A lost or stolen cellphone can mean a wealth of personal information getting into the wrong hands. Passwords and PINs offer some protection, but they are tiresome and are often not used. Now a Japanese company has come up with a simple biometric answer 鈥� phones that recognise their owners.
The face-recognition software, developed by Kyoto-based Omron, works only on camera phones. After buying the phone, you take an initial 鈥渞egistering鈥� picture, which is stored. Then, to unlock the phone, you simply take your own photo. Authentication takes less than a second, during which the software compares about 80 facial features.
