may be efficient quantum algorithms for a variety of problems on which cryptographic schemes are based, in practice, the only one which has been found is factoring"
"why people aren't worrying about it, my guess would be that most people don't follow quantum computing, and the few which do may have reason to wonder if we will ever actually reach the 1024 qubit size in a functioning quantum computer"
"the powers that be, that need to keep tabs on you, already can keep tabs on you" aka there is lower hanging fruit
"it's more than a bit futile to count on math to protect things on a time scale like that"

The main thing I think is that there should be other priorities to think of first. Trojans and spying is something much bigger to worry about, totally massive. I think a non rooted phone is more realistic to secure.

I'll have to have a look to remind myself what the algorithm is for Bitcoin is though still.

 
 I need to pay for something online and the merchant only accepts credit cards but I don't have a secure and reliable connection available to me. This is a perfect time to use a virtual credit card.

 Unfortunately it seems all the bitcoin funded VCCs are not available right now.

I don't need anonymity so I thought I'd try buying one with Paypal and then delete the card info but cliffscard.com is $40 for only $25 of credit, it's very expensive.

 Any suggestions?


edit: I should add that many services need me to enter in a lot of personal info which of course again is another risk

- Go to http://www.oanda.com/currency/historical-rates/
- input `gold` (or another precious metal) as 'currency I have' and select '% change' instead of 'rate' (basket of commodities would be better but can't see anything like that available)
- now select various fiat currencies(or countries) you are interested in

 You should be able to see the rate of inflation for the currencies you are viewing.

Speculation is mixed into the results but if you are comparing fiat currencies to one another this is reduced.

 You can learn a lot from this graph.

For example,

 - the Polish currency is bring printed even worse than Argentina
 - quiet places like Switzerland tend to have low inflation rates
 - USD is kind of average, fairing a lot better than the UK and the Euro
 - Peru has a surprisingly low rate of inflation, as does Paraguay
 - Libyan currencies seem to be doing just fine
 
You can cut through so much with this.

 What were to happen if difficulty was determined by the current exchange price from MtGox?

That's just an example. What might be acceptable would be using a p2p distributed exchange and valuing BTC from a basket of currencies.

Would this mitigating speculation effects?

[only send to one address]

 Here's a simple idea.
 
 Have a wallet on your own webserver, this server as locked down as possible. Have a button on that server that can only send to one address; your `current account`. For ease of use the amount could be fixed or for security, the amount limited. 

 Thus, let's say you use your Android wallet for everyday spending. If your phone gets stolen you shouldn't have much balance to lose.

 In addition to this you can backup the private key from the phone wallet to somewhere safe. If the phone walks you would probably have time to grab the balance and send it elsewhere, especially if the Bitcoin wallet app is not too obviously accessible, I wouldn't expect a thief to know enough to react quicker than you can anyway.

 It's important not to have access to the webserver logged in the phone browser history too.

 The main reason why I haven't mined yet, even though I have access to free electric,

is because of the need to buy tons of hardware, because the only desktop system I have now is AGP and PCI based.

 It would be great if I could just plug in something by USB and generate. Of course, that's not possible, the closest thing is http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2008/12/amds-xgh-external-gpus-may-soon-see-the-light-of-day.ars

 I just wonder if there's another way to GPU compute without having to buy CPU, RAM, mainboard & PSU. The difference is that with these things it's not really profitable but without them it's worth it. Is there a VPS provider out there that's cheap that would allow me to put a nice GPU in their machine for example? Isn't there an appliance for GPU computation that isn't NVidia for example?

 Let's stay on topic and not talk about profitability for the moment please.

 

 MtGox want to send me a Ubikey. I don't need one so I guess I can sell it here.

$18 (usually $30) via Bitcoin with rate at bitcoin USD spot rate.

 My username is well known here and around.

 -j

I've noticed that if an older Bitcoin client tries to send to some address we get

`invalid bitcoin address`. Thus we are dependent on being able to access the later release in order to send coins? Or just to send coins to newer addresses?

 I think I may have funds of some kind at Mt.Gox but I'm not sure because I can't remember.  

1) I don't know 100% which of my 4 possible email addresses I used but I know that it has to be one of them

2) I don't know for sure that I have funds there, but just in case, I'd like to recover my account!

3) I have an address I use rather a lot. Looking through Blockexplorer with that, can that help determine a possible balance? If I knew what addresses Mt.Gox might use, or could determine that, that would help. Being able to rule out other exchangers would be good too.

4) I can't find a single email from Mt.Gox in any of my accounts. I am searching for `Gox` yet I find nothing at all, yet I'm sure I used Gox at some point. What did buy and sell notification emails mention so I can search for them?


Or should I just try to submit a claim with just the password, email address and IP used?

I don't want to paste private info on a public forum to help navigate block explorer. Perhaps there is someone who has a good reputation who I can employ to help?

 Generally card vendors charge ~$3 for each cash withdrawal. Bummer. Here's a few that don't:

- Schwab (USA)
- Norwich and Peterbourgh (UK)
- Metrobank (London)

 Are there any more?

Of course, it's a shame none of them have any anonymity. Darn shame the virtual bitcoin2cc cards couldn't somehow have a pin built into it...

 I had a pension offered to me at work. hmm!

Pros:

- although it's not that secure it's still a diversification of funds
- the employer matches what you put in in the UK... so if you don't pay anything in you don't get that cash
- perhaps the future will be full of caring people after the unravelling financial devastation
- seemingly tax safe
- can convert to 3rd party funds. In theory this could even be physical gold or bitcoin(!)... but to do that it has to be done through a financially regulated company. I think it is possible though. Wouldn't it be great if it was as physical gold stored at your provider? I think it's possible... more info? I expect something like this wouldn't be allowed, the man probably prefers to keep the money in the country... but I've seen emerging markets funds so I think it's possible

Cons:

- probably be raided to fund a war, or pay off a debt
- has been raided in the past, have been badly managed in the past, could be raided by just buying a load of certain shares and then cashing out
- probably die before the thing pays out


 Whattayathink?

 I thought I'd try generating a wallet and sending to it as per instructions around.

However, the distro I tried to use, being cut down, didn't have the libraries needed or makeutils. I ended up chrooting into my normal install. At that point I thought `is this liveCD much use`?

 So, would DSmallLinux be a better bet at only 50mb? I'm extremely tight on bandwidth here.