bitcoincard.org

[Realpra]

Well I have been rooting for mesh networking a while but I think a normal open source BTC smartcard would be better for btc and a phone would be a better... phone.

Their design includes a trusted server, which should NOT be necessary for bitcoins.

That said it sounds technologically impressive.

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[SgtSpike]

Their design includes a trusted server, which should NOT be necessary for bitcoins.

Well, when you can design a credit-card sized device that can hold and process the entire Bitcoin blockchain, you let us know! 

[idev]

Solar Cell Powered Smart Card With Integrated Display And Interface Keypad - Patent 5777903

[Meatpile]

This can't possibly be a real product:

- It would take another 50 years of research to get a battery capable of being that small with any amount of charge.... More likely you would need constant "solar" input which means holding it up in direct sunlight as you do everything such as type on the back (where you cant see the screen anymore?)

- If it needs constant sunlight for all its peer to peer action going on, that means custom hats as well. Or the really cool "makers"/people will tape it to their hair and existing hats

- Any "real product" you have seen of this already is going to be stripped down bullshit with only basic screen and keyboard functionality, wireless communication is way too power hungry to ever work off any kind of battery they could fit in there. 

If you invest in this... You will lose your money. Unless you wait the 50 years or so years required for better battery technology. Batteries have been the bottleneck in most mobile electronics for years now.

[Matthew N. Wright]

This can't possibly be a real product:

- It would take another 50 years of research to get a battery capable of being that small with any amount of charge.... More likely you would need constant "solar" input which means holding it up in direct sunlight as you do everything such as type on the back (where you cant see the screen anymore?)

- If it needs constant sunlight for all its peer to peer action going on, that means custom hats as well. Or the really cool "makers"/people will tape it to their hair and existing hats

- Any "real product" you have seen of this already is going to be stripped down bullshit with only basic screen and keyboard functionality, wireless communication is way too power hungry to ever work off any kind of battery they could fit in there. 

If you invest in this... You will lose your money. Unless you wait the 50 years or so years required for better battery technology. Batteries have been the bottleneck in most mobile electronics for years now.

Couldn't agree more. I applaud the direction they're going but it's a combination that doesn't make sense and basically pics or it didn't happen.

[evoorhees]

This can't possibly be a real product:

- It would take another 50 years of research to get a battery capable of being that small with any amount of charge.... More likely you would need constant "solar" input which means holding it up in direct sunlight as you do everything such as type on the back (where you cant see the screen anymore?)

- If it needs constant sunlight for all its peer to peer action going on, that means custom hats as well. Or the really cool "makers"/people will tape it to their hair and existing hats

- Any "real product" you have seen of this already is going to be stripped down bullshit with only basic screen and keyboard functionality, wireless communication is way too power hungry to ever work off any kind of battery they could fit in there. 

If you invest in this... You will lose your money. Unless you wait the 50 years or so years required for better battery technology. Batteries have been the bottleneck in most mobile electronics for years now.

Couldn't agree more. I applaud the direction they're going but it's a combination that doesn't make sense and basically pics or it didn't happen.

As mentioned, pics forthcoming in about a month. Hang tight

[Littleshop]

This can't possibly be a real product:

- It would take another 50 years of research to get a battery capable of being that small with any amount of charge.... More likely you would need constant "solar" input which means holding it up in direct sunlight as you do everything such as type on the back (where you cant see the screen anymore?)

As I said above, with a cpu the level of the samsung credit card cpu this is possible.  Remember, it runs at something like 5mhz.  The epaper display only uses power when CHANGING the screen display.  The display otherwise uses no power.  A very thin battery could do this and even periodically communicate. 

- If it needs constant sunlight for all its peer to peer action going on, that means custom hats as well. Or the really cool "makers"/people will tape it to their hair and existing hats

- Any "real product" you have seen of this already is going to be stripped down bullshit with only basic screen and keyboard functionality, wireless communication is way too power hungry to ever work off any kind of battery they could fit in there. 

I agree with you on this, the mesh would not be able to work for too long without being in the light.  So it will not work long inside of the wallet.  It could do some communication though.  It is not going to sit in your wallet for a week, then wake up when you get in the store and talk to the servers.  Now if you pull it out of your wallet and it gets some light that is a different story. 

If you invest in this... You will lose your money. Unless you wait the 50 years or so years required for better battery technology. Batteries have been the bottleneck in most mobile electronics for years now.

Actually I think this is a great potential investment.  Just skip some of the parts that might not be ready for prime time.  An item like this may be producible at a low cost with a $19 selling point.  As a bitcoin wallet system, this item could work very well. 

[/quote]

[MatthewLM]

Sorry, I do not understand this. Why is this better than a smartphone? A clumsy little card? Why?

[adamstgBit]

Sorry, I do not understand this. Why is this better than a smartphone? A clumsy little card? Why?

you dont get a bill every month
you're anonymous when using it
...

[SgtSpike]

Sorry, I do not understand this. Why is this better than a smartphone? A clumsy little card? Why?

you dont get a bill every month
you're anonymous when using it
...

It's smaller
It's cheaper
It's more secure (presumably moreso than a smartphone)

[paraipan]

waiting forward for this tech to come out 

[rjk]

All the advertising shit at the end pisses me off. I hope that is strictly opt-in, and can be disabled. However, I recognize that that is probably the only thing that will sell it to big businesses.  

Sorry to quote myself, but has everyone watched the video? Why isn't my comment getting a little love?

Advertising is the bane of my existence, targeted advertising ever so much more so.  I hope and pray that it can be disabled.

[adamstgBit]

All the advertising shit at the end pisses me off. I hope that is strictly opt-in, and can be disabled. However, I recognize that that is probably the only thing that will sell it to big businesses.  

Sorry to quote myself, but has everyone watched the video? Why isn't my comment getting a little love?

Advertising is the bane of my existence, targeted advertising ever so much more so.  I hope and pray that it can be disabled.

ya just turn it off.

but idk i wouldn't getting some targeted advertising, if it helps me shop smarter. Say I'm about to buy something and then poof the thing tells me its half off at the other store, that might be nice

[SgtSpike]

All the advertising shit at the end pisses me off. I hope that is strictly opt-in, and can be disabled. However, I recognize that that is probably the only thing that will sell it to big businesses.  

Sorry to quote myself, but has everyone watched the video? Why isn't my comment getting a little love?

Advertising is the bane of my existence, targeted advertising ever so much more so.  I hope and pray that it can be disabled.

Why so hard on advertising?  Do you realize what it does?

It gives you free TV shows, free websites, free (or very cheap) newspapers, free (or very cheap) magazines, etc etc.  Do you just want to pay for everything instead?

I'd rather put up with the ads and save a few bucks, myself.

[evoorhees]

All the advertising shit at the end pisses me off. I hope that is strictly opt-in, and can be disabled. However, I recognize that that is probably the only thing that will sell it to big businesses.  

Sorry to quote myself, but has everyone watched the video? Why isn't my comment getting a little love?

Advertising is the bane of my existence, targeted advertising ever so much more so.  I hope and pray that it can be disabled.

Did you miss the irony in your signature?

[rjk]

All the advertising shit at the end pisses me off. I hope that is strictly opt-in, and can be disabled. However, I recognize that that is probably the only thing that will sell it to big businesses.  

Sorry to quote myself, but has everyone watched the video? Why isn't my comment getting a little love?

Advertising is the bane of my existence, targeted advertising ever so much more so.  I hope and pray that it can be disabled.

Why so hard on advertising?  Do you realize what it does?

It gives you free TV shows, free websites, free (or very cheap) newspapers, free (or very cheap) magazines, etc etc.  Do you just want to pay for everything instead?

I'd rather put up with the ads and save a few bucks, myself.

I don't watch TV
I pay for or donate to the websites that I need
I don't read the newspaper (does anyone these days?)
I pay for my mags, and the ad-free ones cost a bit more

With advertising that is this targeted, things are going to get creepy, fast.

Did you miss the irony in your signature?

Asking for voluntary donations is the same as selling a product that is highly targeted?

[Meatpile]

Advertising would be quickly turned off by wrapping it in tinfoil, but basically the least of all concerns here. If the thing already likely doesn't have enough battery to do what its suppose to do, they arent going to have all this extra power to constantly advertise to you as well.

[evoorhees]

Did you miss the irony in your signature?

Asking for voluntary donations is the same as selling a product that is highly targeted?

Hmmm one might say it's more legitimate. When you're selling something, there's a two-way benefit. When you're requesting a donation, it's a one-way benefit to yourself (save that the person might feel good about donating, of course). I'm just being hard on you cause it was funny to decry advertising when you're advertising in your own signature

[MatthewLM]

Sorry, I do not understand this. Why is this better than a smartphone? A clumsy little card? Why?

you dont get a bill every month
you're anonymous when using it
...

Using bitcoin with a smartphone wouldn't cost any extra with internet usage included in your contract unless you were charged for extra usage and went over the usage limits. There is also wifi.

Could you implement some anonymity for smart-phones? Some way to hide the IP address if you every really had to for whatever reason. Is this something people really want?

It's smaller
It's cheaper

A lot of people already use smart-phones, especially people tech-savvy enough to be using bitcoin (I would guess the majority of bitcoin users would have smart-phones but I could be wrong). This would only be beneficial for those that do not have smart-phones and don't want them.

It's more secure (presumably moreso than a smartphone)

Well if smart-phones are in risk of malware that could manipulate any bitcoin software. Do smartphones have many vulnerabilities? I seem to remember one smartphone had a vulnerability hackers were taking advantage off which was fixed. I forgot about that now so if anyone is more aware please tell me.

[MoonShadow]

Sorry, I do not understand this. Why is this better than a smartphone? A clumsy little card? Why?

you dont get a bill every month
you're anonymous when using it
...

Using bitcoin with a smartphone wouldn't cost any extra with internet usage included in your contract unless you were charged for extra usage and went over the usage limits. There is also wifi.

Not everyone uses smartphones, or ever will.  My wife uses a cell phone that can make phone calls and text, and nothing more.  I have a android.  I've noticed myself that for the act of making actual voice phone calls, her's is superior even though my is three times the cost.  Plus, there is the issue of security, your cell phone could potentially get hacked or malwared.  A simple standalone hardware device that uses a data protocol that doesn't permit arbitrary code to be loaded onto it from the radio is more secure by nature, thus better for the common user.  Better even for the power user in many cases as well.

Could you implement some anonymity for smart-phones? Some way to hide the IP address if you every really had to for whatever reason. Is this something people really want?

Yes, some people will want it.  No, you can't practially do this with a smartphone, because no matter what you do, your cell phone company knows who you are, where you are, and what packets cross their network.

It's smaller
It's cheaper

A lot of people already use smart-phones, especially people tech-savvy enough to be using bitcoin (I would guess the majority of bitcoin users would have smart-phones but I could be wrong). This would only be beneficial for those that do not have smart-phones and don't want them.

It would at that, and that is a market bitcoin needs to be able to penetrate with reasonable & inherent security.  I own a smartphone, and I'd buy this card today (and a dongle for my home router) if it were available.  I can think of no other method that is as secure from infultration, as portable and as convient.  Sure, my cell can text just fine, but not anonymously and not if I'm out camping beyond my providers reach.  If I had one of these cards for each of my kids, whether they had bitcoin or not, I could  communicate with them even when they were hidden by the trees, so long as they were in radio range with me and/or their siblings.

It's more secure (presumably moreso than a smartphone)

Well if smart-phones are in risk of malware that could manipulate any bitcoin software. Do smartphones have many vulnerabilities? I seem to remember one smartphone had a vulnerability hackers were taking advantage off which was fixed. I forgot about that now so if anyone is more aware please tell me.

Smartphones are just computers.  Android is a version of gnu/linux, as an example. Linux is fairly secure by nature, but it's not perfect.  The problem is the shear complexity of the modern OS, which leaves open the possibility that a security hole was missed by the developers to be found by hackers in the future.  There is also the problem of your cell provder, do you trust them enough to handle your money?  Becuase from a practical perspective, they have acces to your unrooted cell phone; so somewhere there is a backdoor to the device.  This is how they can update your phone's software over-the-air without your personal involvement.  What happens if the next wallet stealing trogen is written by the former developer for Sprint?