SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " Keep " 4,321 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
“I’m Struggling”: Erin Andrews Admits Health Concerns Over Demanding FOX NFL Schedule
Erin Andrews has worked FOX’s NFL sidelines for years, but the weekly grind appears to be taking a toll. The veteran reporter opened up about the physical strain of the network’s demanding schedule, admitting she is finding it hard to keep pace.
Healthy Water, Healthy Fish, Healthy Classrooms
Clackamas Water Environment Services (WES) works to keep water clean for people, wildlife, and the environment. Teaching students how to protect their local watersheds is an important part of that work.
Where $205 million in rural health transformation funds is going in Wyoming
Big chunks of the federal dollars are going toward improving access to emergency care and keeping labor and delivery units open.
Animals Starves while the Kardashians Miss the Charts Again
(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’d like to offer congratulations to Jonathan Funke, whose suggestion “midflicks” won the poll for what I should call straight-to-streaming films which aren’t big or cinematic enough to go to theaters but seem too expensive for a TV movie. It’s so useful a term, I just used it last week! Now I just need to add this term to my data dictionary! Okay, on to this week’s issue. We’re starting out looking at Netflix/Ben Affleck’s latest crime thriller, Animals. I’ll also look at Disclosure Day heading to Peacock (it did better than you’d remember in theaters...) and a new movie based on toys. Plus, a long-time streaming flop returns for its eighth season...will it finally chart? (No.) Will anyone at Disney care? Probably not. All that, plus another look at new shows landing on streaming on 1-Oct from Reelgood, what streamer hasn’t had a film make the Luminate charts since August, Reacher’s long run on the charts, M_onster: The Lizzie Borden Story’s_ short run, the top shows in 2026 according to Samba TV, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. And I mean that last part: putting this week’s issue together, I assembled OVER 25 images, most of which are bespoke looks I made just for this report. Really, publishing articles like this takes the work of writing two articles: one is the narrative and the other is making charts/graphs. 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 week of October 5th to October 11th, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Film - Netflix’s Latest Star-Studded Thriller Goes For Glory The tempting angle for anyone writing about streaming film this month, like yours truly, is to ask, “Is this why Dan Lin lost his job at Netflix?” Take Animals, the Ben Affleck-starring-and-directing, Artists Equity-produced crime thriller that opened on 9-Oct. (Kerry Washington and Gillian Anderson are also in it.) If it did really well, then one could argue that Lin has another success on his resume. If it underperformed, then it’s another example of a Netflix underperformance this year. So where did Animals fall? Kinda in the middle, but that means it’s more “not a hit” than “big hit”. On Nielsen, it opened to 12.0 million hours, and here’s how that stacks up for 2026 films so far this year: Obviously, that’s not great. It’s both under my 15 million opening bar for “fine” for a Netflix film and 20 million bar for “great” opening. It did a bit better on Samba TV, getting to first place. That’s very, very good, though again, looking at the Nielsen data, it probably means that it was a light week overall. Luminate’s data is a bit closer to Samba TV’s, tied for 17th all time for single weeks since May of 2024: To top it off, no one seemed to like it. It has a 33 on Metacritic and only a 5.7 on IMDb. Both of these numbers could have been impacted by the stories about Affleck’s comments about using AI to make the film. Given the controversy, the film might not have been as bad as the ratings suggest, but it’s also not a bullish sign. All to say…yeah, on net this film isn’t a point in Dan Lin’s favor. At this point, Netflix’s slide has been long enough—going on since February—that I’m almost tempted to lower the bar for what a “hit” is on streaming. Post-February of 2026 or so, it seems like straight-to-streaming films just haven’t hit the same heights as they did from 2022 to 2025. Before we head onto the “Quick Hits” for film, I want to shout out a fellow newsletter whose articles I’ve been loving this year, LA Material, a new LA-based news outlet. For just a highlight of my favorite articles since July... I loved this article on Ghost Town, a group on Venice that clears homeless encampments. As a Los Angeleno, obviously I adore their articles on LA parking issues. Their article on illegal parking tickets got the City Council to address the issue! Also check out their article on people parking in medians. Check out their deep dive on what went wrong with the LA Jazz Festival and how it fell apart, or what’s wrong with USC’s finances. Finally, they wrote up a voter guide on voter guides for the LA General Election. So meta! In search of a city? L.A. Material is an independent news outlet covering the people, politics, culture and glorious chaos shaping Los Angeles. L.A. Material brings you intel on the city you can’t get anywhere else. From exploring how Reddit short stories became Hollywood’s hottest commodity to reporting on the survival jobs keeping entertainment workers afloat. And answering, once and for all, why the AMC Burbank escalator is always broken. Through their newsletters, podcast, videos, events, and member community, L.A. Material is designed to help Angelenos connect to Los Angeles and each other. Sign up now for the free weekday newsletter. Quick Notes on Film Steven Spielberg’s latest film, Disclosure Day, came to Peacock on 9-Oct, and I’ll admit that, after pulling its stats, I did a pinch of a double take. As I wrote throughout my deep, deep, deep dive on summer box office/Obsession/Backrooms/IP/superheroes, oftentimes the film media discusses films as “flops” or “misses” or “hits” without clarifying what they specifically mean. Since Disclosure Day didn’t make $250 million in the US or $500 million globally, it was definitely a disappointment by Spielbergian standards, who is the highest-grossing director of all time, and arguably even more ahead in adjusted grosses. But it did make $245 million globally on a $115 million budget, so it isn’t as big of a miss as I remember. That’s still probably not enough to break even in the theatrical window, when you factor in marketing costs…but it’s close. And it grossed a lot more even in the US than some titles with about ten times more coverage. Anyways, lots of preamble to say this one only did 4.5 million hours according to Nielsen, so it did make the charts, but on the low end. Here’s how it stacks up to other Peacock titles: Apple TV (née +) followed up their “success for them” Mayday with Matchbox The Movie. This one doesn’t look like a success even for them, but at least it’s not a miss. Apple/Skydance clearly tried to take advantage of the success of Barbie at the box office—let’s greenlight all the toy properties!!!—but of course, this didn’t make it to theaters. And it stars John Cena, who, as I argued earlier this summer, NEEDS to get his movies back in theaters. Anyways, this one has mixed-to-bad numbers. It missed the Samba TV and Nielsen charts in its first week, but did make Luminate with 7.1 million hours. That’s just enough to not be an outright miss, and about half what Mayday did earlier this summer. Speaking of Apple Studio’s Mayday, it ended up lasting five weeks on Luminate, which isn’t bad for Apple TV. On Nielsen, it had a three-week run, racking up 13.5 million hours total. Again, like Matchbox, the issue is the budget; I doubt that this viewership earned enough to justify that budget. Also, to be clear, neither of these films are “midflicks”; both should have gone to theaters. Toy Story 5 is not hanging around on the streaming charts on Disney+, so it’s not as leggy as either Zootopia 2 or Moana 2, and definitely not in the same class as Encanto. (It did make all the money at the box office, so Disney is going to be fine…) The Breadwinner on Netflix (from Sony) is down to 3.9 million hours in its third week. It only lasted for one week on the Samba TV charts. Netflix’s Doing Life had a smaller-than-normal binge release curve bounce, only going to 7.1 million hours from 6.0 to start, but it made Samba TV at fifth place in its second week. The Netflix documentary, The Widower: Til’ Death Do Us Part, also had a small binge release curve bounce to 6.5 million hours, but did make a second week on Samba TV. Meanwhile, Netflix’s Unabomber fell off after two weeks on Nielsen—which is not great at all—and Demon Slayer fell off after just one week. Over on Luminate, the two smaller titles The Swan: Behind the Mirror and Kill. Bury. Print both fell out of the Luminate top ten charts. The story of library film at the first of the month is the arrival of the Ice Age films on Netflix. Now, here’s a small example of optimizing your library that even Netflix could do better. Say you want to rent/license a new film series from Disney**.** A streamer could pay a big paycheck and then drop each Ice Age film on the exact same day of the month, the fourth of October. That’s one choice. In contrast, the streamer could have released each film one week apart, and make each one a mini-event for folks watching Ice Age films. Or even roll them out monthly. Netflix opted for the former strategy, and as a result, only three of the films made the Nielsen charts this week. The “Miss of the Week” goes to Tubi’s YA-ish horror film_, R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead 2_, which didn’t even make the Luminate charts like Tubi films usually do, or, should I say, “used to”? Tubi films, most of which are straight-to-streaming, used to reliably make the Luminate film charts (which only covers straight-to-streaming films), but a Tubi film hasn’t made it since August. The first Pumpkinhead got 1.4 million hours last year according to Luminate. As I wrote about this film before, it seems to be a bit muddled in terms of age: too scary for young kids but probably not scary enough for older kids. Speaking of Luminate, Netflix’s latest doc about a comic (expect more docs about comedians all month), Who Is Martin Mull?, flopped, getting just 200K and 700K hours according to Luminate. Three other film/special misses belonged to Hulu, including a standup special, Jamie Foxx: Take Care of Yourself, Neon’s latest horror film, Hokum, which made $17 million in the US, and a Family Guy Halloween special. (That last one was only 22 minutes, so it’s not a surprise it missed.) Finally, another Netflix standup special missed the charts, Mojo Brookzz: I Know You Lying missed too. I can confirm last week’s misses, most notably Paramount+’s Jackass: Best and Last, MUBI’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma and HBO Max’s Evil Dead Burn. Television - I Can’t Visualize Nothing: The Kardashians Story Normally, in the mini-dive essays that open the Streaming Ratings Report, I focus on shows that do well or, at the very least, make the charts. Why? Because as I’ve said time and again, I can’t visualize nothing like, say, the Kardashians’ TV shows. Here’s the TV debuts chart for this week with a missing spot for The Kardashians, whose eighth season just landed on Hulu:
Teton County sheriff’s candidate calls suspension ‘political,’ keeps campaigning
Incumbent Sheriff Matt Carr rebukes accusations of ‘weaponization’ by his deputy and political opponent, Eric Snow, in the Nov. 3 election. Snow defends his policing track record.
Snow calls suspension ‘political,’ keeps campaigning
Incumbent Sheriff Matt Carr rebukes accusations of ‘weaponization’ by his deputy and political opponent, Eric Snow, in the Nov. 3 election. Snow defends his policing track record.
Arena-auditorium complex set to keep James Brown name
The Augusta Entertainment Complex will become the James Brown Entertainment Complex under a unanimous vote by the Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority.
‘One job away’ campaign launches to help actors keep health insurance
Amid a lack of acting roles in Hollywood, one actor has launched a social media campaign to help SAG-AFTRA members on the verge of losing their union health benefits. Cheyenne Jackson, who has appe…
Amo Celebrates $1.2 Million Federal Investment in Cumberland Stormwater Improvements to Protect Local Businesses and Jobs
Cumberland, RI – TODAY, Congressman Gabe Amo (D-RI-01) joined local leaders today to celebrate the completion of a $1.2 million stormwater infrastructure project along Industrial Road, helping Cumberland address chronic flooding in its largest commercial area and better protect the businesses, workers, and infrastructure that keep its economy moving.
10 bookkeeping tasks small businesses can automate today
QuickBooks Online syncs with your bank account and dozens of business tools to automate the tasks that keep your business running smoothly.
FAQ: Ways Health Plans Can Assist Members in Medicaid Redetermination
Most Medicaid unwinding losses were procedural. mPulse's SriVani Ganti explains how plans can keep eligible members.
As Cleveland’s grocery stores continue to close, this city official steps up to ensure food access
Zainab Pixler, Cleveland's first local food system strategist, is championing a new Good Food Retailer tax credit program to keep grocery stores open in city neighborhoods.
Trump returning to TX for high-stakes push to keep the state in Republican hands
After winning the state by double digits in the last two presidential races, some Texas Republicans now see Trump as a liability.
Trump returning to Texas for a high-stakes push to keep the state in Republican hands
President Donald Trump is heading back to Texas to support Republican Ken Paxton’s U.S. Senate campaign against Democrat James Talarico
Trump returns to Texas for a high-stakes push to keep the state in Republican hands
President Donald Trump is in Texas to support Republican Ken Paxton's U.S. Senate campaign against Democrat James Talarico.
DFB sports tribunal announces suspension for Mahmutovic
The German Football Association (DFB) sports tribunal has imposed a one-match league ban on Ena Mahmutovic. The goalkeeper was sent off last Friday during the game at RB Leipzig after committing a fo...
King Charles’ ‘Business-First Mindset’ Could Push Prince Harry Out of UK
King Charles reportedly wants Prince Harry to decide on his ties to the monarchy. Reports say King Charles insists on keeping private family life and royal responsibilities separate. However, this may...
Office Visit: This isn’t a typical health system deal, and that’s the point
INTEGRIS Health CEO Timothy Pehrson explains how joining Risant Health could expand value-based care while keeping leadership and decisions in Oklahoma.
Atrium, State Health Plan strike a deal after public fight
The agreement resolves a dispute over health care costs that left thousands of state employees wondering whether they could afford to keep their doctors.
Chautauqua County Reminds Families How to Keep Babies Safe While Sleeping
MAYVILLE, N.Y. – October is Safe Sleep and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Awareness Month.
No on 87; it will hurt state’s businesses, economy
When I left public service as deputy mayor of Denver, I took with me a conviction that the people who build businesses here are the ones who keep Colorado moving. I started my first company, Seca Secure, from my dining room table with a simple goal: provide good customer service and quality Security equipment to […]
iPhone 18e Could Get Two Key Upgrades While Keeping 60Hz Display
Apple's upcoming iPhone 18e model will retain a 60Hz display but could gain an upgraded front-facing camera, according to the leaker known as "Digital Chat Station". In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that the device will feature a 6.12-inch OLED display using low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) technology, the A20 chip, and a single 48-megapixel rear camera. They were less definitive about the front-facing camera, saying it could be upgraded to 24 megapixels.
Fox News Power Rankings: As Iran looms large, can the GOP keep the faithful?
Trump's approval dropped to 36% amid the war in Iran, reshaping the 2026 midterms, but the Senate map through deep-red states keeps GOP alive.
How bipartisan politics keeps the Brewers in Milwaukee through 2050
In 2023, bipartisan negotiations resulted in a $500 million deal to help repair American Family Field. But critics doubt the Brewers would have left.
Transmission Lines Could Have Cut Through the Ranch of a Billionaire Abbott Donor. Then Planners Made Them Go Away.
As hundreds of landowners fought to keep towers off their land, Kelcy Warren saw wholesale relief—without filing an official protest.
Michigan football still waiting for 'hot hand' in rushing game
On Monday, coach Kyle Whittingham was asked if Michigan football might consider a new strategy at running back: keeping one player in for longer.
This psychologist has a new theory for why orcas keep attacking boats
Live Science spoke with comparative psychologist Christian Frings to discuss a new theory for why orcas are attacking yachts.
At 80, he’s a top dementia expert. Here’s how he keeps his brain healthy.
Researcher Ron Petersen says there are simple things we can all do for healthier cognitive aging.
As political rhetoric escalates, Michigan voters express burnout with election cycle
NPR's Steve Inskeep asks Michel Martin what she's hearing from Michigan voters, as the tone of the state's Senate race gets darker.
Could meals help keep older adults from returning to the hospital?
Research found that food-insecure older adults who received two weeks of home-delivered meals after hospitalization had lower odds of early readmission.
Packers Injury Report: 7 to start the list on Monday
Keep an eye on Matthew Golden, Devonte Wyatt and Anthony Campbell this week
Lakers Rule Out 2 Players Ahead of Trail Blazers Matchup
The Lakers are trying to keep their winning streak going against the Trail Blazers, and they will have a relatively clean bill of health. The post Lakers Rule Out 2 Players Ahead of Trail Blazers Matchup appeared first on LA Sports Report.
Cyclones blanked by No. 20 Cougars
Iowa State (4-9-4, 0-7-2 Big 12) soccer suffered a 3-0 defeat against No. 20 BYU (10-3-3, 6-1-2 Big 12) Monday night at the Cyclone Sports Complex. Playing before a home crowd of 280, Iowa State faced persistent offensive pressure throughout the night but remained competitive through 90 minutes behind a seven save performance from goalkeeper Eme […]
More mid-tier mental health services needed in Arkansas to limit youth hospitalizations, lawmakers told
Arkansas needs more intermediate-level youth mental health resources in order to keep children from being sent to a hospital unnecessarily, advocates told state lawmakers Monday.
Healthcare drives Arizona’s job growth, but can employers keep up?
Healthcare is providing much of the state’s job growth, but employers need workers and money to keep expanding. Medicaid cuts aren't helping.
Northern Arizona athletics prepares for Protect College Sports Act
NAU Athletic Director Richard Duran has a plan to keep the Lumberjacks competitive and fiscally responsible following the Senate's passage of the Protect College Sports Act. NAU will prioritize in-state recruits and strategic investments.
Padre Island business matches candy donations to keep Hawksnest, Eagles Nest bowls full for Halloween
Island Tire Automotive has collected more than 400 pounds of candy for Hawksnest and Eagles Nest neighbors, matching every pound donated as candy prices climb.
State says it will keep 25 mental health beds at Choate, expand regional jobs
Illinois will retain 25 mental health beds at Choate while expanding psychiatric services and jobs across the region.
Siri AI keeps getting better, here’s what’s new in iOS 27.2
Apple is rolling out its 27.2 software updates today, and they introduce several improvements for Siri AI. Here’s what’s new.
Cherokee Federal company awarded contract to strengthen US Navy fleet readiness
Cherokee Nation Government Solutions, a Cherokee Federal company, has been awarded a $99.3 million, five-and-a-half-year contract through a competitive small business set-aside under the SeaPort-NxG contract vehicle.
Business Ins & Outs: 260 Sample Sale, Spicewalla, Olli; Bonne Vache
The hits just keep on coming …
Opinion: City Hall keeps asking small businesses for more. Enough is enough.
And as City Hall debates how to close another budget deficit, I hope we remember that the small businesses we’re asking to pay more are the very ones we depend on to grow our economy.
Wilmington Health facility sells for $9.4M
Wilmington Health’s main facility recently sold for more than $9 million. The 66,000-square-foot facility located at 1202 Medical Center Drive was purchased by Charlotte-based real estate investment firm Cedar Square in a $9.4 million sale-leaseback transaction, according to a deed recorded Oct. 21. Wilmington Health will continue leasing the facility, CEO Jeff James told the Business Journal in September. James said the lease term would likely be five years, with most services eventually transferring to a new medical office building under construction in the Midtown Park office area near The Pointe at Barclay. The Wilmington Health facility was originally listed earlier this year at $11.85 million. A Wilmington Health representative did not respond to a request for comment by press time. Steve Hall, vice president of BlueCoast Commercial, represented Wilmington Health in the transaction. “Wilmington Health wanted to unlock the value in its real estate without disrupting a single patient visit, and a sale-leaseback let them do exactly that,” said Hall in a text to the Business Journal Monday. “Cedar Square gets a long-term, absolute net investment anchored by one of the region’s leading physician groups, and Wilmington Health keeps its home on Medical Center Drive while redeploying that capital into care.” The sale marks Cedar Square’s first entry into the Wilmington market, according to Jon Dixon, the firm's managing partner and founder. “We are attracted to Wilmington's growth and what we see as strong long-term fundamentals,” said Dixon in an email Monday. “Population growth, relative affordability, and quality of life make it a compelling market for us. The climate and proximity to the coast are a big part of that appeal.” He added, “We hope to pursue additional opportunities across retail, industrial, medical office and multifamily in Wilmington. We will evaluate opportunities individually and remain disciplined about the properties we pursue. We would like this acquisition to be the beginning of a broader investment presence in Wilmington.” Given the facility’s age, Dixon said the site could eventually be redeveloped, potentially for medical office space or housing. Dixon said recent announcements from UNC Health and Atrium were among the factors behind the firm’s growing interest in Wilmington’s medical-office market. The announcements involve competing proposals for hospital expansion in New Hanover County, which are subject to the state’s Certificate of Need process. “Medical office remains one of the most sought-after asset classes in commercial real estate,” said Hall, “and well-located (medical office buildings) with strong operators are scarce in Southeastern North Carolina.” According to Dixon, Cedar Square describes itself as a boutique, hands-on real estate investment firm that values direct relationships with tenants and the communities where it owns property. “We’re very hands-on, and we like to be in direct contact with all of our tenants and the communities in which we own,” Dixon said. He added, “We’re definitely interested in building a presence with local owners, brokers and businesses or tenants.”
Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2 Pro Controller restock tracker: we’re watching these retailers
🎮 Nintendo will release a Zelda 40th anniversary Switch 2 Pro Controller on October 29 💰 It costs $99.99, the same as other limited editions 📅 A restock could occur on launch day at Walmart and Best Buy 🚨 Our Zelda Switch 2 Pro Controller restock tracker @mattswider on X will send out an alert when stock appears Walmart: Zelda Pro Controller Best Buy: Zelda Pro Controller Amazon: Zelda Pro Controller Target: Zelda Pro Controller GameStop: Zelda Pro Controller Nintendo is releasing a special limited edition Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda series. It releases on October 29, 2026, which is when we expect to see a long-awaited restock of the hard-to-find controller. 🚨 We’re tracking Zelda Switch 2 Pro Controller stock updates. If you’d like to know when more stock arrives, follow Matt Swider on X and turn on notifications. You can also become a free or paid subscriber to The Shortcut to help support our work. 🚨 The Switch 2 Pro Controller features the same striking gold and royal emerald color scheme of the Nintendo Switch 2 The Legend of Zelda 40th anniversary edition, and also includes a fun little easter egg on the back: an 8-Bit Link. 🚨 Want the Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2 Pro Controller? Drop your email for restock alerts before it sells out. ⤵️ Subscribe This is the same Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller we’re used to, aside from the intricate design, but it means you’ll have to pay more as a result. It costs $99.99 instead of the standard $89.99. However, the Pro Controller is the easiest way to play the best Switch 2 games in TV mode. If you’ve been searching for a Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2 Pro Controller restock, here’s everything you need to know. Zelda 40th anniversary Switch 2 Pro Controller should restock at these retailers We’ve seen retailers such as Walmart and Best Buy restock items on release day, even when pre-orders have sold out. It’s likely that the Zelda Switch 2 Pro Controller will be up for grabs on October 29, 2026, when the controller and console launches. Demand will be high, and stock could sell out fast. However, we’ll be keeping a close eye on every major retailer, including Target, Amazon, GameStop, and the Nintendo Store and will alert our followers as soon as stock goes live. Why you can trust our Zelda Switch 2 Pro Controller restock tracker We’ve already helped over 400,000 people buy a PS5 when it was in and out of stock during Covid, and we’ve helped our subscribers continue to secure hard-to-find items. The Shortcut followers were some of the first to secure the Switch 2 when it went on sale, and we’ve also helped countless others snag limited edition consoles like the PS5 30th anniversary edition. The Shortcut and Matt Swider on X offer exclusive Zelda 40th anniversary Switch 2 Pro Controller restock updates with up-to-the-second US store inventory checks at the biggest retailers. You’ll receive an instant notification on X (if set to on) as soon as new stock arrives. Up next: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 review roundup: ‘a strong return to form’ Subscribe Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.
The Fans Trying To Save Mass Effect Just Paid For A Billboard In Times Square
The group’s petition to keep BioWare’s series alive just surpassed 200,000 signatures
ChatGPT Keeps Telling People 404 Media Can Solve Their Tech Support Problems
Because big tech doesn't do customer service, we are being inundated with AI-generated emails begging us for help.
📈 Monday data: The bottleneck isn’t intelligence
In the AI Investment Brief today: CapEx updates and lease commitment breakdowns Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark recently said in a speech at the IMF that the singularity has begun: For many years, researchers and science fiction authors have forecast a future in which AI systems drastically increase the pace of overall scientific and technical progress, making things move so quickly that it is hard for humans to keep up. They call this the singularity. I believe that this year we have gained convincing evidence that it has now begun. This follows Anthropic’s claim that in August, 26% of its AI R&D was led by Claude, with a human supervising its work. In October, OpenAI posted 719 math manuscripts1 made by its internal model. Math and coding are two fields where a research loop can close without leaving the desk. But can the loop close in the rest of science? Subscribe The loop is real The idea is not new. Mathematician Irving John Good, who had worked with Alan Turing at Bletchley Park, argued that a machine smarter than us “could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an ‘intelligence explosion,’ and the intelligence of man would be left far behind.” The Gödel machine, a self-improving computer that can rewrite its own code better than its prior, was first proposed in 2003. In 2025, researchers at Sakana AI and the University of British Columbia set out to show that this was possible. Their agents iteratively improved their own code through a feedback loop, resulting in gains of 30 pp on SWE-bench and more than 15 pp on Polyglot, testing coding skills beyond Python. The idea has since been tested in other labs. A Gemini-powered agent called AlphaEvolve found a faster matrix multiplication kernel used for training Gemini, speeding up the kernel by 23% and cutting Gemini’s training time by 1%. In China, MiniMax reported that its M2.7 model worked on improving its own agent’s harness, skills, sampling and memory. Over 100 rounds of rewriting led to a 30% gain, per its internal evaluations. In each case, what was being rewritten was not the model itself but everything around it. Is it better than human work? In September this year, in what seemed like a milestone, an AI-built agent proved as good at improving other AI agents as a human-built one. It did that in what appeared to be half the steps. But the result was inconclusive: the differences between runs were greater than the difference between the AI- and human-built agent results. Nonetheless, this is increasing the chatter around recursive self-improvement (RSI) in AI. Google’s Sundar Pichai said that “you have RSI loops along with AI researchers in various aspects of model development.” Sakana AI published a paper on RSI through multi-agent collaboration, finding that after two cycles its system scored 1.2–1.6x better per output token than the base model across four research benchmarks. Ramez Naam challenges that view. He splits AI self-improvement into five overlapping types. The first four describe how autonomous the AI is; so far, only types 1 and 2 have been observed. The fifth type describes accelerating returns, and he notes that greater autonomy doesn’t guarantee a takeoff scenario. Instead, each round of self-improvement would need to deliver at least as much as the last. The results from Sakana, AlphaEvolve and MiniMax above might look like type 3 or type 4 autonomy. But in each case, the AI wasn’t updating its own weights directly, only the ancillary parts — the harness, the memory. And where Claude leads its own R&D, for now a human still supervises.
Lunin: “Discipline, attitude and determination were key”
Real Madrid backup goalkeeper Andriy Lunin talked to the club’s media after starting in Madrid’s 2-1 victory at the Camp Nou. “Discipline and attitude were key because Barcelona had more possession. Also, the determination because playing away is tough, and today these three points were important because we all knew how things stood. Teamwork was […]
‘Keep In-House Business In-House,’ ‘Don’t Put A Target On My Boy’ — Super Bowl Champ Irritated By Jonathan Taylor’s Wife’s Take on Trade Rumors
Things are getting messier by the day for the Indianapolis Colts. Sitting at 2-5 after arguably their worst three-game stretch of the season, the franchise has already parted ways with general manager Chris Ballard.
Sony Awarded a Hacker $50,000 for Privately Reporting a PS5 Exploit He Found With AI — Now He's Public Enemy Number One
A hacker sparked an uproar within the PlayStation 5 homebrew scene for privately reporting an exploit to Sony and cashing in on a $50,000 reward, rather than keeping it confidential for the community.
Intuition pushed mom to keep checking for breast cancer
Michigan mom had no reason to suspect cancer. But instinct nudged her to find out for sure — and carried her through challenging treatments to remission.
Svilar expected to be back against Sassuolo on 7 November
Mile Svilar wants to return to Roma’s goal. The Giallorossi goalkeeper has begun the countdown to his return, even anticipating his recovery time: he could be available for Gian Piero Gasperini by e...
To keep rural healthcare workers, Missouri is helping cover their childcare costs
New funding will expand a program that shares childcare costs among employers, families and the state. But finding available care still presents a challenge for many families.
In his own words: Trump on gas prices and energy costs since launching the war with Iran
Since launching the war with Iran nearly eight months ago, U.S. President Donald Trump has struggled to quell soaring energy costs, undermining Republicans’ attempt to keep control of Congress in the midterm elections next week.
‘Astronomical’ Arab turnout could reshape Israeli politics in key election
Netanyahu’s opponents consider unprecedented alliances to keep him out of power
Staying healthy on Halloween doesn't have to mean skipping the candy
Experts say having kids eat a well-balanced meal before heading out to trick-or-treat is a good way to keep them from overindulging — but it's perfectly fine to let children enjoy Halloween, candy and all.
Many Medicare Patients Could Lose Access to Remote Monitoring Devices
A proposed federal rule could dramatically reduce access to remote patient monitoring programs for people on Medicare. The services aim to keep patients out of the hospital by giving them devices to monitor their health at home, but critics say there isn’t enough oversight.
Business News: Audemars Piguet Unveils 'The Watch Keepers' - A Digital Platform Offering Certified Pre-Owned Watches
The Le Brassus watchmaker will facilitate sales and auctions of brand-certified timepieces on a digital platform launching in Switzerland and Europe, with plans for expansion to other markets, including the U.S.
Sleep in total darkness to maintain heart health, researchers say
WASHINGTON — Many a pop song has nudged us to turn the lights down low, but for cardiovascular health, the better choice is to keep them off entirely it seems,
How to Manage Symptoms of Heart Failure
(Feature Impact) Americans are facing a growing health challenge, with 1 in 4 adults at risk of heart failure, according to the Heart Failure Society of America. Additionally, approximately 6.7 million U.S. adults who are 20 years old or older are currently living with heart failure, and that number is projected to reach 8.7 million by 2030. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('JGFI_Article_300x250'); }); Managing heart failure is a significant expense to the U.S. healthcare system, costing the nation approximately $40 billion in 2020 and expected to increase to approximately $142 billion a year by 2050.If you (or a loved one) are living with the condition, consider these tips to help manage it.Adhere to the Treatment and Follow-Up PlanOngoing outpatient care is important when managing heart failure. Understand the treatment plan provided by your healthcare team, make diet and lifestyle changes, take medications as directed and keep recommended follow-up appointments.Pay attention to changes in symptoms and communicate with your healthcare provider if treatment does not seem to be working as expected. If their conditions are left unmanaged, patients can experience a range of heart-failure-related symptoms such as shortness of breath, fatigue, buildup of fluid and more.Understand Challenges with Diuretic TreatmentDiuretics help the body remove excess fluid and are commonly used to treat swelling, or edema, associated with heart failure. Your provider may try different diuretics, sometimes referred to as “water pills,” to manage your heart failure symptoms. However, intravenous (IV) diuretic therapy may be required for some patients if symptoms continue.Ask About Treatment Options Before IV Care Is NeededFor some adults, a healthcare provider may consider recommending an at-home, non-oral diuretic option prior to escalating to IV therapy.For example, ENBUMYST™ (bumetanide nasal spray) is a prescription diuretic used in adults to treat edema associated with congestive heart failure. It’s administered as a nasal spray for short-term use to manage excess fluid with the goal of transitioning to oral diuretic therapy when appropriate.Talk with your healthcare provider to learn more and visit enbumyst.com. Read the full Prescribing Information and Patient Information.Photo courtesy of Shutterstock googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('JGFI_Article2_300x250'); }); Important Safety InformationWhat is ENBUMYST?ENBUMYST is a prescription medicine used in adults to treat swelling caused by excess fluid in the body (edema) from congestive heart failure, liver disease, and kidney disease.What is the most important information I should know about ENBUMYST?ENBUMYST is a diuretic that helps your body remove fluid. Losing too much fluid can cause dehydration, low blood volume, and increase the risk of blood clots. Blood abnormalities may include decreased salts (electrolytes), and increased nitrogen, glucose and uric acid. The risk of these abnormalities is higher in elderly people, those using higher doses, or those who do not get enough electrolytes by mouth.You should not use ENBUMYST if you have severe electrolyte loss. Tell your healthcare provider if you experience unusual thirst; dizziness or lightheadedness; weakness or tiredness; fast heart rate; dry mouth or tongue; sudden pain; redness or swelling in your joints; pain, swelling, redness, or warmth in your leg; shortness of breath or fast breathing; high blood sugar; dark urine; pale, tight, cool or clammy skin; muscle cramps; confusion.Do not use ENBUMYST if you have low or no urine production or are allergic to bumetanide or to any of the ingredients in ENBUMYST.Before using ENBUMYST, tell your healthcare provider if you have low electrolytes, are on a low-salt diet, have diarrhea, diabetes, nasal problems such as a runny or stuffy nose or polyps, a history of nasal injury or surgery, are or plan to become pregnant, are or plan to breastfeed.Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take, including prescriptions, over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements.ENBUMYST may cause serious side effects, such as worsening kidney function and ringing in the ears or hearing loss.The most common side effects of ENBUMYST include dehydration, headache, muscle cramps, dizziness, low blood pressure, nausea, and abnormal brain functioning with certain liver problems.These are not all the possible side effects of ENBUMYST. Talk to your healthcare provider for more information.Call your healthcare provider for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.US-ENBU-2600110 googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('JGFI_Article3_300x250'); });
Groundskeepers at prepare the bullpen mounds at Tropicana Field
Groundskeepers prepare the bullpen mounds at Tropicana Field in preparation for the World Series in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Bruins’ Unbeaten Run Gets A Bigger Test Against The Hurricanes
Boston keeps finding ways to survive difficult moments, but the Bruins’ latest comeback sets up a tougher question: can they carry that resilience into a Tuesday road game against one of the NHL’s most demanding opponents?
Luka Doncic 50-Bomb Keeps Lakers’ Perfect Start Intact
Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic recorded a 52-point double-double in the Lakers' 132-123 win over the Utah Jazz on Sunday. The post Luka Doncic 50-Bomb Keeps Lakers’ Perfect Start Intact appeared first on LA Sports Report.
What’s going on with AJ Dybantsa’s ankle injury?
The Washington Wizards have started off playing well this season, and they’ve done so without the No. 1 overall pick. AJ Dybantsa hasn’t made his NBA debut yet as he deals with an ankle injury, and it looks like he’ll have to keep waiting after the latest update on his status, according to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints. “AJ Dybantsa will remain […] The post What’s going on with AJ Dybantsa’s ankle injury? appeared first on ClutchPoints.
Democrat Coumba Kebe wants to keep the politics out of the treasurer’s office
Political newcomer Coumba Kebe is the Democratic nominee for Indiana state treasurer. Kebe wants to keep the politics out of the office and build back trust with people.
Primark's Business Doesn't Make Sense
In a world where fast fashion giants like Shein, Zara, and H&M drop thousands of new styles every day — and rake in billions through e-commerce — Primark is doing the unthinkable: thriving with zero online shopping. So what gives?*Want to Know the 5 Trends Changing Modern Retail? Find Out Here:* 🔗 https://clickhubspot.com/d13ac2In this video, we take you inside Primark’s weirdly brilliant business model — a model that’s stuck in the past on purpose. From warehouse optimization and floor-ready freight shipments to why the pandemic didn’t push them online, we unpack how this low-cost retail giant has managed to defy digital norms… and make it work.This isn’t just about one brand. It’s a story about modern retail expectations — and what it actually takes to meet (or reject) them.Subscribe to The Hustle:🔗 https://clickhubspot.com/vu3lGet the 5-minute newsletter keeping 2M+ innovators in the loop🔗 https://clickhubspot.com/3klnAbout HubSpot: HubSpot is a customer platform that provides education, software, and support to help businesses grow better. The platform includes marketing, sales, service, commerce, operations, and website management products that start free and scale to meet our customers’ needs at any stage of growth. Today, thousands of customers around the world use HubSpot’s powerful and easy-to-use tools and apps to attract, engage, and delight customers.#TheHustle #HubSpot
Cardinals vs. Broncos live updates, analysis, highlights, scoring
We have live updates of the Cardinals-Broncos game in Week 7. Keep up with pregame, in-game and postgame coverage.
New Trump housing order targets mortgage and title insurers
A White House plan to pull private mortgage insurance off loans sooner, and to let refinancing borrowers skip the lender's title policy, affects two insurance lines that say they already help keep costs down
Face the Facts: New health insurance helps early childhood educators
Child care is expensive, and keeping qualified workers on the job is part of the challenge. Now, Connecticut is offering a new health insurance subsidy to help early childhood educators lower their monthly premiums. Rep. Kate Farrar (D-West Hartford) explains how it works and why it could make a difference for families. Mike Hydeck: For years, Connecticut has had among…
Business lessons are coming to liberal arts schools
A new AP business with personal finance course continues the growth of teaching kids about how to make money and keep it.
AP Business lessons are helping high school students learn how to manage money
A new AP business with personal finance course continues the growth of teaching kids about how to make money and keep it.
12 Cool New Gadgets to Keep on Your Radar
Catching you up on the past week’s most notable product releases.
U of M fellowship aims to boost rural obstetrics training and keep labor and delivery units open
The partnership is launching the new, one-year family medicine obstetrics fellowship next summer to prepare family medicine physicians to provide advanced prenatal, maternity and newborn care in rural communities. The only other fellowship of this kind in Minnesota is at Essentia Health in Duluth.
Real Madrid rocked by Thibaut Courtois INJURY BLOW just hours before El Clasico showdown with Barcelona
Real Madrid have suffered a major setback ahead of their crucial Clasico showdown against Barcelona after goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was ruled out through illness. His late withdrawal forces the club to rely on deputy Andriy Lunin for the vital Liga fixture at Camp Nou.
New York Giants' Never-Ending Nightmare Might Get Even Worse
Things just keep getting worse for the New York Giants.
Is it rude to keep the airplane window shades open?
In this Sunday edition of Business Insider Today, we're breaking down the flight etiquette debate that's dividing the internet.
Small gyms increase health and connection in rural communities
Within the Adirondacks, outdoor recreation keeps people active. But small gyms popping up encourage indoor activity.
BREAKING: Courtois out against Barcelona
Real Madrid have announced that goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois will not play against FC Barcelona tonight. Per Realmadrid.comCourtois is a last-minute drop due to a flu process for tonight’s match between Real Madrid and Barcelona, corresponding to the tenth round of the League. Illia Voloshyn enters the squad list in his place. This is devastating news […]
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto Make Your Phone Hot. Here’s How to Keep It Cool
Powering a car dashboard is more demanding on your handset than you might think. These tips will save battery life and help your phone chill out.
“We Have No Business up There” – Gattuso Insists Lazio Are Targeting 40 Points
Gennaro Gattuso urges Lazio to keep their feet on the ground and focus on modest objectives despite leading the Serie A table.Lazio Overcome Parma TestThe Biancocelesti raised their tally to 22 from a...
Swapping horses for ninja warriors: The Olympic sport undergoing massive change
Several Olympic sports have evolved over the years to keep up with an ever-changing landscape, but few have been as drastic as the Modern Pentathlon.
Juventus is limiting one of their best players
Kerim Alajbegovic was expected to receive considerably more playing time following Kenan Yildiz’s injury, which is set to keep the attacker out of action until the end of 2026. However, things have ...
Guest opinion: Partisan politics don’t belong in Montana’s courtrooms
As retired district court judges who worked in courtrooms across Montana, we know there is no Democratic or Republican way to handle the everyday court cases Montanans face. That’s why we support Constitutional Initiative 132 to keep our judicial elections nonpartisan.
Jordan Mason is back, and the rest of the NFC should be worried
The Minnesota Vikings are getting a major offensive weapon back as running back Jordan Mason returns from injured reserve. With a crucial matchup against the Indianapolis Colts approaching, Mason's return could give Minnesota the boost it needs to keep its unbeaten streak alive.
Mission Health hospitals collect 289 pounds in 'Crush the Crisis' drug take-back day
One simple step. For some local hospitals - that makes a big difference in keeping dangerous medications out of the wrong hands.
Skip Bayless Has Bold Vikings Declaration After Bears Win
Skip Bayless doubled down on his belief that the Minnesota Vikings will win the NFC North despite the Chicago Bears’ recent victory, keeping the division race firmly in the spotlight. The outspoken sports commentator’s prediction signals that he remains confident in Minnesota’s chances as the NFC North contenders continue to battle for position. The Bears’ […] The post Skip Bayless Has Bold Vikings Declaration After Bears Win appeared first on Gridiron Heroics.
Los Angeles health authorities report 2nd second rabies-positive raccoon
In a follow-up on the report a rabies-positive raccoon found in Los Angeles County, the first in more than 5 decades, the LA County Department of Public Health is investigating a second rabies-positive raccoon found in the Westlake Village area of Los Angeles County. Public Health has confirmed that the first raccoon was positive for a variant of rabies typically found in bats. Strain testing for the second raccoon is currently pending. The second rabid raccoon was found in a backyard in the vicinity of where the first raccoon was reported and appeared sick and aggressive. No residents or pets were exposed to the raccoon. Two people at a worksite may have been exposed to the raccoon and are receiving recommended follow-up for rabies post-exposure prophylaxis. The World’s Deadliest Viruses Prior to these detections, the last confirmed rabid raccoon in Los Angeles County was detected in 1973, when the skunk variant (strain) of rabies was still present in the County. That strain has not been detected in Los Angeles County since 1979. In 2014, a skunk infected with the bat variant of rabies was detected in Long Beach. “The detection of rabies in another raccoon is an important reminder to never touch, handle, or feed any wild animals, even when they appear healthy,” said Muntu Davis, MD, MPH, Los Angeles County Health Officer. “Always keep a safe distance from wildlife and contact your local animal control if you encounter an animal that appears to be sick, injured, or behaving unusually. It is also critical to ensure your pets are up to date on rabies vaccination so they are protected before any potential exposure. Keeping your pets vaccinated is one of the most important steps you can take to protect your entire family.” Outbreak News Today is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
Netflix’s Leadership Shake Up…Explained
(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) Well, I had a simple article planned for this week. Called “Whoa, I Missed It!”, I’d take a gander at a few important-but-under-the-radar stories I didn’t cover while I wrote about all things “Skydance. (Formerly known as “the saga of Netflix trying to buy Warner Bros., but not Discovery, then Paramount-Skydance bought all of Warner Bros. Discovery”.) Alas, that article will have to wait. Netflix made news. Ironically, my “Whoa, I Missed It!” article would have mostly been about “content” strategy decisions, which is also what today’s article is about. But instead of the entire industry, this article will only cover Netflix’s decision to upend their film and TV content teams. Just that! So that’s the full topic of the day. I’m going to tackle the issue in the opposite direction of the way “stuff” flows: uphill. We’ll start at film, then move onto TV, and then onto the CEOs themselves, and the strategy questions that still remain. But we start with the numbers driving this. Let’s dive in. Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - Netflix Upends Their Corporate Hierarchy I’ve got a lot of thoughts, but we’ll start with the most common response to yesterday’s article. Let’s Talk Stock Price More than one person, responding to what I published two days ago, pointed out that, well, actually, the thing driving Netflix’s actions is this: In short, stock price! Even if Netflix isn’t obsessed with their own share price—they probably are, but, for the record, my strategic advice to every CEO is to absolutely ignore stock prices, which will, ironically, probably help the stock price long-term—most everyone thinks they are. By the way, I prefer market capitalization to stock prices, because it’s a more apples-to-apples way to compare companies: But there’s an even better way to look at it, and it kinda casts some doubt on the entire push here: price-to-earnings. I have a long list of articles that I wish I had written, and chief among them is an article titled, “Am I Still a Netflix ‘Bear’?” meaning someone who thinks Netflix’s stock is overvalued. As of last summer, Netflix had solved their biggest problem—which for me (circa 2019) was the lack of free cash flow—but their stock was CRAZY overvalued. That’s this chart here: Why did Netflix’s stock price increase to a price-to-earnings ratio of 50 last summer? What financial metric changed so quickly? Nothing. Given that, historically, mature entertainment companies average 10 to 20, with 16 being the average, that increase made little sense. Netflix’s stock swoon these last eight or so months wasn’t irrational; the stock price rise last year was. So if you want a really hot Netflix take, here it is: Netflix’s stock price has been going down because the financial industry recovered its senses, not because of any strategic mistake. Yes, that would imply that cleaning house may have been a mistake. That’s why the charts yesterday are so important, because they show that Netflix did have a strategic problem (a lack of hits) and that’s what they moved to address. (One could also argue the industry drastically overrated Netflix’s growth prospects, but that’s a financial industry problem, not a Netflix strategy problem per se. Some growth estimates are just crazy. *cough* AI *cough*) Now, the last time Netflix’s stock price crashed—circa 2022—it gave them an opening. I’d argue Netflix insiders knew they needed to expand post-COVID-19 crisis, adding advertising, cracking down on password sharing, and dabbling in sports. But if they had done that when their stock price was high, it would give folks a reason to second guess their strategy. (Arguably, last year, when Netflix pursued the Warner Bros. merger, it gave the industry a chance to review their business.) Instead, after the 2022 fall, they had the opening to make strategic changes. We may see Netflix pivot again following this latest slide. For example, the “binge versus weekly” conversation is alive and well again. Same for expanding into theaters even more. And adding both linear channels and streaming bundles. And maybe more either social, user-generated, vertical, or creator content. But the first shift came with who is making the content calls. A Message from Our Sponsor Last winter Pulp Fiction was on Netflix. For those same 90 days, it was also free, with ads, on Pluto TV and the Roku Channel. That is not a glitch, and it is not rare. The title has run on 20 different US streaming services since 2019, across 80 separate windows, and for more than 600 of those days it sat on a paid subscription service and a free ad-supported one at the same time. Almost nobody can see this, because when a title leaves a service, the record that it was ever there tends to leave with it. Reelgood keeps that record, dated to the day rather than the month: 4MM+ movie, show and episode titles across 300+ services globally, with timestamped arrivals, departures and moves across SVOD, AVOD, TVOD and vMVPD. Licensing teams price against every prior window. Rights teams check what a licensee actually delivered, and when. Pick a title you think you know: data.reelgood.com/title-availability Film - Dan Lin Want to know why I don’t opine on individual film or TV executives, especially new hires? Dan Lin. As I always caution, it’s really, really, really tough to predict which executives will succeed in new roles and which won’t. The successful head of co-production/finance partner, Rideback, Lin was considered for the head of DC Studios job before taking the job as the head of Netflix. By all accounts at the time, this was a smart hire. (That’s my read of the news coverage anyways.) But now that Netflix has fired Dan Lin, we got a slew of news stories about how he was doing a terrible job. In sports media, Bryan Curtis, new Substack writer/podcaster from The Ringer, calls this the “now you tell us” story, when you only hear the bad news after a star athlete leaves a sports team. In this case, now they tell us that Dan Lin was bad with talent after he got kicked out the door. So was Dan Lin a flop? It’s actually tough to say. While film moves faster than TV, even two years isn’t really enough time to evaluate a person’s output. The new head hasn’t really taken control. As Emily Horgan noted, it takes much longer than two years to produce animated films, so yeah, it’s definitely too early to judge in that domain. As for live-action films, I just published an article by Brandon Katz called “Netflix’s Summer of Bummer”, but I’d point out Netflix had a bad summer two years ago too. Arguably, their best summer came from KPop Demon Hunters last year and Happy Gilmore 2, the latter of which I saw credited to Lin. Then, the stories came out that Dan Lin clashed with talent, both Ben Affleck and Greta Gerwig, classic “now they tell us” factoids to explain his firing. This may have been true, but also should have been expected given that he was given the mandate to bring budgets back in check, especially after Rebel Moon. So if he made folks upset, well, that’s what he was hired to do! But also, he was described as “well-liked” at his hiring! In that case, I’m a bit sympathetic to Lin, since he may have been undercut by senior leadership, as often happens. Basically, a CEO hires a subordinate to be their “bad cop” and keep budgets in check, but then when talent complains, the CEO ends up undercutting them. That’s how I think you end up with a Narnia movie as expensive as any of the other flops, along with a film executive the town no longer likes. As a result, I think that Netflix is now executing a classic “hire the opposite” move by hiring Peter Rice. This phrase comes from my experience following football and basketball coaching decisions, where teams generally hire the opposite of who they just had. If you have an offense-minded head coach, hire the defensive guy. Or in college football, if you have a strong recruiter, then you pivot to an “X’s and Os” type of guy. Or in pro basketball, if you have a very analytically minded coach, you hire the player-friendly guy. I see that here. After dropping Scott Stuber—arguably a talent-friendly executive with lax budget control—Netflix hired the business guy to keep costs in check. Now Netflix is pivoting back to Peter Rice and presumably a more talent-friendly regime. (Disney, by the way, has done this twice: hiring business guys to succeed talent-friendly Bob Iger. It didn’t work out last time.) When it comes to Peter Rice…we’ll see! Maybe he works out, but maybe he doesn’t. I’d actually say the biggest problem is that Netflix still hasn’t solved its “IP Problem”, in that they don’t own much IP, so they just have a lower hit rate. The new executive won’t solve that. (Though buying Lionsgate would help.) Share “Content” - Bela Bajaria I almost published yesterday’s article after this column, but ended up flipping the order, because it told the story so well. So if you want the data for why Netflix is looking at TV to fix their problems, it’s in that article, this graph in particular: I know I just wrote that it’s often hard to judge executives, but Bajaria ran TV for six years and film for three and a half more. That’s more than enough to judge hit rates, and Netflix needs more hits. That’s the story. Since 2023, Netflix hasn’t had as many hit shows as it used to, and many of its previous power house TV shows have ended their runs (Stranger Things most of all). Also, many shows from 2020 to 2022 probably pre-dated Bajaria’s tenure. (That said, one thing may have been outside of Bajaria’s control, which I explain below.) Let’s lump some content strategy thoughts about Netflix and TV into one place: 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… Why I partially blame Squid Game for Netflix’s latest troubles… What is “the football trap”... Why it might not be the TV shows or films’ fault at all… What change I don’t think Netflix will make... How Bela Bajaria evolved Netflix’s TV strategy in smart ways… Whose departure likely submarined Bajaria’s final few years… One sneaky explanation for Netflix’s content struggles... And a whole lot more... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support.
Spurs seal rare win at Chelsea as Palmer sees red
Tottenham clinched a Premier League win at Chelsea for just the second time in 36 years as a woeful own goal from Blues keeper Mike Penders was followed by Cole Palmer's red card in Saturday's 2-0 victory.When Palmer's run was halted by Fernandes's handball, the Chelsea star escaped with a yellow card after barging into his rival with such aggression that the Tottenham midfielder was sent crashing to the sodden turf.
Health insurance costs keep climbing for American workers, a new survey finds
The 2026 Employer Health Benefits Survey, released Thursday, found that covered workers were paying hundreds of dollars more toward their premiums this year compared with last year.
Health insurance costs keep climbing for American workers, a new survey finds
The 2026 Employer Health Benefits Survey, released Thursday, found that covered workers were paying hundreds of dollars more toward their premiums this year compared with last year.
An ex-bookkeeper spent $375 to launch a sewing business: 'I hadn't felt so sure about something like that in a long time'
Eric Lugo runs Stitch Lab ATX, a sewing studio that offers group classes and events to teach basic sewing skills.
Family Health Insurance Now Costs $28,303 — But Workers at Small Companies Pay 42% More
Americans have grown accustomed to watching their paychecks shrink under the weight of rising expenses. Groceries cost more, housing consumes a larger share of household income, and utility bills keep climbing. Yet one of the biggest financial burdens is often deducted before workers even receive their paychecks: health insurance. Unlike a trip to the supermarket, […]
Apple Store Pickup System for iPhone Duo Just Went Live Again in U.S.
The option to reserve an iPhone Duo for Apple Store pickup resumed in the U.S. around 8:10 a.m. Eastern Time today, but our spot check has revealed little to no availability for all configurations right now, so keep checking back. Apple Store pickup was offered for just a few minutes after iPhone Duo pre-orders began last Friday, and the option then disappeared until now.
NFL Week 7 picks: Experts overwhelmingly favor 49ers over Falcons
The 49ers look to keep their undefeated season alive in Week 7.
Time expert Philippe Richard on why scientists are changing how we keep time
Scientists have voted to change how the world keeps time, but most people won't even notice. NPR's Scott Simon talks to Philippe Richard, director of Switzerland's Federal Institute of Metrology.
Doctors Reveal 5 Early Signs of Arthritis You Should Always Get Checked Out
Keep them on your radar.
College Players to Watch: Week 7
Here are some players to keep an eye on in Week 7 and why they would matter to the Saints.
Health Insurance Costs Keep Climbing for American Workers, New Survey Finds
It's an important issue for voters in the midterm elections
NASA Is Still Aiming for the Next Moon Landing in 2028
Administrator Jared Isaacman said that the space agency was exploring ways to keep Artemis III on target without compromising safety.