Dreamed up by Kim Young Suk, the One Card is almost too great to ever actually become reality. It would come with a media card slot to add credit card information, a nob to select which card you want the magnetic strip to mimic, and a display which would show either the selected card or corresponding receipts.

Only trouble would be that you’re kinda screwed if you manage to demagnetise the card somehow. [Yanko Design]

One Card Gallery

“Until now, there hasn’t been an affordable and effective solution for consumers to securely protect
their credit card data while shopping online” said Daniel McCann, President of NetSecure
Technologies. “Hackers have extremely sophisticated methods of circumventing traditional internet
security to steal your personal information right from your computer. SmartSwipe facilitates
transactions that leave no trace of credit card data, guaranteeing your information remains secure.

If it’s worth it for you to have a little added security and the ability to bypass typing in your credit card number, the SmartSwipe is available now for $US100 CAD ($87). [SmartSwipe]

SmartSwipe Revolutionizes Online
Shopping
World’s first truly secure personal credit card reader keeps PC safe while shopping
online
Regina, SK – July 14, 2009 – NetSecure Technologies is proud to offer US consumers the
immediate availability of SmartSwipe, a personal credit card reader that keeps your credit card
information and identity completely safe when you’re shopping online. Plug the SmartSwipe into your
computer’s USB port, visit your favourite online stores, and swipe your credit card exactly like you
would at a shop. SmartSwipe then scrambles and encrypts the user’s credit card data before it
reaches the user’s computer or internet providing instant protection from malicious software attacks.

Traditional online security only protects your sensitive information once it has reached the internet,
but not while it’s sitting on your computer. Credit card companies, online retailers and security
professionals spend millions every year to make the internet a safer place for credit card transactions.
Despite these constant advances, credit card data is stolen every day due to the vulnerability of
personal computers. Hackers and thieves make a living taking your credit card data and personal
information right from the desktop.

“Until now, there hasn’t been an affordable and effective solution for consumers to securely protect
their credit card data while shopping online” said Daniel McCann, President of NetSecure
Technologies. “Hackers have extremely sophisticated methods of circumventing traditional internet
security to steal your personal information right from your computer. SmartSwipe facilitates
transactions that leave no trace of credit card data, guaranteeing your information remains secure.”

SmartSwipe features simple plug and play installation and also eliminates the need to manually enter
credit card information saving time while you shop online. The SmartSwipe works with nearly every
major credit card and credit/debit card combination including Visa, MasterCard, American Express,
and Discover. System requirements include Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Internet Explorer 6 or
higher. It also features a 90 day no-hassle return policy should you not be 100% satisfied

Consumerist reader, Dan, was at a local WaMu ATM getting cash when he realised something didn’t feel quite right. After examining the money machine, he realised there was a card skimmer in the slot. Immediately, he ripped it off—which was probably quite easy seeing that it looks to be held together by masking tape—and took pictures of it before contacting Washing Mutual and the authorities. Surprisingly, the police admitted that this was the first time they had ever seen a card skimmer before. One mystery down, and so many more to go. What’s next? I’m banking on exotic, hungry, and extremely poisonous spiders hiding in your toilet. [Consumerist via BBG]

By simply pressing your card to the remote, you can make payment for VOD movies without the hassle of navigating an onscreen QWERTY.

How is all of this consumer magic possible? The remote contains an RFID reader, compatible with Japan’s popular Edy cards—cards that are, incidentally, powered by Sony’s FeliCa technology.

So it all comes full circle. You buy a Sony product to use your Sony card to buy Sony media that’s easily purchased with Sony cards on Sony products. Genius. [Akihabara News]

Essentially a credit cardesque Bluetooth keyboard, we’re not sure that we’d use it to type on our coordinating LG phone, but it’d be fantastic for text entry on the PS3, or just navigating a simple home theatre PC menu.

It also packs some simple functions like number storage, a calendar, and stopwatch along with the ability to activate a wireless shutter to take mobile phone self-portraits. That’s all fine, but we were really hoping to read something about a wipe cloth. [FCC via Unwired View]

The short answer is “red tape.” There are simply far too many entities, players, middlemen and suits that each want a piece of the pie to make such a system practical in the U.S., for now. Indeed, popular and proven programs already exist in some major cities, like Atlanta, New York and San Francisco, but the effect has yet to grow into anything we could seriously call “critical mass.”

In Japan however, the New York Times reports that the major players simply said, “this is how it will be” in the early stages, and moved on from there. The result is that a single carrier, NTT DoCoMo, accounted for more than half of the Japanese market from the moment of inception. Their leverage as the majority player “motivated” the system to take off among the financial institutions and handset manufacturers, but I have a hard time believing such practices, anathema to U.S. capitalism, would ever take hold Stateside.

Still, the same technology driving drive-by Japanese cell phone purchases in Akihabara is still managing to leak into other countries, albeit in different form factors. In London, for example, the Times reports that “Oyster” cards used for transportation feature the same Near Field Communication (NFC) short-range tech as Japanese phones. In the U.S., MasterCard’s PayPass terminals allow consumers to wave their card instead of swipe it.

But these outlets only allow one CC# per card. Japanese phones, the nirvana of drive-by transactions, allow users to select from several accounts, and use the one they want.

The obvious fraud and theft issue is also addressed in the article (”safe” say experts), although with all the big time ID theft stories we’ve seen this past year the stigma will remain regardless of how many Kevin Fu’s there are saying mobile phone transactions are A-OK.

Fu is an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His claim to fame is discovering a huge security hole in PayPass-type credit card transactions in 2006. His research led card companies to overhaul the system and institute fixes over the past three years.

One upside of this discussion (if you’re in the pro-cell phone CC camp) is that MasterCard has already come out and said there will be no additional fees for these transactions, should they see a massive deployment. Of course, we’re in the middle of a huge global recession right now, so we’ll see if the credit card industry, often criticised as synonymous with the phrase “hidden fees and finance charges” will keep their promise.

If you’re a betting person, the magic date for cell phone credit card transactions is 2012, when Key Pousttchi, head of the Wi-mobile research group at the University of Augsburg in Germany, says NFC tech will be in pretty much every cell phone on the market (and netbooks? Or will they have converged with cell phone by then? The article doesn’t say).

Now, call me a Luddite traditionalist all you want, but I still don’t mind reaching for my wallet. The moths that fly out of it when opened, well, that’s another story. [New York Times - Thanks, Matt!]

Constructed of biodegradable PVC, 99% of the card’s substance is said to be reabsorbed by the environment given exposure to soil, water, compost and microorganisms within 9 months to 5 years of its being thrown away.

So where did this magical biodegradable PVC come from? Treehugger speculates that since the idea is relatively new/rare, it might be purchased from a company named BIOflex who makes a PVC from a mix of limestone, plasticiser, and 20 percent petroleum.

If you’re a Discover member, you can find the new biodegradable card under their “Standard Designs” section. Hopefully the bigger guys like Visa and Mastercard will quickly follow suit. [Discover via Treehugger]

Which means that, one, the no cash excuse will soon be gone forever, and two, even if there wasn’t a five-dollar minimum, giving anything less than five bucks when you bust out the plastic would’ve officially made you a dick anyway, so it’s an exceptionally shrewd manoeuvre. I think I actually feel somewhat violated by this, but how do you have hard feelings against a charity? I guess I am a dick. [Star Telegram via Crunch Gear]

The method can stop thieves in two ways. Those who copy down your credit card information will find that your account number and expiration date is not enough to place an order. And those who actually steal your physical card will find that they still don’t know your pin.

While the cards house a 3-year battery, we’re just hoping that they can stand up to a good pocket sweat. Because when we’re roasting away in the summer sun, we need ice cream money to floweth from our plastic like a refreshing, icy deluge. [ITPro via gadgetell]