Fingerprint Recognition Devices Coming in 1998

Several keyboard manufacturers are touting fingerprint recognition as the better alternative to passwords.

Yael Li-Ron, PC World

LAS VEGAS--Passwords aren%squott safe; we all know that. Hackers can have ways to figure out your passwords, or even capture them online and abuse them. That%squots why we%squotre constantly reminded to keep changing our passwords. But there%squots one %dquotpassword%dquot that%squots uniquely and exclusively you, and nobody can ever hack it. That%squots your fingerprint, and several keyboard manufacturers are incorporating a technology for verifying identifications via a simple mechanism that has you lay your index finger on a reader before you can start using your PC.

Among those companies here at Comdex, there%squots Who (which we wrote about yesterday), MaxiSwitch, NMB, and Sony.

Sony%squots fingerprint recognition technology isn%squott sold directly to consumers, but rather to keyboard manufacturers. NMB is planning to sell its keyboard as a consumer product. The prototype shown at Comdex comes with software for Windows 95 and NT. It%squotll ship some time in 1998 and will cost $199. The optical reader is plugged into the system%squots parallel port, while the keyboard is plugged into its own port. A USB version is in the works as well.