The Daily Valet. - 3/15/22, Tuesday

✔️ The End of Passwords?

March 15, 2022

Tuesday, March 15th Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

How many passwords do you think you’ve gone through at this point in your life?

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s edition is presented by

Today’s Big Story

The End of Passwords?

Companies are shifting away from notoriously insecure alphanumerics to other methods of authentication

There are few things more infuriating that simply wanting access to a website or streaming service, only to be denied because you've forgotten your password. Nearly all of us use password managers these days, but that reliance has made us even lazier about creating and remembering our log-ins.

Computer passwords have been around for half a century, but are inherently insecure. They can be stolen, guessed, or brute-forced. But mostly, we just use bad ones. (And, worse, we often reuse them.) But according to MIT’s Breakthrough Technologies for 2022, new forms of authentication will finally let us get rid of those annoying passwords for good.

Which is probably smart, as recent data points to the average American employee is struggling with too many passwords. This leads to poor password hygiene and increased cyber risk for companies. Sure, password managers like Dashlane and 1Password can track all those various alphanumerics for you and even replace the weak ones. But that’s only half the battle when it comes to security. MIT says the real action is in eliminating passwords altogether.

Instead, we’ll use a link sent via email, a push notification, or a biometric scan. Not only are these methods easier—you don’t have to remember your own face—but they tend to be more secure. And the process is already underway. Apple’s facial recognition system has taken biometric login mainstream. Microsoft announced last March that customers could go completely passwordless, and it followed up in September by telling people to delete their passwords altogether. Google now offer ways for people to log in to apps and services without ever having to enter a password.

In fact, if you were among the 150 million people that Google required to use two-factor authentication last year, consider yourself lucky: The chance your account was hacked dropped by half.

Without passwords, the future seems a lot more secure and less frustrating. All those lowercase and uppercase letters and, at least, one special symbol ... you’ll no longer have to recall, write down, or change in a database if there’s been a security leak. Good riddance.

↦ FYI: The Have I Been Pwned service, which alerts you to sensitive information leaks, has amassed a list of more than 613 million passwords found in data breaches.

Fighting in Ukraine Intensifies

Russia pounds away as more talks are planned

Fierce fighting continues across Ukraine, with Russian shells bombarding the capital, Kyiv. Shortly before dawn on Tuesday, large explosions thundered across the city while Russia pressed its advance on multiple fronts. It was not immediately clear what had been hit.

Elsewhere, a convoy of 160 civilian cars left the encircled port city of Mariupol along a designated humanitarian route, the city council reported, in a rare glimmer of hope a week and a half into the lethal siege that has pulverized homes and other buildings and left people desperate for food, water, heat and medicine.

Talks between Ukraine and Russia are set to resume today after what Ukrainian negotiators on Monday described as a “technical pause.” In a video address posted on Telegram aimed at uplifting Ukrainians, President Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces were inflicting “devastating losses” on their opponents. Zelensky is set to deliver a virtual joint address to the U.S. Congress tomorrow.

Meanwhile, a protester interrupted Russia's main evening news broadcast Monday, holding a sign saying “No War” and telling viewers not to believe the station’s “propaganda.”

↦ FYI: Here’s the current status of Ukrainian cities under Russian attack.

Partner

It's a bold claim. “Five years from now, you'll probably wish you'd bought this stock.”

March Madness Is Back

Predictions, odds and a lot of fun (for some)

Please, don't ask me to fill out a bracket. Honestly, I don't follow college basketball, so to me, it just feels like paperwork. But after the NCAA completely canceled the 2020 basketball tournament and played the 2021 event in a makeshift bubble, March Madness is back. So people are rightfully excited.

The tournament will tip off tonight with the First Four from Dayton, Ohio, and the first round begins Thursday. And, with Selection Sunday in the books, everyone's filling in their brackets hoping that this is their year.

Of course, this will not be the year you (or anyone else) fills out the perfect bracket. And neither will next year, or any in the next millennium. According to the NCAA's statisticians, even if you know a decent amount about the game, your odds are still around 1 in 120.2 billion.

As for where you should turn, options for bracketologists abound. Sports Illustrated had their editors submit their filled out brackets, while Seth Davis shared his for The Athletic. Even FiveThirtyEight has brought their predictive models to the game. Meanwhile, SportsLine's advanced computer model absolutely crushed its March Madness picks last tournament—beating over 92% of all CBS Sports brackets for the second time in three years.

↦ Dig Deeper: Here’s what you need to know about every team in the men’s NCAA tournament bracket.

SXSW Ushers in a New Normal

The festival is in person for the first time in three years

A slew of packed parties and panels at Austin's annual South by Southwest festival this year is demonstrating that the tech and entertainment industries still crave in-person events, even if they don't look the same as they used to.

There will also be an online component to the festival, making it something of a hybrid event. This was also the first SXSW festival under its new ownership, since news company Penske Media acquired a 50% stake in the festival last year.

According to Axios, while vaccination was required to enter official SXSW panels, most exhibitors and venues didn't have any serious COVID protocols. But Rainey Street, Austin's historic road lined with bars and party houses, featured smaller presences from Big Tech firms that typically rent out houses for branded bars, events and parties.

So far, the metaverse, NFTs and blockchain technology are dominating—with at least two dozen official panels dedicated to those topics. In fact, Fox's Blockchain studio served as the festival's first-ever blockchain sponsor and created the first-ever SXSW NFT.

↦ Very “South-By”: A huge (working!) QR code was seen floating above Austin, made up entirely of drones.

In Other News

↦ Stroke Rates Are Increasing Among Young People. Here’s What You Need to Know.

↦ Pete Davidson Is Flying Into Space Aboard the Next Blue Origin Mission

↦ Thanks to AR, Navigating Cities and Airports Could Soon Be Like Playing ‘Mario Kart’

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

Concert ticket prices

Harry Styles’ psychedelic Pleasing line

This rideable robotic goat

Partner

This Company Could Be Worth 35 Amazons

The key to smart investing is getting in early, so jump on this game-changing technology now

Amazon's Jeff Bezos surprised investors recently when he revealed that one emerging technology could be the key to Amazon's future success. In fact, Bezos argues that “it's hard to overstate the impact” of this game-changing technology. The CEO of ARK Investments takes Bezos further: "We think [it] could approach $17 trillion in market cap—which would be 35 Amazons."

What in the world could possibly be worth that much? The answer is a radical breakthrough that Wired says is “the rocket fuel of the AI.” Of course, this giant leap forward has many on Wall Street very excited. In fact, one 'Shark Tank' billionaire says it will likely create the world's first trillionaire.

And the best part? One remarkable company is absolutely dominating this exploding market—meaning you could get in early and invest before it really takes off. After all, when so many successful people are all saying the same thing, it usually pays to listen, right?

Rex Moore of The Motley Fool was even as bold to say, “Five years from now, you'll probably wish you'd bought this stock.” He's gone and laid out the full story on this incredible tech trend in an exclusive report. It will give you the ins and outs of this emerging technology and how one legendary investor is preparing for this incredible opportunity. Want in?

↦ Learn More: Get the inside story of the coming boom

* Returns as of 3/14/22. Note that past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

3 Ways to Wear a Denim Work Jacket

Alex Mill's motto is “Wake up. Get dressed. Don't overthink it.” They're one of a handful of brands focusing on elevated basics with subtle twists, but they seem to be doing it better than anyone.

The brand has done a great job creating easy-to-wear everyday pieces that are interchangeable to create a uniform that's well put together and intentional. One of these staple pieces is their denim work jacket.

“Since I was younger, denim was my favorite fabric—it just made every outfit cool,” says Somsack. We caught up with him to see how he's styling their new worker jacket and what he'll be pairing it with for the warmer months ahead.

↦ How to: 3 ways to wear a denim work jacket

Partner

A Discount on Grooming Best-Sellers

Our friends at The Motley are giving Valet. readers 25% off any purchase w/code VALET25 during the month of March. Which means you can try a few of our favorites with a serious discount. The team swears by these three, but there's plenty of other skin savers on offer as well.

Onekind Glow Getter C E Serum

Seriously, this is like 8-hours-of-sleep in a bottle. Deeply hydrating, it gives your skin a healthy glow while ferulic acid and myrrh reduce fine lines and dark spots.

$44 / $33

Port Products Marine Layer Under Eye Recovery Gel

This works instantly and in the long run. Reduce darkness and puffiness, while reversing long-term damage from such skin stressors as sun, smog and fatigue.

$42 / $31.50

The Motley Atlas Cologne

Looking for a sexy fragrance? This earthy mix of moss and worn leather is a true gentleman's cologne—spiced with cardamom and cloves, but not overpowering.

$120 / $90

↦ Discount: 25% off at The Motley w/code VALET25