The Nymi is the first wearable authentication technology in the form of a heart-sensing wristband that allows users to take control of your identity through cardiac rhythm recognition. If this truly works, we now don’t need to fumble with multiple passwords, pins and locks. Automatic, non-transferable authentication.
Indeed, simply wave your hand in front of a sensor, and you will be granted access, provided you are well and alive with a beating heart. You can use Nymi to wirelessly take control of your computer, your smartphone, and even your car.
Why? Because the Nymi tracks cardiac rhythm. Which is all very well, because now the old-school methods of chopping off someone’s hand for a thumbprint scan or stealing an eyeball for an eye-scan would simply not work.
How does it work? The website reads: When you clasp the Nymi around your wrist it powers on. By placing a finger on the topside sensor while your wrist is in contact with the bottom sensor, you complete an electrical circuit. After you feel a vibration and see the LEDs illuminate, your Nymi knows you are you and your devices will too. You will stay authenticated until your Nymi is taken off.
Nymi is not available for sales yet, but you can preorder it at $79.
Let’s think outside the box for the other applications the Nymi would have apart from secure transactions and unlocking doors:
Truancy would be a thing of the past
If schools were to implement a Nymi heart tracking system for lectures, there would be no way one can get a friend to mark your attendance by taking your ID and tapping you in. Finally, a whole lecture room of thirsty minds and beating hearts. Same thing applies to all work places with tap-in cards.
No fumbling with switching one device on after another in the same room
Like Dumbledore in the modern world, just wave your arm to summon your iPad, iPhone, TV, Set-top box and air-conditioning awake all at once upon your entrance into the room. All made possible with the proximity based technology in the Nymi.
Hospitals can now better prioritise who to attend to in the A&E section
Given that having a Nymi on all the patients is akin to wiring up everyone with heart monitors without the hassle, the hospital staff can now truly differentiate who really needs medical attention, as opposed to a patient pretending to have a cardiac arrest just to get to see the doctor first.
Another step in the age of wearable technology.
