Forget the easily concealed task of punching in personal PIN codes to access your debit and credit cards of the future.
Some California genius is developing a card requiring users to give spoken passwords in front of God and everybody.
Designed by Beepcard Inc. of Santa Monica, the prototype packs a voice-recognition chip, microphone, loudspeaker and battery—making it three times the thickness of standard cards.
Pushing a surface button will prompt a stern U.S.-accented female voice to utter “Say your password.”
If you’re sitting in a crowded restaurant when she speaks, you can bet your britches that nearby patrons will stop yapping, cock their ears and listen to you give up your most closely guarded secret:
”Bozo.” (2 MAY 2004)
