Bitfury - Mining Lighbulb

[alh]

But just think, when the light bulb part fails for whatever reason, you get to throw the whole thing away. That includes the mining chip that you paid for.  

I am with Finsky on this. These gadgets which combine mining with an unrelated function will do nothing of use for the purchaser. This also completely ignores the network infrastructure required to support hundreds of mining light bulbs in the store. It works to sell to 2-3 to the "Bitcoin Enthusiast" where two more WiFi gadgets don't matter. It's another thing entirely when there needs to be a 2nd private network once your WiFi environment balloons due to the mining light bulbs.

[QuintLeo]

The only way Bitmain will sell a significant number of light bulbs is if they manage to get them down close to the cost of "conventional" light bulbs with similar capabilities - which pretty much means they HAVE to compete with "smart" bulbs or their hardware cost to make the things is gonna kill them.

 That's STILL going to limit their market quite a bit, most folks have ZERO interest in "smart light bulbs", but some folks like to play with the programability stuff.

[wlefever]

The only way Bitmain will sell a significant number of light bulbs is if they manage to get them down close to the cost of "conventional" light bulbs with similar capabilities - which pretty much means they HAVE to compete with "smart" bulbs or their hardware cost to make the things is gonna kill them.

 That's STILL going to limit their market quite a bit, most folks have ZERO interest in "smart light bulbs", but some folks like to play with the programability stuff.

Bitfury* but I think it will be useful for some at first, and not for others like most things in the mining world.  Then one day they may reach the efficiency of conventional bulbs and bring cost down making them interesting for larger scales mentioned for stores etc.

[Finksy]

Usb miners (which are made even simpler than mining lightbulbs) have been refined for years now, and they still are not profitable no matter the quantity. It's an industry of scale, even <1kW miners are going by the wayside, and as long as these standalone miners are in popular existence, light bulbs, pod and USB miners will not be sound financial investments, but rather niche products.

If a mining light bulb were able to turn a small profit, then a rack full of dedicated mining equipment could turn a considerably larger one, and keep cheap light bulbs where they belong.  I can't think of any rational reason for a large company (let along individuals for any reason but curiousity/tinkering) to put ASICs in light bulbs.  Unless the manufacturer was earning the mining revenue off their customer's electricity, which would simply be deception.

[wlefever]

Usb miners (which are made even simpler than mining lightbulbs) have been refined for years now, and they still are not profitable no matter the quantity. It's an industry of scale, even <1kW miners are going by the wayside, and as long as these standalone miners are in popular existence, light bulbs, pod and USB miners will not be sound financial investments, but rather niche products.

If a mining light bulb were able to turn a small profit, then a rack full of dedicated mining equipment could turn a considerably larger one, and keep cheap light bulbs where they belong.  I can't think of any rational reason for a large company (let along individuals for any reason but curiousity/tinkering) to put ASICs in light bulbs.  Unless the manufacturer was earning the mining revenue off their customer's electricity, which would simply be deception.

Well here's the deal...I don't think it was ever intended for large companies to use these light bulbs for mining according to the following quote anyway:

“We believe that the project’s focus should not be on making money from bitcoin mining, but on creating innovative solutions with main purpose to use this product for educational purposes and fun,” said BitFury CEO Valery Vavilov

So yeah basically an alternative to a USB miner for people with interest in learning about bitcoin technology, and giving them a touch of the bitcoin blockchain ecosystem.  Obviously we (miners) know USB miners aren't money makers so these most likely won't be either, but still could be fun toys that teach more about bitcoin.

[alh]

OK, so if the BitFury theory is that the "Mining light bulb" isn't an economic thing, why make it a light bulb? Why not a low priced "21 Inc Bitcoin Computer" like gadget? That seems every bit as useful to the "inovative solutions.....educational purposes and fun" plan as anything.

If they ever produce them for actual sale, we'll know what came of it. Of course maybe the "Everything that has electricity should be a miner"  hangover is finally setting in and they really don't have a clue about what to do with it.

Just my $.02 on the idea.

[rammy2k2]

I would buy a few if they are economic light bulbs, and i know ill help a little with descentralisation 

[wlefever]

OK, so if the BitFury theory is that the "Mining light bulb" isn't an economic thing, why make it a light bulb? Why not a low priced "21 Inc Bitcoin Computer" like gadget? That seems every bit as useful to the "inovative solutions.....educational purposes and fun" plan as anything.

Lets be honest, a light bulb is about the easiest thing there is to set up instead of having to run on a computer, and I think a "night light" would be cool for kids rooms etc.

I would buy a few if they are economic light bulbs, and i know ill help a little with descentralisation 

I would buy a few for the man cave, and some for the office.  TBH I would most likely give them as gifts to some of my younger cousins so they could learn about bitcoin, and help secure the blockchain!

[alh]

You might find that setting up the Internet access is required for your "night light". I am assuming it will have WiFi, so that may, or may not, be as trivial as you think, depending on your location. At home I would have to somehow feed in the WiFi info (i.e. SSID and password). At my work place, it's even worse with the security controls in place for WiFi access. I won't be bringing a mining light bulb to my office, for a variety of reasons.

Of course maybe BitFury has thought of all this and made it completely trouble free.

I would very much like to hear about an actual person that purchased one and their experience. How much did it cost? What did they have to do to setup the Internet access? Did they get to choose the mining pool?

So far it's a "vapor demo mining bulb".