UPEK's Eikon helps Mac users get fingerprinted

Tired of watching all of your PC friends with their fancy, new-fangled fingerprint readers, showing off how protected their computers are and how safe their data is? We feel your pain, Mac dudes and dudettes, and so does UPEK. Enter the company's Eikon "digital privacy manager," or, as we like to call it -- a fingerprint reader. Using the USB-powered device, users can enjoy privileges common to most PC users these days, like; logging onto their computers, accessing password protected websites, opening administrator access on their system, and generally looking like a super-futuristic bad-ass. The Eikon is available now and selling for the astounding price of $39.99

[haracas @ Sep 26th 2007 9:43AM]

Um.. i dunno whether they've changed now, but i had a microsoft keyboard with a finger print reader 5 years back (when they were rad and stuff) but i found that if you just yanked the keyboard out and use a normal keyboard, you could bypass the whole fingerprinting process, rendering it pretty useless.

[nih @ Sep 26th 2007 9:46AM]

My laptop has a fingerprint reader on it. More often than not it would be quicker to go to switch user, wait for the screen to come up, click my account and type my password than sit there and endlessly swipe my finger on the friggen sensor. They're useless.

[prokanda @ Sep 26th 2007 10:09AM]

I think we're missing the point. Do mac users really do anything important enough to need enhanced security? Secondly, would most of them be able to find the USB port so that they can plug this thing in? ;)

[Nas @ Sep 27th 2007 8:38AM]

har....har

[Michael La Framboise @ Sep 26th 2007 10:19AM]

Please... you think your spreadsheets and pie charts are in need of any more security? - then again using Windows, enough security is never enough...

[adriangrab @ Sep 26th 2007 10:38AM]

Obviously they need to protect their newest mashups from being stolen when they leave their macbooks unattended in their dorm rooms.

[prokanda @ Sep 26th 2007 10:47AM]

@ mike la-flamboyant:
hrm... that's funny.. last time I checked everything apple, is now running on the same processor type that my computer has in it... hrm.

not to mention that you people don't have a fifth of the software (or a twentieth the games) that we have...

so going old school and taking cues from a commercial that's over 20 years old and saying that PCs are only business machines with no other purpose is just talking out of your ass.

we do games, we do office applications, we do photoshop, we do music. our machines do everything that yours do and more and we can build them custom, on the cheap. so you stick with your MeTooooo thumb-print reader and your 5 available games all running on that monopoly-box produced by the only company that makes them and I'll sit here and laugh at you.

[Ignacio @ Sep 26th 2007 11:10AM]

"not to mention that you people don't have a fifth of the software (or a twentieth the games) that we have..."

Because as everyone knows, it's the *amount* of software what counts, not the quality ;)
Also, since you mentioned lack games (which is true of course), is that "important enough to need enhanced security?" as you said on your first post? :P

[HZC @ Sep 26th 2007 11:44AM]

"Tired of watching all of your PC friends with their fancy, new-fangled fingerprint readers, showing off how protected their computers are and how safe their data is? We feel your pain, ..."

Get it? We're the ones in pain! How does a compliment to PC users start up a flame war again? Don't like Macs? Fine. Now get a grip.

[Wesburl @ Sep 26th 2007 2:40PM]

{o,o}
|)__)
-”-”-

O RLY???

The ORLY Owl says:

If I developed a computer called "The Brick" that was made of a stick and a rock it would not need much security. Reasons are as follows:

First, no one would care about the "The Brick" (except a few die hard fans and crazies) so I would not need to devote near as much time to secure it (compared to a more mainstream system in the public eye). This is what is great about being *unpopular*, and proprietary.

Second, since it will have compatibility issues because it is such a "lone wolf" programmers will most likely not care enough to double the work effort to reach that 5 percent.

Although "The Brick" might be better than average at some things (being heavy or media editing).

Those are two main reasons for the ultra* security of a Mac... I mean "The Brick". Hope that clears things up. (I own 3 Xp machines, 2 Vistas, 1 Server2003, and 2 Mac Pros)

[prokanda @ Sep 26th 2007 4:25PM]

@ Ignacio:

I was referring to games because "Michael" decided to say that PCs were only good for business. I was replying to the direction that "Michael" took the discussion in. So you only need to look to one of your own for steering it in that direction.

And yes, there is a LOT of crap software out there for PCs. But there are also a LOT of awesome programs out there for ever niche in the market. I wouldn't expect you to understand. That's like trying to explain to a person in Alaska (who's never been to the beach in Virginia) why water is fun to go swimming in.

[Kelly @ Sep 26th 2007 10:29AM]

How stupid is this?

[Daniel D @ Sep 26th 2007 10:44AM]

If you set all your passwords to a random assortment of letters and digits and made them long so that you could never remember them and relied on this to access then I think it would be more secure in that scenario.

[Jesse S @ Sep 26th 2007 12:12PM]

Fingerprint readers are hardly secure, unless you spends tens of thousands of dollars on them. My friend, who owns a security consulting buisness, can break these cheap ones ina few minutes.

[Bloobie @ Sep 26th 2007 1:00PM]

Yes, a cellophane bag filled with warm water would work quite nicely.

[Clinton Christian @ Sep 26th 2007 8:00PM]

Um... what's the great debate about? It's a friggin fingerprint reader...