# New MasterCard Has LCD Screen and Keyboard **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 10, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mastercard-has-lcd-screen-and-keyboard/640585 "2012-11-10T16:17:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mastercard-has-lcd-screen-and-keyboard/640585/1 "2012-11-10T16:17:40Z")
Story [here](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20250441). Launched in Singapore and will be available there from January before going global. Pretty neat. Excerpt: \*\*"The card has touch-sensitive buttons and the ability to create a ‘one-time password’ – doing away with the need for a separate device sometimes needed to log in to online banking. “Future versions of the card could display added information such as the remaining balance.”\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mastercard-has-lcd-screen-and-keyboard/640585/2 "2012-11-10T18:40:50Z")
Holy sci fi Batman! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mastercard-has-lcd-screen-and-keyboard/640585/3 "2012-11-10T18:52:25Z")
And you thought butt-dialling your phone was a problem. Imagine when your wallet has butt-initiated a transfer of your entire credit limit to that ex whose info you never removed from your Online Banking account! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mastercard-has-lcd-screen-and-keyboard/640585/4 "2012-11-11T01:33:46Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > And you thought butt-dialling your phone was a problem. Imagine when your wallet has butt-initiated a transfer of your entire credit limit to that ex whose info you never removed from your Online Banking account! “Swiping your card through the slot” will take on a whole new meaning. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mastercard-has-lcd-screen-and-keyboard/640585/5 "2012-11-11T15:41:23Z")
How will this fit into an ATM? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mastercard-has-lcd-screen-and-keyboard/640585/6 "2012-11-11T15:43:59Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > “Swiping your card through the slot” will take on a whole new meaning. We have chips. We ram our cards into the slot and leave them there until we’re done. Though the up-and-coming thing is contactless transactions, involving a gentle tap, if that. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mastercard-has-lcd-screen-and-keyboard/640585/7 "2012-11-11T15:46:48Z")
Seems the screen and buttons are only for security token uses, like the Digipass 270. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mastercard-has-lcd-screen-and-keyboard/640585/8 "2012-11-12T00:49:21Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > How will this fit into an ATM? I think they’ve put this on a standard-sized card. Or maybe it’s a little longer, but the “height” is the same? Speaking of card sizes, one of the things I scavenged from my father’s possessions after he died was various sizes of old department-store charge cards from the 1950s and 1960s. People don’t realize that cards were not a standard size until a certain point in time. There’s an agency, I think in Switzerland, tasked with setting card sizes the world over. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mastercard-has-lcd-screen-and-keyboard/640585/9 "2012-11-12T09:39:44Z")
It honestly seems like it won’t last long, once that near field thing is complete. Having it on a card is just odd. And surely it has to have at least cell service, or else how can it create tokens? ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mastercard-has-lcd-screen-and-keyboard/640585/10 "2012-11-12T15:35:36Z")
The Digipass tokens have an internal clock, and generate a code based on the current time (to the minute) and a formula (should be unique to the token), so no data transfer needed. I think this is how current car key fobs work.