The Chips Are Down. Why the U.S. lags in credit-card technology

摘要

"Vous N'avez Pas Une Puce," The waiter said. My French is shaky, but from having been to a French flea market, I recognized puce, which means flea. My problem was that I was in a café in Lyon, France, trying to pay for a lousy dinner. (Think it's impossible to have a bad meal in France? Stick with me.) The waiter was telling me my Visa card didn't have fleas. I should hope not. French words often do double or triple duty, and in this case the server was referring to a computer chip-rather, the lack of one-on my Capital One Venture Visa.