Sony's FVA-U1 reads veins, coming to Japan this month

Sony has finally delivered on its Mofiria promise with what it claims is the world's smallest and lightest finger vein reader. That assertion may be challenged by Hitachi, whose 3mm-thick scanner promises to be even smaller, but the critical difference here is that the FVA-U1 is about to go on sale in Japan come December 18, whereas Hitachi's hardware is nowhere to be found. The Sony scanner weighs a measly 33 grams, hooks up via USB, and adds an extra layer of biometric protection for your most precious data. Whether carrying around an extra dongle just to protect some Excel spreadsheets and your Outlook account is worth it, we leave up to you.

[CJ100570 Posted Dec 1st 2009 8:56AM]

I'll pass. I've yet to use any consumer oriented biometric device that works reliably.

[Eternity Posted Dec 1st 2009 9:02AM]

Wouldn't it be cool if they incorporated biometric scanners into external hard drives? That way we don't have to remember ridiculously long alphanumeric passwords. Just swipe your finger to decrypt on the fly.

[Skaz Posted Dec 1st 2009 9:06AM]

Does anyone know if you can use these to boot up your computer and log you in at the same time? I always wanted something like that.

[refiner Posted Dec 1st 2009 10:11AM]

I have the Fujitsu PalmSecure and what is most important to me is how fast it can verify your identity.

With the PalmSecure using Omnipass, it takes about 1 or 2 seconds to read. It also takes about a second or two for the software to pop-up to read your palm.

Because it is tricky to align your palm (without the guard), it can take up to 10 seconds to get it right (or as fast as about 4 or 5).

Vein authentication is very, very secure. So it's not really a debate if it's secure or even more secure than another biometric type. The debate is how fast can it read, how fast the does the software work and how reliable is it?

[Wwhat Posted Dec 1st 2009 10:24AM]

Hate sony but have to admit, their designs aren't so bad, although this is a bit very classical sony, reminds me of the last sony device I bought many many years ago.

[Vicmagna Posted Dec 1st 2009 11:13AM]

The irony. It just took me 13 minutes and multiple steps to get to leave this comment just to say this device could expidite the login process for websites *sigh*. Hopefully by next year, come on facebook open alliance already!!

[Wwhat Posted Dec 1st 2009 12:52PM]

@Vicmagna
Haha, nice one.

[MJGAMER 1991 XBL Posted Dec 1st 2009 3:31PM]

Does this mean in movies and video games (or real life for that matter) we won't be able to use a dead body to open that biometricly protected door? I still remember that from MGS2 when you use that dead guy to open the door that's locked with an iris scanner.