Yahoo launches Bodyprint, to follow up with an assistant and messaging app soon

With the advent of the age of technology, we have moved towards better and secure modes of authentication. Gone are the days when we had to sit down and type in large, complicated strings of letters and characters to unlock our devices while ensuring that they remained safe from prying eyes at the same time. Now, you can simply place your finger onto the phone screen to unlock it in a jiffy and lets face it, it doesn’t get any safer — unless of course you plan to use detachable limbs.

Well, Yahoo researchers have decided to take the tech one step further as they introduce “Bodyprint”, something which will supposedly make smartphone screens act the part of bio-metric sensors. If true, the feature will not only increase the reach of bio-metric security to include devices other than the high-end or premium ones such as the Iphones, but will also introduce a bunch of new features since unlike the Iphones the whole screen can be used for verification purposes — meaning that the screen could be used to identify not only the fingers, but also the users’ ears, fists, and palms.

One of the uses that come to mind is how this could be used to prevent anyone but the device owner from picking up the call by locking the situation where the call is received, with Bodyprint matching the user’s ear with the scan of the person trying to pick the call up. In other words, if you are the owner, you can confirm it and receive the call by placing your smartphone near your ear.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrK1wQjh980&w=635&h=357]

Bodyprint is still in its testing stage, although the results that the Yahoo lab has produced until now has everyone very hopeful. For example, when used with 12 different participants during internal testing it classified body parts with 99.98 percent accuracy and identified the users with an only lesser accuracy of 99.5 percent.

While we do not have any official word on when or how users will get access to this intriguing feature, we are guessing Yahoo to release it in form of an app compatible with most major screens — and that’s not all. As per CEO Marissa Mayer the software giant will also be moving into the virtual assistant sector to challenge the likes of Microsoft’s Cortana and Apple’s Siri. Add to that the company’s plans to launch a video based messaging app later this quarter, and it seems like we will get to see a lot from Yahoo this coming year.

Source: NDTV