Amanda Smith is a freelance journalist and writer. She reports on culture, society, human interest and technology. Her stories hold a mirror to society, reflecting both its malaise and its beauty.

Shelby Putnam Tupper is founder and creative director of Shelby Designs Inc., a small-but-mighty, full-service, customer-obsessed design consultancy.

Using an internal fingerprint reader is just a matter of making sure it’s activated in the BIOS. Using an external reader with your desktop or laptop is typically a plug-and-play process. In either ...