High-Tech Diary for Kids Has Face Unlock Security

A high-tech new diary for kids uses facial recognition to keep their secrets safe.

Made by children’s toy maker VTech, the new Kidi Secrets Selfie Journal features front and rear cameras to let kids take photos of themselves – as its name suggests – and to keep a photo journal. It also lets them record messages, play games, take care of a virtual pet, and – last but not least – write diary entries.

And all of this is kept private with the journal’s use of facial recognition, with the device designed to unlock only when the registered user is looking at it.

It’s the latest example of the proliferation and mainstreaming of biometric technology. Facial recognition in particular is enjoying something of a moment, now that Apple has helped to normalize it through the Face ID authentication system of its iPhone X; and while face scanning has also emerged as a controversial technology when used by police, it appears that a growing number of consumers are getting used to the idea of engaging with this technology in everyday life. And the kids who use the Kidi Secretes Selfie Journal will, of course, have grown up with this technology.

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August 28, 2018 – by Alex Perala