Not happy with the accolade of being the first handset manufacturer to add a VGA screen to a mobile phone, Sharp intends to bring touchscreen VGA with built-in fingerprint recognition.

The new screen boasts 640×460 300ppi resolution at 30fps, and not only does it allow for complete control over your phone, but also the simultaneous scanning of your fingerprint. Concieved by Sharp Europe and recently presented in Japan and America, it is not yet clear how deeply this technology will penetrate Sharp’s mobile phone offerings.
We’re still unsure how necessary it is to bundle biometric scanning into mobile phones. For the most part, it’ll only act as a means of impressing friends and relatives. For the minority, it could save a whole lot of problems.

Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc., one of the world’s leading suppliers of innovative computer products including hard disk drives, peripherals and biometric security solutions, today announced that City of Angels Medical Center has utilized the Fujitsu PalmSecure biometric authentication device in their Urgent Care department. For this groundbreaking project, the medical center will also implement Softex Incorporated’s OmniPass Client Edition security software.

City of Angels Medical Center engages in the ownership, management and operation of hospitals in the Greater Los Angeles area, and provides much-needed medical and surgical services as well as adult psychiatric services. Their primary goal in selecting the Fujitsu PalmSecure device was to establish a robust and stringent employee identification process throughout their IT system in order to ensure patient care safety, as well as to help comply with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) requirements of security and privacy standards.

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A4Vision Inc. today announced that it has won Best Application in the 2007 IP Security Awards for its innovative 3D face biometric technology implementation at a major European bank. The IP Security association (IIPSEC) award recognized the one-of-a-kind access control system installed at the Geneva Headquartered firm that identifies and grants facility access to the 2,100 employees based on a face match and without ID cards, keys or PIN technology. In using only biometric identification, the system eliminates the risk of tokens and keys being lost, stolen or misused.

The IIPSEC Judges Panel concluded, “The European bank implementation of A4Vision technology is an excellent application of an impressive product. It gives the world a look at the future of one of the many ways biometrics will be used not only in financial services but all industries. 3D face recognition is a superior access control technology that can eliminate the use of cards thereby adding convenience and reducing the cost of facility security.”

Adding biometrics, such as 3D face recognition, within an organization’s security infrastructure to verify a person’s identity, ensures that only authorized persons may enter a building through existing entrances.

Grant Evans, A4Vision CEO said, “The recent implementations A4Vision has participated in are clear evidence that the efforts we have made over the past 4 years are driving significant value to the many organizations that are using our technology. Recognition as the best and most innovative IP security application demonstrates the benefits of our system and the future potential of the technology.”

A4Vision’s advanced 3D facial recognition system directs structured, invisible light onto a subject’s face to create a facial grid of 40,000 measurable data points. The system performs multiple facial scans and comparisons against a database of stored images and corresponding data, performing accurate identification at sub-second speeds, from which authorized persons are confirmed for access. A4Vision’s 3D facial readers secure entrance areas of the bank in combination with other security components of the installation.

Fidelica Microsystems, Inc., a pioneering developer of biometrics technology, today announced the availability of the Company’s BCP-3 smart card development platform featuring a fully-embedded biometric system. Fidelica’s platform is the first in the industry that allows fingerprint imaging, enrollment, and authentication to be contained entirely within a standard credit card-sized package. Utilizing the BCP-3, integrators can create a smart card with a radically advanced feature set that works with existing card readers, wireless systems, and other card infrastructure. Biometric security can be added to a system simply by upgrading cards.

Fidelica has already implemented its beta BCP platform in several different configurations, including the DIVAcard biometric ID for URU Technologies, Inc. The DIVAcard will be used for federal government infrastructure security at sensitive sites such as airports and harbors.

“We needed a biometric authentication system that ensures conclusive user ID while protecting user privacy,” said Michael Conforti, President of URU Technologies, Inc. “Fidelica has created an embedded system that allowed us to add biometric identification to our identity credential, bringing security up to today’s requirements, while protecting our customer’s existing investments.”

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Despite praise from OFSTED, describing UK Biometrics’ fingerprint entry systems as “protecting children from harm”, combined with their triumph in scooping the “most innovative product” award at 2006 NMT awards, Sarah Teather thinks UK biometrics and similar firms are worse than thieves. Probably not quite as bad as the people they protect our kids from, eh Sarah?

Speaking to the Sunday Express on the recent installation at Snapdragons Nursery in Bath of a biometric ‘fingerprint recognition’ door access system, Liberal Democrat Shadow Education Secretary Sarah Teather MP claimed biometric system developers were “Worse than thieves” since someone could close a bank account if their PIN was stolen, whereas biometric systems took a child’s identity for life.

Matthew James, UK Biometrics Managing Director and supplier of the biometric access system installed at Snapdragons Nursery said: “I would have thought a Shadow Minister would check her facts before branding a responsible industry as worse then identity thieves. The biometric access system installed at Snapdragons Nursery in Bath does not scan children’s fingerprints; it registers parents and staff to allow secure door access. Our biometric access systems protect children and staff throughout the UK. Biometric access is welcomed by teachers, parents and education professionals. Sarah Teather is not a teacher or a parent and she clearly does not understand the science”.

Matthew James continued: “Biometrics is the only access system that cannot be lost, stolen, copied or hacked. Once installed teachers and carers can focus on childcare secure in the knowledge that unauthorised persons cannot gain access to the building. By casting unfounded aspersions on the biometrics industry Sarah Teather is guilty of engaging in sound bite politics and is spreading alarmist claptrap among parents”.

For more pearls of wisdom like this, vote for the Liberal Democrats.

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