Author: centexitguy Page 44 of 140

Understanding Eye Tracking Technology

On November 18, 2019

Eye tracking defines the process of identifying where we look, in technical terms, it is referred as tracking the “point of gaze”. It also involves recording what do we ignore, when do we blink and how does our pupil react to different stimuli. The technology is being widely used in different sectors including healthcare, business marketing, website usability research, etc.

Concept Of Eye Tracking Technology

An “Eye Tracker” is used to collect the data related to movement of the eyes. It consists of two basic components; namely a light source and a camera. The light source is used to direct infrared light towards the eyes. This causes detectable reflections in the pupil and cornea of the eye. The reflection vector is tracked by the camera to record the eye movement.

Infrared light is used as it offers better accuracy as compared to visible light. Light falling in visible spectrum range tends to generate uncontrolled specular reflection. On the contrary, infrared light enters the pupil directly, while it bounces off the iris. This generates clear demarcation of the pupil adding to the accuracy of reflections. Also, the infrared light is not visible to the human eye and thus, it doesn’t generate any distraction to the user while his eye movement is being tracked.

Types Of Eye Trackers:

Screen-Based Eye Trackers: They are mounted either below or close to the screen. They allow the respondent to be seated comfortably in front of the monitor and record eye movement from a distance. Although the devices record eye movement within certain limits known as head box; they still allow freedom of movement to the respondent. The devices are used when observing results for a screen-based stimulus such as magazines, books, pictures, videos, websites, etc.
Head-Mounted Eye Trackers: These include mobile device trackers which are fitted near the eyes (commonly mounted in eyeglass frames). Thus, they allow greater degree of freedom of movement to the respondent. However, high degree of movement may result in shifting of the glasses while recording the eye movement. This type of eye tracker devices are used when observation has to be made for objects or tasks in real life or virtual environments such as usability studies, product testing, etc.

Business Applications Of Eye Tracking Technology:

Market Research: Eye tracking helps in measuring attention to brand or products. Thus, business owners use the technology to evaluate their products, designs or buying behavior to optimize overall customer experience.
Usability Research: The technology is being extensively used to measure user experience offered by a website. It helps the developers and business website owners in recognizing the areas that attract user attention or areas that need to be improved.
Packaging Research: Before a product is launched, thorough research is done to design a package that can get enough visual attention on store shelves. Eye tracking technology is usually used for designing the packages and understanding customers’ preferences.
Advertizing: Eye tracking is being used by business marketing professionals to measure the effectiveness of design concepts & placement of advertizement posts (print media and online).

For more information on latest trends in business technology, call Centex Technologies at (254) 213 – 4740.

Advancements In Biometrics

By centexitguy

On October 29, 2019

In Tech Buzz

Biometrics and secure digital solutions are evolving continuously with the increasing need for surveillance and security. Availability of greater computer processing power and sophisticated software algorithms have contributed towards the improvement of existing methods. These advancements have transformed the conventional ways of user identification and verification. The paradigms of next-generation biometrics have evolved in every aspect, from fingerprint scanning to voice recognition.

Major vendors are investing significantly in bringing advancements in biometric solutions. Technologies that are transforming our conventions are:

Phone ID and Voice ID: Combining phone ID and voice ID will not require the customers to enter personal ID or security numbers for completion of authentication. The unique enrollment process involves repetition of a short phrase to create a unique voice print. This proceeds with the need for customers to call from their registered phone numbers. This advanced technology comes with the ability to detect if user’s voice is being played on a recorder. The technology is a unique combination that offers the highest standards of security and also prevent fraud.
Facial Recognition For Airport Security: Advanced facial recognition play a vital part in ensuring safety and security. Thus, it has found an important application in airport security. There is an upcoming facial recognition technology at the airports that will ensure security in its highest standards. The security scanners, through which the passengers pass, will be equipped with an advanced biometric security system. With implementation of this technology, the passengers will not be required to print their boarding pass. This will facilitate paperless and self-boarding process.
Fingerprint Biometrics For Voter Verification Systems: Fingerprint biometric technologies are being implied to voter verification systems. These are developed to conduct elections in a peaceful and fair manner. This technology assists the authorities to verify and identify voters through fingerprints. It will reduce the chances of fraud, streamline the verification process and offer convenience to the citizens by reducing waiting times. This system will avoid the chances of multiple votes with different identities. Also, this will help in maintaining quality and confidentiality of data.
Cybersecurity With Biometrics: Improved biometric technologies provide new kind of digital identity data, ways to collect it and opportunities for its use. It greatly reduces the risk of unknown individuals attacking confidential data in different fields. Hence, biometrics will become an increasingly valuable tool for verifying identities in a deeply interconnected national security environment.

For more information on advancements in biometric industry, call Centex Technologies at (254) 213 – 4740.

Key Lessons On Digital Transformations

By centexitguy

On October 26, 2019

In Tech Buzz

PDF Version: Key-Lessons-On-Digital-Transformations

Understanding Graphical User Authentication

By centexitguy

On October 24, 2019

In Security

With continuous growth in the number of cyber-attacks, user authentication has become one of the most important aspects in information security. User authentication is accomplished through passwords that should be entered by a user in order to prove his identity and gain access to a computer or communication system. Traditionally, text based passwords are used for authentication. However, text passwords are highly vulnerable and pose as an easy target for hackers. Thus, modern authentication techniques based on graphical methods are now being used to combat hacking practices.

Graphical user authentication is an attractive alternative to alphanumeric passwords. To setup a password, the users have to select an image at a series of subsequent screens. The images are presented specifically in a graphical user interface. As a large number of pictures are presented at every screen; the number of possible combination of images is extensive. This offers better resistance to dictionary attacks as compared to text-based password approach. Also, the graphical password approach is considered to be more user friendly than a text based password.

Due to the advantages that graphical passwords offer, there is a growing usage of these in workstations and web log-in applications. Graphical passwords are also being applied to ATM machines and mobile devices.

Categories of graphical password techniques are:

Recognition Based System: In this technique, the user is presented with a set of images and is challenged to identify a single or more images that were selected during the registration stage. The user has to identify the pre-selected images in order to be authenticated. Such recognition systems are also called search metric systems. To use graphical recognition schemes, the system is required to retain some information from user specific profile data. This helps the system to know which images belong to a user’s portfolio and display them at the time of login authentication.
Recall Based System: In recall based techniques, the user is required to create a drawing to set up the password. The recall based passwords are typically drawn on a blank canvas or a grid. At the time of login, the user has to reproduce the drawing that he created during the registration process. These graphical based systems are referred to as draw metric systems because user authentication is based on using the drawn image as a reference.

Following are some points that should be considered before implementing a graphical password:

The password contains image as a reference and encryption algorithm.
The login contains username, images, graphical password and related methods.
SSR shield for shoulder surfing.
The grids contain unique grid values and grid clicking related methods.

For more information on graphical user authentication, call Centex Technologies at (254) 213 – 4740.

Latest Innovations In Blockchain Technology

By centexitguy

On October 18, 2019

In IT Support

Ultra-modern business systems based on latest technologies like Augmented Reality, AI, IoT and Blockchain are changing the way enterprises used to function. Among these, blockchain is a relatively new revolutionary technology that is impacting various industries miraculously.

Understanding Blockchain:

Blockchain is a global online database where data or information is stored in a chain of blocks. It is managed by a cluster of computers but not owned by any single entity. Each of these blocks of data is secured and bound to each other using cryptographic principles. Through this technology, you can securely exchange any kind of transactions. It has brought a new perspective to security, resiliency and efficiency of systems.

Innovations in blockchain have enabled more agile value chains, faster product innovations, quicker integration and much more.

Lightning Networks: To match the current payment processors without sacrificing decentralization, lightning networks have been designed to facilitate majority of bitcoin transactions. This type of network does not need block confirmations while making payments as they are instant and atomic. It also allows financially viable micro transactions where transfer of value occurs off-chain. Only the balance of the channels is broadcasted, dramatically reducing the load of chain.
Sharding In IOST: Internet of Services Token (IOST) is an enterprise-level blockchain system. Many blockchains are constrained by their scalability capabilities; so, IOST is implementing its unique form of ‘Sharding’ to overcome this limitation. Sharding is a method of data partitioning that splits a database into smaller and easily manageable segments called ‘shards’. The customized sharding method introduced by IOST is called ‘Efficiently Distributed Sharding’. It reduces transaction processing workload on individual node and increases the total transaction throughput of the network which is proportional to increase in number of nodes. This ensures that IOST blockchain is infinitely scalable.
Secret Contracts: Privacy is pivotal for usage of blockchain among mass number of users. The privacy issues are now solved by some blockchain developers such as ‘Enigma’ by implementing an innovative technology called ‘Secret Contracts’. Data that runs through Enigma’s secret smart contracts can be processed by nodes without actually seeing any of the data they are operating on.
Interoperability: Importance of interoperability in blockchain is vital so that users won’t have to switch from one blockchain to another blockchain for every separate application they are using. The leaders in blockchain industry, such as ‘Ark’, are working on harmonizing the blockchain space by facilitating inter chain communication. This can be facilitated by incorporating a technology that allows different blockchains to connect and communicate with each other.

For more information on innovations in blockchain technology, call Centex Technologies at (254) 213 – 4740.