Talking about the new Jelly Bean operating system for Android, that is. No actual jelly bean cares if you’re alive; they’re candy. Google has been offering a “face unlock” feature for a while now where you can set your phone to unlock only if it recognizes you. But couldn’t I steal someone’s phone and then hold up a picture of that person? Well, yeah, maybe, but the new version of Android’s OS will require that you blink, thus proving you’re a real person standing there and not some photo. Neat!
From Gizmodo:
So in Android 4.1 it ought to be a little tougher to fool thanks to the optional blink detection setting, unless you print out a life-sized photo of the owner, cut out holes for the eyes and blink through the holes. Which is probably a bit too much fuss for the chance to read someone else’s mundane SMS messages.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.