
Geode from iCache (2012) - jlas
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1404403369/geode-from-icache?ref=live
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jlas
Compared to Coin, the Geode project had a similar vision albeit with greater
aspirations. Here is an article about the aftermath:
[http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20130331/PC05/13033992...](http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20130331/PC05/130339925/what-
happened-to-icache&amp;source=RSS).

~~~
saadshamim
their card looks better (chip access), but the whole case thing doesn't make
sense, It looks massive in the picture. My initial reaction with coin was that
its counter intuitive, NFC or just mobile (square/paypal) are clearly the
future. However, the coin card seems like a brilliant move now, they're
entering the market through the path where everyone is familiar with the form
factor and the technology isn't overwhelming.

~~~
nayefc
NFC is clearly not the future.

Square/PayPal (also not the future with their current products) are not
incompatible wit Coin. In fact, Coin fits well into the current ecosystem.

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rasengan
If I understand this correctly, wouldn't the following steps effectively mimic
this technology?

1\. Get Paypal.

2\. Verify Paypal Account.

3\. Get Paypal Debit Card.

4\. Setup several CCs in Paypal.

5\. Maintain $0 balance in Paypal.

6\. Setup backup source of funding for Debit Card.

7\. Make an app that simply logs into Paypal to set the backup source of
funding to another card at the touch of a button.

8\. Get an NFC sticker and put it on the Paypal debit card.

This would allow you to carry 1 card but use any of your cards and, as well,
help you keep track of your card's physical proximity with an NFC enabled
device. Please let me know if I am grossly misunderstanding or missing
something!

~~~
dangrossman
The problem is that the MID/MCC of the store you shop at won't be passed-
through to your real credit card (as PayPal's the one charging that card, not
the store). You wouldn't get category-specific rewards (5% on groceries, 3% on
gas, etc), which is one reason people carry multiple cards on them in the
first place.

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cykod
I got one of these, it was brutal.

Switching cards was something like a 30 second process, which meant that
instead of taking a card out, you had to open up the app, wait for it to load,
wait an extra 10 seconds for it to connect to the Geode, then use the
painfully-slow app. All to not carry a card in your wallet.

And on top of it - the two times I tried it at restaurants the card itself
didn't work.

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aaronbrethorst
Here's the deal: Kickstarter projects that depend on a specific form factor of
the iPhone _will fail_. If they actually manage to ship, they're inevitably
going to take longer to ship than they intend to, and—by the time they
do—Apple will have released a new device that:

* has a new connector

* has a new form factor

* or, who the hell knows...

...that renders the Kickstarter project's goal irrelevant or unusable.

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xpop2027
I am surprised no one has mentioned Loop yet, it is a step in the right
direction regarding Mobile Wallets: kickstarter.com/projects/loop/pay-with-
loop

~~~
jasonlaramburu
That's badass, but seems tricky at a sit-down restaurant-- I wouldn't want to
have to give my phone to the waiter and explain to him how to use it. Also
wonder if this works with the square dongle.

~~~
azinman2
Exactly. It's also quite ugly and now bulking up your keychain. Coin fits into
my money clip and (theoretically) can be handed to others to use.

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bjeanes
I got one of these. It was so so so bad. I got sent a replacement just in case
mine was faulty and it was just as broken but in different ways. The quality
control seemed poor at the very least. I hope coin succeeds here and manages
to come out with a v2 with a cheap that can be programmed (with bank support,
obviously)

~~~
bjeanes
s/cheap/chip

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antidaily
There's also [http://getprotean.com/](http://getprotean.com/).

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philfreo
What's the rest of the story, since the funding went well (how did they fail)?

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krrose27
[http://www.zdnet.com/icache-geodes-spectacular-crash-and-
bur...](http://www.zdnet.com/icache-geodes-spectacular-crash-and-
burn-7000014801/)

tl;dr: Quality(?) issues; then iPhone 5 with Passbook, new form factor, and
lightning connector.

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foobarian
Did anyone else wonder why the heck someone would be using an ancient AMD
architecture?

Wonder if there are any trademark implications of their name choice.

~~~
jlas
I'm wondering what you're referring to by "AMD architecture"?

