"scan" news and stories

Nicole recently posted about fingerprint scanners used by school cafeterias to ensure that kids are eating healthy meals. Well, some graduate students have now used similar technology to make getting junk food easier. An engineering professor at the University of California San Diego started the "biometric soda machine" project and students in his department have since outfitted a regular snack machine with thumbprint and facial recognition, as well as a bar code scanner, CR80 News reported. The goal of the project, known as SodaVision, is an easy, debit-based system where people can walk up to the machine, be recognized, choose their snack and walk away. A visit to the SodaVision site also has examples of the machine's interface, which looks like a screen from Star Trek.

[Via Pure Pedantry]

Some schools are offering parents a new way to watch what their kids eat. Instead of simply offering healthier choices in the school cafeteria, students will have to use a fingerprint scanner to "pay" for their foods. The scanner debits an account that the parents maintain and it will have built in spending limits, so parents can set aside $5, or whatever the cost of the school lunch is. The main benefit of the scanner is not to provide an easier way to pay for lunch, but to prevent kids from buying unhealthy junk foods when they're off campus. If they don't have any cash, they will be forced to "buy" their food as school, rather than skipping lunch and eating a king sized Kit Kat and a Slurpee after school.

There are other applications to the fingerprint scanners that might make them a more useful choice for schools, as well. For example, they could replace the regular "roll call" and students could sign in by scanning their finger when walking in to class.

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