Forum I Need help

[jhansen858]

Hi forum,

I'm shitting my pants right now,

I'm not sure if any of you have heard of Defcon (https://www.defcon.org/) but its the largest hacker and computer user convention in the country.  I went last year and there was what seemed like a 100,000+ people there... Any way I got all crazy one night threw together a power point presentation and submitted an application to speak.  You may read the email below.  After some trying I got them to accept a review of my talk.    There is no guarantee that I'll be accepted but if I do, I'll be giving a talk in front of possibly 100,000+ people about bitcoin. 

The reason I'm writing is I need a little bit of help to prepare, I have until the end of the month to do this.  I have a power point presentation that I threw together in about 2 hours, needs reviewing, fact checking, spelling, and maybe sprucing up, not to mention the $800 worth of plane tickets and hotel that I'm spending. 

Any one want to review and help me improve my presentation that would be awesome.  I could also use donations to help fund the trip. 

Here are copies of the presentation in current form(pdf): http://btcbids.com/bitcoin.pdf
Here are copies of the presentation in current form(open office): http://btcbids.com/bitcoin.odp

Again its not guaranteed I will be selected but I think I might have a good shot at it given the monumental potential of this project.  I would like to be ready and represent for the bitcoin community as well as I can.  Any one with actual experience in doing something like this I would appriciate any info you might have I have never given a talk like this before. 

My Bitcoin Address: 1LdCb7UmFBomBjgnAsL5GGVjPx2zmgeH5j (might want to wait until I actually get accepted for this: June 10th)

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On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 1:44 AM, Jake Hansen <jhansen@zray.net> wrote:

    Date of Submission: June 3, 2011
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On 06/03/2011 01:50 AM, Nikita Caine wrote:
> I'm sorry the DEF CON CFP Closed last Friday, May 27th. I would suggest you check out Sky Talks, and consider submitting to them if you'd like to speak at DEF CON this year. Otherwise,  try bsides or better luck next year!
>
> -Nikita

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On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 7:49 PM, Jake Hansen <jhansen@zray.net> wrote:

    Hey just wondering if there is any way to appeal that cut off date.

    I really think this technology needs to be talked about its probably going to be the number one topic this year if someone does a presentation.  I would at least check my presentation and if there is any way to get it reviewed, I think someone should do a talk on this even if its not me, people need to know about this!  Bitcoin is blowing up like insane right now ... by the time defcon rolls around its going to be getting international attention.  I implore you to get this reviewed if at all possible.

    Thank you for anything you might be able to do.

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On Sun, Jun 5, 2011 at 12:26 AM, Nikita Caine <barkingkitten@gmail.com> wrote:

    Ok, I will add it to the stack, but I can not guarantee you will get a fair review because it's so late that means they have less time to look it over and that so many other talks were picked before you, it makes the selection window narrower for you. Next time submit earlier, you have a way better chance of being accepted if you do that. Good luck and again, consider submitting to skytalks now, if you get rejected by us you still have a shot with them.


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-------- Original Message --------
Subject:    Re: Defcon Call for Papers Form Submission
Date:    Sun, 5 Jun 2011 00:26:58 -0700
From:    Nikita Caine <barkingkitten@gmail.com>
To:    Jake Hansen <jhansen@zray.net>


Hello,

Thank you for submitting your talk for DEF CON 19, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

If you indicated that your submission has an Exploit, Vulnerability or Tool you will be asked to fill an attached form. This is for our records only and to get a better indication of what your tool or exploit is about. Turning this in now will save us time in the review process preventing us from having a delay while we request more info from you. Please disregard If this does not apply to your submission.

After we have completed the selection process, we will contact you with your status (denial or acceptance). Call for papers will not end until May 27, 2011, You should be hearing from us by June 10, 2011 if not earlier.

Please be aware that if you are accepted we require full materials (slides, whitepapers, etc) submitted to us for publication by June 24, 2011. Please be sure to monitor your email for requests, periodic updates and reminders.


Thanks,
Nikita
Administrator Of Khaos,Defcon.
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[gigabytecoin]

Contact Gavin Andresen ASAP.

He has already done numerous talks and is willing to help you with the finer points iirc.

[Dobrodav]

Search for "counterfit" - replace with "counterfeit". I am did not find counterfit in dictionaries.
Satoshi disappears in December 2010.
Do not use "from the future?". There is no need in that.

It seems like well planned presentation.
Be sure, that you have enough time left for questions. or enter something of this in presentation.

Questions -
0a) Open source project.
1) Deflation - is it so bad ?
2) Be familiar with concepts of two main economic schools.  Austrian and other.
3) Modular structure. SHA 256  can be replaced with other (even quantum computation resistant).
4) Attack vulnerabilities. (more than 51%  of network in one hands). Pools.
4a) Difficulty aspect.
4b) Early adopters.
4c) Ponzy scheme ?
4d) Ability to add more 0`s if needed.
4e) Mining. Mining in long perspective. Mining will not be about easy profit - it will be about job to confirm transactions.
5) Growth pains. (checkout Gavins posts). Early vulnerabilities  (luck of decentralized exchange being only in early stage project)
6) You should inspect questions of legality deeper (in light of some dumb senator request about silk road).
7) Expected behave of  the system in case of ban in some countries.
Bitcoin is not more criminal than cash it self.
9) Namecoin
10) Possibility to interact between local chains (town coins).

I am found that topic to late

[jhansen858]

All very good suggestions I'll add as much in as I can fit.. Keep em coming.

[Terpie]

I would suggest mentioning more about the growth and trending of it's adoption right now. Things like Google trends, node maps, forum size, price increases, news mentions, average volume in USD currency being exchanged daily at MtGox (nearly hit $1 million the other day), etc. Maybe throw some interesting quotes in from other, respected Bitcoin advocates.

[sequence]

 Great PowerPoint from what I've learned so far. I noticed a few  spelling errors: decentralized, central,based,certainty(<~ correct form). Good luck with the presentation! I would be honored to be the one talking about Bitcoins!

[jhansen858]

Ok I have fixed some of the pointed out spelling/grammar errors (where I need the most help) and have incorporated a few more slides from the ideas mentioned.

updated v2 PDF version (http://btcbids.com/Bitcoin_ppt_v2.pdf)
updated v2 Openoffice version (http://btcbids.com/Bitcoin_ppt.odp)

Keep it coming this doc is shaping up nicely.

[trentzb]

4 - transact directly with eachother -> transact directly with each other
5 - digitally signing a has of the -> digitally signing a hash of the
7 - spend the money the would not be possible -> spend the money that would not be possible (did you mean "that")
8 - Payee cant verify -> Payee can't verify
8 - Entire system depends on company running the digital currency just like a bank -> Entire system depends on a third party or central authority running the digital currency just like a bank or regulatory agency

Slide 8 seems a little confusing to me, or maybe I am reading it wrong. I think you are trying to explain that the only way to solve a double spend is to implement a central authority. However this could be taken the wrong way unless you clearly state Bitcoin has no need to implement a central authority by design, hence no trust in a third party is necessary.

Still reviewing...

[jhansen858]

ok Version 3 ready to go per everyone's suggestions and fixes...

pdf version: (http://btcbids.com/Bitcoin_ppt_v3.pdf)
open office version: http://btcbids.com/Bitcoin_ppt.odp)

Keep it coming... I hope this isn't getting too long I will only have 50 mins total if I am selected.

[jerfelix]

No offense intended, but I think many of your slides are far too wordy for a large audience like Defcon.   I think your slides should be bullet points, not complete sentence.  Your oral presentation can fill in all the detail.  

Here's an example of  my suggestion.  Take slide 4.  You have:
Bitcoin Orgins

Baised on a concept called cryptocurrency, first
described in 1998 by Wei Dai on cypherpunks
mailing list.
 -  Work extended by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009
 -  Satoshi Nakamoto is a mysterious figure no
one knows who he really is.
 -  Appears from nowhere, writes a paper that
solves several major distributed computing
problems in one shot and disapears.

First, two words are misspelled: Based and disappears

Simplified version:

Bitcoin Origins

-  Based on cryptocurrency (1998 cypherpunks mail list)
-  2009 paper by Satoshi Nakamoto
-  Nakamoto is pseudonym and not a public figure
-  Solved several major distributed computing problems

===

Generally, I would think the defcon audience would want to know:
-  Background info (what it is, generally how it works, market size, growth trends)
-  Attack vectors

Personally, I think the attack vector that is the biggest vulnerability and the elephant in the room is the security of the wallet.dat file.  I would think that a room full of people at Defcon (white-hat and black-hat hackers) would be very interested in that attack vector.  How can a hacker install something onto someone's PC that exposes their wallet.dat file?

So I would include a slide or two on that topic.  Specifically:
In the current version of the popular client, wallet.dat contains an unencrypted version of your public and private keys.  100 public keys are generated and stored.  A backup of your wallet.dat file will allow you to recover your current bitcoin balance, plus up to 100 future transactions.  Stealing someone else's wallet.dat file will do the same.  (Personally, I expect that numerous viruses will be written in the next year to expose wallet.dat.  Maybe I'm a pessimist.)

Just my 2 millicoins worth.  (is that the way you say "2 cents worth", in BTC-speak?)

[Danny Crane]

Great job! Hope you get it and double the bitcoin rate.