Hacker News Reader

Comment by struppi | Hacker News Reader

OK, maybe I'm old or old-fashioned or just not creative enough...

But what exactly are the advantages of this implant over NFC-cards or something like Apple Pay? That I cannot forget my card or my phone? I don't even know when this last happened to me...

View on HN

Hygiene and safety, I would guess. A card in a lanyard can get caught up in all sorts of machinery and even a wristband can be slightly difficult to keep clean.

Make the band from the right metals and it keeps itself hygienic

My new startup makes employee id bracelets out of sterling silver with embedded rfid chips encased in sapphire, for tech startups that can't figure out how to spend their VC money.

I'll take that as sarcasm, cheap copper should be fine

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimicrobial_properties_of_...

Sarcasm or not, it makes me wish my current municipality had some stupid VC money sloshing over the sides of the tub.

Um, almost the same applies to hands and arms.

I don't know about you, but my body's sense of proprioception[1] doesn't extend to lanyards or other things attached to my clothing.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception

Yeah, but getting your arm ripped off by some machinery is also rarely deliberate.

But you're likely to notice if your arm is near a piece of machinery -- which was my point. Lanyards and ties? Not so much (in fact, that's one reason why neck-wear such as ties are banned from many such sites -- because of the risk).

I think the fact that you're arguing this shows that you've never worked around heavy machinery.

What is your point here - that we should cut our arms off to be safe near heavy machinery?

Especially at $300 a pop that's a lot more than a $5 or $10 card

RFID cards aren't $5.

More like $22.99 for a pack of 100 apparently: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GXV4IGC/ (No affiliation, those were the first I found)

Yeah it looks like you can get them on Alibaba for about a penny each. (https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Customized-Rewritable...)

Ah that was the cost to replace an rfid id card when I worked at a big publisher I was assuming the normal rip-off markup that suppliers of these systems charge

Its attached to the user semi-permananetly (not an advantage). Perhaps the customers (the business) are assuming because its implanted it can't be substituted like a smart card and therefore is somehow more secure, which of course it isn't.

Perhaps it does up the threshold for misuse, but still doesn't eliminate it completely.

OK, this is Wisconsin, but for one Apple Pay is not available everywhere outside of U.S.

> "Something like Apple Pay"

Meaning a smartphone app to authenticate, instead of a lanyard or keycard.

Just more convenience then I guess. I like the idea that I could just go to store, pick up stuff and walk out and my bank account would just magically get charged for the items. Obviously this is still far away from that (possible) future, but it's a step towards it. I would already be willing to pay not to have to use my credit card at the counter, but instead being able to Jedi wave over the payment terminal.

I dislike the idea that a payment system might not include a "something you know" or a "something you are" in its verification.

And also that I'd probably get fired for cloning my boss's RFID.

Or what about a wristband?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com