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Tu csday^Fc kniajx4^2003

Smart card lets French consumers

go cashless

Tho Associated Press

PAR1S - France is leaping toward a cashless futurę with a nationwidc launch this ycor of computcrizcd “smart cards," a concept chat has su far failed lo enttcc many American, British and Ccrman consumers.

The chief idea bchind this ncw brced of microchip-cmbcddcd plasticls simple - to dispense with pockct change and speed smaller transactions.

Dubbed “Moneo," the French clcctronic pur\e cards werc first

introduccd iwo ycars ago in a handful of smali regions. In Novcmbcr, the scnricc cxpandcd to inelude Paris.

Some 850,000 consumers now '/regularly usc Moneo cards ut 80.000 grocery shops, parking lois or vcnding machines, says Pierre Fersztand, chief exccutivc of BMS, tlte icchnology company that launchcd tlte project.

Becausc the basie Moneo card

•    is anunymous thcrc are no priva-

•    cy or i den t i ty ihcft ccmccrra. But if an ow-ner Unes his or ller sntan card the cash thafs stored onboard can be used by whomcy-er finds it - which is why thcrc'* a 10Ocuro(Sl07>sterane limit.

Fersztand cxpccts the cards to be availablc to merchants and customers nationwidc by the end of the ycar.

“Wc*rc not worried aboui whether it will takc off herc," he said in an inimiew at the company^ Paris hndquariers. "The ąuestinn is how long will it takc -two or 10 years?"

Evcry French hank has signed up for Moneo. AU the major banks are sharcholdcrs in BMS, —asjy.cILaa_tho3il.CELrj»ibvay.

Tlw 'electronlc purse* Moneo Is used (or smali purchtm lik# coffae, natrspa-ptr or subway tlckats. and will ba aultable to merchants and customers In all of Franca later thK year.

authority and the Paris mayor\ office.

Just like in carlier projects in New York or England, users can upload moncy from their bank accnunts onm smart cards at spe-ciaJ tcUcr machines in banks and post officcs. Conveniently, ihcy can also rcfill the v»<allcd Morcd value cards at anv participating shop. supermarkcl. ticket booth or cinema, punching in a PIN numltcr for security reasons.

caslt.

And for thosc who Uislikc the idea of yet tnore plastic in their wallcts, Moneo can be incorpocat-cd onto their cxisting credit cards - something thai Itas ncver bcen tried outside of France. In fjet, il*s already becn aulumatically added lo 25 million credit cards thnt werc up for rcnewal - wiih the owners not always hcing awarcof it. Fersztand said.

“They have leamed the lessons

2ia .TlN.k j:equiretLtu.dispcnsc_of. pasLmistakcs". said-Ihtiri

Torns, senior analyst at Forrester Research. “We do think it hos a chance to succced (in France), whereas other initiativcs had a zero chance."    —

Among the challenge*: how to ensure the cards are widely accepted, quick to use, easy to rcfill and carry Iow transaction fees for merchants. Banks gener-ally charge ^crnccn 0.4 and 0.9 percent per transaction, and consumers have to pay an annual fee between $6 and $13.

So far, reaction is predictably mixed

Grcgory Clau, 30, said ordy one customer has used the scrvicc sińce he installed it three months ago at his locksmith shop near the Champs-Elysees

“I don’t think anybody is inter-ested in it,” he said

The dozen ncoplc a day who use Moneo to buy their baguettes and cakes at Chamal Plousseau's Paris bakery might disagree.

^MMorc and morę people are using Ji,“ said the 50 ycar-o)d Plousscau. “It’s efficient and cvcntually I will make less trips to and from the bank carrying bags of cotns."

At many parking meteft in the Paris suburo of Boulogne Moneo is dc rigucur - the only acccpc-□blc method of payment. Authoritics got fed up with gangs of youths tampering with tlic machines to get at the coins.

Smart cards havc seemed to be porpctuaUy on trial.

A limited launchcd in New York City in 1998 failed becausc of system glitchcs. Merchants complained about aliocating pre-cious countcr space to the card reader, and consumers lost interes! without a financial incencivc soch os rewards programs.

Pcrhaps morc importantly, the system wasn*t profitablc for the issuers, and banks couldn*t charge for the cards* use umil consumers and retailers werc willing to pay for the convc--nience.--

_Thc_Timcsr

Ncwjsi

High ink refill costs, hołd consumers hostagi

Home video amateurs get boost from Sonic Solutions

By James Coates

Chicago Trtbune

Computer Q&A

Experts doubt Slammer attack was work of cyberterrorists

Q. Ymir rccent articlos about Microsoft Moric Maker 2 were •great for thmc who are siarting with tiigii.il v i dcci. What about thosc, like n>c. who are trying to transfer and ;irchive analog vidco lo play on a Computer or homc DVD as a VCD? I*vc tried software from 321 Studio* and now from Roxio Inc. with linie success.

A prior column discuswd solu-tions for a brief ridco dip. Tm tiyi/ig .to transu homc vuk*** of the knk Any adricc would lx- appredaied ’    -Jay Duvls, Chicago

• A. Werc all rclatiee amateurs in che unfolding world of homc vidco, hot thcrc are, indced, morc sophisticatcd ways to get family vIdctK onto nur homo DVD player Tłri* mcAith Adaptcc Inc. and it\ ncw partner, Sonic Solutions, hrmiglit sweepinę change to the hiime-digital video sćcnc wiifi* software callcd MyDVD Media Suitę, ,a“ pack of fivc programs that imlude just what you seem to bc a\king for.

Sonic** software is used by morie Mudio\ to crcate roughly 90 percent uf all the DVD* sold and rented commcrcially in the U.S., .and the programs in this package rincludc many of the vame fea-« lures. Using a system of wizards to lguide them. users can put their

lvome video cli|>s onto eitlier ordi-naiy Cl>Rs or DVDs, assuming. of course, that they ov%*n a DVD bum-er. Tliese are dises with the same animated menus, thumbnuil icons. chapter headings and other fea-ttues the pros usc.

The secret that adcanced play-ers like \iiurself will apnreciatc, and that newcomcrs should k>vc as well. is that Sonic uses the so-c.Ulcd Opcn DVD standard to crc-ate a system wherc your actual ridco elips get storod ontii the Cl> R or DVD^R or DVD-R. Also. fin;d edited movics are stored on tltose formats so you get both dises to play on the family DVD player and archivx*s of your rideo.

Includcd ArcSoft Showbiz movic-cdi(ing software is morc complcx than Microsoft Movic -Nfekcr 2, hut it piso has morę .fea-tures. At any ratę the entire system is dcMgncd exactly for the type of use you cnvisian and shouJd be wcil wonh a trv-.

In addition to authonng DVDs and VCDs (rideo CDs that use CD-Rs but play in ordinary DVD play-ers) the software also produccs interactive slide show* using still images on both kinds of dises, han-dles the acation of ordinary data and musie CDs and produccs pnntcd labels for tlises.

Chess master, Computer tie fourth gamę

The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Chess master Garry Kasparov and stipercom-; ptKcr Deep Junior tied Sunday in ; the founh meeting in their cham-I ptonsliip series.

i The Computer played with

wbite picccs and movcd first, putting Kasparov on the defen-sive. Kasparoy repeUed the com-puter's attacks until ncither player could make progress and the draw was callcd.

The sbe-game Marr v%. Machinę matchis tied at two aptece.

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Knlght Rlddcr News Scrrico

The Internet attack that fruzc bank ATM nciworks, cancclcd airline fligltts and sliut down com-IHJters at a 911 emergency center łase month probably wasn*t the work of an enemy govcmmcni or cyhertcrrorist, security cxperts and govcmmem officiaLs say.

Althuugh the Slammer worm of Jan. 25 vras morc damaging ilun most cyberassaułts, che world*s Computer networks are pricked and prolK-d liy intniders an awr-age of 1.S0O times a wcck, with only a liny fraction of attacks causing serious damage.

Howcver, on the cvc of a jhasJ. ble war with lraq, the Slammer attack has hcighcencd interna-tional worrics that anti-American sentiment could spili into thc.digi-tal world and wreak havoc in ways unthinkablc the last time the United States went to war in the Persian Gulf. ...

The Internet has bccome criti-cai to everything from banking and book-buying to package dclivcrics and chip produclion.

With morc than 4,000 published vutncrabiliiics in the worltfs Computer networks, a cybcnerrorist attack wouldn't be difficult to launch.

The worst-case sccnario - the stycalled digital Pcarl Harbor that somc Bush administration offi-cials havc warncd of sińce the Sept. 11, 2001. terrorist attacks -would cut off virtually every Internet and phone user, cripplc financial systems and ovcrwhclm eraergcncy scn*ices. Public water systems could shuc down and security at nuclcar power plants could bc compromiscd.

^MI tltink people are worried and should he worried,** said Arthur Wong, vicc president for the Security Response division of Symantec, a Cupenino maker of antirirus and security software.

By D«wn C. CtunfetowiU

KiiUM Rkkter S«vtc»

Your primer ond ink cartridgc are łharing jcctCU that keep you shdling out outngeous priccs for refilis.

Lexmark admitj it designed its ncw generadon of laser printers to work oniy with Lexmork toner cartridges, not chcaper no-name rcfilłs. And it’s making a federal casc out of it.

Lexmark is suing a maker of generie toner cartridges, cJaiming it illegaily cracked the “secret handshake" that links cartridgc with printer. Without the secret co^e, no documcnt will print!

Static Control Components, a generie cartridgc maker in North Carolina, devclopcd a microchip that speaks the same languagc. That, according to Lexmark, vio-lotos the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which makes it a federal crime to circumvent o technological lock that protects copyrighted works - iikc, say, a printer program.

This blatant anti-consumer bcharior on Lexmark‘s pan helps cxplain why we continue to pay Tiffany prices for a product that costs about $3 to make. And we don‘t cven get the chic powder-blue box to make us fccl spccial about the purchasc.

Loxmark is just one of a num-ber of big-name printer compa-nieś that uses chip icchnology as a padlock to keep cxdusivc hołd on the lucrativc market for printer supplies, which Gartncr Dataqucst says accounts for 53 percent of Lexmark’s rcvenucs.

The nation's Ic3ding maker of printers, Hewlett-Packard, and another big printer-maker. Epson, use smart chip icchnology in their ink cartridges to scrve as clcctronic dipsticks, informing the printer how much ink is left.

When the ink is gono, the printer stops working until the con-sumer rcplaces it with a new^cartridgc - willi”a’’ncw cfupTRćriDs won’t work.

Industry sales figures revea! why the printcr-companics invest so hcavily in clcctronic countcr-measurers to foil would-bc com-petitors. Technology market rcsearchcr IDC says consumers spent ncarly $1.9 blllion on new

printers last year, but spent thjpe times as much - $6.6 blllion -*\ replacement Ink cartridges. ;;

The resuldng lack of com[" don expl«ins why we conomUao pay the same high prices fbr brand-hame toner cartridges, a( a time when aggressiec price<bt-ring has driven down the cost &f the actual hardware over the list decade.    T

Ganner csdmates that 70 cent of oli ink jet printers sold the United States cost less tfei $100.

The printer industr/s attentłfts to thwart companies that *ill rccydcd cartridges, filied wijh fresh ink, has ralsed howlrof protest in the Europojn Comm unity.    ■-

Last month, the European Parliamcnt passed a law that would force companies like HP and Epson to redesign their cpr-tridges, so they can bc reused. The ncw law takes effect in 2006.

But therc has been no such pto-consumer ieęslarion on the hori-ron in the United States.

The printer companies, mean-whUe, do their best to fced cón-sumer fcars of being ripped-off -or worsc - when they buy off-brand or reftlled ink cartridges..

Epson rccommcnds that consumers usc rgcnuinc Epson" cartridges - not ones that have bcćn rcfillcd. To do otherwise, it cau-tions on its packaging, "may affect your print ąuality and could resuit in printer damage.

Such fear-mongering cafn-paigns have bcen successful: 80 percent of American consumers buy namc-brand ink cartridgps, rather than rcfiUed or "remnnu-factured,” products from thtłd-party suppliers. according to Ganner.

Evon Consumer Reports acknowledges pricc-conscious consumers can savc moncy on off-brand cartridges and ink-and-syringe rcfill kits, but wams that printer warTanties often cxdudc ’cóverage for'damage dcemed to have been caused by third porty rofiUs.    °

Intemetonly Web sites and e-mail come^ns. which offer “com-patiblc" cartridęes for SS, when at the local office supply storę seils the same thing for $30, smack of fraud.

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