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Technology

New Uses For LCD Technology 141

HaggiZ writes "A design student from the University of New South Wales has developed a postcard with a built-in camera and LCD display. As the article states, you simply snap the photos and send it to your loved ones and 'they tear open the perforations, fold out a little kick stand on the back and sit it on a bench top. Then it's as simple as pressing a button and it will go through a slide show of images.' I also found these credit cards with build in LCD displays. It sounds like the perfect solution for credit card fraud, with the card generating a One Time Password for each transaction."
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New Uses For LCD Technology

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  • It's not built yet (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The industrial designs student has only came up with the idea of a disposable camera that can be used as a post-card.
    • by majest!k ( 836921 ) <slash&majestik,net> on Saturday January 14, 2006 @07:04PM (#14473164)
      While we're on the topic of making up uses for LCD technology, I'd like to propose the LCD Restroom Stall. Finally, something to look at besides those inane scribblings on the wall.

      Can I have some money now? Or how about some of what Zonk's smoking?
    • by Dunbal ( 464142 )
      The industrial designs student has only came up with the idea of a disposable camera that can be used as a post-card.

            Sounds great in theory but wait until the various postal services of the world get their hands on it...crunch, snap, hmm what's all that dribbly stuff?
      • This may be the case with the USPS, but I know that Royal Mail (UK) are actually shockingly careful with packages classed as 'abnormal'. The automatic sorters can even tell when a standard size/thickness envelope contains something unbendable and deals with it accordingly.

        That said, YMMV with the actual postman/woman who delivers it.
        • I've had 2 packages absolutely trashed by DHL. I've used USPS express before, and it seems fine. I've hardly ever sent something that wasn't express though, so I can't vouch for what $0.35 gets you, though most of my bills arrive fine.
          • DHL dented the bejeesus out of an SGI Origin 2000 I had shipped to me on a pallate. It was inadequately packaged to begin with, but it seemed to have been dented both top and bottom, and had its pallate knocked over at least once.

            I've had at least a dozen ups ground packages come that looked like someone kickboxed them (no pun intended), sat on them, or threw them off a train in motion. UPS air is quite a lot better and I don't ship anything valuable by ground anymore.
            • I got a FedEx number when I started shipping things for my PhD applications. It's a good idea, but the execution isn't quite perfect. I don't know how the packages arrive (having not had any FedEx shipments come to my house), but, I should be able to track everything that I ship with Insight. Insight doesn't give you a history for the number prior to having it activated, and I had problems getting it activated, leaving me unsure if anything arrived at its destination, except for getting emails from the i
    • by iamhassi ( 659463 ) on Saturday January 14, 2006 @07:31PM (#14473287) Journal
      "a disposable camera that can be used as a post-card."

      and the pics can't be deleted, once you take them they're there forever. It also can't be charged, or new batteries added, "the slide show could be watched a few hundred times and the camera could be taken to a developer to get the photos printed."

      How's this any better than the digital camera walgreens already sells [findarticles.com] for $11? Least photos can be deleted and has a flash, and you simply bring them to walgreens and they print them immediately and you can mail them to whoever you want.

      ok his idea removes the need to bring it to walgreens but still, it's double the price, doesnt have a delete button, and when the batteries die it becomes completely worthless, you really do have to trash the entire camera.

      The reason walgreen's idea works is because they're hoping to recoup the price of the camera because you have to return it to get your photos and then they can resell it. This guy's idea will never work because he cuts out the middle man and since the batteries can't be replaced it really does become disposable, for the same price it costs to make this camera a company could make a camera with replaceable batteries and sell it.

      you know what it'd take to make this work? Make the camera like it is, but when you're done you drop it in a pre-paid envelope that came with a camera with a list of who you want to get photos from it to mail it back to whoever you bought it from, they take it and send prints to whoever you want. That way they get their camera back to resell to someone else and your friends/family still get their "postcards".

      good thing he's a industrial designs student cuz he'd make a crappy business man.

      • by welcher ( 850511 )
        It's a completely different idea. As you describe it, Walgreens is just selling the digital equivalent of the "disposable" camera that has been around for years. (as you point out, there is nothing disposable about these cameras - you want the photos, you've got to return it and it gets reused. the Kodak "disposable" film camera is returned to a processsor more than 95% of the time and gets reused many times with replacement lens etc). This guy's idea is more like a polaroid postcard - take the snap, pu
      • Apart from the fact that the Walgreens camera is a different concept (see above post), there's also the price issue: $25 Australian, $11 US: not twice as much :P
      • good thing he's a industrial designs student cuz he'd make a crappy business man.

        There can be a lot of value in exploring ideas that on the surface seem unworkable... for example, someone like you comes along, tweaks it a little bit, and builds the next big thing. Just ask yourself: Would you have come up with the idea above without this student's idea to build on? His "crappy business idea" was your spark and my guess is you never would have given post cards a second thought without it as a catalyst

    • by Anonymous Coward
      Does anyone else view the disposableness of this invention with disapproval? We generate enough waste as it is, we don't need more disposable stuff. It might be cool if you could erase what the person sent you and then use it yourself though.
    • Where's the battery go?
  • I want one! But how much will they cost? (no I didnt RTFA)
    • Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday January 14, 2006 @07:04PM (#14473172)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • and £10 puts it into the impulse buy category for quite a few people...heck, if I saw that in a shop on holiday I'd probably buy some and mail then to myself.

    • The article says $25 (Australian?), but I don't know how useful it is. For one, people technically inclined enough to buy and use a digital postcard probably own a digital camera/camera phone. It doesn't say anything about being able to get the images off the postcard once they're captured, so you have to continually replace batteries to view them? It's almost a great idea.
      • I think you may be missing the point here. This is the kind of thing you send to your parents or perhaps your non-technical friends in lieu of a traditional postcard. You may have a digital camera of your own, but are you going to want to print them out for less technical friends and family? The item is supposed to be cheap so that it can be regarded as disposable. As long as the batteries last a reasonable ammount of time, I can see a use for this.

        Maybe they can even take advantage of that Apple patent
      • It's actually Austrian currency.

        It also does mention that you can have the photos developed at a photo shop after you've taken them. Also, it says that you can view the photos a few hundred times before the thing wears out (either runs out of juice or breaks entirely, not sure).
  • eink (Score:4, Interesting)

    by gadzook33 ( 740455 ) on Saturday January 14, 2006 @06:56PM (#14473140)
    If they're not already using it, they should try this stuff [eink.com].
  • Hmmm... (Score:5, Informative)

    by TubeSteak ( 669689 ) on Saturday January 14, 2006 @06:57PM (#14473147) Journal
    The palm-sized camera-cum-postcard, housed in a cardboard shell with a two-megapixel lens, a 10-centimetre screen, digital memory and an internal battery, would cost about $25.
    Kudos to the kid for his invention, but FYI, when you have 'cheap' digital cameras, it means they're skimping on the lens.

    Good photographers don't need expensive cameras, they use expensive lenses.

    But since the idea includes a slideshow, I think it would be worth producing. Especially since CCDs, LCDs and RAM are dirt cheap when ordered in production quantites.
    • Re:Hmmm... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by TubeSteak ( 669689 )

      Snap+Send Postcard is still just a concept, but the young inventor says the technology exists to turn the idea into a commercial reality. It's just that he, as a full-time student and casual library assistant, doesn't have the money to finance it.
      ...
      He could have sold the rights to the clean-face kebab wrapper and the Snap+Send Postcard to keen companies, but prefers to just share his ideas while he's a student.

      "I'd rather use them to show potential employers my ideas."

      Sooo... he's not going to make this an

    • Re:Hmmm... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by FrenchSilk ( 847696 )
      It isn't designed to be used by professional photographers or anyone wanting a sharp, distortion-free, low chromatic abberation image. It is designed for taking snapshots and sending them to a friend or family member. It is for fun. But for what it is worth, some very serious photographers use cameras that have incredibly bad lenses. Google for Holga images to see some great examples.
    • As someone who has a ridiculous amount of money tied up in lenses, I'm shamed to admit it... but I have a lot of fun with my Holga... Enough to buy a 'boutique' pinhole which, oddly enough I don't use as much.

      If you're into photography give it a whirl... you might find it very entertaining.
    • a 10-centimetre screen, digital memory and an internal battery, would cost about $25.
      A big question for me is where can you get hold of an LCD screen that cheap as a single unit? With the right video driving hardware it could be used for a really small system (there are industrial embedded PCs smaller than mini-itx) - refresh rates don't matter for everyone.
      • "A big question for me is where can you get hold of an LCD screen that cheap as a single unit? "

        good point! 10cm = 4" [manuelsweb.com] LCD screen, that alone is a pretty good chunk of change. And he wants to add batteries + lense + other stuff for $25 total? Guessing that's company cost, not what consumers would pay.

      • As I've had it explained to me, LCD prices go down sharply once you start buying them in very large quantities (thousands or more).

        It isn't cost efficient to manufacture small quantities (example: IBM dropping Apple's CPUs from their lineup) and retailers keep the single unit prices high because they can.
        • As I've had it explained to me, LCD prices go down sharply once you start buying them in very large quantities
          I'm aware of that - but anyone have an idea where I can get one 4" or similar LCD or OLED that can be rigged to run off VGA, PAL or NTSC input? E-ink appears to still be unobtainable.
    • Your friends simply snap the photos and send it to you and you tear open the perforations, fold out a little kick stand on the back and sit it on a bench top .. and look at the last dozen pictures where some bandits entered their room and made .. inventive .. use of the toothbrushes. [snopes.com]

      First it was the future possibility of mythical bright green circles on cliff-sides from JATO-equiped flying green pigs, and now this. Today is a good day to myth!

    • Re:Hmmm... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by YrWrstNtmr ( 564987 )
      Good photographers don't need expensive cameras, they use expensive lenses.

      And yet millions of people use their cellphone as a camera.

      • He did say "good". Have you seen what most cellphone camera users end up with?
        • Exactly. And they still use it. The people who might use this type of postcard thing don't really care that it's not a perfect, high quality lens. Or that the resultant picture looks like it was taken underwater, on a cloudy day, by someone with epilepsy, coming off a 3 day bender.

          They still do it.

        • They end up with the question "did that really happen?" and a hangover.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 14, 2006 @06:57PM (#14473148)
    So a stolen card will display a one-time password to the thief each time he uses it?
    • Actually, the site linked would tell you that...

      The one-time password is to protect against people knowing your credit card number etc. and using it without having the physical card (i.e. online). It wouldn't help you if someone finds the card.
      • Sure, helps for the web, but really can't help someone who steals the card and then goes for a little shopping. Stores will not accept a card number. No way no how.
        • Stores will not accept a card number. No way no how.

          That depends on the store. My auto mechanic [cartalk.com] once rang up $650 of repairs from a credit card number I recited to him because I'd left my wallet at home. I guess it helps that he's been fixing my cars for over a decade. However, if you think back to the old days when you used to order from catalogues over the phone, instead of the internet, you always just read out your credit card number and they'd ship off your product. I'm sure they still do that,

    • Wouldn't it be possible for a fingerprint to be required before the one-time password shows up?
    • Not quite, YOU have a password you put in (like a PIN) that is used as part of the "seed" to generate the random password or can be included as part of the password code. Put in the the wrong PIN and the password is useless, try that three times in a row and they disable the card. These sorts of devices are available from many suppliers, I used to have one from RSA that was a key chain fob, the one I have now is about the size of a credit card with a small one-line LCD screen. How all this works is beyond
    • It'd be much cooler if the LCD display showed how much money is left on the account (that the card is connected to). It could be updated whenever the card is used, so it shows an approximate number.
  • cost (Score:2, Insightful)

    by korgull ( 267700 )
    this is old technology combined in one package.
    How much you want to pay for that ?

    If it's enough, I'll supply (and I can)

    Just to be clear I don't think this is really anything for /. /. shouldn't be promoting business but technology.
    • Re:cost (Score:3, Insightful)

      this is old technology combined in one package.

      SURPRISE!

      All technology is just old technology combined in one package. Sometimes made smaller, or higher quality, etc, but that's all progression of technology is: combining old things in new, smarter ways.

      The Internet? Old phone lines and circuitboards and computers combined in a new package.
      PDA's? Batteries and processors and LCD's and digitizers.
      Every new software rogram that comes out? It's all made of zeroes and ones... old technology.

      Anytime something ne
      • Ob Simpsons (Score:1, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        "Oh, everything's stolen nowadays. Why the fax machine is nothing but a waffle iron with a phone attached."

        "Is this the bus to the Civic Center?"
      • Re:cost (Score:4, Funny)

        by Bad D.N.A. ( 753582 ) <`moc.liamg' `ta' `anddab'> on Saturday January 14, 2006 @07:52PM (#14473356)
        Your kidding... Right?

        By this logic there has never, ever, been anything new, ever.

        I can see you in 1903:

        "Calm down now Orville and Wilbur, that little flying machine is nothing new, it's just a bunch of parts that are commonplace. All you have done is combine them in one package."

        Your right about one thing though...

        "Anytime something new comes out, you can break it down into its base components and claim it's nothing new."

        It's called the periodic table.
    • Computers are really old technology. I mean, all those microscopic transistors etched onto silicon chips. The technology for that was invented decades ago!

      No matter how you look at it, this guy came up with something new, even though it is built around existing technology. I like to call it "innovation"
    • "In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." -- Carl Sagan
    • It's a good little project, but the components still cost too much for it to be a commercial product. A few more years, though, when it can retail for $4.95...
  • cc fraud (Score:5, Interesting)

    by SuperBanana ( 662181 ) on Saturday January 14, 2006 @07:07PM (#14473183)
    I also found these credit cards with build in LCD displays. It sounds like the perfect solution for credit card fraud, with the card generating a One Time Password for each transaction.

    Or clerks could stick to credit card processing policies. I walked into an Apple store today and asked an employee if it was OK to use a client's card, with a letter of authorization (in hand, signed by him, matching the sig on the back of the card.) The employee managed to finally get the attention of the manager, and the manager, who could barely be bothered, grunted "no". "Even with a signed authorization letter naming me, listing contact info that matches his account, and a signature that matches the card?" "NO." Oooookay.

    So I collected my $500 in items for the client, went to the cash register, swiped the guy's card, and when asked for a photo ID, handed the dude the letter- the manager was distracted and working elsewhere. "This okay?" "Mmm...yeah." "Want to keep it for proof the charge is authorized?" "Nope, you're good."

    Credit card companies establish merchant rates based on risk of fraud on the transaction. Some simply require "card presence", ie, a physical card MUST be swiped. Apple seems to require a photo ID, which probably knocks a couple tenths of a percent off their merchant fee or somesuch. Apple may transmit the signature or store it, and if the charge is contested, they can ask my client "is this your signature, or the signature of someone authorized to use it?" That's all the CC company cares about- that it was SOMEONE authorized to use it.

    Then there are the retailers where they NEVER actually see the card- I swipe it, and they never need to look for a valid signature or see whose name is on the card; it could be an old CC with fraudulent info encoded, for example. Or the places that take the card, but the cashier never flips it over to look for a signature. Nobody's compared my signature the card in years, and it used to be everyone did (then again, I'm also older.)

    • Seen this? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit_card/index.html [zug.com]

      Just goes to show that almost nobody bothers checking cards.
    • I don't own a credit card as in Holland we got a different system. You get from your bank where you have a debit account (possibly with a credit option) a card with a magnectic strip. You can withdraw cash from ATM like machines OR pay with it by having your card read and typing in a 4 digit code to verify it belongs to you.

      This would seem to stop a lot of the problems. There is no attempt to verify that the card belongs to you EXCEPT if you wish to withdraw money without knowing the pin code (what the pas

      • Problems with that- first, in the US the PIN is only 4 digits. Laughably insecure.

        Second is liability. If someone misuses your CC account, you are not liable for the money- the credit card is. With a debit card, once its out of your account its gone. Good luck getting it back.

        There's also risk avoidance- I have a cap of 2-3K on my credit cards- thats the most they can steal from me. If they got into my bank account, I could lose much more.
        • In the USA if someone misuses your credit card on the Internet (card not present), the merchant is liable for the loss not the card company or card holder. The reason card not present fraud is so easy in the USA is the card company actually profits from the fraud ($15-50.00 chargeback fee) so they have no incentive to introduce more secure methods of card fraud protections that already exist.
        • Look around. It's been a while since I've seen a bank that didn't limit the debit card liability to $50 at most or none at best. Any Visa-logo card gets automatic protection for all credit card purchases, and I think they'd start denying the card if they start guessing my 4-digit PIN on a non-Visa machine.
          • Yes, but with a credit card, the law guarentees you don't have liability. the thief is stealing from the bank. not you. With a debit card, the bank may have a policy of limiting your liability, but that is purely part of their policy and who knows how they interpret it and I bet they have clauses in their policy making appeal of their decision quite difficult. With a debit card the law says the money was stolen from you, so it is ultimately your responsibility to recover your money. with a credit card, the
        • Not all PINs in the US are 4 digits, some banks have switched to 6 digit PINs (a few to 8 even) some banks give you the option of a 4 or 6 digit PIN as well.

          As for liability, the issue isn't as clearcut as it used to be, most banks nowadays limit liability themselves and even if they don't, if they've issued you a Visa or Mastercard debit card (as almost all are nowadays) you are IIRC entitled to the same fraud protection as a regular Visa/MC cardholder.
        • > With a debit card, once its out of your account its gone. Good luck getting it back.

          Nope. Here in germany you can undo debits from your card for 60 days. So if someone tries to do a debit from your account, you simply let it go back, and this "someone" has to pay 3 for it. (Citibank even [illegaly] takes 10, [but they have the power to enforce it])
      • actually cards come in two different types credit cards = no real money behind them (except what the cardholder pays) debit cards aka check cards = real money with a possible "extra account" linked in in a credit card case (or with a debit card and a low tech shop) the card gets run and two copies of the bill are printed 1 gets signed and is kept at the shop for 5 years 2 gets handed to the buyer and may or may not be retained in a debit card case when the shop has the tech then its pin code time
      • Same thing in Canada. It's always annoying to go to the US and have to either carry cash or resort to the credit card. Most banks let us pick our own PIN numbers, and they can be twenty numbers long if you so choose. Plus there's a daily maximum withdrawal limit so your bank account can't get emptied.
    • Nobody's compared my signature to the card in years, and it used to be everyone did (then again, I'm also older.)

      I think that's probably because most cashiers realize how useless the "can you duplicate the signature on the card you just provided?" test is... I can think of the following problems, off the top of my head:

      1. Are cashiers trained to make signature-matching decisions properly? At $8/hour, I'm guessing most of them are not.
      2. False negatives. Forging someone's signature is hardly a difficult task; mo
      • Re:cc fraud (Score:2, Informative)

        by dougjm ( 838643 )
        You can have the best sig in the world on paper but when you try and wite it on that wee strip of writable plastic on the card it never comes out right, so your signature is always a bit different on card versus paper. At the checkout the last thing that the person on the till is going to do is question you if the way you crossed the T looks a bit out of place - especialy, as you say, for £4.50/$8 an hour.

        Thats why when my bank started to offer their cash cards with the signature laser printed on un
        • You can have the best sig in the world on paper but when you try and wite it on that wee strip of writable plastic on the card it never comes out right, so your signature is always a bit different on card versus paper.

          Yes, your signature is a little different the strip is not as tall as some signatures and it's quite slippery. But when I was a kid working in a store I was trained how to verify a signature. A quick glance at the style is all that is needed the real trick to verification is in the length.

          E
    • Re:cc fraud (Score:3, Interesting)

      my boss sells tshirts (thefurryworm.com) and he keeps getting nigerian delivery addresses for big orders, with american billing addresses.

      the cc processing company doesn't care because they get paid for the transaction, and they get paid again for the refund.

  • Those credit cards look a lot like RSA/Security Dynamics SecurID cards. even down to the number pad on the bottom right. I checked the partner page and RSA was not listed. Either was this technology has been around for a long time. I'm curious how they are going to prevent smashed LCD displays from sat on wallets, or tossed pocketbooks. I have seen a lot of broken cell phones, with smashed screens. Credit cards get a lot more abuse.
  • I have always thought it would be great to have a LCD that show what your balance is. Have a small calc. that allows you to add and subtract checks. That way you would never overdraw etc.
    • Overdrawn is the biggest moneymakers for banks. Why do you think they allow it? hell they allow you to overdraw from the ATM! Gives them a free $30.00 charge plus $5.00 a day until you fix it.

      The only difference between banks and the Mob is the bank has a nice building and the feds backing them.
      • No shit, I know a guy who invented a diaper indicator badge, they told him to go away becasue if oyu don't know you'll change it anyway.

        The only problem with you poo-pooing is that there are these magical things call credit unions. I know they care communist bullshit but they have no vested interesting is fucking you in the ass for you 2nd to last dollar. They might do it and once you have them in the market the banks might pick it up.

        p.s. sorry about the shitty puns.
  • by Travoltus ( 110240 ) on Saturday January 14, 2006 @07:42PM (#14473326) Journal
    "No post cards allowed".

    Heck, at this point, people at all sensitive places will be stripping visitors and workers down naked and only letting them in with special jump suits.

    You could feasibly now graft this camera technology into shirts, gloves, baseball caps, glasses, etc. And even James Bond himself will be bug eyed with amazement when the nanotech factor finally comes into play in this industry.
    • people at all sensitive places will be stripping visitors and workers down naked

      Thats the kind of treatment you normally have to pay big money for....

      Also I have always wanted to ask you about your sig. Does it mean that Linux is not for this time?

  • by Jacek Poplawski ( 223457 ) on Saturday January 14, 2006 @08:10PM (#14473420)
    Postcard with builtin LCD and camera?
    Imagine postcard with bultin modern CPU, 1GB memory, large hdd, fast video card, 21'' LCD display, dolby stereo sound and laser printer (to print more postcards).
    Will it run Linux?
  • OLED! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by boingyzain ( 739759 ) on Saturday January 14, 2006 @08:16PM (#14473441)
    Tiny screens that shouldn't use too much power? Sounds like a job for OLEDs [wikipedia.org].
  • by sec ( 20916 )
    I wonder how well those LCD credit cards would survive being put through one of those old "chunk-chunk" credit card machines?

    Granted, I haven't seen one in years, but I'm sure there are still a few kicking around out in the sticks somewhere.
    • Well last Black Friday http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shoppin g) [wikipedia.org], at Wal-Mart we pulled out those old "chunk-chunk" credit card machines, because our connection to the home office kept failing. So even some of the biger retailers keep them arround for a las resort. We had several managers carring thme arround for the first few hours. Then it finnaly quited down to levels the server & the connection could handle so they put the old clunckers away until next Black Friday.

      Yes it was somet
  • They will not work as their durability is near zero. I used to administer the "securID" cards at work and most of them given to men ended up with broken LCD's as they are the size of a credit card and the thickness of 4 credit cards. when put in a wallet and sat on the thin glass LCD's break making the device useless. OLED or the new Epaper might work, a GLASS LCD in a credit card will never EVER work.
  • How can this be a perfect solution for credit card fraud?

    I'd hoped it would have been a perfect solution AGAINST credit card fraud, but obviously, the LCD screen will be so perfect,
    that some clever hacking will make it able to feign someone else's credit card!
  • I've noticed recently the trend to put the word "technology" wherever it is possible, i guess it mostly comes from marketing people, but does it really have be on /. too? Wouldn't be a title "New Uses for LCDs" just enough?
  • I like the bathroom stall idea. It would seem the LCD portion of is the harder part of the internet on the go. Wireless internet with a small LCD screen and http://www.phooty.com/ [phooty.com] on the way to work, in the bathroom or in the lunch room is the way to go.
  • 1) "Snap+Send"
    "they could soon be dropping"
    Oh, not developed yet, aih?
    What's to report then? Not on /., but what's with the media attention? Marketing for the University? Or is the University looking for funding through its students?

    The date on that article goes back to Jan. 3rd, and it just made its way to /. !!!

    I'm ashamed to say/write this, but I must; I live in Kuwait and it has the worst mail system I've ever seen. Why? A subscriber to ACM (acm.org) just got her card. It arrived to Kuwait at Nov. 30th

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