What if you only had to carry ONE credit card?

[Merkuri]

[From Wired News: www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,62545,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_6 ]

Chameleon Card Changes Stripes

By Mark Baard
02:00 AM Mar. 05, 2004 PT

Your next wallet may be 8 mm thick and contain the only card you'll ever need.

Chameleon Network, in Concord, Massachusetts, plans to replace the stacks of credit, bank and customer-loyalty cards burdening modern consumers with a single, rewritable Chameleon Card, which works just like an ordinary card with a magnetic strip.

The Chameleon Card's black strip covers a programmable transducer that mimics the information on the magnetic strips of the cards it is replacing. A new handheld device from Chameleon, the Pocket Vault, programs the Chameleon Card to take the place of any credit card the consumer chooses for a transaction.

Shoppers will be able to swipe their Chameleon Cards through the same magnetic readers used in stores and banks today. And instead of reading bar codes off the back of customer-loyalty cards, retail bar-code readers will scan the bar code displayed on the Pocket Vault itself.

The Pocket Vault has a slot for the Chameleon Card, but has no buttons or stylus. The device, which will be about half the size of an iPaq pocket PC, will be on sale in stores such as Best Buy and Circuit City as early as January 2005, according to Chameleon CEO Todd Burger.

First-time users of the Pocket Vault will read their old credit cards with the device, which stores their information internally and backs it up to an online or local database in case the Pocket Vault is lost or stolen. Each credit card stored on the Pocket Vault is then represented by an icon on the device's touch-screen display.

The Pocket Vault also prompts its owners to place their fingerprints on the device's reader pad to create a biometric profile.

To use the Chameleon Card for a credit card transaction, a shopper taps the logo on the Pocket Vault's display representing the credit card account he wants to use. Seconds later, the Pocket Vault spits out the shopper's Chameleon Card, with the selected credit card account number, expiration date and logo imprinted on its flexible display, and its transducer reconfigured to work in the store's or bank's magnetic card reader.

The Pocket Vault, which Burger expects to sell for less than $200, will also replace ExxonMobil's Speedpass and similar radio-frequency identification applications with its own, built-in RFID chips.

But the Pocket Vault promises to do more than prevent slipped discs caused by overstuffed wallets. Its security features should also help safeguard shoppers from the devastation of credit card fraud and identity theft, said Burger.

The Pocket Vault will only power up when it detects its owner's fingerprint. And unlike an ordinary credit card, the information stored on a Chameleon Card becomes unreadable (and the transducer inoperable) within 10 minutes.

The Pocket Vault also switches off shortly after ejecting a Chameleon Card.

That's plenty of time for a shopper to swipe his Chameleon Card through a magnetic reader at the grocery store, but hardly enough for a thief to do much damage to the shopper's credit.

"Your worst possible exposure," said Burger, "is that a thief may be able to get in one illegal purchase in the 10 minutes after the card is ejected from the (Pocket Vault)."

Major credit companies, banks and other financial institutions are just weeks away from signing an agreement with Chameleon, said Burger.

Chameleon has built most of the components of the Pocket Vault system, and it has successfully tested its replacement for the Speedpass.

But an analyst warned that, although the Pocket Vault and Chameleon Card may be easy to use, consumers are typically reluctant to change their buying behaviors.

They may also balk at the Pocket Vault's strongest security feature, its use of fingerprint authentication.

"Consumers still associate biometrics with an invasion of their privacy," said Forrester Research analyst Penny Gillespie. "For better or worse, they see it as intrusive."

[Galadon]

What if you lived life without a credit card. I have done it for 47 years.

[Merkuri]

Me too. Well, not for 47 years, but for 22. I do have a debit card, though, and a few gift cards. I think an invention like this would be quite handy, if only for the security (needs a fingerprint).

For some reason a piece of science fiction comes to mind (don't ask me what or when, I can't remember) where finger- or hand-prints were used to start cars instead of keys. That security feature was only used for a short while. Turns out keys are less traumatic to lose than hands (determined thieves would cut the hand/finger off of their marks to steal their cars). I wonder if people some day might start losing their fingers when their wallets get stolen...

[EK - Shadow of Death]

Oooh - I like this... Plastic is the new money, and this'll definetely reduce the hassle of having to choose between 5 or 6 different cards.

[Merkuri]

You still have to choose which card to use. You just have to find the icon on the little mini-computer instead of the card in your wallet.

[Hussar]

Galadon, how the heck have you been able to get away without a credit card? Here in Canada anyway, you need a credit card to get a hotel room (most hotels will now charge a 50-100 dollar deposit for using cash), rent a car, do any internet shopping, buy an airline ticket, jeez and that's just off the top of my head. Wow, I didn't know you could get through life without a credit card.

Granted, I pay off my card every month, never carry a balance and am very, very careful with the single credit card that I have. But, I don't think I could function without my Visa. Never mind the fact that I don't really like slapping the three or four grand it costs me to go home at Christmas in cash.

[EK - Shadow of Death]

Merkuri said:

You still have to choose which card to use. You just have to find the icon on the little mini-computer instead of the card in your wallet.

Just a minor thing. Its good to have all your assets consolidated ^_^. Besides, with a built in bioidenification feature, it'll be a helluva lot more secure than a signature. At the very least, its a step in the right direction.

[Galadon]

It's mainly because of my life style. I have been traveling for about twenty years. Still feel the urge even though I plan to stay in Denver. I don't buy things off the internet because I don't trust them, who ever them is. Rent a car, don't have to. I have know alot of people who will help you out if needed. Ah hotels, well I'm to cheap to pay that much money for a hotel.

I tell anyone I do business with if you don't like money or money orders, I don't do business with you.

This is not about big brother watching or anything like that. It's about not paying someone who doesn't deserve it. Why should I pay a credit card company anything for using my money. Old fashion I guess, if I don't have the money I can wait until I do to buy something.

[Merkuri]

You know, Gal, if you pay off your balances right away most cards don't charge you a thing. At least, most cards that I've looked at. That's the only way to do it, use the card for stuff like gas (quicker than cash) and then pay it off right away so it doesn't cost you a penny.

[Hussar]

Merkuri is right. So long as you don't carry a balance, credit cards do not charge you anything. They do charge the store owner 2%, but nothing to you.

Unless you take a cash advance, then you get nailed from day 1.

Here in Canada, it doesn't matter how cheap the hotel is, they won't take cash. Last time I was home, I stayed in a 40 dollar (Canadian, so like a buck fifty American) hotel that still wouldn't take cash.

Unless you stay in bed and breakfasts I suppose.

I do have to say though, Canada has embraced debit and credit cards much more than any other country I've been to. The idea of carrying cash in Canada is pretty alien to most people. Far simpler to use a debit card or credit card. Both can be used for free if you have the right plan and EVERYWHERE will take either. It's weird living in a country now where no one uses credit cards. I've never bought a car with cash before. Very strange to whack down 10 grand in cash. The Japanese don't like checks and they hate credit cards. Very strange. I even have to pay cash at the baby hospital. Three grand, cash, up front. Way weird.

[Merkuri]

Whoa... don't know why I didn't realize it before, but this device has one little problem. It may require your fingerprint to access the cards inside, but who's to say the cards inside are yours? Imagine if you had a somewhat dishonest waitress or waiter at a restaraunt who takes your credit card up to the register for you but casually slips it into his Pocket Vault before ringing up your meal. He now has a fingerprint-protected copy of your card (probably along with the cards of the other twenty people he served that night). Admittedly, wait staff could do this now by jotting down the numbers and names off the cards, but not only is that more conspicuous (and leaves more evidence), but those numbers can only be used online (or other places where the physical card isn't needed). The waiter with the PV could take a trip to the store after his shift is over and use any or all of those cards to buy his new stereo or computer or $1,000 worth of groceries. There's no limit on where he could go or what he could do with them, and if he only uses each card once he could wrack up a lot of goodies with a minimal chance of folks noticing the purchases on their bills.

[EK - Shadow of Death]

Well, in that case, it can be assumed that no one would need to carry around credit cards at all - they would be obsolete. I'd guess that a credit card company would simply send you a number and an expiration date (possibly stored in a small data chip?) which you'd upload to the PV, instead of sending you a plastic square that you carry everywhere. That way, instead of handing people your credit card, you'd unlock your PV for single-use access set for a card of your choice, and hand that to your waiter (or whoever).

[Merkuri]

Well, considering this might show up in stores as early as 2005 (according to the CEO), somehow I don't think it'll replace credit cards overnight. This isn't far future technology, this is tomorrow, and it will coexist with credit cards unless there's some radical change in the next year or two.

[Hussar]

Well, actually, I just thought of a fairly simple solution.

When the card is placed into the vault, you must input the card's PIN number before you can make a copy. That way, when someone steals your card and slips it into their vault and returns your card, their vault cannot produce a copy of the card's information since he lacks your PIN number.

Since the vault has to read the card anyway, it could have an added feature like that. Same as using your card in a bank machine. Not every time mind you. Just the first time when you input your card into your vault.

[Merkuri]

Credit cards in the US don't have PINs, only debit cards do. Sometimes online businesses will ask for a certain number associated with the card, but that's printed right on the back. Seeing the card will give you that number. The PIN solution won't work unless American credit cards have a substantial change in the next few years.