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Exchange Email Addresses With A Handshake
Eye of the Frog writes "Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. and its subsidiary NTT DoCoMo Inc. have developed a device that attaches to your PDA which uses the body's conductivity to transmit data at an amazing 10 megabits per second."
Now ask yourself this: What's to stop crackers from using a root-kit that operates through handshakes to steal information from your electronic device and then use that information to break into your stuff? Is this another one of those technologies that will become totally critical in our everyday lives, and that will also become a huge security problem?
I think this would be a benefit for both computer security and for true multi-user desktop environments, as well as network access.. Instead of a password, you need the hardware device to access a specific account. then again, it is just one more device to lose/break/power/carry.
Just a thought..
I'm a little tea pot.
Problems: Stores might rig their doornobs to download your personal information as you go in the store. Privacy issue. Or someone could touch you, and have all your information stored. Think potential stalkers/criminals/etc. Scary. Of course you could always turn it off, I suppose, but if you forget it's a problem. I assume I'm not the only absent minded human around.
However, there are some interesting possibilities:
A credit card reader could read your body's electrical signal, as it is also scanning the card. Added consumer security. Even cooler would be if each person had a unique electrical signal their body generates, but I don't know anything about that. Either way, interesting.
You could make long distance calls from anywhere, and have the phone read your calling card number automatically when you pick up the phone.
Possibility of electronic "keys" for car/house stored in PDA. Not so good if PDA is lost or crashes, but if you can call the company and say "My PDA is gone - please scramble my house key codes until we can resolve the issue" it might work. Locking the house would be great - simply disable the electronic circuit from the inside and there is no lock to pick. As for someone who tries to crack it while you're out, simply have the system stop taking input for five seconds if it gets a bad signal. With billions of possibilities at five seconds a try, it wouldn't work real well trying to crack it. If you're paranoid, have it take thirty seconds. No more fumbling with keys or those little remote control keychains, either - just touch and open.
Many issues to resolve, but some very cool possibilities as well.
"I object to doing things that computers can do." -- Olin Shivers, lispers.org
Does anybody else think this sounds just a teensy bit flaky? The article says the connection works through clothing ... "Apparel and handbags have their own conductivity, allowing an electrical connection to a PDA that can remain in one's pocket..." Huh?? 10 mbps using the cloth of my pocket as a conductor??
I have a suspicion that news.au.com is getting one slipped to them. The closest Google result I could get with "NTT NoCoMo skin" is this article about a cell phone that conducts sound through bone and cartilage, enabling you to listen to the call by sticking your finger in your ear.
Uhhh, okie dokie.
I guess I understand too much Japanese to find that funny.
You're probably one of those people who thinks that "Cheese Nips" are the most hillariously named snack ever.
My other first post is car post.
Nope, I don't think that's going to happen. Why? When's the last time you copied a DVD rip over a 10Mbit connection in the three or four minutes the average male lasts? And I think I'm being generous here. Not evem MPEG-4 will make up for the trigger-happiness of most guys.
My own pointless vanity vintage computing page
OMG!
This is going to be the next terror weapon against the US! Terrorists will be able to transfer secret terrorist plans real easy!
They can go around spreading secret terrorist virusses by simply touching victims, this can lead to terrible epidemics.
Why haven't we done anything to stop japan from developing these weapons... we could have nuked them before it was to late!
"I don't know that Atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots." -George H.W. Bush
Senators like the IT industry more than the media industry, and the IT industry can buy double the number of Senators that the movie industry has, but IT people in general (apart from usless MBA types) are shy and think they can just email the Democrats back into power.
Never before in history has such an important part of the economy been run by geeks that are too afraid to lobby the Senate and too afraid to protest and have virtually no union (I think). The DMCA was supposed to help the IT industry, but the geeks were so shy to say anything that the legislature had to guess at what the IT industry wanted. As a result we have the DMCA we have today
Bill Gates or Linus can pick up his phone right now and call Bush, then Bush will say, "Hello Mr Gates/Torvalds nice to hear from you, I will see you at your convenience, sir. Is there anything you would like from the US Government? We are your humble servants.". But the geeks that run the IT industry can't even understand the power they have. Funny.
A caveman dreams of being us, the incalculable power and riches. We dream of being Q, then what?