Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

VeriTouch iVue: Fun, Fashionable Media Player With Military-Grade Encryption

For too long, consumer electronics makers like Apple have been wasting our time with media player features like lots of memory, standard music formats, and excellent audio quality. Finally, someone has announced the features that all of us consumers have been looking for in a digital media player - military-grade encryption and biometric security.

The iVue media player, developed by VeriTouch and Thinking Materials, allows users to download digital content wirelessly. To make sure that only one person can use the content, the content is encrypted with the user's fingerprint. Every time the content is played, the user must provide their fingerprint for analysis. The player was demonstrated to the RIAA and MPAA this week.

VeriTouch CEO Gary E. Brant stated “We are very pleased for the support of our world class partner in this project, Thinking Materials AB. The Personal Media Player is the result of more than four years of research to innovate a robust security platform for wireless distribution of film, music, and gaming entertainment. A true breakthrough, the system is the first delivery of advanced biometric and military-grade encryption technologies in a consumer product."

It looks like music lovers will have another set of standards to argue over. Gone are the debates over MP3 and WAV file formats. Does your digital media player use plain old DES (Data Encryption Standard)? Or are you up to AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) for your music and videos?

You might expect that a product that demands rigorous fingerprint-based biometric identification from users, and then utilizes that information to encrypt content to military standards might be well, kind of bulky and geeky. Not so, according to Christian Bartholdsson, CEO of Thinking Materials:

"These days, the key to a successful product is the right combination of looks and function. With iVue, I believe we have created a great platform for how the next generation of media players will work, mixed with a fashion sense that is really top of the line."

Move over, iPod - that's an order!

Science fiction fans of course remember the seashell radios from Ray Bradbury's 1956 novel Fahrenheit 451, which also delivered wireless content to users.

Read more at RIAA wants your fingerprints and VeriTouch; story from Slashdot.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 6/6/2004)

Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion ( 2 )

Index of related articles:

What is encryption?
DES - The Data Encryption Standard
AES - The Advanced Encryption Standard

Related News Stories - (" Lifestyle ")

Amazon Blimp Parent Drone Concept
'So the parent drone carries a spotter that it launches...' - Daniel Suarez, 2012.

Tortoise Mobile Smart Stores
'... all round the city dozens of cars have rented out their trunks, which contain cigars and scotch and stuff.' - Karl Schroeder, 2019.

Sony Pocket Air Conditioner Is Phil Dick's Idea!
'... he went to the hall closet to get his pith helmet and his mandatory cooling-unit.' - Philip K. Dick, 1965.

ROAM Robotics Skiing Exoskeleton
'The real genius in the design is that you don't have to control the suit; you just wear it...' - Robert Heinlein, 1959.

 

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

SpaceX Wants A Moonbase Alpha
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'

Vast Apartment Living Will Get Even More Vast
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'

NASA Wants Self-Driving Or Remote-Controlled Vehicles For Lunar Astronauts
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'

Elon Musk Says Robotaxis Will Be Ready This August, 2024
'The car had no steering wheel, and no one drove!'

Moonwalkers AI-Controlled Electric Shoes
Now that's power walking that Hugo Gernsback would have approved.

Steve Jobs: 'Capture The Next Aristotle - With AI'
'It was disturbing to think of the Flatline as a construct...'

No Tips! Robotic Food Delivery In Phoenix
'...he rewired the delivery robot so that it would serve him midnight snacks.'

Electric Catamaran 'Explorer Eco 40m' Has 'Solar Skin'
'On went the electric-yacht faster and still faster.'

Orbital Mechanics, The Liftoff, The Turnover, The Retrograde Burn
'...the huge vessel had spun, with a sickening lurch, through a complete half-circle, the instant the power was reversed.'

Harvest Power From Tears And Blinking With Smart Contact Lens
'...he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it.'

Europa Clipper Plate Carries A Special Message
'...a universal cryptogram — yet it is one which can be interpreted by any intelligent creature on any planet in the Solar System!'

Micro-Robots Are Smallest, Fully Functional
'With a whir, the Scarab shot from the concealing shadows of the corner where it had hidden itself.'

AI Enhances Images Your Brain Sees
'I could have sworn the psychomat showed pictures almost as sharp and detailed as reality itself'

Illustrating Classic Heinlein With AI
'Stasis, cold sleep, hibernation, hypothermia, reduced metabolism, call it what you will - the logistics-medicine research teams had found a way to stack people like cordwood and use them when needed.'

Deflector Plasma Screen For Drones ala Star Wars
'If the enemy persists in attacking or even intensifies their power, the density of the plasma in space will suddenly increase, causing it to reflect most of the incoming energy like a mirror.'

DIY Robotic Hand Made After Loss Of Fingers
'I made them... with the fine work of the watchmaker...'

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.