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What the future of technology holds
With technology evolving at an exponential rate, it can be hard to fathom the changes that the future holds. What technological changes will revolutionize our lives in the years to come? NOW Lebanon takes a look at this year’s most extraordinary tech predictions.
1- You will never need a password again
No need to remember your password anymore. According to IBM researchers, retrieving money from the ATM or checking your bank account online will soon be done using facial, retinal and vocal recognition technology. Biometric data—facial definitions, retinal scans and voice files—will be combined using software that will provide users with a password unique to every individual. Smarter systems will be able to match biometric profiles with users’ identities. “Some computers are already equipped with fingerprint readers and retinal scans. The chances of this becoming commonplace in five years are high,” says Pierrot Atallah, chief information officer at BLC bank. Version 4 of the Android operating system already includes facial recognition to unlock phones.
2- Games that think outside the box
The launch this year of the Wii U by Nintendo cut a new path for game consoles. The Wii U will include an oversized controller with a touchscreen, speakers, a gyroscope, an accelerometer and a front-facing camera, which synchronize with the TV. Gamers might be able to start a game on their console and pick it up later on their smartphone. Games will also be published in new forms, away from Full article here
Passwords in the future could be replaced by your heartbeat
Soon, your computers and personal data may no longer need an overly complicated or easily deciphered password to protect, only your beating heart.
User-created passwords could one day become obsolete, if research led by Chun-Liang Lin at the National Chung Hsing University in Taichung, Taiwan, proves successful.
The industrious team behind this groundbreaking new technology, which creates a fully-encrypted password out of a user’s heartbeat, could forever change the way we access our protected and valuable personal information. Email passwords, bank account passwords, and more could all be accessed with the touch of your finger and verified with the beat of your heart.
How does it work, though? According to a recent article in New Scientist, the team over at the National Chung Hsing University has successfully tested the concept of translating a human heartbeat into an encryption key by using and electrocardiograph (ECG) reading from a person’s palm and Read more…
How to Beat Facial-Recognition Software
Over the last decade, computers have become better at seeing faces. Software can tell if a camera has a face in its frame of vision, and law enforcement has been testing facial-recognition programs that can supposedly pick out suspects in a crowd. That’s prompted an arms race between the people who build facial-recognition systems — and those seeking ways to defeat them.
Facial-recognition software is becoming a bigger issue for privacy advocates as well. Surveillance cameras are already ubiquitous in the U.K., are showing up in more places in the U.S. and may increasingly be connected to facial-recognition systems.
“I went to a Kinko’s a while ago,” said Alex Kilpatrick, chief technology officer and co-founder of Tactical Information Systems, a company in Austin, Texas, that sells facial-recognition software to Read more…
Fla. schools use palm vein for lunch payments
The Pinellas County School Board District in Clearwater, Fla. has paired up with technology provider Fujitsu Frontech North America to provide a reliable and secure method of handling school food service program transactions.
With more than 102,000 students, the district is the seventh largest in the state and the 24th largest in the nation. Efficiently serving this large population has, at times, proven challenging for the district, particularly in the school cafeteria snack and lunch lines.
Officials have tried everything from swipe cards to PINs, none of which seemed to help. The district even tested a fingerprint scanning system but it proved unreliable. “Students would place their finger on the scanner and leave behind oil, dirt, and residues. This would cause the system to malfunction or freeze up delaying the cafeteria lunch lines,” said Art Dunham, director of Food Service Department at Pinellas County Schools.
Then the district learned about vascular biometrics. Unlike other biometrics, Read more…
Coming to America soon “Biometric ID And The Coming Cashless Society
National ID cards which contain your biometric information are currently being given to all of India’s 1.2 billion residents! This is an unprecedented advancement towards a big brother styled government who tracks and traces everything you do. As these Orwellion developments continue let’s fight it at every step of the way by refusing to play along. When it comes to Read more…
Edible Microchips, Biometric Identity Systems And Mind Reading Computers
As technology continues to advance at an exponential rate, will we someday find ourselves living in a “scientific dictatorship” where virtually everything that we do, say and think is monitored and controlled by technology? To many of you that may sound like a wild assertion, but just keep reading. Our world is changing faster than ever before, and scientists have some absolutely wild things planned for our future. As you read this, they are feverishly developing edible microchips, cutting edge biometric identity systems, and mind reading computers. Many futurists envision a world where someday nearly all humans are embedded with microchips and have thousands of tiny nanobots living inside of them. The idea is that we can “take control of our own evolution” and use technology to “improve” humanity. But very few of those futurists address the potential downsides. The truth is that all of this technology could one day be used by a totalitarian government to establish a dystopian nightmare where nobody has any liberties and freedoms whatsoever.
The world of tomorrow is not going to be anything like the world of today, and most people have no idea how dramatically the world is changing.
For instance, many people have never even heard of “edible microchips”.
Unfortunately, they are Read more…
Biometrics in Argentina: Mass Surveillance as a State Policy
advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org
Two years ago, the UK dismantled their national ID scheme and shredded their National Identity Registry in response to great public outcry over the privacy-invasive program. Unfortunately privacy protections have been less rosy elsewhere. In Argentina, the national ID fight was lost some time ago. A law enacted during the military dictatorship forced all individuals to obtain a government-mandated ID. Now, they are in the process of enhancing its mandatory National Registry of Persons (RENAPER) with biometric data such as fingerprints and digitized faces. The government plans to repurpose this database in order to facilitate “easyaccess” to law enforcement by merging this data into a new, security-focused integrated system. This raises the specter of mass surveillance, as Argentinean law enforcement will have access to Read more…
China to fingerprint all foreigners
Chinese lawmakers are currently considering new visa rules that would require all visitors working and studying in the country to have their fingerprints scanned as they enter and exit
China will join other East Asian countries in fingerprinting foreigners // Source: net.mkAll foreigners entering and exiting China could soon be fingerprinted by customs officials.
Chinese lawmakers are currently considering new visa rules that would require all visitors working and studying in the country to have their fingerprints scanned.
The rules would only apply to foreigners requesting residence visas, which allow an individual to stay in the country for six months or more. Business people, journalists, and students, who typically apply for residence visas, would be affected Read more…
5 Things You Should Know About the FBI’s Massive New Biometric Database
The FBI claims that their fingerprint database (IAFIS) is the “largest biometric database in the world,” containing records for over a hundred million people. But that’s nothing compared to the agency’s plans for Next Generation Identification (NGI), a massive, billion-dollar upgrade that will hold iris scans, photos searchable with face recognition technology, palm prints, and measures of gait and voice recordings alongside records of fingerprints, scars, and tattoos.
Ambitions for the final product are candidly spelled out in an agency report: “The FBI recognizes a need to collect as much biometric data as possible within information technology systems, and to make this information accessible to all levels of law enforcement, including International agencies.” (A stack of documents related to NGI was obtained by the Center for Constitutional Rights and others after a FOIA lawsuit.)
It’ll be “Bigger — Better — Faster,” the FBI brags on their Web site. Unsurprisingly, civil libertarians have concerns about the Read more…
FTC seeks public comments on facial recognition
The USA’s Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comments on facial recognition technology and the privacy and security implications raised by its increasing use.
A public workshop held in December – “Face Facts: A Forum on Facial Recognition Technology” – focused on the current and future commercial applications of facial detection and recognition technologies, and explored an array of current uses of these technologies, possible future uses and benefits, and potential privacy and security concerns. (The agenda for the workshop can be found here, and an archived webcast of the proceedings is viewable here).
The deadline for filing comments is 31 January 2012.
FTC says that facial detection and recognition technologies have been adopted in a variety of new contexts, ranging from online social networks to Read more…
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