BitcoinSpinner

[Jan]

From the BitcoinSpinner announcement thread:

BitcoinSpinner v0.8.0b is out. You can download/upgrade it from the Google Android market (god know why, but they call it Google Play these days), or fetch it directly from the project site. The differences may seem subtle, but it is backed by 1 1/2 months of hard full time work where most of the time has been spent on the backend system.
User visible changes:
 - Even faster: The next generation BCCAPI is simpler, has fewer lines og code, requires fewer server roundtrips during startup, while being as secure as before.
 - In addition to displaying "coins on the way to you" on the main screen it also displays how many coins you are currently sending.
 - Transaction history color coded to make it easier to distinguish receives and sends
 - Transaction history now displays the address you received coins from instead of displaying which address you received the coins with.
 - Better error messages when trying to spend your last coins while you cannot afford the miner fee.

BitcoinSpinner is now backed by another version of the BCCAPI, which makes it much easier to manage multiple redundant servers as they no longer need to share anything but the block chain.  I will maintain backwards compatibility with version 0.7.3b for about a month, leaving people time to upgrade, whereafter I'll scrap the old server. This allows me to manage multiple redundant copies of the new backend, which has been requested by several.
 
Enjoy

For those of you who are using the raw BCCAPI there will be a little integration work to get to the next generation. The good news is that:
1. The new API is simpler and more powerful, as it allows you query on any Bitcoin address
2. The old API will continue to work for a month or so.

Look for bitlib and bccapi here: http://code.google.com/p/bitcoinspinner/source/browse/#svn%2Ftrunk
bitlib is a self-contained Java library for dealing with transactions (creating, parsing wire-format, signing, ...)
bccapi builds on top of that and connects to a server etc, so if you don't like that you can still use bitlib

There is a brand new version of the ASCII based SimpleClient showing how to use it here: http://code.google.com/p/bitcoinspinner/source/browse/trunk/bccapi/src/com/bccapi/ng/example/SimpleClient.java

I haven't updated the official BCCAPI page yet, but I am working on it.

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[Jouke]

Is there a document that explains all the api calls?

Edit: I have no experience with Java and I was wondering if I can get a php-script to work as a client.

[Jan]

Is there a document that explains all the api calls?

All the high level functions are described in this interface: http://code.google.com/p/bccapi/source/browse/trunk/bccapi/src/com/bccapi/ng/api/BitcoinClientApi.java

The SimpleClient example shows how you can create your own wallet with a few pages of code: http://code.google.com/p/bccapi/source/browse/trunk/bccapi/src/com/bccapi/ng/example/SimpleClient.java

There is also a short example of how you can construct a transaction from scratch and broadcast it here: http://code.google.com/p/bccapi/source/browse/trunk/bccapi/src/com/bccapi/ng/example/CustomBuiltTransaction.java

In short bitlib is a general purpose toolbox for working with transactions etc, and bccapi is my propritary server that allows you to query/broadcast to the bitcoin network.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[jim618]

You've been busy Jan !

:-)

[Jouke]

Is there a document that explains all the api calls?

and bccapi is my propritary server that allows you to query/broadcast to the bitcoin network.

Oh, I was under the impression that your bccapi server was also available as opensource somewhere.

[Tacticat]

I've been playing around with the export and backup option and my private key could have been compromised. How do I generate a new address?

So far everything seems nice and easy, and I would like to generate a new address without having to delete the app's date and probably losing my address book.

And second question: Why does the backup option not provide the private address? What exactly is the BSB string and how is it generated?

[Jan]

I've been playing around with the export and backup option and my private key could have been compromised. How do I generate a new address?

So far everything seems nice and easy, and I would like to generate a new address without having to delete the app's date and probably losing my address book.

And second question: Why does the backup option not provide the private address? What exactly is the BSB string and how is it generated?

To generate a new address you can uninstall and re-install. This may sound very limiting, but with BitcoinSpinner I am very keen on keeping it simple. Unfortunately this also means that you loose your address book   
There is one other solution. If you have a separate phone you can make install BS there and make a backup which you restore on the other phone. This way you change the address (and private key) without loosing your address book.

Importing private keys has not been possible so far because of limitations on the server that backs BitcoinSpinner. However, now where BS has a different backend system this is no longer the case, so maybe it is time for me to add the Import Private Key feature.

The BSB string is a random 256-bit seed which BitcoinSpinner uses to generate two deterministic keys. One is the ordinary Bitcoin private key, the other is a key which was used for the old backend system for authentication purposes. The authentication key is no longer used.

[cypherdoc]

Jan,

a friend of mine had 0.5 BTC stored in Spinner on his old Samsung S3 Galaxy.  he exchanged phones at Verizon and had his whole OS copied over to the new S3 but the BTC is missing.  is it likely that it's on his new phone but just hidden?  what could i do to recover it?

[Jan]

Jan,

a friend of mine had 0.5 BTC stored in Spinner on his old Samsung S3 Galaxy.  he exchanged phones at Verizon and had his whole OS copied over to the new S3 but the BTC is missing.  is it likely that it's on his new phone but just hidden?  what could i do to recover it?

BitcoinSpinner uses app private storage for key storage. If the process used when copying does not copy that over then the key is gone (Still on the original phone in the Verizon trashcan).

Did all his apps come along for the ride?

He did make a BitcoinSpinner backup right? The app advises you to make a backup as soon as you have a positive balance.

[cypherdoc]

Jan,

a friend of mine had 0.5 BTC stored in Spinner on his old Samsung S3 Galaxy.  he exchanged phones at Verizon and had his whole OS copied over to the new S3 but the BTC is missing.  is it likely that it's on his new phone but just hidden?  what could i do to recover it?

BitcoinSpinner uses app private storage for key storage. If the process used when copying does not copy that over then the key is gone (Still on the original phone in the Verizon trashcan).

Did all his apps come along for the ride?

He did make a BitcoinSpinner backup right? The app advises you to make a backup as soon as you have a positive balance.

Spinner DID get copied over.

no, he did not make a backup as he didn't realize what he was dealing with. 

[o_dima]

Many thanks for your efforts!!
BitcoinSpinner is perfect and simple. Transferred all my coins into it. Now it's my main wallet.

Also tested this:
Installed same wallet on two devices: Nexus 7 and Galaxy Nexus - no any broblem with sharing wallet.  Both devices usually connected via my home WiFi which means they share same internet IP address. What if I try to connect your server from different IP adresses simultaneously? Will it make any problem?

Allready tested a donate feature - works good. )
But  it seems sometimes conecting to server take to much time... Esterday it took about 10 minutes for confirmation of my donating transaction. Actualy it was included in transaction block very fast (acording records in the blockcain) but reflection of this action on my device was really delayed.

Many thanks Slush for making russian translaion, but there are some roughness:
- word "Bitcoin" used in incorrect (slang) form;
- word "transacion" used in old, rare form;
- "Coins you are sending" on the main screen - not translated.
How can I help you to correct this?

[Jan]

Many thanks for your efforts!!
BitcoinSpinner is perfect and simple. Transferred all my coins into it. Now it's my main wallet.

Also tested this:
Installed same wallet on two devices: Nexus 7 and Galaxy Nexus - no any broblem with sharing wallet.  Both devices usually connected via my home WiFi which means they share same internet IP address. What if I try to connect your server from different IP adresses simultaneously? Will it make any problem?

You can use the same wallet on as many devices as you like. However, if you make a simultaneous payment on two devices at the same time you are likely to attempt a double spend as they we using some of the same inputs. In the end one of them will fail to get confirmed.

Allready tested a donate feature - works good. )
But  it seems sometimes conecting to server take to much time... Esterday it took about 10 minutes for confirmation of my donating transaction. Actualy it was included in transaction block very fast (acording records in the blockcain) but reflection of this action on my device was really delayed.

Thanks for the donation! I cannot tell why you observed a delay. Normally you should only expect a delay of a few seconds or something along those lines.

Many thanks Slush for making russian translaion, but there are some roughness:
- word "Bitcoin" used in incorrect (slang) form;
- word "transacion" used in old, rare form;
- "Coins you are sending" on the main screen - not translated.
How can I help you to correct this?

You can see the Russian translation here: http://code.google.com/p/bitcoinspinner/source/browse/trunk/BitcoinSpinner/res/values-ru/strings.xml
And the corresponding English version here: http://code.google.com/p/bitcoinspinner/source/browse/trunk/BitcoinSpinner/res/values/strings.xml
"Coins you are sending" did not exist when the Russian translation was made, so it only exists in the English version.
If you PM me your email address I can send you the two files. Alternatively you can check them out using subversion or just send me the fixes.
Thanks.

[o_dima]

If you PM me your email address I can send you the two files. Alternatively you can check them out using subversion or just send me the fixes.
Thanks.

Mailed the fixes to you... 3 days ago.

[Zangelbert Bingledack]

I'm a newb at cryptography, but how does BitcoinSpinner generate its addresses randomly? I read "random seed" somewhere, but how do you ensure that no one could look at the address-generating algorithm and narrow down the search space for possible private keys? For example, if it were based on time, someone could just try all the addresses associated with the various times...right? It doesn't mention using mouse movements to create entropy like bitaddress.org does, for instance.

My biggest fear is that addresses generated for me will be somehow predictable (I know this isn't limited to BitcoinSpinner).

[Jan]

If you PM me your email address I can send you the two files. Alternatively you can check them out using subversion or just send me the fixes.
Thanks.

Mailed the fixes to you... 3 days ago.

Found it... Spam filters, you hate and love them ;-)

[Jan]

I'm a newb at cryptography, but how does BitcoinSpinner generate its addresses randomly? I read "random seed" somewhere, but how do you ensure that no one could look at the address-generating algorithm and narrow down the search space for possible private keys? For example, if it were based on time, someone could just try all the addresses associated with the various times...right? It doesn't mention using mouse movements to create entropy like bitaddress.org does, for instance.

My biggest fear is that addresses generated for me will be somehow predictable (I know this isn't limited to BitcoinSpinner).

Having a good random source is paramount when dealing with key generation. Some years back there was a grave mistake in Netscape's browser where it turned out that they initialized the random seed with the time in seconds since epoch. Basically this meant that if you could guess the time when a key was generated you could generate the exact same key. Even if you only knew the year the seed space was only about 30 million.

On Android there is a cryptographically secure random source which BitcoinSpinner (and other Bitcoin wallets) uses for key generation. It is supposedly based on inputs from hardware, e.g. radio noise, accelerometer, compass, etc.

[Wekkel]

I have a strange problem (version 0.8.1b). If I want to make a payment, the program freezes at "calculating network fee". If I FC the app, the BTC are still in my wallet, so effectively I cannot send any BTC.

A fresh install and restoring the wallet from a backup results in the same freeze.

[edit] got the BTC out of the wallet by importing wallet to blockchain.info wallet and subsequently making the payment from there. I guess the transaction size was too big for Bitcoinspinner (transaction was chopped down to 249 parts due to a lot of mini payments received in the past). Took some time to confirm as well 

[molecular]

is it possible the server is down? that's what the app tells me after about 3 minutes or so.

[hgmichna]

is it possible the server is down? that's what the app tells me after about 3 minutes or so.

Confirmed; same observation here.

[hgmichna]

Mt.Gox is also somewhat overloaded right now. Perhaps several systems are overloaded, just before the bubble bursts.