FingerGear Computer-On-a-Stick…now with Bio
By Thomas Ricker 
posted October 13th 2005 7:30PM
posted October 13th 2005 7:30PM
FingerGear and Atmel have teamed up to create the Bio
Computer-On-a-Stick; now with fingerprint security. And just like
FingerGear's sans biometric boot stick, this version runs
on Linux 2.6.x with Gnome and bundles pretty much all the MS Office compatible desktop and Internet apps you're gonna
need. Drop data into the public partition to easily share it on a Windows or Linux PC or Mac without having to boot or
authenticate. Data dropped onto the protected private partition can only be accessed when booting the device and then
authenticating via login password or fingerprint — just keep in mind that the stick will only boot on an x86 PC with
USB boot support. Available in configs from 256MB to 8GB starting at US$149.
[Via Geekzone]
While it's a cool idea, I feel sorry for anyone who feels it necessary to walk around with data so critical they need a fingerprint sensor. Wouldn't you want to leave data like that, you know, somewhere NOT in your pocket?
I think it's more for data transport security, than data storage security, and I think it's kinda cool to use a finger print instead of a simple username/password combo
that would be slooooooooooowwwww ass
#1 is kinda right. Is this flash? 8gigs o' good ol' flash? If it is, not bad, eh?
I still don't quite get what the difference between this and a flash stick with fingerprint reader is. Please explain!
Thas so fricken coo. And not too expensive either. $169 for the 512MB model. Then again, a while ago I bought a pair of 1GB thumb drives for $50 each on sale.
"this version runs on Linux 2.6.x", "Computer-On-a-stick"
The stick runs it or the PC? Or is it just a memstick/ID combo?
"Wouldn't you want to leave data like that, you know, somewhere NOT in your pocket?"
Yes, you want to have another backup somewhere. Having an "only copy" of any important data, especially on portable media, is not smart. But it might be nice to have a "safe" emergency back up of stuff like your MS Money file, or your work files, in the case that your house burns down or something.
I have to admit to keeping a copy of my Money file on my USB thumbdrive for exactly this reason. Not only will it survive a virus attack requiring me to reformat both of my PCs, or a house fire that destroys my CD backups, but it is also trivial to update this backup whenever I update my live Money file, whereas working with a backup CD every time gets annoying.
But I do get apprehensive about carrying this info with me, for good reason. It's probably not all that smart, security-wise. But at this point in my life, I value the security of having the data in an emergency over the security of keeping the data in an "unhackable" place. However, if I had one of these babies, I'd be set to go on both fronts.