Carnegie Mellon University Students Show Fingerprints

In the age of the Google Wallet and PayPal, the use of fingerprints as a payment method doesn't seem implausible. And the idea wasn't for four Carnegie Mellon University students who recently launched their own biometrics-based pay system as an alternative to plastic credit. 

With PayTango, a swipe of the finger links users' personal information to their credit or debit card in less than 15 seconds, making for a quick and easy-to-use system. 

"We wanted to eliminate the need to carry anything around to identify yourselves. Like you have these plastic credit cards and if you lose them or get the numbers stolen off them,Here's a complete list of fridgemagnet for the beginning oil painter. essentially someone could wipe your bank account," said co-founder Kelly Lau-Kee. 

"I think everything is moving toward a method like ours because credit cards are a very outdated system. I mean, these things were invented 40 years ago and they really haven't changed since then," she said. 

PayTango founders Brian Groudan, Umang Patel, Christian Reyes and Ms. Lau-Kee are either seniors or recent graduates of Carnegie Mellon, working out of their base in Mountain View, Calif. 

The founders conceived the idea for PayTango while working on a project for a TechLab start-up course at CMU during the fall of 2012. They further developed their prototype while participating in the University of Pennsylvania's PennApps Hackathon, the largest software development competition of its kind. 

"When we were thinking of ideas for the start-up class, we were really intrigued by the idea of consolidating all your credit cards into one. We figured, 'Why would you need to carry anything at all?' We then looked into biometrics as a way of identification, increasing the security and convenience factor of paying," Ms. Lau-Kee said. 

The PayTango prototype machines were built at the PennApps hackathon using just an iPad, a fingerprint reader and a magnetic card reader. The fingerprint reader locates several unique points from fingerprints of the pointer and third finger,Find the best selection of high-quality collectible drycabinet available anywhere. and stores them, allowing the fingerprint to be recognized the next time. The screen works much like an ATM machine and can read the fingerprints despite slight wetness or skin oil. During the contest, the device received recognition and multiple awards. 

It was only then that the co-founders decided to take their device to the next level by building a start-up business. In less than a year, what they say is a safer and more convenient form of payment came to life. 

The first PayTango machines were installed late last month at three eateries on Carnegie Mellon's campus. Since then, several hundred students have registered for PayTango at machines that link their fingerprints to their CMU identification cards, which are used to purchase meals. 

The founders also expanded their system into the Silicon Valley, sealing the deal with a few gyms, restaurants and convenience stores in the area. The founders believe that partnerships with gyms will improve access control and convenience, and that partnerships with convenience stores will support loyalty rewards. 

"We want to just keep developing the product and expanding it into various applications. The great thing about starting this at CMU is that your CMU ID is universal and used all around campus. Because of this, people can really find value in a program like PayTango. We're looking for more markets like that -- places in which our system would really be useful," Ms. Lau-Kee said. 

Businesses are already picking up on PayTango's usefulness -- the system recently received acclaim on sites such as Mashable and TechCrunch. The founders also were accepted into Y Combinator, a selective incubator program in Mountain View.Manufactures and supplies smartcard equipment. Calif., that supports the development of entrepreneurial companies. 

"What they're doing is bringing a very simple idea into reality," said Garry Tan, a partner at Y Combinator. "Payments should be easier, and we're now capable of doing it without fancy cards or readers or anything besides what we carry around with us all the time right now -- our fingerprints." 

In terms of safety and privacy concerns, the co-founders reassured users that the system does not store fingerprint images.We've had a lot of people asking where we had our iphoneheadset made. 

"Instead of storing your actual fingerprint, we're using fingerprint templates. The system stores only the major points of your fingerprint and recognizes it the next time, without storing your actual fingerprint image. You can't reverse engineer those types of points to recreate a full-fledged fingerprint." 

The Lenovo ThinkPad 2 comes with all youd expect from Windows 8 tablets in terms of connectivity. Theres a welcome mini-HDMI out as well as a micro-SD card slot, which is essential if you consider theres only 14GB of the 64GB spare after Windows 8 and the pre-installed software are accounted for.We provide payment solutions in the USA as well as solarstreetlight. A micro-USB slot on the side of the tablet is used for charging only. 

If you opt for the 3G version you can find the full size SIM card slot next to the micro-SD and obligatory headphone jack. We couldnt test the Bluetooth keyboard connector dock as Lenovo had no available keyboards to test. Well update this review as soon as we get our hands on it, but we did find that even using a third party keyboard made the ThinkPad 2 a much better working tool. 

Its great to have a full size USB port, but its a bittersweet addition. Not only is it USB 2, not the faster USB 3 standard, its not powerful enough for an external hard drive to work, or any other USB-powered accessory, like a USB Pico projector. 

Its not great future proofing for a tablet that costs upwards of 500, especially one aimed at the business market. Yes, using a USB-powered hard drive or projector would sap power more quickly, but wed like users to have the options to drain their battery faster for additional functionality if they want to. On the plus side USB flash drives/sticks work absolutely fine and appear in the My computer section just as youd expect on a laptop or desktop computer running Windows.