My understanding of UK tax on Bitcoins for individuals (not a company) is that any profits when Bitcoins are sold for GBP are subject to Capital Gains Tax.  There is currently an annual tax-free allowance of £11,110.00.  So unless you are a whale or an incredibly lucky investor you possibly won't pay any tax on Bitcoins sold.  I am a Software Engineer not an accountant nor tax adviser so please don't rely on my understanding.

Ah, didn't see that restriction, oh well.  Pity it's not time registered, I've been on here 5 years,

J

If the promo is still running I would like a code please for the plastic debit card.

I want to use the card in place of my credit card for my normal shopping use (groceries, fuel, etc)

Thanks, J

Thanks for the responses guys.  I've just installed 0.11.2 and it's continuing to download the blockchain from where 0.9.3 was left off so I'll see how far it gets running over night.

J

I wonder if someone could help me decide what to with an old wallet.dat that contains a small amount.  The wallet was used with Bitcoin-QT a few years ago to receive donations and no spend transactions have ever been made from it.  I started the Bitcoin-QT a few days ago and it's over a year behind.  It took over a day to get from 1 Year & 16 Days to 1 Year and 9 Days.  Bitcoin-QT is also currently on 0.9.3 and I'm not sure if upgrading to the latest will want to download the whole blockchain again.

Can anyone suggest a good and safe alternative to waiting for the blockchain to catch up?  I'm also concerned that as the wallet is old, the PRNG may not have been random enough.  I believe there are ways for hackers to monitor this once you start to spent and steal any remaining funds.  I would prefer to remain in control of my own wallet rather than import private keys into a web service.

Thanks, J

Thank you for taking a look.  I'm using the following URL:

    http://api.bitcoincharts.com/v1/markets.json

Firebug shows me the following response header with no gzip:

    Connection   keep-alive
    Content-Length   31457
    Content-Type   application/json
    Date   Mon, 02 Sep 2013 21:47:42 GMT
    Server   nginx/1.5.

If I compare the Content-Length to the size of the actual content in the browser I also get 31457 bytes, also indicating it wasn't compressed.

But if I use a URL that returns CSV for Historic Trade Data:

    http://api.bitcoincharts.com/v1/trades.csv?symbol=mtgoxUSD

The response header is:

    Connection   keep-alive
    Content-Encoding   gzip
    Content-Length   164644
    Content-Type   text/html; charset=utf-8
    Date   Mon, 02 Sep 2013 21:52:48 GMT
    Server   nginx/1.5.0
    Vary   Accept-Encoding

This shows the response is compressed and the size of the actual data in the browser is 861429, also indicating it was compressed down to 164644 byes.

I've also tried the following URL:

   http://api.bitcoincharts.com/v1/weighted_prices.json

This doesn't appear to be using compression either so I'm assuming the server isn't configured to compress content type 'application/json'.

J

Does anyone know how to get in touch or get the attention of the guys at Bitcoin Charts?  I have noticed that the json being returned from their API is not using gzip encoding and therefore consuming more bandwidth than necessary.  If I could talk to them about enabling this it would reduce the bandwidth used by the users of my Android App Bitcoin Prices and also decrease their bandwidth.

I have tried emailing info@bitcoincharts.com about this and with other suggestions in the past but I have never had a response.  If anyone here could put me in touch with them I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks, J

This thread seems to have gone a little quiet.  Are people interested in this service?  I've spent some time over the last few days working on an Android client.  Currently my app shows a page for generating a wallet from passphrase, salt and pin.  Once that's set up the app simply prompts the user for a pin.  When successfully connected the current balance and addresses are displayed.

I've wasted a bit of time last night and today with issues with the testnet but now I've managed to get some test bitcoins I want to work on sending bitcoins.  I really like the idea of BCC API but am a little concerned there isn't much interest. 

Cheers,

J

I started developing an Android application to display Bitcoin Market prices from Bitcoin Charts (http://www.bitcoincharts.com) a while ago.  I have previously announced this application in the Newbies section and received requests for it to be placed in the Android Market Place and support for Home Screen Widgets.  I am now glad to announce that I have completed both of those tasks.

   https://sites.google.com/a/lostdroids.net/lostdroids/applications/BitcoinPricesScreenshot1_Small.jpeg   https://sites.google.com/a/lostdroids.net/lostdroids/applications/BitcoinPricesScreenshot4_Small.jpeg

On start up the application will download the current prices.  The user can then set up Home screen widgets with any of the listed markets.  The widgets will update every 15 minutes.  Widgets can be selected to display the full market details.

Android Market Link:

   https://market.android.com/details?id=net.lostdroids.bitcoinprices&feature=search_result

If you like this App, find it useful and want to keep me motivated working on it then please consider donating whatever you think it is worth to you :
   
   1NuvRn89P5tYmUTfcL5WSu5BwduqpmpkoH
   
Please post suggestions or issues to:

   http://groups.google.com/group/lostdroids

This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty.  In no event will the author be held liable for any damages arising from the use of this software.   

Please Note: This application requires access to the internet to retrieve price information and your network service provider may charge for such data transmissions.  We will not be held liable for any charges incurred.

If its 50 posts then people will just post rubbish to get off the newbie list.  BTW, just like I'm doing here.

I have updated my Bitcoin Prices Android App to support Widgets.

The data is retrieved from BitcoinCharts (http://www.bitcoincharts.com).  When the application is first executed it downloads the current prices from BitcoinCharts.    If you bring up the menu you can manually update the prices and selecting an exchange displays the full details of the exchange.

The application also functions as a widget.  When the widget is added to the home screen a configuration page is displayed allowing the required exchange to be selected.  Once a widget is installed then the application automatically updates every 15 minutes.

It can be downloaded from the link below where you will also find a couple of screenshots:

https://sites.google.com/a/lostdroids.net/lostdroids/applications

or using the short URL

http://goo.gl/BH7ja

If you like this App, find it useful and want to keep me motivated working on it then please consider donating whatever you think it is worth to you :
   
   1NuvRn89P5tYmUTfcL5WSu5BwduqpmpkoH

This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty.  In no event will the author be held liable for any damages arising from the use of this software.   

Please Note: This application requires access to the internet to retrieve price information and your network service provider may charge for such data transmissions.  We will not be held liable for any charges incurred.


https://sites.google.com/a/lostdroids.net/lostdroids/applications/BitcoinPricesScreenshot1.jpeg?attredirects=0 https://sites.google.com/a/lostdroids.net/lostdroids/applications/BitcoinPricesScreenshot3.jpeg?attredirects=0

Issue resolved.  bitcoincharts.com which generates the data used by my app have stopped supplying the number of trades.  I'm not sure why at this stage but my error handling didn't deal with this.  There is a new version at the address below which resolves this:

https://sites.google.com/a/lostdroids.net/lostdroids/applications

Short URL:

http://goo.gl/BH7ja

Thank you,

J

The app appears to have stopped working today.  I've just about got to the bottom of the problem and will try to release an update later.  If you wish you can you use my Google Group to track this at:

http://groups.google.com/group/lostdroids/

When its resolved I will post here and to the group.

Thank you,

J

I've just started working on a Widget, I don't get a lot of free time but I'll try and get one working as soon as I can.

As for the Android Market, I'm not currently signed up for it.  I'll look at doing this too as soon as I get time.  I does cost to sign up for but it's not a lot, about the value of 1 BTC if I remember correctly.  I understand is feels much safer installing from the Market rather than some link in a forum.

Sorry I've had to post here because I've only just signed up to the forum.  I've been working on an Android App to retrieve Bitcoin price information from Bitcoin Charts and thought I'd make it available to everyone.  Hopefully you may find it useful or may want to comment.
   
The App connects to Bitcoin Charts service on start up and downloads the current prices.  If you bring up the menu you can manually update the prices and selecting an exchange displays the full details of the exchange.  Bitcoin Charts request that updates occur at a maximum of every 15 minutes but since this is a manual process I don't think that will be a problem.  In the next version I want to look at automatically updating every 15 minutes, keeping a history on the phone.  I'd also like to have a favourites list and the ability to configure alarms for prices rising or falling beyond a configurable threshold.  I've tested the app on 2.2, 2.3 and 1.6 using the emulator.

It can be downloaded from the link below where you will also find a couple of screenshots:

https://sites.google.com/a/lostdroids.net/lostdroids/applications

or using the short URL

http://goo.gl/BH7ja

I'm afraid you will need to enable Third Party Apps to install until I get a Market Account.  I've kept the permissions to a minimum though.

   
If you like this App, find it useful and want to keep me motivated working on it then please consider donating whatever you think it is worth to you :
   
   1NuvRn89P5tYmUTfcL5WSu5BwduqpmpkoH

Thank you,

J