Bitwalking • Hacker News Board

Re: Bitwalking

#21

Post by tylercubell » Mon, Nov 23, 2015, 2:51 AM UTC

ogig wrote: post #10

My guess, this is like a loyalty card, but it gives you points for been there rather than buying and it also works on different shops. If that's the case the way of selling it, as if it is the best thing for your health, its obnoxious. They probably won't care if you walk of drive by as long as your mobile reaches the shop wifi so the customer -the shop- pays. Location data selling, as other commenter noted, is a rea…

The only practical application I see is it being a loyalty card for a gym. Members would earn points for exercising at their gym which could be redeemed for tchotckes. If the app implements geofencing it could be practical.

Re: Bitwalking

#22

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Nov 23, 2015, 3:00 AM UTC

wpietri wrote: post #13

This kind of horseshit makes me insane: > We believe that everyone should have the freedom, and ability, to make money. A step is worth the same value for everyone - no matter who you are, or where you are. What matters is how much you walk. Earning money mostly comes through creating value for others. (When it doesn't, it comes from diverting value into your pockets.) Walking around is great, and I encourage everybo…

[deleted]

Re: Bitwalking

#23

Post by pavel_lishin » Mon, Nov 23, 2015, 3:42 AM UTC

heptathorp wrote: post #16

> We believe that everyone should have the freedom, and ability, to make money. Except for bed- or wheelchair-bound people. Fuck them, right?

My BedBucks startup will take care of it; soon, they'll be earning BedBucks every time they're in bed.

Re: Bitwalking

#24

Post by pavel_lishin » Mon, Nov 23, 2015, 3:43 AM UTC

mwilcox wrote: post #18

Where does the money come from?

From walking!

Re: Bitwalking

#25

Post by wpietri » Mon, Nov 23, 2015, 5:39 AM UTC

zeckalpha wrote: post #17

wpietri wrote: post #13

This kind of horseshit makes me insane: > We believe that everyone should have the freedom, and ability, to make money. A step is worth the same value for everyone - no matter who you are, or where you are. What matters is how much you walk. Earning money mostly comes through creating value for others. (When it doesn't, it comes from diverting value into your pockets.) Walking around is great, and I encourage everybo…

Actually, for many, walking more would create value. Underwalking creates a large societal cost in health care, climate change, and more. I would pay people to walk more.

Waste reduction isn't the same thing as value creation.

Even focusing on the waste reduction, whether walking decreases a person's health costs or their climate impact depends a lot on the person. I've seen reasonable claims that a person fueled with beef is, from an ecological perspective, better off driving than walking in that beef production causes more ecological damage. And the mentioned Africans already walking a few miles per day certainly won't see an increased health benefit from merely tracking that, and still probably wouldn't if they decided to walk more.

But even if they were on average reducing societal waste, that's extremely hard to monetize. If you'd really like to pay people to walk more, you're welcome to start with me! But even if you were game, I suspect the supply of individually contributed walking-incentive dollars is way lower than the demand.

Re: Bitwalking

#26

Post by wpietri » Mon, Nov 23, 2015, 5:40 AM UTC

NarcolepticFrog wrote: post #15

huckyaus wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you enjoyed the landing page, you'll love the Mandela quote at http://www.bitwalking.com/about/

The missing closing quotation mark was the worst.

Here you go: ”

Re: Bitwalking

#27

Post by rdancer » Mon, Nov 23, 2015, 3:39 PM UTC

arrayjumper wrote: post #6

Can't tell whether this is sarcasm/toy-product or if it is real.

It's a prank on the verge of becoming a con :-)

Re: Bitwalking

#28

Post by rdancer » Mon, Nov 23, 2015, 4:28 PM UTC

I have been wondering whether this is a prank or a con, so I have looked into the people behind this. The whois record shows the domain registered to one Nissan Bahar of Keepod Ltd, London, UK.

You may remember Keepod, the $7 personal computer the size of a USB stick that runs Android[1]. It got insane media coverage circa 2014[2], has a respectable-looking Wikipedia page[3], got funded to the tune of $41k on Indiegogo[4], currently is out-of-sale. $7 for an equivalent of Chromebit, I hear you thinking? Well, not really. The "personal computer" part of the pitch is a lie. In reality Keepod is the same kind of a live USB distro that has been around for years. There is no added value.[5]

So it is a con. But the media coverage. Is. Insane. The quality of the website is stellar. The funding dollars will be real. And a year from now, another seductively implausible project will appear. I'm looking forward to it, this guy has talent!

[1] http://www.keepod.com/ [2] https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=keepod+site:bbc.co.uk [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keepod [4] https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/keepod-project-in-mathare... [5] http://www.ictworks.org/2014/05/14/keepod-wasting-40000-to-r...