Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Keyring Ving Thing

Easy-does-it magstripe-puller
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Ving is the brand name of those magnetic-strip key cards used by just about every hotel I've visited in recent years. (The usefulness of this idea will depend heavily on this near-monopoly, since it minimises compatibility issues.)

To unlock your room (at present), you put the card into the "keyhole" card-reader, and then *slowly* withdraw it. A green light comes on to show you it worked.

Or, more commonly, you withdraw it not quite slowly enough, and a red light comes on to show you it didn't work.

This second scenario is probable in proportion to your pre-existing stress levels at the time.

So, I propose a device which will draw the magstripe out of the reader at a carefully calibrated rate. This device would need some little prongs to align it with the edge of the "keyhole", and a little (battery-powered? ipod-powered?) motor to slide the magstripe in and out.

To this point, it's almost practicable.

To make it sillier, (annoying the hotel management and enabling the jingling idea title above), I suggest that this device should not push your actual Vingcard (TM), but rather, it should push a little thing resembling a rolled-up metal tape measure, whose own magnetic strip would have been pre-written by applying a card-reader to the proper Vingcard.

This would enable the device itself to fit on your keyring (probably), provided you had somewhere else to stow the card reader.

pertinax, Oct 12 2008

ving website... http://www.vingcard.com
...in case you've never heard of them. [pertinax, Oct 12 2008]

You should consider these guys for your marketing campaign http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DD-YgcyWY2g
[zen_tom, Oct 12 2008]

[link]






       The device could store all your various mag stripe information (ATM cards, credit cards, etc).
phoenix, Oct 12 2008
  

       Or someone elses.   

       Power it with a coil spring, and a clockwork release mechanism. The spring is wound when you push the card into the slot.
BunsenHoneydew, Oct 13 2008
  

       Wonderousness - would help no end after returning from the hotel bar at 2am.
wagster, Oct 13 2008
  
      
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