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…
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…
“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…
“…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…
Apple is looking to further enhance the user experience on its MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops with biometric authentication, allowing users to enable an autofill system on their Safari web browsers based on its Touch ID fingerprint scanning system. Pioneered in Apple’s iPhone devices starting with the iPhone 5S in 2013, the Touch ID…
A newly-published Apple patent suggests that the company may not be finished with fingerprint scanning on the iPhone, with engineers considering how the Touch ID system could be used alongside facial recognition. While the patent is almost entirely focused on Apple’s new Face ID 3D facial recognition system, it also takes a moment to illustrate…
A security expert who claimed to have developed a hacking method for Apple’s Face ID system has cancelled a scheduled talk at the Black Hat Asia conference, an unusual move where such events are concerned. The researcher, Wish Wu, said he cancelled his talk at the behest of his employer, Ant Financial, which said in…
China’s Fuzhou Intermediate People’s Court has granted a request from Qualcomm to halt the sale of several iPhone models in China due to alleged patent violations. The iPhone models affected in the order include the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X – in other…
A newly-surfaced patent application suggests that Apple is trying to extend Siri’s working hours to times when a user’s iPhone is offline. As AppleInsider reports, the patent filing, entitled “OFFLINE PERSONAL ASSISTANT”, describes how Siri queries could be performed on a given device (ie. an iPhone or iPad), rather than automatically outsourced to external servers…
“There are also signs that Apple is seeing more of a return on its Apple Pay mobile payments service…” Apple’s face-scanning new iPhones are a big hit, if its latest quarterly update offers any indication: Revenues are up 20 percent, year-over-year. The figure itself for those quarterly revenues is a stunner: $62.9 billion. And while…
Respected industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is predicting that next year’s iPhones will get an upgraded Face ID system and that future iPad models might also incorporate Time of Flight (or ToF) sensor technology. The predictions come by way of a note to investors in which Kuo explains that the upgraded Face ID system will feature…
“…the device’s biometrics really help it to stand out from the pack, with Huawei combining fingerprint-based security with a 3D facial recognition system…” The cat is out of the bag: The fingerprint sensor of Huawei’s new flagship smartphone is under its display. The new Huawei Mate 20 Pro was officially unveiled in London this week,…
“…newer iPhones are designed to require a passcode after five unsuccessful unlock attempts using Face ID, the facial recognition system that allows iPhone users to unlock their devices just by looking at them.” At least one forensics consultant is advising police to avoid looking at a criminal suspect’s iPhone X, in case they need to…
Bank of America is expanding its use of biometric authentication on mobile apps while making it easier for customer to switch between them with a new ‘App Linking’ feature. The feature takes the form of a simple button within each app, allowing end users to immediately switch between their Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Merrill…
Ever since Apple introduced the world to its Face ID facial recognition system with the launch of its iPhone X last autumn, there have been rumors and speculation that Face ID would quickly become Apple’s primary biometric authentication system, at least on the iPhone. And last week, Apple confirmed those rumors, unveiling three new iPhones,…
In the shadow of last week’s big iPhone announcements, Samsung is trying to churn up the anticipation for its next Samsung Galaxy smartphone, with the company’s mobile head, DJ Koh, asserting that the forthcoming Galaxy S10 will feature “very significant” design changes. The comments were made at a Chinese media event last week, though Koh…
Apple confirmed longstanding speculation last week with its unveiling of its three new iPhone models for 2018. Like last year’s iPhone X, all of the new devices have abandoned Apple’s pioneering Touch ID fingerprint authentication system in favor of Face ID, an infrared, 3D facial recognition system. Face ID is now the sole means of…
“Nothing succeeds like excess,” Oscar Wilde wrote, and it’s a lesson Apple has taken to heart. The company has unveiled its newest iPhones, and one of them is the biggest smartphone (some would say “phablet”) that Apple has ever produced. First things first, though: The standard new iPhone is the iPhone Xs. No one was…
