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Electricity, fire, and running water are pretty frightening too.

Our national debt, global warming, and high divorce rate has me much more worried than a fingerprint scanner.

To be fair though, Apple aren't planning to add all those things in the home button of the iPhone. Well except maybe the electricity, but not directly to the user's finger, one hopes. Although that could be a great security feature worth patenting! :D
 
With the confirmation this week that the NSA work with major hardware manufacturers to purposefully put backdoors, flaws, vulnerabilities etc in anything they can to exploit, just in case they ever feel they need to, I think Apple, like all other major tech companies based in the US and its allied countries (and I would bet most countries try similar things with companies based within their borders too) are going to have an have an increasingly problematic time selling this kind of stuff as being truly secure. Because we all know that if they've hobbled it, they are 'legally' gagged from saying so too.

I've not been a fan of the idea of tying biometrics to Apple products anyway, but whatever your view it's a sad fact that whatever assurances are given over the security of such products don't really mean very much anymore, and this could have a horribly undesirable chilling effect upon innovation and progress.

On a positive note, it could increase the use of truly open source projects, as the only real way to inspire confidence in consumers in the future.

Ironically, biometrics are probably your best defense from intrusion. The government can have your password/passcode in 5 minutes just by calling Apple/Google/Verizon/AT&T/etc, but biometrics requires that they physically obtain your device in order to get into it. Furthermore, biometrics aren't used for anything that can be exploited presently. A thief can't just email your bank a copy of your thumbprint and clear out your account...no institution would ever accept anything other than you being physically present to enter your print. I often wonder if the people warning us about the perils of the fingerprint scanner actually believe what they say, or merely want the rest of us to believe it. Fact of the matter is, even if the government could figure out a way to "use" your prints it would mean that they wouldn't even need to bother as they would probably already have all the info about you that they wanted.

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Unfortunately people aren't as concerned about privacy as they should be. Otherwise they would have to stop browsing the internet, sending emails, talking on the telephone, writing letters...

LOL. Good point. Hell, if the government really wants your fingerprint and if you've ever touched a doorknob...guess what?
 
I can't wait till the 5S is here. Never having to remember my numerous passwords anymore (simply scan my fingerprint to log in) is worth it's weight in gold :)

Do you only use your iPhone? Or does your mac also have a finger print scanner? How can you just forget your passwords? What if you need to access the account on another device???:confused:

5S is gonna be a bore.
 
Do you only use your iPhone? Or does your mac also have a finger print scanner? How can you just forget your passwords? What if you need to access the account on another device???:confused:

5S is gonna be a bore.

What if he doesn't? What if he decides to perform all of his transactions on his iOS device for now on knowing that it has an added level of security not found on his other devices?
 
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Do you only use your iPhone? Or does your mac also have a finger print scanner? How can you just forget your passwords? What if you need to access the account on another device???:confused:

5S is gonna be a bore.

It would just mean he can sign into things much easier on his phone than computer.
 
It doesn't matter unless Apple does it.

Amirite guys? :D

In this case, yes... yes you are.
We have a litmus test to prove you're right!
Here it is: Atrix, as you said, tried a fingerprint sensor three years ago and NOBODY followed suit. CLEARLY, it did NOT matter.
Let's see if anybody follows up 5S & adds it on as a feature in the next 3 years. If so..... clearly they WILL have made it matter.
 
I'm hoping Apple has a plan to incorporate payments here. Touch and swipe finger...payment done.

I'm super excited about ^^^this^^^. Rumors, for the most part, neglected to even think about this part of it. There has been rumors before on how Apple would do NFC. I think this is brilliant. Not just NFC payments, but NFC payments with biometric security. Brilliant!


Edit:
And I did forget that the Atrix had it too. So honestly, they had a brilliant idea. But for some reason, they didn't put the force behind it necessary to make this matter. Let's hope Apple does. I don't care who does it, I just want it to happen!

Edit:
Okay, okay. I do care. Because if Android made this happen (any manufacturer) and I own an iPhone that can't do it, then I'd still be screwed. I'm happy in the Apple ecosystem and wouldn't switch phones :D
 
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"Your", not "You're".

Also, the time difference between your finger being close (perhaps 1 cm) and actually touching the button would be extremely small. It wouldn't make a difference, and it would be completely unnecessary.

Sorry. Autocorrect f**kup. What if they made the NFC over a range of like 10 cm?
 
I'm super excited about ^^^this^^^. Rumors, for the most part, neglected to even think about this part of it. There has been rumors before on how Apple would do NFC. I think this is brilliant. Not just NFC payments, but NFC payments with biometric security. Brilliant!


Edit:
And I did forget that the Atrix had it too. So honestly, they had a brilliant idea. But for some reason, they didn't put the force behind it necessary to make this matter. Let's hope Apple does. I don't care who does it, I just want it to happen!

Edit:
Okay, okay. I do care. Because if Android made this happen (any manufacturer) and I own an iPhone that can't do it, then I'd still be screwed. I'm happy in the Apple ecosystem and wouldn't switch phones :D

I never owned an Atrix, but I know why it failed to take off. For one, Android never officially supported biometrics when the phone launched. Motorola built their own APIs for it, and this limited it to just unlocking your device and nothing else.

It was also physically designed poorly. The cover would peel off if you used it consistently.
 
NFC circuits are much too large to house in a home button alone because of the frequencies they use. That's why the patent discusses coils being embedded in the bezel or ear piece. If you look at android smartphones, their NFC circuits tend to be housed over the battery in the rear of the device.

Example:
D8M7Vjml.jpg


Also, it's difficult to route them because you risk interfering with the cellular, wifi and Bluetooth antennas depending upon placement, just like metal enclosure are difficult.

The reason the patent discusses common routing is because they would both likely need to be routed through some ARM TrustZone IP block for obvious security reasons.
 
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NFC circuits are much too large to house in a home button alone because of the frequencies they use. That's why the patent discusses coils being embedded in the bezel or ear piece. If you look at android smartphones, their NFC circuits tend to be housed over the battery in the rear of the device.

The reason the patent discusses common routing is because they would both likely need to be routed through some ARM TrustZone IP block for obvious security reasons.

I've gotta ask Mr. Jenkins, what is your career? Seems like you have a ton of nitty gritty technical information that most others don't.
 
I've gotta ask Mr. Jenkins, what is your career? Seems like you have a ton of nitty gritty technical information that most others don't.

There are plenty of people here that exceed my technical knowledge (I am an EE), but simply aren't as motivated to post on the topics. It is very kind of you to say so.
 
I'm super excited about ^^^this^^^. Rumors, for the most part, neglected to even think about this part of it. There has been rumors before on how Apple would do NFC. I think this is brilliant. Not just NFC payments, but NFC payments with biometric security. Brilliant!


Edit:
And I did forget that the Atrix had it too. So honestly, they had a brilliant idea. But for some reason, they didn't put the force behind it necessary to make this matter. Let's hope Apple does. I don't care who does it, I just want it to happen!

Edit:
Okay, okay. I do care. Because if Android made this happen (any manufacturer) and I own an iPhone that can't do it, then I'd still be screwed. I'm happy in the Apple ecosystem and wouldn't switch phones :D

Hear, hear.
 
If NFS is in the iPhone 5S I will eat my own beard and buy one. The 5S, I mean. I have a 4S and was planning on holding out until the first iPhone to have NFS, which I was expecting would be the 6.

i personally would have preferred a wireless charging than an NFC. then again, wireless charging tech is still a long way to go... :(
 
i personally would have preferred a wireless charging than an NFC. then again, wireless charging tech is still a long way to go... :(

I use a phone for work with wireless charging. It's nifty, but not really life changing. Besides, I prefer to dock my phones on my nightstand next to my bed.
 
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