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espringe

Show HN: Novel gambling game, MoneyPot.com based on Bitcoin

Hi, I'm the guy behind bitundo (a controversial bitcoin service) — and hoping to show my latest project to a slightly larger audience: https://www.moneypot.com/Money Pot is a novel gambling concept I created -- the server generates a multiplier, X, in such a way that the probability of X or higher being generated is approximately 1 in X. (e.g. 2x or greater comes up ~50% of the time) The...

( Read More... | 1 comment | 4 points | on HN )
Re:Hatch, a combination of Tinder/OkCupid and Linkedin on Friday August 01, 2014 @08:53PM (#8123631)
When I see "Tinder + LinkedIn" I think of a version of tinder that relentlessly spams users, and practically only possible to block with a filter. "Tinder for finding business partners" however sounds great
Re:Ask HN: How to deal with bullshit DMCA threat ? on Sunday July 20, 2014 @03:51PM (#8061304)
Just flat out ignore him, until he actually takes some sort of action.
Re:Squatter doesn't sit well with Airbnb host on Saturday July 19, 2014 @07:19PM (#8059095)
If the tenant is supposedly blasting the aircon, with the windows open in 114 degree heat ... I'm not sure an alternate explanation is needed. (Not to mention, bitcoin mining requires a lot more than cheap-to-free electricity)
Re:Ask HN: What to do with my security product? on Friday July 04, 2014 @07:15PM (#7990519)
Thanks for the words of encouragement. You're completely right, I loath marketing and sales and terrible at it. I kind of lived in a delusion for a while that if I made the product good enough, it could sell itself.

The $1/month has been an unmitigated disaster. I'm making peanuts from it, (yay, credit-card fees!) and it severely damages the "value" of the company when I'm trying to sell to a big customer. I'm almost tempted to just make it free

Re:Ask HN: What to do with my security product? on Friday July 04, 2014 @12:22PM (#7989361)
That's what I'm doing now. It's actually hosted on AWS, and I dropped the price to $1/month and still have trouble selling it. The site is https://www.bitcoinvigil.com if think I'm doing something obviously wrong
Re:Ask HN: What to do with my security product? on Friday July 04, 2014 @12:19PM (#7989344)
Yeah, I would definitely open source it and leave it idling for a while instead of just killing it outright. I'm just hoping it doesn't come to this

Ask HN: What to do with my security product?

A few months ago, I wrote a security product based on the whole "scratch an itch" philosophy. I had a couple bitcoins stolen, and realized that most modern malware includes such a routine. So I thought it would be neat to write a service that can generate and monitor a (sentinel / honey pot) bitcoin wallet that can function as an intrusion detection system by sending email/sms alerts when ever...

( Read More... | 8 comments | 3 points | on HN )
Your real wallet has a password (encrypted) while the "money pot" is not. It will be stolen much faster (read: immediately) while the encrypted one relies on you entering a passphrase
Note: This is only safe if your computer doesn't have bitcoin stealing malware. Before you use this, it's not a bad idea to throw $5 in a Bitcoin Vigil money pot, and get notified if your computer gets any bitcoin stealing malware.
Why does it make me go through the whole process (entering in booking numbers, dates, etc.) to at the end only tell me:

"Unfortunately! For domestic U.S. flights, we can help you claim for compensation only when the airlines have overbooked your flight."

When it already had enough information to do that AT STEP 2.

Thanks for wasting my time.

Another useful honeypot approach is Bitcoin Vigil, which will let you know if (bitcoin-stealing) malware has already made it onto the machine
Re:BitUndo – Double Spending as a service on Tuesday April 15, 2014 @06:46PM (#7594811)
No fraud or scam. Bitcoin users have acted very aggressively to the idea -- and felt best to censor it.

What they seem to not realize, is that double spend attacks were very viable previously (putting conflicting transactions in different part of the network), submitting double-spends directly to pools, finley attack etc.

The thing bitundo brings to the table is legitimacy. People can undo a transaction without foreknowledge they will need to. This is nothing but a good thing for the bitcoin network, and it reminds people that 0-confirmation transaction never were, and never will be safe.

Edit: it's back!

Re:BitUndo – Double Spending as a service on Tuesday April 15, 2014 @05:59PM (#7594590)
There's too many variables to give a simple answer. It depends on the current state of the network (the miners mempools), the priority of your transaction, the fee/bytes of your transaction, and what % of the hashing power bitundo has. Some transactions take a few blocks to get confirmed, these are the ones that have a much, much higher likelyhood of being undone.
Or my: https://github.com/espringe/wisp (Whitespace lISP) with f-expressions!
Re:Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2013) on Friday November 01, 2013 @11:57AM (#6654628)
Agave Lab -- Guadalajara Mexico.

We're an early stage product incubator located in sunny Guadalajara, Mexico that was founded by an ex-Bay Area startup exec 4 years ago. We turn out products, about 3-4 per year, based on our own ideas. The ones that go well, we reinvest in. Those that don't, we bury in the yard. We also invest in, mentor, and incubate local startups targeting the Latin American market. We're at the center of the rapidly emerging startup boom in Mexico. Mostly though, we have a lot of fun.

We're giving a few developers the opportunity to rethink their life priorities and get out of Dodge for a while. You're startup is flagging? Sick of the fog? Commute got you down? Just broke up with your partner? Why not pull the rip cord and come work with us for a while?

What do we have to offer? * A vibrant, biggish (pop. 4M), student-oriented city, that's full of hip bars, restaurants, and (really) beautiful, friendly people. * A work environment that is, hands down, the hippest place to work in Mexico. Imagine programming in the hammock - poolside (yes, we have a pool). * Use of the beach house. We have a 3 story beach house with all mod cons, 20 feet from a graceful, immaculate sandy bay in a small fishing village. Also, one of the premier left point surf breaks is 5 minutes away by boat (which we also have). * A chance to learn (or practice your Spanish). * An opportunity to be at ground zero for one of the most vibrant and rapidly expanding startup scenes in the world. * Beef up your resume with experience in navigating the business climate in Mexico and Latin America. * and, finally, ALMOST NO MONEY. Okay, not entirely true - you'll be paid a very tidy wage (by mexican standards) which will allow you to live well here - most things are cheap here. However, if you compare what you'll make here versus what you're making now? It will be a disappointing exercise. Said differently, if money is what you're after - then this is not for you. If you're looking for adventure, fun, and to challenge your self with something new - welcome to your new home!!!

Who are we looking for? It's all listed on the website: http://www.agavelab.com/hiring/ but in summary: HTML/CSS/Javascript kung fu Mobile dev skills (android or iOS) Server dev skills Community managers/growth hacking

Our technology stack is HTML5, CSS3, Java, NodeJS, MongoDB, Play Framework, Scala. But don't worry if you don't know these. As long as you have a very solid command of at least one programming language (Java, C, C++, Python, etc) and are smart as a whip, we can teach you the rest. We expect the same things that any software development shop would: ability to write clean, well-documented code, familiarity with Dev Environments (Xcode, CodeIgniter/Play/Angular/etc.), experience with Agile/Scrum concepts, etc. Culturally we look for self-starters that can thrive with very little guidance and who have a genuine passion of solving complex problems. You should also like beer (or not be afraid to watch others consume large quantities of it), music, the sun, and tacos.) Oh yes, and a sense of humor - you'll want to bring that too. You want to know more? Of course you do. Check out the site: www.agavelab.com or drop us an email. Maybe download/visit a few of our apps and check them out. Or read some of our press: http://pandodaily.com/2013/05/21/how-a-valley-veteran-found-... http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/22/world/americas/for-migrant... http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/23/agave-lab-throws-sparks-on... We hope to hear from you soon.