Month: March 2022

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In August 2020, President Donald Trump dropped a bombshell executive order banning TikTok in the United States. Since then, as TikTok has competed against other Big Tech companies—growing among teen users while Facebook and others have struggled—its ability to survive in the United States has remained under a cloud of uncertainty. Would regulators step in and kill off a product that had become a staple form of communication for some 100 million Americans?

That cloud seemed to lift last week in the wake of reports that TikTok will enter into a data storage deal with Oracle. In the short term, the agreement would be good for US users, enabling TikTok to invest more of its resources and energy into improving its product, rather than wrestling with the government.

Enlarge (credit: Elena Lacey)

After years of tantalizing hints that a passwordless future is just around the corner, you’re probably still not feeling any closer to that digital unshackling. Ten years into working on the issue, though, the FIDO Alliance, an industry association that specifically works on secure authentication, thinks it has finally identified the missing piece of the puzzle.

On Thursday, the organization published a white paper that lays out FIDO’s vision for solving the usability issues that have dogged passwordless features and, seemingly, kept them from achieving broad adoption. FIDO’s members collaborated to produce the paper, and they span chipmakers like Intel and Qualcomm, prominent platform developers like Amazon and Meta, financial institutions like American Express and Bank of America, and the developers of all major operating systems—Google, Microsoft, and Apple.

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

It’s the weekend, which means it’s time for another Dealmaster. Our latest roundup of the best tech deals from around the web includes a good price on the Apple Watch Series 7, as the 41mm variant of Apple’s flagship smartwatch is currently down to $339 at Amazon and Walmart.

The Series 7 is the top pick in our guide to the best smartwatches: it has the same excellent build quality and robust software as any other Apple Watch, but adds a larger and always-on display, faster charging, and more advanced health tracking features like blood oxygen monitoring and ECG functionality. It’s still not the most in-depth activity tracker, it’s still for iPhone users only, and there’s no real need to upgrade if you already own a Series 6. But it remains a well-rounded wearable that works for both basic-but-useful health tracking and smartphone-style utility. And while the Apple Watch SE is a fine alternative for those on a tighter budget, it sacrifices the always-on display, a little processing power, the faster charging rates, ECG, and blood oxygen tracking by comparison.

Note that only the green and “midnight” colors are available at this price. We’ve also seen the Series 7 fall into the $350-360 range a few times in recent months. Still, if you’ve been looking to take the plunge, this discount matches the lowest price we’ve tracked to date and comes in a good $60 below Apple’s MSRP.