This week we’ll be hearing some fun stories about how credit cards first came about. After seeing rumors about CapitalOne/T-Mobile credit card, we talk about the introduction of Hertz, an AI-driven system for rental car inspections.
Credit cards were invented as businessmen forgot their wallets.
According to this article, credit cards were invented in 1949 by a businessman who forgot to take his wallet to a restaurant (a major cabin grill in New York City) while dining with his clients. To solve this kind of embarrassing experience, he created a “diner club.” This provided participating companies with cards that they could present. As you usually have a running tab at an individual restaurant, this instead becomes a running tab along with a diner club acting as an intermediary, charging monthly for the consolidated amount (and processing fee) of the various tabs, paying each business accordingly. By the end of the first year, there were 42,000 cardholders and 330 different participating companies, so this was a very common problem.
[Rumor] Capital 1 launching T-Mobile credit card

Rumor warning! “TMO.Report” found the file (A mockup of a single capital T-Mobile credit card called “‘T_Card_Account_link” in the T-Life App). Does this confirm the rumors about Cobranded Capital One/T-Mobile credit card? It’s hard to imagine why such an image/file would otherwise exist, but it’s also hard to call that validation. What do you think?
Um, Hertz’s new AI technology detects vehicle damage

Hertz has announced that it is partnering with a company called “Uveye” (AI-driven vehicle inspection system) to manage the vehicle’s maintenance process. This slightly SF-Fi-Sounding system has plenty of cameras to drive when you’re in and out of a car rental facility that appears to have magical AI capabilities to assess the condition of your vehicle. It will send you that report and use the report to find damage or maintenance issues. Can it really catch everything? Specifically, Hertz says this will allow for inspection of “vehicles, glass, tires and underwear.” So… what about the interior?
What do we think of gangs – is this tied up as flawed as a 6-finger humanoid AI generates? Unprocessed Will humans end up paying for all the little scratchers that they should have shrugged before? Or maybe that’s just right.
What do you think?
Ready or not, they intend to launch the service at Atlanta Airport and hope to launch it at all major US airports by the end of the year.
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