Ever wished your PC was, well, a bit more like a smartphone? This new dongle lets PC owners adopt one widespread mobile feature.
Synaptics has developed a plug-in USB dongle that lets you add fingerprint authentication to any PC or notebook – just like an iPhone. The dongle is basically a small fingerprint scanner, intended as an inexpensive upgrade for those unimpressed with their device security.
“All things equal, fingerprint authentication is significantly more secure than typing passwords, and when combined with the convenience of not remembering and changing multiple passwords, it should end the debate,” said Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.
It’s simple enough. You just plug the dongle into your notebook, go through a quick setup process, and voila: fingerprint PC access that works with both Windows Hello and Microsoft Passport.
Godfrey Cheng, VP of Marketing at Synaptics, said:
“The rapid growth of online payments combined with the critical need for protecting access to PC data for businesses and consumers alike is driving the need for high performance biometric authentication.”
Synaptics hasn’t announced pricing or an exact release date just yet, but says that the dongle will enter mass production in the fourth quarter of 2016.
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Would you like Synaptics’ fingerprint scanner dongle? Let us know in the comments.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.