I'd like to invest in SC, but can't as the SIA UI won't install on my 32-bit laptop. Is there an online wallet, or better yet, a lite wallet which doesn't require download of full blockchain or bootstrapping?
There is no official Lite wallet yet. But the Luxor developers team (well reputed and trustworthy people) is preparing a Lite wallet and should be ready in a few weeks:http://wallet.luxor.tech/ No word yet if it will be 32bit-compatible or not. Most of software development nowadays is 64bit-exclusive...
With the Obelisk announcement is clear that this coin has no future (it had no future already) and it's only used to make money for its parent (selling miners) company.
Could you elaborate on what you mean here for us newbies, please?
He is simply spreading FUD, I would ignore that. The development team, Nebulous, has crated a subsidiary company to create ASIC miners for mining Sia. The goal is make the network more secure, as ASICs will outcompete GPU miners. GPU mining is dangerous for coins smaller than Ethereum, as if anyone of the 3 big Ether mining pools point to mine Sia, the can organize a 51% attack. The natural decision of the team to secure the network and prevent future problems is then manufacturing ASICs: miners that can mine Sia and only Sia. They are not selling more than 20% of hashpower to any individual, ensuring the mining network will be de-centralized.
In summary, once the miners are manufactured and distributed next year, Sia network will be more secure. If you want to learn more about the reasons of the decision of making ASICs, I recommend you this reading (long, but very informative):
https://blog.sia.tech/choosing-asics-for-sia-b318505b5b51
