John Dring - Intel Network Services - Swindon 11 November, 2008, 09:18 0 likes

RSA always had a 'kind of' credit card called a PinPad, which is about 4mm thick, and metal. SecurID is just a Pseudo random number generator which can be implemented in software or embedded.  I think the problem was the 'battery' needed to keep the display ticking for 3 years (maybe the Oz product is powered by card reader on demand?). Getting an LCD display onto a standard credit card must also be a stretch.

I think OTPs are fine, and I think they are simple to comprehend and (sometimes) use.  RSA could easily put it into a mobile handset, maybe even as a software appl, instead of the 'On Demand' by SMS option they currently have.  I use SecurID, and I'd certainly rather have it in my phone.  

Talk, text, time & transact !

A Finextra member 13 November, 2008, 06:01 0 likes

I'm getting older and blinder and can hardly see the numbers on the screen, I don't even like using my blackberry because the keys are too small to see without my reading glasses, especially in poor light. That and having to type the code in for the MITM and carry the thing in the first place, puts me off such gadgets, however at least it is in the card, I'll give them that. IBM and their dongle might solve the man-in-the-middle initially but I still need to carry it.

I can't really think of much else thats positive about them.

Back in the old days I thouht about all the OTP, chip, etc stuff, even a barcode reader and TV transmitter in the phone. Then reality set in, the phone manufacturers were like car manufacturers, pretty well without a clue. (I gave up making cars when told "we'd make the little f,,,s disolve the day the warranty ran out if we could".

I chose to working with what was already there, because phones and phone features come and go quicker than Pink's hairdo's. Just go for something which can be built upon.

I didn't for a minute suggest building on a card until it became a mobile phone, but there you go we may see it.

I may also have given credit were it mightn't be due, the Emue company's site list partners, one of who claims to be the manufacturer of the device, so I'm not really sure where it hails from and don't have time to have a look for the patent, if there is one, because I mean - it's pretty obvious that one. Sensible, maybe not because not all the obvious things are sensible.

I use to have a credit card sized solar powered calculator, but there is one in my mobile, so that calculator, cute as it may be, is another gagdet buried in the drawer while my mobile has pride of place.

A Finextra member 13 November, 2008, 06:31 0 likes

Incard are apparently the inventors. It is an advance on carrying a seperate dongle but it is still a card.