Biometrics are being used extensively in Iraq to catalogue as many Iraqis as possible providing Iraqis with a verifiable identification card, immune to forgery. During account creation, the collected biometrics information is logged into a central database which then allows a user profile to be created. Even if an Iraqi has lost their ID card, their identification can be found and verified by using their unique biometric information. Additional information can also be added to each account record, such as individual personal history. This can help American forces determine whether someone has been causing trouble in the past. One major system in use in Iraq is called BISA. This system uses a smartcard and a user’s biometrics (fingerpint, iris, and face photos) to ensure they are authorized access to a base or facility. Another is called BAT for Biometric Automated Toolset.

Japan

Several banks in Japan have adopted either palm vein authentication or finger vein authentication technology on their ATMs. Palm vein authentication technology which was developed by Fujitsu, among other companies, proved to have a false acceptance rate of 0.01177% and a false rejection rate of 4.23%. Finger vein authentication technology, developed by Hitachi, has a false acceptance rate of 0.0100% and a false rejection rate of 1.26%. Finger vein authentication technology has so far been adopted by banks such as Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group and Japan Post Bank. Palm vein authentication technology has been adopted by banks such as the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

Nigeria

The Nigerian Government has now rolled out fingerprint recognition throughout its airports on flights to reduce passport fraud. All new passports distributed now have a biometric chip containing the individuals characteristic in encrypted template form.

United Kingdom

Fingerprint scanners used in some schools to facilitate the subtraction of funds from an account financed by parents for the payment of school dinners. By using such a system nutritional reports can be produced for parents to surveil a child’s intake. This has raised questions from liberty groups as taking away the liberty of choice from the youth of society. Other concerns arise from the possibility of data leaking from the providers of school meals to interest groups that provide health services such as the NHS and insurance groups that may end up having a detrimental effect on the ability of individuals to enjoy equality of access to services.

United States

The United States government has become a strong advocate of biometrics with the increase in security concerns in recent years, since September 11, 2001. Starting in 2005, US passports with facial (image-based) biometric data were scheduled to be produced. Privacy activists in many countries have criticized the technology’s use for the potential harm to civil liberties, privacy, and the risk of identity theft. Currently, there is some apprehension in the United States (and the European Union) that the information can be “skimmed” and identify people’s citizenship remotely for criminal intent, such as kidnapping. There also are technical difficulties currently delaying biometric integration into passports in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the rest of the EU. These difficulties include compatibility of reading devices, information formatting, and nature of content (e.g. the US currently expect to use only image data, whereas the EU intends to use fingerprint and image data in their passport RFID biometric chip(s)).

The speech made by President Bush on May 15, 2006, live from the Oval Office, was very clear: from now on, anyone willing to go legally in the United States in order to work there will be card-indexed and will have to communicate his fingerprints while entering the country.

“A key part of that system [for verifying documents and work eligibility of aliens] should be a new identification card for every legal foreign worker. This card should use biometric technology, such as digital fingerprints, to make it tamper-proof.” President George W Bush (Addresses on Immigration Reform, May 15, 2006). Bush issued a presidential directive (NSPD 59, HSPD 24) in 2008 which requires increased capability for sharing and interoperability in “collection, storage, use, analysis, and sharing of biometric and associated biographic and contextual information of individuals” among the departments and agencies of the executive branch of the U.S. federal government.

The US Department of Defense (DoD) Common Access Card, is an ID card issued to all US Service personnel and contractors on US Military sites. This card contains biometric data and digitized photographs. It also has laser-etched photographs and holograms to add security and reduce the risk of falsification. There have been over 10 million of these cards issued.

According to Jim Wayman, director of the National Biometric Test Center at San Jose State University, Walt Disney World is the nation’s largest single commercial application of biometrics. However, the US Visit program will very soon surpass Walt Disney World for biometrics deployment.

On February 6, 2008, West Virginia University, in Morgantown, West Virginia, became the national academic leader for the FBI’s biometric research. The university was the first in the world to establish a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biometric Systems, and also established the initial chapter of the Student Society for the Advancement of Biometrics (SSAB) in 2003. WVU also offers a graduate level certificate and Master’s degree emphasis in Biometrics.

Visitors intending to visit Australia may soon have to submit to biometric authentication as part of the Smartgate system, linking individuals to their visas and passports. Biometric data are already collected from some visa applicants by Immigration. Australia is the first country to introduce a Biometrics Privacy Code, which is established and administered by the Biometrics Institute. The Biometrics Institute Privacy Code Biometrics Institute forms part of Australian privacy legislation. The Code includes privacy standards that are at least equivalent to the Australian National Privacy Principles (NPPs) in the Privacy Act and also incorporates higher standards of privacy protection in relation to certain acts and practices. Only members of the Biometrics Institute are eligible to subscribe to this Code. Biometrics Institute membership, and thus subscription to this Code, is voluntary.

Brazil

Since the beginning of the 20th century, Brazilian citizens have had user ID cards. The decision by the Brazilian government to adopt fingerprint-based biometrics was spearheaded by Dr. Felix Pacheco at Rio de Janeiro, at that time capital of the Federative Republic. Dr. Pacheco was a friend of Dr. Juan Vucetich, who invented one of the most complete tenprint classification systems in existence. The Vucetich system was adopted not only in Brazil, but also by most of the other South American countries. The oldest and most traditional ID Institute in Brazil (Instituto de Identificação Félix Pacheco) was integrated at DETRAN (Brazilian equivalent to DMV) into the civil and criminal AFIS system in 1999.

Each state in Brazil is allowed to print its own ID card, but the layout and data are the same for all of them. The ID cards printed in Rio de Janeiro are fully digitized using a 2D bar code with information which can be matched against its owner off-line. The 2D bar code encodes a color photo, a signature, two fingerprints, and other citizen data. This technology was developed in 2000 in order to enhance the safety of the Brazilian ID cards.

By the end of 2005, the Brazilian government started the development of its new passport. The new documents started to be released by the beginning of 2007, at Brasilia-DC. The new passport included several security features, like Laser perforation, UV hidden symbols, security layer over variable data and etc.. Brazilian citizens will have their signature, photo, and 10 rolled fingerprints collected during passport requests. All of the data is planned to be stored in ICAO E-passport standard. This allows for contactless electronic reading of the passport content and Citizens ID verification since fingerprint templates and token facial images will be available for automatic recognition.

Germany

The biometrics market in Germany will experience enormous growth until 2009. “The market size will increase from approximately 12 million € (2004) to 377 million €” (2009). “The federal government will be a major contributor to this development”. In particular, the biometric procedures of fingerprint and facial recognition can profit from the government project. In May 2005 the German Upper House of Parliament approved the implementation of the ePass, a passport issued to all German citizens which contain biometric technology. The ePass has been in circulation since November 2005, and contains a chip that holds a digital photograph and one fingerprint from each hand, usually of the index fingers, though others may be used if these fingers are missing or have extremely distorted prints. “A third biometric identifier – iris scans – could be added at a later stage”. An increase in the prevalence of biometric technology in Germany is an effort to not only keep citizens safe within German borders but also to comply with the current US deadline for visa-waiver countries to introduce biometric passports. In addition to producing biometric passports for German citizens, the German government has put in place new requirements for visitors to apply for visas within the country. “Only applicants for long-term visas, which allow more than three months’ residence, will be affected by the planned biometric registration program. The new work visas will also include fingerprinting, iris scanning, and digital photos”.

Germany is also one of the first countries to implement biometric technology at the Olympic Games to protect German athletes. “The Olympic Games is always a diplomatically tense affair and previous events have been rocked by terrorist attacks - most notably when Germany last held the Games in Munich in 1972 and 11 Israeli athletes were killed”.

Biometric technology was first used at the Olympic Summer Games in Athens, Greece in 2004. “On registering with the scheme, accredited visitors will receive an ID card containing their fingerprint biometrics data that will enable them to access the ‘German House’. Accredited visitors will include athletes, coaching staff, team management and members of the media”.

As a protest against the increasing use of biometric data, the influential hacker group Chaos Computer Club published a fingerprint of German Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble in the March 2008 edition of its magazine Datenschleuder. The magazine also included the fingerprint on a film that readers could use to fool fingerprint readers.

Fingerprints may be deposited in natural secretions from the eccrine glands present in friction ridge skin (secretions consisting primarily of water) or they may be made by ink or other contaminants transferred from the peaks of friction skin ridges to a relatively smooth surface such as a fingerprint card. The term fingerprint normally refers to impressions transferred from the pad on the last joint of fingers and thumbs, though fingerprint cards also typically record portions of lower joint areas of the fingers (which are also used to make identifications).

Print types

Latent prints

Although the word latent means hidden or invisible, in modern usage for forensic science the term latent prints means any chance or accidental impression left by friction ridge skin on a surface, regardless of whether it is visible or invisible at the time of deposition. Electronic, chemical and physical processing techniques permit visualization of invisible latent print residue whether they are from natural secretions of the eccrine glands present on friction ridge skin (which produce palmar sweat, consisting primarily of water with various salts and organic compounds in solution), or whether the impression is in a contaminant such as motor oil, blood, paint, ink, etc.

Latent prints may exhibit only a small portion of the surface of the finger and may be smudged, distorted, or both, depending on how they were deposited. For these reasons, latent prints are an “inevitable source of error in making comparisons,” as they generally “contain less clarity, less content, and less undistorted information than a fingerprint taken under controlled conditions, and much, much less detail compared to the actual patterns of ridges and grooves of a finger.

Patent prints

These are friction ridge impressions of unknown origins which are obvious to the human eye and are caused by a transfer of foreign material on the finger, onto a surface. Because they are already visible they need no enhancement, and are generally photographed instead of being lifted in the same manner as latent prints. Finger deposits can include materials such as ink, dirt, or blood onto a surface.

Plastic prints

A plastic print is a friction ridge impression from a finger or palm (or toe/foot) deposited in a material that retains the shape of the ridge detail. Commonly encountered examples are melted candle wax, putty removed from the perimeter of window panes and thick grease deposits on car parts. Such prints are already visible and need no enhancement, but investigators must not overlook the potential that invisible latent prints deposited by accomplices may also be on such surfaces. After photographically recording such prints, attempts should be made to develop other non-plastic impressions deposited at natural finger/palm secretions (eccrine gland secretions) or contaminates.

The uniqueness of a fingerprint can be determined by the pattern of ridges and furrows as well as the minutiae points. There are five basic fingerprint patterns: arch, tented arch, left loop, right loop and whorl. Loops make up 60% of all fingerprints, whorls account for 30%, and arches for 10%.

Fingerprints are unique; that is, no two are the same, not even in twins.

For fingerprint recognition and fingerprint biometrics, an image of the fingerprint must be taken using either optical, silicon or ultrasound-based technologies.

• Minutia matching compares specific details within the fingerprint ridges. At registration (also called enrollment), the minutia points are located, together with their relative positions to each other and their directions. At the matching stage, the fingerprint image is processed to extract its minutia points, which are then compared with the registered template.
• Pattern matching compares the overall characteristics of the fingerprints, not only individual points. Fingerprint characteristics can include sub-areas of certain interest including ridge thickness, curvature, or density. During enrollment, small sections of the fingerprint and their relative distances are extracted from the fingerprint. Areas of interest are the area around a minutia point, areas with low curvature radius, and areas with unusual combinations of ridges.

Some benefits of fingerprint biometrics are cost, ease of use, size, power requirements, non-intrusivity, and the large existing amounts of fingerprint data already held around the world.

Common applications of fingerprint sensors can be seen in various types of consumer electronics, including cell phones, laptops and USB flash drives.  The size, cost and power requirement of fingerprint biometrics means it is a viable solution for these devices.  Other applications exist in time and attendance, physical access control, law enforcement and more.

The growth will be supported by government identity management schemes, criminal and surveillance systems and private sector initiatives.

The worldwide market value could surpass $7 billion.

Fingerprint biometrics will spearhead growth, followed by facial and iris recognition technologies, with Asia and the Middle East marked down as the key growth areas.

Biometric technologies that will be displayed at Intersec trade fair and conference include areas such as fingerprint scan, face recognition, automated fingerprint identification systems (AFIS), live-scan, iris recognition, middleware/biometric identity management software, vein recognition, multiple-biometric, hand geometry and voice recognition.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is the only fully functional Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). The GPS uses a constellation of between 24 and 32 Medium Earth Orbit satellites that transmit precise microwave signals, that enable GPS receivers to determine their location, speed, direction, and time. GPS was developed by the United States Department of Defense. Its official name is NAVSTAR-GPS. Although NAVSTAR-GPS is not an acronym^[1], a few backronyms have been created for it^[2]. The GPS satellite constellation is managed by the United States Air Force 50th Space Wing.

Similar satellite navigation systems include the Russian GLONASS (incomplete as of 2008), the upcoming European Galileo positioning system, the proposed COMPASS navigation system of China, and IRNSS of India.

Following the shooting down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in 1983, President Ronald Reagan issued a directive making the system available free for civilian use as a common good.^[3] Since then, GPS has become a widely used aid to navigation worldwide, and a useful tool for map-making, land surveying, commerce, scientific uses, and hobbies such as geocaching. GPS also provides a precise time reference used in many applications including scientific study of earthquakes, and synchronization of telecommunications networks.

The GPS satellite system

The 24 satellites that make up the GPS space segment are orbiting the earth about 12,000 miles above us. They are constantly moving, making two complete orbits in less than 24 hours. These satellites are travelling at speeds of roughly 7,000 miles an hour.

GPS satellites are powered by solar energy. They have backup batteries onboard to keep them running in the event of a solar eclipse, when there’s no solar power. Small rocket boosters on each satellite keep them flying in the correct path.

Here are some other interesting facts about the GPS satellites (also called NAVSTAR, the official U.S. Department of Defense name for GPS):

• The first GPS satellite was launched in 1978.
• A full constellation of 24 satellites was achieved in 1994.
• Each satellite is built to last about 10 years. Replacements are constantly being built and launched into orbit.
• A GPS satellite weighs approximately 2,000 pounds and is about 17 feet across with the solar panels extended.
• Transmitter power is only 50 watts or less.

source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS
http://www8.garmin.com/aboutGPS/

Model: Samsung LN-T2332H LCD TV
Description: 23 Inch LCD TV High Definition
Resolution: 1360 X 768
Dimensions with Stand: 26.5”W X 18.3”H X 8.9”D
Dimensions without Stand: 26.5”W X 16.1” H 3.1”D
Includes: Non Detachable Speakers, table top stand, 2 HDMI Inputs, Computer 15 Pin VGA Input
Color: Black lacquer finish surrounds most of the unit and the stand. Matt black speakers and bottom.
Power Consumption: 100 watts

VALUE RATING: 87

Price Considerations: At $549.00 the Samsung LN-T2332H is a fair deal in the LCD televisions marketplace. There are not many choices from top tier manufacturers in this small size LCD range. Of course, the 720p resolution LCD panel contains more than enough capacity for an LCD TV of this size.

Quality Comparison: Overall quality is solid at this price point. The picture is not stunning but its weaknesses are non-offensive for the most part and more commonly related to LCD TV issues in general

Google and Microsoft want to do the same thing for personal health that software such as Quicken has already done for people’s personal finances.

Google Health, which was released in May, and Microsoft HealthVault, which launched last October, allow consumers to store and manage their personal medical data online.

Google Health puts you in charge of your health information. It’s safe, secure, and free.

• Organize your health information all in one place
• Gather your medical records from doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies
• Keep your doctors up-to-date about your health
• Be more informed about important health issues
• Google stores your information securely and privately. We will never sell your data. You are in control. You choose what you want to share and what you want to keep private

You can try this here

Microsoft will also offer links to third-party services like medication reminders and programs that track users’ blood-­pressure and glucose readings over time. Microsoft® HealthVault™ is designed to put you in control of your health information. A free HealthVault account helps you collect, store and share information with family members and gives you a choice of applications and devices to help manage your fitness, diet and health. Here’s how it works.

See how hospitals will be able to connect with HealthVault in the future.

Our Health Privacy Commitment

• The Microsoft HealthVault record you create is controlled by you.
• You decide what goes into your HealthVault record.
• You decide who can see and use your information on a case-by-case basis.
• We do not use your health information for commercial purposes unless we ask and you clearly tell us we may.

Users will be able to gather information from doctors, hospitals, and testing laboratories and share it with new medical providers, making it easier to coördinate care for complicated conditions and spot potential drug interactions or other problems.

What Google and Microsoft promise to do with electronic records is also a radical departure, both conceptually and in practice. Those patients who do currently have electronic access generally use portals maintained by doctors or health-care systems. Typically, patients can view information such as prescriptions, lab results, and diagnoses; sometimes they can e-mail doctors or make appointments online. In most cases, though, patients do not control their own data, so they cannot transfer it electronically to a different health-care provider or plug it in to third-party applications.

With HealthVault and Google Health, however, consumers will have fundamental ownership of their medical data, much as they do with financial records.

USB Super 16 ports Hub allows you to connect 16 USB devices quickly and easily. You can enjoy high speed access to your USB devices such as USB thumb drives, USB lights, fans, and other USB accessories. USB hub can be connected to two computers, so that you can switch the USB devices between the two. In addition, it builds in 22.5W power supply unit, no need to worry about the power issues

price : $139

Features:

• USB 2.0
• 16-Port hub: Up to 16 hubs are provided for USB connection like printer, digital camera, card reader, MP3 player…etc
• Up to 2 PCs can be connected to the hub and share the sources. PC can be selected easily with a simple switch (Two PCs cannot be used at the same time)
• The power supply (22.5W) is built in so an extra AC adapter is not necessary
• Voltage: 100V-240V
• Dimension: 116 x 67 x 63mm (approx.)
• Weight: 373g

Package Contents:

• USB Super 16-Port Hub
• USB Cable
• Power Cord

This Product can be bought here

As expected, Garmin has gone official with their new Oregon 200, 300, and 400 nav units. To make things extra confusing, the Oregon 400 includes the 400c, 400t, and 400i. The outdoor-friendly PNDs are waterproof, feature high-sensitivity receivers, and sport 3-inch touchscreens. As for the various 400-series units, it’s all about your outdoor poison. The 400c is for sea anglers with chart coverage for the coastal US and Bahamas, the 400i is for fresh-water fishers with depth contours and boat ramps for U.S. inland lakes and rivers, and the 400t if for you land-lubbers with preloaded US topographic maps in 3D. Meanwhile, the 300 features a worldwide basemap with shaded relief and the 200 provides just your basic basemap. The units weigh in at just 6.8 ounces, run on AA batteries, and support microSD cards. Pricing is set at $479.99 for the 200, $533.32 for the 300, and $639.99 for the 400.