The new cards are currently being tested in South Africa, and MasterCard hopes to roll them out to the rest of the world by the end of 2017. Even if that happens, though, you’ll still have to wait for your bank or financial institution to get on board.

Once the technology is ready for the public, here’s how it should work. Your bank will inform you that the biometric card is available, and if you’re interested, you’ll have to go to an enrollment center (most likely a bank) to get your fingers scanned. An encrypted digital template of your fingerprint is stored on the card’s EMV chip. You can save up to two prints, but they would both have to be yours — you can’t authorize someone else to use your card with their fingers. After your templates are saved, your card is ready to be used at compatible terminals worldwide — merchants don’t have to get new equipment to accept your fingerprint-enabled plastic.

The card itself is surprisingly no thicker than a regular credit card. The fingerprint sensor is a small, thumbnail-sized rectangle that sits at the top right corner, and is easily accessible when you stick the card into a payment terminal.

During a recent demo, I tried to use a MasterCard rep’s biometric card with my finger, and received a “Transaction denied” message from the test payment terminal. When she carried out the faux-purchase, the payment went through, and the machine began printing a receipt. What really surprised me was the speed at which it happened.

When the terminal asks you to insert the card, it’s communicating to the bank information like your identity and the amount of the transaction. Then, it verifies your identity by asking for your fingerprint. The sensor reads your finger, and sends the information to the card’s chip, which determines if you’re the owner. If you are, it sends a “Yes” or “Authorized” message to the bank, which then allows the payment to pass.

At my demo, the authorization process happened almost instantly, which is reasonable given it’s all happening on the card instead of going through the bank. When it was me using the card, however, it took a slight pause to register that I wasn’t certified. I didn’t have trouble learning the new process at all, either — it’s intuitive and straightforward to simply leave your finger on the card as you slide it into a payment dock.

Of course, this method is only compatible with chip-and-pin cards, so it won’t work with stores that only accept the older magnetic stripe models. But embedded chip technology has become increasingly popular in the US, thanks largely to regulations making financial institutions and merchants liable for breaches resulting from a lack of support for chip-and-pin cards. Getting a new biometric card is troublesome, since it would require a trip to the bank and a potentially long wait. But the convenience and the joy you’ll get from waving that fancy new plastic in your friends’ faces may make that agony worthwhile.

Microsoft’s phone sign-in works similarly to Google’s sign-in prompts in that it uses a mobile app (available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone) to confirm your identity, but you’ll never actually need to type a password when signing on to Microsoft services. Once you’ve set up your Microsoft Account in the app, you can enable phone sign-in through the settings menu. The next time you log in to your Microsoft Account on the desktop, you only need to enter your username and you’ll receive a notification on your phone to approve the login. Tap approve, and you’re in. The notifications act as a safeguard against unauthorized login attempts and the app can also create a unique code that works as a second authentication factor for OAuth logins.

Of course, you can always switch back to your password if you’ve somehow been separated from your phone, but Microsoft says the whole process is “easier than standard two-step verification and significantly more secure than only a password.”

If there was still any question why Facebook paid all of that money for Oculus, today’s F8 keynote provided some extra explanation. From AR to social VR and more, the company laid out its plan for the immediate future that involves blending the virtual world with real life. If you missed the hour-long talk earlier today, don’t fret: We’ve compiled all the big news in a 10-minute clip.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from F8 2017!

You can access these objects the same way you get to any of Snapchat’s other lenses — from the camera view, just tap the screen and it’ll scan what’s in front of you. For starters, there are two sets of 3D objects you can try. The first contains emoji-esque graphics like a happy rainbow, sad cloud, sassy coffee mug and so on. Tapping and holding on the object lets you move it around throughout your scene, and its size scales depending on how close or far away you place it in your virtual scene.

Once you place the object in your scene, you can start recording video and walk around it to see it from all angles, just like it’s a real happy rainbow. It’s a neat trick, and it looks like Snapchat even managed to avoid getting offensive this time. In addition to the 3D emoji, you can also drop big text bubbles into your scene; phrases include “OMG,” “hello” and “gross,” for starters. While these new lenses certainly fit into the goofy Snapchat aesthetic, they’re also one of the more interesting tricks we’ve seen from the app in a while — here’s hoping Snap adds more three-dimensional objects to the app soon.

For example, the steep penalties in New York for running illegal hotels? You can partly chalk that up to lobbying the governor’s office and state lawmakers. A letter Democrat Senators sent to the FTC “raising concerns” about Airbnb was reportedly the work of collaboration with the hotel association. And of course, the organization takes partial credit for laws and enforcement actions in cities like San Francisco. The group even takes a two-sided approach to taxes. It’ll insist that Airbnb is evading lodging taxes in some cases, but will sometimes urge governments to avoid collecting taxes to give Airbnb an aura of illegitimacy.

The AHLA will also fund studies highlighting some of the issues (real or perceived) with Airbnb, such as the economic damage to hotels and communities. It even partners with affordable housing and neighborhood groups to channel their outrage.

Naturally, Airbnb is angry. It insists that the “hotel cartel” is conducting the campaign to make sure it can “keep price-gouging customers.” To some extent, that’s right. Hotels have had to lower their rates during peak travel periods thanks to Airbnb, and they really don’t like having to compete against anyone with a guest room. However, some of the AHLA’s actions are also addressing real concerns about services like Airbnb, such as the rise of illegal hotels that drive out residents and raise rental costs in the remaining apartments. It’s not quite as simple as demonizing one side or the other — just know that the home sharing legislation you see might be skewed by corporate cash.