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Letters: Credit card change could hurt small businesses
I recently read an op-ed in this newspaper arguing that the Durbin-Marshall credit card mandates would ease pressure on Louisiana businesses and keep our economy growing. As an entrepreneur, I
Nebraska men’s golf fall season recap
Sports writer Connor Krumme describes the many highs and lows that have occurred throughout the Huskers’ latest golf season.
Shapiro becomes first Democrat to win Lancaster County vote since 1990
Gov. Josh Shapiro not only won reelection Tuesday, he became the first Democratic gubernatorial candidate to win Lancaster County since Robert P. Casey won here in 1990.
Incumbent Republican Dave Zimmerman handily wins 99th House District
Republican Rep. Dave Zimmerman was reelected to an eighth term in Pennsylvania’s 99th House District on Tuesday with 68% of the vote. He defeated Democratic challenger Ethan Gabrick, who received
Republican Steve Mentzer wins another term to the 97th House District
Republican Steve Mentzer will serve another term in Pennsylvania’s 97th House District after winning 55.6% of the vote Tuesday.
Nature comes to life in ‘MOMIX: Botanica’ at the Schaefer Center on Nov. 12
MOMIX presents Botanica, a visually stunning dance and illusion show exploring nature’s rhythms, at Appalachian State University’s Schaefer Center on November 12. This multisensory performance combines athleticism, inventive props, and atmospheric music to transform dancers into flowers, insects, and fantastical creatures.
Event to celebrate anniversary of ‘Gone With the Wind’
Ninety years after Margaret Mitchell introduced readers to a world that would become one of the most recognizable stories in American literary and cinematic history, the story is coming home.
A jack of all tales: Orville Hicks delights museum annual meeting with stories of Appalachia
JEFFERSON — The Orion Schoolhouse became storyteller Orville Hicks’ front porch on Oct. 20 as he regaled the Museum of Ashe County History’s board members with old mountain tales and
UNM football is all about their business on the field as national buzz grows
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – It’s back to the road for the 22nd-ranked University of New Mexico Lobos football team. The Lobos are in a short week, playing the Nevada Wolfpack in Reno on Friday…
Democrat James Talarico will win Texas Senate race, CNN projects
Democratic state Rep. James Talarico will win the Senate race in Texas, CNN’s Decision Desk projects, delivering a stunning defeat to Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Tom Jones reclaims 36th Senate District for Republicans
Republicans took back Lancaster County’s 36th Senate District Tuesday, a year-and-a-half after a shock special election win by Democrat James Malone.
Butler County mental health levy passes
The Butler County Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Services Board levy has passed based on unofficial election results.
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker reelected to 6th term
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker was reelected Tuesday to the Republican-friendly 11th District seat, even as Democrats picked up at least three other Pennsylvania seats held by Republicans.
Hochul beats Blakeman to win another term as NY governor
NEW YORK — Gov. Kathy Hochul beat Republican Bruce Blakeman Tuesday to win reelection for a second full term as governor as New York Democrats turned out in droves in
Counseling and Psychological Services supports UTA students’ mental health
Here are events that will occur on campus through the end of the semester.
Democrat Chris Pappas will win New Hampshire Senate race, CNN projects
Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas will win New Hampshire’s open Senate seat, CNN’s Decision Desk projects, making history as the first out gay man to be elected to the chamber.
St. John’s lands highest-rated high school recruit under Rick Pitino
NEW YORK — Rick Pitino has landed his highest-rated high school recruit since taking over at St. John’s, earning a commitment Tuesday from 2027 senior Malachi Jordan. Jordan, a 6-7
Democrat Josh Shapiro wins reelection for governor in Pennsylvania
Democrat Josh Shapiro wins reelection for governor in Pennsylvania.
Race results for the 11th Congressional District race
Democrat Nancy Mannion, a registered nurse and political newcomer from Manheim Township, is challenging Smucker’s bid for a sixth term.
2026 Minnesota Election Results
Minnesota Election results for the November 3, 2026, midterm elections.
Clark County Health Department levy passing in early results
A levy that would provide more than a quarter of the Clark County Health Department’s funding for the next five years is passing in early unofficial election results.
The Last Disney+ Original?
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Before we get going, I wanted to remind readers about how I plan to keep your trust while I add advertising to this newsletter. As you’ve no doubt noticed, I’m running ads now, but the danger is that it could impact my analysis and writing. I have a list of sponsors on my About Page, so if you think I’m biased, you can check out who’s sponsored this newsletter! This is something that I’m not sure anyone else in digital media does (if you’re a writer or media outlet and you do this, let me know and I’ll shout you out!) but it’s something I’d love to see embraced by the entire industry. Sunlight, i.e. transparency, is often the best disinfectant. Okay, on to this week’s issue. We (finally) have another major Disney+ TV show to talk about, so that’s my main focus for today. Plus, we had a lot of new shows come out, including the fourth seasons of The Diplomat and Tulsa King! And Love is Blind! The Lowdown! Also, four (four!) straight-to-streaming films came out this week, featuring a lot of big names and celebrities, so I’m going to look at those. All that, mixed news for the WNBA, Reacher ends its run on the charts, Skydance does well in September viewership, NYU’s Sundance dominance, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of October 12th to October 18th, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Television - Disney+’s Porridge Problem Listen, per my headline, VisionQuest isn’t the last Disney+ Original. At least, I’m pretty sure it’s not. They have other MCU shows in development. Well, maybe one: But it sure feels like the end of an era. I’d call it their “porridge too hot” era, to quote myself from The Ringer. I told Ben Lindbergh that Disney+ seemingly couldn’t figure out the right amount of content. In the heights of the Streaming Bubble Era (circa 2019 to 2022), they started releasing an insane amount of TV shows. After their growth slowed, they’re down to two or three shows a year, and that might be down to 1 by 2027. Here’s my TV shows by year chart: Even at the time, I thought Disney was making too many shows (that cost too much). Today? They’re definitely making too few shows (though the budgets are more in check, at least according to the reporting). Porridge too hot, porridge too cold; too many shows, now not enough. Which makes evaluating VisionQuest so interesting. This show didn’t have a great lead-in, whether it be a Marvel Cinematic Universe film (the last non-Sony-produced-Spider-Man flick came out The Fantastic Four from July of 2025) or Marvel Cinematic Universe TV show (the two this year were Wonder Man back in January and _Daredevil: Born Again_in May, both of which underwhelmed). And so far, VisionQuest hasn’t quite recaptured the MCU Originals glory, but it has some signs of sparks. First, it made Samba TV, though at a lowly ninth place. At least it made it, a feat some other Marvel shows didn’t accomplish. (Ironheart landed on the Samba TV charts one week at tenth place, but Wonder Man and Daredevil: Born Again both missed.) VisionQuest also made Luminate, though with only 3.0 and 7.6 million hours. But it missed Nielsen in its first week. The best news might be its 7.8 on IMDb, on 12K reviews so far, great numbers, even for a superhero show. Looking at those numbers, this show will really need to pick up in future weeks—and it may since it’s coming out weekly—or Disney will have another disappointment on its hands. Disney+ binge-released their last few shows to try to boost numbers, but that meant shows like Iron Heart and Wonder Man didn’t last long on the charts. _Daredevil: Born Again’s_last season missed entirely (though it came out weekly). Here’s the Disney+ Originals by totals: And for a fun new look, here are those same shows, rearranged by the years they came out: That really shows that, in addition to Disney+ releasing fewer shows, those shows just don’t hit like they once did. If I had to offer one main explanation, it’s that Marvel Studios moved away from characters who starred in the Avengersmovies (The Scarlett Witch, Vision, Hawkeye, Loki, Falcon, Winter Soldier) to characters who didn’t (Moon Knight, She-Hulk, Iron Heart, Wonder Man, Daredevil). It sounds trite, but more popular IP tends to do better than less popular IP. In Marvel’s case, beloved, decades-old characters trump newer ones. And yes, I think this is a problem for Disney. The failure of Marvel TV shows to linger for weeks on the charts, unlike in 2021 and 2022, explains why Disney’s share of the charts has plummeted: That’s a strategic issue. Yes, these shows are really expensive, but without them, Disney+ will struggle, especially if Disney+ keeps raising prices AND licenses out its shows non-exclusively. My recommendation? Return to the core value proposition, which is Disney+ as “genre HBO”. The goal is six shows a year, coming out weekly, spaced out throughout the year. When a show hits, keep it coming back. Make three to four of those shows Marvel or Star Wars, and fill out the rest with IP swings like Percy Jackson, Goosebumps or something like National Treasure. And make YA-skewing shows like Coven Academy to fill out the schedule. Disney, you can get this porridge just right, er, make the right number of shows. Quick Notes on TV Netflix’s sophomore, er, junior, er, senior season slump abated very, very slightly this week. I speak of The Diplomat, which returned for its fourth season on 15-Oct. Credit where credit is due, this show debuted in April of 2023, and has put out new seasons every year since. Has that helped the viewership? Not really. This season opened to 16.4 million hours, which is down significantly from the first season (21.7 million hours) and down somewhat from the second season (18.0 million hours), but it is up from last year’s 14.2 million hours opening. On Samba TV, it opened to third place; that’s also very good. On Luminate, it opened to 25.0 million hours, which is good, but over thirty million hours is a hit on that platform. Netflix wisely renewed it, since it’s steady and, frankly, Netflix needs hits.1 Paramount+ put out Tulsa King’s fourth season on a Friday. After putting out most of their big, usually-Taylor Sheridan-scripted shows out on Sundays last year, they’ve clearly moved to Fridays going forward. Was this a thought-out strategic change, Netflix mimicry, or a data-inspired move? Tough to say. Fridays are crowded with new movies, but so are Sundays with new shows. Anyways, this one is coming out weekly, and we haven’t seen it hit the Nielsen or Luminate charts yet. But it did make Samba TV at fifth place, which is a good opening. Still, if this doesn’t make Luminate or Nielsen next week, I’d call it a disappointment. Netflix had two unscripted shows hit the charts this week, one a docu-series and one a reality competition show. Tyson is a four-episode docu-series about one of boxing’s most popular fighters, and it made both the Samba TV and Luminate charts, but not Nielsen. That’s a solid run for only four episodes (assuming it didn’t cost an arm and a leg to produce). Netflix’s latest season of Love Is Blind also returned for its eleventh season, which opened to 10.0 million hours, down from previous seasons. It also had 11.0 million hours according to Luminate, roughly in line with the Nielsen numbers. Last issue, I analyzed the triple successes of Below, Carrie and Crystal Lake, noting that all three have done well. I mostly used Nielsen, but all three shows also made Samba TV (see above). Crystal Lake in particular did very well on Luminate, getting 35.0 million hours, top for Peacock among first seasons: The top “show” of the week would have been Thursday Night Football again, at 41.7 million hours. This is still above last year’s game, but it continues the season’s overall downward trend, which happens every year. (Though a big week is coming, based on the news stories I’ve seen.) As I said before, I’ll do a deeper dive on all the October games later this month, with comparisons to previous years. One company is quietly on a roll, when you consider the shows it makes and streams. I speak of Skydance—a point Variety made—noting that it produces Neagley and Reacher for Amazon, along with Paramount+’s Lioness, which means it produced three of the top four shows of September according to Nielsen. By the way, Neagley fell off the Nielsen charts after four weeks, which is a pinch short for how well it started, but it’s still a huge success. (Interestingly, it finished just 7.3 million hours ahead of the cancelled Ride or Die.) The point, though, which I’ve made before, is that Prime Video still has a problem with how many co-productions it buys, most notably _The Boys_from Sony and Reacher/Jack Ryan from Skydance. It’s not a critical flaw—everyone licenses shows—but Amazon still struggles to make its own hits. Reacher finally fell off the Nielsen charts, so here’s its final rank for season four: We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… ...An example of the algorithm NOT picking a film… …whether or not Netflix buys shows simply for the movie poster… ...if East of Eden is above the Obliterated Line... ...what four star-studded straight-to-streaming films didn’t chart... ...and a whole lot more... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. If you want an idea of just how much content you’d get in a full issue, check out this older issue.
IUP, IRMC announce plans for fifth annual Rural Health Conference at KCAC
Plans announced for fifth annual Rural Health Conference at KCAC.
Wake Forest political science professor John Dinan stops by WXII to analyze midterm election success means for Democrats and Republicans
Spanish soccer player Jesús de Miguel dies at 30 after collision on field
Spanish soccer player Jesús de Miguel died on Tuesday after colliding with another player on the field during a match on Monday night.
The Chicks postpone LA concert hours before showtime, sparking fan backlash
Fans of The Chicks in Los Angeles were left disappointed after the country music trio postponed a concert just hours before showtime.
'Star Trek' actor Walter Koenig's cause of death released
Original "Star Trek" cast member Walter Koenig's cause of death has been released.
Leadership Berkeley graduates 27 business and community leaders
MARTINSBURG — Twenty-seven business and community leaders celebrated their graduation from the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Berkeley Program during an Oct. 29 ceremony at The Sycamore.
Leadership Berkeley graduates 27 business and community leaders
MARTINSBURG — Twenty-seven business and community leaders celebrated their graduation from the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Berkeley Program during an Oct. 29 ceremony at The Sycamore.
Netflix sets series order of coming-of-age adaptation 'Prep'
A photo of Nicole Taylor. (Lorraine Milligan) | The book cover for 'Prep.' (Random House)
Many voters see midterm election as a rebuke of Trump, NBC News Exit Poll shows
The president’s approval rating is dismal among voters, who have big concerns about the economy, according to early polling results.
Blood drive in Rome to celebrate Leukemia survivor
A blood drive will be held at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14 at Uvanni Motors at 5829 Rome-Taberg Road, according to organizers.
‘Thrift Style’ comes to Marco Island
Making ends meet isn’t just math and business— it’s art. The terminology of home economics once portrayed this important aspect of life. Now, in Collier County, at the Marco Island
Accel Entertainment: Q3 Earnings Snapshot
BURR RIDGE, Ill. (AP) — BURR RIDGE, Ill. (AP) — Accel Entertainment, Inc. (ACEL) on Tuesday reported third-quarter earnings of $20.6 million.
New Mexico midterm election turnout continues to surge
By Kevin Hendricks, Jesse Jones, Rodd Cayton and Pat Davis, The Paper & The New Mexico News — 2026’s midterm elections may be among the biggest in recent memory, both nationally and here in New Mexico, if early voting and midday Election Day turnout trends continue until polls close at 7 p.m. tonight. Election Day […]
Mexico, France Strengthen Health Ties Through R&D, CAPEX
France and Mexico strengthen healthcare ties through clinical trial streamlining, primary care reforms, and local manufacturing investments.
Elizabeth Holmes' partner addresses 'You Can See Everything' nude scene
Billy Evans is ready to say everything.
Campaign cash keeps coming: $21.8 million and counting pours into Vasquez-Cunningham race
By Kevin Hendricks, The New Mexico News — If you live anywhere between Albuquerque’s South Valley and El Paso and own a TV, you already know somebody really wants your vote in the 2nd Congressional District. Actually, several somebodies – and each has several million dollars. Campaign donors and outside political action committees have spent […]
Area voters flock to polls, make voices heard for midterm elections
Matthew Hantz of Latrobe said he feels so strongly about the gubernatorial race that he voted in a midterm election for the first time on Tuesday.
Busing health care: Mobile health clinics will treat LCPS students, staff
A lack of health insurance or transportation, or the inability to get time off from work, can keep low-income Loudoun County Public Schools parents from getting their children dental, medical
Main Street El Dorado launches 2026 New Business Mini-Grant Program
Main Street El Dorado announced it is now accepting applications for its 2026 New Business Mini-Grant Program to spur economic growth and support entrepreneurs in the historic downtown district.
Veterans Day concert to feature world premiere in Dagsboro
Building on an already special tradition, the Rehoboth Concert Band will debut a new piece during one of the most stirring moments of the 2026 edition of their annual Veterans
Does Austen Kroll’s Trop Hop Still Exist? What to Know About His Businesses
Southern Charm’s Austen Kroll still runs Trop Hop and co-owns Charleston spots The Waverly and By The Way. Details on his businesses.
Science Café examines metals and their impact
Davis Science Café is back Wednesday, Nov. 11, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at G Street WunderBar, 228 G St. in downtown Davis.
3 arrested in connection to robbery at Pulaski County business
According to the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, the three suspects allegedly broke the front glass door of the store. They reportedly stole chainsaws, guns and other items
Duly’s private equity backer looks for an exit: report
Ares Management is seeking a buyer for its stake in Illinois’ largest independent physician group after almost a decade.
Legends Radio Artist Spotlight on Judy Horozitz
This week, artist Judy Horowitz stands in Legends Radio's Local Artist Spotlight.
Right Men’s Club to host Salute to Veterans luncheon
The Right Men’s Club of Collier County will host the ninth annual Salute to Veterans Luncheon at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, at the Hilton Naples. Proceeds will support
OPED-US-FAITH-SCIENCE-COMMENTARY-FILEPIC-GET
Healthcare workers carry on a stretcher a patient suffering from the Ebola virus disease from an ambulance at the Ebola Treatment Center (ETC) in Bunia, Ituri, in the east of
Recon: Merck KGaA to exit CDMO business; Karyopharm to sell itself in bankruptcy
Welcome to Regulatory Reconnaissance, your regulatory news and intelligence briefing.
Exclusive-Skydance shuffles distribution ranks as eight executives depart
By Jaspreet Singh Nov 3 (Reuters) - Skydance, the media giant that merged Paramount-Skydance with Warner Bros.
Anheuser-Busch CEO leaving position for luxury gym chain
Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth is leaving his position at the end of this month for a new job leading a luxury gym chain, AB InBev announced Monday. His departure for
Harmony at craft fair
New Harmony Jazz Band will be at the Davis Craft & Vintage Fair in Central Park from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14. Enjoy two free sets of big
2026 Marks Highest Stakes Holy War Ever
BYU and Utah are set to play the 98th edition of the famous “Holy War” on the gridiron. If you’re reading this, I don’t need to tell you that this is one of the most intense (toxic?) rivalries in all of sports. BYU has won three in a row and Utah has not won a […]
Waymo expands driverless taxi service in Los Angeles County
Waymo expanded its Los Angeles service area on Tuesday, adding three South Bay neighborhoods to the 210-square-mile region where the robotaxis roam. Riders can now travel to Torrance, El Segundo,
MMAM, WSO announce next concert series
The Minnesota Marine Art Museum (MMAM) is pleased to continue its partnership with the Winona Symphony Orchestra (WSO) for the 2026–2027 season of Water Music: Chamber Concerts at the MMAM.
Siri AI Gets More Capable in iOS 27.3
Apple is expanding what Siri AI can do in and across apps in iOS 27.3, which is available to developers as of today. Siri can complete tasks across Calendar, Files, Finder, Journal, Mail, Maps, Messages, Music, Notes, Photos, Preview, Reminders, Safari, Shortcuts, and Weather. You can ask Siri AI what you can do with each app to get more information on what's possible. In Mail, for example, Siri can unsubscribe you from mailing lists and undo recently sent messages.
Brent Venables explains how 'everything's on the table' for OU offense
One day after OU announced it would be moving on from offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, head coach Brent Venables took to the podium to address the rest of the season’s
The Live Effect: AEG Research Reveals How Live Entertainment Turns Attention into Action
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 3, 2026--
Bradbury Science Museum To Present ‘Night With A Nerd: Neuromorphic Artificial Intelligence’ 6-8 p.m. Wednesday Nov. 4
Bradbury Science Museum News:
Scientists Just Built an E-Paper Display With 25,000 PPI – Over 50 Times Sharper Than an iPhone
Uppsala University's tungsten oxide metapixels hit 25,000 PPI on a pupil-sized display, advancing near-eye AR and VR tech with reflective, low-power operation.
SXU community concert band invites musicians to join
The St. Xavier University Community Symphonic Concert Band and Wind Ensemble invites musicians to join its rapidly growing musical organization.
IIPR: AFFO rose 7% sequentially as life science investment and portfolio leasing accelerated
Q3 AFFO per share rose 7% sequentially to $1.96, supported by rent recoveries and new leasing. Life science commitments expanded to approximately $545M, while 874,000 sq ft was leased since July.Based on Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. [IIPR] Q3 2026 Audio Transcript — Nov. 3 2026This is an…
Boyfriend of 'SNL' writer's missing sister charged with murder
The boyfriend of "Saturday Night Live" writer Jimmy Fowlie's sister, Christina Downer, has been charged with her murder, nearly a year after she first went missing.
Koo to be guest conductor for SSO
The Southwest Symphony Orchestra (SSO) will present its second concert of the season, “Folk, Fire and Folly,” on Sunday, Nov. 15, at 4 p.m., at Richards High School, 107th Street
South Side Irish Imports to host Belleek signing
South Side Irish Imports, 3446 W. 111th St., in Mt. Greenwood, will welcome a guest from Ireland when it hosts a Belleek signing event on Saturday, Nov. 7, from 11
'Dancing with the Stars': Week 8 Disney Night recap
Disney hits took over the ballroom Monday night as “Dancing with the Stars” returned for Disney Night as the remaining eight couples performed Broadway-inspired Disney dances.
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course announces 2027 racing schedule
Public ticket sales begin on Tuesday, Dec. 1 LEXINGTON, Ohio (Nov. 3, 2026) – The 66th season of racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will feature five maj...
Jeff Ament talks new photo book, Pearl Jam’s drummer situation
With "Since Forever," Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament gives fans a look at the in-between moments and bonds forged in the '90s rock 'n' roll circus.
Patrick Kane Injury Sides Blackhawks, Missing Next Games
Franchise icon Patrick Kane exits with an upper-body injury. See the latest stats, coach comments, and what this means for Chicago's season.
Bill Hader will guest star on 'Abbott Elementary'
A photo of Bill Hader. (ABC)
For King + Country musicians to introduce film screenings at Penn Cinema this weekend
Members of a popular contemporary Christian band will appear at Penn Cinema in Manheim Township this weekend to introduce screenings of a feature film.
Christina Applegate details new medical testing after MS misdiagnosis
Christina Applegate is continuing to search for answers in her ongoing health battle.
New on DVD: Nic Cage classics land on 4K Blu-ray
The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray SteelBook release of "Con Air" and "National Treasure," two of the most beloved Nicolas Cage films, tops the release calendar for the week of Nov.
Movie Review: 'The Cat in the Hat' ridiculously builds the stakes so high, the universe could die
The new animated “The Cat in the Hat” has plenty of tricks up its sleeve, says Associated Press critic Mark Kennedy. Directed by Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni, the film
Group of artists growing in member numbers, services
Fall has arrived, and Citrus Watercolor Society member palettes and brushes are already in full use. And the fun continues through October and November.
Annual Benefits Enrollment: Health Savings Account and Flexible Spending Accounts
Enroll during 2027 Annual Benefits Enrollment to contribute to a 2027 Health Savings Account (HSA) or a medical or dependent care Flexible Spending Account (FSA).
Le Havre fans call for American owners to leave after coach's suspension and president's exit
Le Havre fans are calling for the American owners the Blue Crow Sports Group to leave the club
A roller coaster ride alters history for a high school choir in Musical Theatre Club at LSU's show
If there's no crash, there's no cabaret.
Nicole Kidman's daughter Sunday Rose dresses as Adéla for Halloween
The singer Adéla borrowed Nicole Kidman's name for a pop song so for Halloween, Kidman's daughter borrowed Adéla's look.
Gaming Phones Are Finally As Obnoxious as Gaming PCs
RedMagic is just the latest company to introduce an excessively bright and colorful handset.
Crowd Gathers at Legacy MD Fall Health Fair
Legacy MD Medical Group’s parking lot was packed with guests, activity booths and informational booths during their annual Fall Health Fair on Wednesday, Oct. 28.
Juan Atkins, Detroit techno music pioneer, dead at 64
LOS ANGELES — Juan Atkins, the Detroit club music producer who pioneered techno as a genre, has died. He was 64. Atkins' death was confirmed in a social media post
Pop-up dance fitness with Lacey Cook
TUNKHANNOCK — En Pointe Dance Studio in Tunkhannock is hosting the second of two special pop-up Adult Dance Fitness classes on Nov. 17 at 7:40 and 8:30 p.m., cost is
Baptist Health: When clocks fall back, bodies need time to catch up
Clocks are set back for Daylight Savings Time. From "falling back," Baptist Health Paducah says the body may also need time to catch up.
Jury begins deliberating at Russell Brand's rape and sexual assault trial
Jurors have started deliberating in Russell Brand's trial on charges of rape and sexual assault. After three weeks of evidence, the judge at London’s Southwark Crown Court instructed the jury
OpenAI: ChatGPT Search Is About 20% of Google’s, 250 Million People Speak With ChatGPT, and Chat Is Merging With Work
OpenAI says ChatGPT growth is accelerating. The company added 200 million users over just the past two months, jumping from 1 billion to 1.2 billion weekly active users in 60 days. Its search volume, it says, is approximately 20% of Google’s. Its users create 1.5 billion images with it per week. And its voice mode, between dictation and speaking with ChatGPT, now has 250 million combined weekly active users. ChatGPT consumer product lead Adam Fry told me this during a brief fireside chat at an OpenAI-hosted dinner in New York City on Monday night. “The growth is just going big,” he said. During our conversation, Fry also revealed plans to merge ChatGPT’s Chat and Work modes (so that confusing toggle up top will soon go away), agreed with feedback that ChatGPT-created restaurant signage looks too uniform, and addressed the cost to serve its personal assistant Dots. Here’s a look at our full conversation, lightly edited for clarity and length. We also cover image generation, interactive interfaces, advertising, education, and public unease about AI: Alex Kantrowitz: OpenAI has analyzed ChatGPT’s search volume and compared it with Google’s. What did you find? Adam Fry: ChatGPT has been growing quite quickly. ChatGPT’s volume of search-like queries is now roughly one-fifth the volume of queries of Google. It’s a pretty amazing statistic when you think about it, mainly because we started just about a year and a half ago. It’s hard to remember this, but ChatGPT at a time didn’t have any up-to-date information. You’d ask a question, it would say something like, “It’s past my training date,” and nobody had any idea what that meant. You’re saying ChatGPT’s search volume is one-fifth of Google’s. Bing’s share of the search market is around 5%. Does that make you multiple times larger than Bing? To say that more directly, ChatGPT has gone from one billion to 1.2 in just the last two months. That’s roughly 100 million users in 30 days, and another 100 million in another 30 days. The growth is just going big, and we’re staying very focused on how fast ChatGPT is growing. What counts as a search? I might have 20 prompts back and forth in a ChatGPT conversation. Does each one count as a query? Story continues below… A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR Move upmarket without a rebuild Moving upmarket means saying yes to what enterprise buyers ask for first: SSO, directory sync, and audit logs. WorkOS gives you all three, so your team keeps building the product instead of the checklist. Get enterprise-ready. Continued from above…. Adam Fry: What people came to ChatGPT for to start, if you go back about two years, is really writing help and coding help. Those wouldn’t be things that you really search for. What we’ve seen over the last year is people have grown into all these other topics. Things like you’re looking up a person or people or a place or a thing, and it requires up-to-date information. That’s a key element. Another big part is finance questions or health questions, where you really want to make sure it’s up-to-date information that’s quite factual, and we’ll do a web search for those questions. It’s basically anything that a user would have traditionally gone to a traditional search engine for, but is now deciding to go to ChatGPT for. Does each conversation with a search embedded count as one search, or does every question that requires a web search count? Every time you ask a question and go search the web, that’s a search. You used to work at Google. How would you say the nature of search is changing? One of the things that people really love about ChatGPT is this personalization and this understanding of the broader journey. If you look in the past, people would go for a Q&A box, and you’d ask a one-off question, like how tall is the Eiffel Tower. But there’s so much context in our lives around, “Maybe I’m taking a trip to Paris.” It’s actually helpful for ChatGPT to respond, “Here’s how tall the Eiffel Tower is, but I know you’re going on a trip to Paris.” It’s that ability for people to actually maintain context over time that has led them to start using ChatGPT in this way. You’ve also announced 250 million weekly active users of voice input, including dictation and conversations with voice mode. We are at 250 million weekly active users. What’s amazing about this is, if you look at those 250 million, what we’re seeing is it’s actually also incremental to the product. It’s no longer just a novelty. People aren’t just trying out voice. We’re seeing them use voice input day to day in their daily life, and it’s grown so quickly. Those 250 million users are using voice input, and that could just be a quick question or a long conversation. We’re seeing both behaviors. We’re seeing people just not want to type. You just hold it and start talking to it, or it turns into a longer conversation where people just sit with it. The big reason for this is the frontier capabilities of our models that we’ve shipped. We shipped what we call GPT Live 1, and then we shipped GPT Live 1.1. The big change with this is that it’s much more natural to speak with. It’s something we call backchanneling and interruptibility. Mhhhm… What you just did there is what the model does, because it’s really good at having a bidirectional conversation. That push to the frontier—we were the first to really release this at scale—has made it so much more natural for people to chat. That’s still only about 20% of the user base. From the outside, that looks small. Why is it exciting from the inside? It’s very exciting for a few reasons. We see from the data that when people start using voice, they stay around using voice. One of the things, transparently, we can do a better job of is bringing more people into discovering it. We see that the number of people who discover it could be a lot higher. But once they do, it’s a really new way for people to interact with AI. We’ve made a lot of improvements to it too, where we’re just going to see the number go up. You have background mode, so now by default, if you close the app, it’ll show, “Hey, the conversation’s still going.” If you want to walk around the house or you’re putting away the groceries, you can still have a chat. That kind of continuity has also changed how much people use it. Dots launched on September 29 and is about a month old. How’s it doing? It’s doing great. We talk to people about their Dot, and the first thing that everyone says is, “I love my Dot.” One of the reasons we’re seeing this is the proactivity, its ability to reach out to you and figure out things. The biggest use case I see all the time is, “Did I forget something today that I was supposed to do?” You can just say to your Dot, “Remind me of things at the end of the day that I may have forgotten. Somebody emailed me or messaged me,” and it’ll do that. This Dot changes the paradigm of the relationship with AI, where it’s actually helping you and giving you time back. You’re more conservative with permissions than some competitors. I tried to give my Dot my credit card, and it wouldn’t take it. With the creator of OpenClaw in-house, why are Dots’ permissions more limited? This is a space where we want to be very thoughtful and conservative because it’s a new space where you’re entrusting your Dot to take care of things on behalf of you that matter and are meaningful. We’ve just talked about how you go to this 1.2 billion user growth and asking questions. Now we’re asking people, “Can you ask ChatGPT or your Dot to help get things done?” But when you ask it to help get things done, it’s a whole new level of trust. We’ve built up a tremendous amount of trust in giving the right answers to your questions, and we want to make sure that when we build this new product, it has a high degree of trust. It’s a long game. We think this is going to be a new market for a very long time, and we want to make sure that we’re being this trusted player in the market to start. I initially thought Dots would be available on my $20 plan, then realized I had to spend $100 a month to get it. I upgraded, but I’d like to downgrade at some point…. We hope to keep earning your business and make the value good enough. It’s a really good point. ChatGPT’s goal more broadly, which I think is unique for us in the market, is we are focused on bringing intelligence to everyone safely across the entire world. For Dots in particular, there’s no difference. We don’t have anything to share tonight about the date of when Dots will go to a broader set of users. But you can rest assured we’re working very hard, and there are a couple things we have to get right. Over time we’re going to work on more efficient, agentic models that are able and capable of doing things for you. The first one is, right now we wanted to make sure that your Dot is actually really helpful. We started with some of our best models, but over time we’re going to work on more efficient, agentic models that are able and capable of doing things for you. The second thing is around proactivity. We’re still dialing in: How much do I message you to help you get things done? We can always play around with that to understand how much usage should a user use to have a successful Dot. We’re going to work on both, and our goal and ambition is to bring it out to all users. How much background computing does a Dot require? I’ve read estimates that serving a $100 subscriber might cost OpenAI $3,000 in compute, and mine seems to read every email that arrives. How often is it checking connected data sources? Right now, Dots are on the compute-heavier side, and this is one of the things we want to make sure that we can dial back over time. But the goal is to give you the best product. This is our premium, always-on personal assistant. Once we nail that, we’ll figure out how to dial back the compute needs. The thing we’re seeing also from our models, as we train frontier models, is just how—I can’t even keep up with how quickly we have a new model, and each new model is more efficient. If you looked at 6.1 Sol when it came out relative to Astra, much more efficient. I’m very excited about the next set of models we have coming too that’ll be even more efficient that we can use. Elon Musk said the cost of serving Grok Bot was unsustainably high relative to revenue. Is efficiency the key to winning against competitors, or is there more to it? There are a couple of factors that go into it. One is the cost side, but the other is the revenue side. On ChatGPT and on our consumer business, we’ve been extremely proud of our ability to diversify different revenue streams in a way that’s growing really fast. To give you another stat, we announced several months back that we had passed 50 million subscriptions, and the number has grown considerably since then. On ads, within 200 days, we reached more than a billion in ARR, and that business is growing extremely quickly. We also have credits. Rather than paying for subscriptions, users can buy more credits. Between credits, subscriptions, and ads, I’m confident that the value of a Dot is going to be able to pay for itself. Elon has subscriptions too. This is clearly an expensive product to serve. One thing we continue to bet on at OpenAI and ChatGPT more broadly is that the models will continue to get much better and much cheaper, way faster than any of us think. If you look back at the historicals on it, it continues to be true. From what I’ve seen, I see no slowing down of that. What is Meta doing right with Muse? It has spent a lot of time atop the App Store charts. There are a couple of things they’ve done well. The first is people have been craving simplicity in their products. One of the things we have stated publicly as well is, at times AI products can be too complex. We’ve announced we’re merging ChatGPT’s Chat and Work. We’re making it much more simple in the products. You don’t have as many toggles or sliders between efforts and different model pickers. One of the things they’ve done well is this simplicity. You just go in and you can ask a question. You don’t have to think too much about what you’re doing. That’s one thing that seems to have resonated with users, which we also believe in. Second, there’s something really nice about being able to access your agent across many different channels. We just announced and launched Dots on iMessage. Whether you talk to your Dot on email or iMessage or within the ChatGPT app, the ubiquity in getting your assistant out there is going to be key. Those are two things that, if I had to be nice to our competitors, I would say were two big ones. So Alexandr Wang’s meme-tweeting strategy isn’t something you’re going to emulate? I have a different tweeting style. ChatGPT still asks me to choose between Chat and Work, even though some people call this technology AGI. Will that distinction go away? Couldn’t agree more. We have to solve this. Asking users to choose — we’ve heard repeatedly from all of our users it’s too much to understand. When should you go to Chat? When should you go to Work? It’s solvable. There’s real research to solve to make sure the models can understand what your intent is. Are you asking for a fast, quick reply? Are you asking me to go do a long agentic task? We’re going to solve it, and the plan is to bring Chat and Work together. So one interface will work out whether I’m asking for a conversation or a task. When? Coming soon. You told me the majority of ChatGPT’s 1.2 billion users are using image functionality. What are they doing? Today, 1.5 billion images are created per week. It’s hard to even wrap my head around that number. They’re doing a wide range of things. One of the most interesting things they’ve started to do is really use it for productivity use cases. The first thing it started with—I don’t know if you saw the ’80s trend, but it was quite fun. You could take a photo of yourself and say, “Put me and my family in ’80s outfits.” I did this for my family, and it was a really fun poster. But what we’re also seeing is businesses for their menus, or posters for birthdays. People are using it almost in a productivity-like fashion to create visual diagrams of what they would like to see. We’ve actually brought the latency down on images as well, so it’s gotten a lot faster. It went from a very high number of seconds to getting much faster. As it comes down even further, the number of images people are creating and the number of use cases is going to grow a lot. My feature request: When a restaurant makes a menu or sign, prompt it for more specificity so it doesn’t look like every other AI-generated restaurant sign. Or offer a shuffle button for a different style. I agree with the feedback, and we’ll take it to the team. I’m seeing ChatGPT generate little interactive interfaces within its answers. What’s the direction for Intelligent UI, and how are people using it? I am extremely excited about Intelligent UI. If you go back a couple years, these chat apps were all text, and now that’s changing. They’re going to be visuals. Intelligent UI and our first attempt at this with GPT-6 Intelligent UI is really just the beginning. As you go to the extreme, what you can imagine is, let’s say you’re using voice mode, and you just say, “Show me how offside works.” Immediately it should show you a visual diagram, and you say, “No, I don’t quite understand it.” It should just repopulate. That’s where the future of this technology goes. It’s almost like you’re talking to a canvas that will update and change. People are finding it helpful for a lot of things. My favorite one is—it’s hard to admit that I had no idea how hearts work. The last biology course I took was in high school. I just asked it, “How does the heart work?” and it instantly gave me a beautiful interactive diagram of where blood flows and how it goes through. I’m really, really bullish on this for learning in particular. You’ve described useful applications in finance, health, and learning, and ChatGPT has 1.2 billion users. If people are getting so much value, why is public polling on AI so negative? The reality with AI is it is going to change the nature of how work gets done. For a lot of people, that is something that can feel scary at times, and we’ve all felt that. But I remain confident that when people actually use the product and they use AI, it very quickly changes how they perceive it. We’re at 1.2 billion, but there are still a lot of people who haven’t used it. The more people use it, get familiar with it, how it can actually help you in your life, it’s going to feel a lot less scary. Big Technology is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Thanks!! Subscribe
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