Gadgetory

some 15,000 passengers arrived at San Francisco Airport international terminal each day and now the airport has some high-tech help to speed them through customs SFO installed 40 self-service kiosks that eliminate the need to manually fill out customs paperwork filling out the form waiting in line handing it to an officer having that information be reviewed all of that can happen now in about 90 seconds or less at the kiosk passengers scan their passport take a picture and answer questions they can also submit fingerprints none of the information is stored on the machines passengers then take the printout to a customs officer to review the Vancouver Airport Authority which developed the machines says wait times have been reduced up to eighty nine percent for kiosk users there's a lot of eligible travelers u.s. Canadian passport holders people arriving under a visa waiver and that's about 35 different countries in the coming months the kiosks will be upgraded to include facial recognition technology the automated passport control system is being used in more than 30 airports including Los Angeles Chicago and New York's JFK the officers like it because it does be the process through it's a lot easier for them to see the information quickly the next big advance will involve your smartphone it's a lot easier I mean bringing us up to the modern age with electronics applications that can be used on your iPhone or your tablet an appt tested in Atlanta last year is now also available in Miami Seattle and Chicago's O'Hare the free app lets passengers fill out information on their mobile devices submitted upon arrival and head straight to a customs officer potentially cutting out wait I'm even more in San Francisco I'm Kara Tsuboi cnet.com for CBS News