Apple tests self-driving cars, Android devices now FIDO2 certified | TECH(feed)

hey everyone, welcome back to tech feed. i’m juliet beauchamp. the days of memorizing all of your passwords could soon be behind us… and the days of apple’s self-driving cars are ahead of us. all that and more on today’s episode, so stick around.

starting off with some news out of mobile world congress in barcelona… android devices are now fido2 certified, meaning developers can now add passwordless access to their apps and websites. users will be able to use their phones’ fingerprint sensor or special security keys to access their accounts and therefore protect themselves from potential phishing attacks. this will also make things easier for users--no need to worry about memorizing all of your passwords for all of your different accounts… because no one only has one password for everything anymore… right?

in an effort to prevent the spread of misinformation, pinterest has eliminated all search results related to vaccines. anti-vaxxers have used pinterest, as well as other social media sites, to spread misinformation about vaccines. now, when a user searches keywords related to vaccines on the site, nothing comes up. this is a big move in the larger battle for social media companies to crack down on the spread of conspiracies and misinformation. youtube, for example, demonitizes content related to anti-vaccine rhetoric. however, this is just a temporary fix for pinterest. a spokeswoman for the company notes it is working with experts to create a long-term strategy to prevent users from quote “encountering harmful misinformation.”

by now, we know that luxury smartphone sales are on the steady decline. but a new report from gartner reveals why fewer and fewer people are shelling out a thousand dollars to buy the latest high-end smartphone. and that’s one reason why people aren’t upgrading as regularly--the price of smartphones has become astronomical, with models easily reaching quadruple digit prices. the report also points to fewer innovative features in new phone releases as a reason that people are hanging on to their old models. this problem disproportionately affects manufacturers like apple, which only offers top tier smartphones. companies like huawei, which offer some lower-level smartphone options for a tenth of the price of an iphone, have actually seen sales growth.

fortunately, apple isn’t strapped for ways to make some extra cash. a newly released white paper dives into the company’s plan for testing its autonomous vehicles. the report reveals ongoing trials for its cars, including how often human drivers take over in testing, what resources the vehicles use to plan their next move, and what safety features the cars have in place. while the release of truly autonomous, driverless vehicles from any company is likely years and years away, reports like this reveal that we are closer than ever. maybe next we’ll have flying cars?

thanks for watching today’s episode of tech feed. if you liked this video, give it a thumbs up and make sure to subscribe to our channel. and let me know how soon we’ll have driverless cars on the road. one year? five years? twenty? tell me what you think. see you next time.