ATM's should have a "fog" button, and when you push it, fog comes out around the keypad. (It can be the same stuff they use in theaters to make fake smoke.)

Then you can enter your PIN without anyone else seeing it. The mist clears in a few seconds, before you take your money.
-- phundug, Aug 23 2004

... and the buttons with the least condensation on them afterwards equal your pin, in an unspecified order ;)
-- Lacus Trasumenus, Aug 23 2004


Don't your parents still look at the phone as they dial numbers?
-- Cheekio, Aug 24 2004


The slightly worrying thing is that this didn't realy need anything but the title for me to get it.

It's a good idea, even if slightly unlikely.
-- RobertKidney, Aug 24 2004


Theatrical smoke/fog isn't just water vapor--it doesn't condense on things like that. Otherwise it'd be pretty destructive to all the equipment you had onstage, not to mention creating electrocution hazards... (+)

<edit>OK, after doing some reading it sounds like there *is* some moisture in the fog--but what gets vaporized is a water/glycol mixture and from my experience it feels much drier than e.g. the vapor coming out of a humidifier. So maybe you shouldn't aim it directly at the keypad, but I still don't think it'll be a problem. Still + for the effect.</edit>
-- Etymon, Aug 24 2004


Instead, you could have ATMs, which can read your mind and then you wouldn't need buttons at all, which would be really cool. And the same technology could work for TV licence inspectors too, so they could know if you really had a telly or not...
-- fergdeff, Aug 24 2004


// ATMs, which can read your mind //
But what if my brain is in a fog?
-- phundug, Aug 24 2004



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