problem: too damned many keychain fobs for all the supermarket and other retail discount clubs
each one is designed to be nothing more than advertisement on one side (store logo) and a bar code on the other.
solution: electronic keychain that can be programmed to display a store’s logo and discount club’s UPC code. a small LCD might work, but would be difficult to properly scan with bar code scanner. plus, LCDs drain batteries whenever they’re on.
something like electronic ink would work better. it’s more reflective, only uses batteries when changing the pixels, and the display only needs to be black and white, so why bother with LCD?
the whole thing could be really tiny, needing only the controls to scroll through the programmed UPCs, the display itself (maybe .5” x 1.25”), a small battery and a mini-USB port (for plugging into a computer to program in the UPC codes).
anybody want to build me one? my keychain’s getting a little cramped.
[update]
a friend of mine forwarded me this. it might just do as a stopgap until i get my “one fob to rule them all” into working production.
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