I was just reading some papers and thought of an interesting idea that would allow one handheld computer (iPhone) to identify itself to a laptop/desktop.
I am wondering if you can transmit vibration from the phone in a controlled way. Four example via low frequency (inaudiable) sounds or use of the vibrating mechanism found on many phones. The experiment would be to see if the desktop computer such as a laptop could detect the vibration with it's accelerometer witj enough fidelity to pick out a signal.
Thus one phone could be used to login to a laptop by placing it on the laptop's surface. It would transmit a short binary stream which would be an encrypted identifier.
I guess if you were using your iPhone as a way of identifying yourself ( keys to computer ) then you could use the cameras/screens as well.
Some students at UCL generated a nice system using bird tweets to transmit short packets of data between phones that could share images with other physically co-present users.
The idea is that by using touch or visual techniques it would be very difficult for someone to do a man in the middle attack which is more possible with a wireless transmission stream (e.g BlueTooth).
The system would be more convenient than having to remember your password on different computers but it would be as and secure as your house is (if you lose your keys a stranger can use them on your house). Equally if you lose your phone and don't do anything about it then your access to Desktop computers would be compromised.
I guess a working system would be more convenient if getting your phone out and launching an app is quicker than remembering and typing your password accurately. This is a bit debatable but for people who don't like writing or remembering ( eg. youg children, people with cognitive impairments and possibly the elderly) it could be a good working alternative.
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