Safebit - Official Preview Version released today!

[Eli]

So after a few months that you've heard from me and my ideas, today I'm finally making a first release of Safebit. It's not the "Final" version, it's not anywhere close to that, right now it's a GUI wrapper around the regular bitcoind and this version intended for experienced bitcoin users - it's not ready for newbies who have no idea how to configure the JSON-RPC or what some of the terms in the bitcoin world mean.

Safebit is released as a Chrome Packaged App - meaning this is a web app that can be installed directly in Chrome without needing any additional software installation (except of course the official Bitcoin client to provide JSON-RPC), it's basically one-click install and all you need to start playing with it is a working version of Chrome - on any platform! Note: You can chose to provide an external JSON-RPC server (i.e. installed anywhere else on the internet, not locally on your machine) and this could potentially work as a "hosted wallet" - I would highly discourage that at this point, as I'm not sure how it will behave and there are no caching mechanisms inside Safebit and you will be basically hammering the external server (but you could do that if you chose...) - So if you're planning to experiment, please be careful, and if you could I'd really like to hear your results!

The App: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ablfbfgmgfoggdhhcnledndibdihggpb?hl=en-US

Also, Safebit has a new home: http://safeb.it/ - this is the domain that Safebit will be using to release updates, information, and eventually it will the official home for Safebit.

I've also opened a GetStatisfaction account for Safebit: http://getsatisfaction.com/safebit/ , also accessible directly within the app via the "Feedback" button at the bottom left of the screen. This could be a stage to provide ideas, report bugs, and general rants about Safebit, so feel free to go there and put your opinion there.

Safebit also has an official forum: http://forums.safeb.it/, the forum is powered by Reddit, a community that I love very much and have supported the Safebit idea from the very first minutes of it's existence.

The repository for Safebit has also changed (mainly because of the way things are handled as a Chrome app instead of relying on Python), and the new repository is accessible through: https://github.com/elis/Safebit - My skills with git are just getting there so pardon if you see problems or something is missing, I'm doing my best...

If I'm forgetting anything right now, please feel free to ask, I'll respond and also edit this post to update with the forgotten details.

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Support Safebit
As some of you may know, I'm currently hard at work trying to secure the funding to make Safebit a successful Bitcoin Wallet and there is some interest from all kinds of investors. If you'd like to help Safebit and make sure that it will be developed to the full potential, you have a lot of ways helping me in making this a reality:

• Donation This is simple! If you're already using Safebit, just go to the "Support Safebit!" section (the rightmost-tab), or you can donate via any other bitcoin wallet to this address: 1Cm554iqhU9dLnZsi2LA5s1b576DdfM1GM
• Promote Safebit If you like Safebit make sure you tell everybody you know that is somehow into bitcoin to try it out, and spread the word. The more people are downloading and installing the more chances I have of making this my day job and devoting more and more resources to developing Safebit
• Facebook Like Visit our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Safebit/285842344765241 and make sure you "Like" the page, this little "Like" goes a long way especially if we manage to get a substantial amount of people who like Safebit, and it actually tells us that there are people who like the product and want to see more.
• Subscribe to mailing list On the official site: http://safeb.it/ there is a small input box that you can use to put your email down and subscribe for updates. The more people are subscribing to this the more demand there is for the product in the eyes of potential investors.
• Join the forums As noted above, our forums are provided by Reddit - http://forums.safeb.it/ , so if you join (subscribe) it will get even more attention from Reddit users (as the users on /r/safebit are not exclusive and are shared across the entire Reddit ecosystem) and popular subreddits are sometimes promoted on the main page.
• Write Plugins Safebit is a Web App written in Javascript, HTML, and CSS. So if you ever made a website chances are you'll be able to write plugins for Safebit. Feel free to visit the public repository: https://github.com/elis/Safebit, download it, and start playing around with it (you need to enable "Developer Mode" in chrome to load-up unpacked extensions). If you want to submit anything to the main branch - let me know and create a pull request, I'll be happy to incorporate your plugin!
• Exposures Exposure Exposure Anyway you chose to support Safebit is legit! Pick your prefered method and help make Safebit the leading open-source Bitcoin wallet that is designed to make newbies feel welcome and not distracted by complex UIs and hard-to-explain terminology. Spread the word, let people know about Safebit and Bitcoin, and feel free to contribute in anyway you like. Anything Goes!

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Thanks for reading the above, and thanks for all the support I got from this community in the past couple of months. Without your kind words and the donations I wouldn't have taken on myself developing Safebit, so anyone of you who said anything nice or donated some coins you've actually helped to get Safebit up to this stage. Thanks Guys and Gals! Let's make Bitcoin a reality, and let's make it easy to use.

[Remember remember the 5th of November]

This. This is awesome. The GUI on the screenshot looks extremely nice, which is to say very 2011, no even more than that.

And just my luck, i am a chrome user myself.

[ctoon6]

i cant use it?

edit: do i HAVE to use chrome?

[ElectricMucus]

I like the idea, but hate the name.

I'm no security expert but can certainly tell that something running in any Browser JVM shouldn't be considered "safe".
I pledge a bounty of 0.5 BTC if you change the name.

[Eli]

i cant use it?

edit: do i HAVE to use chrome?

Yes, you have to use Chrome at this point to use Safebit. Maybe in the future it will be a stand-alone product, but at least for the next couple of months this will be a Chrome app.

For non-chrome users: You can create a desktop shortcut that will not make you run Chrome every time you want to launch Safebit. When you open a new tab (CTRL+T or Click on the (+) icon at the right-most part of the tabs on chrome) you will see Safebit (after installing obviously) in the Apps section.
When you hover over the icon with your cursor, you will see a small wrench at the top right corner appearing, clicking on that wrench will allow you to "Create Shortcut". After creating this shortcut you can launch Safebit directly from desktop without needing to launch Chrome (although this will obviously launch Chrome instance but it will be dedicated just for Safebit).

[Eli]

I like the idea, but hate the name.

I'm no security expert but can certainly tell that something running in any Browser JVM shouldn't be considered "safe".
I pledge a bounty of 0.5 BTC if you change the name.

A) This is not running Java. This is pure Javascript and HTML. Regarding security - well, you can consider security by obscurity secure, but I don't. And Safebit will always be open-source, so all security needs to come from other sources, not by obscurity.

B) I really like the name Safebit, although it collides with another product (see http://safebit.net). For this is the chosen name, you can pledge your coins toward better causes than making me change the name. Perhaps you could come up with a better name?

[piuk]

This is pure Javascript and HTML.

Why does this have to depend on chrome?

[BombaUcigasa]

I'm no security expert

We can both agree on that. The security issue is allowing a browser extension full control over your bitcoin wallet. This opens your bitcoin application to malicious attacks from the developer, or someone forging the developer's identity.

Security issues aside, this looks very nice, I'm sorry if I won't test it

[ElectricMucus]

I'm no security expert

We can both agree on that. The security issue is allowing a browser extension full control over your bitcoin wallet. This opens your bitcoin application to malicious attacks from the developer, or someone forging the developer's identity.

Security issues aside, this looks very nice, I'm sorry if I won't test it

Right probably the biggest issue, I failed to mention that.

I think there are some hurdles against that inside chrome but I wouldn't bet on it.

[Eli]

I'm no security expert

We can both agree on that. The security issue is allowing a browser extension full control over your bitcoin wallet. This opens your bitcoin application to malicious attacks from the developer, or someone forging the developer's identity.

Security issues aside, this looks very nice, I'm sorry if I won't test it

Considering the fact that you use your browser to access financial websites like bank and PayPal, I think it's silly not to rely on Chrome to provide the state-of-the-art security when it comes to security around the apps.

It's your choice, but before you make wild claims that it's insecure or that it's open to malicious attacks, better check your facts.

And unless someone manages to steal my google account, you can trust the "Install App" on the chrome web store. That's why I chose it by the way, it allows me to concentrate on making Safebit and not trying to re-invent the wheel when it comes to secure distribution  and quality assurance and user control.

Again, before making claims that do not hold water, check your facts...

And having said that, I am no security expert, the people who work at Google and make sure that these stuff are taken care of, are security experts (some of them).

[ElectricMucus]

Well here is some free advice: Consider using your code to be served from a dedicated device with a web-server on it, this way the name would even be appropriate
Otherwise why not adapt it as a standalone application running gecko in the mean time?

[Gabi]

why there is the photo of a apple thing? 

[Eli]

why there is the photo of a apple thing? 

It looks good 

[BombaUcigasa]

Again, before making claims that do not hold water, check your facts...

I am very sorry if my post indicates I have made claims about the security of your application. Please kindly point those to me so I can edit them quickly. I was under no intention to provide actual issues with your application, sorry if it is understood so.

[Gabi]

why there is the photo of a apple thing? 

It looks good 

I have some doubts about that 

[Raoul Duke]

And what about http://www.safebit.net/ and their problem with you using the same name as their product?
Has it been resolved?

Before anyone asks, the owner of safebit.net sent me a mail because I posted about this safebit at Coinbits.com and I sent a PM to the OP, but he never acknowledged if he even got the PM, so I'm asking here.

The mail that i got was the following

Hello.
I see that you have a product named SafeBit.
I'd like to point out that we also have a product with the same name, a much older product. I highly recommend that you change the name of your product - since it's a newer product anyway.

Thank you.
Adrian Gheara.
www.safebit.net

Yes, he thought i was the owner of safebit(or he sent the same email to lots of blog owners, i dunno)

EDIT: I see that the OP talked about this matter a few posts back, sorry, haven't read the whole thread.

[norulezapply]

I loved this project until you mentioned it was purely JavaScript and HTML.

Please please please port it to C++ or something similar.

[Eli]

And what about http://www.safebit.net/ and their problem with you using the same name as their product?
Has it been resolved?

Before anyone asks, the owner of safebit.net sent me a mail because I posted about this safebit at Coinbits.com and I sent a PM to the OP, but he never acknowledged if he even got the PM, so I'm asking here.

The mail that i got was the following

Hello.
I see that you have a product named SafeBit.
I'd like to point out that we also have a product with the same name, a much older product. I highly recommend that you change the name of your product - since it's a newer product anyway.

Thank you.
Adrian Gheara.
www.safebit.net

Yes, he thought i was the owner of safebit(or he sent the same email to lots of blog owners, i dunno)

EDIT: I see that the OP talked about this matter a few posts back, sorry, haven't read the whole thread.

Yea yea, I know... A problematic issue.

I love the name, and I came up with it completely unrelated to the above product, and I think you're the one who got my attention (after you got the email from them) to this.

Not sure, right now I'm trying to refer to my product as "Safebit Bitcoin" but the official name (as you can see) is "Safebit".

There are different products with the same name out there, so I guess we could co-exist. In any case I'll mention them where ever it could cause a confusion and will link to their site if needed.

[BitterTea]

How does this make Bitcoin use any safer than using the official client?

[Eli]

How does this make Bitcoin use any safer than using the official client?

At this point in time - it doesn't. It's just a preview version which is basically a GUI wrapper around the official bitcoin client that may look nicer and perhaps easier to use.
We're already working on making this secure and safe in future versions.

This is just the start...