Securing your Gadgets using Finger Print Reader.

Security is always a main concerns in everything we have from our family and friends to our every material possessions. It is always security, security and more security. Now that more gadgets is being created in marketplace security has become a need for everyone who owns a gadgets, whether it is a laptop, smartphone, tablet, digital camera and anything that we can held in our hands or put inside a bag so that we can carry them. Again i will not focus on the specific application or brands but on the general ideas that come with using security that is not commonly present in gadgets.

The very first gadgets to be seen of using a advanced security system lately is the laptop and it's contemporary; like the net-book or the smaller version of the laptop. The new laptop model especially the high end ones have a new security feature. This security feature is not found at the software level but at the hardware level. New laptop model has been equip with this technology and manufacturer has taken the necessary step to add a finger prints scanner on the laptop. This technology is called Finger Print Reader, pretty nit indeed. Now how does a finger print reader works in laptop?

Image by Josh Bancroft via Flickr

Now if your always  wary that someone is trying to look at the important thing that you keep inside your laptop when you are not looking or just want to keep away annoying people who always uses your laptop when ever you not around. Then this security measures is for you. 

Now how does this work?

Fingerprint recognition or fingerprint authentication refers to the automated method of verifying a match between two human fingerprints. Fingerprints are one of many forms of biometrics used to identify individuals and verify their identity. This article touches on two major classes of algorithms (minutia and pattern) and four sensor designs (optical, ultrasonic, passive capacitance, and active capacitance).

A finger print reader work by storing the finger prints of the authorized user then labeling and encrypting that finger print information. By labeling means that the finger print pattern of the owner is mark and the it is label or set as the authorized finger print of the authorized user or users. This  can also be done for many users like in a corporate setup. After preparing and storing the information the finger print reader is now ready to work. The authorized user only needs to scan his finger the and reader will compare that to the information stored in the database. Once that is correctly match then you as the authorized user will be granted access to the laptop.

Image via Wikipedia

I have seen this things in action and we tried fooling the system but it did not work. The owner of the laptop keep laughing at us because no matter what we do we cannot fool the system. Hacking the system is also next to impossible that why is is very secured.

Image by KhE 龙 via Flickr

A sentence of cautions first, there are two type of finger print reader available. The firs one is already built in in the laptop. While the next is a stand alone system which can be purchase from an electronic store and can be plugin via the USB port of the laptop. When using a separate finger print reader make sure you never lost it because you will never have access to your laptop even if you buy a new one. So i repeat never-ever lost a separate finger print reader or say goodbye to you laptop.

Noe if ever someone mange to get pass these security feature then you still have the good old user password installed in the operating system of your laptop.

Three of the Most Influential Gadgets of All Time Part 2

The next gadget is really very revolutionary gadgets where its impact in our day to day activity is still being felt today and will continue for next generation to come. It all started with the need of mankind getting tired of writing everything he knows so he imagine and design gadgets that would make writing so much easier. Thus the type writer was born out of the imagination and perseverance of the human spirit to make doing things a lot easier.  From then on we have seen the type writer’s development and evolution from its humble beginning. But still information had to be type immediately and printed immediately with the type writer. Man needed something that would make editing document very easy and because editing on a type writer was very tasking, we needed to find a way on how to make editing documents very easy before we need to print the final copy of the documents.

Then came the era of small electronic system, suddenly everything that was vacuum tubes turn very small and we could make electronic system on a very small package. This ushered in the new era of a gadget that would make a very deep impact in our daily lives. Before only large corporation or institution could only use these gadgets because of their size. The early computer like the ENIAC where it size is comparable to a small house. Also it would take several people to operate them. Then an idea was born that would make these computer become house hold name and necessity. They make them small and called it Personal Computer and put all software that would make it very useful indeed. Since then the Personal computer has been developed together with all its application, it has become a must have in every places that has electricity on it a must have.

Image via Wikipedia

Today we could do almost anything to a computer except to take bath or wash our dirty laundry. I mean the computer can function as a type writer while making editing very easy. We could listen to it as we do in radio or watch movie or television on it like a television set. With the help of the internet we use the computer to do only transaction from bank or shop online or locate places all around the world best of all we could use it to communicate with our friends and family from anywhere on planet earth. With the advent of different social networking sites like Facebook.com. The importance and need for computer has never been more defined. With all these things coming to us we thought it would be enough for our needs. I mean we have the computer and its sister the laptop for mobile computing needs.

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

The computer was excellent but we need to add an additional capability on it to make it the best gadget of all time. I mention we made the computer small but we need it to make smaller then we need to put another gadget into it where this gadget is also a very important to us. We use these gadgets in our daily activities to communicate with each other where ever we are on this planet. That gadget is the telephone and its cord less or wireless cousin the mobile phone. By combining these two gadgets the mobile phone and the laptop we now have a champion gadget called the Smartphone. Pretty nit gadgets, by integrating the telephone into the computer we now have an almost complete gadgets. The explosion of Smartphone in our time is very evident first there was Nokia, then came Apple which really redefined how a Smartphone should look and feel like, then a Korean company known for electronics products gave us the another Smartphone called Samsung Galaxy SII which could compete with the Apple I phone 4 series and many other manufacturer have their own version of the Smartphone.

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

The Smartphone could almost do it all except using it as a kitchen sink. By combining all the features of previous gadgets within it we have created a gadget that is more than the sum of its parts. Hmm I wonder where I heard that part. How about you what is your best gadgets of all times?

Three of the Most Influential Gadgets of All Time Part 1.

Back in the early days we were able to send our voice thru the air and hear them thru a very remarkable gadget known as the Radio. With the Radio the news and information can now be heard and delivered a lot faster in your living room. All sort of show was born and a lot of widely popular singer was first marketed or heard thru the radio. 

With the use of the radio, we can now hear song, commentaries, news and some other information that was using the radio at that particular time. Even with the coming of the television the radio was never totally replace but instead it continues to reach people where the television signal cannot reach or the actual gadgets or TV set is still beyond the reach of a buying capability of a person. While the radio is cheap and very light compare to the television which is for a tie is big and bulky.

Image by holdit via Flickr

Image by alexkerhead via Flickr

Then came the world of visual where now the news anchor can be seen in person or the singer of the song as well can be seen not just heard. This is now possible with the development of the Television. At first it was all black and white then the explosion of color came thru our living room with the advent of colored television. Now we two of the most influential gadgets in our time the radio and television. Together hand and hand these two gadgets has become the bearer of information from it live point. The color television usher in a new era of programming for each type of show that can be televise. 

There was the politics national or local, entertainment which covers a lot of area and has one of the most numbers of followers. Then there was the world of sport and all sorts of them was broadcasted or can be seen thru the television. The there is news and information, from weather report to Wall Street. All those type of information was freely being sent directly to us to our living room everyday and every night.

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

We though what could be the next gadgets that would top these two, at first the most influential of them all was develop separately. This gadget was a result of the combination of the two gadgets mention above but also of several other gadgets that we have develop separately and is very useful to us individually. The first of these gadgets was the camera from its early days of black and white picture to using negative to develop the picture to instant picture via the Polaroid camera where we can take the picture and after a few minute here comes the picture no more waiting days, before we could see the result. Then from still camera the moving camera came where with these gadgets we can capture an activity where the gadgets records the whole event not just a single moment of it. Imagine seeing your younger self over and over again playing or doing what you really like back then. The camera was indeed very useful by itself. 

Image via Wikipedia

Image by Arty Smokes (deaf mute) via Flickr

The next device is really very revolutionary gadgets where its impact in our day to day activity is still being felt today and will continue for next generation to come.

How mobile phones can be used for spying

There's no question that mobile phones are truly useful gadgets, but did you know that they can be used for spying with relative ease? Since most modern cameras feature microphones and cameras, they already contain the electronics for pretty sophisticated surveillance, without the need to get any special gadgets or computers involved.

1) Spy phone bugs

Spy phones started appearing in early 2003, which were originally hardware-modified, and then software-modified Nokia 3310 mobile phones (the Nokia 3310 is shown here - looks primitive now doesn't it!?). When I started creating spy phones in 2003, I was doing both hardware and software changes. The changes were designed so that the phone appeared to be switched off, when in fact it was already switched on.

Mobile Phone Spy Camera

When you dialed the phone, it answered itself automatically without lighting up or vibrating, allowing you to hear what was going on around the phone! So basically they were listening devices, but you could call them up from anywhere in the world. Perfect for spying when you were away from the office or home.

2) Spy Cameras with a covert camera

Now we move on a few years to about 2008-2009, and now we have mobile phones that have embedded spy cameras inside them. The phone looks like a normal phone, but it has a pinhole spy camera concealed within the phone that points out from the top. So if the phone was laying naturally on the table, it could record what was going on opposite you. Since most cameras are on the face of the phone, they are not ideally designed for covert recording, as laying flat, they'd only see the table or ceiling.

Initially cameras were just transmitting (like the one pictured), but now you can get cameras that record to an internal memory card. These digital video recorders are much easier to use, and don't require a wireless camera receiver unlike the earlier models.

3) Spy cameras you can access by video call

Now we're on to technology that's been common from about 2010, and got really sophisticated in 2011. We're now seeing spy cameras that work on the 3G mobile phone networks, which you can access by doing a video call with the camera. So these work just like the original spy phones, but now with video.

Air Freshener Spy Camera

The actual camera is usually concealed within a clock, smoke alarm, PIR detector, air freshener, or similar. It features the electronics from a 3G mobile phone, but only activates when you call it from a pre-determined number. So a 3G-based spy camera gives you unlimited distance for spying with video. Very cool, but very scary!

So there you go, perhaps something you didn't know already, but some seriously impressive and powerful spying technology, all using a mobile phone!

This is a Guest Post by Dan Harrison.

Dan Harrison is an expert in spy gadgets, and designed one of the very first spy phones. These days, Dan collects spy equipment, particularly interesting covert spy cameras that have been hidden in everyday objects.