Engineers at Santa Monica-based Beepcard have developed a prototype credit card that offers built-in voice recognition, requiring the user to speak a passcode before unlocking the card. Based on an earlier prototype that ‘squawked’ an audible ID code to an online server, the idea is to verify that the actual card is being held in the hand of the owner, rather than someone just punching in credit card numbers without a card. Currently, the prototype is as small as a credit card, but about three times as thick. Engineers hope to shrink that size down to normal credit card thickness, including a non-replaceable battery that would be capable of powering ten transactions a day for up to two years.
