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Silicon Valley Firm Unveils Military Biometrics Reader For iPhone

CAMPBELL (CBS SF) -- Following a U.S. Defense Department research grant, a Silicon Valley company has rolled out new iPhone app to allow users track eyes, facial features, voices, and fingerprints.

Campbell-based AOptix released the hardware/app package, which transforms the iPhone into a virtual biometric reader, according to an article in Wired Magazine's Danger Room.

Shortly after winning a $3 million research contract from the Pentagon, the company announced the package, which it calls 'Stratus.'

The device wraps around the iPhone, and the app gives users a simple interface to record the details of a subject's face and fingerprints.

Once the subject's info has been scanned, it's sent to the customer's database.

At $199, the app is not designed for everyday users, and the company hasn't disclosed the cost of the hardware.

"It's not a consumer application", a AOptix representative told Wired.

AOptix hasn't specified its customers, but has said they are from the U.S. government.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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