there is a very famous saying here on btctalk: buyer beware. bfl currently has a working protoype, the problem is that the chips need more power than originally planned. (don't ask me how the hell this happened, it does not make sense from an engineering perspective. there are always going to be small differences in the real world, but not this far off.)
This is one of the issues that my limited knowledge of ASIC technology tends to red-flag and cause skepticism. I know lots of engineers. The only way that something like this could be true is if the math during the design process was flawed (in which case the processing would likewise tend to be flawed).
i would educate yourself about th biggest scams from the last year. bigger ships than bfl have been scams.
That's exactly what worries me, LOL.
in all honesty, i think they are going to ship eventually. if they played their cards right with all of the btc they gathered, they should have a gigantic amount of wealth. they have the resources, but they are also making themselves responsible for a large portion of the first generation of asic miners. i think they will churn out a good amount of units a day, but even at the fastest possible rate for their current crew, it is going to take them a long time to fill their orders.
One of my former ASIC projects had a team of engineers who put together medical processing equipment. A few of them want to actually drive out to Kansas City and offer to help put together the machines free of charge, or for ridiculously cheap. Heck, we'll even meter 'em to make sure they're more or less functional before they ship! However, this email was never answered (to be fair, it's been about 3 weeks since I asked the original email to be sent).
the machines do not meet minimum specs in regard to power: they will likely consume more power than originally thought. you will receive the hashing power you paid for though, that is their promise.
They seem to have a raw calculation of about 2 MH/s/$ posted in a few places, which equates almost directly with the prices and GH/s offered. The power consumption is largely irrelevant today, but the increase in power has to be from overclocking the chips (which would be smart, if they can sustain that speed for 3-4 years at that temperature with few issues because of efficient heating).
i dont mean to be a dick, but it is kinda weird that i know more about this and i haven't even invested into bfl! they do have a video of the protoype hashing, and they are actually mining with it on the eclipse pool i think.
See... this is why I keep asking lots of questions. Would you happen to have a URL handy for the video? Even to the correct thread where a link might be would be better than nothing. I'm trying to help people overcome anxiety issues related to their investments that were more than they can afford to lose (breaks a basic rule of investing, but it's done and they're trying to deal with it).
the video is to build confidence. looking busy etc.
It does offer a glimmer of hope, but the overall silence of the company dashes that hope very quickly. I think daily updates would be the way to go with this, at least some kind of one-liner that says something like:
"First shipment is now 90% assembled, busted printer messed up shipping labels. Shouldn't really delay anything if we can get it back up in 24h or less."
You know, like that... and no, that's not actually from anyone, just to alleviate any question. I made it up.
keep your ear to the ground, this is a very exciting time to be alive.
