RetinalScanner
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How security became more important than convenience
Since the dawn of infosec, the belief that we users are a group of dullard cattle who blindly trade our own security for convenience at every turn has been trumpeted by the stewards of IT and the infosec-arrogant, while bolstered by old research. Not anymore, says a new in-depth study from IBM on consumers' relationships with biometrics, authentication and the future of identity. If they have a choice, consumers now prefer taking extra security steps over using "123456" as a password.
Police adopting iPhone-based facial-recognition device
Police in the U.S. may soon have a new mobile tool to aid in the identification of criminals. It's called MORIS, Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System, and includes both a retinal scanner and camera to scan suspects from as far as five feet away. The system is powered by an iPhone which attaches to the device. When fully assembled, it weighs 12.5 ounces. MORIS will replace conventional identification procedures which require an officer to take a picture, download it to a computer and run facial recognition software on the image. The new device does all this on the fly and in one relatively small package. It was create by BI2 Technologies, a small company from Plymouth, Mass, and uses facial recognition software from Conway, NH-based Animetrics. Privacy advocates are leery of the device which can scan individuals from a distance possibly without their consent. Officers, though, view the technology as necessary. "If the purpose is to determine instantly an individual's identity and determine whether they are wanted or have serious criminal history, that is not only a desirable use, it is an important use," says Bernard Melekian, director of the COPS program. "To simply collect information on individuals to add to the database would not in my opinion be a desirable use of the technology." The MORIS device is expected to launch commercially by the end of the year and cost US$3000 per unit.
Canon rolls out CF-1 digital retinal camera
Canon's new CF-1 may not be as enthralling as the (hopefully) forthcoming 40D, but we're sure ophthalmologists and optometrists can certainly dig it. The firm's latest mydriatic digital retinal camera provides a 50-degree angle of view, a trio of imaging modes (color, fluorescein angiography, and red-free), and can produce "clear and detailed diagnostic images for immediate review" when attached to an EOS 30D DSLR. Additionally, this unit motorizes the processes of changing filters and adjusting the chin rest, and while we've no idea what this thing will run your eye care company, Canon claims that both the CF-1 and Retinal Imaging Control software are currently available for those in the market.[Thanks, Nation]
MIT researchers develop speedy retina scanner to diagnose ocular diseases
Although the mere mention of "retinal scanner" may get the blood boiling in privacy advocates, the latest such device out of MIT sports a much more innocent soul. Researchers at the school have reportedly developed a method to "scan the retina at record speeds of up to 236,000 lines per second, or ten-times faster than current technology." This process will allow doctors to snap "high detailed 3D images of the eye," which can be used to non-invasively spot ocular diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration much earlier and more accurately. The process itself is dubbed optical coherence tomography (OCT), and while things seem to moving along as scheduled, it will still be "five years or more" before we see this thing commercialized.[Via MedLaunches]
