VIVA, Las Vegas! – It’s A Whole New (blog) World!

Image Credit: infohostels.com

VIVA, Las Vegas! – It’s A Whole New (blog) World!

From LA, it’s just a short four hour drive across the desert with the “FM 98&99 - The Highway Stations" filling in on the background while we, at Symblogogy press across the winding road to Las Vegas. Starting Wednesday, and continuing through to Friday, a “First Ever” tradeshow catering to individuals and businesses that tie at least some of their efforts to the process of communication and commerce through the computer and the internet.

Featured exhibiting enterprises include weblog advertising agencies, news source aggregators, web-metrics analysis companies, digital to analog (and back) publishers, broadcasting/podcasting audio and video enterprises, search engine and front page information tools businesses, virus security protection companies, investment opportunity enterprises, special interest blog communities, communications associations, application software developers, employment agencies, transportation companies, and website development entrepreneurs.

Beginning Wednesday, a one day conference entitled Executive & Entrepreneur Conference – followed Thursday and Friday by blogworld & New Media EXPO will highlight all that the this brave new digital communications world has to offer.

The Executive & Entrepreneur Conference will host sessions that will explore subjects from “The Importance of Blogging & New Media In Your Organization/Strategic Marketing” to Search Engine Optimization: Best Practices, and includes “Going Global with New Media”.

blogworld& New Media EXPO conference continue with two more days of sessions on “Citizen Journalism & Mainstream Media” to “Smart Ways To Monetize Your Blog”, and includes “The Cult of Blogging” featuring radio talk show host, Hugh Hewitt and Blog Entrepreneur, Arianna Huffington.

On the exposition floor, recognizabe WWW. names such as YAHOO!, Microsoft, AOL, Pajamas Media, CAMPAIGNS & ELECTIONS, CLIQ, GodblogCon 2007, ibnma (International Blogging & New Media Association), Kithbridge, podango, PRWeb, SharedBook, SOUTHWEST Airlines, sphere, Technorati, and Townhall to mention a few will all be trying to capture the attention of and create a greater sense of community with - The Blogger.

Surrounding activities include a private pre-release movie premiere of Grace Hill Media’s “Kite Runner” with a question and answer session with the star of the movie moderated by respected movie critic and radio talk show host, Michael Medved.

This from Grace Hill Media -

Image Credit: ecj via Grace Hill Media

And a major sponsor pajama party at “The Joint” at the Hard Rock Hotel!

This from Pajamas Media -

What Happens at Blog World Stays at Blog World
Posted At Pajamas Media 11-07-2007

On Thursday and Friday, bloggers and blog readers will assemble at the Las Vegas Convention Center for the first annual Blog World Expo. In addition to the non-stop panels, a “Pajama Party” will be held Thursday night at the Hard Rock Hotel. Among the Pajamahadeen on hand: Glenn Reynolds, Roger L. Simon, Rick Moran, Stephen Green, Ed Driscoll and Aaron Hanscom.

Read more about the festivities, prizes, and (yes) showgirls…

TRUEVIEW EVENTS - Murder Mystery days, Murder Mystery dinners, Murder Mystery teambuilding events. Film Making days, Advert making days, Treasure Hunts, and many more teambuilding activities. Image Credit: Trueview Events in association with Pajamas Media

It’s Vegas, after all, and when in Rome…

Showgirls wearing Pajamas Media sashes. At the Pajamas Media booth, comic Evan Sayet will be holding forth as the “White House Press Secretary” twice a day. Visitors to the booth get a free Pajamas Media sleep mask. And those who are bold enough to hold their own Press Conference have a chance to win an iPod!
Reference Here>>

The point of all of this is to allow the people who participate in this relatively new pursuit of weblog-ing and associated world wide web activity to come together as a community and share in this like minded effort to mix/mingle and communicate. It's kind'a like a "Woodstock for Wordsmiths" ...

blogworld expo

SharedBook Offers Recipes For Tactile Communication

“Create-A-Cookbook” hardcover examples from Allrecipes.com using SharedBook’ reverse publishing platform. SharedBook Inc. is a technology company that specializes in integrating and publishing data from various sources into a structured book product that can sit as a flipbook on the Internet or be professionally printed. Image Credit: Compilation Of Images From SharedBook Inc. - ecj

SharedBook Offers Recipes For Tactile Communication

At Symblogogy, we are always on the lookout for tools that automate our lives, both personally and professionally.

New Media participants have always had a problem in trying to translate captured digital data to the tactile world. How does one create something that is truly tangible in a digital, bits and bytes universe?

Business and social enterprises, like Resorts, Funeral Homes, Alumni Associations, Weblogs, and etc., that cater to Audience-Of-One strategies for the capture and presentation of this digital information now have an ally in the ability to preserve and deliver published evidence of one's digital experience.

Two-page screenshot of a display showing an actual blog post from MAXINE for October 30, 2007 (click image for full size)- Content owners on Google's Blogger platform and their readers can now use the Blog2Print widget to turn posts into a printed book with a single click. Additional compatibility with other platforms and edit/format capabilities will become available throughout this next year. Image Credit: SharedBook inc. - ecj

Blog2Print allows any weblog activity to be turned into a book to be shared with others for any purpose. These books can be published in either hardcover or soft-cover and in any quantity desired. The purpose is the purpose one chooses.

For example, let’s say that one is a creative, New Media-savvy Real Estate Agent and the Agent augments the sales activity for each property with a weblog highlighting unique characteristics of the property that is being marketed. In addition to being able to direct prospective buyers to information specifically about the property, the Agent can have the weblog converted to a hardcover book for use as a reference at the house when showing potential buyers. Once the property enters into escrow, the Agent can hand the new owner a book that they can refer to while waiting for escrow to close.

On a purely personal level, first time parents are turning to the web to help them cope with the demands of disseminating information on the new Charge. Digital is nice, in that one can instantly grab a photo, and post a story, whereby the whole family can share in the developments of the growth experiences of the baby.

So, how does the Baby Boomer generation grandparent share the excitement of the new addition to others in their life’s circle? Carry around 8.5”X11” sheets of paper with inkjet streaks caused because it might have been raining the last time the photos were pulled out to show others?

Blog2Print widget - once Blog2Print has been added to your blog (link on widget), you'll make money each time a book of your blog is purchased! You'll receive 20% of the sales of the books sold from your blog. Caption & Image Credit: SharedBook Inc.

Solution - just press the SharedBook Blog2Print widget placed at the Charge’s weblog to create and order a hard or soft cover bound publication of what had been posted that month. No more worries on what to do and how to go about the difficult task of moving back to the tactile “analog” world from our shared digital experience.

Just in time for this holiday season … and beyond, SharedBook and Allrecipes.com join forces to cook up and deliver digital documentation of recipes back to a useful, tactile and shared medium – The Book.

SharedBook Logo – Image Credit: SharedBook Inc.

This excerpted from a press release issued by SharedBook Inc. –

SHAREDBOOK AND ALLRECIPES.COM PARTNER TO OFFER SELF-PUBLISHED COOKBOOKS FROM ONLINE CONTENT

Just in Time for the Holidays: Home Cooks Can Now Automatically Publish Collections of their Favorite Recipes in Professionally-Printed Cookbooks

NEW YORK – November 5, 2007 – SharedBook Inc., the Reverse Publishing Platform provider, and Allrecipes.com, the world’s largest online community food site, today introduced Create-A-Cookbook – a Web application allowing home cooks to self-publish professionally-printed hard- or softcover cookbooks from their favorite online and personal recipes. Beginning today, Allrecipes.com members can choose from more than 40,000 recipes to include in their personalized cookbooks, and then add their own recipes, notes, stories, and photographs.
----
Create-A-Cookbook is an easy, one-click way to compile recipes in a book format that can be used and moved anywhere for easy access. With Create-A-Cookbook, users can also preserve treasured family recipes in the self-published on-demand cookbook, as well as share their favorite recipes with family and friends. Themed cookbooks can also be created for events such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, and for single subjects like soups or Italian food.

“For many of us, recipes and special foods are closely connected with cherished family memories, especially during the holiday season,” said Lisa Sharples, President, Allrecipes.com. “Create-A-Cookbook is a unique way for our members to preserve their favorite recipes along with the stories and photographs that make them special.”

Now, with just a few clicks using SharedBook’s Reverse Publishing Platform, Allrecipes.com members can automatically flow recipes and photographs from their online Recipe Boxes into a structured cookbook that can be published in hard or softcover format. They can then choose to preview and purchase the cookbook immediately or to personalize it further. Members can edit the content, upload additional information and photographs for the covers and the inside pages, and order as many or as few cookbooks as they want.

Allrecipes.com members can also invite family and friends into their personal cookbook publishing space to contribute their comments and photos.
----
For anyone hesitant to share closely-guarded recipes online, the personal cookbook publishing space provides a secure environment where home cooks can display their recipes only to those they invite.
----
For more information, please go to www.allrecipes.com.

About SharedBook

SharedBook Inc. is a technology company that specializes in integrating and publishing data from various sources into a structured book product that can sit as a flipbook on the Internet or be professionally printed. The company’s collaborative on-demand Reverse Publishing Platform allows users to extract data and content from multiple sources, manipulate it, and then distribute their unique creation in digital or hard copy format. SharedBook partners include AYSO® Soccer, Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Canyons Resort, CarePages, Inc. (a division of Revolution Health Group), Cruise West Cruise Lines, Exposures, 4-H, JumpTV Sports, Legacy.com, Little League International®, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Sportography, Inc., Steamboat Ski Resort, 30 Minute Photos Etc., USA Football, YAVarsity.com, and Yosemite. For more information, please go to www.sharedbook.com or http://blog.sharedbook.com.

About Allrecipes.com

Allrecipes.com, the world’s largest independent food site, is an online cooking community where home cooks from around the world share, rate and download recipes and meal ideas. With more than 5.5 million unique visitors a month and a membership base more than a million strong, Allrecipes.com is the world’s largest test kitchen, offering a nightly glimpse into the kitchens and habits of home cooks everywhere, and providing an indispensable resource for anyone seeking trusted recipes, everyday and holiday meal ideas, practical cooking tips and food advice. The site features more than 40,000 of America’s best-loved recipes. For additional information regarding Allrecipes.com, please visit www.allrecipes.com.
Reference Here>>


Drop by and see SharedBook and its publishing solutions for the digital age in Las Vegas at the BlogWorld & New Media EXPO - Booth #201 at the Las Vegas Convention Center - November 8-9, 2007.

Picture This! Password Technology To Draw Upon

This Triangle Scheme example [Figure 12 – Sobrado and Birget 2002] of a pass-go “Graphical Password” process as delivered in a thesis submitted by Hai Tao, University of Ottawa, June 2006 - Ottawa, Canada -- Image Credit: Pass-Go, a New Graphical Password Scheme – Hai Tao Thesis

Picture This! Password Technology To Draw Upon

A new layer to the security to mobility devices comes to us, not in the form of words at all, but through drawing something on a picture.

Scientists discovered that a drawn graphical sequence that uses a photo as a backdrop for reference points is an extremely effective way to secure the use of a mobility device to a specific user.

The user turns on the handheld computer or PDA/Phone and the display opens up with a photo picture image. If this PDA is not yours, one thinks … Nice picture!

The user/owner takes out the stylus and draws an overlay graphic in the same way the user/owner registered himself/herself upon the photo picture image and … Presto! … Device enabled.

One of the major advantages the scientists found through this type of “Graphical Password” process is that the entry was easier to remember for the user/owner with a thousand times greater breech protection posed from outside threats to unwanted entry.

Researchers at Newcastle University had concerns about this common need of passwords and security, and came up with innovative Graphical Passwords system, an innovative software which allows the users to access a handheld device by simply draw a picture/graphic overlayed on a picture visable on your smartphones, iPhones or PDA’s touchscreen. Image Credit: My Digital Life

This excerpted from Newcastle University in the UK -

Scientists draw on new technology to improve password protection
Published at the Association for Computing Machinery Conference on Computer and Communications Security in Washington on 30th October

An inventive way of improving password security for handheld devices such as iPhones, Blackberry and Smartphone has been developed at Newcastle University.

The software, which uses pictures instead of letters and numbers, has been initially designed for handheld devices, but could soon be expanded to other areas.
----
Researchers now want to examine the system’s potential for helping people with language difficulties, such as dyslexia.

Today, the use of passwords is commonplace in everything from mobile phones to cash machines and computers. But in the wake of growing concerns about traditional ‘weak’ passwords created from words and numbers, Newcastle University computer scientists have been developing alternative software which lets the user draw a picture password, known as a ‘graphical password’.

“Many people find it difficult to remember a password so choose words that are easy to remember and therefore more susceptible to hackers,” explained computer scientist Jeff Yan, a lecturer at Newcastle University.

Along with his PhD student Paul Dunphy, Dr Yan has taken the emerging Draw a Secret (DAS) technology, a graphical password scheme where users draw their secret password as a free-form image on a grid, and taken this a step further.

In DAS, the user draws an image, which is then encoded as an ordered sequence of cells. The software recalls the strokes, along with the number of times the pen is lifted.

By superimposing a background over the blank DAS grid, the Newcastle University researchers have created a system called BDAS: Background Draw a Secret. This helps users remember where they began the drawing they are using as a password and also leads to graphical passwords that are less predictable, longer and more complex.

The BDAS software encouraged people to draw more complicated password images e.g. with a larger stroke count or length, that were less symmetrical and didn’t start in the centre. This makes them much harder for people or automated hacker programs to guess. 'In essence, this is a very simple idea as it’s intuitive,” said Mr Yan. 'It may take longer to create the password initially but it’s easier to remember and more secure as a result.'

For example, if a person chooses a flower background and then draws a butterfly as their secret password image onto it, they have to remember where they began on the grid and the order of their pen strokes. It is recognised as identical if the encoding is the same, not the drawing itself, which allows for some margin of error as the drawing does not have to be re-created exactly.
----
After creating their secret password images on the grid, they [testers] were asked to repeat what they had initially drawn. One week later, they were asked to re-create the same image and 95% BDAS users were able to do so within three attempts.

'The recalled BDAS passwords were, on average, more complicated than their DAS counterparts by more than 10 bits,' said Dr Yan. 'This means that the memorable BDAS passwords improved security by a factor of more than 1024. They were also more secure than current textual passwords by an even larger factor.'

He added that, of those who attempted to draw something, the creations were very much dependent on the participants’ artistic ability
----
Dr. Yan with PDA/Smartphone -- Image Credit: Newcastle University

'The most exciting feature is that a simple enhancement simultaneously provides significantly enhanced usability and security,' concluded Mr Yan.

The full paper: Do Background Images Improve “Draw a Secret” Graphical Passwords?, will be published at the Association for Computing Machinery Conference on Computer and Communications Security in Washington on 30th October.
Reference Here>>

You know, that if this process really catches on, it will give a whole new meaning to the expression ... "Graphical User Interface"!

ScanBuy’s ScanLife, PWC ... With A Bullet!

Billboard will print (along side of their advertising) ScanLife “Barcodes” that will display to the user’s cellphone screen the current Billboard Top 100 List! Image Credit: ScanBuy

ScanBuy’s ScanLife, PWC ... With A Bullet!

After years of successful implementation throughout the world, U.S. cellphone service carriers begin a pilot to test the viability of symbology driven cameraphone consumer applications.

ScanBuy, the developer of two-dimensional “Barcodes” for use as a way to automate camera equipped cellphones to be directed to and display information from cell display formatted websites (Physical World Connection/Physical World Hyperlink), has entered into pilot agreements with Sprint.

Sprint is now willing to test the concept of Physical World Connection in a new pilot agreement on selected cellphone platforms with 2-D Codes developed by ScanBuy and Billboard Magazine. Billboard will print (along side of their advertising) ScanLife “Barcodes” that will display to the user’s cellphone screen the current Billboard Top 100 List!

Here is a sampling as to what be done with ScanLife or any symbology designed to work with the low resolution cameras found on cellphones. Image Credit: ScanBuy

This will be a great aid for those who are shopping for music as a gift for the holiday season.

To get ScanLife on your mobile phone, text SCAN to 70734 or go to www.getscanlife.com (linked to photo above) to download the free trial application. After you have ScanLife on your phone, start scanning EZCodes and make your own. It's EZ. Image And Link Credit: ScanBuy

Truth is, the function of symbology driven applications for cameraphones has been around a long time to the benefit of cameraphone users (a subject written about here at Symblogogy numerous times). It is about time for all service providers to open up their phones to multiple PWC/PWH developers and applications thereby open up the usefulness of the cellphone to everyone … consumers and advertisers alike.

Image Credit: ScanBuy

This test with Billboard Magazine, along with a host of other potential advertisers, will establish ScanBuy as being the first U.S. Physical World Connection company to land a cellphone service carrier and major brand advertiser for a mobile "barcode"/symbology campaign pilot.

So as it relates to rise of PWC/PWH applications on the Billboard Magazine Charts ... ScanBuy becomes Number One With A Bullet!

When A “xerox” Is Not … An Exact Copy

Redacted Copy Example Image: Redaction simply means to edit, which is what you are doing to the document; however, in the context of government or legal documents, the term has come to be associated with the removal of sensitive/private information. The problem we’ve always had in Acrobat is that blocking out text with tools like the comment tools didn’t really redact a document. Users could still drag the Select tool through a body of text and copy the blocked out text beneath the comment markups, then paste the data into a word processor or text editor and see all the text that was blocked out. (caption from a chat journal on an acrobat users website) Image Credit: acrobatusers.com

When A “xerox” Is Not … An Exact Copy

We all are familiar with the slang term … xerox, as in, “let’s xerox this page.”, or, I’ll be xeroxing these for the meeting.

This slang term is an ode to the effectiveness and convenience of equipment manufactured by the company that invented the dry writing process formally known as photo-copying (not xeroxing) – XEROX!

XEROX, in an effort to bring more (or should we say less) to the process of photo-copying has come up with a document reproduction process that will create documents that are automatically “Redacted”. That’s right, a xerographic copy with the sensitive, or secure information has been masked out for general distribution outside of a secure “eyes only” environment.

So, when is a “xerox” not and exact copy? … when it has been scanned in and processed via “Intelligent Redaction” software and output on a XEROX Corporation manufactured photocopier, printer, scanner, document handling device.

This excerpted/edited from Network World –

Xerox document security blocks access to sensitive data
Submitted by Layer 8 on Mon, 10/15/2007 - 10:30am

Xerox today touted software it says can scan documents, understand their meaning and block access to those sensitive or secure areas so that prying eyes cannot read, copy or forward the information.

Xerox and researchers from its Palo Alto Research Center debuted "Intelligent Redaction," new software that automates the process of removing confidential information from any document. The software includes a detection tool that uses content analysis and an intelligent user interface to protect sensitive information. It can encrypt only the sensitive sections or paragraphs of a document, a capability previously not available, Xerox said. The software also creates an audit trail for tracking access.

After information has been classified, that same information will be automatically redacted if it appears in other documents. the "intelligence" ensures a consistent level of security, saves time and increases redaction accuracy, Xerox said.

Redaction is the ability to control what someone sees. For example, redaction traditionally has been used in legal documents to limit access to information protected by client-attorney privilege. The result is a document that has been censored; certain information within the document is blocked out, Xerox said in a statement.

Traditional redaction has two big drawbacks. It requires a labor-intensive manual process to identify sections to censor, and management of different versions of the same document is cumbersome and difficult, Xerox said. Current software encrypts whole documents, while Intelligent redaction understands document context so it can perform partial encryption. Only sensitive sections or paragraphs are encrypted, while the rest of the document is not.

Researcher see a ton of applications for the software. For example, in a hospital where security of medical record transfer needs to be ensured. Financial services and government dat transfers also depend heavily on secure documents.

Researchers said the software was still in development and did not release the cost of the package.
Reference Here>>

We, at Symblogogy, suspect that the price list had been "Intelligently Redacted" from the press release materials!

Computer Mobility For Fixed, And/Or Rolling, Assets

The Fit-PC is a fully self-contained PC, complete with hard drive, that’s less than five inches square. Image Credit: ExtremeTech

Computer Mobility For Fixed, And/Or Rolling, Assets

Embedded computer power becomes inexpensive, small, and packaged for inclusion in any data capture, communication, security, and computer processing application.

An Israel based company, CompuLab, has come up with a better computer mousetrap. Named the “fit-PC”, this computer can be made to fit nearly anywhere because it is not only small in size, it only requires 3.5 watts of total power to operate.

The fit-PC offers two USB 2.0 ports, dual fast Ethernet (10/100) ports, a VGA connector, audio jacks, and an RJ-11 jack. The RJ-11 jack isn't a modem, but subs in as a dumbed-down RS-232 port. Two audio jacks are also built in. Image Credit: ExtremeTech

This excerpted and edited from ExtremeTech –

Fit PC—A Tiny Linux PC that Fits Anywhere
By Loyd Case – ExtremeTech – October 12, 2007

Fit-PC is the brainchild of the Israeli company CompuLab, a manufacturer of embedded, low power systems. In fact, if you check out CompuLab's web site, you'll find the ENC-iGLX, which is essentially the fit-PC without the operating system.

Although the fit-PC web site mentions that it's shipped with Gentoo Linux, the system arrived on our doorstep with Ubuntu Feisty Fawn (7.04) installed. You can also download Windows XP drivers from the fit-PC web site, but you'll need to install Windows yourself.
----
The Fit-PC includes a 2.5-inch, 40GB hard drive. Image Credit: ExtremeTech

The CPU used in the fit-PC is an AMD Geode LX800, which is a fully self-contained System-on-a-Chip (SoC). The memory controller, graphics processor, and I/O are all self-contained inside the LX800, which clocks at 500MHz. The entire system, including hard drive and 256MB of main memory, uses 3-5W of total power. The built-in graphics can drive displays up to 1920x1440, but it's noticeably more responsive at 1280x1024 or less.

Since it's so tiny, it can fit into a myriad of locations that even a mini-ITX system wouldn't work. Of course, a display, keyboard and mouse take up room, but you can always control it via a network connection once you get it set up. The fit-PC is also useful as a small dedicated box. Since it has two Ethernet ports, it can be used as a Linux-based firewall or router.

Alternatively, it can be used as a shared web browsing and email station where space is at a premium.

The fit-PC in Action

We connected the fit-PC to a 17-inch LCD display, attached a USB keyboard and mouse, piped in Ethernet, and fired it up. After logging in, we were greeted with the main Ubuntu screen, and prompted to download and install 122MB of updates.

Since this tiny system is based on a 500MHz SoC, we didn't bother with running any standard benchmarks—it would just make the system look bad. The point of the fit-PC is not to be blazingly fast, but to do one or two things well enough to be usable.

We fired up Firefox and spent some time browsing the web. Some Flash-intensive web sites rendered slowly, but most web browsing seemed no worse than running on an older laptop with integrated graphics. We also loaded up OpenOffice apps to check them out. After we had six windows (and six apps) running, the system definitely became sluggish—this is not a strong multitasking system.

Final Thoughts: A Good Fit?

If you need anything that requires even moderately demanding CPU or graphics horsepower, the fit-PC isn't the right solution. Performance is not the point of this system—form factor and cost are the main factors.

The fit-PC is priced at $285, which includes the hard drive and pre-loaded Linux OS. While you can build a PC that's nearly as inexpensive, or buy a used laptop for not much more, the fit-PC's unique form factor gives it an edge in any environment where space is at a premium.

Also, its extremely low power usage means you can keep the system running all the time. In any application that requires always-on usage and a light duty applications mix, the fit-PC may indeed be an ideal fit.
Reference Here>>

For dedicated business applications (warehousing, access control & biometrics, RFID, route accounting, and etc.) that require some computing power and programs to run, this small (25 square inches), power thrifty (3.5 watts) handles up to be a tidy, embedded package.

Pivo 2 And You - A Biometric Car & Driver Team Proposition

Inside the Pivo 2 while traveling - both the driver and the Robotic Agent are looking forward during travel to destination. Image Credit: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (video)

Pivo 2 And You - A Biometric Car & Driver Team Proposition

At the upcoming 40th Tokyo Motor Show (October 26 to November 11), Nissan plans to unveil its lithium-ion battery electric-powered Pivo 2 concept car. Designed for urban use, the Pivo 2 features a 360-degree revolving cabin, inherited from the first-generation Pivo (allowing the driver to always face forward while driving, even when parallel parking), and a front opening swing door similar to those first introduced in the sixties by Fiat (600 Series) and BMW.

The Robotic Agent - A traveling companion that looks after security, safety, and friendly interaction. Voice commands program the on-board trip computer for GPS and display on center console. Image Credit: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (video)

What makes this urban town-car really unique, beyond its maneuverability is the computer powered assistant known as the “Robotic Agent”. Nissan claims that this multifaceted sensor will be capable of voice command and biometric facial recognition.

Facial recognition sensors in the Robotic Agent adds an additional level security and safety. Image Credit: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (video)

Robotic Agent captures face for driver identification. Image Credit: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (video)

Robotic Agent captures and translate mood of driver. Uses this information to interact with driver through computer generated voice in the appropiate attitude. Image Credit: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (video)

Robotic Agent "sees" that the driver is nodding off. Warns driver that it is time to pull over and wake up! Image Credit: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (video)

In a video released in advance of the show, the Robotic Agent senses driver identification, driver mood, and driver state of awareness (sleepiness) in an effort to show the benefit of computer assisted interactive biometrics in a car.

This from a Nissan Press Release via Jolopnic -

THE FUTURE IS ELECTRIC FOR NISSAN
- Pivo 2 concept turns heads and itself in Tokyo -
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. - TOKYO (Oct. 5, 2007)

Today [Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.] unveiled the Pivo 2, an advanced electric concept car that will debut at the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show. Pivo 2 builds on the popularity of the first Pivo, shown at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show.

Pivo 2 - Front Angle View - Image Credit: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (video)

Powered by advanced Compact Lithium-ion Batteries and featuring a unique rotating cabin - meaning no reverse gear required - the first Pivo became a cult hit at shows from Beijing to Geneva.

Pivo 2 Concept Car

Reasons to love Pivo 2:

* Electric power from Nissan's advanced Lithium-ion batteries
* A robotic agent to share every trip
* 'Revolutionary' technology with 360 degree turning cabin and 90 degree turning wheels

Pivo 2 takes the idea of an environmentally friendly electric urban commuter vehicle and delivers fun, functionality and a unique relationship between the car and driver. Pivo 2 is powered by advanced Compact Lithium-ion Batteries and employs 'by-wire' technologies for braking and steering.

Where the first Pivo, with its fully rotating cabin design, made reversing obsolete, the Pivo 2 takes that easy mobility concept to a new level. Each of the four wheels are powered by Nissan's advanced electric In-wheel 3D Motor and can turn through 90 degrees to allow Pivo 2 to drive sideways as well as forward. After a conversation with the Pivo 2 Robotic Agent computer sensor device, a map of the calculated route shows up on the GPS image in the dash display on the center console. Image Credit: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (video)

Thanks to the highly innovative Robotic Agent, you are never alone in the Pivo 2. With conversations possible in Japanese and English, the Robotic Agent has been created to work with Pivo 2 to make every journey less stressful. It provides a unique interface through which to communicate with Pivo 2 on everything from basic vehicle functions through to the nearest available parking.

Pivo 2 will be on display at the Nissan Ginza Gallery in Tokyo, for an exclusive public sneak preview ahead of the Motor Show.
Reference Here>>

Bacteria Breakthrough For Microdot Printed Circuits

You can see above a not-to-scale graphic showing "how catalyst (blue hollow-ended beads) dangles from patterned stamp, while dye particles (gold balls) are bonded to DNA chains to make DNA coating visible. After stamp (blue) presses into DNA coating (yellow) at center the catalyst detaches dye and DNA chain's tip (bottom right). That disruption creates patterning in DNA coating (top right)." Credits: graphic by Alexander Shestopalov, caption by Duke University - Here is a link to a larger version of this graphic.

Bacteria Breakthrough For Microdot Printed Circuits

An E. Coli infection to the human body is not a good thing. The infection may create symptoms that include severe abdominal cramping, bloody diarrhea, and sometimes nausea with vomiting.

Bacteria, however, has enzyme properties that allow one to improve the preciseness of the surface pattern of a printed circuit one-hundred fold of traditional inking methods.

This discovery will have a tremendous effect on the depth of computer processes that can be placed on a single chip, in that, this inkless technique could be used to build complex nanoscale devices with unprecedented precision to create microdevices such as labs-on-a-chip.

This excerpted from Wikipedia –

1) After the discovery of microtechnology (~1958) for realizing integrated semiconductor structures for microelectronic chips, these lithography-based technologies were soon applied in pressure sensor manufacturing (1966) as well.

Due to further development of these usually CMOS-compatibility limited processes, a tool box became available to create micrometre or sub-micrometre sized mechanical structures in silicon wafers as well: the Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) era (also indicated with Micro System Technology - MST) had started.

2) Lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a term for devices that integrate (multiple) laboratory functions on a single chip of only millimeters to a few square centimeters in size and that are capable of handling extremely small fluid volumes down to less than pico liters. Lab-on-a-chip devices are a subset of MEMS devices and often indicated by "Micro Total Analysis Systems" (µTAS) as well.

Microfluidics is a broader term that describes also mechanical flow control devices like pumps and valves or sensors like flowmeters and viscometers. However, strictly regarded "Lab-on-a-Chip" indicates generally the scaling of single or multiple lab processes down to chip-format, whereas "µTAS" is dedicated to the integration of the total sequence of lab processes to perform chemical analysis.

Reference Here>>

Over time, this can have an effect on the general miniaturization of electronic devices. Hand held devices just may become finger held devices.

This excerpted EurekAlert! from Duke University –

Using catalysts to stamp nanopatterns without ink
Contact: Monte Basgall, Duke University - Public release date: 26-Sep-2007

Using enzymes from E. coli bacteria, Duke University chemists and engineers have introduced a hundred-fold improvement in the precision of features imprinted to create microdevices such as labs-on-a-chip.

Their inkless microcontact printing technique can imprint details measuring close to 1 nanometer, or billionths of a meter, the Duke team reported in the Sept. 24, 2007 issue of the Journal of Organic Chemistry.

"This has a lot of potential, because we don't have the resolution issue," said Robert Clark, a professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and dean at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering. “The really important part is that with a biological catalyst there’s no ink involved,” added Duke chemistry professor Eric Toone.

Clark, Toone and three graduate students authored the report on their study, which was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

In traditional microcontact printing -- also called soft lithography or microstamping -- an elastic stamp’s end is cast from a mold created via photolithograpy – a technique used to generate microscopic patterns with light. Those patterns are then transferred to a surface by employing various biomolecules as inks, rather like a rubber stamp.
----
A shortcoming of traditional microcontact printing is that pattern transfer relies on the diffusion of ink from the stamp to the surface. This same diffusion spreads out beyond the limits of the pattern as the stamp touches the surface, degrading resolution and blurring the feature edges, Clark and Toone said.

Because of this mini-blurring, the practical limit to defect-free patterning is “in excess of 100 nanometers,” said the report, whose first author, Phillip Snyder, is a former Toone graduate student now working as a postdoctoral researcher in Whitesides’ group.

A 100 nanometer limit of resolution is about 1,000 times tinier than a human hair’s width. While that seems very precise, the Duke team now reports it can boost accuracy limits to less than 2 nanometers by entirely eliminating inking.

Clark and graduate student Matthew Johannes crafted a microstamp out of a gel-like material called polyacrylamide, which compresses more uniformly than the silicone material known as PDMS which is normally used in microstamping.

In lieu of ink, Snyder, Toone and graduate student Briana Vogen suspended a biological catalyst on the stamp with a molecular “tether” of amino acids. For this proof-of-principle demonstration, Toone’s team chose as a catalyst the biological enzyme exonuclease I, derived from the bacterium E. coli.

In one set of experiments, the polyacrylamide stamp pattern bearing the tethered enzymes was then pressed on a surface of gold that had been covered with a uniform coating of single-stranded DNA molecules. The DNA molecules had also been linked to fluorescent dye molecules to make the coating visible under a microscope.

Wherever the enzyme met the DNA, the end of the DNA chain and its attached dye were broken off and removed. That created a dye-less pattern of dots on the DNA coating, each dot measuring about 10 millionths of a meter diameter each.

The microdots are very precise because the catalyst that created them could not shift its position more than the length of its chemical tether -- less than 1 nanometer, the Duke team reported. "Whether the stamp was left on for a short period of time, or for days, the pattern did not change,” Clark said.

The inkless microstamp could also re-use the same suspended catalyst molecule repeatedly. “Enzymes can deteriorate with extended use,” Clark acknowledged. “But because of our tether attachment chemistry, we can easily wash the old enzyme off, put on a new one and keep going,” Clark said.

In follow-up research, Clark and Toone are now evaluating more durable microstamping materials attached to longer lasting catalysts that are non-enzymatic.
----
“Soft lithography has really revolutionized the field of surface science over the last 30 years,” said Toone. “And I honestly believe that using catalysts instead of diffusive processes is going to become the way that soft lithography is done in the future.”

Reference Here>>

(ht: Oblate Spheroid)

This discovery illustrates that it's a very small world, after all!

A XEROX That Is NOT ... Lost In Translation

The Auto-Translating Photocopier - Fuji Xerox’s secret lies in networking the unnamed copier to a dedicated translation server and combining this with algorithms that can distinguish between text, drawings and lines for maintaining page layouts. Image Credit: Fuji XEROX via Digital Tokyo

A XEROX That Is NOT ... Lost In Translation

XEROX takes the “branding” tagline - The Document Company - seriously.

Earlier this year, XEROX introduced the concept of the “transient document” where the image from the original that was placed on the photocopy would only last a little longer than the average hours in a full working day. The concept here being that many printouts have a life-span of only a few hours (think of the number of emails that are printed out just to read, or the developing content one uses to proof read), the specially prepared paper will preserve its content for up to 16 hours. After that, the paper can be reused for another round of temporary, but tactile, communications.

Now XEROX R&D has come up with a new bit of magic. How about taking the printed images of Japanese, ... or Spanish, ... and etc. on the paper and have the copy come out translated in English?

Presto Change-O!

This item from Digital Tokyo –

Photocopier translates Japanese to English at touch of button
Posted By: J Mark Lytle - Digital World Tokyo - September 20th, 2007

Specialist translators could soon be heading for job centers across the world if Fuji Xerox makes good on the technology it has developed for its latest prototype photocopy machine.

The device, currently on show [Subscription link] only in Japan, can scan a printed sheet of Japanese text from a newspaper or magazine and churn out a translation of it in Chinese, English or Korean while retaining the original layout. Flip a switch and the linguistic parsing works in the opposite direction too.

Fuji Xerox’s secret lies in networking the unnamed copier to a dedicated translation server and combining this with algorithms that can distinguish between text, drawings and lines for maintaining page layouts.

While the concept of a one-touch translation machine is a wonderful idea for anyone who regularly works in multiple languages (guilty…), let’s hope the technology moves on from the current generation of machine-translation (MT) software that can be seen mangling sentences on sites like Babel Fish and Google Translate.
Reference Here>>

So, in 2007, XEROX document photocopy magic gives us “disappearing ink” and the equivalent of changing dimes into nickels (and presumably back to dimes again) … what’s next?

Documents that escape from the bondage of a straightjacket after being locked in a trunk and lowered into a lake?

The Image Of A Mobile (phone) World

Japanese commuters while away the journey by watching TV on their mobiles. Image Credit: David Sacks/Getty

The Image Of A Mobile (phone) World

Portable programmable electronic communication devices, which received their birth forty years ago with the release of the T58 & T59 by Texas Instruments, have come a long way and there is no better place in the world than Japan to judge and assess how far.

The key to this evolution comes down to having the handheld cellphone be an on-the-fly, symbology decoding, self-programming computer. A cellphone with a good processor, a camera, a printed symbology (ie. slang: barcode) and a strong infrastructure can deliver more interaction and information than a WiFi internet connection HotSpot on many applications.

The most amazing application that can be delivered through these means is that a person with a properly programmed cellphone can scan a “3D Barcode” (a colorized QR Code) and the phone decodes the image taken with the camera and delivers to the cellphone screen 20 seconds of video communication to the user. That’s right! … 20 seconds of the latest DVD release from “The Bourne Ultimatum” that might help one to decide to buy this DVD gift for Christmas – for example.

PM Code - Colorized QR Code that can deliver a 20 second video to the users phone screen without the need to be hooked-up to a WiFi HotSpot or incur cellphone call minutes. Image Credit: Content Idea of Asia (CIA)

Furthermore, the cellphone user did not have to use the cellphone radio towers or a WiFi Hotspot to have the handheld perform this amazing feat. The 20 seconds of video came directly from the “Barcode” that the user’s phone took a picture of … and decoded to display.

More mobility application news happening in Japan from The Guardian Unlimited -

Why mobile Japan leads the world
A combination of an urban lifestyle and infrastructure advantages mean that the fixed internet is being left behind by the mobile
Michael Fitzpatrick - The Guardian - Thursday, September 27, 2007

Yasuko San is aiming her mobile at a small, square tattoo on paper, clicking a little and peering happily at the result. Her prize? The latest novel written for the mobile, entitled "Teddy". Such serialised novels for mobiles are just the latest phone application that has caught the Japanese imagination, but - apart from neighbouring South Korea - few others.

Those printed square icons, however, made their debut in the UK earlier this month (to promote the DVD of the film 28 Weeks Later). Known as QR (quick read) codes, they have aided Japan's mobile revolution by making it easy to access a web page via mobile. Users can be directed to sites by snapping the codes printed in magazines, posters and even on biscuits.

PM Code Image as captured via the cellphone camera. Image Credit: Content Idea of Asia (CIA)

Mobile subscribers

Their British outing is a full four years behind Japan's adoption. In fact, we lag Japan in nearly every aspect of mobile use - except possibly in annoying other commuters on trains.

Lost in Japan? Let your mobile's GPS guide you. Bored? Download the latest manga comic or an e-book to read on the train, or go shopping and pay by swishing your mobile in front of the till, because the phone is also an electronic wallet.

You can also collect e-coupons, pay bills, play Final Fantasy, update your blog and pay and check into hotels wirelessly. Soon the airport check-in will be history in Japan, too, as the e-ticket in your phone becomes your boarding pass.

Nearly all are services based on the success of the mobile web in Japan, where in a nation of 127 million the number of mobile internet subscribers recently passed 100 million. Not for nothing are the Japanese now known as the Thumb Tribe - a tribe who, for the most part, prefer their mobile to the fixed internet.

Apart from the killer application - email - 80% say they use other functions too. Downloading music is popular (80% have tried it), as is TV for mobile - half of its subscribers use it regularly. Three quarters of users say they enjoy online clothes shopping with their mobile at least once a month. What they are less keen on is video calling: in Japan, as in the UK, 90% say "no thanks, never". And as for using the mobile as a modem - to link to the internet - that's very expensive in Japan.

It is no wonder those touting m-commerce as the next big web thing tell us Japan is the future blueprint. "Japan is the world's high-tech testbed for a wide range of consumer electronic devices and systems - many of which never see the light of day in overseas markets," says Daniel Scuka, keitai guru and consultant for publishers Wireless Watch Japan. "So keeping up with developments here is vital to knowing what's going to hit Europe and the US 24 months in the future; doubly so with respect to mobile and wireless."

By offering the Japanese a multiplicity of services - and, very importantly, some very cool handsets to use them on - the operators have created what every western mobile service provider is dreaming of: a mobile lifestyle culture that keeps millions reaching for the mobile rather than the fixed internet. But it does have its disadvantages.

Most us would feel miffed if we lost or damaged our mobiles. The Japanese would be paralysed without theirs: nearly half of Japanese confess to being obsessed with their mobile phones.

But why is such technology such a hit in Japan and not in other mobile-savvy nations such as Finland? According to the man who kickstarted the trend - the father of i-mode, NTT DoCoMo's Takeshi Natsuno - it is because of the Japanese genius for designing new technologies that can be adopted by anyone, especially techno-phobes. It's not about "bandwidth, nor standards, nor unique Japanese culture", he says. It is about "fun and convenience".
----
Demanding consumers

The Japanese are blessed with some of the best-looking technology in the world. It has to be intuitive, simple and high-quality, not because the Japanese are so tech-savvy, but because they are the most demanding consumers in the world.

According to Scuka, more than 100 new phones hit the Japanese market last year as manufacturers tried out new ideas on the public. Some cultural factors, as with any other country, do play a part in Japan's willingness to take up some technologies such as TV on the mobile.

As in Europe, this was at first a washout, but as watching TV in public becomes more socially acceptable in Japan, the number of subscribers is rising. Au, the second largest mobile network in Japan, recently signed up its five millionth subscriber to the service.
----
It is this urban lifestyle where convenience is the key which has necessitated the rise of the all-in-one mobile plus those very funky handsets. By comparison Apple's iPhone is a mere 2.5G plaything. In Japan, which is already into 3G and heading towards 4G, they make mobiles look good and work hard.
Reference Here>>

The Birth Of Mobility Honored At The Smithsonian

Introduced together with the TI-58 these calculators introduced a novelity, the Solid State Software Modules™ with up to 5000 program steps. On the backside of the TI-58/59 you'll notice a small lid with a place for a module. The Master Library with 25 different programs was included, a lot of other modules were available. Image & Caption Credit: DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM

The Birth Of Mobility Honored At The Smithsonian

Texas Instruments introduces the handheld calculator and the tools that enhance our business, communications, and entertainment lives ... changed the way we all relate to the world we live in forever.

The consumer electronics revolution (the evolution and packaging of electronic devices that have come to aid our lives over the last forty plus years) also created the enterprise mobility revolution and spawned the competitive growth of many of the retail giants of today.

TELXON PTC-610 ADVANCED HANDHELD COMPUTER - Telxon's PTC-610 proves the old adage that good things come in small packages. From a price/performance standpoint, this small but mighty Portable Tele-Transaction Computer is one of the most advanced, low-cost handhelds in the industry. Image & Caption Credit: OPAL

By employing calculators that were redesigned with built-in memory and barcode symbology scanning capability, small regional companies like Sam Walton’s Wal-Mart employed data collection and accounting techniques that allowed the business effort to outstrip the competition. Timely and correct information about inventory levels was the key to this mega-store retailing growth and enterprise mobility datacollectors that Sam Walton and others utilized was the tool.

Today, the functional capabilities of consumer electronics and enterprise mobility are beginning to blend and become the same. Cellphones, cameras, and computers are morphing into devices that are equally useful to both dedications.

Consumers use cameras on cellphones to capture information through symbology and WiFi (PWC/PWH applications) in much the same way the associates at Wal-Mart or PETCO read symbols (barcodes) to gain information on which to base decisions and lead more successful lives.

The Smithsonian Institute recognizes the beginning of this revolution with a museum honor.

Excerpts from Computerworld -

TI's first handheld calculator is now a museum piece
Smithsonian honors pioneering device; co-inventor remembers 'progress on a daily basis'
By Patrick Thibodeau - Computerworld - September 26, 2007

In 1965, the consumer electronics revolution that would result in PCs, iPods, smart phones and myriad other electronic devices was still years off. And the predecessors of the integrated circuits that would power such products were being used mostly by the military.

But inside Texas Instruments Inc., an effort began to change that.

Jerry Merryman was part of a small team at TI given the task that year of creating a handheld calculator. Numerous problems arose, according to Merryman. The calculator had to work at low power, and it required a reliable keyboard and a chip with thousands of transistors. Nevertheless, a working model was delivered 18 months later, in 1967 -- giving TI the world's first electronic handheld calculator.

Merryman was asked at a ceremony held here on Tuesday if he thought the device would have the impact that it did. "No, really," he said. "I thought a few accountants might use them. I thought some engineering students might get them as presents. It was only later that I realized we were kicking off [the electronics] revolution.

TI's calculator became commercially available in 1970 and already is a part of the IT collection at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. The museum also has the original 1967 prototype, which weighed 3 pounds, was encased in aluminum and ran on batteries. At the time the calculator was developed, existing models were heavy desktop devices -- not handhelds.

At yesterday's ceremony, the Smithsonian expanded its collection to include two of the first programmable calculators, the TI-58 and TI-59.

The Texas Instruments "Programmable 58" (1977) was TI's middle range programmable calculator. The TI58 and TI59 (below) are based on the same design, and are almost identical (In fact, they came with the same manual). The TI58 has 1/2 the internal memory (240/480 steps), and lacks the magnetic cards available on the TI59. The model shown is a 'C' version, which stands for "Constant Memory" - this calculator retains user written programs when powered off. Image & Caption Credit: claccicmp.org

"Think about how these innovations affected our lives," said David Allison, a curator at the museum who called TI's calculator a unique device that "touched the lives of all Americans."
----
Despite the sweeping ambition of the original handheld project, Merryman said the calculator was developed without a set budget. "It was just work that we did in our spare time," he said. Merryman was joined at the Smithsonian's ceremony by another member of the team, James Van Tassel.

A third member, TI engineer Jack Kilby, died in 2005. Kilby invented the integrated circuit at TI in 1958 and later won the Nobel Prize for his work, which included holding 60 U.S. patents.
----
The initial calculators could handle basic math functions only. Nonetheless, Merryman believes that the devices helped students tackle more difficult problems. And math education is essential, he added.

Lovett said that technical jobs are growing at a double-digit rate in the U.S. But only 17% of undergraduates leave their schools with a math or science degree. In China, that percentage is 52%,he said, and in South Korea, it's 41%.
Reference Here>>

In this world of New Media - Mobility is king!

This mobility technology has become the technological backbone of the New Media paradigm. Cellphones with memory, photo capability, & WiFi are the tools that have become citizen (and more, professional) journalism cornerstones.

The Big Mac Wave - Mickey D’s RFID Initiative

An employee shows a mobile phone attached with a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader at a McDonald's store in Shinchon, western Seoul, one week ago, Wednesday. Image Credit: The Korea Times

The Big Mac Wave - Mickey D’s RFID Initiative

Hospitality goes proximity with this new pilot being run at McDonalds stores in Korea.

McDonalds is experimenting with the ultimate line-buster in South Korea, where customers purchase food on their cell phones, which then ring when the order is ready. Most of the phone's communications capabilities and its display are barely used, with customers having to download a McDonald’s application into their phone, and plug a piece of add-on hardware provided by SK Telecom.

Payments can be handled through the cell phone's number (as McDonalds is apparently doing in the South Korea trial) or through an embedded RFID chip, which turns the smartphone into something akin to a contactless credit card.

The add-on used in the trial goes one step further in that it turns the phone into a remote RFID “Touch” order entry device.

Excerpted from The Korea Times –

Hamburger Can Be Ordered Via Mobile Phone
By Cho Jin-seo – The Korea Times Staff Reporter

Good news for those who hate to wait in a queue to get a burger and fries.

McDonald's and SK Telecom Wednesday showed a new ordering system using mobile phones and infra-red sensors which let customers make orders from their table and sends them a phone message when the meal is ready.

The “Touch Order" menu is the first in the world to utilize the radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology in a self-ordering system at a restaurant, SK Telecom said.

“It is a convergence service that utilizes SK Telecom's RFID technology in the restaurant industry," said Lee Joo-sik, senior vice president of business development of the mobile service company. “We hope this partnership with McDonald's, the world's largest restaurant chain, will lay the groundwork for our RFID business on foreign markets."
----
First, customers have to download a special program onto their handsets using SK Telecom's Nate mobile Internet service. Most phones manufactured after June 2005 can handle the operation, the firm said.

At each table, there are an RFID reader and a menu that has built-in RFID chips. Customers plug the reader into their mobile phones, and point them at the item on the menu that they wish to eat or drink.

The bill is charged through the mobile phone. When the meal is ready, the system sends a short message to the phone so the customer can pick up the ready tray at a designated counter.
----
SK Telecom has implemented an RFID payment system at several Kyobo bookstores in Seoul. But few have used it to buy books because of the inconvenience of the process.
Reference Here>>

On the surface, this looks to be more of an engineer's dream project as opposed to a practical solution application provided through the convergence of technologies. There just seems to be too many disparate "plug & play" pieces for this to be an advancement of convenience to the consumer.

Fingerprint Biometric System Delivers A Sound Solution

Fingerprint points used to identify the unique qualities of ones biometric fingerprint pattern. Image Credit: L-1 Identity Solutions, Inc.

Fingerprint Biometric System Delivers A Sound Solution

When most people think of a machine that scans ones finger in order to gain entry to documents or a place, they think to themselves “well, this is a little like a page scanner capturing text from a document” … and most solutions feature this type of reflective image capture process.

A new process is beginning to find its way into applications that would greatly improve the development of the fingerprint image captured. The technology applied is “Ultrasound” and this approach has some significant advantages over a standard scan approach.

For example, oily, wet or dirty fingers won't be an issue any more when it comes to capturing accurate fingerprints, according to L-1 Identity Solutions, which announced a partnership to produce a fingerprint scan using high frequency sound waves, the same technology used in the medical profession.

Excerpts from SecureID News -

L-1 Identity Solutions and Ultra-Scan develop new live scan device based on ultrasonic imaging
Chris Corum, SecureID News - Wednesday, September 12, 2007

STAMFORD, Conn. -- L-1 Identity Solutions, Inc. announced a partnership with Ultra-Scan Corporation for the development and supply of a revolutionary new live scan biometric fingerprint reader based on ultrasonic imaging technology.

Capturing biometric fingerprint images with high frequency sound waves that are immune to surface conditions extends fingerprint total image accuracy into conditions where it has not been possible before with other scanning technologies. Further, the new device is expected to be significantly smaller and lighter than any solution on the market today. If successful, ultrasonic imaging represents a possible paradigm shift that could supplement or replace optical fingerprint sensors for a number of biometric capture applications.
----
“Ultra-Scan's fingerprint technology is pushing the science of biometrics to yet another level of performance which will have a broader range of application,” said Robert V. LaPenta, Chairman, President and CEO of L-1 Identity Solutions. “Additionally, utilizing the new, ultrasonic solid state technology developed and patented by Ultra-Scan, these new devices could provide a smaller form factor for mobile and fixed applications, as well as offer a higher level of reliability and ruggedness than presently available.”
----
Sound Waves Improve the Ability to Capture Fingerprints in Many Applications and Conditions

Fingerprint image developed through reflective light capture optical scanning technology. Image Credit: Ultra Scan Product Brochure

Operating much like a photo copier, optical scanners work well for capturing fingerprint images by taking a photo of the fingerprints placed on the glass surface.
----
Fingerprint image developed through the ultrasonic scan engine developed and patented by Ultra Scan. Image Credit: Ultra Scan Product Brochure

Ultra-Scan’s technology, which works similar to medical ultrasound, effectively images through “real-world” contamination found on the finger or built up on the platen surface, to always capture a detailed image of the fingerprints being scanned. This low power device will withstand high degrees of shock and vibration making it ideal for a wide variety of applications.
Reference Here>>