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Comment: Re:The Sony Z Ultra supports 8 bands (Score 0) 259

by sethotterstad (#47157871) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Do 4G World Phones Exist?
Do you have tiny hands or something? Are you a girl? I can use the Z Ultra with one hand just fine, except for the upper left corner, and the much smaller S4 at 5" is extremely easy. What are you doing with your other hand anyway? Is it so important that it justifies a massive decrease in usability by having to scroll around web pages instead of just viewing the whole thing at once?

Comment: Re:The Sony Z Ultra supports 8 bands (Score 1) 259

by sethotterstad (#47157307) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Do 4G World Phones Exist?
According to these links, The Z Ultra supports bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 20, which means it works on Tmobile for 4g in the US, which uses band 4. It also supports all UK 4g bands. The Z Ultra is also currently the best phone due to its 6.4" screen. People say that it's "too big" until they put it in their pocket. It first in almost all pockets. Even better for girls since they put them in their purses. Everyone asks about it because it is way better looking than other phones. http://forum.xda-developers.co... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...

Comment: This is how some legal systems work in Asia (Score 2) 185

by sethotterstad (#44423027) Attached to: Thailand Government Declares Bitcoin Illegal
Many Americans are surprised to learn that in many Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, and China, what is not specifically legal is viewed as illegal. If there are no laws about something, it is illegal there. Obviously the authorities do not choose to enforce the law against the vast majority of people's illegal actions, but that is the way their legal system works.

Comment: Re:Bitcoin is not just for international transfers (Score 1) 179

by sethotterstad (#44057441) Attached to: Five predictions for (Bit)coin
I take my hat off to you sir. No one could top that. Ladies and gentlemen, the biggest troll in the history of the internet. I hope you have a massive short position to take that much time trashing it. You should post under your real name. You do have a few arguments, since these points are individually not that strong. For each of these points, some payment method already existed that had it. But to do ALL of these points at once.... Nothing even comes close to having all of them except bitcoin. That's why it is growing at 1000%. I would add that I live outside the US now, so I get a 95k tax break, effectively paying zero. Nice job alleging criminality. http://bitcoin.travel/ https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade

Comment: Re:Bitcoin is not just for international transfers (Score 3, Interesting) 179

by sethotterstad (#44055661) Attached to: Five predictions for (Bit)coin
Wow. I have never seen someone who knows that much about bitcoin not be able to admit that it has any advantage over existing systems. What do you think millions of venture capital is pouring into bitcoin for? What exactly is your problem with it that makes you not want to admit that it has ANY improvements on existing systems? Let's take a look again:

Decentralised and free from control, always running

There are dozens of exchanges, and thousands of local exchangers on localbitcoins. If the biggest one gets taken out, there are plenty more. It is decentralized. Yes exchanges aren't always running, but they are up a hell of a lot more frequently than 8-5pm on weekdays. And if you want to store bitcoins yourself like cash, they work 100% of the time your internet is up.


Try spending your dollars in Europe. Bitcoins work in both places.

No/low fees,

The fee is less than 1 cent. If you use an exchange to send, it is free.

New privacy model, Transparent system,

Bitcoin has "user-defined" levels of privacy. If you don't care, you are public. If you are careful, you can be anonymous, which is why Silk Road exists


Try paying your friend $15 when you only have a $20 bill and he doesn't have change. Try paying someone $5.932. Try paying for a candy bar with a $100 bill. Bitcoin solves this.

Secure, Fast transfers,

How long will it take you to send $50,000 to your friend in Europe? How long will it take you to send $100 from your Wells Fargo account to your friend's Chase account? Bitcoin transactions take 10min instead of days. Securing bitcoins is certainly an issue, but most people understand 2-factor authentication. Bitcoin is digital cash. It can get stolen from your wallet just like physical cash. It is not the job of the currency to keep itself from getting stolen. The bitcoin protocol is secure.

No chargebacks,

Chargebacks are good when a physical good has been shipped. Where wire transfers and Western Union are used, chargebacks are not desirable, so they are irreversible. The advantage of bitcoin is that escrow services can be built on top of it.

Environmentally friendly / efficient,

It is certainly true that mining uses energy to secure the network. But bitcoin is more efficient than digging gold out of the ground, transporting it around, and storing it in vaults, as central banks do.


The USD is digital. Gold is not. This entire list of advantages do not apply to EVERYTHING, but most of them do. Clearly you haven't looked at it very closely since 2 years ago if you think it can only be used to buy drugs. I personally find great value in being able to have a stash of money on a flash drive and do whatever I want with it fast. I can withdraw to either my UK or US bank account fast, instantly deposit it on a poker site and play from inside the US, put it on a sportsbook and make a wager for way lower vig than USD sportsbooks at btcsportsmatch.com, donate $1 to wikileaks or my current favorite charity myrefugehouse, cross a border with over $10,000 worth without declaring it, pass through a metal detector, trade it to someone for cash in most major cities on localbitcoins, remit money in 45 different currencies, and order up stuff from 10,000 stores (or get a huge discount by trading bitcoin for gift cards). I also get paid 5% to cash bitcoins out to my prepaid debit card by buying moneypaks from idiots. I can do this with fees approaching nothing, the IRS doesn't know about it, no one can sue me to take it, my wife doesn't get half of it in a divorce, and I don't have to worry about it being printed away by the government. On top of all this, my money becomes worth 1000% more per year. According to the survey on the demographics of bitcoin, far more people have used bitcoin to make donations than to buy narcotics. Bitcoin will behave as an investment and deflate massively until it reaches its target market size. Then it will behave in a slightly inflationary way for several decades in the same way gold is.

Comment: Bitcoin is not just for international transfers (Score 2, Interesting) 179

by sethotterstad (#44053687) Attached to: Five predictions for (Bit)coin
Bitcoin has a huge smorgasboard of advantages over anything else out there that make it vastly superior: Decentralised and free from control, Always running 24/7, International, No/low fees, New privacy model, Transparent system, Divisible, Secure, Fast transfers, No chargebacks, Environmentally friendly / efficient, Digital It increased in value by 1,750% in 2011, 186% last year, and 1,000% this year, more than any other asset class. Time to load up imo. This is a radically superior money compared to pieces of paper and gold, even if you only count what it can do right now, and this is just the beginning. All kinds of cool stuff is getting built into the protocol. He is right about it being able to destroy them if you handle them yourself though. Many solutions are being worked on for that problem.

Comment: Re:Where is the outrage? (Score 2) 341

by sethotterstad (#43969765) Attached to: What Can You Find Out From Metadata?
There is no indication that laws have been broken, power abused, or innocent people affected by it. So they are collecting phone metadata, big deal. Phone records are not private according to 1979 Supreme Court ruling. Only 3% of the total data is US data. They are targeting Iran, Pakistan, etc. Why in the hell are all these people calling Edward a hero? Serious lies are going to have to be uncovered for him to be declared a hero.
