Hello,

I hope you are well. This week we are talking about serious subjects, video games, the right to be forgotten and an express application.

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🔐 A serious step towards a world without password

Even though I follow tech closely and have an interest in security, I had completely missed out on FIDO.
Nothing to do with Fido Dido that older people know but with an authentication standard that allows you to do without passwords.

FIDO for Fast Identity Online, is an alliance created around ten years ago to solve one of the biggest problems of our digital lives: the password.

Or how to no longer have to choose between security and simplicity.

We have hundreds of passwords and many people still choose simple or duplicate words between several services. You may be one of them and far be it from me to judge, but there are very good password managers that make the task much easier (we talk about it in this episode of podcast).

But we may have just witnessed a historic announcement since on May 5 Google, Apple and Microsoft committed to applying FIDO in their products, which should considerably boost usage and democratize the disappearance of passwords.

I remind you that between them, they offer 99% of mobile and desktop operating systems. In other words, everything that runs the devices we use every day is managed either by Apple (iOS, MacOS), or by Microsoft (Windows), or by Google (Android, Chrome OS).

The ambitious goal: not using a password must be simpler than using a password.

How does FIDO work?

In fact, FIDO does not really remove passwords but it allows in the majority of cases to no longer have to enter them by linking them to the OS of the device you are using. Everything is secured by the biometric sensors (touch ID, Face ID) of said devices.

Concretely imagine that you try to connect to your Gmail account from your PC, you will receive a notification on your phone allowing you via Face ID or Touch ID to validate that it is really you and therefore automatically enter the password. Bluetooth will ensure the proximity between the device from which you are trying to connect (the PC) and the one which serves as biometric keys (the telephone).

So you really no longer have to enter a password.

Okay, I'm asking myself some practical questions, such as how it all works if you only have one device, but it's difficult to be a killjoy on this one, we're really facing a change that will radically simplify our main means to access our digital lives.

🔫 Fortnite: The Microsoft Masterstroke

You can have an excellent product without being able to convince people to give it a chance.

And then sometimes, you know how to seize an opportunity to make your product visible and show how much of a game-changer it is.

That's what happened last last week with Microsoft and its cloud gaming service XCloud.

Return to an announcement that took everyone by surprise: the return of Fortnite on Apple iOS devices.

It all started in August 2020, when Apple removed one of the most popular games in the world from its App Store. Fortnite is banned because its publisher Epic allowed microtransactions in the game by bypassing Apple's 30% commission.

Google followed suit by also ejecting the famous game from its store.
There followed a huge legal battle at the end of which Fortnite continued its life outside of Apple and Google devices.

All this held until May 5 when Microsoft announced in a press release that they were bringing Fortnite back to devices Apple simply by accessing the game from the browser of iPhones and iPads.

It's called cloud gaming and it consists of being able to play video games from a browser and therefore without a console. Microsoft is one of the leaders in the field with its Xcloud offering but it must be recognized that it was until now rather well known to Xbox users.

By bringing Fortnite back to iOS, Microsoft shows that a simple browser can run real games and offers this with disconcerting simplicity:

• A Microsoft account (I'm sure you have an old hotmail account lying around)
• An iOS/iPad OS device

In short, very nice move advertising which takes advantage of a battle between 2 actors to highlight the technology of a 3rd.

Next step announced: make the service available directly as an app on your connected TV.

I only have one thing to say: Well Done!

🧹 Google is cleaning up

Google has just announced that they now allow anyone to request the removal of their personal data from search results.

I only have one thing to say: it's about time.

In fact, for various reasons, we can have personal data that is accessible with one click on Google and it can cause serious problems. I'm not talking about your photo from a slightly alcoholic business school party, but information which, if it falls into the wrong hands, could cause you serious harm.

I'm thinking in particular of your address, telephone number or email, an identity document, banking information, a medical document or your signature. With just one of these pieces of information, an ill-intentioned person can do a lot of damage.

Google has therefore just set up a form that allows you to request the deindexing of this information. Of course, nothing is automatic here, the web giant analyzes all requests and reserves the right to refuse.
And even if it grants your request, it just means that the information is no longer within search range but Google does not have the power to delete this data from the web. For this we will have to rely on cleaning services like those I talked about in the newsletter #27 on the business of online slander.

🫶 fastest application in the world

I am always amazed by the originality that certain candidates can demonstrate who have understood that to get noticed you have to stand out from the crowd and be memorable.

This week I came across the video CV of Vincent Teffenne which is the fastest application in the world... quite simply.

In fact in 14 seconds, Vincent achieves the feat of showing you numerous creations of Motion design while telling you the address of his portfolio.

All without saying a word. I'll let you watch the video because there's a clever twist.

I love it!