Funky biotech in meeces

Biotech security solutions are most popular in environments where information needs maximum possible protection. Places like the CIA, the FBI, our own intelligence agencies and certain research labs. Mostly, places with large security concerns and

Biotech security solutions are most popular in environments where information needs maximum possible protection. Places like the CIA, the FBI, our own intelligence agencies and certain research labs. Mostly, places with large security concerns and even larger budgets.

For home users, even hardcore ones such as Atomicans, biometrics are somewhat useless. Expensive and at times unreliable, it can seem like overkill to purchase a whole separate piece of hardware, simply to secure your vast pr0n collection from snooping family and friends. However, that could all be about to change thanks to one research boffin at Fujitsu.

Fujitsu researcher Masaki Watanabe came up with a palm-scanner – similar to fingerprint scanners but working across, obviously, a user's entire palm. He then integrated it into your standard mouse to provide easy authentication.

To authenticate users, the mouse first takes a palm-scan of the user holding it. It then compares this against pre-stored palm prints in a remote database. According to this report, testing by Mr Watanabe using a database of over 700 subjects revealed an error rate of just 0.5%.

Currently, the palm-scanning mouse is still firmly entrenched in prototype stage and we're not likely to see commercial applications for at least 6 months.