File this under things I should have noticed right away but didn’t. But if you take a look at the press shots for the upcoming Eee PC 1004DN, you’ll notice that the DVD drive isn’t the only unusual thing about this netbook. It’s also one of the first netbooks I’ve seen to have a built in fingerprint scanner. It’s hiding in plain site right below the arrow keys.
The fingerprint sensor is an AES1610 from AuthenTec. And it adds biometric security to your computer, so that nobody can login and access your programs or data without your fingerprint. Honestly, I think facial recognition makes a lot more sense for most netbooks, because it would be cheaper. Most netbooks already have built in webcams which means all you need is software to enable facial recognition. But the Eee PC 1004DN isn’t exactly your run of the mill cheapo netbook anyway, so what’s another few bucks for a biometric scanner?
Does anyone find utility in these things? Seriously, they seem pointless to me.
As for the netbook debate, check out our show with Brad where we debate exactly “What is a netbook?”
https://techvi.com/netbookornot
yeah, it’s not a netbook. it’s an underpowered subnote.
From where I sit this unit isn’t a netbook at all. The only thing it has in common with netbooks is it is (relatively) small.
It would be interesting to see what it would take to trick facial recognition though. Would a picture held up to it pass?
this has already been proven …. but the same is valid for fingerprints too. actually both cheats are quite easy to realize. bios password in combination with system encryption is still the best … and – wach out your staff!