Security

Bicycle lights may not exactly be a problem that needs solving, but the following can admittedly be said about most of them – they’re easily stolen if left on an unattended bike, people who start riding at dusk can forget to turn them on, and those same people can forget to turn them off when they reach their destination. Well, the makers of the Blink/Steady Bike Light have set out to address all of those shortcomings.  Read More

Well, we really should have seen this one coming. The humble door lock key, which has been around in one form or another for literally thousands of years, may be getting replaced by an app ... or more specifically, by an app that works with a dedicated lock. It’s called the UniKey system, and it has some features that are actually kind of clever.  Read More

Nobody likes having to carry around a keychain full of keys, or – worse yet – arriving somewhere only to discover that they haven’t brought the key they need. The BOLT system offers an alternative. It allows you to open multiple padlocks, all using your vehicle’s ignition key.  Read More

Since creating the first contact-free palm vein authentication sensor in 2003, Fujitsu's biometric security solution has been getting smaller and smaller. Now, the company has developed a new system that's half the thickness of current offerings yet retains the same performance and accuracy levels as the latest commercially-available PalmSecure designs. The Japanese tech giant is claiming the title of the world's smallest and slimmest palm vein authentication sensor for its new creation and says that it will likely be headed for use in mobile products such as tablet computers, although there's currently no indication as to when that might be.  Read More

Just days after launching its own cloud storage service, LG has announced the "P Series," a new line of cloud monitors aimed at company networks. Besides the monitor itself, its "zero client" work stations need only a LAN cable (which doubles as power supply), a keyboard and a mouse to work properly, cutting down dramatically on costs and allowing companies to ditch desktop and laptop computers altogether.  Read More

As modern-day piracy continues to be a real threat to ships in some parts of the world, people are likewise continually coming up with new ways of projecting crews and passengers against attacks. While some anti-piracy systems have utilized things such as sound waves and lasers, a new one uses something that is decidedly lower tech – flailing water hoses.  Read More

Biometric technology has been boosting the security of a greater array of electronic devices in recent years, including homes, businesses, schools and even wallets. The technology has also made its way into ATMs as a way to beat card skimmers, but these machines still require customers to insert a card. Now a Japanese bank has announced that it will introduce ATMs that allow customers to carry out transactions with a scan of their palm.  Read More

Most bicycle couriers and hardcore urbanites will tell you – if you’re going to be leaving your bike locked up in a public place, ride something cheap and crappy that thieves won’t be interested in. The problem is, many bicycle commuters are very “into” bikes, and thus own fancy machines that they don’t want to leave at home five days a week. While there are a number of locking systems that might or might not keep these peoples’ bikes from being stolen, enterprising thieves armed with nothing more than a set of hex wrenches can still remove some of the more valuable components from those bikes. The new infiniti3D system, however, is designed to stop such parts-pilfering thieves in their tracks.  Read More

Japan’s Hitachi Kokusai Electric has developed a surveillance system that can automatically detect a face in either a provided photo or video footage, then search for that same face in other video provided by networked cameras. While such facial recognition systems have been seen before, this one is able to compare the target face against others at an astounding rate of 36 million faces per second.  Read More