14 DAY TRIAL // We have been talking about smartwatches a lot in the past few weeks. But wrist wearable bands have been cast in a shadow of darkness, probably to the lack of attractive features.
Anyway if the Samsung Gear Fit didn’t really impress you much, here’s something that has the potential to. Introducing the Bionym Nymi wristband – a wearable that is capable of picking up your unique electrocardiogram (ECG) signals in order to enable authentication in other devices, apps and services.
That basically means your heartbeat will act as a password or ID to verify that you are indeed you. This makes us think of Fujitsu palm-vein authentication system that maps the blood vessels in your hand to grant access to your laptop or tablet.
Bionym CEO Karl Martin specifies ECG is more secure than face recognition, but slightly less secure than finger printing technology. To activate the wristband, you’ll need to touch it with the finger of your other hand to provide two points of contact.
And voila, that’s how you get your ECG. Surely, the results aren’t exactly as accurate as you’d get by going at a medical clinic, but the info is enough to provide authentication.
Nymi believes that the selling point of this product will be the persistence of authentication. The iPhone 5S and the Galaxy S5 might both come bundling biometric features, but they won’t continuously verify who you are.
But there’s a caveat here. What happens when the wearer is subjected to intense emotions or has been undergoing strenuous activities like cycling? We’re assuming the team behind Nymi has already come up with a solution to the problem. Maybe the system only performs authentication when it picks up the heart beating at normal levels.
The Nymi is expected to arrive on the market later this year and will boast a three-factor authentication that includes the wristband itself, the ECG and a mobile device like smartphone or tablet.
The hardware inside the wearable will act like the security token connected to the biometric, where the wristband is required to double-check with your mobile device.
The Nymi could also be used to request favorite drinks and songs while at the bar and the implication could be stretched on to payment, device management and home connected appliances.
But what could be considered the most exciting feature here is that Nymi is trying to eliminate the need for passwords. We think it would constitute a relief to not be forced to enter complicated passwords that are a mix of letters, numbers and punctuation.
And because we mentioned this is a health-band, the Nymi will also be capable of monitoring our heart rate and be able to pick up gestures, thanks to its accelerometer and gyroscope.
