Unlocking with the face

A dozen male train drivers in Sweden have circumvented a ban on shorts by wearing skirts to work in hot weather. The workers, who operate the Roslagsbanan line north of the capital Stockholm, have been wearing skirts to work for the past two weeks. Employer Arriva banned the drivers from wearing shorts after taking over the running of the line in January. But the company has given the men its blessing to wear skirts, according to local newspaper Mitti. That is actually an inventive way around such a problem, but here's another: Android users could soon be asked to pull a series of faces to unlock their phones or tablets. Google has filed a patent suggesting users stick out their tongue or wrinkle their nose in place of a password. It says requiring specific gestures could prevent the existing Face Unlock facility being fooled by photos. The Jelly Bean version of Android introduced the need for users to blink their eyes as a check, but users soon demonstrated it could be fooled. A spokesman for Google was unable to comment on when the suggested technology might be implemented, but the faces made could make you look like a total bellend, so I suggest switching to an iPhone. You can set an actual password instead of a 4-digit PIN to unlock it, and you can even put accented letters (including ä, é, ç, and ñ) in that password. That is definitely more secure than making a series of faces.