Osram’s latest infrared LED reduces red glow

When Osram opened its $440 million Malaysian LED chip factory late last year, it touted a belief that LEDs will serve many purposes in a digitally connected world, not just illumination. Backing up that outlook, it today introduced an upgraded infrared (IR) LED for facial recognition to unlock computers and phones. Two-dimensional facial recognition is one of several biometric technologies, along with iris scans, fingerprints, and others, that protect gadgets from unauthorized access. The technology compares an image with previously stored data on features such as the width of the mouth, the length of the nasal ridge, and the distance between eyes.