5 ms·

The microcontroller, smart card interface, eInk screen, bluetooth capability (including antenna), NFC (including antenna), and touch screen all seem reasonable

by bradfa 12y ago

The microcontroller, smart card interface, eInk screen, bluetooth capability (including antenna), NFC (including antenna), and touch screen all seem reasonable and there isn't anything earth shattering tech wise (but probably a customized asic using off the shelf bits). Connecting this all together on some fiberglass or plastic substrate is hard, and expensive to tool for (I'd expect), but definitely possible. The interesting bit is how they're fitting the battery and getting anything remotely like reasonable life. Even down in the single digit micro-Amp consumption range (typical for low power microcontrollers plus some resistive touch), a battery small enough to fit inside a credit card will likely only have a few mAh, at best. This will lead to needing to recharge quite often if the bluetooth turns on or eInk screen updates more than once in a blue-moon.

JTon 12y ago
In the tech specs they claim a 30-day charge. No other details. I wonder if that's the equivalent of a cellphone "standby" spec.
- mrkickling 12y ago
  Well, E-ink uses very little battery. The e-reader I use has to be charged only every other month or every month if I read more often. But then again this little card couldn't have a very powerful battery in it.
  - retroencabulato 12y ago
    And what about using Bluetooth to detect when the card is lost? That sounds awfully power hungry for this form factor.
penprog 12y ago
You really believe you can fit an eink display, a touch screen digitizer, a microcontroller, bluetooth and nfc on a card that thin and sell it for 155 dollars?
- rtpg 12y ago
  I'm pretty sure nfc can be passive, the e-ink display doesn't use energy when not changing, and the "touch screen digitizer" could just be a button that is actually a contact (i.e. most of the time the microcontroller is passive). Also, you could make the card thicker in areas where it doesn't matter (away from the stripe and the PIN
  - jrockway 12y ago
    You can't, actually. Consider things like the ATMs that suck in the entire card, or things like Metrocard vending machines that require you to insert the credit card in a slot.
    - rtpg 12y ago
      ah, good point on the ATMs, I stand corrected (imagine this card getting stuck in an ATM, suddenly all your cards are lost)
    - tripzilch 12y ago
      Really good point. I doubt they'll ever[0] be able to put all that tech into a card that's actually as thin as a credit card that fits in an ATM. But if they can do that, I want one, not to pay with, but for the programmable eInk screen with bluetooth connectivity (and touch? get real). Then I'd hook it into my phone, that would somehow detect who is nearby/looking at it, reverse/stalk their social networks, local graph, location/environment context, little bit of magic, cold reading and random guesswork. It would show exactly whatever they wanted/expected to see. I'd have hacked myself a piece of Doctor Who's psychic paper. [0] or at least for a few years :)
    - robin_reala 12y ago
      Cash machines have to deal with raised numerals. You could at least make it as thick as card + raised digits all over.
      - reacocard 12y ago
TrevorJ 12y ago
I'm extremely skeptical that this will work as well: they say you can remotely lock the card which would require some kind of bluetooth polling to your phone at a pretty regular interval and I doubt battery life is going to allow for that.

by bradfa 12y ago

JTon 12y ago

In the tech specs they claim a 30-day charge. No other details. I wonder if that's the equivalent of a cellphone "standby" spec.

mrkickling 12y ago
Well, E-ink uses very little battery. The e-reader I use has to be charged only every other month or every month if I read more often. But then again this little card couldn't have a very powerful battery in it.
- retroencabulato 12y ago
  And what about using Bluetooth to detect when the card is lost? That sounds awfully power hungry for this form factor.

penprog 12y ago

You really believe you can fit an eink display, a touch screen digitizer, a microcontroller, bluetooth and nfc on a card that thin and sell it for 155 dollars?

rtpg 12y ago
I'm pretty sure nfc can be passive, the e-ink display doesn't use energy when not changing, and the "touch screen digitizer" could just be a button that is actually a contact (i.e. most of the time the microcontroller is passive). Also, you could make the card thicker in areas where it doesn't matter (away from the stripe and the PIN
- jrockway 12y ago
  You can't, actually. Consider things like the ATMs that suck in the entire card, or things like Metrocard vending machines that require you to insert the credit card in a slot.
  - rtpg 12y ago
    ah, good point on the ATMs, I stand corrected (imagine this card getting stuck in an ATM, suddenly all your cards are lost)
  - tripzilch 12y ago
    Really good point. I doubt they'll ever[0] be able to put all that tech into a card that's actually as thin as a credit card that fits in an ATM. But if they can do that, I want one, not to pay with, but for the programmable eInk screen with bluetooth connectivity (and touch? get real). Then I'd hook it into my phone, that would somehow detect who is nearby/looking at it, reverse/stalk their social networks, local graph, location/environment context, little bit of magic, cold reading and random guesswork. It would show exactly whatever they wanted/expected to see. I'd have hacked myself a piece of Doctor Who's psychic paper. [0] or at least for a few years :)
  - robin_reala 12y ago
    Cash machines have to deal with raised numerals. You could at least make it as thick as card + raised digits all over.
    - reacocard 12y ago

TrevorJ 12y ago

I'm extremely skeptical that this will work as well: they say you can remotely lock the card which would require some kind of bluetooth polling to your phone at a pretty regular interval and I doubt battery life is going to allow for that.