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What is going to happen in 2015

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Re: What is going to happen in 2015

#121

Post by jordigh »

kimdouglasmason wrote: post #118
jordigh wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't see the point of bitcoin or any other virtual currency? To me nothing beats legal tender currencies. All currencies are "virtual". They all exist because we agree they exist. They're all a consensus reality. Due to the banking system, most USD exists merely because banks claim they exist. The point of bitcoins is internet cash. They are frequently compared to credit cards because that's what we mostly use r…

I wish people would stop saying that currencies are based on consensus. They are not. If you live in any country (say the US), and engage in economic activity, and never acquire the local currency, you WILL go to jail for tax evasion. At some point, you need to acquire the local currency to pay your taxes, otherwise men with guns will put you in prison. Fiat currency's demand is underpinned by this. You have also con…

It's still a consensus if you think that our laws are based on a consensus. If you disagree and think our laws are also not based on anyone's opinion, then I suppose currencies are not based on anyone's opinion either. Perhaps the government never asked you what laws should exist, and perhaps the consensus doesn't include everyone, only the consensus of those in power.

Sell me that bridge. Identify the bitcoins I've used. Perhaps you'll succeed in finding some, but I don't think you'll succeed in finding all.

Cash is taxable too. I've paid plenty of taxes when using bitcoins, and unlike many other bitcoiners, I actually think taxes are a great thing. I don't think bitcoins' near anonymity have anything to do with evading taxes, anymore than paying with cash at the grocery register is enabling me to avoid taxes.

I don't want to make any predictions for bitcoins. I don't know if they will be heavily regulated or not. But so far, it has been very convenient for me to have internet cash.

Re: What is going to happen in 2015

#122

Post by rjurney »

Morphling wrote: post #38
rjurney wrote: post #14

Having tried an Oculus Rift generation 3, where the tracking is PERFECT and the resolution is adequate, I think VR will do better in 2015 than he suggests.

At first Oculus seemed like a cool idea, but you can really only play "simulator" games with it, games where you sit in a vehicle otherwise it ruins the VR feel and you might as well just play on a monitor. Only other thing I've seen was some sort of sculpting thing, but I'd imagine the novelty would wear out there pretty fast. More I think about whole VR thing the less I think it will actually be a thing. I'm sure w…

This is no longer true. The Gen 3 (latest) helmet lets you walk around just fine.

For instance, my favorite demo is in some kind of nuclear sub control room. You can walk around, up to panels, even kneel down and look up under a shelf.

Re: What is going to happen in 2015

#123

Post by depoll »

jordigh wrote: post #114
pyrois wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The biggest difference with bitcoins is that nobody can create them out of thin air due to whim like they can with USD. I've never really understood the objection that people have with regards to the Fed printing USD (for instance). It's actually a pretty powerful regulatory tool, isn't it? A small amount of inflation is fine (I think the Fed targets about 2%), but high inflation or deflation is a problem for peopl…

Printing money is but one way to create and it's not how most USD is created. Most USD is created by banks, and not the federal bank, whenever they give out loans. This is the basis of fractional reserve banking.

While that's true, isn't the exact same true of any currency (including BTC)? In principle, a bank could loan BTC with a fractional reserve and produce the same outcome, could it not?

Re: What is going to happen in 2015

#124

Post by scholia »

ghaff wrote: post #54
scholia wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a difference between doing it out of self-interest (Kodak, Apple) and providing a user service. It would be perfectly possible to provide automatic backups of photos via the user's choice of cloud (Dropbox, OneDrive etc) with the cloud service copying them to the user's chosen personal storage (PC, NAS, whatever). That would work except for the people who don't and/or won't have any personal storage. However,…

>However, if people won't look after their own data, I'm unlikely to be too sad when they lose it. I'm going to disagree with you on that. This piece that John Gruber wrote after the celebrity iCloud account hack is spot on IMO: http://daringfireball.net/2014/09/security_tradeoffs "Over the years I’ve received numerous emails from past and former Genius Bar support staff, telling similar stories of heartbreak. Custom…

You're not actually disagreeing with me. I didn't say anything against cloud services, only that they could be set up to benefit users rather than suppliers.

However, if people are too lame-brained to look after their own data, then I still won't feel sorry if they lose it. You can feel sorry if you want, but it won't make the tiniest bit of difference.

Re: What is going to happen in 2015

#125

Post by scholia »

nostrademons wrote: post #49
api wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a whole raft of home automation devices, printers, etc. that will become bricks if certain cloud servers are turned off. Personally I think this fad will crash and burn, but it will take many rounds of consumer disappointment and flagrant disregard like you describe. Eventually "you control it" will become a selling point.

It's happening already with early adopters. My brother-in-law just bought a NAS that markets itself as "Your own personal cloud" - it's an 8TB hard disk that plugs into Ethernet (or wireless), is available from every computer connected to the network, and is also available (encrypted) across the public Internet from computers that were authorized on the home intranet.

PogoPlug and CloudPlug go back to 2009....

Re: What is going to happen in 2015

#126

Post by jordigh »

depoll wrote: post #123
jordigh wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Printing money is but one way to create and it's not how most USD is created. Most USD is created by banks, and not the federal bank, whenever they give out loans. This is the basis of fractional reserve banking.

While that's true, isn't the exact same true of any currency (including BTC)? In principle, a bank could loan BTC with a fractional reserve and produce the same outcome, could it not?

I suppose banks could create some sort of financial instrument that says "IOU 2.5 BTC" or whatever, but this thing they create couldn't pass off completely as bitcoins, since you couldn't spend this thing on the blockchain like you can with ordinary bitcoins.

Maybe this will happen. Who knows.

Re: What is going to happen in 2015

#127

Post by on_and_off »

proveanegative wrote: post #63
julianpye wrote: post #21

Why Xiaomi uses its own Android flavour for the Chinese market is clear. But I don't believe they will push their own Android flavour to the US and EU markets, but rather use Playstore-enabled versions. Their first goal is to compete against Samsung in handset price. And Samsung has shown that it is very hard for an Asian manufacturer to introduce their own OS flavours and apps into a Western market.

Speaking of Samsung, what ever happened to Tizen?

Samsung and Software ... let's just say that it is not the best association ever. They wanted to launch a Tizen phone 'Samsung Z' before the end of 2014. Even by their own standards it was not good enough so it has been delayed. The decreasing sales of the Galaxy line has also prompted a (long overdue) shake up.

I don't know if Tizen will continue to play a role in the upcoming lineup or if Samsung will realize that creating a new mobile OS is not that easy.

They are still pushing Tizen as their smartwatches OS (except for the ones that run Anrdroid). I have been able to test the Galaxy Watch 3 a couple of months before its release and I have to admit that I have been favorably impressed. It does not transform smartwatches into must-own gadgets (but to be fair, IMO neither do Apple or Google), but it i nice, has cool features (always on hear-monitor) and is almost exempt of the samsung mega feature creep.

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