Nokia N900

In a world where smartphone unlock pattern and PINs can be with no trouble gleaned from display muck, and computer passwords can be deciphered from the telltale audible clicks of the keyboard, it's any wonder that research is funded for alternative identity verification schemes. One promising technology is face verification, technology we've already seen implemented in webcams, laptops, and more recently, Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox 360. Where we haven't seen it broadly deployed is in the easy-to-lose smartphone, at least not with the level of sophistication achieved by the University of Manchester (UK). Using an N900, the research team developed a prototype that quickly locks and tracks 22 facial features in real time (even when upside down) using the Nokia's front-facing camera. The Active Appearance modeling technique was developed for the EU-funded Mobile Biometrics (MoBio) project as a means of using face verification to authenticate smartphone access to social media sites. Unfortunately, there's no mention of how long Manchester's face-verified login actually takes. Nevertheless, the video, apparently shot in a steam room full of hot man smudge, is worth a peep after the break.
Nokia N900 does real-time face tracking for verification video