Latest By
Category:


Armor
Artificial Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work

"If I had to get a new Ph.D. now, I'd get it in polymer engineering - the manipulation of matter."
- Bart Kosko

Portable Ident-Plate  
  A small, thin device that will capture biometric data from a person's finger.  

I think this is a pretty good prediction of an item that is commonplace today.

He took out his wallet and aimed its lens first at Spivey and then at the man's glowing credential. Quickly he dialed the private security service he used for such things and pressed his thumb to the ident-plate. In three seconds the tiny screen flashed a terse confirmation.
From Earth, by David Brin.
Published by Bantam in 1990
Additional resources -

These are now available on a variety of laptop computers and even small, pocket-sized PDAs.

Take a look at this tiny USB key with a fingerprint reader; the CR-FP2 and CR-FP3 USB keys have a sensor with a with what is described as 1/10000000 precision. The CR-FP3 has 512MB of memory and weights 11g.


(Elecom USB with fingerprint reader)

Comment/Join this discussion (BACK ON!) ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Earth
  More Ideas and Technology by David Brin
  Tech news articles related to Earth
  Tech news articles related to works by David Brin

Articles related to Computer
Millimeter-Scale Computing For 'Internet of Things'
Fujitsu Touchscreen Mixes Real And Virtual Worlds
Nanowire Memristor Networks Form 'Brains'
US Census Will Be Online In 2020

Want to Contribute an Item? It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add it here.

<Previous
Next>

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.

 

 

 

 

More News

'Marauder's Map' Created By Carnegie Melllon
'Is that Dumbledore in his study?'

Cheetah Cub Robot From PKD's Android Dreams
'What about an exact electric duplicate of your cat?'

Dead Cellphone? Try Solar-Powered Public Charging Stations
'Then he saw the geek ... leaning against one of the slender stalks of a sunshade-photocell collector...'

Hungry? Grow Nutritious Insects At Home
'...I balked when my wife served me termites.'

Snowboarding On Mars? Heinlein Was Ready
How long ago did Robert Heinlein write about skiing on dry alien worlds?

Orwell's '1984' Hits Bestseller Lists Thanks To PRISM
'There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment.'

Roboroach Control? There's An App For That
'A cable, here, from the controller to the interface plug... wires from that to the brain.'

Court OK's DNA Collection Like 'Gattaca'
DNA sampling is not the same as fingerprinting.

Squid Vs. Whale Diorama Liked By Humans, Aliens
'Everything was ready, awaiting the Overlords' pleasure...'

Iceberg Harvesting Off Newfoundland's Coast
'Five hundred billion gallons worth of Antarctic iceberg had been towed into Santa Monica Bay.'

More SF in the News

More Beyond Technovelgy

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

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.