Casio's Credit Card Watch

Takuryu writes "Casio, working with Japanese credit card company, JCB, has developed a combination credit card wristwatch. Workers at the main JCB office wear the RFID tagged watches and use them for security access at the office, as well as for paying for lunch in the cafeteria. I wonder what percentage of employees they have tagged?"

Comments

Hide your money.

[twitter]

At first glance, this looked really dumb. Why not put the silly RFID into the ID card most corporate types are forced to wear around their necks like so many tagged cows? Sure, there's a picture of one like that on the linked article. How about people who have a sentimental attachment to their current watch? Then the brain kicked in, this is just a demo and there may be something good about RFIDs after all.

Being able to hide your credit anywhere has an appeal. Sure, a mugger might ask for your cheap watch, but would they bother with your ink pen? Kinda cool to be able to give one your wallet without fear. Of course, in my case, the mugger will know which object has my credit. It will be the one wrapped in tin foil.

RFIDs creep me out. Someone being able to identify me by a device in my shoes, in my car's tires, in my shirt? It's weird and the nasty part is that no one I care about will have the ability, just big dumb companies that want to milk me. Vending machines that can take my money while I walk by are more bothersome still. I have a feeling that foil liners will become very fashionable soon, but it won't really work.

Re:Chicken and the Egg

[vxvxvxvx]

Camera Watch

Doesn't use RFID

[line.at.infinity]

It uses an embedded IC chip FeliCa by Sony, according to the actual article.

Re:Bring on the comments

[stupidwhiteguy]

Good thing there is such a device as a passive RFID chip, where the VCC is powered via inductive coupling with the chip itself. The range can be "configured" to be quite small - thus you are safe. The scary thing is the credit card receipt copy that the merchant keep that actually contain your number and expiry date!

This isn't new. Hong Kong has 'Octopus' already...

[B747SP]

From the article Casio is very big on the fact that you now don't have to root around in your bag for a credit card or cellphone in order to pay for things or get in and out of the office.

It would also appear that Casio are very big on conveniently ignoring the fact that this isn't anything new. The Hong Kong public transport system has been running on an RFID card called 'Octopus' for several years now. I've used it lots of times, and it works really really well. The Octopus system used a credit-card sized card with an embedded RFID chip by default, but there are also wristwatches and wear-around-your-neck-on-a-lanyard-watches that perform the same function.

You can pay for bus and train (MTR) trips using the Octopus card, make purchases at 7-Eleven, and top up the card at railway stations and 7-Elevens, and make purchases from an increasing array of other stores, vending machines, parking, ferries, cabs, supermarkets, even school tuck shops!!!. The system works really really well - despite the potential privacy issues, I'm a BIG fan of HK's Octopus.

The system is, by default, largely anonymous. There's nothing to stop them putting a camera near a reader I guess, but I've never been asked to prove who I am when purchasing an Octopus card. The company acknowledges customer fears in respect of anonimity in various ways, they offer a 'personalised' octopus card with your photo on it if you want it, but there doesn't seem to be any pressure to adopt the personalised version.

Clearly, it would be trivial to extend the Octopus system to access control. In fact, it wouldn't actually require any 'extension' of the system, just get your own RFID readers that speak the same frequencies and 'language' as Octopus uses (RFID is still very 'unstandardised', there's a lot of 'standards' to choose from), and make them respond appropriately to the unique IDs in the Octopus cards/watches you happen to own.

I'm from Australia. A friend of mine is sending me my first Octopus watch next week. I already have a handfull of Octopus *cards* here to play with. Where can I get the RFID kit I wonder!