From Whence You Came
Sometimes in order to best understand where you’re going you have to understand from where you came. So it’s true when it comes to telephone technology. There’s a huge population segment walking around today that has never (that would mean: not ever) had to use a rotary dial phone. And with that there’s also probably a portion of that population segment that doesn’t even know what a rotary dial phone looks like. That’s why we’ve compiled the following list of some movie titles you may want to investigate for either a little reminiscing (should you actually have used a rotary dial phone) or a research project (should you have not). White Heat The Reluctant Astronaut LisaBells Are Ringing Three Stooges Movies Laurel and Hardy Movies Fingerprints Don’t LieThe Glass Bottom Boat The BirdsThe Russians Are Coming The Maltese Falcon And you know there’s more.a lot more. But these few are mentioned to not only get you started, but to maybe also whet your appetite to go “phone spotting” whenever possible. It can be a lot of fun, and maybe even border on an addiction. Kind of like texting.
Books: Smart Card
For those of you who still prefer to get your information “the old fashioned way,” here’s a selection of reading material that you can enjoy in the comfort of your bed before nodding off to sleep and dreaming of smart cards.Smart Card Applications: Design Models for Using and Programming Smart Cards (Wolfgang Rankl) provides generic solutions for programming smart cards, enabling the creation of working applications and systems. The book presents a comprehensive introduction to the topic of smart cards, explaining component elements and the smart card microcontrollers; sets out information on operating systems with case studies of a range of applications including credit card security, mobile phones and transport payment cards; gives detailed advice on the monitoring of smart card applications, recognizing potential attacks on security and improving system integrity; provides modules and examples so that all types of systems can be built up from a small number of individual components; and offers guidelines on avoiding and overcoming design errors. Ideal for practicing engineers and designers looking to implement smart cards in their business, it is also a (more…)
Smart Card Alliance
With technology progressing as quickly as it is, sometimes it’s important to be aligned with a group that focuses on the education and appropriate use of the technological advancements. In the case of smart cards, that organization is the Smart Card Alliance which is comprised of 170 worldwide members drawn from areas such as the financial, government, enterprise, transportation, mobile telecommunications, healthcare, and retail sectors.By staying focused on education programs, market research, advocacy, industry relations and open forum communication, the Alliance keeps its members linked to the pulse of the industry’s leaders. The Alliance is a not-for-profit, multi-industry association working to stimulate the understanding, adoption, use and widespread application of smart card technology. Current initiatives of the Alliance include priorities:
- To influence standards that are relevant to smart card adoption and implementation;
- To maintain a voice in public policy that affects (more…)
Smart Card FAQ
What is a smart card? Historically a smart card has been a credit-card-sized plastic card that contains an integrated circuit with memory and circuitry controlling the access rules to the memory. What makes the card “smart” (as compared to a memory card or magnetic card) is the enforcing of access control rules to the memory. For example, some areas (like card holder name) might be made read-only after it is first written; and/or an area holding the card value might be written in a manner only allowing the value of the card (more…)