Carly Mallenbaum hosts USA NOW for Sept. 19, 2013, raising the question, how would you program your new iPhone to unlock?
Carly Mallenbaum, USA TODAY 11:48 a.m. EDT September 19, 2013
The new iPhone 5S with fingerprint technology is displayed during an Apple product announcement on Sept. 10, 2013, in Cupertino, Calif.(Photo: Getty)
What do Jimmy Fallon, a cat's paw and a severed finger have to do with the new iPhone? Read on!
Sept. 20 is the first day you can order the new iPhone 5S. The new phone comes with new colors, a better camera and a more advanced processor. Reviewers seem to agree that the new software works really well. But the feature that everyone's talking about – and goofing on -- is the fingerprint sensor, called Touch ID, which can be used to access your phone. Jimmy Fallon was one of the many comedians who joked about the futuristic technology, saying that phone thieves would now cut off a victim's finger in order to use the stolen phone.
Fortunately, a severed finger cannot grant access into someone's iPhone. At least according to Mashable. The news site talked to an expert who said the sensor technology requires a live finger to grant access.
And so far, there's no publicly known hack to, say, lift a print from a beer mug to access a phone. But there is a site, istouchidhackedyet.com, which offers money to the first person who can break into an iPhone 5s.
As of now, the Touch ID system worksl. Our Tech reporter Ed Baig, says he could even effectively use the fingerprint sensor while he was opening an umbrella.
Plenty of critics agree. Like David Pogue of the New York Times, who writes about Touch ID: "It's genuinely awesome; the haters can go jump off a pier."
The fingerpoint sensor is an option – you can still use the "slide to unlock" feature and passcode on the new phone. But that's not as fun as programming up to five prints to open the phone – and I'm not necessarily talking about fingerprints.
You could use a pawprint! That's what TechCrunch reporter Darrell Etherington discovered when he was reviewing the phone. His cat's paw could access the 5S.
Etherington also tested out his palm, forearm and wrist and found that they all could open the phone.
Which brings us to this question: How would you program your phone to unlock? Tell us on Twitter with #USANOW.
Carly Mallenbaum, USA TODAY 11:48 a.m. EDT September 19, 2013
The new iPhone 5S with fingerprint technology is displayed during an Apple product announcement on Sept. 10, 2013, in Cupertino, Calif.(Photo: Getty)
What do Jimmy Fallon, a cat's paw and a severed finger have to do with the new iPhone? Read on!
Sept. 20 is the first day you can order the new iPhone 5S. The new phone comes with new colors, a better camera and a more advanced processor. Reviewers seem to agree that the new software works really well. But the feature that everyone's talking about – and goofing on -- is the fingerprint sensor, called Touch ID, which can be used to access your phone. Jimmy Fallon was one of the many comedians who joked about the futuristic technology, saying that phone thieves would now cut off a victim's finger in order to use the stolen phone.
Fortunately, a severed finger cannot grant access into someone's iPhone. At least according to Mashable. The news site talked to an expert who said the sensor technology requires a live finger to grant access.
And so far, there's no publicly known hack to, say, lift a print from a beer mug to access a phone. But there is a site, istouchidhackedyet.com, which offers money to the first person who can break into an iPhone 5s.
As of now, the Touch ID system worksl. Our Tech reporter Ed Baig, says he could even effectively use the fingerprint sensor while he was opening an umbrella.
Plenty of critics agree. Like David Pogue of the New York Times, who writes about Touch ID: "It's genuinely awesome; the haters can go jump off a pier."
The fingerpoint sensor is an option – you can still use the "slide to unlock" feature and passcode on the new phone. But that's not as fun as programming up to five prints to open the phone – and I'm not necessarily talking about fingerprints.
You could use a pawprint! That's what TechCrunch reporter Darrell Etherington discovered when he was reviewing the phone. His cat's paw could access the 5S.
Etherington also tested out his palm, forearm and wrist and found that they all could open the phone.
Which brings us to this question: How would you program your phone to unlock? Tell us on Twitter with #USANOW.