X

PalmSecure turns your blood flow into key for your laptop

Biometric authentication technology is now small enough for laptops and other devices.

Eric Mack Contributing Editor
Eric Mack has been a CNET contributor since 2011. Eric and his family live 100% energy and water independent on his off-grid compound in the New Mexico desert. Eric uses his passion for writing about energy, renewables, science and climate to bring educational content to life on topics around the solar panel and deregulated energy industries. Eric helps consumers by demystifying solar, battery, renewable energy, energy choice concepts, and also reviews solar installers. Previously, Eric covered space, science, climate change and all things futuristic. His encrypted email for tips is ericcmack@protonmail.com.
Expertise Solar, solar storage, space, science, climate change, deregulated energy, DIY solar panels, DIY off-grid life projects. CNET's "Living off the Grid" series. https://www.cnet.com/feature/home/energy-and-utilities/living-off-the-grid/ Credentials
  • Finalist for the Nesta Tipping Point prize and a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
See full bio
Eric Mack
PalmSecure is like the home version of a trip through airport security. Eric Mack / CNET

LAS VEGAS--Long before "face unlock" on Android 4.0, Fujitsu developed an even more intimate method for secure user identification--your blood flow.

PalmSecure is a technology that's actually been around for a few years now in Japan, and in a number of business applications ranging from health care to banking, but not seen so much in consumer electronics in the U.S. It uses a biometric authentication system that reads your palm vein pattern. Fujitsu reps here at CES tell me it works only on veins with an active blood flow, so put away your "Mission: Impossible" 3D printers and molds--this tech requires the real thing.

The palm-scanning technology has already been seen built in to mice and full-size keyboards, but Fujitsu says the tech has now shrunk to the point where it can easily be integrated into laptops and other devices.

Laptops with PalmSecure are now available in Japan, and the company is currently "looking at" North America. I won't hold my breath, although if I did, it would make my veins even easier to read.