Whoa, now here’s a patent that’s actually worth discussing. (The majority of patents are boring, that’s the implication.) Apple filed a patent last September (but just now made public) that would turn give your iPhone or MacBook the ability to determine your identity, thereby increasing its security. That is, the device would have a built-in scanner, biometric or otherwise, that would determine if you’re really you, if that makes any sense at all. You touch the iPhone’s screen and it recognizes your fingerprint; hello, world! You place your palm on your MacBook’s palm rest and trackpad and the computer recognizes you; no password needed anymore!
Of course, like all patents, there’s no guarantee this feature will ever find its way to market; companies file patents just for the hell of it, or just to keep “the other guy” out of their backyard.
The scheme would be implemented in order to improve the security of your mobile devices. Passwords work well, but not everyone bothers to password-protect their MacBook, yet they sure as hell don’t want Prying Eyes looking inside their Home folder. By putting weaving a biometric scanner into the everyday use of a MacBook, Apple improves the security of every laptop leaving the factory.
Anything that improves a computer’s security, and as transparently as possible (in order to get Joe Public to play along) is okay in my book.
You’re late with the news. It ran yesterday.
http://www.macnn.com/blogs/2009/03/26/apple-files-an-enterprise-quality-biometric-security-system-patent-for-iphone-more.html
Very interesting story. Thanks.
Check out http://www.justaskgemalto.com for other facts about digital security and what to expect.
This is hopeful though. Really hopeful.
Not sure how this is news worthy or how Apple received a patent for this feature on the MacBook, since my 3 year old Dell laptop has this feature already, as do many other laptops.
Yeah, not quite sure what the fuss is, other than it has fruit attached to it, and that makes it special. I’ve had it on the dell sitting in front of me for ages, and the new HP I have sitting in front of me has it as well.
It is fun to have, if only for the many many times I’ve been asked “aren’t you afraid someone is going to copy your fingerprint somehow and gain acess to your computer?”
No, no I’m not.
Well, for those of you who ask why this is important, Apple is trying to hide them in a way that users will find them functional, as well as still externally eye pleasing. Most notebooks are useful with a finger reader or such. But it takes away from the notebook’s physical appearance.
Now, if only the damn things worked reliably! I’m still not certain what the benefit of using biometrics over password is, save for ‘cool’ factor. The systems embedded in most laptops is of such poor quality that it’s relatively easy to defeat (especially facial recognition), and have a nasty habit of opening up another potential security vulnerability. I’ll stick to a randomized, lengthly ’strong’ password rather than depend on cheap biometric crap thank you…
i love it! i have to login in to my computer everytime i turn it on. the fingerprint biometric thing is pretty cool, check out this article, it has some good info on fingerprint biometrics