ars technica have a BFL product!

[HowGudAmI]

I apologize if this is a repost but I thought this may be of interest here.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/05/weve-got-a-butterfly-labs-bitcoin-miner-and-its-pretty-darn-fast/

Its running at 50watts for 5.35 gigahashes.

[cdog]

Its really wrong that they are sending units to media outlets to promote more sales when customers who have had their money tied up for 6months sit and watch the difficulty go up and up. Really just shady, because random ArsTech readers will read this and order one not realizing that there is a GIANT backlog and "Shipping Now!" for BFL means "get in line and you might get one in 6 months, if we feel like it and dont go out of business first"

[Syke]

I apologize if this is a repost but I thought this may be of interest here.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/05/weve-got-a-butterfly-labs-bitcoin-miner-and-its-pretty-darn-fast/

Its running at 50watts for 5.35 gigahashes.

Ouch! That's more power than Avalon.

620/68 = 9.1
50/5.35 = 9.4

And running at 80c it's not going to have a very long life.

[crazy_rabbit]

I apologize if this is a repost but I thought this may be of interest here.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/05/weve-got-a-butterfly-labs-bitcoin-miner-and-its-pretty-darn-fast/

Its running at 50watts for 5.35 gigahashes.

Ouch! That's more power than Avalon.

620/68 = 9.1
50/5.35 = 9.4

And running at 80c it's not going to have a very long life.

No reason it shouldn't be able to live long at 80c. That isn't so extraordinarily high.

[HowGudAmI]

Its really wrong that they are sending units to media outlets to promote more sales when customers who have had their money tied up for 6months sit and watch the difficulty go up and up. Really just shady, because random ArsTech readers will read this and order one not realizing that there is a GIANT backlog and "Shipping Now!" for BFL means "get in line and you might get one in 6 months, if we feel like it and dont go out of business first"

Never thought about it like that. Luckily for me, I am a reader here and at Ars.

Although in my experience Ars readers are pretty tech savvy and would do their research before making a purchase that large.

[smoothie]

Its really wrong that they are sending units to media outlets to promote more sales when customers who have had their money tied up for 6months sit and watch the difficulty go up and up. Really just shady, because random ArsTech readers will read this and order one not realizing that there is a GIANT backlog and "Shipping Now!" for BFL means "get in line and you might get one in 6 months, if we feel like it and dont go out of business first"

This ^

Make customers wait almost a year....then your first units go to PR/MEDIA outlets....fucking LAWLz!

[Schrankwand]

I apologize if this is a repost but I thought this may be of interest here.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/05/weve-got-a-butterfly-labs-bitcoin-miner-and-its-pretty-darn-fast/

Its running at 50watts for 5.35 gigahashes.

Looking at the specs there, i will probably replace the fans in there with Corsair fans...

[dave111223]

Its really wrong that they are sending units to media outlets to promote more sales when customers who have had their money tied up for 6months sit and watch the difficulty go up and up. Really just shady, because random ArsTech readers will read this and order one not realizing that there is a GIANT backlog and "Shipping Now!" for BFL means "get in line and you might get one in 6 months, if we feel like it and dont go out of business first"

This ^

Make customers wait almost a year....then your first units go to PR/MEDIA outlets....fucking LAWLz!

Agreed, why try to promote more sales when (by their own admission) they have at least a 3 month backlog of orders even if they were to start shipping at full capacity today.

Makes me think that maybe they still have no intention of shipping orders.  For example if they used up all the pre-order money on research/test chips etc.. and found that that in order to make a Jalapeno it costs them like $800 per unit, and they have been sell them for $250.

Solution, ship out the 30 or so working prototype units to media outlets for free.  Try to bank as many new sales as possible; do a runner with the cash.

I really cannot see any above board reason why you'd ship freebee units to media outlets before customers who have been waiting almost a year...

[bozak]

Its really wrong that they are sending units to media outlets to promote more sales when customers who have had their money tied up for 6months sit and watch the difficulty go up and up. Really just shady, because random ArsTech readers will read this and order one not realizing that there is a GIANT backlog and "Shipping Now!" for BFL means "get in line and you might get one in 6 months, if we feel like it and dont go out of business first"

Could not agree more.  Sending 1 unit to the media makes sense as proof of concept, after that it is basically fraud because they are using paying clients money to send ASIC with the hopes of getting more client money, all without ever sending anything to clients.  Really bad business model, but until a large ASIC company steps in people will continue to order. 

[thoughtcourier]

Its really wrong that they are sending units to media outlets to promote more sales when customers who have had their money tied up for 6months sit and watch the difficulty go up and up. Really just shady, because random ArsTech readers will read this and order one not realizing that there is a GIANT backlog and "Shipping Now!" for BFL means "get in line and you might get one in 6 months, if we feel like it and dont go out of business first"

This ^

Make customers wait almost a year....then your first units go to PR/MEDIA outlets....fucking LAWLz!

Agreed, why try to promote more sales when (by their own admission) they have at least a 3 month backlog of orders even if they were to start shipping at full capacity today.

Makes me think that maybe they still have no intention of shipping orders.  For example if they used up all the pre-order money on research/test chips etc.. and found that that in order to make a Jalapeno it costs them like $800 per unit, and they have been sell them for $250.

Solution, ship out the 30 or so working prototype units to media outlets for free.  Try to bank as many new sales as possible; do a runner with the cash.

I really cannot see any above board reason why you'd ship freebee units to media outlets before customers who have been waiting almost a year...

I think it's fine to ship a few units to the media, but only if customers are getting theirs at a decent clip too. When/how many did they ship to the media, and how many units have been shipped to customers?

[hammz]

Their priorities are getting more sales, and hype v.s. meeting prior commitments....think about it, that's a ponzi scheme, and they are burning away the money you sent them.    Pre order?    Try generous donation...

[AzureEngineer]

Their priorities are getting more sales, and hype v.s. meeting prior commitments....think about it, that's a ponzi scheme, and they are burning away the money you sent them.    Pre order?    Try generous donation...

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

[mc_lovin]

BFLs 65nm seriously consume more power per watt than an Avalon's 110nm?

[mc_lovin]

Its really wrong that they are sending units to media outlets to promote more sales when customers who have had their money tied up for 6months sit and watch the difficulty go up and up. Really just shady, because random ArsTech readers will read this and order one not realizing that there is a GIANT backlog and "Shipping Now!" for BFL means "get in line and you might get one in 6 months, if we feel like it and dont go out of business first"

This ^

Make customers wait almost a year....then your first units go to PR/MEDIA outlets....fucking LAWLz!

Agreed, why try to promote more sales when (by their own admission) they have at least a 3 month backlog of orders even if they were to start shipping at full capacity today.

Makes me think that maybe they still have no intention of shipping orders.  For example if they used up all the pre-order money on research/test chips etc.. and found that that in order to make a Jalapeno it costs them like $800 per unit, and they have been sell them for $250.

Solution, ship out the 30 or so working prototype units to media outlets for free.  Try to bank as many new sales as possible; do a runner with the cash.

I really cannot see any above board reason why you'd ship freebee units to media outlets before customers who have been waiting almost a year...

Unfortunately it looks more and more like BFL might run.

Especially considering BFL is already 2000 BTC in the hole ( https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=92268.msg1217403#msg1217403 ) due to a bet..  They can't really operate as a legit business anymore.

"thanks for paying for us to develop the BFL ASICs."

"we're just going to mine them for a few years kthxbai"