Cards - Gizmodo

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NotChoinski
09/21/09

In reply to Hotel Guest Room Built Entirely From Key Cards
Talk about an Ass Swipe
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RE-L
09/19/09

In reply to Hotel Guest Room Built Entirely From Key Cards
Wow, he seems to have a wedding band on his finger....
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Jrsy Devil's Bright Idea® promoted this comment RE-L was starred RE-L was unstarred

Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
09/20/09

@RE-L: I understand his marriage is on the rocks. After all, it was build on a house of cards...
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Edited by Jrsy Devil's Advocate® at 09/20/09 9:49 AM

RE-L
09/20/09

@Jrsy Devil's Bright Idea®: win
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superberg
09/19/09

In reply to Hotel Guest Room Built Entirely From Key Cards
Dammit! Every time this guy does something I think someone wrote an article about me.

This Bryan Berg guy is the reason I started writing under a pseudonym.
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spannu
09/19/09

@superberg: Hey, you must be a huge fan! So tell us, which of Bryan's pieces is your favorite?
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superberg
09/19/09

The one where he stacked up google to make it impossible to find anything I've ever written.
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switchblade saints
09/19/09

@superberg: +1

superberg: There *was* nothing wrong with it... until I was about twelve years old and that no-talent ass clown became famous and started winning Grammys.
Gizmodo: Hmm... well, why don't you just go by B instead of Bryan?
superberg: No way! Why should I change? He's the one who sucks.
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Edited by switchblade saints at 09/19/09 7:13 PM switchblade saints was starred

GreyHammer
09/19/09

In reply to Hotel Guest Room Built Entirely From Key Cards
what a tremendous waste of time and resources.
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GitEmSteveDave_OverSleptThisMorn
09/19/09

@GreyHammer: Agreed. I mean, once a key card is touched, it can NEVER be used again, right? Oh wait it can?

Well, that's besides the point. I'm upset we wasted taxpayer money on this guys salary. Oh wait, you mean it's his own "personal" time, and it made no difference to 99.999999% of the population if he did this or sat on a park bench for the same amount of time?

I'm sorry, what was your point again?
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met2art
09/19/09

@GitEmSteveDave_HasANewNameToday: Maybe it was an intentionally ironic self-referential recursive meta-comment?
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GitEmSteveDave_OverSleptThisMorn
09/19/09

@met2art: How will this "intentionally ironic self-referential recursive meta-comment" affect the ship and crew Ensign Met2art? Will the shields protect us, or will Dr. Crusher have to enact Level 2 decontamination protocols?
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met2art
09/19/09

@GitEmSteveDave_HasANewNameToday: I'm fairly certain we'll have to have Geordi run a level 1 diagnostic on all the context parsers in the LCARS library to make sure the ship's computer doesn't begin giving itself illogical orders that it can't understand.

In pirate-talk, I be fairly certain we`ll be havin' t' be havin' Geordi run a level 1 diagnostic on all th' context parsers in th' LCARS library t' be makin' sure th' ship`s computer dasn't begin givin' itself illogical orders that 't canna understand. Arrr!
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RainyDayInterns
09/19/09

@GreyHammer: yeah...everything we do must be efficient and meaningful, like time spent commenting on gadget blogs.
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FriarNurgle
09/19/09

In reply to Hotel Guest Room Built Entirely From Key Cards
"Mr. Berg, would you care for any extra keys for your room?" asked the front desk attendant. "Why, yes I would. Yes I would." stated Mr. Berg with an evil little chuckle.
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The Lab
09/19/09

In reply to Hotel Guest Room Built Entirely From Key Cards
House of card toilet or lego toilet? Never in the history of man have people faced such a great dilemma.
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Edited by The Lab at 09/19/09 1:50 PM The Lab was starred The Lab was unstarred

loslosbaby
09/02/09

In reply to Half Of Tokyoites Prefer to Wave Instead of Swiping and Counting
The U.S. is so big we can't move into the future: in Japan they have 500 Yen coins, widely usable (now) and this in a country where you can buy underwear/beer/shirt/digital camera/train-passes-with-built-in-1-day-vacation in a vending machine.
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loslosbaby
09/02/09

In reply to Half Of Tokyoites Prefer to Wave Instead of Swiping and Counting
The key thing about Suica is that its anonymous...like many things in Japan including pike passes.

But here in the U.S., we like it a little creepier and want ID information, like pike passes.
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Stephen LaManna
09/02/09

In reply to Half Of Tokyoites Prefer to Wave Instead of Swiping and Counting
This sounds like it would very easily catch on in NYC. All it would take is to modify your metro cards to a wave opposed to a swipe. I'd use my metro card at 7-11 if I could.
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Brandon Drake
09/02/09

In reply to Half Of Tokyoites Prefer to Wave Instead of Swiping and Counting
I lived in Japan for a couple of years, and before the Suica cards were available my wallet was full of coins. Japan doesn't have paper money for anything below a 10.

The Suica card is awesome and saved me loads of time.
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UGAdawg
09/02/09

In reply to Half Of Tokyoites Prefer to Wave Instead of Swiping and Counting
Dude! They have swipe cards like this for the DC Metro. It's prepaid, usually subsidized by your employer, and swiped at the turn style.

[www.wmata.com]

As for the excitement of having a card loaded with money, we have those already called debit cards. I hardly carry any cash on my now days and only use my debit card for purchasing. I do carry singles if I know that I need to pay someone back or just to have in case I want a soda from the vending machine.

The one cool thing that debit cards have over the RFID chip tech is that it can't be read remotely.
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Purple Dave
09/02/09

@UGAdawg:
Just because you can't remote-read a non-RFID debit card through someone's pocket doesn't mean that they're 100% secure. I don't know how many times I've read cautionary articles about how debit cards can be swiped through a portable reader to capture the data while it's out of the owner's sight for just a few seconds, and federal regulations on debit card fraud are not nearly as favorable to the consumer as they are for credit card fraud.
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UGAdawg
09/02/09

@Purple Dave: Remote reading an RFID card is the least invasive technique. You don't even have to touch the person in order to do it. Whereas in your scenario you have to have possession of the card. That takes a bit of work. I still won't have an RFID chip on me that's tied to my finances. As for the swipe out of site, well at least you know there's a chance there. You SEE the possibility of it happening. Plus if there is any fraud you have a pretty good idea of where to start looking for a source.
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LoralieHydra
09/01/09

In reply to Half Of Tokyoites Prefer to Wave Instead of Swiping and Counting
Imagine that you have to take the subway daily, and that the alternatives are a) buy a ticket each day or b) wave an electronic card over the gate. Then imagine that the shops in the subway set up to take the electronic cards, too. Then imagine that other stores decide that as long as everyone is using those cards, that it's worth it for them to accept the cards, too.

Where's the hook for that to catch on in the US?
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Ktak
09/01/09

In reply to Half Of Tokyoites Prefer to Wave Instead of Swiping and Counting
As has been noted elsewhere on this thread, Japan's e-money cards aren't linked to bank accounts, so the most you will ever lose is the amount that you have loaded onto the card. Many people (even those who don't use them to make store purchases) use them primarily for the train or bus.

As for the 50 percent non-usage statistic, my guess is that older consumers account for most of them. They may be comfortable using it for transportation purposes, but not for purchases. Japan, for the most part, has always been a cash based society, and these habits die hard. It's not uncommon to see housewives with wads of cash going to ATMs on payday to deposit money into various accounts or to make payments.

Personally, I rarely use my Suica or cellphone's e-cash capability to make purchases, but I can see the appeal for those who are always on the move. And it's great to have a backup in case I forget or lose my wallet.
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Bokusatsu_Tenshi
09/01/09

In reply to Half Of Tokyoites Prefer to Wave Instead of Swiping and Counting
Convenience rules all...
Why have a bunch of paper and coins when you can replace it all for a card?

Dunno how it works, but probably also helps on train/metro stations, vending machines, etc.
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fibbsjc
09/01/09

In reply to Half Of Tokyoites Prefer to Wave Instead of Swiping and Counting
I think it may have to do with several reasons. There are other, better payment methods out there (i.e., keitai pay which giz has covered many times); security issues (i.e., anybody can use these cards, whether or not they own them); and my wife doesn't like them because she doesn't like the impulse buy they encourage in her (psychologically, it makes one pause and think a little bit more when making a purchase when one has to take out cash for a purchase than when one just swipes a card). For what its worth. I pay with cash always, and it doesn't bother me to carry it around. For one the bill denominations make much more sense to me here (10s, 50s and 100s) and nobody bats an eyelid if you pay for a pack of smokes with a hundred (10,000 Yen) bill at a convenience store like Lawson or Family Mart, etc.
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