Smart Wallets React To Spending By Shrinking 98
fangmcgee writes "These high-tech wallets are digitally programmed to react to your bank account levels by shrinking in size, refusing to open, or vibrating whenever a transaction is processed. From the article: 'The Proverbial Wallets come in three attractive styles to fit your spending needs: The Mother Bear has a constricting hinge that makes it harder to open the closer you approach your monthly budget, while the Bumblebee buzzes every time a transaction is processed. The Peacock inflates and deflates with the amount of cash in your account, which puts your assets on “display” for potential mates, according to the designers.'"
for foursquare users... (Score:2)
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"The Peacock inflates and deflates with the amount of cash in your account, which puts your assets on “display” for potential mates, according to the designers."
I guess if you're Bill Gates, it doubles as a hot-air baloon.
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No, if you're Bill Gates it doubles as a small moon.
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No, if you're Bill Gates it doubles as a small moon.
Thats no moon.
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"Vibrate whenever a transaction is processed".
If chick's find out about this technology, we'll never get them out of stores...
And a fourth model... (Score:3)
"The Parasite". Sniffs the local wireless traffic for your bank account details when the wallet queries for your balance...
Seriously though, they better secure these things properly, because it sounds cool and people won't care until it's too late. And because I won't let myself get anything like this until I know it's secure, but I want one!
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I'd guess the bank details don't get sent to the wallet. More like a server somewhere processes what the wallet should do, and then tells the wallet to do it. The wallet obediently does what it's told.
It'd be immensely silly for them to build technology that actively computes stuff, into every wallet. That would be economically blasphemous!
What makes more sense is to have many chips embedded to do the work and one server somewhere to rule them all!
No doubt, some hacker somewhere would reprogram their Pea
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The Bumblebee is the funnest (Score:2)
Bumblebee. Great for watching your spouse.
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It should... (Score:2)
1/0 (Score:5, Funny)
Instead of 'Smart Wallets' (Score:5, Insightful)
This would go a whole lot farther than a wallet that sends and electric shock every time you overdraw your account with a $5 latte.
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Right, because what your 3rd grade teacher says for a few hours will definitely outweigh what your parents and society will be showing you by example for two decades.
I mean, it has worked so well to fix violence, grammar, and health.
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And, you could argue that we are a less-violent, better-educated and healthier society than we were decades ago.
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Healthier? Not really. Certainly not as a result of education. Better working conditions, stricter regulations maybe. But education? No. We're fattier than ever and happy to be.
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A few hours is better than nothing -- which is what most people get.
You can't force parents to do their job, such a short course would guarantee everyone has at least the dimmest clue.
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Someone on a fark thread said it best: (paraphrasing)
Financial education in this country is having the Citibank VISA booth next to the registration desk during Frosh week.
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You can't force parents to do their job, such a short course would guarantee everyone has at least the dimmest clue.
Why can't you force parents to do their job? Enforcing current parental accountability laws and perhaps adding a few might help. Heck, make the parental tax relief directly dependent on child's performance in school, on the road, obeying law, etc. Parents might start paying more attention when it hits their wallet.
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You're assuming he meant something like sex-ed, where it's an optional side-course that gets taught to kids once, and never brought up again. Whereas I read "add to curriculum" to mean something more akin to basic coursework, i.e. you're taught it more than once and in more detail. And yes, that stuff does stick, albeit only if you find ways to use it in life.
Frankly, the school system could use a "life skills" branch in addition to the basic language/math/science/history you're compelled to take. Not ju
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the school system could use a "life skills" branch
Where I went to school, this information was split between the required "health" and the elective "home economics".
Re:Instead of 'Smart Wallets' (Score:4, Insightful)
It sure did. It taught them if you carry your plastic packaged prepared food from the store to your SUV that you drove two miles to the grocery store in a reusable bag, you are saving the planet.
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Right, because what your 3rd grade teacher says for a few hours will definitely outweigh what your parents and society will be showing you by example for two decades.
It's not that hard to do. Show people getting screwed by scams and similar things. Play games that involve considerable deception. Show the suck that happens when you spend outside your budget. It won't stick to everyone, but a lot of people can get the clue.
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How's that going to work? The whole county got scammed (and is still) that $300K cardboard contruction boxes (houses) are a good "investment".
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How's that going to work? The whole county got scammed (and is still) that $300K cardboard contruction boxes (houses) are a good "investment".
I just told you one way to do that. Education won't prevent every scam or financial problem, especially if the person wants to be scammed.
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Agreed, a "Life Skills" class should taught at every grade.
Covering topics such as:
4. How to do your taxes
etc
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5. Profit?
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That's my job.
I've got two kids and I don't let the school system take responsibility for their education. That's my job. They're little so they don't know a lot of First Aid. (Mostly how to avoid requiring it and get an adult) They do know the One Rule: Don't Panic. I didn't spend this much time, energy, and money, let alone the energy expended by all my ancestors to even get a walk-on part on the stage, just to let the lowest bidders with tenure do a half-assed job then shrug my shoulders if MY KIDS
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"That's my job."
I wish more parents would step up to the job
Even though I agree that parents should teach this information, the fact that few people know this information shows that it's not being done. I am not worried about my kids knowing this information, but society would be better if other peoples kids knew this information. If I know first aid, I can save your life. If I am incapacitated, who can save mine? That is the reason I think it should also be taught in school, to increase the number of peopl
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How about adding 'Economic Responsibility, Saving and Budgeting' to our Elementary school's course curriculum?
This would go a whole lot farther than a wallet that sends and electric shock every time you overdraw your account with a $5 latte.
LOL.
My elementary school had one. So did my Junior High.
Let's see if it worked. Are people my age generally thrifty and not up to their arsenecks in debt? Um... NOPE!
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How about adding 'Economic Responsibility, Saving and Budgeting' to our Elementary school's course curriculum?
The schools do teach this. My daughter is in 7th grade, and has a "life skills" course, where she has to make a budget, balance a checkbook, write a resume, go to a simulated job interview, and lots of other basic skills.
It is an elective course, but probably should be mandatory.
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How about adding 'Economic Responsibility, Saving and Budgeting' to our Elementary school's course curriculum?
That is an awesome idea. I recommend high school though so it will be fresh in the kids minds when they graduate and start dealing with this stuff without parental intervention. My economics teacher devoted a third of our course to this and I think I benefited a lot from that.
However, I don't think it can happen. Banks make money when you borrow, businesses make more money when you spend ruthlessly. Unlike the kids, who would have benefited, these parties have money for the "don't brainwash our children!" c
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Yes, if only we had some way of constantly knowing where we stand with respect to our weekly budget. Something that lets us know from minute to minute whether we're on target for what we've planned. Something like a wallet that provides feedback. Ah, yes. If only we had such a thing.
What kind of fucked up thought process lead you to make the above ridiculous comment? Are you suggesting that people who track their budget via a mobile phone are similarly financially ignorant? Or are you implying that we shoul
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It does try to address a legitimate problem, but I think people will get them with good intentions and then a month or two later end up bypassing the alerts. If I set myself a monthly budget of 2 grand, but I have 4 coming in, I'm eventually going to get annoyed at the hard-to-open wallet.
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Education doesn't help. People do dumb things all the time despite having been "educated" that they're dumb. We all know it's dumb to tailgate, but the majority of drivers do it all the time.
As they say in the south, "you can't fix stupid."
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The flip side to that is that when the peacock is inflated, the thinking will be "Well hell! I got plenty'a cash! Think I'll buy that useless $100 widget after all!"
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It does try to address a legitimate problem, but I think people will get them with good intentions and then a month or two later end up bypassing the alerts.
Nothing wrong with that. The point is to let you know how close to the limit you are, not to, in any way whatsoever, impede you from spending your money. Some people blow by their limit without even noticing. The only purpose of the wallet is to provide information. If you want to spend your money, that's fine, just make it a fully informed decision.
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mint.com
your phone does ALL of what the wallet does except the stupid "harder to open" function.
hackers (Score:2)
Cool. I hope those "inflating to impress the girls" ones become common. Hacking one should be trivial. :-)
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I think both the Senate and the House each need one that's tied to a balanced budget. Once they start to borrow money, or pass unfunded legislation, it will take 102 Senators, or 500 Representatives, depending on which body of Congress is wanting to spend more money than we have.
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Better solution, every dollar they are over the budget, paintball riflemen shoot in the head each senator. It will stop as soon as they hit zero or go positive. To start with they will probably have to install paint pumps in the floors to keep the senators from drowning..
Wait.... Skip the pumps.
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I think you should apply that to yourself as well. Time to give back the car and the house, though, since you didn't have the cash on hand to buy it outright...
Ohhh.... So clever. Let's see just how clever you really are.
My wife and I have a total debt of less than 25% of our yearly income(ability to create wealth).
Now let's look at the US debt load.
The published debt of the US is 89%($13 trillion) of its GDP($14+ trillion). However, that is only a drop in the bucket compared to our real debt. The US government has unfunded liabilities, according to the Dallas Federal Reserve, of more than $104 trillion. Other experts put that number at approximately $120 tri
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Those unfunded liabilities are spread over many years, so it's disingenuous to compare them to a single year of GDP.
Is that a wallet in your pocket? (Score:2)
(...)
My wallet (Score:2)
The Costanza. A trifold full of receipts, transit tickets, singles, and other stuff. It's to "The Peacock" what a hairpiece is to hair.
New product!!! (Score:1)
Smart Wallets, nice (Score:4, Insightful)
Good thing we don't have smart boxers or briefs though. After you spend, it shrinks...could be painful.
For those that aren't willing to read (Score:2)
There are actually three types - one that shrinks and grows, one that vibrates for every transaction, and, my personal favorite, one that becomes harder and harder to open as you approach a limit. That kind of tactile feedback forces you to realize where you are each month. It's small, but if you make something harder to open, people are definitely less likely to do so even if overcomable. The problem is that by the time you're getting out your wallet it's usually too late, so the Costanza-esque model is
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Until we get past the idea of a MONTHLY budget, we're all screwed anyway. You need to know where you are for the year, the next five years, the rest of your life.
This thing is just a widget to part fools with their money so they'll THINK they're saving more money, just like most of the "financial" books on the shelves at booksellers.
Living below your means, means NOT buying one of these retarded things, probably. Or more succinctly, "What would you give up to have one of these?"
The vibration mode (Score:1)
Hmmmmm.... (Score:1)
Theft? (Score:2)
The Peacock inflates and deflates with the amount of cash in your account, which puts your assets on “display” for potential mates,
I'm sure pickpockets would appreciate this feature as well.
Wallets are not fucking smart. (Score:2)
Chips are not fucking smart, cards are not fucking smart, materials are not fucking smart, a person may or may not be smart, an animal like a dog might be smart, inanimate objects are not smart or intelligent or clever or fucking astute!
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Chips are not fucking smart, cards are not fucking smart, materials are not fucking smart, a person may or may not be smart, an animal like a dog might be smart, inanimate objects are not smart or intelligent or clever or fucking astute!
Generalizing: Things with decision making capabilities may be smart. Things without, cannot.
Furthermore, smart is relative. There can be smart dogs, but they're smart compared to your average pooch. They're really not very bright by human standards, but nonetheless, are smart dogs.
Now, what do you call an item with an electronic device capable of reacting to information in a way that most items of the same class cannot?
Someone who is fucking astute can see the legitimate use for the phrase "smart " in su
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...the phrase "smart " in such circumstances.
And the comment system ate my "<item>" in "smart <item>", because it is not smart. :p
Stupid (Score:2)
I don't see these things doing anything except getting on their users nerves and wasting money.
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I don't see these things doing anything except getting on their users nerves and wasting money.
They'l make great presents for people you don't really like, and the great thing is, it will seem like a really awesome gift at first, just like the rings of power!
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The Golden Wallet would shrink as the Federal Reserve Notes in your bank account lose value.
Spot price of gold right now ... $1408.50 / oz. Up $22.60 in the first few hours of trading today.
How does that compare to the price of wheat, or some other commodity that more accurately reflects the value of a dollar?
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How does that compare to the price of wheat, or some other commodity that more accurately reflects the value of a dollar?
It hasn't quite matched the tsunami of incompetent monetary policy [indexmundi.com] that struck in 07/08, but it's getting there. Wheat has gone up 50% in six months.
It's all cute and clever... (Score:2)
Oh shit (Score:1)
Are you guys crazy or what? (Score:1)
- It does shrink in size as you run out of money
- It also decreases in mass as you run out of money.
- It limits the types of money you will be spending. For example, you won't be going out for dinner with coins, thus eliminating your optional expenditures altogether.
Also, limit your monthly withdrawal to $500 from chequing and $1500 from savings. If your bank doesn't allow you, switch banks.
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Are you aware that Americans don't generally use coins worth more than 0.25 dollars? Very few coins worth more than a quarter dollar are even minted.
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Comparing just the 2008 mintage doesn't tell the whole story. You need to compare mintage figures over the last 30 years or so, weighting for probability of coins being taken out of circulation, etc.
In fact, there were 0 $1 coins minted from 1982 to 1998 - but something like 20 billion quarters.
Of course, the fact that Americans don't like coins is a big contributor. They also don't like $2 bills, which is why you hardly ever see them outside of a collection, even though they were printed heavily in the la
I was about to buy one... (Score:2)
Finally, I can spend wisely (Score:1)
Hopefully it closes automatically if I try to buy another one.
Frivolous purchase (Score:3)
I already have one of these, I guess. (Score:2)
I am getting old, but not that old yet (Score:2)
Cool "we-can-do-this, so-we-did-it" thing... (Score:1)
Sitck-up (Score:1)
Just great (Score:2)
Ugly and nosy (Score:1)
They look ugly. They read your bank balance. No wai!
Perforated Moolah (Score:1)
I'd fanatasized at one time about a form of paper money in a basic denomination that could 'majically' adhere to itself, through some sort of magnetic or velcro-ish property.
So, no need to break that $20; you'd just tear off what you need.
Of course, if you carried around large amounts of cash it would get difficult to fold.