Wire Connected

Whenever you use a fan most of the energy it consumes is wasted airing areas that don’t really need it. Alex Tyack has designed a concept fan that is portable, runs on solar energy and also ensures that you don’t waste any energy by aerating your furniture. The fan comes with a circular air outlet that the user can position at the exact area where air is needed, which can be your face or even a freshly printed design.

The fan is designed with an “Eco-Warning system” that alerts the user when the charge in the fan’s batteries is about to finish. The fan can also be connected to the mains for better performance or to use the fan’s built-in heating system.

American Reliance (AMREL), a developer of biometric systems, has announced they will be demonstrating their new biometric handheld at the 2009 Annual Biometrics and Forensics Summit in California. The device is aptly named the Handheld Biometric System 2 (HBS2) and touts the same level of ruggedness as its competitors but at a fraction of the weight as the HBS2 only weighs two pounds.

The HBS2 is capable of real-time matching of face, fingerprint, and iris patterns as well as recording latent fingerprint and forensic debris with a 1000 dpi camera. The device has many other facets that were designed specifically with military use in mind as they were the direct results of needs reported from military personnel that were not being met by currently available handheld biometric devices.

Zvetco Biometrics, a developer of biometric technology, has announced the release of their new USB finger print reader called the Verifi P6000 USB Fingerprint Reader. As an upgrade to its P5000 predecessors, the P6000 has increased gray-scale detail and contrast. Additionally, the P6000 utilizes the TouchChip TCS1 Fingerprint Sensor from biometric developer UPEK.

Zvetco’s Verifi P6000 is expected to be targeted at government agencies for computer-based logical access control. In addition to it’s upgraded imaging capabilities, the reader is compatible out of the box with BioCert, BioScrypt, ActivIdentity and multiple other applications that support UPEK’s sensors.

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster is threatening to file criminal charges against Craigslist if they don’t remove the “erotic services” section from the S.C. section.

McMaster said in a letter to Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster that the section is used as vehicle to advertise and solicit prostitution.  He also accused the service of not following though on the commitments it made to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and 43 AGs around the country back in November.  At the time Craigslist agreed to improve measures to prevent its service from being misused.  It began requiring advertisers to provide a valid phone number and pay for ads in the erotic services section with a credit card.  It also said it would donate all revenues gained from that section to charity.

Craigslist responded to McMaster in a blog post:

We look forward to speaking directly with Attorney General McMaster about his concerns, and finding ways to address them without compromising the utility of craigslist for South Carolinians, or anyone’s Constitutional rights.  However, we see no legal basis whatsoever for filing a lawsuit against craigslist or its principals and hope that the Attorney General will realize this upon further reflection.

This is not the first time the erotic services section has come under fire.  The service recently met with AGs from Missouri, Connecticut, and Illinois who all want the section removed in their states as well, and last month a Boston University student was arrested and charged with murdering a woman he arranged to meet through the erotic services section.  He’s also accused of kidnapping and beating two other woman he met through the site. 

It looks like Craigslist is in hot water.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they found themselves handed a lawsuit by the family of the woman who was murdered.  Despite their repeated claims that removing the section would violate Constitutional rights, it’s clear something needs to be done to make the service safer and more accountable if it is going to continue.  It’s not as if they are the only ones offering such a section though.  Pick up any weekly paper like the Phoenix or Village Voice and you’ll find a similar section.  However it appears the online nature of Craigslist seems to make it more attractive-and as we’ve seen, deadly.

Gemalto announced it is delivering 900,000 of its Sealys Laser-Secured electronic identification cards to the Ministry of Interior of Lithuania.

The card features contactless technology, which stores a fingerprint biometrics, for identity verification at border crossings. It also embeds a contact microprocessor that contains a certificate for online identification and a certificate for electronically signing official documents such as contracts and declarations.
 Gemalto delivers the cards to its local partner Lodvila, a security printing company in Lithuania and prime contractor on the project.

The Gemalto e-ID card is made of polycarbonate, with all personal data laser-engraved in the card. The national ID card is mandatory for all citizens above 16 and also serves as a travel document in all European Union countries. National rollout started on January 5.


Lithuania determined to deploy this national ID card in order to allow citizens to travel freely between EU member states, as well as to benefit from national and European e-government services. With this e-ID card, Lithuania has taken the first step towards the implementation of the European Citizen Card standard.



Gemalto is involved with numerous e-ID programs, including Bahrain, Belgium, Finland, Oman, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and UAE.

Alaskan state senator, Bill Wielechowski, has introduced a bill to the state congress that intends to protect Alaskan citizens from having their biometric information collected or used without their knowing and consent, according to a KTVA 11 article. The bill is intended as an update to previously passed legislation that outlawed the collection of a citizen’s biometric information without their consent.

The congressman’s hope is that the bill will assuage fears over the misuse of biometric information such as potential employers using DNA samples to determine one’s tendency towards certain ailments or the tracking of citizen’s via facial recognition and video surveillance. As biometric technology and its adoption continues to grow, governments continue to try to establish laws and standards to keep misuse at a minimum and security of the data at a premium.

Aviva is rolling out an online trading platform and a new web site for brokers, in a move intended to improve document management and access to product information.

The new web site offers a simpler way for brokers to access product information and manage claims online. Other new features include the option to customise the web site to brokers’ needs and improved quote facilities, cover and documentation.

The new trading platform, dubbed FastTrade, offers an online quote-and-buy facility for small business insurance. It aims to offer a simpler end-to-end process with instant documentation for six small business packages – including a new one for small commercial property owners.

"We have listened to what our brokers say is important to them and as a result have created a site that is not only easy to use but also gives the broker more control over what they see,” said director of business development at Aviva, John Kennedy.

Both web site and trading platform will be launched ahead of Norwich Union's name change on 1 June. The new systems replace Norwich Union’s previous broker web site and commercial e-services system, respectively.

The Ennova Direct Corporation, a developer of new consumer technologies, has announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted them a patent for their retractable USB flash drive with fingerprint scanner and OLED interface screen. The OLED screen on the device houses the scanner, alerts a user whether or not their print was accepted as well as enabling users to perform basic functions such as selecting files.

Ennova has been awarded a number of patents for USB devices in the past including other retractable flash drives containing secondary technologies. The new biometric flash drive is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2010 under their ION Technologies brand. 

South Korea’s Suprema Inc., a provider of fingerprint recognition and identity management solutions, has announced the certification of its RealScan-10 print scanner by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The FBI certification signifies that the device is in full compliance with Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) Image Quality Specification (IQS) Appendix F standards. Meeting these standards is mandatory for a scanning system to be purchased by the FBI and other government agencies, both in the U.S. and many other countries.

Suprema’s RealScan-10 is a compact-sized, portable ten-print live scanner. It is designed to perform high-speed image capturing for single finger flats, rolls and four-finger slaps; it then transfer image data to PC via a high speed USB2.0 connection.

Suprema is the first Asian firm to meet the FBI IQS Appendix F standards for ten-print live-scanning technology.

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