Technabob » biometric

Florida Schools Using Fingerprint Scanners for Roll Calls and More

Hazel Chua — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:30:44 +0000

Remember when life was a whole lot simpler and we didn’t use or even need a ton of electronics to live our lives? No iPods, no mobile phones, no laptop computers or tablets, no cars, and no television? Probably sounds like a hard life to live, but hey, our ancestors managed to do it.

Another thing previous generations, including mine, were able to do? Go to school the “manual” way. And I say manual because schools in Washington County, Florida are actually using fingerprint scanners to keep track of their students. Instead of the teacher calling out names during roll call, all students have to do is press their thumbs against the machine and they’re good to go.

The scanners have been in place since the beginning of the current school year, but the schools are planning to go a step further by installing the scanners inside school buses to save even more time. It just makes me think, though, that it might be easier for kids to just check in with the scanner and then skip school after stepping off the bus. But that’s just me.

[via PopSci via Dvice]

Pajamas for Baby Tell You if Your Tot is Alive and Well

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:00:57 +0000

If you don’t have kids you might think that this new sensor laden pajama for babies is pretty stupid and sounds like some of that wacky crap that we see out of Japan every now and again. If you have kids, you have undoubtedly sat up in the bed at 2 am when they were infants with the idea in your head that the baby isn’t breathing only to rush in there and scare the crap out of the little guy. Parents can understand how interesting these pajamas are.

Exmovere is showing off the Exmobaby PJs that have a bunch of different wireless biosensors in them that can monitor the baby’s heart rate, breathing, and emotional state. That last one is a bit out there since there are two modes in baby world happy (or quiet) and pissed (or screaming) and that is pretty much it.

The sensors use Zigbee protocol to communicate and would send the vital signs to some sort of monitor that the parents could see. This is actually a very cool idea and would help ease the worry of SIDS for many new parents.

Pay for Transactions With Your Finger Tip

Technabob — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 02:52:48 +0000

Hitachi has taken the wraps off of a new payment technology that lets you make purchases with only your finger.

The new biometric system can measure the unique signature of the blood vessels in your fingers to authenticate transactions. Once you register your “vein signature” with your credit card company, your vascular pattern is the key to unlocking your funds.

Hitachi plans on starting to test their Finger Vein Technology in real world applications this Fall, using 200 of their employees. They’ll be able to purchase items at the company’s corporate shops and cafeteria using the new payment tech.

All in all, the premise of payment authentication systems which don’t rely on simple numbers and key codes seems like a really good idea to me. I’d have to think it would be a lot harder to copy someone’s blood vessels than their credit card number.

[via NikkeiNet via Pink Tentacle]