Bluetooth 4.0 Goes Green with Ultra-low Power Edition
The governing body of the Bluetooth specification has released the 4.0 guidelines in what promises to be a more widely adopted version of Bluetooth. Bluetooth 3.0 is not reaching wide adoption yet due to a number of factors, mostly economic. More speed requires more power and more battery power. Battery technology has not kept up with bandwidth. Bluetooth 4.0 promises to do more with less which may stimulate device manufacturers and starved R&D groups to employ it in their existing applications. Also, data transfer rates are not currently the same kind of bottleneck for device usage that 'size' is. The Bluetooth 4.0 promises to work in smaller devices thus requiring less power, less battery and therefore less bulk.
Bluetooth 4.0 also heads down 2 paths for even more power saving, dual-mode and single-mode. Dual-mode which can alternate between high-speed and low-power modes for multi-role or data intensive uses, like computers and cell phones. The single-mode chipset will be for the ultra low power uses like location tags and reporting sensors. Some of the envisioned uses are air pressure sensors in your car's tires, key fobs, etc. The group expects to see Bluetooth 4.0 products shipping in the summer of 2010. I'm still looking for Bluetooth 3.0 products, let's hope 4 fares better.
Permanent Link
Read More ...
Lockface USB Key Secures Contents with Webcam Facial Recognition
It looks a bit like a bottle opener but might actually be more useful (for some). The Lockface USB Key comes preloaded with encryption technology and a handy little piece of security software. Once you plug in this drive, the Lockface software takes over your webcam and uses your face to allow access to the data stored on your Lockface drive. The software only takes a few minutes to setup and stores the facial data on the drive so that it can be reused on other computers. In addition, the login information won't be discoverable on your PC while you're away.
The device's error rate is a little on the high side for it to be industrially acceptable, unlike some other proven high-end solutions. It also openly discloses that it has an almost 2% false acceptance and a similar rate of incorrect rejection. That's not terribly inconvenient to have to retry authentication 1 in 50 logins, an inappropriate user gaining access after only 50 attempts isn't that great though. But like most security, the important part is increasing the work-factor required to gain access to secured resources and this device does accomplish that. Probably not suited for an organization this is definitely a great boost for personal security. Should keep your dorm-mate out of your party pics and homework. Priced right at roughly $110, let's hope this one makes it outside of Japan soon.
Permanent Link
Read More ...
No comments:
Post a Comment