A Japanese company called Futen (they don’t have a website) is selling a USB flash drive that uses face recognition technology to check the identity of users. Needless to say, the so-called Lockface only works with your computer’s web cam.

The first thing to do is to register a number of pictures of your face. After that, the Lockface verifies your face every time you need to access data on it (the verification process takes about a second). The USB drive doesn’t require extra software to be downloaded or installed.

Alternatively, you can also use a password, completely ignoring the face recognition function of the device. It uses 256-bit AES to encrypt the data. Futen says the device has an error rate of about 2% (it verifies the “wrong” person in 1.91% of cases and won’t verify the right person in 1.98% of cases).

The first version will hold 4GB of memory and is sized at 22×4×55mm. The Lockface costs $110 in Japan (where it’s already on the market). Futen is planning to bring models holding more memory in the near future.

I suggest you contact the Japan Trend Shop, Geek Stuff 4 U or Rinkya in case you live outside Japan and you’re interested in getting one.

Via Excite News [JP]