Passwords To Be Replaced With Biometrics & EyeVerify

Passwords have been the primary means of securing computers, emails and web sites along with a large number of other things. And that has been the first line of defense for way too many years. As we gained more and more access points for web sites or emails, the goal of having a unique password for each one became a major problem and so many have duplicated passwords from time to time. There are even some who use the same password on every site or email account. And that is a bad thing if one site gets hacked and they have access to your password. Technology needs to evolve to something far better than what we currently have and Biometrics is the real answer for the future.

Things continually change as technology improves and a company called EyeVerify may be holding the most promise to moving us from the problems of remembering passwords and typing them in to a logon screen. Your eyes are unique to you as an individual and you do not have to remember a password. And with the technology they are using, they can prove who you are by combining several different features of your eyes. Those features include both the Iris in eye and the blood vessels of the eye.

Some have indicated that biometric scanning of the eyes can be fooled, but if the scanning process is looking at your eyes at different angles, fooling a scanner becomes far more difficult to accomplish. Scanners which can be fooled are not checking for what some refer to as "proof of life". By checking the location of blood vessels of the eyes, they are proving that it is a live person they are working with in combination with the angles of what they are recording.

It is the use of streaming video of your eye to move beyond the single picture for using biometrics which makes this method far more secure than previous methods which are being employed. And that video is key to what the future holds for moving us from the manual entry of passwords to the utilization of biometrics for validation of who you are. Just how soon we might see this kind of technology is not known as EyeVerify is partnering with various companies to move their product forward and into the market. This would be a big improvement over the current layers of security used to secure access to web sites and email. Or even access to your mobile device.

Hyundai 4EU - Your Personal Vehicle Of The Future

It seems that car manufacturers are always trying to figure out what the future transportation might look like for people. And car shows seem to be the best place to test the waters to see how the public will respond to new concepts in moving from place to place. The idea of a Personal Mobility Vehicle (PMV) has been around for a while and it seems they are always trying to improve on that concept. The latest prototype for the PMV has been presented at the Seoul Motor Show and is creating a lot of conversation, primarily because of its shape, but also what it may mean for the future of transportation in the crowded cities.

The Seoul Motor Show has just concluded and one of the more talked about items here in the US is the Hyundai 4EU, a prototype Personal Mobility Vehicle for the future. It is the very unique shape of this which has caught the attention of many and one that could very well become a reality here in the US. It is very small and is rated to run at speeds of up to 18 mph. This beats out the Segway with its 12 mph speeds, so technology is improving. If you remember when the Segway was first introduced, it was looked at as something strange with a lot of people against them. Here is a potential method for transportation in cities where parking is a premium along with traffic congestion.

This is not something we are going to see next year, but the idea of personal transportation is going to become a reality in the future. When I travel during rush hour times, most of the cars around me have a single driver in the vehicle, just like myself. That is a lot of wasted gas and costs to incur. The future for transportation will have to address this problem and that may not be too far off. If you look at Google's self driving cars, they allow for computers to control the vehicle and in the future the flow of traffic.

It could well be that the future has us traveling to work in computerized Personal Mobility Vehicles which can zip down the roads at high speeds reducing congestion and accidents. And with all electric propulsion, it meets the needs to reduce the use of fossil fuels. The Segway broke new ground when it came out and the Hyundai 4EU has done the same with this prototype. We need to figure out alternative methods of transportation to alleviate the traffic problems of getting to work. This concept along with major improvements in technology to allow vehicles to be controlled by computers is going to be our future.

RigidBot - Your Own Personal 3D Printer

KicStarter Friday - A 3D Printer at a price the majority can afford.

There has been a lot of talk about 3D printers over the past year and some of that is the result of TV shows basing part of the story line around one building a gun made out of plastic. While that may sound far fetched to you, it is not that far away from reality where a 3D printer can produce one. Today, what was once a huge device costing multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars is coming down in price to the masses. And they are starting to show up for less than $2,000 which is still a little out of reach for many. But, that is changing.

This weeks KickStarter project is the RigidBot 3D Printer at an affordable price. And that price will be $499 as shown above which is significantly less than the Replicator 2 which they are comparing against. There are a lot of other models which are less than $2,000. But the idea of producing a 3D printer for under $500 has gotten a lot of attention. And that attention has turned into pledges for people for the 3D printer from Invent A Part.

As the video demonstrates, the RigidBot 3D printer will be able to produce plastic items which have been programmed into to it using plastic which is melted just prior to it being placed on the item being built. Layer upon layer is added until the planned item is completed. In this case, it was a chess piece as you can see. Other items can be created as well and this is an excellent example of how technology continues to shrink and become available to us all with the RigidBot 3D printer.

At the moment, the RigidBot 3D printer KickStarter project still has 35 days to go and the original goal of $31,500 has been exceed and they are sitting at $307,739 which shows just how popular the idea of a 3D printer is with people. And this is estimated to arrive in September this year. With all the money they are gathering, this one looks like it is going to be a reality and provide something which will be both educational and functional. Take a look for yourself.

Monkey Tail Kit - Ultimate Tablet Holder

We have seen many different methods for holding your tablet while in use and there are quite a few. Some are average or run of the mill and there is always a few that are special and very unique. That is what we have seen in the Monkey Tail Kit from Octa and it is something unique. Just as the kitten here is in shock at what this small cat is seeing, it is such a simple idea that catches you by surprise. A long tail to support the holding of your favorite tablet for use. And in just about any position as well.

The company is calling this the Monkey Kit in their TabletTail line, but I feel that the Monkey Tail is a far more appropriate name for what this product can do for you. The Monkey Tail has a very long tail and thus the name Monkey Tail. You can wrap the tail around anything or shape it in such a way to hold your tablet up. The Money Tail is stiff and long (36 inches) to provide you with one of the best multipurpose solutions.

The vacuum doc which comes with each TabletTail kit is the magic that makes the Monkey Tail a great product. This vacuum allows you to attach your very own Monkey Tail on your tablet with 5 pushes on the unit to create a seal that will hold your tablet for days. Disconnecting the vacuum is relatively simple by releasing the vacuum seal you created. That is the magic that will let you hold your tablet with the Monkey Tail in just about any position.

The Monkey Tail provides you with hands free use of your tablet and allows you to turn in with their 360 degree rotation. Coming in at 1.49 pounds, the Monkey Tail provides you with what we see as the best solution to hold your tablet hands free to utilize your tablet to the fullest. The claims are that the Monkey Tail works with the iPad and most tablets which are non-porous surfaces. Thus the "most tablets" claim from the company. Watch the video below to see just how easy it is to use the Monkey Tail from Octa and their TabletTail line.

We wrote about the Monkey Tail when it was on KickStarter and it is great to see that they have released the product as estimated. You can pick one up for $99.99 from Octa or from Bite My Apple.

Android Fragmentation - Changing How the Numbers Add Up

Fragmentation has been a much discussed issue over the past few years. And it does not seem to be resolving itself in the most recent information which has been released. Gingerbread is still holding strong at about 39% and given that it was released at the end of 2010, it still has a huge market presence more than 2 years later. One would have thought that it would be tapering off by now, but that is not the case. Ice Cream Sandwich has finally grown close to the 30% mark for its share of the Android market. It was released in October 2011 and one would have thought that it would have grown quickly replacing Gingerbread.

All of this is from the latest report from the Android Developer site where they put out numbers monthly to show the status and distribution of the various versions of Android. As of this latest report, they are now showing Jelly Bean at 25% which is looking extremely good as compared to the slow growth of Ice Cream Sandwich. Jelly Bean was released as the latest Android version in June 2012, so things are positive in working towards getting the version distributed. But is that necessarily true? In the information from the site, there is a note regarding how they are counting things.

Note: Beginning in April, 2013, these charts are now built using data collected from each device when the user visits the Google Play Store. Previously, the data was collected when the device simply checked-in to Google servers. We believe the new data more accurately reflects those users who are most engaged in the Android and Google Play ecosystem.

It seems that the changes in the method of counting has put Jelly Bean in a very favorable light giving them a huge jump from the March Android report. In March, Jelly Bean was sitting at just over 16% and now with the April Android report, they are now at 25%. That is a huge one month increase and can partially be attributed to the change in the way that they are calculating the numbers.

On the surface, they are changing the method of measuring Android OS version to make things more accurate. But the end result is a huge jump in the numbers for Jelly Bean making it look to be highly successful in less than a year. In the end, this may not mean that much for Android Fragmentation. The next months reporting may be the one to compare month over month to see how that one looks as compared to the recent changes in how things are measured.

Cord Cutters Getting More Options With Aereo

The idea of cutting the cord from the providers of TV programming and the bundles they provide has been a topic for discussion for many years. And while there has been some slow process in that direction, the number of people who have actually cut the cord seems to be relatively small as compared to the number of subscribers. We know that subscriptions have remained relatively flat for the past few years for subscription TV and while we all would like to believe the number of cord cutters is rising significantly is not supported by the information. But that may all be changing based on some start ups working to provide what so many people really want, which is lower costs and better selection.

A recent court decision in the Federal Appeals court in New York this week could be further opening the door for getting TV programming for a fraction of what is paid today. The broadcasters were trying to stop a company called Aereo which has been providing TV in a unique way and at radically reduced costs. They started on the East Coast and are moving West, but for those of us in the San Francisco Bay Area, it is going to be a while before we can test out this new service. But when it does arrive, it looks to be of value for many of us.

What they are doing is capturing the over the air broadcasts via very small antennas and storing that information. And they have thousands of these tiny antennas with each one being dedicated to a subscriber. Once you subscribe to their very cheap service, you can watch the shows live or save them for watching later just like the well known DVRs. The concept is very simple and the broadcasters do not like it because it takes away the huge revenue stream from their packaged programming deals they force you to take. This process does simplify things greatly and with a price of $80 once a year (annual plan), you are saving a lot of money with great benefit.

For your subscription, you are getting two antennas. One is used to receive the signal from the airways and the other is used for DVR recording on Aereo's cloud for later broadcasting to the device of your choosing. This model could be something for other providers of TV programming to provide to their customers such Dish or DirectTV to help hold down costs to their customers. The whole idea could potentially be copied by cable companies as well to reduce costs.

All of this is sent to you over the Internet making things very convenient to watch on your mobile devices or a large screen TV. This battle between the broadcasters and Aereo is far from over. There are far more legal battles to be waged, but if they can get a large audience of subscribers, it makes things much harder to stop. We can hope that things continue to be successful for Aereo as we gain another option to receive TV programming instead of paying large sums of money for what we do not watch.

April Fools' Day - More Pranks Than Ever Before

It seems that every April Fools' day, the pranks come in droves and this year is no exception. Exactly when this day of making people look like fools began is a subject of some debate, but it could date back many centuries to a time when making fools of others was a past time. And there are theories for different countries as well. You only have to do some quick searching to find a number of different theories as to when this holiday began. Though it is not really a formal holiday, but one which so many people do observe and enjoy. And this year is no exception.

As you can see by the picture, even IKEA in the UK has posted a folding lawn mower as part of April Fools' day. This all plastic mower will do its best to keep you lawn in shape. The big ones always seem to come from Google and this year, there are 11 hoaxes for us to all enjoy. One of the good ones is YouTube shutting down, though we have heard this one before.

Another fun one is the Google Nose to deliver scents for you to smell. Clicking on the "Try Google Nose" takes you to a search of the work dumpster. They even created a great looking video for Google Nose. Even Google Maps has a "Treasure" button on it today which will display a map showing you the location of a treasure. There are marks everywhere on this map, so take you pick as to where to search for one. All of these provide us with some humor and one wonders how many people got sucked into the items thinking they were real.

Twitter is announcing Twttr today which will be the basic Twitter service. But you will only see "consonants" in the tweets. You can pay $5 per month for the premium service which will include "vowels" in the tweets. Another fun one is the Glass Bottom plane from Virgin Atlantic. This one does not look like it pulled in too many people.

Even the White House got into it with a message from the President, though it is not who you think. This is great that every one has some humor today. Another great one is of George Takei staring in the coming Star Wars Movie. We all remember him as Sulu on the Star Trek series. Guess he has jumped ship to continue staring in SiFi movies. Who is next? Captain Kirk in Star Wars?

There are many more than these few and you do not have to look very far to find them. Simply go to Google search and type in April Fools' and you will get a wealth of information from the web. Though it does make it hard to work on a day like this because you cannot trust what anyone says because it could be an April Fool's prank. Beware.