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Kodak’s Bitcoin Mining Kash Grab is Dead

July 19, 2018 By Eric Reagan

Remember that bizarre turn of events at CES this year when a bitcoin mining machine, called the KashMiner, showed up at Kodak’s booth? It appears to now be officially dead.

According to a report from BBC, the Kodak-brand licensee behind the KashMiner has halted its plans for the bitcoin miner rental scheme. [Read more…]

Filed Under: kodak Tagged With: bitoin, CES 2018, KashMiner, kodak

 

CES 2018 Photo Gear Roundup

January 12, 2018 By Eric Reagan

This week is CES 2018 in Las Vegas and there were several new photography products unveiled earlier this week. Below is a short overview and thoughts on some of the key gear. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Gear Tagged With: 180-400mm, 360, 3d, 4k, A6300, camcorder, Canon, CES 2018, DJI, G-Technology, gimbal, Godox, hard drive, lacie, Nikon, Osmo 2, Panasonic, printer, Rokinon, Ronin-S, RX0, sandisk, Sony, SSD, vr, Vuze

Kodak at CES Gets Even Weirder with a $3400 Bitcoin Mining Rental Scheme

January 10, 2018 By Eric Reagan

? Ohh, I'm gonna getcha with the Kodak KashMiner ? pic.twitter.com/IX5zy5vtCf

— Jeremi M Gosney (@jmgosney) January 10, 2018

Remember a couple years ago when Kodak announced a cool new Super 8 camera and everyone thought it was great?

Today’s story is nothing like that.

Yesterday, Kodak announced a new cryptocurrency called KODAKCoin and a blockchain technology for licensing images called KODAKOne. Today, on the CES 2018 show floor, Kodak showed off its new Kodak KashMiner, which mines bitcoin.

Essentially, you pay $3400 to rent the Kodak KashMiner for two years. During that time, Kodak keeps 50% of the bitcoin revenue and Kodak estimates that you’ll receive $375 per month for a total USD equivalent payout of $9,000.

There are a number of problems with this scenario.

First, the Kodak KashMiner miner appears to be rebranded Bitmain Antminer S9, which retails for around $2400. So, Kodak is renting its KashMiner to you for $1000 more than you could buy it outright and have forever. This will likely put even more pressure on the supply and demand bottleneck right now since Antminer S9s are going for around $6,000 on the secondary market. Way to go Kodak.

For those ppl asking about the actual #KodakMiner for @Kodak at #CES they had it out day 1. It appears to be a 1gen Bitmain S9. Does 11/th pic.twitter.com/76vIx5yO4Z

— Angry Albert (@Angry_Albert) January 10, 2018

Second, Kodak’s calculations assume that the difficulty level of mining bitcoin stays the same, when the difficulty level has been increasing by about 15% per month. Accordingly, the anticipated mining revenue is way off over the course of those two years. And if the value of bitcoin drops from current, it’s an even worse deal.

There is no way your magical Kodak miner will make the same $375 every month, unless Bitcoin mining difficulty stays the same. It is currently increasing at around 15% a month, so mining output should drop around 15% a month, too. Good luck to everyone who bought this deal! pic.twitter.com/0xA2HNtHFc

— Saifedean Ammous (@saifedean) January 10, 2018

I find the label at the top of the page “In Math We Trust” to be more than a little ironic. There are apparently already 80 contracts for Kodak KashMiner and another 300 units are on the way.

Kodak appears to have simply slapped a sticker on the side of the industry standard bitcoin miner and charged you $1000 more for a 2-year rental fee than you can buy one outright. For every eyebrow that may have been raised with interest in the earlier announcement of KODAKOne and KODAKCoin, this move undermines the legitimacy that Kodak could have for its blockchain technology.

If Kodak wanted to become a real player in the cryptocurrency and blockchain market, it could have blown the doors off CES by bringing in actual hardware to the US and helped the bottleneck in supply chain. Instead, Kodak looks like a total shill after a quick stock pump.

Filed Under: kodak Tagged With: Antminer, Bitcoin, CES 2018, KashMiner, kodak

Panasonic’s New Lumix GH5S is a Low-Light Video Shooter

January 9, 2018 By Eric Reagan

Panasonic unveiled its new Lumix GH5S this week at CES 2018. It’s built for a low-light and video shooting with a 10.3MP Micro Four Thirds image sensor. It looks a lot like Panasonic’s version of Sony’s A7S product line.

Panasonic Lumix GH5S Key Features

  • 10.28MP Multi Aspect Ratio MOS Sensor
  • DCI 4K60p and Full HD 1080/240p Video
  • Internal 4:2:2 10-Bit Long GOP
  • V-Log L Gamma and HDR Hybrid Log Gamma
  • 0.76x 3.68m-Dot OLED Viewfinder
  • 3.2″ 1.62m-Dot Free-Angle Touchscreen
  • Dual Native ISO 400 and ISO 2500
  • Dual UHS-II SD Slots; Wi-Fi & Bluetooth
  • Advanced DFD AF System
  • 12 fps Cont. Shooting and 4K PHOTO Modes

Note the key features mostly highlight the video features and reinforces its position as a camera made for the video enthusiasts and pros. Nonetheless, it is still a full featured photography tool that captures 10.3MP RAW image files and up to 12fps. However, it’s worth noting that Panasonic did not include the sensor-shift stabilization inside the GH5S in order to avoid problems with sensor movement during video capture.

The Panasonic GH5S retails for $2499 and should be available in February. You can pre-order it and get the full spec list here at B&H Photo.

Filed Under: Panasonic Tagged With: 4k, CES 2018, GH5S, micro four thirds, mirrorless, Panasonic

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