Electronic “tattoos” and pills that turn your body into an authenticator are two next-steps in password protection that Motorola is working on, as described at a session Wednesday at AllThingsD’s D11 conference. Regina Dugan, senior vice president of the Advanced Technology and Projects group at Motorola Mobility, showed off two “wearable computing” oriented methods that remove the security tokens from the two-factor equation.
The electronic tattoos described must strike a balance between the “mechanical mismatch” of hard, rigid machines and soft, pliable humans, Dugan said. The “tattoo” Dugan wore, which appeared to be more like a sticker on her left wrist, uses “islands of high-performance silicon connected by accordion-like structures” that allow the tattoo to flex and move with her skin to stay on and remain functional. Presumably, the silicon and wires would eventually be embedded into the skin to make the user a proper bionic human.
The pill, on the other hand, turns one’s entire body into an authenticator. Dugan described the pill as a vitamin “reverse potato battery” that uses stomach acid as the electrolyte to power a switch. As the switch pulses on and off, it “creates an 18-bit EKG-like symbol in your body, and your body becomes the authenticator,” Dugan said.
Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments