Does anyone make a living using bitcoin as their main transactional currency for normal trading in services/goods? (Not exchanges and not gambling.) I find the the fact it is naturally international very attractive as a means of exchange, but find some of the claims a bit wild which puts me off.
I got to an early prototyping/alpha stage last year with a project and it failed to go anywhere. (I learned a lot, and got a new job in development, so not a waste of time).
I was wondering whether to put any more time into it.
Yes, I use BTC to buy a lot of things via Brawker. The only trouble you'll have there is when dealing with merchants that don't have accurate inventory systems or with products that may sell out quickly.
I always buy cell phone minutes via bitrefill.com - I love that service. I have also used services like coincrack.com which I use less frequently but I find valuable. I also made some small donations to groups like the EFF, which I never would have done before BTC came along. I also bought my Trezor directly with BTC, and I love that system.
I do a lot of international business so I am constantly looking for opportunities to spend BTC and avoid local currencies. BTC really is the perfect global currency.