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WWE's Ronda Rousey experiment continues to pay off
WWE's Ronda Rousey experiment continues to pay off
WWE is in a strange spot. For the first time, its biggest mainstream star is a woman.
Ronda Rousey is that woman. At Sunday night's Money In The Bank pay-per-view on the WWE Network, she wrestled Nia Jax for the Women's Championship in what was the most heavily promoted match on the show.
It didn't go on last, but it was in essence the main event. Only her second televised singles bout, the match was more important to WWE's long-term programming than anything else on the show.
Rousey needed to look and feel like a star, and the odds were against her. The storyline behind the match was lackluster, and there was concern the two inexperienced performers wouldn't work well together. Despite all this, Rousey blew away expectations. Again.
WWE
Pressure spot
Rousey's match on Sunday really could have been a trainwreck.
First is the obvious performative perils. Rousey's first match, a mixed-tag bout at WrestleMania, was a huge success, but she had the luxury of being in the ring with Kurt Angle and Triple H. The two illustrious performers, with a combined 46 years of experience between them, could ensure the train was kept on rails.
Conversely, her match at Money In The Bank was a singles bout against Nia Jax. She had no tag-team partner to share the workload with, and Jax only has three years of experience. The worry was that the match would expose Rousey's own inexperience, which would greatly damage her aura and star power.
Here's the great triumph of the night: Their match was good. There were no obvious mistakes, and Rousey, who's much smaller than Jax, came across as a formidable, believable star wrestler. The match was good, but she was awesome.
Then there was the creative aspect. Typically in pro wrestling, the money is in the chase. The idea is to build up a babyface (protagonist) over the course of months, or even years, to the point where the fans are clamouring to see them clash against the biggest heel (antagonist) around. Usually, this happens at a marquee event, like WrestleMania or SummerSlam.
WWE put itself in a difficult position when they made this match. Announced seemingly out of nowhere and with no long-term storyline, it felt too early to put the title on Rousey. But at the same time, Rousey's appeal could be greatly damaged if she was to lose in only her second match. After all, you wouldn't have Avengers: Infinity War if Iron Man lost his second battle back in 2008.
WWE's solution wasn't ideal. Earlier in the night, Alexa Bliss won a Money In The Bank ladder match, giving her the privilege of a championship shot any time she wants. As Rousey was about to lock in in her famed armbar, out comes Bliss, who attacks Rousey from behind. That means Rousey wins by disqualification, but does not become champion. Then Bliss attacks Jax, cashes in and becomes champion.
Con: It's an out-there pro wrestling ending that was sure to not win the company any new fans -- at a time when a gaggle of prospective new fans were watching thanks to Rousey.
Pro: This begins Rousey's real chase for the title, with her playing the badass fighter and Bliss the opportunistic villain.
WWE
Women's evolution
Now that the table has been set for Bliss and Rousey, it's important that WWE build this match into something that feels like a big deal.
Rousey signed a multiyear contract back in January, a huge coup for the company. WWE was in the process of renegotiating its TV contracts, and Rousey, one of the biggest UFC stars ever, was a huge bargaining chip.
"The timing of her signing a multi-year deal at the same time [WWE] were negotiating a five-year deal couldn't have been better," the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer said to CNET via email. "She gave the company sports credibility... her value was significant."
She was a small-but-key part of WWE making two huge TV deals: The USA Network will pay $360 million a year for Raw, while Fox will pay $1.06 billion for SmackDown over five years, according to the Hollywood Reporter. That Fox spot was formerly reserved for the UFC, which now moves to ESPN.
Not only is Rousey bigger in pop culture than the rest of the roster, with the possible exception of John Cena, she's also a woman.
WWE prides itself on being forward-thinking and progressive when it comes to women in sports and entertainment, and in the last three years has made strides in presenting its female talent as athletes rather than eye candy, as they had been treated since the mid '90s.
It's no coincidence that WWE finally awoke to this progressivism in 2015, around the time Rousey was becoming one of the biggest names in sports.
Rousey's success, which continued with her star-building performance at Money In The Bank, is key to WWE's bottom dollar, but more importantly, to women's wrestling. It takes two to tango: The bigger star she becomes, the more pressure on WWE to make stars to wrestle against her.
A few more big showings, and suddenly women main eventing WrestleMania becomes a strong possibility. That would have been a pipe dream years ago, but Rousey, just like in UFC, looks on course to overachieve her way into history.
Update, 4:56 p.m. PT: Adds comment from Dave Meltzer.
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Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs Explained
Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs Explained
NFTs have been around for five years, but the nonfungible token boom only truly began in 2021. It coincided almost perfectly with the launch of Bored Ape Yacht Club, a collection of 10,000 cartoon ape NFTs that's come to embody the whole industry. BAYC has over the past year become a bellwether for NFTs, just like bitcoin is for the crypto market at large.
When NFTs were at their hottest, in April, the entry price for Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs was $400,000. Following the crypto crash, caused by the Federal Reserve's hiking of inflation rates to tackle inflation, that's fallen closer to $150,000. Far from the all-time-high, but insane considering these NFTs sold for about $200 apiece last April.
You've probably seen a BAYC, even if you didn't realize you were looking at one.
Bored Ape owners currently using their NFT as a Twiter profile picture include Timbaland (1.6 million followers), Eminem (22.6 million followers) and footballer Neyman Jr. (55 million followers). Jimmy Fallon and Paris Hilton are also BAYC holders, discussing their Apes in a (cringey) Tonight Show segment. Justin Bieber made headlines with his purchase of a $1.29 million Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT in February.
In June, Eminem and Snoop Dogg released a video clip in which the rappers are depicted by their respective Bored Apes.
Yuga Labs, the company behind the NFT collection, has already expanded the ecosystem to include a cryptocurrency (Ape Coin). More importantly, it's developing a "metaverse" MMORPG game called "Otherside." People holding Bored Ape NFTs are betting that the brand will completely break through and go mainstream. Already it's collaborated with brands like Adidas and Gucci, and last year a Bored Ape graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
Like everything else to do with NFTs, the Bored Ape Yacht Club is contentious. Apes inspire jealousy among those who own and trade NFT art but confusion and suspicion among people who don't. Their value is instrinsically tied to ether, the second biggest cryptocurrency. That means NFTs like BAYC are likely to lose their lustre if crypto collapses -- something critics have prophesized for years.
Here's what you need to know about the collection.
10 of the 10,000 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. Each has different attributes, some rarer than others, that makes them unique.
OpenSea
Wait, what are NFTs again?
NFT is short for nonfungible token. These are tokens verify ownership on the blockchain. In essence, an NFT is like a certificate of authenticity for a fancy watch or the deed to a house. It certifies that the digital asset -- in this case a cartoon picture of an ape -- is legitimate, and denotes who the owner is.
The most ubiquitous criticism of NFTs is that they're useless because pictures can simply be right-clicked and saved for free. The point of NFT technology is that it makes public who the owner of an asset is. The idea is that anyone can buy a Mona Lisa print for a few bucks, but only one person or institution can own the original. Everyone in the world can save a BAYC jpeg on their computer, but only one person can own the NFT.
Whether that makes NFTs valuable is a judgement call. Some people think they'll revolutionize the internet, at last allowing digital goods to be bought and sold like real-world, physical products. Others think they're an environmentally-costly ponzi scheme.
Why are there 10,000 Bored Apes?
Broadly speaking, there are two types of NFT art. First, you have one-off visuals that are sold as non-fungible tokens, just like paintings in real life. Think the Beeple NFTs that were sold at Christie's for as high as $69 million. Second, you have NFT collections like the Bored Ape Yacht Club, which are mostly designed to be used as profile pictures on social media. The latter have become the dominant style, where most of the money is spent.
Pioneered by CryptoPunks in 2017, NFT collections are a little like Pokemon cards. You have a set amount -- usually between 5,000 and 10,000 -- which all have the same template, but each has different attributes that make them unique. In the case of BAYC, there are 10,000 apes, each with varying fur types, facial expressions, clothing, accessories and more. Each attribute has a rarity component, which makes some much more valuable than others.
These properties are displayed on OpenSea, the main platform where NFTs are traded. On any given NFT's page, its properties will be listed as well as the percentage of NFTs in the collection that share the property. Usually, anything under 1% is considered rare. For instance out of 10,000 apes only 46 have solid gold fur, making these particularly valuable.
Each NFT has traits which are ranked by rarity, making some more valuable than others.
OpenSea
As noted, the "floor price" for the project -- what you'll pay for an ape with common traits -- is currently about $150,000 (85 ether). Apes with the golden fur trait are rare, and so sell for much more. One sold in January for $1.3 million. Another with gold fur and laser eyes, two sub-1% traits, went for $3 million.
BAYC is the biggest NFT project of this kind, recently eclipsing CryptoPunks, which is credited as the first "pfp" (profile picture) collections. Other notable sets include CyberKongz, Doodles and Cool Cats.
What makes Bored Ape Yacht Club valuable?
This is a complicated question. The short answer is that they're status symbols, and like all status symbols their value comes from perception and branding rather than utility. Just like a CEO may try to communicate business acumen with a Rolex or a luxury suit, people who trade NFTs display their success with a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT. Their argument is that NFTs are better status symbols than real-world items, since when used as profile pictures they can be seen by millions of people on Twitter and Instagram.
Let's start at the beginning. Bored Ape Yacht Club was launched last April. It took 12 hours for all 10,000 to sell out at a price of $190 (0.08 ether). The price of Bored Ape NFTs rose steadily until July, when they spiked dramatically and the collection became a blue-chip set.
What makes an NFT collection successful is highly subjective. Broadly, it's a mix of four things: Influencer or celebrity involvement, mainstream potential, utility for members and community appeal.
The first and second are obvious. When famous people own an NFT, it makes others want to own one too. When celebrities like Jimmy Fallon and Justin Bieber bought into Bored Ape, it caused a run in sales and hype -- and hype is what the NFT market is all about. People buying into BAYC today, at a steep price of over $150,000, are likely to believe that the brand could one day adorn more than celebrity social media accounts: Netflix shows, popular games and Hollywood movies are the goal.
Thirdly, utility. Most NFT projects claim to offer a utility of some sort, which means it does something other than act as a profile picture. That can be access to play-to-earn games or the option to stake an NFT in exchange for an associated cryptocurrency.
Bored Ape Yacht Club has done a few things to keep owners interested. First, it created the Bored Ape Kennel Club, offering owners the opportunity to "adopt" a dog NFT with traits that mimic those of the Bored Apes. Another freebie came in August of 2021: Digital vials of mutant serum. Owners could mix their Bored Ape with the serum to create a Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT (see below).
The advent of this second collection last August is when the Bored Ape brand really popped. Seen as doing innovative things with NFT technology, and coinciding with a huge amount of money entering the space that month, Bored Ape Yacht Club started to be seen as the premiere NFT brand.
Both Kennel Club and Mutant Ape NFTs now sell for a lot. The Mutant Ape Yacht Club collection entry point is about $30,000, while Bored Ape Kennel Clubs are selling for about half that. (Remember, these were free to BAYC holders.)
A Bored Ape and its Mutant Ape counterpart.
Yuga Labs
Last but not least is the community that's built around a collection. NFTs double as membership cards to holder groups. The more valuable people find belonging to that community, the less they'll want to sell their NFT. Bored Ape Yacht Club has organized meetups in New York and California, and there have been Bored Ape get-togethers in Hong Kong and the UK, too. This past June, BAYC holders were treated to "Ape Fest", a festival that included performances from Eminem, Snoop Dogg, LCD Soundsystem and Amy Schumer.
But "community value" also extends to financial self interest. The higher the floor price on a collection, the more crypto-rich traders you can expect to be holders. These savvy investors trade information within locked Discord groups, providing valuable (sometimes insanely valuable) tips to one another. Sell your NFT and you'll no longer be privvy to such tips.
Eminem is the latest celebrity to flaunt a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT as a social media profile picture.
Twitter
Who's behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club?
The Bored Ape Yacht Club was developed by Yuga Labs. At the time, Yuga Labs consisted of four people, all of whom went by pseudonyms. There's Gordon Goner and Gargamel, who are the two co-founders, and two friends who helped on the development side, No Sass and Emperor Tomato Ketchup.
All four went exclusively by their pseudonyms until February, when BuzzFeed reported the identities of Gordon Goner and Gargamel. Gargamel is Greg Solano, a writer and book critic, and Gordon Goner is 35-year-old Wylie Aronow. Both went on to post pictures of themselves on Twitter alongside their Bored Apes. Following that, Emperor Tomato Ketchup and Sass both "doxxed" themselves -- that is, revealed their identity -- by doing the same.
The actual art was created by freelance artist Seneca, who's not part of Yuga Labs.
What's next?
Yuga Labs has big plans for its Bored Ape Yacht Club brand, plans that are both on- and offchain. (That is, both on the blockchain and in the real world.)
Start with more blockchain stuff. In March, Yuga Labs released Ape Coin, its own cryptocurrency. All Bored Ape holders were airdropped just over 10,000 Ape Coins at launch, worth around $100,000 at the time (now about $70,000). Ape Coin will be the primary currency in Otherside, the metaverse Yuga Labs is building.
Metaverses are big, virtual spaces shared by hundreds or thousands of people at a time. They've existed for a long time, think Second Life or even Fortnite. Blockchain-integrated metaverses are different only in the sense that the land, building and items within the world are owned by users as NFTs. Yuga Labs has already sold land for the metaverse, making over $300 million in just a few hours of sales.
Out in the physical world, the Bored Apes are integrating themselves into fashion. Adidas launched its first NFT project, Into The Metaverse, in collaboration with several NFT brands, Bored Ape Yacht Club chief among them. Collaborations between Adidas and BAYC on both virtual and physical clothing are coming soon.
Adidas is also a member of the Bored Ape Yacht Club.
Twitter
The Bored Ape Yacht Club brand has popped up in other industries too. Literally in the case of food: A pop-up restaurant in Los Angeles was recently turned into a permanent burger spot. In January, a mobile game, Apes vs. Mutants, launched on both the App Store and Google's Play Store. (Reviews have been unkind.) Another mobile game is in production, scheduled for Q2. Bored Ape figurines by Super Plastic are on the way too.
More unusual, though, is what people are doing with their apes. Owning a Bored Ape NFT gives you full commercial rights to it, and holders are taking advantage of that in some creative ways. One Bored Ape owner set up a Twitter account for his ape where he created a backstory, turning him into Jenkins, a valet that works for the Yacht Club. Jenkins is now signed to a real-world agency, and has a biography written by New York Times bestseller Neil Strauss. Universal Music Group has invested by signing a band consisting of three Bored Apes and one Mutant Ape.
You might think NFTs are silly -- and terrible for the environment -- but don't expect the Bored Apes to disappear anytime soon.
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Clean All the Nooks and Crannies With This Rechargeable Compressed Air Duster for $56
Clean All the Nooks and Crannies With This Rechargeable Compressed Air Duster for $56
Do you have a dust dilemma causing your computer to overheat? Or crumbs in the keyboard? Life happens, but this handheld, rechargeable electric air duster is perfect for blowing away the dust and debris that collects around keyboards, computers, electronics, cars components, video game consoles and more. It's also cordless, lightweight and ultra-portable, with a detachable nozzle that can be stored in the body for easy transport in the car, to the office and beyond. You can grab the Dorobeen cordless air duster for just $56 at Amazon right now, a 25% savings.
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NASA Mars Rover Inspects Wonderfully Funky Rover-Size Boulder
NASA Mars Rover Inspects Wonderfully Funky Rover-Size Boulder
This story is part of Welcome to Mars, our series exploring the red planet.
I feel very connected to NASA's Curiosity rover right now. I, too, have detoured from my hiking path to get a closer look at a fascinating rock. The wheeled explorer was planning to check out some cliffs when it noticed a large boulder that had fallen down, giving the team a preview of where it was heading.
The boulder in question is quite a looker and it's about the size of the rover itself, which is comparable to a small SUV. Space writer Jason Major made a composite out of three different rover images from July 15 to give a better view of the rock.
Twitter users suggested it looked like everything from a fossilized acorn to poop to a tortoise wearing a sombrero. The rover's team nicknamed the rock "Ilha Novo Destino," after an island in Brazil. It was intriguing enough to warrant a closer look by Curiosity.
USGS planetary geologist Lauren Edgar wrote in a mission update last week that boulders like this "can help inform our understanding of the upcoming stratigraphy, so we thought it was worth a trip to this 'new island destination' for the weekend."
Planetary geologist Aster Cowart highlighted a couple of views of Curiosity's outstretched robotic arm getting up close to the boulder along with what it saw using its Mars Hand Lens Imager camera.
Taken together, the series of images from Mars show how Curiosity's team is able to adjust plans on the fly to inspect interesting details along the way.
The rover has been in the Gale Crater since 2012. One of its goals is to learn whether this area of Mars might have been habitable for microbial life in the deep past.
The rover is exploring the lower regions of Mount Sharp, the massive central peak inside the crater. It's seen some eye-opening rock formations, from tiny "spikes" to a natural niche that a lot of people think looks like a doorway. The goofy big boulder is both fun to look at and scientifically fascinating, a beautiful combination.
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Samsung Galaxy S Aviator (U.S. Cellular) review: Samsung Galaxy S Aviator (U.S. Cellular)
Samsung Galaxy S Aviator (U.S. Cellular) review: Samsung Galaxy S Aviator (U.S. Cellular)
If you're a loyal U.S. Cellular customer, you've likely come to grips with the carrier's lack of high-end smartphones. With the Samsung Galaxy S Aviator, the scrappy Chicago-based wireless provider hopes to counter Verizon Wireless and AT&T with an LTE and well-designed Android device. Though it wears the Galaxy name, however, the Galaxy S Aviator doesn't quite measure up to Samsung's other Galaxy-branded handsets such as the Galaxy Nexus or even Galaxy S II.
Design Despite its high-flying name, the Samsung Galaxy S Aviator is not a flagship device, but really a midrange smartphone that sits somewhere between the original Galaxy S and last year's Galaxy S II. As a result, I didn't expect to be wowed by the Aviator's plastic style, but after spending some time with it, I like its solid build quality and how its attractive curves and beveled edges tightly hug its big 4.3-inch screen.
The phone's Super AMOLED (800x400-pixel) display is surprisingly nice to look at, too, with vibrant colors and deep blacks. This was even true when stacked up against the higher-resolution HD Super AMOLED (1,280x720-pixel) screen on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Granted, my test movie, "The Godfather," was 720p, but both phones produced comparably vibrant colors and sharp details.
Measuring 5.1 inches tall by 2.7 inches wide by 0.46 inch thick, the phone's black slab shape isn't as trim as the Galaxy S II's (4.96 inches by 2.6 inches by 0.35 inch), its main rival on U.S. Cellular. The Aviator's extra girth feels good when gripped, especially for larger hands like mine. A power key placed on the right side is within easy reach, as is a volume bar on the left. Rounding out the phone's connections are a standard 3.5mm headphone jack for wired headphones and an HDMI port to connect to HDTVs and monitors.
Above the screen is a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera which is lower than the Galaxy S II's (2 megapixels). The Aviator's main 8-megapixel sensor and LED flash on back, however, are on par with its slimmer sibling. I also like the feel of the Aviator's back battery cover that sports a matte-black finish, which does a decent job of repelling fingerprints. Removing the thin cover reveals a 16GB microSD card and LTE SIM card you can access without disturbing the phone's 1,600mAh battery.
Features Running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the Samsung Galaxy S Aviator offers the typical Android experience. There are seven home screens, which you can populate with widgets and app shortcuts to your heart's content. By default, the phone showcases Samsung's helpful weather widget, Yahoo News, YouTube, plus a smattering of other staple apps across its main screens.
Google's services are well represented in the Aviator's app tray, with Gmail, Navigation, Talk, Play Books, and YouTube software preloaded. Basic music and video players are onboard, as well. Useful third-party apps include Kindle, Amazon MP3, and Audible audio book software. Of course, you'll need an account or with these services for the apps to be worth your while.
Samsung also installed its Media Hub entertainment store on the Galaxy S Aviator. The app offers a selection of current movies and TV shows for download to rent or buy. The selection actually looks better than solutions offered by other handset makers, namely HTC and its Watch application. For instance I was able to find the first season of "Caprica" (I don't care what anyone thinks, it's a great show) in the Samsung Media Hub, which was missing from HTC Watch. Of course, I could stream it for free via the Netflix app, which I have a subscription to.
Like other Galaxy handsets, Samsung also overlays its TouchWiz interface on top of stock Android. Aside from its weather app powered by AccuWeather and Media Hub store, which sells Movie and TV show rentals, I couldn't find other flashier TouchWiz functions usually installed on the Samsung Galaxy S II. These include Live Panel Widgets, which increase functionality depending on their size, or zooming in and out of images and documents by tilting the phone while touching the screen with both thumbs.
Camera The 8-megapixel camera is another of the Samsung Galaxy S Aviator's bright spots. Indoor test shots of still life were clear with crisp details and accurate color, even under fluorescent lighting. Moving outdoors, the Galaxy S Aviator had no trouble snapping colorful shots in strong sunlight at a nearby park. The green leaves, and red and purple flowers were vibrant, and shadow details weren't lost since images were correctly exposed.
With a maximum resolution of 720p, video I captured with the Galaxy S Aviator was acceptable, though a bit soft and not as clear as from phones capable of full 1080p HD quality. The handset did pick up ambient sounds, such as birds chirping and splashing water.
Performance The Samsung Galaxy S Aviator's Android 2.3 OS is pushed along by an outdated single-core 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor complemented by 1.44GHz of internal memory. As you'd expect, these basic specs resulted in pokey mobile performance. I often experienced stutters simply swiping through the Aviator's home screens, and opening apps lacked the pep I typically see on modern dual-core Android devices.
Running the Linpack Android (single thread) test application confirmed my suspicions, with the Galaxy S Aviator turning in a low 16.2 MFLOPS completed in a long 5.17 seconds. By contrast, the HTC One S (T-Mobile) blazed through the same task in 0.82 second and notched a high score of 102.4 MFLOPS (single core).
Sadly, I was unable to verify Galaxy S Aviator's 4G credentials since U.S. Cellular's LTE network is not currently available in New York City. A U.S. Cellular representative explained that the closest LTE region to me was located in Portland, Maine. Now Maine is a glorious state and Portland a truly excellent city with some of the best microbreweries in the world, but that's just too long a drive, my friend.
Additionally, the Aviator roams on Sprint's CDMA EVDO network here in New York, and the data speeds I clocked using the Ookla Speedtest app were decidedly 3G. Average downloads came in at a molasses-like 0.58Mbps; I measured upload speeds at a faster 0.93Mbps.
Samsung Galaxy S Aviator call quality sampleListen now:
Call quality on U.S. Cellular's roaming network was pleasing, though, and calls I placed were clear and static-free. People on the other end also reported that my voice was easy to hear, but they quickly identified that I was calling from a cellular phone. The Aviator's earpiece doesn't get very loud, either, nor does its small speaker placed on the back side.
Samsung rates the Galaxy S Aviator's 1,600mAh battery to provide 12 days of standby time and a usage time of 5.5 hours. On my anecdotal tests, the phone played video for a full 8 hours and 58 minutes before shutting down.
Conclusion If you're perplexed by the $199.99 Samsung Galaxy S Aviator and where it fits into U.S. Cellular's roster of smartphones, you're not alone. The device features a great screen and everything users need for a basic Android experience and 4G LTE data where you can find it. Yet, its sluggish performance and steep price give me pause. A better deal would be to spring for the Samsung Galaxy S II, which for the same price offers dual-core processing but without 4G.
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Galaxy Watch 4: Samsung is coming for Apple Watch's crown with Wear OS 3
Galaxy Watch 4: Samsung is coming for Apple Watch's crown with Wear OS 3
There's one clear go-to smartwatch for iOS: the Apple Watch. But for Android, there hasn't been a singular option. Will the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 finally be that watch? At Samsung's newest folding-phone-focused Unpacked announcement where the latest Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 phones were unveiled, the company also announced the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic -- which can be preordered now and go on sale Aug. 27. I've already started to wear them and test them: here's the full review. They're the first Samsung watches to have the Google co-designed Wear OS 3, which isn't coming to other smartwatches until next year. Following the already-excellent Watch Active 3, will the Galaxy Watch 4 be even better? It certainly looks like it.
Much like previous Samsung watches, there are two designs: a sleeker, less expensive Watch 4 and a more traditional-looking Watch 4 Classic. The latter brings back Samsung's physically rotating outer bezel and has more traditional watch-like looks and straps. The prices ramp up based on either design ($250 for the aluminum 40mm Watch 4, $350 for the stainless steel 42mm Watch 4 Classic), size (the larger 44mm Watch 4/46mm Watch 4 Classic cost an extra $30) or LTE data compatibility (an extra $50 on top of that). In the UK, the Watch 4 starts at £249, and the Classic at £349. Australian prices are TBD.
Samsung's watches have always been good. Then there's also been Fitbit and even Google Wear OS. But Samsung's Galaxy Watch 4 is looking to tie it all together and reboot the Android watch landscape by finally not having a weird split between Samsung's watch experience and Google's.
Promises of better watch-phone connection
The Watch 4's new Google- and Samsung-developed OS will eventually show up on other smartwatches. But for Samsung's newest watches, it should mean a more Android-fluid connected experience. Notifications, calls, controlling your phone, syncing with your phone settings: Samsung promises that the Watch 4 will do all this better than previous watches. Samsung's also promising better battery life and speedier performance. That battery life may still only be about two days, but it'll be enough to go to bed with and track sleep overnight. Samsung also renamed its watch: The Watch Active name is gone. (Welcome back, Galaxy Watch.)
The Galaxy Watch 4 is only made for Android phones, with no plans for iOS compatibility right now. While previous Wear OS and Samsung watches could pair with iPhones, the Watch 4 is clearly made to be a seamlessly connecting watch for Android (and specifically Samsung) phones. Samsung's "One UI" philosophy is about syncing wallpapers, designs and settings across phone and watch. Will the watch feel like a seamless extension of the phone? We'll see when we test-drive one.
The new rear sensor array includes electrical bioimpedance, which promises scale-like body fat/BMI estimates.
Drew Evans/CNET
Health tech: Snore detection and bioimpedance-based body analysis
There are several new health features on the Watch 4 on top of the ones that carried over from the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3. Besides heart rate, blood oxygen and electrocardiogram (and stress-sensing/blood pressure testing that requires calibration with a blood pressure cuff), Samsung is adding a few extras to sleep tracking. Snore detection works using the paired Android phone's microphone, and the blood oxygen checks now run continuously once a minute overnight (or as a spot-check during the day).
Samsung also added a new sensor to its rear array: an electrical bioimpedance sensor for full-body analysis using a weak electrical current to measure how conductive you are -- and therefore showing what you're made of. This type of sensor tech hasn't been on recent smartwatches; the last wearable I remember promising bioimpedance was the Jawbone Up 3.
When using the body analysis feature, there will be readouts on your BMI, muscle mass and body water along with body fat percentages, much like some scales. I'm not sure how I feel about that! Samsung Health will use this readout to calculate a range of where your health is compared to optimal levels.
New sensor tech is always a toss-up: Will it work? Will it be useful? We don't know yet. Samsung is aiming for this to be a comprehensive body analysis tool, which sounds awfully ambitious. Last year, the Fitbit Sense also introduced new electrodermal stress-detection sensors, but I never found them meaningful in my everyday life. Jury's still out on the bioimpedance features, too.
Samsung Health remains the fitness and health platform default for the Galaxy Watch 4, despite the OS change. But a shift to Google Play for apps and new support for watch face complications should mean a lot of fitness apps make the shift, too. (Complications are basically those little watch-face widgets that show data from other apps, and they're pretty helpful.) Samsung's already announced that Strava, Calm and Adidas Running are supported. Spotify's also supported for on-watch music playback.
See that rotating bezel? It's back.
Drew Evans/CNET
Boosted specs
The Watch 4's new processor should be faster than the last Watch 3 (20% faster CPU and 50% faster GPU, according to Samsung) and there's more RAM (1.5GB) and storage (16GB) than before. That should make animations and app-launching speedier. The Super AMOLED display is sharper: the 1.2-inch 42 and 40mm models have a 396x396-pixel resolution, while the 1.4-inch 44 and 46mm models are 450x450. The watches can also quick charge, gaining 10 hours of battery life on a 30-minute charge.
The rotating bezel is back
Both the Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic lean heavily on touching the outer rim of the watch to "spin" and navigate: the Watch 4 has a touch-sensitive rim, while the Classic has a physical rotating bezel. Samsung's also putting touch controls into these watches to allow swipe navigation, much like Wear OS watches. You can choose how to interact.
A few other buttons on the side of the watch control moving back and forth in the interface and can be reprogrammed. One can be pressed and held for Samsung's Bixby assistant; the other for Samsung Pay. But you can make Google Assistant and Google Pay the go-to apps instead.
Some of the Google apps on the Galaxy Watch 4 have a familiar Google look.
Google
Google apps onboard
Google's Wear OS 3 being on the Galaxy Watch 4 means it'll hook into Google Play, but it's also getting some revamped Google apps. Google's already committed to new YouTube, Google Maps, Google Pay and Messages apps, which have new designs for Wear OS 3. There are also third-party updates with new Tiles: Calm, Komoot, MyFitnessPal, Period Tracker, Sleep Cycle, Spotify and Strava are among the first to get updates. Google is committing to rolling out more updates over time, meaning that both Samsung and Google should be keeping this watch full of apps.
But you're stuck with Bixby for now. Samsung's voice assistant is still the default on the watch, which comes up when pressing and holding the top button. Google Assistant isn't available at the moment, which is frustrating -- that's one of the top things I'd want to access on a Google-connected watch.
Could this be the best Android watch?
The Galaxy Watch 4 looks like the ultimate fusion of a Samsung watch with Google watches -- and that could be a winning formula for using Google Maps, connected phone features and third-party fitness apps on Google Play, which is the Galaxy Watch 4's default app store. It should be the hardware-boosted Google watch that we've been waiting years for. The software interface seems exactly like what you'd expect: part Samsung, part Google. But is it worth waiting to see how it works out, or should you just go for this first model? Hard to tell, since it's the first of its kind.
It's not surprising that Samsung's new health features and its new OS aren't coming to older Samsung watches for now. Some of them might, but expect this to largely be a clean break and a reboot. And we also don't really know how many of the Galaxy Watch 4's features will carry over to the rest of Google's future Wear OS 3 watch lineup, which will include watches from Mobvoi, Fossil and eventually Fitbit.
Those Wear OS 3 watch updates won't come to those other watches until 2022, which makes the Galaxy Watch 4 the only new Google-connected Wear OS 3 watch this year. For that reason alone, it could very well be the best Android watch of the moment. As to how it actually feels and works? We'll have full hands-on impressions and a review in the days ahead... but the Galaxy Watch 4 looks extremely promising for any Android phone owner who wants a much more hooked-in watch.
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Google's new Samsung-codesigned version of Wear OS is officially called Wear OS 3, and it'll be on Samsung's next-gen Galaxy Watch soon. But for many watch owners it won't arrive until 2022. Or, you won't be able to get the new software at all.
The latest news comes from a new update from Google, which will make watches eligible for the next version of Wear OS. According to Google, which shared the information with CNET, Mobvoi's TicWatch Pro 3 GPS, TicWatch Pro 3 cellular, and TicWatch E3 will get the upgrade, along with Fossil's next-gen smartwatches, which are coming this fall. But that software update won't be coming in 2021. Instead, it'll be in the middle of next year.
Fossil shared news of its next-gen smartwatches with CNET earlier this year, but now it looks like Fossil's watches (and Mobvoi's) won't have Wear OS 3 to start, instead they'll come with an option to upgrade the OS in the "mid to second half of 2022."
Google also cautions that the OS update involves a complete reboot to factory settings, and that for some watches the "user experiences will be impacted," suggesting some people could choose to keep the previous version of Wear OS. Google wouldn't clarify what those "impacted" experiences will be, but told CNET via email that it will "share more at the time of upgrade so users can make an informed decision."
Other Wear OS watches won't get Wear OS 3, as Google had indicated before, but some future software features are still expected, with security updates for at least "two years from device launch."
Samsung is expected to announce its newest Galaxy Watch on Aug. 11 during its summer Unpacked event. That watch will have Google's Wear OS 3, making it the only Wear OS 3 watch that's confirmed for 2021. Google wouldn't confirm whether other Wear OS 3 watches are expected this year or not, but for now it looks like Samsung may have an exclusive window on its Wear OS partnership.
Gory Texas Chainsaw Massacre trailer shows saw-wielding Leatherface in action
Gory Texas Chainsaw Massacre trailer shows saw-wielding Leatherface in action
Sunday scaries have carried over into a macabre Monday as Netflix dropped a terrifying new trailer for its upcoming Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequel. Now, instead of focusing on the first day of the work week, I'm stuck wondering who's going to evade a brutal hacking from Leatherface.
Netflix's new film follows a group of young people who seek to "start an idealistic new business venture" in the remote Texas town of Harlow and unwittingly disturb the world famous mask-wearing menace. It appears the poor characters will make some of the same ill-conceived choices their predecessors did in the original 1974 slasher. (What are you thinking? Don't wander into that creepy looking house!)
But the new trailer also shows a TCM that's been updated for the present day. On what looks like a party bus, riders pull out their phones to record Leatherface revving up his chainsaw, oblivious to the slicing and dicing that's about to ensue. "Try anything, and you're canceled bro," one of the phone-wielding bus passengers says.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre lands on Netflix Feb. 18, and joins a hefty lineup of horror classics to be revisited in recent years, like Scream, Halloween and the yet-to-be-released reboot of The Exorcist. The film will be directed by Austin-based director David Blue Garcia, and will feature a story by Fede Álvarez and Rodo Sayagues, who both worked on the horror features Evil Dead and Don't Breathe.
Should you buy a high end tablet on prime video should you buy a high end tablet on hsn should you buy a high end tablet only plans should you buy a high end tablets how often should you buy a new computer should you buy a house now should you buy gold now how long should you quarantine after covid 19 how much rem sleep should you get a night
Should You Buy a High-End Tablet on Prime Day?
Should You Buy a High-End Tablet on Prime Day?
This story is part of Amazon Prime Day, CNET's guide to everything you need to know and how to find the best deals.
Short answer:Yes, if you're fine with a deal on an older tablet and you aren't picky about particular storage configurations, Prime Day could be a good time to buy. However, you might be best off waiting to see what new models get released later this year.
Amazon Prime Day is coming July 12 to 13, bringing a flood of sales that can get incredibly overwhelming. Every year, some of the discounts are on tablets: iPads, in particular. Should you take the opportunity to upgrade?
If you're looking for a low-cost tablet, the answer's easier: Apple releases new basic iPads (simply called "iPad") each fall, and they're not that expensive to begin with, generally running around $300 to $400. Prime Day can sometimes get you a discount on older models or configurations with more onboard storage. Low-cost Fire Tablets are always on sale, too.
But, for more expensive iPads, the math gets more challenging. The savings can be greater on iPad Air or iPad Pro models, but you may also want to consider waiting until the fall, too.
Should I buy an iPad Pro on Prime Day?
Apple's iPad Pro last got an upgrade in the spring of 2021, which is a long time. New models are probably coming this fall, with expected upgrades to a new M2 chip and who knows what else. The good news on iPads is they generally have a long lifespan, and Apple's highly specced-out Pro models have speed and features that can take years to trickle down to lower-cost iPads. In that sense, getting an older model on sale can end up being a great alternative to buying a newer, less-Pro iPad.
The 2021 iPad Pro has an M1 chip, which seems to be Apple's cutoff for taking advantage of newer multitasking features on iPadOS starting this fall. If you care about software features and future compatibility, you'd better make sure your expensive iPad purchase has an M1.
But if you're fine with an iPad that just works and has some great fancier features, you could still get an older iPad on sale. The 2020 iPad Pro lacks the M1 chip, and doesn't have an autozooming front-facing camera, but it's pretty similar otherwise to the 2021 model.
Keep in mind that only the 12.9-inch 2021 iPad Pro has a step-up Mini LED display that's brighter and has better black-level contrast than other iPad models.
Should I buy an iPad Air on Prime Day?
The iPad Air was updated this spring, and it's very much the iPad Pro at a lower price with most features intact. It lacks the extra camera and depth-sensing lidar sensor that the iPad Pro uses for some AR and 3D scanning features, but it has a great display, four speakers, USB-C charging and the same fast M1 chip, and also works with Apple's Magic Keyboard (although it lacks the faster screen refresh rate of the Pro iPads). If it goes on sale, it's the best pick -- unless you can find a 2021 iPad Pro for even less.
The 2021 iPad Pro is still a better tablet, though, so if the price on the Pro drops to match the 2022 Air, you should definitely buy the iPad Pro instead.
There won't be another iPad Air this year, but Apple could update its base iPad to include a couple of the iPad Air's features (USB-C, maybe, or a faster chip?). These are just guesses, but again, waiting till September could mean getting a new model with new features at a lower price.
What about a Samsung tablet?
Samsung's premium Android tablets are some of the only notable high-end Android tablets left on the market (until Google makes its own Pixel tablet next year, that is, although it's not even clear what OS that will run). Samsung's Galaxy Tab S8 Plus is a great upgrade over Samsung's previous S7 tablet line, and has an included stylus and an AMOLED display. But make sure to keep track of the differences between S8, S8 Plus and S8 Ultra lines and prices to make sure whatever's on sale is actually a good deal. Samsung's tablets go on sale at other places than Amazon and at other times than Prime Day, too.
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Squid Game guard uniform: How to make the 'No. 1' Halloween costume of the year
Squid Game guard uniform: How to make the 'No. 1' Halloween costume of the year
Violent Netflix hitSquid Game is disturbing, but there's no denying the nine-episode show is beautifully shot. There's the unnerving Red Light, Green Light robot girl; the pastel-candy-colored stairways in the building where the doomed contestants live; and, of course, the striking costumes. There's red for most of the guards, green for the contestants, and an impressive Darth Vader-like dark metal look for the mysterious Front Man.
Yes, the series is more of a trick than a treat for the characters, but it's likely you'll see their distinctive outfits at Halloween parties and events come late October.
"The Squid Game staff uniform is going to be the #1 Halloween costume this year in Korea," one viewer tweeted.
If you want to dress up as a Squid Game character, the good news is the costumes aren't complicated. You can certainly assemble your own, and if you don't have the time to do that, online stores are already selling completed versions.
Squid Game contestant costumes
The contestants essentially wear white T-shirts under green track suits with white trim. They're recognizable as Squid Game characters and not just joggers thanks to a three-digit white number (between 001 and 456) on their backs and on the left side of the front of the jackets, as well as on their shirts.
It shouldn't be too tricky to dress like a Squid Game contestant.
Youngkyu Park/Netflix
It's not tough to make that costume yourself. Google "green track suit" and you're off to the Red Light, Green Light races. Don't forget the numbers -- you can grab some fabric and make number patches that will last, or for a one-night party, just cut the numbers out of paper and then glue, tape or pin them in the right spots.
Pick your number carefully. Seong Gi-hun, the closest thing the show has to a hero, is No. 456. Crafty Cho Sang-woo, the pride of his hometown, is No. 218. Elderly Oh Il-nam is No. 001, scrappy North Korean defector Kang Sae-byeok is No. 067, and brutal gangster Jang Deok-su is No. 101 -- for him, you'll want to get your artist friend to draw a snake tattoo on your face.
And if you're going to a frat party and want the easy laugh, maybe you'll choose No. 069, the desperate and unnamed husband who's playing the deadly game with his wife -- the dirty joke hidden in his number gets at least one rich patron to bet on him to win.
If you like props, a sack of marbles, used in one of the games, might be a fun addition. And don't forget to load up on fake blood and smear it in various spots, as none of the contestants make it through unscathed.
You can buy the costume if you don't have time to put it together from various sources. The major costume manufacturers aren't going to have time to put them together for sale, but cosplay and artist sites are already offering them.
SPCosplay is selling the track suit on Amazon for $48 (£35, AU$66). XOCostume has it for $66 (£48, AU$91). Warning: There are many other sellers, but whomever you choose, you're going to want to check on delivery dates -- Halloween is coming up, and some sites ship from Asia, which lengthens delivery time. Also verify whether the suit is sold in Asian clothing sizes, which are smaller than US sizes.
Squid Game guard costumes
Honestly, the red-clad guards have cooler costumes than the competitors in track suits. They wear red hooded jumpsuits that zip up the front, with black belts. No numbers for them, but they do wear freakish black face masks with either a triangle, circle or square on the front. And they carry threateningly large weapons.
The guards in Squid Game wear different shapes on their masks, which they're told never to remove.
Youngkyu Park/Netflix
This costume's a little trickier to make on your own, but it's still very doable. Search on red jumpsuit (though a tracksuit would do in a pinch, as long as it has a hood). The best way to make the face mask is probably to acquire a fencing mask, but also, some costume stores sell something they call a ghoul's mask or an invisible man mask, black cloth that's meant to completely hide your face. You can apply your own triangle or other shape easily enough with white tape.
If you're buying the costume complete, same caveats as above apply -- look carefully at sizing and delivery dates. XOCostume sells the Squid Game staff outfit for $56 (£41, AU$77), and Etsy sellers are also on the bandwagon -- here's one for $50 (£36, AU$69).
Squid Game Front Man costume
The Front Man is the boss of the guards, though it turns out he too has bosses of his own. His costume is probably the coolest and the most difficult to make on your own. He wears an unusual black mask with sharp angles, and a long black coat and gloves. The coat and gloves are simple enough to buy (ideally, the coat would have a hood), but assembling your own mask is tougher.
The Front Man's costume is much more stylish than those of the guards or the contestants.
Youngkyu Park/Netflix
If you want to DIY the Front Man mask, there are patterns for 3D printers that look pretty good. You can also buy the mask completed. Here's one on Etsy for $43 (£31, AU$59), and surely more artists will be making them soon.
Red Light, Green Light Squid Game costume
One of the more novel looks in the game is that of the giant robot schoolgirl who runs the Red Light, Green Light game, the very first game in the show. There didn't seem to be any completed outfits for sale online, but this is easy to assemble yourself. Just get a yellow shirt, top it with an orange jumper, and fix your hair in short ponytails or braids (or wear a wig). Then creepily say, "Red Light! Green Light!" and keep turning around quickly to stare at people. That's pretty much it.
All nine episodes of Squid Game are now available on Netflix.
The Red Light, Green Light robot costume is pretty easy to assemble.
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When Local Newspapers Fold, Polarization Rises. Here's What You Can Do
When Local Newspapers Fold, Polarization Rises. Here's What You Can Do
Russia's invasion of Ukraine, rising energy costs and our ongoing struggles with the coronavirus pandemic take up a lot of our attention these days. But there's more going on a lot closer to home -- you just might not know it, because your local newspaper is gone.
More than a quarter of hometown newspapers have disappeared in the last century, leaving about 70 million Americans with little or no way to stay informed about their city and county governments, schools or businesses. As the country heads toward the 2022 midterm elections, Americans are increasingly turning to friends and social media to stay informed -- which isn't always trustworthy, as we learned during the 2016 election when around 44% of Americans were exposed to disinformation and misinformation through untrustworthy websites.
"The state of local news in America is dire," said Tim Franklin, senior associate dean of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism and head of the Medill Local News Initiative.
Local journalism isn't just a nice idea. Community newspapers report some of the most important stories in our country. That includes the Boston Globe's 2002 series exposing the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston's sex abuse of minors, Sara Ganim and The Patriot-News' coverage revealing Penn State sex abuse scandal involving Jerry Sandusky and the Charleston Gazette-Mail's 2017 expose on opioids flooding into West Virginia.
This is part of Citizen Now, a package that aims to empower readers with information about our changing world.
CNET
But for every Pulitzer Prize-winning local journalism story, there are countless more that have served as chroniclers of their communities and watchdogs of the people in power. And when they aren't there, research from the Brookings Institute found there's generally more government waste and fraud.
"When you have less local news, there's various effects, some of which you'd find predictable: lower voting turnout, more corruption, more waste," said Steven Walden, president and co-founder of Report For America, a nonprofit that funds young reporters to work in understaffed newsrooms throughout the US. "There's also evidence that you have more polarization and misinformation."
The journalism industry has been struggling to adapt. Advertising, once a vital part of the newspaper world, has shifted to online. Meanwhile, profit-hungry newspaper owners have chosen to lay off staff and reduce the quality of their products.
Nonprofit organizations have stepped up to support newsrooms in several ways, but ultimately, they live or die by their communities. Many local papers and radio stations depend on individual donations to fund reporting that would never be done by larger publications, covering civic meetings and investigating local issues that lead to exposés which fix injustices. Even simply signing up for and reading local news draws people closer to issues that affect them -- and reinforces what publications do.
"Most of these stories weren't big but they mattered immensely to the residents in a community larger outlets didn't regularly cover," said Greg Yee, now a reporter at the Los Angeles Times, speaking about his year writing for the Farmington Daily Times in Farmington, New Mexico. (Full disclosure: Yee is a former colleague of this article's author.) Stories that stick out from that time include a mobile home park cut off from natural gas in winter and a new gas station opening in a Navajo Nation community, the only fuel access in 30 miles, that significantly improved locals' quality of life.
"A good local news organization is a problem solver: it identifies problems and helps a community come together to solve it," said Penelope Abernathy, visiting professor at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, who heads a site dedicated to mapping news deserts, areas with one or zero local papers. "And a good news organization shows you how you are related to people you may not know you're related to in another part of the county, region or state."
The Washington Post / Getty Images
Long, withering decline
Journalism jobs have been shrinking for decades, driven by declining newspaper circulation and the rise in digital advertising. The news industry's advertising and subscription businesses have roughly halved over the past decade. Much of that money's shifted to Google, Facebook and Amazon, which together now hold 64% of the US online advertising market.
For newspapers, that shift in spending is catastrophic. In the decade after the great recession in 2009, the Pew Research Center found newspaper newsroom employment in the US had dropped by more than half, to about 35,000 workers.
Ironically, the news industry has more readers than ever before – upwards of 10 times as many, according to Danielle Coffey, vice president and general council of the News Media Alliance.
"We don't have a broken product. It's being consumed at exponential rates," she said. "The source of the problem is the revenue problem."
It wasn't always this way.
The founding fathers believed so strongly in newspapers as a public good that they set up government subsidies for postal rates, reducing the cost of distributing the news – which at the time, was delivered on horseback.
In the 1960s and '70s, though, publicly traded paper owners began fixating on profits. To impress shareholders, news organizations conglomerated into big chains that gobbled up local papers into regional networks, said Amanda Lotz, professor of the Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University.
"The financialization pressure really moves [newspapers] away from the balance between a commercial and public service enterprise of providing news to a community," Lotz said.
Rounds of acquisitions resulted in the gutting of editorial budgets and staff. With fewer reporters, newspapers started relying on national stories published by wire services, a trend that created "ghost papers" that had little or no local content. Meanwhile, the internet became an easy substitution for things online that had until then been exclusive to the paper, like weather, sports scores, classifieds and even news.
Venture capitalists and other financial firms began buying up newspapers in the 1980s but rapidly accelerated in the last two decades, growing to own over 23% of US newsrooms today while wringing out profits with more layoffs.
"Those losses put more strain on already stretched newsrooms and the publications ended up churning through staff," said Yee, who worked for four years at a pair of newspapers owned by hedge fund Alden Global Capital. "All of that translates into worse, inconsistent coverage of the communities they're trying to serve."
As a result, from 2004 until the start of the pandemic in 2020, the US lost a quarter (around 2100) of its newspapers, according to a report from the University of North Carolina's Hussman School of Journalism and Media. By the end of last year, another hundred were gone, Poynter reported, expanding news deserts that are mostly located in financially-impacted rural areas in the country's interior.
Some papers have tried to rely more heavily on subscriptions, while transitioning to mainly digital publishing. Some success stories include the Chattanooga Times Free Press, which has been operating since 1869. Last September, it switched to a daily digital edition and a single print edition on Sunday from a daily print edition. The publication spent $6.1 million to give all its monthly subscribers iPads and train them one-on-one how to use them to access their daily paper, and it's retained subscribers through the transition.
"There are some real success stories in this transition. If you can lower your paper costs and your distribution costs and if you can attract enough digital subscribers, you can support a local newsroom on that. But many local news organizations are still getting a significant chunk of their revenue from print advertising," Medill's Franklin said.
Bloomberg / Getty News
Legislative fix, maybe
One way the news industry could regain revenue and profit is to seek compensation from big tech platforms. After all, advocates say, Facebook, Google, Twitter make money selling ads next to links, videos and photos published and shared freely to their networks.
Legislators in Australia were the first to pass a law in February 2021 requiring Google and Facebook to negotiate with publishers for compensation to use their work, while France followed with its own legislation shortly thereafter. The latter locked horns with Google before finally securing legal assurance that the search giant would pay local media outlets when they appear in search results. Critics like the Electronic Frontier Foundation lament that the Australian and French laws ensured deals for big media publishers at the expense of smaller ones, but that hasn't stopped Canada and the UK from gearing up to pass their own versions.
A version of that idea in the US, called the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, was proposed in March, 2021 by Senators Amy Klobuchar, Rand Paul, Cory Booker, and Lindsey Graham -- a rare bipartisan effort. The bill would allow news organizations to collectively bargain with tech companies for compensation, but hasn't moved out of committee yet.
Another idea to fund journalism Is the Local Journalism Sustainability Act introduced a year ago in the House by Representatives Ann Kirkpatrick and Dan Newhouse. That bill, if it were to become law, would give newsrooms around $50,000 annually in tax breaks to hire reporters. Small businesses, meanwhile, would receive $5,000 for the first year to advertise in local papers, and Americans would get a $250 stipend to pay for news subscriptions. It's unlikely to pass, though, in part because of partisan bickering over other spending plans on Capitol Hill.
"We need to make sure these publications can sustain themselves through this crisis and beyond, and I believe the credits in this bill make significant progress in providing a pathway to that sustainability," Rep. Kirkpatrick said when announcing the bill.
Nonprofit newsrooms
Some news organizations are finding funding beyond ads and subscriptions. Nonprofit foundations and philanthropic organizations are funneling grants and other aid money to newsrooms, including a new wave of nonprofit publications, like ProPublica, which run mostly on foundation and individual donations.
The American Journalism Project is a self-described venture philanthropy firm that to date has raised $90 million to back 32 local nonprofit newsrooms. Founded in 2019, it's also helped launch four more, taking the startup incubation model and applying it to digital newsrooms.
The organization focuses on both funding newsrooms and guiding them toward self-sustainability by diversifying their revenue streams, said Sarabeth Berman, CEO of the American Journalism Project. Newsrooms they've helped grow by around 67% in their first year and are projected to double their revenue in three years.
"Will local news only be nonprofit? No. Is nonprofit news vital for the future of an informed citizenry? We think so," Berman said.
Report For America, founded in 2017, describes itself as a service organization, which helps pair young reporters fresh out of college with legacy newsrooms. The organization financially supports the reporter by paying half their salary (up to $25,000) the first year, then a third (up to $20,000) the following year. After that, it's up to the publication to decide whether to hire them permanently.
"If you're not in New York or Boston or Washington, some of these news organizations have trouble getting people to go out to smaller towns," said Report For America's Waldman. "We have a very significant recruiting operation and are able to create a sort of self-selected group of people who are really passionate about local."
Report For America has grown its graduating class to 130 reporters this year, up from its first class of 13 in 2018 -- to date, over 560 reporters have gone through the program and partnered with local newsrooms. They include Laura Roche of the Charlotte News & Observer writing about the fraught debate over museums returning the unethically sourced remains of Black people, Sierra Clark of the Traverse City Record-Eagle writing about Melissa Isaac and many others in her Anishinaabek Neighbors series, and Brandon Drenon of the Indianapolis Star writing about the NAACP and others criticizing Indiana schools for failing Black students.
Report for America also connects newsrooms with donors in their area in an effort to get the community more involved in funding its local news again.
"Our goal is to actually help change the local business models in a way that they can sustain that," Waldman said.
The nonprofit Knight Foundation pledged to give $300 million to news organizations in 2019, some of which will go to both the American Journalism Project and Report For America, among other nonprofits that in turn support local newsrooms -- efforts that can be seen city by city on this interactive map. The flow of financial support is important for local newsrooms that operate on nonprofit and for-profit models, which are both valuable to their communities, said Jim Brady, vice president of the Knight Foundation's journalism program.
"Nonprofits tend to be more investigative or enterprise in nature, and the for-profits tend to provide more information on how consumers can live their daily lives. So we think both must be part of the answer to how local news can thrive," Brady said.
An infographic from the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media's project website, The Expanding News Desert, headed by Penelope Abernathy.
UNC Hussman
What to do if you don't have local journalism
News experts have advice for what to do if you live in a news desert, with little or no coverage. First on the list: Stop thinking that social media posts are an informative replacement for reporting. Social media can help people know what's going on, but it's rife with bias and misinformation.
"There's a proliferation of misinformation and disinformation that goes unchecked because there's no local journalist checking on the facts. [Social media is] a place where unvetted gossip can get spread," Franklin said.
People need to learn to spot misinformation that's spread on social media by publications that look like they're trustworthy but aren't. Both the World Health Organization and the Poynter Institute have their own free online courses to learn how to fact-check posts yourself -- not just to spot fake news, but also to understand the agenda behind why they're spreading in the first place.
In the voids left by local papers, citizen journalists and bloggers have stepped up to provide their communities with informative coverage, but they lack the oversight and vetting a newsroom provides. For lack of better options, a citizen reporter could start a site on Substack and write about local events, Franklin suggested.
The best thing to do is to reach out to regional papers the next town over and request coverage. You can find your nearest local or regional paper on Newspapers.com or NewspaperMap.com. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has a station finder site too, and if you're a fan of National Public Radio, you can sign up to become a member of your local station in order to help support it. It isn't a perfect solution for an existing newsroom to stretch to cover another area, but is far better than starting a new local publication from scratch.
But if your community decides to launch a new publication, organizing it as a nonprofit newsroom is a successful way to go. They rely on donations -- foundation support and individual giving account for a combined 83% of nonprofit revenue, according to the Institute of Nonprofit Newsrooms' 2021 Index. And that model is working: 83 of the over 400 nonprofit newsrooms affiliated with INN are less than five years old.
Then there's nonprofit newsroom Berkeleyside, which hosted the so-called first 'direct public offering' where it solicited a combined $1 million in funding from 355 of its readers (an average of $2,816 per person) in 2018 to get started. These are technically securities, but sold directly to its readers, and the publication continues to publish today. It's one of many ways newsrooms are innovating new ownership structures to stay solvent.
"We need to get more support from communities, from local community foundations, from national media foundations and from high net-worth individuals to help make local news sustainable in all areas of the country," Brady said.
Correction, June 28: The original version of this story incorrectly stated how many reporters were in Report For America's first graduating class. Its first graduating class of reporters was in 2018 and had 13 members.
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