Focusing on the premature deaths that were avoided during the prior century is like worrying about a nose bleed while your wrists are slashed. The real focus should be on the probable extinctions to come, as a consequence of the positive feedback loop that we are sparking. I invite you to read the following for more details.
https://plus.google.com/+YonatanZunger/posts/SgzQU5DM3LQ
Companies are not looking to maximize price. They are looking to maximize the area of the rectangle defined by Price times Volume. If they think the area of that rectangle will be larger at a smaller price, then they would sell at that smaller price.
Now imagine that your company has correctly identified that pricing sweetspot, but some of your product is partially defective, though still useful. You cannot sell it at that same ideal price as the fully-featured product. So, you necessarily sell it at some discount.
Easy, 60mph. That's one of the more psychologically prominent ones (another being 100mph == 160km/h). Also, your car's speedometer likely lists both scales, so all you have to do is look at the inner scale instead of the bigger, outer one.
I do recognize you were being funny.
I'm going to hope that was a joke. I don't have the heart to explain all of economics tonight.
Dude, I get it. This and other Kickstarters aren't typical venture-capital investments. In fact, I think that is by design; I think that in the U.S., there are regulatory issues with crowd-funding venture capital, and so Kickstarter is intentionally structured this way.
I see below where you replied to an AC with:
But buying an item at a discount isn't an investment. It's like coming home from the mall with 20 shirts you didn't intend to buy and saying "but I saved money, they were on sale!"
That is not what happened in the case of Pebble. What happened is: I ponied up $110 in a "pledge" (read: angel investment,) for what amounted to a 0.001% stake. Then, prior to the first VC round, the future value of my equity was discounted back to present value, and paid to me in the currency of a Pebble watch, currently valued at $150.
Yes, I am saying the above somewhat tongue-in-cheek. But my primary point is: the only reason it is done this way is to work around regulatory issues.
I think what the OP meant was: because the original transmission was over https, he feels confident in discounting the possibility of an eavesdropper, as opposed to the company just being lax and/or promiscuous with his information.
Kickstarters are not angel investors. Usually-- and this was the case with Pebble-- Kickstarters are prepaying for the device, and those prepayments fund development and initial manufacturing. And, the amount raised through Kickstarter was $10M, not $15M. (The latter is the figure that the VC is adding.)
Yes, I was a Kickstarter backer for Pebble. And, I received mine, at the stated discount. So I got my expected ROI.
Kickstarters are not angel investors. Usually-- and this was the case with Pebble-- Kickstarters are prepaying for the device, and those prepayments fund development and initial manufacturing.
Yes, I was a Kickstarter backer for Pebble. And, I received mine, at the stated discount. So I got my expected ROI.
And the problem with deflationary currency is that no one wants to spend it, because it will be worth more tomorrow.
A little bit of inflation is good, in that it discourages mattress-stuffing.
I haven't heard any libertarians espousing bitcoin as a means of evading taxes. I just sold mine from 2010, and I am well aware of the need to pay income tax on the net proceeds. Just like anything else.
Maybe what is needed is some software that can remember to download for you? And alert you on those occasions where it fails to do so?
I'm not saying that is superior to your suggestion... just, more likely to actually happen.
Another thing that plays against these bitcoin idiots is that their "currency" is limited, there will only every be 21M bitcoins
It's not as bad as that. BTC is the wrong unit of measurement here. It's only being used because we are still at the beginning of the BTC inflation ramp. BTCs are divisible down to 8 decimal places, meaning there are 100,000,000 satoshis per BTC. Eventually, at these valuations, prices will be quoted in satoshis (or, if you prefer, decimal fractions of BTC.)
Oh, nuts, please disregard what I posted above. Somehow, I got it into my memory that-- in addition to what my GP posted-- Google had also opted to use the dot at the end of your email address as a replacement for the + functionality called out in the RFCs (and explicitly disallowed the plus.) But looking back through early news discussions of gmail, I can't find mention of that, so likely it is a fabrication of my mind.
So what happens if...
1. Alex registers "alleycat@gmail.com"
2. Alexandra registers "alley@gmail.com"
3. Alexandra decides to give her pet's veterinary the dotted address "alley.cat@gmail.com"
While you may be correct in stating that a 32-bit wide bus can address 2^32 memory positions, I fail to see how that makes TFA wrong. TFA has naught to do with bus width. Under discussion here is 2^30 being 1 GiB, vs 10^9 being 1 GB. Why are you bringing 4 GiB into the discussion?
Slashdot Mirror
Focusing on the premature deaths that were avoided during the prior century is like worrying about a nose bleed while your wrists are slashed. The real focus should be on the probable extinctions to come, as a consequence of the positive feedback loop that we are sparking. I invite you to read the following for more details.
https://plus.google.com/+YonatanZunger/posts/SgzQU5DM3LQ
I liked your counterpoint about AT&T... and although the GP didn't really have a point, they were referring to the original purpose of mtgox.com, as evidenced by The Wayback Machine's snapshop of it from 2007: http://web.archive.org/web/20070817170606/http://mtgox.com/gwt/mtgox.php
Companies are not looking to maximize price. They are looking to maximize the area of the rectangle defined by Price times Volume. If they think the area of that rectangle will be larger at a smaller price, then they would sell at that smaller price.
Now imagine that your company has correctly identified that pricing sweetspot, but some of your product is partially defective, though still useful. You cannot sell it at that same ideal price as the fully-featured product. So, you necessarily sell it at some discount.
This is precisely the kind of story that was considered slashdot's raison d'être in 1997... you know, news for nerds?
Easy, 60mph. That's one of the more psychologically prominent ones (another being 100mph == 160km/h). Also, your car's speedometer likely lists both scales, so all you have to do is look at the inner scale instead of the bigger, outer one.
I do recognize you were being funny.
I'm going to hope that was a joke. I don't have the heart to explain all of economics tonight.
Dude, I get it. This and other Kickstarters aren't typical venture-capital investments. In fact, I think that is by design; I think that in the U.S., there are regulatory issues with crowd-funding venture capital, and so Kickstarter is intentionally structured this way.
I see below where you replied to an AC with:
That is not what happened in the case of Pebble. What happened is: I ponied up $110 in a "pledge" (read: angel investment,) for what amounted to a 0.001% stake. Then, prior to the first VC round, the future value of my equity was discounted back to present value, and paid to me in the currency of a Pebble watch, currently valued at $150.
Yes, I am saying the above somewhat tongue-in-cheek. But my primary point is: the only reason it is done this way is to work around regulatory issues.
I think what the OP meant was: because the original transmission was over https, he feels confident in discounting the possibility of an eavesdropper, as opposed to the company just being lax and/or promiscuous with his information.
I did get a tiny part of the profits... in the form of a 27% discount on the smartwatch.
Kickstarters are not angel investors. Usually-- and this was the case with Pebble-- Kickstarters are prepaying for the device, and those prepayments fund development and initial manufacturing. And, the amount raised through Kickstarter was $10M, not $15M. (The latter is the figure that the VC is adding.)
Yes, I was a Kickstarter backer for Pebble. And, I received mine, at the stated discount. So I got my expected ROI.
Kickstarters are not angel investors. Usually-- and this was the case with Pebble-- Kickstarters are prepaying for the device, and those prepayments fund development and initial manufacturing.
Yes, I was a Kickstarter backer for Pebble. And, I received mine, at the stated discount. So I got my expected ROI.
If a word is used only once [...] is it really a word?
Yes... it is a hapax legomenon.
And the problem with deflationary currency is that no one wants to spend it, because it will be worth more tomorrow.
A little bit of inflation is good, in that it discourages mattress-stuffing.
Say what? Then please explain why any semi-attractive woman who dons a pair, instantly becomes twice as hawt.
Yes, capital gains, sorry. :) I was speaking loosely. I'd have gotten it right on my Schedule D, come tax time.
Yep, capital gains, sorry. :) I was speaking loosely. I'd have gotten in right on my Schedule D.
I haven't heard any libertarians espousing bitcoin as a means of evading taxes. I just sold mine from 2010, and I am well aware of the need to pay income tax on the net proceeds. Just like anything else.
Maybe what is needed is some software that can remember to download for you? And alert you on those occasions where it fails to do so? I'm not saying that is superior to your suggestion... just, more likely to actually happen.
Another thing that plays against these bitcoin idiots is that their "currency" is limited, there will only every be 21M bitcoins
It's not as bad as that. BTC is the wrong unit of measurement here. It's only being used because we are still at the beginning of the BTC inflation ramp. BTCs are divisible down to 8 decimal places, meaning there are 100,000,000 satoshis per BTC. Eventually, at these valuations, prices will be quoted in satoshis (or, if you prefer, decimal fractions of BTC.)
We already deduced that, from your other (stated) behaviors.
Get off my lawn.
Yes, that was my point. My recollection was untrue.
Oh, nuts, please disregard what I posted above. Somehow, I got it into my memory that-- in addition to what my GP posted-- Google had also opted to use the dot at the end of your email address as a replacement for the + functionality called out in the RFCs (and explicitly disallowed the plus.) But looking back through early news discussions of gmail, I can't find mention of that, so likely it is a fabrication of my mind.
So what happens if...
1. Alex registers "alleycat@gmail.com"
2. Alexandra registers "alley@gmail.com"
3. Alexandra decides to give her pet's veterinary the dotted address "alley.cat@gmail.com"
... And those who thought this was going to be a ternary joke.
While you may be correct in stating that a 32-bit wide bus can address 2^32 memory positions, I fail to see how that makes TFA wrong. TFA has naught to do with bus width. Under discussion here is 2^30 being 1 GiB, vs 10^9 being 1 GB. Why are you bringing 4 GiB into the discussion?