Prophecy Surge: The Barcode In Your Hand

Imagine just waving your hand over a screen to pay the check at a restaurant. It might sound like something from a "Star Trek" episode, but researchers at Snowflake Technologies in Memphis are well on their way to making it happen. Using technology developed by their parent company, Luminetx Corp., Snowflake personnel are in the process of developing a device that can identify a person by the patterns of veins in his or her hand. "We read your veins like barcodes - and no two are alike," said Jim Phillips, president and chief executive officer of Memphis-based Luminetx. Luminetx is the company behind the VeinViewer, a medical device that promises to revolutionize the way people have blood drawn by projecting an image of a person's veins right onto their skin using infrared light and a computer. Using that same technology, Snowflake is developing a device designed on the concept of biometrics, which are automated methods of identifying, or authenticating, the identity of a living person based on a unique physiological or behavioral characteristic. In this case, the unique characteristic is a pattern of veins on any part of human anatomy, from the foot to the forehead. The technology works because every person has a unique vein pattern, even identical twins. Other forms of biometric IDs include fingerprinting and iris scans, but Phillips said the device Snowflake is developing beats the others hands down. Fingerprints, he said, can be left behind on a surface and easily lifted. Irises can be altered with contact lenses.