There are plenty of ways to keep the data on your computer secure. You could add a password to the login screen, encrypt the data on your hard drive, or carry your computer around in a briefcase handcuffed to your wrist and hope that nobody with a hacksaw is coming to get you. Or you could pick up a laptop with a fingerprint scanner that will only let you login to your computer when you swipe your unique-as-a-snowflake finger over it.

MyDellMini Forum member rich2871 didn’t feel like going out and buying a new netbook with a biometric sensor, so he opened up his netbook and installed one himself. Now, rich2871 is an experienced hacker. He’s also installed a 64GB SSD, an internal 4-port USB hub, and OS X.

The fingerprint scanner mod requires disassembling a USB fingerprint scanner, connecting it to the internal USB adapters, and carving out a piece of plastic from the palm wrest. Not exactly for the feint of heart. But the finished product looks pretty awesome, almost like the fingerprint scanner was meant to be there all along.

via Portable Monkey

Manli Technology is a company that’s best known for making graphics cards and motherboards, if it’s known at all. But the company had a new line of netbooks on show at Computex this week. The Manli iii has your typical netbook features plus a few extra goodies. In addition to the 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, 10.2 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, and flash card reader, the netbook has a fingerprint scanner and ExpressCard slot.

No word on RAM or hard drive capacity, but I’m willing to venture a guess that it packs 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive. Call it a hunch.

The Manli iii ships comes with either a 3 or 6 cell battery, and the netbook is available in black, white, red or pink. The company also offers an ExpressCard TV tuner accessory.

You can check out a video of the Manli iii from NetbookNews.de after the break.

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File this under things I should have noticed right away but didn’t. But if you take a look at the press shots for the upcoming Eee PC 1004DN, you’ll notice that the DVD drive isn’t the only unusual thing about this netbook. It’s also one of the first netbooks I’ve seen to have a built in fingerprint scanner. It’s hiding in plain site right below the arrow keys.

The fingerprint sensor is an AES1610 from AuthenTec. And it adds biometric security to your computer, so that nobody can login and access your programs or data without your fingerprint. Honestly, I think facial recognition makes a lot more sense for most netbooks, because it would be cheaper. Most netbooks already have built in webcams which means all you need is software to enable facial recognition. But the Eee PC 1004DN isn’t exactly your run of the mill cheapo netbook anyway, so what’s another few bucks for a biometric scanner?

via Help Net Security

Just because you only paid $300 for your netbook doesn’t mean you don’t store sensitive financial or work-related data on it. So while it might seem silly to add to the cost of a mini-laptop by including advanced security features like a biometric fingerprint scanner, I can certainly see some folks opting for a netbook with a bit more security. Especially as netbooks start to become more popular as business machines.

UPEK, a company that makes biometric security devices has announced the launch of fingerprint identification devices for netbooks and Mobile Internet Devices. In addition to hardware fingerprint scanners, UPEK offers software that lets users store their passwords and login information for web services, which means you can swipe your finger over your netbook to login to your email, work network, Facebook, or other web sites.

UPEK’s Fingerprint Suite Starter for low cost ultraportables wll be available in March and will support Windows XP. A Linux version will be available later this year, and the company plans to support Windows 7 Starter Edition as well. There’s no word on the pricing, but UPEK is marketing its technology to netbook makers, not end users. So you may see biometric scanners show up as an option on some mini-laptops in the future, but if you want to add a fingerpring authentication device to a laptop you already own, you’ll probably have to buy a different unit that you can plug into the USB drive.

via jkkmobile