Bitfury - Mining Lighbulb

[alh]

So the bulb, the PCB, chip and heatsink, controller board, wifi dongle, all for 2.6GH/s.  Brilliant.

Actually I think the brilliance is adjustable!!! 

Just couldn't resist the pun, though I completely agree.........

[vapourminer]

So the bulb, the PCB, chip and heatsink, controller board, wifi dongle, all for 2.6GH/s.  Brilliant.

Half of these things are already in smart LED bulbs available for cheap anyway.  Find one that has the bare minimum required to tell the chip what to hash and can get result data back from it, and all you have to add is the ASIC.

exactly.. lot of stuff out already it seems

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=wifi+led+light+bulb+review

[-droid-]

Yeah I think Phillips has the wifi bulbs that adjust color based on the TV show you watch

[kano]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/3bv70j/bitlamp_prototype_tested_in_odessa/

Short summary of the above:

Configured via a Web interface in terms of pool, as well as the light bulb parameters (e.g. color, brightness, etc). Looks kinda like a "Party Bulb" with multiple colors and such. The example showed 2.6 GH/s. No mention of power consumption. Supposedly available at the retail level late in 2015. No mention of price or geography for retail sales.

i.e. missing all the data that will point out why no one should buy them ...

i.e. make money for Bitfury, lose money for everyone else.

Oh, where have I seen this happen before ... ... ...

[Finksy]

It has half of the components of a smart LED bulb.

Who the hell even spends their money on this useless crap anyways? And That's still not justification to putting mining chip(s) in them, especially to -as Kano pointed out- likely provide no positive return for the consumer.

The only way this will fly in the mainstream crowd is if they market these as smart bulbs and give them away to customers for free, and have them locked to their own pool.

[TheRealSteve]

Yes, but now you get the additional benefit(?) of being placed on a map
http://bitlamp.club/

[alh]

It will be interesting to find out how it prices out, and where they try and sell them, both geographically and which merchants.

Just think, you can hand them out to your family members at Christmas!!! 

[kano]

It will be interesting to find out how it prices out, and where they try and sell them, both geographically and which merchants.

Just think, you can hand them out to your family members at Christmas!!!  

You do realise they will make less bitcoin than they cost to run in electricity for most people if not everyone?
(who doesn't make someone else pay for their electricity)
... ignoring the possible extra cost of also having to buy one ...

[sidehack]

If they can build them slightly better than the competition, but also slightly cheaper than the competition, such that they end up with the same shelf price and power consumption even with the miner running, they might get more sales on gimmick alone and people won't realize they're paying more than they should to get a bitnickel per year.

[Finksy]

If they can build them slightly better than the competition, but also slightly cheaper than the competition, such that they end up with the same shelf price and power consumption even with the miner running, they might get more sales on gimmick alone and people won't realize they're paying more than they should to get a bitnickel per year.

I tend to follow what you post with interest sidehack, because you are a very knowledgeable/resourceful person when it comes to hardware.  But I have to ask quite skeptically, where does this magical efficiency come from, at no extra cost? Markets tend to equalize, if all this power consumption & cost-savings was available, shouldn't A) it have already materialized by competition in the market, otherwise B) There isn't enough of a market for the competition to bother with it, in which case this is a waste of time by Bitfury (as if that wasn't already apparent).

The only possibility I can see for them to try to keep the end-costs lower than the competition to compete in their department is by handling all the sales and distribution themselves. That seems like a waste of time though, considering they could be using their chips in full-sized stand-alone miners that they could sell for -what I would only imagine due to minimal competition currently- more of a mark-up than a stupid lightbulb that will never ROI, if even generate positive revenue.

My BTC0.0000738

[sidehack]

If it makes you feel better, I was being pretty cynical - as I have been about the entire lightbulb idea so far.

Let's say the average existing smart LED right now pulls 10W and costs $50 shelf including all the wifi and crap. If BitFury can design a smart LED that pulls 8W and costs $45 shelf, and then adds their chip to it so now it mines and also draws 10W and costs $50 shelf, they can basically trick people into buying it because its initial and operating costs are the same as a competitor's product but this one also mines bitcoins! The customer doesn't have to be alerted to the fact the pathetic mining speed will never actually reach a pool payout, nor does the customer have to be alerted that he just bought an 8W $45 bulb but now it runs 10W and cost $50 to support that pathetic mining speed which will never reach payout.

[TheRealSteve]

slight aside - I'm sure they'll post this in their official thread anyway - Bitcoin's Best Funded Miner BitFury Rasies Another $20 Million [coindesk.com]
( and rather unrelated: background piece on BitFury [bne.eu] )

Edit: whoops, where'd the image go..

[alh]

I would have thought that at roughly $116 million, 21 Inc. would have the distinction of "Best Funded Miner", no?

[wlefever]

I would have thought that at roughly $116 million, 21 Inc. would have the distinction of "Best Funded Miner", no?

You would think so. But, they needed a catchy headline, right? Nobody wants to read "Second Best Funded Miner" haha

[sidehack]

I'd prefer "worlds least-funded miner" because then you know the business runs more efficiently.

[sloopy]

This lightbulb is pure gimmick, but it worked, and worked well. We are talking about them...
Although, have a missed a review by someone reputable on the forum? Here in hardware maybe?

I don't know if people are buying them, or has anyone known someone with a unit?

I enjoy looking at the prices of hardware, and used miners is the biggest part of that time.
The Bitfuy miners I can buy are nowhere near an S5's efficiency.
Density is not Spondoolies offerings. Although cooling plays a big weight against density if you have to make that choice. If you cant run them cool enough, figure out a different way. You shouldn't depend on any miner to clock down.

Bitfury is self-mining and B2B right?
Do they perform any real business with home miners or lower volume customers?

I think all of the companies who have decided the little guy doesn't matter you should monetize every action and I do not mean with money up front.
Having a communications channel means everything.

Most miners I've talked to and met from here would welcome competition in the current mining landscape.

I think these companies are doing everything to look big in the bitcoin landscape. Monopolies have been forming, but think of the people who have been scammed.

Obviously my experience with Bitfuy is limited. I also did

[TheRealSteve]

This lightbulb is pure gimmick, but it worked, and worked well. We are talking about them...

People have been talking about BitFury since its inception, and for good reason; their 55nm chip remained competitive for a very, very long time.

Although, have a missed a review by someone reputable on the forum? Here in hardware maybe?

Haven't seen any reviews.  http://kuna.com.ua/bitcoin-mining-lamp/ suggested they would do a review of it, so keep an eye on them?

I don't know if people are buying them, or has anyone known someone with a unit?

I'd guess they may be giving some out at events, but even so I've seen very few people even talk about them, tweets with pictures not from an event, instagram or facebook posts or etc.  Which is mildly odd - unless there's NDAs involved - as bitlamp.club suggests there's quite a few around.  Heck, there's one well within a day's driving distance pinpointed on the map to a house in the middle of nowhere; I do hope they randomize those coordinates a little bit

Bitfury is self-mining and B2B right?

Right.

Do they perform any real business with home miners or lower volume customers?

No.

I think all of the companies who have decided the little guy doesn't matter you should monetize every action and I do not mean with money up front.
Having a communications channel means everything.

Bitcoin Forum > Economy > Marketplace > Service Announcements  > The official information resource for BitFury Group
( plus @bitfurygroup @bitfurygeorge, BitFury@facebook, etc. )

I think these companies are doing everything to look big in the bitcoin landscape. Monopolies have been forming, but think of the people who have been scammed.

While BitFury is potentially not 100% clean, they're no BFL / Hashfast / KnC / BlackArrow.  Bit of a random thing to say in this context?

Obviously my experience with Bitfuy is limited. I also did

...not finish your sentence?

[sloopy]

Fell straight asleep at the keyboard heh, too many hours in this week

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

[Guy Corem]

Fell straight asleep at the keyboard heh, too many hours in this week

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

[TheRealSteve]

Looks like BitFury's relative growth has stagnated;


Possible new player (/[dots]/ coinbase, later replaced with '/reserved/'), 4 blocks in last 2 days: 18ikmzPqk721ZNvWhDos1UL4H29w352Kj5