Pages:
Author

Topic: The 21 Bitcoin Computer - page 8. (Read 11856 times)

legendary
Activity: 2142
Merit: 1010
Newbie
September 22, 2015, 11:01:48 AM
There is a reason why we cannot fit millions of micro/nano transactions on the blockchain.

What is this reason?
hero member
Activity: 644
Merit: 504
Bitcoin replaces central, not commercial, banks
September 22, 2015, 10:56:15 AM
Ok, here's what they can do: they're running a proprietary micropayments server so mocrotransactions won't all be directly on the blockchain. That will limit blockchain bloat but centralize payments, defeating the purpose of crypto. The interesting possibility is that they will pay you in bitcoin for running a full node, even if you aren't mining much or at all. How the economics of this business model works out is still a mystery.

Basically this computer is a hardware interface to their microtransaction server. It's a debit card that you plug into the wall. It would be stupid but this is a debit card your toaster can use. hmm. I guess that would still make it stupid.

Yeah this is what it sounds like to me, but maybe there's something here I'm not getting. If 21 centralizes microtransactions doesn't that defeat the point of bitcoin in the first place? wouldn't they increase their exposure to legal/security issues as well? I'm probably not understanding their complete plan here.

The transactions will still be settled on the blockchain ultimately. There is a reason why we cannot fit millions of micro/nano transactions on the blockchain. Some additional trust is required to make these use cases valid. 21inc sound like people I would trust with the small amounts concerned when we speak of microtransactions.

Do you really need to leverage the full security and decentralization of the Bitcoin blockchain for fractions of dollars?
hero member
Activity: 644
Merit: 504
Bitcoin replaces central, not commercial, banks
September 22, 2015, 10:48:26 AM
I'd say this paragraph from the medium post sums up the aim most concisely:

Quote
Conceptually, we believe that embedded mining will ultimately establish bitcoin as a fundamental system resource on par with CPU, bandwidth, hard drive space, and RAM. That is, one can imagine the ultimate thin client in which a system designer consciously chooses a relatively slow CPU but a relatively strong 21 mining chip, using the bitcoin generated therein to purchase computation in the cloud.

Although I suspect by the time this vision gets close to becoming viable, the present hardware they've got on offer might be somewhat outdated.  It's almost as though they're selling a direction or a mindset, rather than a finished product.  They've got a long road ahead of them to reach that kind of outcome.  Still, I can see the potential if they can make it work.

Personally I don't see potential for this specific usage scenario, because it is based on irrational assumptions: Why would a customer that wants processing power pay extra for a strong mining chip to purchase cloud processing power in a second step, if he could just pass on the mining chip and instead invest the funds directly in a more powerful CPU? That makes no sense for the customer - it only makes sense for 21, because they can profit from a) higher profit margins by selling their own simple-to-design mining chips and saving money on low-margin third party CPU, b) profit from (exorbitant) pool fees of their mining customers, and possibly c) profit from offering/mediating cloud computing services matched with their products.

ya.ya.yo!

Ever heard of "on-demand"?

On-demand doesn't invalidate the argument, because the customer still needs to pay for it.

If the CPU is so weak that the customer constantly needs external processing power for everyday activities, purchasing them through Bitcoin generated (minus fees) on another chip he has to pay for first is highly inefficient, so buying a more powerful CPU makes much more sense. If the bundled CPU is still so powerful that the customer rarely if ever needs external processing power - what is the point in paying for an additional mining chip?

I see some potential for 21's products by providing a machine-to-machine payment infrastructure that facilitates for example purchasing digital content. However I fail to see demand for the scenario mentioned.

ya.ya.yo!

So you don't see the potential for a marketplace of idle computer resources (or bandwidth) pooled together and available on demand....?

This is absolutely not about purchasing the resources using the bitcoins mined from the chip but enabling interoperability between all these devices so that they can communicate together using the Bitcoin protocol.
legendary
Activity: 1241
Merit: 1005
..like bright metal on a sullen ground.
September 22, 2015, 10:37:59 AM
Ok, here's what they can do: they're running a proprietary micropayments server so mocrotransactions won't all be directly on the blockchain. That will limit blockchain bloat but centralize payments, defeating the purpose of crypto. The interesting possibility is that they will pay you in bitcoin for running a full node, even if you aren't mining much or at all. How the economics of this business model works out is still a mystery.

Basically this computer is a hardware interface to their microtransaction server. It's a debit card that you plug into the wall. It would be stupid but this is a debit card your toaster can use. hmm. I guess that would still make it stupid.

Yeah this is what it sounds like to me, but maybe there's something here I'm not getting. If 21 centralizes microtransactions doesn't that defeat the point of bitcoin in the first place? wouldn't they increase their exposure to legal/security issues as well? I'm probably not understanding their complete plan here.
legendary
Activity: 1904
Merit: 1007
September 22, 2015, 10:37:38 AM
https://www.reddit.com/r/Buttcoin/comments/3lxrkg/all_the_comedy_gold_youll_need_to_know_about_from/

After months of suspense, the company finally revealed what market they were after:
Integrated Devices for the Internet of Things (IDIoTs).

Another proof that you are among one of them.
legendary
Activity: 1806
Merit: 1024
September 22, 2015, 10:35:13 AM
I'd say this paragraph from the medium post sums up the aim most concisely:

Quote
Conceptually, we believe that embedded mining will ultimately establish bitcoin as a fundamental system resource on par with CPU, bandwidth, hard drive space, and RAM. That is, one can imagine the ultimate thin client in which a system designer consciously chooses a relatively slow CPU but a relatively strong 21 mining chip, using the bitcoin generated therein to purchase computation in the cloud.

Although I suspect by the time this vision gets close to becoming viable, the present hardware they've got on offer might be somewhat outdated.  It's almost as though they're selling a direction or a mindset, rather than a finished product.  They've got a long road ahead of them to reach that kind of outcome.  Still, I can see the potential if they can make it work.

Personally I don't see potential for this specific usage scenario, because it is based on irrational assumptions: Why would a customer that wants processing power pay extra for a strong mining chip to purchase cloud processing power in a second step, if he could just pass on the mining chip and instead invest the funds directly in a more powerful CPU? That makes no sense for the customer - it only makes sense for 21, because they can profit from a) higher profit margins by selling their own simple-to-design mining chips and saving money on low-margin third party CPU, b) profit from (exorbitant) pool fees of their mining customers, and possibly c) profit from offering/mediating cloud computing services matched with their products.

ya.ya.yo!

Ever heard of "on-demand"?

On-demand doesn't invalidate the argument, because the customer still needs to pay for it.

If the CPU is so weak that the customer constantly needs external processing power for everyday activities, purchasing them through Bitcoin generated (minus fees) on another chip he has to pay for first is highly inefficient, so buying a more powerful CPU makes much more sense. If the bundled CPU is still so powerful that the customer rarely if ever needs external processing power - what is the point in paying for an additional mining chip?

I see some potential for 21's products by providing a machine-to-machine payment infrastructure that facilitates for example purchasing digital content. However I fail to see demand for the scenario mentioned.

ya.ya.yo!
hero member
Activity: 644
Merit: 504
Bitcoin replaces central, not commercial, banks
September 22, 2015, 10:34:55 AM
I'd say this paragraph from the medium post sums up the aim most concisely:

Quote
Conceptually, we believe that embedded mining will ultimately establish bitcoin as a fundamental system resource on par with CPU, bandwidth, hard drive space, and RAM. That is, one can imagine the ultimate thin client in which a system designer consciously chooses a relatively slow CPU but a relatively strong 21 mining chip, using the bitcoin generated therein to purchase computation in the cloud.

Although I suspect by the time this vision gets close to becoming viable, the present hardware they've got on offer might be somewhat outdated.  It's almost as though they're selling a direction or a mindset, rather than a finished product.  They've got a long road ahead of them to reach that kind of outcome.  Still, I can see the potential if they can make it work.

Personally I don't see potential for this specific usage scenario, because it is based on irrational assumptions: Why would a customer that wants processing power pay extra for a strong mining chip to purchase cloud processing power in a second step, if he could just pass on the mining chip and instead invest the funds directly in a more powerful CPU? That makes no sense for the customer - it only makes sense for 21, because they can profit from a) higher profit margins by selling their own simple-to-design mining chips and saving money on low-margin third party CPU, b) profit from (exorbitant) pool fees of their mining customers, and possibly c) profit from offering/mediating cloud computing services matched with their products.

ya.ya.yo!

Ever heard of "on-demand"?



For on-demand to work efficiently from the cloud requires a good internet connection. People in remote areas still don't have that, and people on the move often have to rely on 3G/4G. 3G/4G connections depend on how close the nearest transmitter is, and are partially blocked by buildings, trees, and rain. That specific usage scenario of using mining chips and cloud computing services wouldn't work for anyone using 3G/4G with bad reception. People outside urban areas wouldn't buy into it because it would be unlikely to work for them.

Did you just pull up some outlier scenarios to justify whatever point you're trying to make?

sr. member
Activity: 719
Merit: 250
September 22, 2015, 10:32:32 AM
I'd say this paragraph from the medium post sums up the aim most concisely:

Quote
Conceptually, we believe that embedded mining will ultimately establish bitcoin as a fundamental system resource on par with CPU, bandwidth, hard drive space, and RAM. That is, one can imagine the ultimate thin client in which a system designer consciously chooses a relatively slow CPU but a relatively strong 21 mining chip, using the bitcoin generated therein to purchase computation in the cloud.

Although I suspect by the time this vision gets close to becoming viable, the present hardware they've got on offer might be somewhat outdated.  It's almost as though they're selling a direction or a mindset, rather than a finished product.  They've got a long road ahead of them to reach that kind of outcome.  Still, I can see the potential if they can make it work.

Personally I don't see potential for this specific usage scenario, because it is based on irrational assumptions: Why would a customer that wants processing power pay extra for a strong mining chip to purchase cloud processing power in a second step, if he could just pass on the mining chip and instead invest the funds directly in a more powerful CPU? That makes no sense for the customer - it only makes sense for 21, because they can profit from a) higher profit margins by selling their own simple-to-design mining chips and saving money on low-margin third party CPU, b) profit from (exorbitant) pool fees of their mining customers, and possibly c) profit from offering/mediating cloud computing services matched with their products.

ya.ya.yo!

Ever heard of "on-demand"?



For on-demand to work efficiently from the cloud requires a good internet connection. People in remote areas still don't have that, and people on the move often have to rely on 3G/4G. 3G/4G connections depend on how close the nearest transmitter is, and are partially blocked by buildings, trees, and rain. That specific usage scenario of using mining chips and cloud computing services wouldn't work for anyone using 3G/4G with bad reception. People outside urban areas wouldn't buy into it because it would be unlikely to work for them.
hero member
Activity: 644
Merit: 504
Bitcoin replaces central, not commercial, banks
September 22, 2015, 10:26:15 AM
The next product won't be one you purchase, it will be embedded chips right into your computer, your cellphone, your IoT devices.

Sounds cool, any ETA?

This is obviously a long term project, think 5-10 years
hero member
Activity: 644
Merit: 504
Bitcoin replaces central, not commercial, banks
September 22, 2015, 10:24:46 AM
$400 seems a little expensive for a modded RPi2?

also, can you buy this thing with bitcoin? no? well...
Wait, you can't buy it with bitcoin? For all they seem to be trying to promote bitcoin, that's pretty dumb...
You can purchase it with Bitcoin through Purse.io if you really want to.

https://twitter.com/PurseIO/status/646075586838814720
That's not the point, they should be accepting bitcoin directly through their site, not relying on a third party.

They address that here:

Quote
Why can't I buy the 21 Bitcoin Computer with BTC?
Patience - we will be adding support for this! However, the deeper answer is that we think payment in BTC is not as big an improvement at the present time over standard ways to purchase macroscopic physical goods. Offline currencies are fairly well adapted for that use case. We believe that where Bitcoin really shines is for micropayments, as a medium of exchange for digital goods and services.

https://21.co/faq/
legendary
Activity: 2142
Merit: 1010
Newbie
September 22, 2015, 10:18:02 AM
The next product won't be one you purchase, it will be embedded chips right into your computer, your cellphone, your IoT devices.

Sounds cool, any ETA?
hero member
Activity: 644
Merit: 504
Bitcoin replaces central, not commercial, banks
September 22, 2015, 10:15:48 AM
This is a pilot program, a devkit for developers, it is not aimed at mass production or consumers.

When will we get the next product and what will it be?

The next product won't be one you purchase, it will be embedded chips right into your computer, your cellphone, your IoT devices.

hero member
Activity: 644
Merit: 504
Bitcoin replaces central, not commercial, banks
September 22, 2015, 10:14:37 AM
I'd say this paragraph from the medium post sums up the aim most concisely:

Quote
Conceptually, we believe that embedded mining will ultimately establish bitcoin as a fundamental system resource on par with CPU, bandwidth, hard drive space, and RAM. That is, one can imagine the ultimate thin client in which a system designer consciously chooses a relatively slow CPU but a relatively strong 21 mining chip, using the bitcoin generated therein to purchase computation in the cloud.

Although I suspect by the time this vision gets close to becoming viable, the present hardware they've got on offer might be somewhat outdated.  It's almost as though they're selling a direction or a mindset, rather than a finished product.  They've got a long road ahead of them to reach that kind of outcome.  Still, I can see the potential if they can make it work.

Personally I don't see potential for this specific usage scenario, because it is based on irrational assumptions: Why would a customer that wants processing power pay extra for a strong mining chip to purchase cloud processing power in a second step, if he could just pass on the mining chip and instead invest the funds directly in a more powerful CPU? That makes no sense for the customer - it only makes sense for 21, because they can profit from a) higher profit margins by selling their own simple-to-design mining chips and saving money on low-margin third party CPU, b) profit from (exorbitant) pool fees of their mining customers, and possibly c) profit from offering/mediating cloud computing services matched with their products.

ya.ya.yo!

Ever heard of "on-demand"?

legendary
Activity: 2142
Merit: 1010
Newbie
September 22, 2015, 10:12:25 AM
This is a pilot program, a devkit for developers, it is not aimed at mass production or consumers.

When will we get the next product and what will it be?
hero member
Activity: 854
Merit: 658
rgbkey.github.io/pgp.txt
September 22, 2015, 10:11:35 AM
$400 seems a little expensive for a modded RPi2?

also, can you buy this thing with bitcoin? no? well...
Wait, you can't buy it with bitcoin? For all they seem to be trying to promote bitcoin, that's pretty dumb...
You can purchase it with Bitcoin through Purse.io if you really want to.

https://twitter.com/PurseIO/status/646075586838814720
That's not the point, they should be accepting bitcoin directly through their site, not relying on a third party.
hero member
Activity: 644
Merit: 504
Bitcoin replaces central, not commercial, banks
September 22, 2015, 10:09:37 AM
The price is way over the top to get an internet of things going.. But surely machines like this will boost the node count significantly.

How would updating this thing go?

This is a pilot program, a devkit for developers, it is not aimed at mass production or consumers.
legendary
Activity: 1442
Merit: 1016
September 22, 2015, 10:05:04 AM
I'm not technically that deep into all that stuff so I can not say if this is something amazing or more like "meh".
This thread is separated in two parties it seems. I myself will watch 21 and see what will happen the next months.Of course I hope it is something revolutinary what helps us to push Bitcoin forward.
legendary
Activity: 1806
Merit: 1024
September 22, 2015, 09:57:09 AM
I'd say this paragraph from the medium post sums up the aim most concisely:

Quote
Conceptually, we believe that embedded mining will ultimately establish bitcoin as a fundamental system resource on par with CPU, bandwidth, hard drive space, and RAM. That is, one can imagine the ultimate thin client in which a system designer consciously chooses a relatively slow CPU but a relatively strong 21 mining chip, using the bitcoin generated therein to purchase computation in the cloud.

Although I suspect by the time this vision gets close to becoming viable, the present hardware they've got on offer might be somewhat outdated.  It's almost as though they're selling a direction or a mindset, rather than a finished product.  They've got a long road ahead of them to reach that kind of outcome.  Still, I can see the potential if they can make it work.

Personally I don't see potential for this specific usage scenario, because it is based on irrational assumptions: Why would a customer that wants processing power pay extra for a strong mining chip to purchase cloud processing power in a second step, if he could just pass on the mining chip and instead invest the funds directly in a more powerful CPU? That makes no sense for the customer - it only makes sense for 21, because they can profit from a) higher profit margins by selling their own simple-to-design mining chips and saving money on low-margin third party CPU, b) profit from (exorbitant) pool fees of their mining customers, and possibly c) profit from offering/mediating cloud computing services matched with their products.

ya.ya.yo!
hero member
Activity: 644
Merit: 504
Bitcoin replaces central, not commercial, banks
September 22, 2015, 09:47:20 AM
Pretty exciting times. If this all plays out like 21 inc envisions it 11/16/2015 will go down in history as the start of the IoT.

If you want a positive outlook on how these devices could be used check out the retweets of their CEO here: https://twitter.com/balajis

If you want the negative just think in pure fiat and commercialized mining terms: These will never ever ROI on their mining capabilities (not that they were meant to...see the big picture here guys).

I'm glad that someone else gets it. The utter ignorance and narrow mindedness of people here is appalling.
hero member
Activity: 910
Merit: 1003
September 22, 2015, 09:47:17 AM
https://www.reddit.com/r/Buttcoin/comments/3lxrkg/all_the_comedy_gold_youll_need_to_know_about_from/

After months of suspense, the company finally revealed what market they were after:
Integrated Devices for the Internet of Things (IDIoTs).
Pages:
Jump to: