Hey everyone,

I currently developing an Android homescreen widget for Android 4.0 and above to show the current ticker value.

I thought about implementing the following features:
- set trading site (MtGox USD/EUR done…more to come)
- set refresh interval (done)
- chart for a defined interval
- alarm
- lockscreen widget
- better user interface ;-)

Do you have any other suggestions? What do you think?

(You can't yet download the app from the Play Store.)

Regards

If you're unaware, Terracoin had a problem a couple weeks ago with ASICs shooting up their diff then leaving the network (thus leaving the network at a very high difficulty relative to remaining hashing power). I think NMC had the same problem and it was resolved with merged mining, but that effectively killed NMC(??).

I wanted to ask what mechanisms in BTC there are (or can be) to prevent a massive hash rate drop off. Right now, we have some massive amounts of hashing power being generated by Avalon and ASICMINER. If there was a bug in their firmware  (e.g. the recent large coinbase bug that dropped all avalons on eligius to 0 MHS) that caused all Avalons or AMs to drop off the network temporarily or permanently, it could take days for a new block to be found. This would wreak havoc on the entire bitcoin ecosystem by bringing transactions to a standstill.

Of course, as more manufacturers produce ASICs this problem is reduced, but let's say BFL delivers and their customers end up being 30% of the network...we'd still have the same problem. (We're all very confident in BFL's ability to produce a quality product  )

Is this a legit concern? Shoot me down. I'll feel better.

If a thousand [citizens] were not to pay their tax-bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceable revolution, if any such is possible.

    This sad situation developed after my departure from South Africa, but my idea of having permanent funds for public institutions underwent a change long before this difference arose. And now after considerable experience with the many public institutions which I have managed, it has become my firm conviction that it is not good to run public institutions on permanent funds. A permanent fund carries in itself the seed of the moral fall of the institution. A public institution means an institution conducted with the approval, and from the funds, of the public. When such an institution ceases to have public support, it forfeits its right to exist. Institutions maintained on permanent funds are often found to ignore public opinion, and are frequently responsible for acts contrary to it. In our country we experience this at every step. Some of the so-called religious trusts have ceased to render any accounts. The trustees have become the owners, and are responsible to none. I have no doubt that the ideal is for public institutions to live, like nature, from day to day. The institution that fails to win public support has no right to exist as such. The subscriptions that an institution annually receives are a test of its popularity and the honesty of its management, and I am of opinion that every institution should submit to that test. But let no one misunderstand me. My remarks do not apply to the bodies which cannot, by their very nature, be conducted without permanent buildings. What I mean to say it that the current expenditure should be found from subscriptions voluntarily received from year to year.

With Ripple, you can transfer two kinds of things: Ripples (XRP) and IOUs in any real or virtual currency. The system keeps perfect track of those, but to make payments you have to find someone who is willing to accept them in payment. This is the same as with Bitcoin. Trading in real world currencies is made easier by the existence of gateways like Bitstamp. You can send USD to Bitstamp in a number of ways and you can then send that money to Ripple in the form of Bitstamp-flavoured USD IOUs. Those IOUs in turn can be sent back to be redeemed for real USD by Bitstamp. People who trust that Bitstamp will redeem its IOUs for real dollars, will then accept the IOUs as payment. They indicate that trust by granting Bitstamp a certain credit limit within the Ripple system.

The same thing works without gateways: if you want to make a payment to someone you don't know, then Ripple will try to find a path between you and the receiver in the trust graph. If that person is a friend of a a friend of a friend, and if credit limits and balances along the path allow it, the transfer of IOUs will be made. Each person can settle with their direct neighbours at the end of the month, or whenever they please. In fact, this uses the exact same system as in the example with the gateway, the gateway is merely acting as a professional "friend" of both you and the receiver, thus making you friends of a friend.

To avoid getting scammed, a gateway will not reciprocate the trust and will only issue IOUs for money it has already received from you. It depends on its reputation to get people to buy its IOUs. And since the Ripple system has a built-in exchange, complete with order book, you can even trade IOUs denominated in the same real or virtual currency but issued by different gateways, or even just check the exchange rate to see whether people in the network believe the gateway is credit worthy.

You have to get used to the idea before you really get it, but it's perfectly natural. And it turns out it's no more than a digital form of the system that was used in the 17th and 18th centuries: Ripple, or Bills of Exchange 2.0.

thank you for fixing the unhandled exception, it was really annoying!

Would it be possile to have a bigger panel with BTC/USD LTC/BTC and LTC/USD? I like big widgets 

To exchange between BTC and fiat currencies. It's the killer app for Bitcoin enthusiasts.

The problem of course is if you are trying to create a stable coin there are extended periods of time when the appropriate thing to do is to generate ZERO new coins. That makes mining unprofitable for everyone,so everyone stops. In a bitcoin style framework that means that block creation gets seriously delayed and transactions don't get confirmed. After a while difficulty drops to speed the process back up, but the supply&demand exchange value hasn't necessarily fallen with difficulty so coin creation starts again. Even though the correct monetary policy may be to still create ZERO new coins.

As far as I can tell this doesn't produce a stable currency. It osculates tending toward a zero coin value. (continuous over production of coins) It also tends to drive the difficulty level down along with the coin values.

This papers grand idea is to fix the difficulty. The author isnt aware that the difficulty cannot be fixed due to the 10-minute window that must be maintained (by the difficulty) in order to restrain orphaning of blocks.