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Unexpected New Details Emerge on Eagles’ Cam Jurgens Trade

The Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens made a surprising move prior to agreeing to their Cam Jurgens trade. The post Unexpected New Details Emerge on Eagles’ Cam Jurgens Trade appeared first on HEAVY.

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Oct 10 • 2:18 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
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Squadron 42 Storms Onto Steam With Surprisingly Low Minimum PC Requirements, but Fans Still Face a Wait Until Q2 2027

Cloud Imperium Games has opened Squadron 42's Steam page and released a new trailer, while some fans and content creators played the game.

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Oct 10 • 1:00 PM EDT • Technology • wccftech.com
Scientists Discover a Hidden Hydrogen Pathway That Could Transform CO2 Into Valuable Fuel

Scientists have uncovered an unexpected pathway for hydrogen transfer during catalytic CO2 conversion. A computer model designed to predict how carbon dioxide becomes useful chemicals produced a surprising error: It identified formic acid as the main product instead of methanol. When scientists expanded the model to account for thousands of previously overlooked reactions, its predictions

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Oct 10 • 12:19 PM EDT • Science • scitechdaily.com
Test your pop culture: From Hollywood to the Heartland

From a surprising Marilyn Monroe family connection to candid revelations about Hollywood relationships, see how closely you followed this week's entertainment headlines.

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Oct 10 • 11:30 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com
Film Review: 'Ray Gunn' is a Visually Rich and Surprisingly Effective Science Fiction Neo Noir from Brad Bird

Awards Radar seeks to provide objective, thoughtful, and wide-ranging coverage of the awards season, as well as the entertainment world in general

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Oct 10 • 11:20 AM EDT • Science • awardsradar.com
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One Surprising Area Where Georgia Could Have Advantage Over Alabama

The Georgia Bulldogs are headed into their biggest game of the season tonight.

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Oct 10 • 11:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Rare ‘pumpkin spice’ baby sea turtle spotted in Florida

‘This little one, surprisingly, had an earthy tone of autumn.’

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Oct 10 • 10:10 AM EDT • Science • popsci.com
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WBN, Xbox and the CXO Summit: This Week's Top Five Stories

This week's top stories include, WBN on Europe prioritising risk strategy, Asha Sharma's plans for Xbox and discussions around AI at the CXO Summit

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Oct 10 • 10:00 AM EDT • Business • businesschief.com
Ancient DNA Links Attila’s Huns to the Elite of a Lost Mongolian Empire

Ancient DNA traces the Huns' journey from Mongolia to Europe. But this wasn't straightforward.

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Oct 10 • 7:29 AM EDT • Science • zmescience.com
The Science Of Fever Dreams: When We’re Sick, Our Dreams Can Get Extra Weird

There are some surprisingly recurrent themes in our fever dreams.

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Oct 10 • 7:01 AM EDT • Science • iflscience.com
Ethan Nwaneri Continues Promising on Loan at Borussia Dortmund

Arsenal loanee, Ethan Nwaneri has continued his encouraging start to life in Dortmund. He started Borussia Dortmund’s first game after the September international break against Werder Bremen in a 2-2 draw, marking three consecutive starts for his club in all competitions.

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Oct 10 • 3:30 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
The midterm Senate fight spreads to a surprising new battleground

Republicans are suddenly racing to defend a seat in Kansas, where Democrats are trying to win a Senate race for the first time in nearly a century.

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Oct 9 • 11:19 PM EDT • Politics • seattletimes.com
Louisville Stuns Florida State With 44-20 Comeback Victory

Seminoles Blow Early Lead in Costly ACC Loss The Louisville Cardinals delivered a dominant comeback Friday night, defeating Florida State 44-20 after overcoming an early 14 point deficit at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium. What started as a promising performance for the Seminoles quickly turned into another frustrating road loss as Louisville took control and…

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Oct 9 • 11:12 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Friends of BrainHealth grants advance dementia prevention and brain health research

For nearly 20 years, the Friends of BrainHealth donor circle has helped turn promising ideas into innovative brain health research.

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Oct 9 • 10:40 PM EDT • Health • news-medical.net
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Netflix plans substantial layoffs, sources say

Netflix plans a substantial round of layoffs as the streaming giant faces rising competition and pressure to retain its subscribers, according to people familiar with the job cuts. The cuts

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Oct 9 • 10:20 PM EDT • Entertainment • thederrick.com
Hotel executive checks in on the blows to Hawaiʻi's tourist business

Jerry Gibson, President of the Hawaiʻi Hotel Alliance, discusses rising travel costs and troubling tourism numbers.

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Oct 9 • 9:12 PM EDT • Business • hawaiipublicradio.org
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Minnesota Vikings Receive Surprising Update for New Orleans Saints Matchup

As Justin Jefferson returns to practice, a fresh hamstring injury to Jordan Addison threatens to derail Minnesota’s stagnant offense ahead of a critical clash with New Orleans.

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Oct 9 • 9:03 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Rising costs put pressure on local small businesses

Senator Cortez Masto meets with local restaurant owners to discuss economic strain on their business and the community.

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Oct 9 • 8:37 PM EDT • Business • kolotv.com
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In Deep-Red Kansas, a Surprisingly Competitive Senate Race Takes Shape

Adam Hamilton wants to be the first Democrat to win a Senate seat there in nearly 100 years.

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Oct 9 • 7:01 PM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com
Daytona Beach businesses deal with recurring flooding after recent rain

Recent rain is raising flooding concerns in Daytona Beach, where Fairview Avenue businesses say rising water has become a recurring issue.

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Oct 9 • 6:41 PM EDT • Business • mynews13.com
Nets’ Wolf, Traoré Taking Sophomore Leaps in Preseason

Explosive driving and elite playmaking from Brooklyn's rising sophomores signal a potential bench revolution, transforming last season's developmental growing pains into a formidable second-unit strength.

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Oct 9 • 5:50 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Ex-Saints QB Suddenly Released by Eagles

In a successful and well-traveled NFL career, Andy Dalton had a stop with the New Orleans Saints. It wasn’t the most memorable or the longest, but it was substantial time on the field for “The Red Rifle” with the Saints. It came to mind again on Friday, when the Philadelphia Eagles surprisingly released Dalton after […] The post Ex-Saints QB Suddenly Released by Eagles appeared first on HEAVY.

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Oct 9 • 5:42 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Can agritourism help small family farms in N.Y. survive?

From pick-your-own apples to hard cider and fall activities, farms are finding new ways to bring customers through the gates. But can agritourism help family farms navigate rising costs and labor challenges?

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Oct 9 • 5:33 PM EDT • Business • spectrumlocalnews.com
Assistant Professor of Climate Data Science | The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education

Boston University invites applications for a faculty position at the rank of Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth Environment. This tenure-track position in Climate Data Science , beginning on July 1, 2027, is part of the ongoing cluster hire in Environmental Data Science and complements faculty searches within the Faculty of Computing and Data Science.rnrnWe particularly welcome candidates whose research focuses on the physical basis of climate, climate variability, and climate change, and who employ data science methodologies to deepen our understanding of how the climate system is changing and how these changes affect the global environment. Areas of interest include—but are not limited to—the changing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events; interactions between the atmosphere and terrestrial, oceanic, biospheric, and cryospheric systems; and improved understanding of Earth system predictability at seasonal, decadal, and longer time scales. We envision this position playing a central role in connecting and enhancing existing departmental strengths in climate-related research and teaching, including terrestrial and marine biogeosciences, land surface and coastal processes, paleoclimatology, energy and economic policy, and environmental sustainability. This faculty member will also contribute to university-wide interdisciplinary initiatives — including the Urban Biogeoscience and Environmental Health (URBAN) program, the Institute for Global Sustainability, and the Center for Climate and Health at the School of Public Health — and is expected to develop collaborative ties with the Faculty of Computing and Data Sciences, where shared interests in machine learning, large-scale data analytics, and Earth system modeling provide natural ground for joint advising, co-teaching, and grant development. This hire reflects our commitment to advancing interdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of climate and data science. This position contributes to the University convergence themes of Global Sustainability as well as Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Computing that are core pillars of BU's cross-disciplinary research priorities.rnrn Position Qualifications:rn Candidates should have a PhD or equivalent degree, demonstrated ability to obtain external funding to support their program of research and scholarship, and a commitment to excellence and innovation in teaching, education, and mentorship of students. The successful applicant will be expected to supervise graduate research in Ph.D. programs, teach at all levels in the Earth Environment curriculum, and maintain an externally funded research program. We seek applicants whose research complement strengths in the Department and around the University. For more information about the Department, see

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Oct 9 • 4:17 PM EDT • Science • jbhe.com
Netflix’s Summer of Bummer

(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) Today, I’ve got a guest post from longtime friend of the newsletter, Brandon Katz. I’ve been trying to find time all summer to look at Netflix’s straight-to-streaming film slate, but between a pre-planned trip and Nielsen moving up their streaming data timeline, I’ve been swamped. So I reached out to Brandon, one of my favorite fellow analysts, to write about it. And I feel like he captured the tone and data focus of the newsletter perfectly. You can connect with Brandon on LinkedIn and Twitter. Enjoy! Don’t worry, folks. You’re in safe hands with me. To ease any anxieties about an interloper in ESG’s domain, I’ll start by stealing one of his best framing devices: headlines. Box office flops are covered in the same way the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles eye pizza: with cartoonish insatiability. I would know. I’m a former reporter who wrote nearly identical headlines: Yet, intentionally or not, streaming misses get treated with kids gloves, filtered through a rosy lens: In the last six years, U.S. streaming viewership has become nearly as transparent as the box office, but the data often arrives weeks later, in a number of less intuitive metrics, and with nary an official budget to be found. This plays into the Wall Street-whispering narratives major streamers have been cultivating for years. They get a pass in a way that theatrical studios simply don’t. Subscribe Netflix’s Summer Slate Not a single Netflix original film released between May and August this year opened above 20 million U.S. TV hours, per Nielsen. That benchmark usually serves as the EntStrategyGuy’s floor for a streaming hit on Netflix. None of these films enjoyed a hit-cementing single week of 20-plus million hours during their runs. Netflix’s two best films were true crime docs, Maternal Instinct (16.5 million hours) and The Crash (19.7 million), the best overall week for a film this summer. Great for most other streamers, but not necessarily what we’re used to seeing from Netflix. For an overly-dramatic comparison, Happy Gilmore 2 opened last summer to around 47 million hours (celebrity cameos, baby!). Zooming out, the picture looks even worse. In 2026, Netflix’s five biggest scripted summer films posted the lowest average (28.6 million hours) and median (28.8 million hours) eight-week viewership totals of the past four years. Now, it’s unrealistic and unfair to expect Netflix to deliver a _KPop Demon Hunters-_sized hit every year. But it’s also not ideal to see the size of their hits shrinking over the last few summers. Let’s quickly run through some of the notable summer misses. Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein’s perfectly fine romcom, Office Romance, fell off the charts after 20 million hours in its first two weeks. Top films usually last for four-plus weeks. Starry titles ideally don’t decay that fast either. Homegrown star Millie Bobby Brown couldn’t prevent the snappy Enola Holmes franchise from diminishing returns. At 14.3 million U.S. hours, the third film posted roughly half of what the first two films did in their first two weeks. What’s on Netflix calculated that per-day global views were down nearly 60% from the second movie. The Whisper Man did okay with more than 36 million hours over its first four weeks. But I expected a little more juice from a film featuring Robert De Niro, Michelle Monaghan, and Adam Scott. Kevin Hart’s Ladies First collected just 11.2 million hours total across two weeks. That’s a big miss for one of Netflix’s go-to stars. Plopping into the same bucket are Sunny Sandler’s Don’t Say Good Luck (10.3 million in two weeks) and John Cena’s Little Brother (17.5 million). Meanwhile, English-language originals Color Book (June 19), In the Hand of Dante (June 24) and Heartstopper Forever (July 17) never sniffed Nielsen’s Top 10 at all, despite needing only 2 to 5 million hours to land in the top ten most weeks. (By my count, eleven English-language scripted original films released between May and August did chart). It’s only fair to mention that Swapped (1-May) posted nearly 42 million U.S. hours over five weeks (the longest Netflix original run this summer) and is currently their eighth most-watched English-language film ever worldwide. Remarkably Bright Creatures (37 million, 4 weeks) and Voicemails for Isabelle (27 million, 4 weeks) weren’t bombs either. Still, overall, I think it’s fair to say this was a quieter summer season than we’re used to seeing from the market-leader. You might not realize that given the language commonly used in public analysis. The Twist Despite the starkly black-and-white tone of the coverage, here’s the twist: when many box office bombs arrive on streaming, their viewership looks a whole lot like many of Netflix’s supposedly successful summer releases. Hmm, where have we heard that one before? Masters of the Universe topped out at $65 million stateside against a $170 million budget_._ I’ll admit, Skeletor ripping sleeveless curls as a gym bro and bodyslamming Adam’s co-workers was funny. But, much to the chagrin of my bank account, my laughter doesn’t launch franchises. Yet the He-Man reboot opened to 19.6 million hours (from a Wednesday five-day opening instead of just one weekend), on par with Hoppers on Disney+ (19.4 million). It put up nearly 47 million hours over its first six weeks, bigger than all of Netflix’s summer releases. Pretty darn healthy and likely to land among the 25 most-watched movies on streaming this year. Sticking with Amazon, The Sheep Detectives just barely broke even at the box office with $133 million worldwide (and only $66 million domestic). I never expected cloven-hooved, cud-chewing mammals to be able to bring me to tears. Yet that’s exactly how I found myself at the end of this surprisingly affecting movie (#NoShame). It was likely the unexpected quality in a family-friendly film that powered its streaming over-performance. Sheep Detectives delivered a solid run for Prime video netting 26.2 million hours! How about franchise IP? Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu had the lowest opening ($81 million) and lowest-grossing Disney-era live-action Star Wars film ($178 million domestic). One day before release, its Heat score (19.8%)—audiences who list their interest as a 7/7—fell behind blockbusters Wicked (21%), Superman (23%), Fantastic Four: First Steps (23%), Michael (23%), Toy Story 5 (26%) and Avatar: Fire and Ash (27%), according to Greenlight Analytics. The urgent enthusiasm just wasn’t there. On streaming, Mando opened to weeks of 12.1 million, 6.1 million and 2.7 million hours (21 million total) over its first three frames. Not the numbers Lucasfilm was hoping for nor the numbers of a streaming hit. But they’re in the same vicinity as some Netflix summer releases with $345 million at the global box office to offset a smidgen of the pain. Final Thoughts So why oh why does this nuance gap exist? Four key reasons: Data Literacy: A “$100 million opening” just makes sense. After decades of box office reporting, even casual movie fans are well-versed in the benchmarks of hits and home runs. There’s an immediate shorthand. But “16.5 million” hours doesn’t land nearly as cleanly. Despite leaps of progress, the streaming ratings era is still in its infancy compared to theatrical. The EntStrategyGuy and I met thanks to a late 2010s group chat of data nerds hungry to find a shred of certainty in nebulous streaming performance. I’m not surprised to see “No. 1 on Netflix” still getting misconstrued out in the wild. Timing: By Friday morning, we have the box office’s Thursday night previews totaled, allowing us to better project the weekend’s expectations. From there, ticket sales are reported daily. By Sunday, the film’s fate is usually finalized, at least in terms of public perception. In streaming, Nielsen recently improved its delay to…two weeks. The medium isn’t forced to contend with instant gratification as harshly. Financials: Theatrical film budgets are a mere Google away. Profit and loss is calculated in the cold and unforgiving naked light of day for all to see. But finding the vast majority of streaming exclusive movie budgets requires the forensic investigation skills of a Criminal Minds detective. Also, it’s very difficult to calculate how much revenue/value a straight-to-streaming films provides a streamer. This is why there are so few stories about streaming original movies “losing X amount of money”. On top of that, marketing budgets are far greater for theatrical movies than streaming exclusive movies, which leads to earlier and better awareness. This then translates to a wider pool of potential interest. Narrative Control: Netflix is the only major streaming service to publish weekly first-hand viewership data and annual engagement reports. Naturally, some headlines borrow their first-hand framing**.** Other streamers benefit from their comparative lack of transparency. They may occasionally announce vague performance platitudes such as Apple TV’s Mayday becoming its “biggest film debut on the platform to date over its first 18 days,” and that it ranked No. 1 with left-handed viewers in its first weekend. (Fine, I made up that second one). But, for the most part, they keep first-hand viewership shrouded in mystery to avoid bad press. Especially for outlets that demand multiple articles per day from their writers, it’s an easy (and understandable) way for some reporters to hit their daily article quota by just repeating what the streamers have told them. TL:DR version: Streaming-exclusive movies are asked to do different things than theatrical movies, but that doesn’t mean they should escape judgment. Both still need to draw enough eyeballs to justify their cost within the proper performance contexts. The more cleanly we can inject a little nuance into streaming analysis, the better we’ll understand the audience and content trends that drive this industry. And that’s what all of this is really about: knowing what audiences actually want! Brandon Katz is the Director of Insights & Content Strategy at Greenlight Analytics where he focuses on evaluating the ever-fluid media landscape to unearth understanding, opportunity and value. Greenlight Analytics is the entertainment intelligence consulting company redefining how Hollywood finds, understands, and activates audiences. Prior to joining Greenlight Analytics, he served as the senior entertainment industry strategist at Parrot Analytics, and as a full-time entertainment industry reporter covering the Xs and Os of Hollywood, most notably with TheWrap and the Observer.

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Oct 9 • 3:32 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com
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Community Science Takes Centre Stage on World Migratory Bird Day

World Migratory Bird Day marks its second peak day of the year by celebrating the people whose observations help understand bird migration,

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Oct 9 • 2:22 PM EDT • Science • yellowscene.com
Four Tigers Rookies Break Into MLB’s Top 50

Led by Kevin McGonigle’s top-ranked campaign, Detroit’s rising stars dominated the 2026 rankings, signaling a powerful youth movement and a bright future for the rebuilding franchise’s core.

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Oct 9 • 1:12 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Promising Entertainment Stocks To Watch Now

Verizon Communications, Spotify Technology, Walt Disney, Roblox, Take-Two Interactive Software, SEA, and GameStop are the seven Entertainment stocks to watch today, according to MarketBeat's stock screener tool. Entertainment stocks are shares of publicly traded companies involved in producing, dis

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Oct 9 • 1:02 PM EDT • Entertainment • marketbeat.com
Gears of War: E-Day sells 230K copies

Gears of War: E-Day has sold 230K copies since its advance-access launch on October 1 and full release on October 6. Steam accounts for 168K of those, with Xbox (console and PC) selling 62K. But there’s more to this story, as Xbox makes up the bulk of revenue. E-Day is the best-reviewed Gears game in nearly two decades (and the best one ever made, in my opinion). The Coalition has made a banger here (it’s currently in my top 10 of the year). Despite E-Day’s undeniable quality, this is a soft result. And it’s down to the business model, really. E-Day has made $37M so far, thanks to the Premium upgrade On Xbox, Game Pass is cannibalising much of the premium revenue. Our estimates show that 1.7M folks accessed E-Day via their subscription rather than a copy. But Xbox is having it both ways – or having it halfway, at least – via its Premium Edition Game Pass upgrade. Game Pass subscribers could pay $30 (or their local equivalent) for up to five days of early access starting October 1. Our estimates show that of the 1.7M who accessed E-Day through Game Pass, 722K paid for the upgrade. Between the review embargo lifting on October 1 and the full release, E-Day managed to shift another 250K early-access upgrades – no doubt helped by the campaign’s rave reviews. So despite selling far fewer copies on Steam, Xbox accounts for almost three-quarters of the revenue (roughly $26M of the $37M, versus about $11M on Steam). So “230K copies” undersells the paying audience. Including the 722K upgrades, nearly 950K people actually paid something for E-Day. The $30 upgrade is a halfstep from cannibalisation, but will Xbox go all the way? While E-Day is a sublime game, these are soft numbers for a flagship when Xbox badly needs revenue wins. E-Day sold 62K copies on Xbox against 722K Premium upgrades, so for every one copy sold on Xbox, nearly 12 Game Pass upgrades were sold. The $70 premium SKU is – functionally – dead on Xbox. Normally you can’t see what a Game Pass player would have paid, because the game’s just there in the subscription. But the $30 early-access upgrade estimate shows that 722K people demonstrated they’ll spend real money on this game. In a world without day-one Game Pass, many of these folks would have bought E-Day at $70. They paid $30 for five days early access to something they don’t own. Xbox is, in effect, charging its most valuable customers the least, based on a hangover from a tried-and-exhausted strategy from a previous administration. Those 722K willing-to-pay players generated about $21.7M via the upgrade. If three quarters of this group – mostly US and European audiences – bought E-Day outright, that’s nearly $40M. Of course, Game Pass does bring in meaningful recurring revenue, and E-Day is adding value for hundreds of thousands of subscribers. However, Game Pass is no longer growing, so Xbox is at a crossroads. Xbox is reportedly looking to do a Netflix and bolt on an ad-supported tier to pad it further. But that will just set a new floor, and leadership keeps telling us the priority now is revenue growth, which is subscriber-speak for ARPU. Xbox has already pulled Call of Duty from day-one Game Pass after day-one inclusion hammered its sales, with new CoD titles now arriving on the service around a year late. We know that some Microsoft executives believe the service devalues games outright, and rumours (which Microsoft has dismissed so far, to be fair) suggest that day-one releases could be taken off Game Pass. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe When a game this well-reviewed does this softly on its home platform, the model – not the game – gets brought into question. What else E-Day’s early adopters have played (including this month so far) Looking at E-Day‘s players on Xbox, most have played the franchise before (86% have played Gears 5, 76% Gears 4), and every game on the crossover list is either a shooter or a title from an Xbox-owned studio (though Game Pass is inflating those numbers, of course, more on that later): As for what else Xbox’s E-Day players have played this month, the top three are Fortnite (16%), Roblox (7%), and Call of Duty (6%). Another 5% played Minecraft Dungeons II, which is also on Game Pass and launched a couple of days before Gears‘ advance-access date. Many Game Pass players are happy to check out most big new additions. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Over on Steam, the top crossover games are also mostly shooters (slightly more PC-coded ones), including Space Marine 2, which was itself heavily inspired by Gears: Looking at what E-Day‘s Steam players are into this month shows who they are – as subscriptions don’t skew the data. The top three are Wardogs (13%), Deadlock (12%), and CS2 (10%), so you’ve got the restless shooter crowd checking out the new hotness. A little further down are Helldivers 2 and Space Marine 2, your co-op PVE shooter players who’ll feel right at home in Horde mode. Game Pass is skewing the playtime distribution on Xbox Looking at the playtime distribution in our platform, E-Day players on Steam are – relatively speaking – playing for longer: 54% of E-Day players on Xbox have played for five hours or less (versus 32% on Steam) 19% of Xbox players played for over 15 hours (versus 33% on Steam) 14% of Xbox players played for over 20 hours (22% on Steam) The absolute number of people playing for over 15, 20, and 50 hours is, of course, bigger on Xbox, thanks to the sheer volume of folks who came in through Game Pass (upgraders included). None of that is cause for alarm. Game Pass is the reason Xbox playtime skews lower, as when a game is free to try, people try it and bounce without putting in even an hour (17% under an hour on Xbox versus 6% on Steam). Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe The subscription brings in tourists alongside the committed, dragging down the average even when the game is excellent (but also perhaps winning over the uninitiated). It’s standard across every subscription-included title, on PS Plus too. Forza Horizon 6, for instance, had 11% of its Xbox players bounce under an hour, versus just 2% on Steam. So, Xbox’s crossroads So there we have it. Gears of War: E-Day is an incredible game whose revenues have been stifled by subscription inclusion and exclusivity. It’s the best-reviewed entry in the series in fifteen-odd years, but it still turned into one of the year’s softer flagship launches, not because players didn’t want it, but because Xbox’s own storefront gave its most willing buyers a reason not to pay. Which leaves Xbox at a crossroads. Will it keep making Gears games when the financial returns are this thin and the margins this low? And if it does, does the next one arrive off Game Pass at day one – the way CoD now does, or even on PlayStation? I think it should. Alright, back to E-Day for me! The last word Reply to this email – or reach out here – if you have any feedback for the newsletter – or want to request a game for us to cover. [Alinea Analytics boasts the most accurate PC and console estimates in the business. Game makers use our platform to understand their audience, keep an eye on the competition, monitor sales trends, and spot new opportunities. We equip game studios and financial institutions with accurate data and the confidence to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Want to talk about all things games market data? We’d love to chat!]

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Oct 9 • 11:49 AM EDT • Technology • alineaanalytics.substack.com
California comp report signals pressure for higher employer costs

California employers could face higher workers compensation insurance costs as rising claim frequency, litigation expenses and persistent underwriting losses put pressure on rates…

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Oct 9 • 11:17 AM EDT • Business • businessinsurance.com
Confirmed: Barcelona breakthrough academy talent renews until 2030

FC Barcelona’s plans for the present and future are taking shape, with the club officially confirming the renewal of one of its most promising young players, Xavi Espart.The Catalan club announced t...

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Oct 9 • 10:56 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
NY Giants’ bruising back needs help, not another 20 carries

Cam Skattebo has carried the ball 50 times over the Giants’ last three games and gained 154 yards. Asking for […]

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Oct 9 • 10:37 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Foscue Gives Rangers Affordable Designated Hitter Option

With Joc Pederson’s price tag rising, the Texas Rangers could pivot to Justin Foscue’s versatile bat to stabilize the lineup without breaking the offseason budget.

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Oct 9 • 10:32 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Maza Escapes Serious Injury But Remains Doubtful For Mainz

Algeria's rising playmaker avoided long-term damage after an international injury scare, but lingering ankle pain forces a late fitness test ahead of Leverkusen’s crucial trip to Mainz.

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Oct 9 • 10:27 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Business interruption losses climb 30% in two years: Allianz Commercial

Rising business interruption losses are increasingly hitting companies, with fire and explosion driving the costliest claims at roughly 2.9 billion euros ($3.3 billion) as the average value of claims…

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Oct 9 • 10:15 AM EDT • Business • businessinsurance.com
Ohio Representative Landsman introduces legislation against sexual violence

On Friday, bipartisan legislation to improve how colleges and universities handle reports of sexual violence and ensure greater transparency and support was reintroduced in Congress.

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Oct 9 • 9:45 AM EDT • Politics • spectrumnews1.com
My 2014 Talk at the University of Chicago

After it had been announced on campus, Jerry Coyne, a prominent Darwinian biologist at the University of Chicago, tried to talk Leo into disinviting me.

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Oct 9 • 8:44 AM EDT • Science • scienceandculture.com
Apple Reportedly Cuts iPhone 18 Pro Orders After Price Hike Dampens Demand

Apple has asked some of its suppliers to cut production of iPhone 18 Pro components due to lower-than-expected demand, according to Nikkei Asia ($). Citing its own sources, the report claims that Apple has been more cautious about shipments since early September because of the rising cost of memory chips, leading to higher prices. Component orders for October were said to have been cut by at least 15 percent compared with what was originally requested.

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Oct 9 • 8:23 AM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com
Could dragons have ever existed? Science has a surprising answer

Dragons appear in stories as enormous reptilian creatures with wings, claws, armored bodies and, in many traditions, the ability to breathe fire. Science has found no evidence that an animal matching ...

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Oct 9 • 8:11 AM EDT • Science • yahoo.com
Harvard Privately Weighs $500 Million Fundraising Push for Scientific Research

Harvard Privately Weighs $500 Million Fundraising Push for Scientific Research

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Oct 9 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • thecrimson.com
Blindness treatment based on Nobel-winning research shows promise

Oct 9 (Reuters) - It's Nobel Prize season and today we feature promising early results of a novel technique for treating blindness that made Nobel laureates of three scientists this week. We also repo...

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Oct 9 • 7:20 AM EDT • Science • yahoo.com
Caitlin Clark finishes behind surprising rookie in WNBA MVP voting

Thje Fever guard was not the runner-up in WNBA MVP voting.

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Oct 9 • 7:15 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
From Mountain Goats to Mental Health Initiatives, Glacier Conservancy Puts $4.5 Million to Work

Amid unprecedented visitation numbers and staffing cuts removing nearly a quarter of the park’s workforce, Glacier National Park’s fundraising arm is working to meet the park’s growing demands. In a public meeting on Wednesday, Glacier National Park Conservancy, the official fundraising partner of the park, outlined the progress of its supported projects as well as […]

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Oct 9 • 6:54 AM EDT • Health • flatheadbeacon.com
Skydance's Gerhard Zeiler, Warner Bros President International, Exits

"It is surprisingly difficult to find the right words to say goodbye," the Austrian writes in an internal memo obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. "At the end of next week, I will leave the company."

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Oct 9 • 6:49 AM EDT • Politics • hollywoodreporter.com
Why Weight Lifting Is Good for Your Heart

Strength training isn’t just for muscle and bone health — it’s also surprisingly good cardio.

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Oct 9 • 5:00 AM EDT • Health • nytimes.com
‘He wants me to lose’: Paxton complains about lack of support from Cornyn in leaked audio

Ken Paxton has publicly said he would “love to have” John Cornyn’s support after their bruising Republican primary runoff in the Texas Senate race. But privately, Paxton has grown frustrated with the outgoing senator’s distance from his campaign.

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Oct 9 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Franchising Can Accelerate Growth But Is Your Business Ready?

Franchising offers entrepreneurs a way to expand without taking on debt or equity dilution. But that advantage comes with huge change in the founder’s role and control.

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Oct 9 • 3:47 AM EDT • Business • forbes.com
Why Is the World’s Top Climate Science Body Struggling to Agree on Its Next Report?

The world’s leading climate science authority is facing an unprecedented deadlock over when to publish its next major assessment, raising concerns that governments could enter crucial United Nations climate negotiations in 2028 without an updated scientific assessment of global warming.

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Oct 9 • 2:20 AM EDT • Science • moderndiplomacy.eu
Rising from the ashes: Scientists have found a phoenix planet

This exoplanet is orbiting the dead star it formed from

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Oct 9 • 2:00 AM EDT • Science • theweek.com
These 10 albums have surprising ties to cults and unconventional religions

Every religion has a musical tradition no matter how small the church or strange the belief. Some of this music was recruitment propaganda, some was not. Either way, fringe faiths among musicians is not a new phenomenon.

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Oct 9 • 1:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • daytondailynews.com
Rising health care costs: 3 changes that could make a difference

We know rising health care costs continue to put pressure on employers. But businesses don’t have to face these challenges alone.

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Oct 9 • 12:00 AM EDT • Health • rbj.net
Nashville business owner sells building over rising property tax bill, warns others could face the same

Nashville business owner Christian Paro sold a building to pay a soaring property tax bill and warns other businesses could be next.

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Oct 8 • 11:16 PM EDT • Business • newschannel5.com
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Gov. Moore insists Maryland’s budget is balanced; watchdog calls it 'political math'

WBFF Fox45 provides local news, weather forecasts, traffic updates, notices of events and items of interest in the community, sports and entertainment programming for Baltimore and nearby towns and communities in Maryland, including Annapolis, Crofton, Glen Burnie, Linthicum, Pasadena, Severn, Cockeysville, Dundalk, Essex, Parkville, Owings Mills, Towson, White Marsh, Woodlawn, Hampstead, Sykesville, Taneytown, Westminster, Elkton, Perryville, Pt. Deposit, Rising Sun, Aberdeen, Abingdon, Bel Air, Edgewood, Fallston, Havre De Grace, Columbia, Elkridge, Ellicott City, Fulton, and Ocean City.

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Oct 8 • 10:38 PM EDT • Politics • foxbaltimore.com
What rising costs mean for Volusia County small businesses

Rising costs are squeezing Volusia County businesses, while local leaders say resources and lower costs still help entrepreneurs open and grow.

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Oct 8 • 10:30 PM EDT • Business • mynews13.com
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El-Sayed, Rogers trade barbs over Iran war, gas prices in Michigan Senate debate

What began as a debate over Michigan families’ rising costs quickly turned into a heated political showdown Thursday night, as Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers traded personal attacks in their race for the U.S. Senate.

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Oct 8 • 10:29 PM EDT • Politics • clickondetroit.com
McCullough's Positive Presence Sets the Tone for the Marlins' Future

The mood around Miami has been moving forward, as a winning culture is arising in South Florida

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Oct 8 • 10:02 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
No ‘snowflakes’: mental health review says today’s youth have it harder and harms are real

Peter Fonagy lauds courage of young people and warns of consequences of rising prevalence of mental illness

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Oct 8 • 7:01 PM EDT • Health • theguardian.com
Punta Gorda business owner reflects on Hurricane Milton’s devastation two years later

Hurricane Milton brought severe flooding to downtown Punta Gorda two years ago, with storm surge waters rising up to three feet and causing significant damage to local businesses.

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Oct 8 • 6:59 PM EDT • Business • gulfcoastnewsnow.com
The midterm maps changed–so could Black political power

New congressional maps in nine states could reshape Black voters’ ability to elect preferred candidates, raising concerns about diluted political influence in s...

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Oct 8 • 6:15 PM EDT • Politics • afro.com
Beauregard Health System completes emergency department expansion

Beauregard Health System has completed its first major emergency department upgrade in about 30 years, adding exam rooms and a CT scanner to meet rising patient demand.

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Oct 8 • 5:21 PM EDT • Health • kplctv.com
'Freakish' discovery of 9 million-year-old capybara tooth supports idea that Atacama wasn't always a desert

A 9 million-year-old capybara tooth was found in the Atacama Desert, a surprising find given that these rodents love water.

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Oct 8 • 5:19 PM EDT • Science • livescience.com
Portland weighs tax hike on big businesses

A proposed tax overhaul could benefit 18,000 small businesses while raising taxes on 410.

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Oct 8 • 4:33 PM EDT • Business • axios.com
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Alex Rodriguez completely misunderstands ‘Moneyball’ while praising Milwaukee Brewers

In 2003, “Moneyball” took MLB by storm. The book, which chronicles how the 2002 Oakland Athletics won 103 games using a data-driven approach, became the template for how baseball would be played for decades to come. Many of that Athletics team’s core “sabermetrics” tenets still drive strategy in MLB today: prioritizing on-base percentage over batting…

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Oct 8 • 4:30 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
State House District 15 candidates answer questions for residents

SOUTHWEST HARBOR — At a time when Maine residents are facing inflation, high heating costs, and rising property taxes, incumbent Holly Eaton and challenger Clifford Noyes aim to help residents

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Oct 8 • 4:30 PM EDT • Politics • mdislander.com
David Eccles School of Business announces $10 million Deanship

This transformational gift is a cornerstone of the recently launched Climb to Excellence, a five-year, $37 million fundraising campaign.

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Oct 8 • 4:23 PM EDT • Business • attheu.utah.edu
US Supreme Court won't speed up Democratic challenge to FCC political ad policy, for now

Siding with Republicans, the US Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Federal Communications Commission to avoid for now a judicially imposed deadline in a Democratic ​challenge to the agency's new political advertising policy.

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Oct 8 • 3:56 PM EDT • Politics • reuters.com
US Supreme Court Won't Speed up Democratic Challenge to FCC Political Ad Policy, for Now

By John Kruzel WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Siding with Republicans, the US Supreme Court on Thursday ⁠allowed ⁠the Federal Communications Commission to avoid for now ⁠a judicially imposed deadline in a Democratic challenge to the agency's new political advertising policy. With November midterm ...

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Oct 8 • 3:56 PM EDT • Politics • usnews.com
Nimesh Patel’s ‘Buy the dip’ finds humor and hope in a country in crisis

The comedian's debut Netflix special mines the pressures of being an Indian American comedian, raising a young child and caring for aging parents — while holding on to the hope that things can get better.

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Oct 8 • 2:59 PM EDT • Entertainment • latimes.com
Jahsiear Rogers Dismissed From Oklahoma Football Roster

The four-star freshman’s sudden exit leaves a void in the Sooners' developmental ranks, highlighting the program's uncompromising culture despite his promising spring performance and explosive athletic potential

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Oct 8 • 2:42 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Supreme Court asked to weigh political ad rates

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to step into a lower court dispute over television advertising rates paid by political candidates and joint fundraising committees weeks before the midterm elections. The application asked the justices to set aside a 2-1 ruling issued Wednesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th […]

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Oct 8 • 11:40 AM EDT • Politics • rollcall.com
Eagles’ Pass Rusher Emerges as Potential Trade Candidate Before Deadline

The Philadelphia Eagles and general manager Howie Roseman have never shied away from being active in NFL trade discussions. Over the years, Roseman has had one of the more aggressive mindsets in the trade market. With the 2026 NFL trade deadline coming up after Week 9, it would not be surprising to hear the Eagles […] The post Eagles’ Pass Rusher Emerges as Potential Trade Candidate Before Deadline appeared first on Gridiron Heroics.

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Oct 8 • 11:39 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
‘Medicare for All’ message attracts voters buckling under medical bills

Rising private insurance costs are pushing voters toward midterm candidates who support universal, government-funded healthcare.

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Oct 8 • 11:32 AM EDT • Politics • modernhealthcare.com
Delta Q3 earnings preview: Premium business expected to blunt high fuel costs; CEO Bastian, Musk battle over in-flight wifi

Delta Air Lines will report third quarter results Friday morning, with investors expecting Delta's premium business to continue to blunt issues like rising fuel costs and capacity cuts.

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Oct 8 • 11:30 AM EDT • Business • finance.yahoo.com
Physical Sales Of Wolverine Estimated To Be Surprisingly High For A Company That's About To Ditch Discs

What would it take for Sony to walk the controversial move back?

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Oct 8 • 11:00 AM EDT • Technology • kotaku.com
Pro-ICE Film 'Pawn Shop' Crew Are Angry About Movie's MAGA Politics

A crew member who quit the pro-ICE film 'Pawn Shop' didn’t know its MAGA politics when hired, raising questions about what productions disclose.

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Oct 8 • 10:30 AM EDT • Politics • indiewire.com
Business interruption claims soar: Allianz report

Business interruption claims severity is rising sharply, with average claim values rising by more than 30% annually over the past two years, according to a report issued Thursday by Allianz Commercial.

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Oct 8 • 8:50 AM EDT • Business • businessinsurance.com
Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson celebrate bromance with new drink

Matthew McConaughey is taking his bromance with Woody Harrelson to the bar and raising a glass to it.

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Oct 8 • 8:30 AM EDT • Entertainment • centraloregondaily.com
FDA-approved epilepsy drug may help reverse osteoarthritis damage

Researchers at Yale have identified a promising new approach to osteoarthritis that could do more than simply ease pain. The epilepsy drug lacosamide appears to block a protein involved in both pain signaling and cartilage destruction, helping damaged joints shift back toward repair in preclinical studies.

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Oct 8 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
Trump, a Cowboy and a Science Guy: Who’s taking sides in Senate race

Ken Paxton and James Talarico are drawing support from politicians, sports stars, entertainers and some surprising crossovers.

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Oct 8 • 7:00 AM EDT • Science • dallasnews.com
PepsiCo to cut costs as weak N.America business hurts annual core profit forecast

PepsiCo said on Thursday it would pursue ​additional cost cuts after lowering its annual core profit forecast due to sluggish ‌demand for its snacks and beverages in North America and ⁠rising input costs.

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Oct 8 • 6:05 AM EDT • Business • ksl.com
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Democrats, with House majority, would go big on healthcare

House Democrats are promising immediate action on healthcare next year if they flip control of the chamber in the midterm elections. Party leaders say health costs are a foremost priority of their …

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Oct 8 • 6:00 AM EDT • Health • thehill.com
Flu season arrived months early. Get vaccinated now, experts say

Flu activity began rising in September, ahead of its typical early-November start, said Dr. Dawn Terashita with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health

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Oct 8 • 6:00 AM EDT • Health • latimes.com
They're helping influencers combat misinformation about menopause. Is it working?

Not all of the information about menopause that's floating around online is accurate. What's going on, and how do we fix it?

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Oct 8 • 5:06 AM EDT • Health • usatoday.com
The surprising new idea that is reshaping how we think about ADHD

Scientists are starting to uncover the links between being a night owl and some neuropsychiatric conditions.

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Oct 8 • 5:00 AM EDT • Health • washingtonpost.com
Vonn surprisingly named to US alpine skiing World Cup squad

The United States ski federation has surprisingly named Lindsey Vonn for their main team for this season's alpine skiing World Cup. Vonn is among 17 athletes nominated to the US squad on Wednesday evening.

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Oct 8 • 3:48 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Green Bluff growers rely on fall festival profits

For the dozens of independent growers of Green Bluff, October isn't just pumpkin season — it's the four-week stretch that determines whether farms turn a profit or end the year in the red. Following a summer marked by wildfire smoke, high well-water pumping costs, and rising inflation, farmers are…

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Oct 8 • 3:00 AM EDT • Business • spokanejournal.com
Raising Cane's considers Spokane Valley venue

A new Raising Cane’s restaurant development is under consideration in Spokane Valley.

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Oct 8 • 3:00 AM EDT • Business • spokanejournal.com
Raising the Bar offers spirited history lessons

Once a month, at Hogwash Whiskey Den in downtown Spokane, historian Renée Cebula takes a roomful of students through centuries of American and global history that trace the wars, immigration, tariffs, and changing tastes that have helped determine what ingredients end up in her students’ glasses.

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Oct 8 • 3:00 AM EDT • Business • spokanejournal.com
Meta VP: AI in advertising and the rise of single-person billion-dollar company

Businesses must stop using AI to optimize old processes and start reimagining how they compete.

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Oct 8 • 3:00 AM EDT • Business • fortune.com
Mali’s AI Propaganda War: The Fake Fighter With a Real Audience

Bamako-based TikTok account built up more than 436,000 followers with AI-generated material praising the army and the Africa Corps.

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Oct 8 • 2:47 AM EDT • Politics • politicstoday.org
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Europe’s Far Right Challenges Rising Defense Spending and Support for Ukraine

Far-right parties in Europe are increasingly using voters’ concerns over the cost of living to challenge higher defense budgets.

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Oct 8 • 2:20 AM EDT • Politics • politicstoday.org
US Democrats sue Trump over alleged taxpayer-funded political ads

Democrats sued US President Donald Trump on Wednesday over allegations that taxpayer money was used to fund political advertising, according to a lawsuit filed by the Democratic National Committee (DN...

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Oct 8 • 1:33 AM EDT • Politics • yahoo.com
California Could Become First State to Ban Quartz Countertop Production Amid Health Concerns

California could soon become the first state to ban quartz countertops amid mounting health concerns. California’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board is expected to pass a ban as emergency regulation this October, after a rising number of workers have developed silicosis and other lung illnesses.

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Oct 8 • 12:00 AM EDT • Health • people.com
Debra Messing backs GOP NY gov candidate in political shift

‘The Five’ co-hosts discuss ‘Will & Grace’ star Debra Messing’s surprising political shift after a long period of support for Democrats.

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Oct 7 • 10:40 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com
Ceola’s Blood Cancer Story

After a routine appointment revealed blood cancer, Ceola Karchner is moving forward one step at a time. Read Geisinger patient stories.

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Oct 7 • 8:10 PM EDT • Health • geisinger.org
Kelly’s Breast Cancer Story

Her breast cancer diagnosis came without symptoms after a routine mammogram. But throughout treatment, Kelly Titus remained strong for her family, refusing to let cancer call the shots.

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Oct 7 • 8:10 PM EDT • Health • geisinger.org
Rising gas prices could influence some North Carolinians before Election Day

AAA reports the statewide average for regular gas was about $4.12 per gallon Wednesday

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Oct 7 • 7:37 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
Who Won August and September: Original Films or Franchises?

(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) I just heard someone say that if you’re reading a pundit or data analyst, and they don’t tell you that they got anything wrong, they’re not a pundit but an “influencer”. I agree with that. You have to tell your audience when you get things wrong, or they won’t (or shouldn’t) trust you as much. Today, we’ve got another edition of “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong”. In general, I’m patting myself on the back (and patting very hard) about a few things like IP at the box office, LIV golf, horror films, crowdfunding movies, superheroes, and old people going to the theaters. That said, I also made a couple of data mistakes on the streaming bubble popping and HBO’s datecdotes, so I’m not perfect. But first, I need your feedback... Subscribe Follow-Ups: What Should We Call Mid-Budget Movies Which Aren’t Cinematic Enough for Theaters But Are Too Expensive to Make Money on Streaming? After I asked for feedback on what we should call straight-to-streaming films that are too big to pencil out on streaming but not really big enough to resonate in theaters, I got some great suggestions from you all, including... “Moldilocks” from John Aboud “Little Big Indie” from Travis Frick1 “Midflicks” from Jonathan Funke. “Extra-Medium” from Jona Nwuke. (Read the explanation in the footnote.) Between these and Brandon Katz—who suggested “Bermuda Budget Triangle”, “The Platform Gap” and “The Distribution Deadzone”—we’ve got some excellent suggestions. And they’re better than my suggestion, the “Streaming Budget Dead Zone”, so let’s take a poll! The winning entry becomes the new term. Loading... RIGHT: LIV Golf is Fully Bankrupt…Is Anyone Else Next? A few years ago, I was always a bit perplexed at all the articles I’d read praising LIV Golf and their strategy to disrupt the PGA. LIV Golf, a brand new professional golf league, offered PGA stars ten times what they made on the PGA Tour to join their new league. And folks praised this strategy for its initial “success” in that a lot of big names did indeed leave the PGA. Yeah, of course the players came over. LIV Golf paid them so, so, so much more! But LIV Golf hadn’t discovered a way to increase potential revenue. So think about this in basic business terms… They paid much more in costs… …but had no real way to increase revenue. That’s not a strategy! That’s deficit financing. It won’t work unless you bankrupt the competition (and then turn around and pay those same golfers much, much less). It’s not a sustainable strategy and only lasts as long as the company/person/nation backing it decides they’re cool with losing money. For LIV Golf, that meant Middle East oil wealth, in particular Saudi Arabian money. Clearly, the current Iran War has hurt Middle East finances, so they need to trim their more exorbitant spending. And LIV Golf was part of that trimming. This should be a major warning for others. TGL’s parent company, TMRW Sports, just got a $1 billion valuation, despite TGL’s (the indoor golf league) horrible TV viewership of less than half a million viewers per match. Unrivaled, the women’s basketball league, just secured a $650 valuation, despite its horrible TV viewership and a new rival (Project B) entering the scene next year. To relate this to streaming, Hollywood should ask which streamers may have wealthy patrons funding their losses. (Let’s be clear: Google, Amazon and Apple.) Could those patrons lose their appetite? For Amazon, probably not. But Apple has a new boss, so maybe! WRONG: My Analysis of the Streaming Bubble Was Missing a Week I’m going to be congratulating myself a lot today, but I make mistakes too, like this data goof. When I last compiled the data on the decline in TV shows, I was missing one week at the end of June. If you look at the first image, you can see that one week was mislabelled as “July”. Mainly, this image got updated to show a 27% decline, not 29%: This change doesn’t really impact the overall analysis, but it is two percent better. By the way, through the third quarter, the decline increased and it’s now a 30% decrease since 2022. (I’ll write/visualize this in an upcoming article.) But I want you to trust me and my data. Especially these days, when many people are using LLMs that I know are inserting faulty data into their charts, I want to keep earning my audience’s faith. So that’s the accurate data. RIGHT: IP Remains Very, Very Popular In July, I wrote a giant (and I mean giant) article on Backrooms, Obsession, and the box office, going over what we know, what we don’t know about what works in theaters, looking at YouTubers, IP, the horror genre, comic book movies, and a whole lot more. The month of August really tested a lot of my theses and, being honest, mostly supported my arguments. Let’s start with IP. Looking at 8-Aug (the weekend after Spider-Man: Brand New Day came out) to 18-Sep (the weekend that Resident Evil came out, which I think provides a nice bookend to this time period), there were seven films based on pre-existing IP: Resident Evil (2026) ($126 million) Practical Magic 2 ($65 million) _Insidious: Out of the Furthe_r ($65 million) Coyote Vs. Acme ($59 million) Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie ($53 million) Tony ($15 million) Super Troopers 3 ($7 million) Compare those to the notable original films from the past month—I actually could have included more movies, but here are just thirteen, bringing us to an even twenty films—including.... The End of Oak Street ($54 million) Buddy ($26 million) Mutiny ($15 million) By Any Means ($15 million) The Dog Stars ($14 million) Runner ($14 million) One Night Only ($11 million) Hope ($8 million) Spa Weekend ($7 million) The Uprising ($6 million) Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma ($6 million) Onslaught ($3 million) Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man ($2.8 million) Here’s that in chart form: Five of the top six films in this time period were all based on IP. I made a big chart of films that grossed over $200 million at the box office before Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey hit theaters. Let’s update that chart! By the way, if you want to see how I categorized each film—so another bar chart—here it is: I know that many of my fellow critics/pundits/analysts dislike films based on IP and how Hollywood is making so many of them. And I’m sympathetic to this point of view. As I’ve written many, many times before, you need a balance between existing franchises, new IP, and original films. And Hollywood clearly needs to make more films like Resident Evil (a well-made film from a visionary director) and fewer Practical Magic 2’s (which didn’t get critical or customer buzz). But at some point, critics and pundits need to contend with what audiences are telling them: Movie-goers aren’t showing up to original films. Audiences are speaking with their dollars, telling you they want more IP and franchises. You can try to convince studio heads to make fewer IP-based films and franchises, but the data and numbers aren’t there. Instead, critics need to work harder to convince audiences to show up for original films. Aim your ire/concern at the average person, not studio heads.2 Because they’re just making the films that audiences are telling them to make. WRONG: Original Horror Films Didn’t Break Out I’ll be honest, even though I wrote an article casting some skepticism on the horror genre in July, if you asked me to make a prediction, I would have predicted that, in August, a new, original horror film would have blown up. No, seriously, I just assumed that Obsession and Backrooms presaged a change in audience behavior. But none of the buzzy new original horror films from August—Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Onslaught (not an action film in spite of the ads), The End of Oak Street, Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man, or _Buddy—_broke out. To be clear, exactly one of those films (Buddy) had good “ROI”, but again—I try to be specific in my language—none were “popular” in any broad sense of the word. None of them will be “saving” movies theaters like Backrooms or _Obsession_helped save the summer. The new Insidious film and Resident Evil, both based on IP, were far and away the biggest horror films since July. (We’ll see if this changes in October/Halloween season.) RIGHT: Stay Skeptical about Crowdfunding... I’ve long been skeptical about crowd-investing platforms as one of Hollywood’s saviors, mainly because there’s so much hype/buzz. People need to stay more skeptical about more things, explaining both the potential upside but also the downsides. In particular, the media often hypes crowdfunding at the start and never checks in on the actual results after they’ve come in later. And August gave us our first update! _Ice Cream Man—_directed by Eli Roth—grossed $6 million off of a $5.5 million budget. This is a production of The Horror Section, which was one of the first “crowd investing” studios with 2,400 investors, which means that 2,400 investors probably lost money. They certainly aren’t getting as great of returns as if they had just invested their dollars in the stock market. Hopefully Stiletto (Tagline: “Someone’s Going to Make it Rain Blood!”) does better next month. WRONG: Another Data Goof Here’s another data error. When the first episode of House of the Dragon came out, HBO put out that it had 21.5 million viewers in the first three days, and I read that to mean in the US…but no, it was global. So my US-only datecdotes charts shouldn’t have included it. We never got US-only numbers for the first episode, but for the final episode, HBO put out that it had 11 million US viewers. (And that global dropped to 21 million viewers.) Here’s the updated chart (which I’ve since used in the Streaming Ratings Report): Still, this show is absolutely huge. RIGHT: Superhero Films Remain Very, Very Popular After Supergirl flopped, I read a few takes that “comic book movies are going the way of the Western”. Post-Spider-Man: Brand New Day, that take didn’t age well. To be fair, I have a very nuanced take on the superhero genre right now; it’s down right now, for a lot of reasons. But it’s not “dead”. Maybe _Spider-_Man is just a really popular character? I saw that take, and it’s a fair counter-argument. (But pundits arguing that superhero movies were dead should have mentioned this $1.5 billion counter-argument…) But is it just Spider-Man? The next Avengers film already has $50 million in pre-sales (and I was skeptical that that film would do well) and the Avengers: End Game re-release topped the box office two weekends ago (over three original films). And I wouldn’t bet against Batman or Superman. So maybe it’s just Spider-Man, Batman, Superman and the Avengers. Oh, and Deadpool, of course. And Black Panther. And Wolverine. And probably the X-Men. Plus a well-made Wonder Woman or the Hulk film could break out. But that’s it! It’s just those ten characters/teams. Oh, what’s that? Lanterns is also doing well on HBO? (See previous section…) To be fair, I’m actually pretty sympathetic to the argument that more popular characters—like Spider-Man and Batman—anchor more popular films. In fact, I made that exact argument three years ago when I first wrote about the “Marvel-cession”. In many ways, you can blame The Guardians of the Galaxy for fooling Marvel Studios (and the rest of us) into believing that any character could pop. It turns out, the list of iconic characters is probably smaller than most people think. But it’s probably too early to say that superhero films and comic book movies are dead unless “death” means a slight decline over a longtime. RIGHT: Who Killed Theaters? Old People I get frustrated whenever I see headlines or analysis about how young people are “returning” to theaters. As I’ve detailed(for years), young people have always powered the US box office, despite narratives about “kids these days” and their “phones”. Really, what’s changed post-2020/pandemic is that old people aren’t going to the movies nearly as much. This summer, I saw a movie (from an older director) in a theater near a retirement community, and multiple older people at the theater were talking about how this was their first time seeing a movie in years. I dislike personal anecdotes, so YouGov can fill in the data, best summarized by this headline: “Who killed movie theaters? Not the youths”. According to them, 64% of people aged 18-29 have seen a movie in the last year, but only 30% of 65-and-older. 20% of 18-29 have seen a movie in theaters in the last week and 42% in the last month. Here’s the polling data: Most concerning? Many Americans (17%) think theaters are a worse or much worse experience than watching films at home. Slight WRONG: Hadestown Opens Big A live theater capture of the Broadway musical, Hadestown, made $20 million at the US box office, which begs the question: was I wrong to be skeptical about musicals a few years ago? Yes and no. On the one hand, $20 million is a far cry from being “popular”, so yeah, the genre isn’t that popular overall and Hadestown is one of the more popular musicals from recent years (i.e. the “Taylor Swift Data Fallacy” in action). On the other, I doubt filming this cost all that much, and I don’t think that they spent much on marketing, so this is a good source of ancillary revenue. Smaller Updates WRONG: As I mentioned in a Streaming Ratings Report, I underestimated the budget for Enola Holmes 3. It probably cost more like $50 million, if not more. But... I’m not sure that it really matters? At sub-10 million hours, prices have to come down to make this work. WRONG: Netflix is giving Ink a 27-day in theaters! To quote the kids/YouTubers these days, let’s go! Now I might actually have a chance to see Danny Boyle’s latest in theaters. I’d complained about this in a “Coming Soon” section, but I was heartened to read that Netflix is giving multiple films longer theatrical windows this year. RIGHT: Netflix is sending 4-5 films per year to theaters. Netflix is slowly but surely sending more and more films to theaters, as I cautiously predicted earlier this year. For now, it’s just three big films and a number of awards contenders, but still, this is great news. And they’ll be releasing box office grosses! Just this week, Ted Sarandos confirmed that KPop Demon Hunters 2 will come to theaters (and my guess is it performs in the box office top ten at a minimum). WRONG: Angel has 3 million subscribers! How do I know this? Well, they told Deadline, who reported it. I marked this as “wrong”, since they’ve doubled their subscribers in one year but, you know, they don’t really have a hit film to speak of and they’re still losing money. WRONG: Furious was only renewed for one more season. I accidentally wrote “two more seasons” in my latest “Renewals, Cancellations, Un-Orders and Removals Update”. RIGHT: House of David is ending with its third season. In July, Prime Video renewed House of David for a third season, as I just wrote in my latest “Renewals and Cancellations” report. Well, now it’s ending after that third season. Why? As I’ve been writing, its viewership wasn’t great. I got feedback that this show didn’t cost very much, but it cost enough that its limited viewership didn’t save it. WRONG: Adults was a Hulu original! So I missed Adults when it first came out last year; I saw that it aired on FX and just assumed that it was a linear-first program. Turns out, it aired three episodes on FX, but binge-released the rest of its episodes the next day on Hulu. Huh. So I should have covered it last year! But I just wrote about it. 1 “When I was a kid in the 90s, if you wore a t-shirt to school that wasn’t too big and also wasn’t too small, but somehow didn’t quite fit, we’d say you were wearing an “extra-medium” shirt.” 2 As always, a huge exception is Disney, which barely makes anything original anymore.

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Oct 7 • 6:41 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com
International robot/human fight promoter ordered to cease in California

A company that stages human-versus-robot fights is still advertising a San Francisco event this week despite receiving a cease-and-desist order from California regulators over a recent match between a humanoid robot and a social media influencer.

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Oct 7 • 6:38 PM EDT • Entertainment • bradenton.com
Patrick Mahomes’ Response Awaited After Maxx Crosby’s Eyebrow-Raising Revelation

Maxx Crosby and Patrick Mahomes faced each other once more as the Kansas City Chiefs and the Las Vegas Raiders clashed in one of the most exciting games this season. The AFC rivals were both 3-0 up and have been amazing this season, though it was the Chiefs that emerged victorious. The score itself was very […] The post Patrick Mahomes’ Response Awaited After Maxx Crosby’s Eyebrow-Raising Revelation appeared first on Gridiron Heroics.

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Oct 7 • 6:25 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com