Members of a legislative oversight committee in Charleston, West Virginia have come up with an interesting new use for ID cards. The committee has created an ID card program for lawmakers who require quick access to prisons and jails in order to investigate complaints or follow up on other issues. In the past, some lawmakers have been denied admission or delayed in their attempts to conduct surprise inspections. The new card program eliminates these problems and allows for immediate access to those with a special ID card.

Several thousand transit riders in Miami were lucky to get their hands on special commemorative Super Bowl cards last week, good for trips on local-area buses and trains. The collectible cards work just like normal smart card transit passes, only with a colorful design featuring the official NFL and Super Bowl XLIV logos.

Lawnwood Skate Park in Fort Pierce, Florida has been steadily growing in popularity since its grand opening a year and a half ago. Skaters flock to the park in droves to shoot in and out of its winding concrete bowl, and grind effortlessly (or not) down a myriad of ledges and rails. Because the park draws such a crowd, county officials began requiring all riders to have photo ID cards in order to help them enforce rules and prevent vandalism.

Over in New Delhi they've found a unique use for ID cards that's so innovative, we don't even have an industry page for it yet: Tiger identification. But when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Not only are these big cats predators, but they're also at risk. Creating a photo ID system to keep tabs on each tiger helps to strengthen tiger conservation at the ground level, while enabling authorities to closely track their movement.

Have you ever had the sudden urge to dance gleefully upon receiving a gift card? I'm sure you have, but until now, there's never been a way to soundtrack that impromptu jig. Well, thanks to the fine folks at Best Buy, and surely other retailers to follow, we can now give and receive gift cards that not only contain shopping money, but also fully-functioning speakers. Again, that's a gift card with an actual speaker built into it. Amazing!

Starting next fall, students at Penn State University will no longer have to present paper tickets to watch their beloved Nittany Lions football team take the field. The University is preparing a new program in which ticket information will be stored on student ID cards. The student ID card will actually carry the football ticket, and will be the only way for students to enter the stadium. This allows students to manage their tickets electronically, and makes it less likely that football tickets will be lost, since students usually carry their university ID cards at all times.

The skyrocketing costs of fuel and increasing concerns for the environment have been an incentive for many to use bicycles as a main mode of transportation. Inexpensive, healthy, and decidedly green, bikes have been making a comeback for commuters and leisure-seekers alike. Many cities have capitalized on this new trend with public bike rental programs, based on popular European programs in bike cities like Amsterdam and Paris. Washington DC is the latest addition to the public bike rental program - and has developed a bike rental program that relies on ID cards.

Imagine flashing your employee ID in front of a vending machine. No, you're not confusing the vending machine with your office guard after a long day of work. Your ID card, equipped with RFID antenna, can buy you coffee or a snack. Office employees in Thailand are about to have this become a reality - with new RFID-enabled employee ID cards.

It was a shock to many Hawaiians when Aloha Airlines suddenly shut down. Tourists and island hoppers were stuck at the airports and at the moment, many Aloha employees were wondering what they were supposed to do. Even turning in their Aloha Airlines ID badge was hard - their last connection to the employer they lovingly served.

Consumers all over the world have, almost overnight, become universal bearers of the debit card. A plastic card, usually with a magnetic stripe (and a smart chip in many parts of the world) is used like a credit card; but instead of paying the bill off at the end of every month, the money is drawn straight from the cardholder's bank account. This secure, easy way to pay for almost everything has made the debit payment card system wildly popular.

Laundry can be low on the priority list for many college students, with students quoting pressing food and video game issues that supersede clean clothes - but now Drury University students have no excuses for their dirty laundy. New ID card readers on the school's washing machines and dryers in their laundry facilities were recently installed to streamline the laundry payment process.

A Latino community group in Asbury Park, New Jersey, is building a new ID card program in an effort to improve communications with emergency service providers. The cards are not considered official documents, but include each resident's name, photo, birth date, address, and phone number. For those who speak very little English, the cards will also include the phone number of a friend who can help translate for police when Spanish-speaking officers are not available.

The United Arab Emirates is the newest country in a long line of nations to establish a national ID card program. National ID cards help identify citizens and also may guarantee services like healthcare, or serve as a driver's license. The difference with the new UAE national ID card? ATM functionality.

Buses, subways, and other forms of public transportation are quickly becoming more popular commute alternatives as the price of gas rises and traffic becomes more congested. State Farm Insurance in Indiana has launched a test program that will give their employees free bus fare from April 21 through May 17 - to see how many of its 14,000 Bloomington-area employees will catch on to a different type of commute

The homeless citizens of Oklahoma City may have more efficient and helpful services in the near future, thanks to an ID card developed by the directory of the city's Homeless Alliance. The ID card program, called the Homeless Management Information System, will store the demographic information of homeless people who commonly use city services.

Aside from being randomly searched, losing your toiletries under the strict no-liquid policy, and having your airline conveniently drop your luggage in say, Kathmandu instead of Kalamazoo, traveling with a pet is one of the more stressful traveling experiences. There's the weight limits, the exact measurements of the traveling crate, making sure that a pet will be safe and comfortable in the cargo hold or cabin, and finally, waiting out the anxiety of a long plane ride.

Those of us who are so obsessed with America’s national pastime that we’d consider forging an employee ID badge to get into Fenway Park for a Red Sox playoff game will want to think twice this year. Major League Baseball is putting the kibosh and fake employee badges, press passes and player credentials by infusing each legitimate ID with a small grey strip that contains writing invisible to the naked eye. The writing can only be seen by special viewers which will be in place at security points in baseball stadiums this October.

India is known for lots of things - the birthplace of many major religions, the Taj Mahal, delicious food, V.S. Naipaul, and the Indus Valley civilization. India has also long been revered for its spices, including cardamom, the unique ginger relative used in everything from digestive aids to Chai tea. There are over 40,000 cardamom growers in India today, and their regulatory group, the Spices Board, has introduced a new ID card program which is aiming to increase exports of the spice.

Just when we thought we had come up with every conceivable use for a photo ID card, in comes this story, fresh from Calcutta. It appears that authorities along India’s border have turned to photo identification as a way to cut down on the problem of cattle smuggling. Reports show that approximately 25,000 cows are delivered illegally from India to Bangladesh every day. That is a ton of rawhide. While the notion of a card-carrying cow is inherently funny, this is no laughing matter, and the solution seems as good, if not better, than any for this troubling situation.

Situated in the Mediterranean region of Turkey, the Alanya municipality is a popular seaside resort area. The region thrives on its bustling tourism industry, which includes a wide assortment of local tradesmen happy to push their wares on visitors with money to burn. While many tourists enjoy shopping the Alanyan markets, there have been a number of reports involving mistreatment and harassment from tradesmen towards foreigners. In an effort to stop this trend and reinstill consumer confidence, the municipality now requires all tradesmen to wear employee ID badges.

Colorado is evaluating a potential ID card system designed for volunteers and first responders in an effort to be better prepared for the next disaster situation. Hurricane Katrina proved that there’s significant room for improvement in this area. After the hurricane, a large number of evacuees entered Colorado. Many volunteers offered their services but were turned away because the state and federal emergency crews were overwhelmed. The state is hoping a new ID card system will prevent such a problem from happening again.

In what just might be an industry first, Acea Spa, Rome’s supplier of water and electricity, has introduced an identification card for the city’s water. The purpose of the card is to reassure locals that the tap water and drinking fountains in Rome are safe. The card contains information regarding the chemical contents and cleanliness of the water.

A unique ID card program in Fayetteville, NC is helping the homeless find an identity, and in some cases, much more. The program was launched by Officer Tracy Swinton of the Fayetteville Police Department in 2005. Swinton realized that without proper identification, the city’s homeless men and women are essentially anonymous. It’s difficult for them to get decent jobs, gain acceptance to shelters, enroll in classes, and certainly impossible to open any sort of bank account. But since the program’s inception, members of Fayetteville’s homeless community have used their ID cards to achieve all of those things.

Since the dawn of time, schools have been havens for junk food. With hallways illuminated by the welcoming glow of vending machines, and lunch rooms serving up burgers and fries with reckless abandon, the nutritional value of a meal at school is rivaled only by that of dinner at 7-Eleven. In the case of my elementary school, we even had the infamous “Barquito,” a soggy Mexican pizza curiously served within a plastic bag.

Since the dawn of time, schools have been havens for junk food. With hallways illuminated by the welcoming glow of vending machines, and lunch rooms serving up burgers and fries with reckless abandon, the nutritional value of a meal at school is rivaled only by that of dinner at 7-Eleven. In the case of my elementary school, we even had the infamous “Barquito,” a soggy Mexican pizza curiously served within a plastic bag.

We're all accustomed to the DMV - waiting in line, filling out endless forms, the people in line who can't seem to read the signs and obey the rules, the curt  employees...and the really, really, really bad photos that always seem to end up on our state-issued IDs. It seems that they're an inevitable part of life - birth, death, taxes and the crummy license photo.

ID badges have been commonplace for school visitors for years - but unlike the laminated "VISITOR" squares printed on the construction paper of the past, many schools have adopted high-tech badge policies which require bar codes, visitor names, and sometimes even photos. A Cincinnati area school district has announced that it's taking it one step further.

Years of warlords, civil strife and drug trafficking in Colombia have brought thousands of refugees into neighboring Venezuela - over 200,000 in the past eight years. While only 20 of these are recognized as legitimate refugees, Venezuela has recently instituted an ID card program to protect those who have requested asylum.

The United States' involvement in Iraq is one of the most hotly debated domestic issues today. With such divisive opinions and harsh reactions to policies and troop movements, even the most inane details are highly debated topics. One current issue is President George W. Bush's initiative to send over 20,000 new troops to Iraq in a "surge" that defense experts say could help amend current problems. Predictably, the issue is split down party lines, with most Republicans supporting the surge and most Democrats opposing it. Democratic congressmen have gone so far as to draft a non-binding resolution opposing President Bush's proposed troop increase. The House of Representatives is debating the issue this week in what is predicted to be one of the most heated and emotional debates to take place in the Capitol.