“For end users, the support means being able to implement greater security when authenticating online.” WebAuthn, the component of the FIDO2 authentication standard that pertains to biometric or security key-based authentication through web browsers, is gaining traction: Apple has enabled support for WebAuthn in its latest Safari Technology Preview for macOS, and Twitter and Coinbase…
As always, there’s a pretty considerable topical range to this week’s assortment of top stories from Mobile ID World, spanning smartphones, wearables, enterprise IT, and even workplace safety. But this week’s batch of our top five articles also entails two clearly discernible trends… One is something we see a lot in the contemporary tech scene:…
Apple has upgraded its flagship MacBook Pro computers, announcing that the new 15-inch Pro will be the first MacBook with an 8-core Intel processor. The 8-core notebook will be twice as fast as the previous generation quad-core notebook, giving the laptops more utility as enterprise-level coding and rendering machines. “Whether it’s college students mastering a…
“It’s a bold idea, but not completely unheard-of. Startups like Montreal-based OMsignal have long been experimenting with biometric wearables like the OMbra biometric sports bra, which is equipped with heart rate and respiratory sensors.” A newly published Apple patent points to some of the wilder ideas that the company’s engineers sometimes explore. This one concerns…
“It would be a surprising move for Apple after the company dropped fingerprint scanning in its pivot to 3D facial recognition, but Apple has gestured in this direction in recent patents…” Analysts with Barclays have laid out some predictions for Apple’s 2019 and 2020 iPhones, and they include a potential comeback for Touch ID. The…
US-based engineering firm II-VI is reassuring investors that its acquisition of Finisar should proceed as planned despite the US government’s placement of Huawei on its trade blacklist. The acquisition was approved by shareholders of both companies earlier this year, paving the way for a merger that could significantly extend the applications of Finisar’s 3D Sensing…
The Apple Pay network continues to expand. The tech giant has announced that its biometrically secured mobile wallet platform is now available in Iceland, launching with support from the Icelandic banks Arion Banki and Landsbankinn. More banks are expected to add support for the platform in the not-too-distant future. To use Apple Pay, Arion Banki…
A newly published Apple patent application suggests that an unexpected biometric modality could be on its way to Mac computers. The patent application was originally filed with the European Patent Office in 2017, and, as Patently Apple reports, expands the number of features that could potentially be delivered through the Mac Touch Bar from 12…
Apple has filed a patent for a new form of biometric authentication that could be deployed in a future version of the Apple Watch. Originally filed in Q3 2018, the new invention is a light field camera capable of sub-epidermal imaging. The camera would be placed on the underside of the Apple Watch, where it…
“The ECG data from the Health app can be shared as a PDF with physicians, potentially enabling diagnosis and treatment for conditions that otherwise might have gone undetected.” The Apple Watch’s electrocardiogram capability is now being rolled out in Europe and Hong Kong through a new software update. First unveiled along with Apple’s latest iPhones…
A co-founder of MoviePass is looking to leverage Apple’s Face ID system for a new movie ticket platform, according to Adweek. The aim is to force members to watch ads in exchange for movie tickets, and the company is hoping that early adopters will pay for the privilege through a Kickstarter campaign. Whereas the idea…
“A titanium physical card will also be available for shopping in stores, but the card won’t feature a card number, CVV, signature, or even an expiry date – all of that information will need to be accessed from the iPhone.” The rumors were true: Among its other announcements this week, Apple has unveiled a new…
“Alcatraz AI has indicated that it will use its new capital to further refine its computer vision technology…” Alcatraz AI, a biometric AI startup founded by a former Apple engineer, has brought in $6 million in venture capital through a new funding round. The company specializes in 3D facial recognition for access control. It was…
The legal debate over whether police can compel criminal suspects to unlock their smartphones with biometrics has reached its highest profile yet, with the news that FBI investigators sought permission to use Michael Cohen’s fingerprints or face to unlock his iPhone. Cohen has been near the center of the ongoing investigation into possible campaign violations…
Newly published patent applications from Apple suggest that the company is still working on improvements to the renowned 3D facial recognition system used to authenticate users on its latest iPhones. As Patently Apple reports, one of the patents concerns the use of ‘subepidermal imaging’ to assess features such as blood vessels to establish an even…
Apple’s biometrically secured digital payments platform continues to attract new users, according to a new analysis from Loup Ventures. The venture capital firm had estimated in August of last year that Apple Pay had attained 31 percent of active iPhone users; now, after assessing data points from Apple’s December 18th earnings call, the firm says…
A pair of recently published Apple patents suggests that the tech company is looking for ways to make self-driving cars safer and more secure. The first of the two patents is particularly intriguing in relation to Project Titan, Apple’s foray into self-driving vehicles. Filed as “Wireless vehicle system for enhancing situational awareness,” the proposed device…
LG is taking a run at Apple’s 3D facial recognition dominance, with plans to introduce a similar solution in its forthcoming LG G8 ThinQ smartphone, to be unveiled at this year’s Mobile World Congress. The smartphone will leverage Time-of-Flight technology developed by Infineon and Pmdtechnologies. Their sensor chip, first announced over a year ago, is…
“…they’ve not only delivered support for fingerprint authentication via the Touch ID system built into older iPhones, but have also delivered a facial recognition option based on the Face ID system used for authentication in Apple’s latest iPhone models.” WhatsApp users can now take advantage of the biometric security capabilities of the iPhone, thanks to…
