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How the Internet Archive is having a great time with Bitcoin
- jtchang 13y agoI have so much respect for the internet archive. To me the internet archive represents an entity that really understands the "Internet" and aligns closely with a lot of the ideals of free speech and information access. Plus the wayback machine is super cool!
- vidyesh 13y agoWayback machine has to be the best thing created online. Its not just about the nostalgia it about the growth and keeping all necessary information always available. I really like how they quickly and smoothly accepted bitcoins. They truly listen and understand the Internet.
- manish_gill 13y agoI'm more interested in mining them. Is it too late to start jumping on the BTC train ? Do you need special processors? Last I remember, you could still mine Bitcoins using GPUs.
- warfangle 13y agoYou can use GPUs, but you will have much better luck using an ASIC.
- dmm 13y agoYou can still mine with AMD GPUs but the difficulty has been rising fast due to the release of ASICs. For example, right now a Radeon HD 7970 will earn you about 1.4 BTC per month. ASICs are not for sale anywhere. You can preorder from butterfly labs but there is no indication when they will ship.
- anigbrowl 13y agoWhy not an FPGA?
- pmorici 13y agoThey did do FPGA, many of the companies selling FPGA boards to mine have ceased operations because interest has dropped off since ASICS are where it is at now.
- anigbrowl 13y ago/facepalm
- elwin 13y agoThe advantage to FPGAs is that they can be designed rapidly. ASICs are cheaper to manufacture and usually run faster.
- wmf 13y agoFPGAs are the same speed as GPUs but cost more, so they're only better if you're paying a lot for power.
- dmm 13y agoActually, if you were serious about mining, FPGAs might still be a good choice. They are approximately as efficient as current ASICS, just much slower. Plus they will have resale value.
- lwat 13y agoI don't see why decent ASICs will ever be for sale. It'll be more profitable to run them than to sell them so the manufacturers will keep them.
- pmorici 13y agoBecause you need a large capital investment to get an ASIC made. taking pre-orders and selling some is one way to get that cash.
- vidyesh 13y agoCPU Mining is possible but not profitable. GPU mining is the traditional and the best way. The thing is, if you have a very bad GPU you might not make any profit. The electrial costs are going to be a pain in that case. If you have a fairly decent GPU, you can still mine and shine but expect a really low profit. If you aren't worried about the electrial costs ( as GPU is running 100% 24/7 ) then you could mine very well. If you really want to know how much exactly you could mine Use a manual calucaltor - https://tpbitcalc.appspot.com/ https://tpbitcalc.appspot.com/ OR Run a Miner http://bitminter.com/ http://bitminter.com/ ( Run the pool's miner for few minutes, it would calcuate an estimate for you )
- tlrobinson 13y agoGPU mining is on the way out thanks the imminent proliferation of ASICs. I've heard it's more profitable to mine Litecoin then convert to BTC at this point.
- vidyesh 13y agoASICs are yet to penetrate well, thanks to the delays. Till then GPUs would still work. Mine out till you can. Here is the thing, after BTC's success many such online digital currency came into existence. As soon as BTC gets enough traction, there would be some regulation to handle the growing digital currencies. There are chances that not every such currecny would grow like BTC did. So putting time in mining should be well calculated. If you think LTC would grow then go for it, but if not then no point putting time and money in mining for it. Better mine, earn, sell off and move on.
- deepblueocean 13y agoI wonder how much pressure IA feels to convert its donated bitcoin holdings to cash, given the run-up in exchange rates that has happened recently. Does IA prefer to support Bitcoin as if it were, as its proponents suggest, a real currency with sticking power for the long-term future? Or is there more real and permanent good to be had from converting that money to dollars to support the Archive's excellent programs today? Clearly the latter must trump the former at some price. I think that price may be well below the $/BTC exchange rate today.
- waterlesscloud 13y agoIA is using bitcoin to support its programs, by paying its staff (in part) in bitcoin. In other words, the institution is getting the services it needs in return for bitcoin.
- MacsHeadroom 13y agoThe recent run-up is nothing. The price will be $300/BTC by next week and $3000/BTC by next year.
- unimpressive 13y agoI need to start recording bold predictions like this in some sort of journal. EDIT: I meant in general, not just for bitcoin.
- Frozenlock 13y agoDon't! It will take more space than the entire blockchain!
- unimpressive 13y agoThe better ones could be added to an extension I was thinking of for the newsreader I still need to write. Basically it would take your karma on HN, and then pick a random (important) event that happened on the year that your karma currently corresponds to. (Years would be common era.) I was thinking after the current year I could start using stuff like that one XKCD comic that predicts the future based on stupid stuff people google search for.[0] [0]: https://xkcd.com/887/ https://xkcd.com/887/ EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot to say what it did with the event. It just displays it somewhere on screen, like in the top corner or something.
- blhack 13y agoOkay, fine. How do I buy some bitcoin? Is bitinstant still cool? edit1: Okay, MT Gox seems to be having some server problems, but things are going...slowly. edit2: Mt Gox really wants my driver's license? This seems...not to be something that is a good idea. Should I really give them my driver's license?
- impostervt 13y agoIf you're just getting started, I wrote a book for you. You can buy it and get some bitcoins back, too. http://www.bitcoinbeginner.com http://www.bitcoinbeginner.com If you (or anyone else) would like a free copy of the book, email me: john@bitcoinbeginner.com
- rheide 13y agoMtGox requires a fair bit of verification, but they've also been around pretty much the longest, and have already had to deal with all the security issues that other bitcoin sites are only beginning to discover. I trust them. (That is to say, I trust them long enough to do the exchange, and then I transfer the bitcoins to my private offline wallet as soon as possible. And you should too.)
- brown9-2 13y agoAre the employees being paid in fixed Bitcoin amounts, or amounts relative to a USD-based (or other local currency) salary?
- lwat 13y agoNobody would be brave enough to pay (or work for) fixed bitcoin amounts right now.
- eru 13y agoMy guess, is that they just split the donations.
- vidyesh 13y agoI don't think they are paying the complete salary in BTCs. A part of their salary is paid in BTCs ( from the donations they received ). That value definitely would be calculated based on the present value.
- brewsterkahle 13y agowe paid in $-equiv: the Internet Archive calculated the price of bitcoins on April 1 and use that (rounded down to $100/btc). seemed fair.