Veins prove handy for biometrics

Fujitsu will start selling a biometric security device next month that relies on vein patterns in the hand to verify a user`s identity, reports Computerworld.

The company`s palm-vein recognition system has already achieved success in Japan, where the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi has installed the system on its ATMs as a higher-security alternative to personal identification numbers.

The palm-vein detector matches an image from the palm of a user`s hand against a database as a means of verification. The system takes into account identifying features such as the number of veins, their position and the points at which they cross.

Fujitsu says the system offers a higher level of security than competing technologies, including voice-print, facial recognition, fingerprint recognition and iris scanning.

Google has launched its third new search tool to be brought online this year. The Google Earth satellite imagery-based mapping product combines 3D buildings and terrain with mapping capability and Google search.

Google Earth is designed to enable users to move from space to street level views to find geographic information and explore places around the world, reports Axcessnews.

Designers say Google Earth uses broadband streaming technology and 3D graphics to enable users to explore the world interactively.

Features include 3D views of buildings in major cities in the US as well as 3D views of terrain showing mountains, valleys and canyons around the world.

With the announcement of the first major Cell applications effort, TechNewsWorld says the next-generation computer chip is no longer just about fun and games.

Jointly developed by IBM, Sony and Toshiba, the Cell processor represents an entirely new, highly parallel processing system. The chip is best known as the processing engine of the next-generation PlayStation 3 gaming console from Sony. However, IBM has indicated there are many scientific and other high-level computing applications possible for the processor.

Mercury Computer Systems, a Massachusetts-based maker of high-performance embedded, real-time digital signal and image processing systems, says it will integrate Cell into a variety of future products that will include radar, sonar, MRI, CT and digital X-ray applications.

Cell will enable systems to process higher volumes of data in medical imaging, industrial inspection, aerospace and defence, seismic processing and telecommunications.

BT Group plans to use Microsoft technology to deliver video on demand over broadband in the UK, reports ZDNet.

BT says the company plans to use Microsoft`s TV Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Edition to offer the subscription service. BT will also offer over-the-air Freeview broadcasts, but has no plans to go into broadband TV broadcasting because of the logistics involved.

BT will trial its Microsoft-based service early next year, with a commercial launch expected later in the year.