card readers

  • Why the chip card isn't the disaster everybody says it is

    From all the grumpiness over the “EMV” chip-card transition, you’d think that the circuitry embedded in our new credit cards delivered a small electric shock every time you inserted one into a terminal at a check-out counter. Customers say they don’t like chip cards because you have to leave them in a reader for as long as half a minute instead of swiping a card’s magnetic stripe with a single, satisfying flick of the wrist. Retailers complain that after costly hardware and software upgrades, they still can’t take chip-card payments because their systems have yet to pass required certification tests.

  • Security experts hack payment terminals to steal credit card info, play games

    If a payment terminal could be forced into servitude as a crude handheld gaming device, what else could it be made to do? Researchers at the Black Hat conference showed just what mischief a commonly used UK PoS terminal could get up to when they inserted a chip-and-pin card crafted with malicious code. That enabled them to install a racing game and play it, using the machine's pin pad and screen. With the same hack, they were able to install a far less whimsical program as well -- a Trojan that could record card numbers and PINs, which could be extracted later by inserting another rogue card. On top of that, criminals could use the same method to fool the terminal into thinking a transaction was bank-approved, allowing them to walk out of a store with goods they hadn't paid for. Finally, the security gurus took a device popular in the US, and used non-encrypted ethernet communication between the terminal and other peripherals to hack into the payment device and take root control. Makes you want to put those credit cards (and NFC devices) away and stick to cash -- at least you can see who's robbing you blind. [Original image credit: Shutterstock]

  • Wave Scanner: bulky DS attachment ups the fun

    There's probably no small overlap among folks who play fantasy video games and those who while away the hours engrossed in Magic-style card battles, so we're thinking that a new attachment for the Nintendo DS has a real shot at succeeding. Capcom and TakaraTomy will jointly be launching the so-called Wave Scanner in Japan next month, finally bringing the fun of collectible playing cards to the Megaman series of games. The rather bulky scanner works with a number of different Rockman Star Force titles (Rockman is Megaman's original Japanese name), and allows players to swipe special cards for influencing gameplay. We're not really sure why this ¥4,200 ($35) add-on needs to be so big and thus hinder the whole portability thing that the DS has going for it, but who knows, maybe it takes a Cell processor and some serious RAM to process those complicated bar codes.

  • Delkin targets pros with ExpressCard 34 CompactFlash Adapter

    There are already a number of solutions on the market for amateur photographers looking to offload SD- and MemoryStick-confined photos to an ExpressCard-equipped laptop (Buffalo and Y-E Data both offer such card readers), but for pros looking to transfer pics from more capacious CF cards or MicroDrives, USB readers and camera tethering have so far been the only options. Well that long nightmare is about to come to an end, thanks to Delkin's upcoming ExpressCard 34 CompactFlash Adapter, which works with both PC and Mac laptops sporting either 34- or 54-millimeter slots. Coming October 16th for $60, the Delkin adapter promises 20MBps file transfers, keeping downtime at those weddings and Bar Mitzvahs to a minimum. Okay, so soon you'll be able to get your SD / MS / CF transfers on without much hassle, but won't someone please, please think of the humble xD card?