Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Coin Card Teardown

bitsofcents.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 121 posts

Re: Coin Card Teardown

#81

Post by urda »

leni536 wrote: post #59
urda wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except when you're the top country by economic standards the "everywhere else" has zero weight. Thus why it's still the standard.

>Except when you're the top country by economic standards the "everywhere else" has zero weight. That's really ignorant. Bank card security sucks enough without mag stripes (I'm looking at you, online payment). Really, magstripes need to die.

> That's really ignorant.

Not at all, sounds like you to need a little review yourself [1]. At no point in my comment did I support mag stripe, just simply explain why it's still in widespread use. If you ever have worked in the finance industry you would understand that. Nobody is arguing that it should stay, but it's important to understand WHY they are still around. Just because it's the major standard doesn't make a good one.

Ignorant? Really? I expect more constructive comments here on HN instead of running around and calling people's comments "ignorant". Perhaps you need to review the HN Guidelines [2]. Specifically: 'When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. E.g. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3."'

Alas, it will not be happening based on the latest abuse of downvotes on HN.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28no...

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/edit?id=9920207

Re: Coin Card Teardown

#82

Post by Globz »

flurdy wrote: post #45
azdle wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The security that a smart card provides would actually prevent a product like this from working because one of the primary purposes of the chip system in CCs is to prevent cloning, but this relies on simply being able to enter your CC number into it. I can't remember what it was called, but I remember reading about something that does use a chip card and allows you to switch payment providers using a phone app, but t…

Plastc, https://www.plastc.com , has solved the multiple chip and pin issue. Although in an interesting yak shaving way due to the emv restrictions. https://www.plastc.com/blog/talk-with-the-founders-update

wow this one looks very promising also Chip-and-pin enabled.

Re: Coin Card Teardown

#83

Post by [deleted] »

urda wrote: post #81
leni536 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Except when you're the top country by economic standards the "everywhere else" has zero weight. That's really ignorant. Bank card security sucks enough without mag stripes (I'm looking at you, online payment). Really, magstripes need to die.

> That's really ignorant. Not at all, sounds like you to need a little review yourself [1]. At no point in my comment did I support mag stripe, just simply explain why it's still in widespread use. If you ever have worked in the finance industry you would understand that. Nobody is arguing that it should stay, but it's important to understand WHY they are still around. Just because it's the major standard doesn't mak…

[deleted]

Re: Coin Card Teardown

#84

Post by dbaupp »

Domenic_S wrote: post #56
rio517 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been super broke and unable to pay bills at two points in my life - just out of college and trying to find a job after the dot-come bust, and again when my startup failed. During those bad times, I'd lose track of my finances and a few times couldn't pay for my groceries. I can't describe in words how much I felt like a total, utter failure. All the fears I had about how I was going to pay my bills that month,…

I can relate to your feeling, and this ONE WEIRD TRICK will greatly increase your positive feelings: get a credit card with no fees that you pay off every month. Once I got my Amex, I never again wondered if that swipe would go through -- it just does, every time. That of course comes with its own set of problems (ahem, budgeting).

A lot of the world is moving/has already moved to chips in cards and PINs. However, this comes with tap-to-pay/PayPass (for low-value purchases at least) which removes the need for a PIN in some cases.

(That said, it sounds like the person you're replying to is in the US.)

Re: Coin Card Teardown

#85

Post by megablast »

lvs wrote: post #7
treycopeland wrote: post #5

I received my Coin about 2 months ago. I was excited to test it out after preordering almost 2 years in advance. The concept of having all my cards on one central card was a great idea. But having it not work at some locations was rather embarrassing and frustrating. I have decided the Coin was a fail and I will not carry it anymore. But, Coin, keep innovating. You tried.

It sounds like just another startup hardware offering with a spotty launch. But I've always been confused about the perceived "embarrassment" of a card not working at the point of a transaction. This seems to be a common marketing trope in payments, but I don't know what it comes from. It's a piece of technology, and tech often doesn't work quite right. Sometimes my phone restarts itself. What's the big deal?

> What's the big deal?

Oh exactly. Who cares what someone else thinks? You are only causing a brief delay for the people behind you.

Re: Coin Card Teardown

#86

Post by lkbm »

urda wrote: post #81
leni536 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Except when you're the top country by economic standards the "everywhere else" has zero weight. That's really ignorant. Bank card security sucks enough without mag stripes (I'm looking at you, online payment). Really, magstripes need to die.

> That's really ignorant. Not at all, sounds like you to need a little review yourself [1]. At no point in my comment did I support mag stripe, just simply explain why it's still in widespread use. If you ever have worked in the finance industry you would understand that. Nobody is arguing that it should stay, but it's important to understand WHY they are still around. Just because it's the major standard doesn't mak…

Being number one out of two means you're the majority. Being number one out of over a hundred does not. You claimed that because the US is number one (with 15.6% of world GDP), the other >100 countries (with 84.4% of world GDP) have "zero weight".

"The rest of the world is irrelevant" doesn't go over well and gets downvoted because it's obviously false.

Re: Coin Card Teardown

#87

Post by scintill76 »

jules wrote: post #73
stephengillie wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the USA, magnetic swipe readers are EVERYwhere. And the collection of credit and debit networks connect every reader with almost every bank. It "just works" everywhere, and it's "impossible" for a retailer to be unable to connect to your bank. -Chip-and-pin? The card reader probably can't read it. -Apple/Google wallet and similar services? The card reader probably doesn't have an antenna for it. (Especially small…

It's the same in Europe. You can pay everywhere with any debit card. These cards have both a magnetic strip and a chip. The readers have a slot for reading with the strip and reading with the chip. Most shops have taped the magnetic strip slot shut because it's deemed insecure. Indeed, the only reason that Coin works at all is that magnetic strips can be easily copied, also by criminals with fake readers, or criminal…

The fraud aspect doomed Coin (and probably the similar competitors) from the start, IMO. It either wouldn't catch on (in part due to fraud or fear of fraud). If it did take off initially, we'd enter a carders' utopia where fraud would be easy because merchants would swipe any magstriped gadget without blinking, which would kill Coin when the card networks clamped down. And regardless, it basically only works in the US, where the clock is ticking towards the death of magstripes -- though I guess if they sell tens of thousands of magstripe Coins before that happens, they don't care.

It may be useful for loyalty cards, but even that has similar problems with the cashier being confused/skeptical, or just the hassle of talking about it when you just want to finish your transaction and leave. Apple Pay has apparently opened the way for loyalty cards over NFC[1], so hopefully that will keep spreading both in merchant numbers and availability on other mobile platforms.

[1] http://9to5mac.com/2015/06/10/verifone-apple-pay-loyalty-car...

Re: Coin Card Teardown

#89

Post by Dylan16807 »

ceequof wrote: post #52

The specs aren’t listed on the FDK site but the safety data sheet shows it is a 3V battery although amperage is unclear. All lithium-ion batteries have a nominal voltage of 3.7V, like how all alkaline batteries have a nominal voltage of 1.5V. It's just how the chemistry works. ( Actual voltage can vary quite a bit, depending on where you are in the discharge curve: http://i.stack.imgur.com/UkodS.gif ) And to be somew…

Lithium is not lithium ion.

Single-use lithium batteries are made in a variety of voltages. This chemistry is in fact three volts.

Re: Coin Card Teardown

#90

Post by bidatzi »

lkbm wrote: post #86
urda wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's really ignorant. Not at all, sounds like you to need a little review yourself [1]. At no point in my comment did I support mag stripe, just simply explain why it's still in widespread use. If you ever have worked in the finance industry you would understand that. Nobody is arguing that it should stay, but it's important to understand WHY they are still around. Just because it's the major standard doesn't mak…

Being number one out of two means you're the majority. Being number one out of over a hundred does not. You claimed that because the US is number one (with 15.6% of world GDP), the other >100 countries (with 84.4% of world GDP) have "zero weight". "The rest of the world is irrelevant" doesn't go over well and gets downvoted because it's obviously false.

Is GDP the relevant metric to assess this?

On credit/debit card transaction volume North America represents 40+% of global market.

https://www.capgemini.com/resource-file-access/resource/pdf/...

Post reply on HN