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Topic: Meet Carrie, The World's First Bitcoin Pedicab Driver at SXSW 2015 in Austin, TX (Read 1523 times)

hero member
Activity: 574
Merit: 500
Richard Coleman - Chief Executive @ CloudThink.IO
How does she know that her customers actually paid her? Without something that is connected to the network she has zero way of knowing with any kind of certainty that she actually will get paid.


Doesn't she have a phone (didn't watch the whole video)? Even if not she could ask her customers to show her the tx details on their phones (right after payment is made).

Don't really see a problem here. There's always some risk of double-spend attempt if she doesn't wait for confirmation, but I don't think anyone would try that for such small value service.

There's probably much higher risk of someone simply refusing to pay and walking/running away.
Well someone else's phone it would make it insanely easy for someone to fake a tx. Using her own phone would somewhat protect her however I am sure that not all parts of the city have great wireless coverage so there could be some areas that she cannot connect her wallet to the network, in which case she would have to rely on the word of her customers.

It would not be totally unexpected for a tx to take a minute or so for it to propagate throughout the network, so her customer could say that they paid her, wait for her to say that she can't see it on her end and then either actually send the tx if she says she can't see it, or not send it at all if she says that she can (because she has not wireless access)
full member
Activity: 137
Merit: 100
Well 4G would not be needed just to check the blockchain or really for any normal internet browsing, any simple wireless internet connection would suffice.

Of course. Plus, I imagine in Austin the situation is much more like Los Angeles the last time I was there, probably open wifi on almost every corner so you might not even need data service on your phone.
legendary
Activity: 1260
Merit: 1000
World Class Cryptonaire
I would be highly surprised if she doesn't own a cell phone with internet connection in the USA....

I'd be more surprised to find out someone in certain European or Asian countries didn't have a cell phone with internet access than someone in the USA. It's shocking and downright shameful how many places in the USA have no options for useful cell phone or internet service. Where I live, T-Mobile or Verizon will work and any other carrier is spotty at best, there is no 4G or even 3G no matter who your carrier is. Up until about 3 months ago when Verizon finally got their act together and decided to make DSL available here your choices for internet would have been dialup or HughesNet (with dialup easily being the better choice.. trust me on this one). Believe it or not, this is in Southern California and only about a 1-2 hour drive to Los Angeles depending on traffic.

Of course, I doubt the situation is the same in Austin, TX as it is here in this little rural desert town.. so odds are, she probably does have a smart phone with 4G internet access.

Quote
Also who would go through the trouble to TRY to make a successful double spend on a $5 pedicab ride?

The same kind of people who would go through the trouble to try to pass off a counterfeit $5 bill, and that does happen.. although that's probably orders of magnitude easier and less expensive than trying to double spend a transaction (with appropriate fees, etc) that has been on the bitcoin network for more than a few seconds. Smiley

Well 4G would not be needed just to check the blockchain or really for any normal internet browsing, any simple wireless internet connection would suffice.

It's much easier for a scam artist to print a fake $5 than to successfully conduct a double spend, like you stated Cheesy
full member
Activity: 137
Merit: 100
I would be highly surprised if she doesn't own a cell phone with internet connection in the USA....

I'd be more surprised to find out someone in certain European or Asian countries didn't have a cell phone with internet access than someone in the USA. It's shocking and downright shameful how many places in the USA have no options for useful cell phone or internet service. Where I live, T-Mobile or Verizon will work and any other carrier is spotty at best, there is no 4G or even 3G no matter who your carrier is. Up until about 3 months ago when Verizon finally got their act together and decided to make DSL available here your choices for internet would have been dialup or HughesNet (with dialup easily being the better choice.. trust me on this one). Believe it or not, this is in Southern California and only about a 1-2 hour drive to Los Angeles depending on traffic.

Of course, I doubt the situation is the same in Austin, TX as it is here in this little rural desert town.. so odds are, she probably does have a smart phone with 4G internet access.

Quote
Also who would go through the trouble to TRY to make a successful double spend on a $5 pedicab ride?

The same kind of people who would go through the trouble to try to pass off a counterfeit $5 bill, and that does happen.. although that's probably orders of magnitude easier and less expensive than trying to double spend a transaction (with appropriate fees, etc) that has been on the bitcoin network for more than a few seconds. Smiley
legendary
Activity: 1260
Merit: 1000
World Class Cryptonaire
How does she know that her customers actually paid her? Without something that is connected to the network she has zero way of knowing with any kind of certainty that she actually will get paid.

Although the tip feature/QR code on her bike does make sense for when she would receive payments that she doesn't need to know for sure will eventually get confirmed (and as a result few/no people will attempt to fake and ten double spend a tx to that address), she still needs to know that she will be paid when her customers actually pay their fairs

I would be highly surprised if she doesn't own a cell phone with internet connection in the USA....

Also who would go through the trouble to TRY to make a successful double spend on a $5 pedicab ride?
legendary
Activity: 1596
Merit: 1005
★Nitrogensports.eu★
Anyways, I thought pedicabs only happened in third world countries, never heard of one here in the states.
The USA is a third world country if you measure healthcare, wealth inequality, education, or prisoners per capita.

Also, there are many pedicabs in Manhattan.
People are just don't know what they are saying basically. There are a lot pedicabs around the usa. But none of them accepts bitcoin as far as I can tell. This girl is really educated about it, and she mean it. It is a great promotion for bitcoin, even it is something so small. Way to go!
hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 1000
https://youtu.be/PZm8TTLR2NU
Anyways, I thought pedicabs only happened in third world countries, never heard of one here in the states.
The USA is a third world country if you measure healthcare, wealth inequality, education, or prisoners per capita.

Also, there are many pedicabs in Manhattan.
newbie
Activity: 31
Merit: 0
would love to squeeze her real hard and eat her all up shes all bunny
newbie
Activity: 18
Merit: 0
She got a lot of tips in her address, and they are still coming, almost one full bitcoin.
hero member
Activity: 686
Merit: 500
That's pretty cool. She knows a whole lot about bitcoin!
legendary
Activity: 2436
Merit: 1561
How does she know that her customers actually paid her? Without something that is connected to the network she has zero way of knowing with any kind of certainty that she actually will get paid.


Doesn't she have a phone (didn't watch the whole video)? Even if not she could ask her customers to show her the tx details on their phones (right after payment is made).

Don't really see a problem here. There's always some risk of double-spend attempt if she doesn't wait for confirmation, but I don't think anyone would try that for such small value service.

There's probably much higher risk of someone simply refusing to pay and walking/running away.
hero member
Activity: 574
Merit: 500
Richard Coleman - Chief Executive @ CloudThink.IO
How does she know that her customers actually paid her? Without something that is connected to the network she has zero way of knowing with any kind of certainty that she actually will get paid.

Although the tip feature/QR code on her bike does make sense for when she would receive payments that she doesn't need to know for sure will eventually get confirmed (and as a result few/no people will attempt to fake and ten double spend a tx to that address), she still needs to know that she will be paid when her customers actually pay their fairs
legendary
Activity: 1484
Merit: 1004
Awesome! I send tip to her! Go go go!  Grin
hero member
Activity: 882
Merit: 500
Where am I?
I go to Austin all the time, I will have to use her next time
legendary
Activity: 1568
Merit: 1001
Solitude's comment was so vulgar and shocking that I literally burst out laughing, sorry for that. Anyways, I thought pedicabs only happened in third world countries, never heard of one here in the states. Anyways, Rand Paul is speaking at this event so hopefully his talk goes over well with the crowd.
hero member
Activity: 616
Merit: 500
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This is great for bitcoin and community members like that will reach wider audience than big internet companies. Bitcoin sure need more regular non nerd users to succed in large scale. Congrats and thank you.
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