Vein Vending Machines - Purchasing With The Point Of A Finger

While Japanese banks have been using the technology for a few years, now Hitachi has introduced a vending machine that eschew coins and credit cards for the veins in your fingers. Image Credit: Getty via Gizmodo

Vein Vending Machines - Purchasing With The Point Of A Finger

Hitachi's proprietary biometric authentication system requires that users first register an account (probably linking their vein pattern to a credit card), but it allows one to purchase, say, a delicious can of green tea or icy cold black coffee by inserting a cautious hand into a machine for a quick scan.

Vein ID - How It Works - Image Credit: Hitachi via Symblogogy

Of course, the system exploits your identity a bit in the process, using age and gender information stored in a mass networking database file to display an appropriate video ad while you enjoy your refreshment. But hey, if a public Coke machine light-probing your innards doesn't bother you, why should a quick sales pitch?

Hitachi fingerscan approval vending machines. Image Credit: Mitsutsuka Satoshi for Hitachi

In theory, any retail outlet, hooked up to this network database and a fingerscan device would allow transactions with a proof of an ability to pay. Supermarkets, gas stations, and other common purchasing environments, when combined with technology, would bring about a cashless, cardless buying society.

If this ID through a tip of a finger thing catches on, it will bring about a whole new meaning to the phrase/term Point-Of-Sale.
(ht: Gizmodo)