Fingerprint Scanning by Upek: Inexpensive, but Not Quite Easy
Biometrics was a buzzword for a while, leading many to envision a secure future where your fingerprint (or retinal pattern or voice) would serve as a password replacement, negating the need for sticky notes and insecure passwords like “password”.
The future has arrived in a way, and like many times when it actually comes, it’s simultaneously pretty cool… and a bit of a letdown. Upek’s Eikon Digital Privacy Managers bring fingerprint scanning to the masses, with Firefox and Mac support, simple and sturdy design, and an extremely low price (under $50). They also highlight reasons why the technology won’t soon be replacing passwords.
We tested both the To Go version, which looks just like a USB memory stick, and the “not to go” version which offers a solid base and better indicators for where to place your finger. We’ll get back to that in a moment. Both versions offer software support for Vista, XP, and Mac OSX Leopard, and are similar in most other respects. The “To Go” version is light and easy to use, immediately being recognized and also offering a nice protective slide over the scanning area. The “not to go” version has a slightly-too-short cable, but is quite attractive with blue LED lighting and a modern steel/grey look. Both models use a “slide” scanning technique, as opposed to some other scanners where you press your finger down and hold. This has benefits- no real need to clean the scanning surface- but also is harder to use.
Which brings us to the crux of the issue- the extreme difficulty of getting the devices to work correctly. They are, simply put, finicky. They require precision, and our fingers and desks didn’t co-operate. Simply changing the angle of the scan makes a great difference, as does the starting position of your finger, and the speed of swiping. Consistency is important, and the indicator labels on the larger version help quite a bit. It can take quite a bit of work to figure out the right process, and for those with sweaty or damp fingers it simply will not work well no matter what.
There are some cute additions- the ability to start programs by swiping a particular finger which works pretty well, protection of a file vault- though not all features are available to Mac users. The price is definitely right for those who have always wanted to have their fingerprints work as their keys. We just hope the technology continues improving. Available online.
