Face-Saving Properties Will Give Cell Phones Added Bit of Security

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Facial recognition software, part of the hotly discussed field of “biometrics” technology, is moving from airports and police cars into mobile phones.


Challenged by the idea of lost cell phones providing a gateway into the personal information of their owners, Japan’s NTT DoCoMo is deploying facial recognition software into its mobile phones. And the technology comes from Santa Monica-based Neven Vision.


The feature allows the cell phone owner to specify which features will be security protected contacts, for example. When you try to access the contacts, the phone will automatically look at the user’s face and compare it to the photo image on file in the cell phone. Unauthorized faces will be denied access.


“So if you’re Paris Hilton, and you lose your cell phone, your Rolodex won’t be all of a sudden available to the rest of the world,” explained Neven Vision Chief Executive Alex Corey. The feature is particularly useful in Japan, where consumers use cell phones to make purchases from vending machines and participate in marketing promotions.


The licensing deal nets Neven Vision a fee on a per-handset basis whenever the technology is installed. Neven’s technology is being rolled out as a standard feature on one handset, a model by Sharp called the FOMATM SH902i. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.


“They’ve started with just the one handset model,” Corey said, “But my understanding is they’re moving this feature across the rest of their model lines.” NTT DoCoMo is one of the world’s largest mobile communications companies, serving more than 50 million customers. For five year-old Neven Vision, having the feature installed across NTTs flight of cell phones will be eye-opening, to say the least.



Industry Sounds


Another L.A.-based music social networking site has launched. MusicFreedom.com announced itself in March as a site catering to artists, managers, promoters, radio programmers, and of course, fans. That’s what makes this site different, according to Co-founder and Chief Executive Michael Tucker.


“A lot of those other sites don’t have a commercial back end,” Tucker said. “You can either stream it or give it away for free. But in the music industry, free downloads don’t transfer in the real world.”


A former music production executive who received a Grammy nomination in 2001 while working with boy-band N’Sync, Tucker is focused on creating a site for music industry types. MusicFreedom allows artists to post music for free, but does not offer free downloads. Mirroring other music sites, it offers individual tracks for 99 cents and albums for $9.99. MusicFreedom takes a 50 percent share of music sales.


Artists can set up their own Web pages at no cost, and MusicFreedom will provide them with detailed reports on fan interest and sales information. Industry professionals can also subscribe to artists’ pages and receive the tracking information. The site’s other founders include writer/producer Alex Greggs, who has worked with N’Sync, Britney Spears and Ricky Martin. The third founder of the venture is Bill Marquez, an Internet entrepreneur whose past ventures include search engine Netster and online florist Intercontinental Flowers. In four months operating as a beta site, Tucker said MusicFreedom has about 1,500 artist pages and about 10,000 users in the community.



*Staff reporter Hilary Potkewitz can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 226, or at

[email protected]

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