The Beepcard: the voice-activated credit card

Voice recognition has been working its way into consumer goods for awhile — take that no-hands voice-dialing feature on your cellphone that you never use. Well, engineers at Beepcard, a company in Santa Monica, CA, have taken a similar technology and prototyped the Comdot, a voice-protected credit card which could prove to be the ultimate fraud fighter for online purchases. The card is the first to incorporate a microphone, loudspeaker, battery and voice-recognition chip on one "standard-sized" credit card — though the company admits the card is actually 3 times as thick as the current standard. Operating the card seems simple enough: the user pushes a button on the card, a voice commands you to "say your password". If the password is authenticated, the card emits a special squawk which is then picked up by your PC's microphone and to an online server that verifies your voice-secure password (the card could also be used for transactions made over the phone as well). Battery capacity is the main problem now (we'd hate to not be able to shop til we drop because our card just died), but Beepcard says they're working towards a card with a lifespan of about two years (given 10 transactions a day). Visa does't seem interested, but if the card gets slimmed down, along with the price to make it, the Comdot could potentially stop thieves in their tracks. Or at least have them add making audio recordings of you saying your password to their list of things to do while robbing you.