computers & software
TASPO Smart Cards Using Age Verifying Technology in Cigarette Vending Machines
Recently collected
Most commented today
1 |
Looking for Custom Boat Graphics? |
Colour Management and iPhone4
This is an article by our friend and colour guru Mike Adams, self confessed lifelong Mac fan. The original article can be read on Correct Color's website. Our resident Colour "Master" Craig Hudson (who doesn't have an iPhone!) has added some explanatory comments for those not fully grounded in colour management. By definition this article is about how browsers recognise and apply colour profiles to images, and as such some understanding of colour management will be needed to understand Mike's results. I got my new iPhone 4 last week, and since there was a bunch of speculation about the iPhone 4 operating system supporting ICC profiles, I decided I’d check it out. And in the checking, I found out a few things I’d never realized before. So if you’re all geeky about... Read more
The cigarette vending machine has finally crossed over into the modern digital age. Instead of succumbing to the pressures of angry anti-smoking lobbying groups who insisted that cigarette vending machines were weak links in the chain that provided nicotine to minors, the machines found a way to verify the age of their clients. This is done with a smart card-like strip of plastic known as a Taspo card.
Beginning their debut in Japan, Taspo cards contain tiny IC chips that provide age verification for the holders of the cards. With Taspo cards, Japan plans to further its status in the battle against cigarette use by minors. The Taspo card will not only provide a solid solution for the parents of cigarette-prone minors who wish to keep nicotine out of their children’s lungs, but it will benefit the cigarette industry as well.
These tobacco-centric smart cards were first released in 2008. Taspo stands as an acronym of sorts for Tobacco Passport. Not only will this card verify the age of its holder but it can also be used as a payment method with which to pay for the merchandise offered by cigarette vending machines. A function known as Pidel is included on the card that allows money to be added to it electronically. No longer must you carry cash around with you in order to indulge in a smoke. The Taspo card will make the cigarette vending machine sales process not only stricter but also safer and quicker.
Taspo cards are available for purchase to anyone who has passed his or her twentieth birthday. They will only be accepted by cigarette vending machines that are equipped with IC card compatibility. Vending machines with IC card compatibility have been installed in key places around major Japanese cities while those machines that are not IC card compatible are being slowly filtered out. All cigarette vending machines that are IC card compatible will be able to communicate with each other. The degree of networking that will be allowed between these machines will ensure that any information provided by the Taspo cards is not misused. The machines’ communication with each other, besides allowing for the purchase of their products with money stored on a Taspo card, will make the purchasing process a safer one.
The process involved in obtaining a Taspo card and stocking it with money is not a complicated one. An application containing vital identification information must be filled out. A recent photo of the applicant must be included together with this application. Additionally, another form of personal identification must be showed when applying for a Taspo card.
Once the approval process has been completed and the customer has received his Taspo card, he may use his card either to merely verify his age at a cigarette vending machine while paying with cash or to also pay for his merchandise via the Pidel function. However customers choose to use their Taspo cards, the cigarette vending machine experience will be a safer and more convenient one.
Comments