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6 Tips To Help Secure Your Android Device Data


6 Tips to Help Secure Your Android Device Data


6 Tips to Help Secure Your Android Device Data

This story is part of War in Ukraine, CNET's coverage of events there and of the wider effects on the world.

It's been over a month since Russia invaded Ukraine, and worries about cybersecurity continue to grow. Even before the invasion, US officials blamed Russia for cyberattacks against some Ukrainian websites, including Ukraine's Ministry of Defense and two banks.

While the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said there are no specific or credible cyberthreats against the US, the agency also said potential cyberattacks are more likely to target infrastructure. CISA is recommending everyone be prepared just in case. And securing your mobile device is a good place to start when building a line of cyberdefense. Here are six steps Android users can take to protect their phone data. 

Make sure your OS is up to date

Updating your operating system can patch known security vulnerabilities and fix bugs. Not updating to the latest version leaves you and your device open to flaws that could expose personal data to malicious actors. Some people might put off updating their OS so they don't have to deal with early bugs in the system, but waiting too long can harm your system. Here's what to know about the latest Android OS, Android 12

Turn on two-factor authentication

Two-factor authentication , or 2FA, adds a second layer of security to your Android account in case your password gets stolen. With 2FA, once you enter your password, a second message is sent to another device asking to verify that you are trying to login. It adds a bit more time to your login process, but the extra layer of security is well worth it. Here's how to turn on 2FA.

Use a password manager

If you're having trouble memorizing multiple passwords and coming up with unique passwords for every account, a password manager can help. These utilities can work hand-in-hand with 2FA and can securely store passwords and automatically fill login pages. They can also protect you against phishing scams that direct you to enter your password into a fraudulent website. For more information, check out CNET's reviews of password managers Bitwarden, LastPass and 1Password

Encrypt your Android

Starting in 2015, Google required manufacturers to make Android devices encryptable out of the box. Once your device is encrypted, all data stored on the device is locked behind a PIN code, fingerprint, pattern or password known by the owner. Without that key, not even Google can unlock your device. Here you can find out how to encrypt your phone.

Remove your data from Google

Android is a Google product, so unencrypted device data could be stored on a Google server. You can check with Google to see what data of yours it has, and you can ask Google to delete that data. The process can take time, but it's worth the effort -- your data can't be stolen if it's not in the system to begin with. Here's where you can find how to request Google to delete your information, but note that Google does not guarantee that it will complete the request.

When all else fails, delete your phone

If you lose your phone or it's stolen, you can remotely wipe your phone. Our Android settings guide has a walkthrough in case you need to take this step. This gets rid of all data from your phone so if you have anything on it you want to keep, you should get in the habit of backing your phone up on a separate device. 

For more information on securing your phone, check out these eight apps to protect your phone's privacy, what information digital security experts wish you knew and how to stop your phone from tracking you.


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We Really Need To Stop Using These 8 Health Buzzwords


We Really Need to Stop Using These 8 Health Buzzwords


We Really Need to Stop Using These 8 Health Buzzwords

Superfood. Detox. All-natural. These are some of the health buzzwords you come across on social media or while chatting with friends. They might seem like a harmless quirk of our vernacular, but the truth is they can be misleading and even harmful.

Many of these terms are marketing tactics with no science to back up their claims. Research has proven how easily people believe they're eating healthier because they follow buzzwords on food packaging ("fat-free" and "all-natural," for example). The terminology makes you think you're eating something that's better or safer for you without any actual evidence. 

Those ultra-common health buzzwords are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many others that are frequently used or misused. Keep reading to learn which ones you should drop for good.

Read more: 10 Popular Fitness Myths Debunked

Clean eating

The term "clean eating" is often used in reference to a diet that has minimally processed foods and instead focuses on foods closest to their natural state. It sounds harmless, because aren't we constantly being told to eat more fruits and vegetables?

The problem with this term is that it places foods in "good" and "bad" categories (after all, the opposite of clean is dirty) and indicates that there is a right and wrong way to eat. It also disregards those who don't have access to fresh fruits and vegetables because of where they live and their income level. 

Not to mention the vague term is completely made up since there isn't an actual scientific definition for clean eating. It can also lead to an obsession with healthy eating and put vulnerable populations (such as young adults) at risk for disordered eating. So let's reserve the term clean eating to refer to foods that have been thoroughly washed and cleaned before consumption. 

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Getty Images

Superfoods

Growing up in a Latinx household, I was exposed to traditional foods that I didn't think much of until I was older. I later learned that some foods I was eating, such as quinoa and chia seeds, were suddenly being labeled "superfoods." Superfood is another term that has no real scientific basis, but is used to describe foods that are thought to have powerful healing properties, like preventing disease or aging.

You may have seen this term splashed across magazine covers, health segments on TV or in your social media timelines. While these foods may provide some health benefits linked to their nutritional content, there isn't enough research to back the claim that a single food can perform miracles like curing someone's illness. 

Calling something the next "superfood" has become a popular marketing gimmick in a wellness industry that knows how to target people to make a quick buck. A better option is to make sure your diet includes a wide array of nutritional foods instead of focusing on the latest fad ingredient. 

Detox and cleanse

People usually turn to detoxes and cleanses for a quick weight loss fix under the guise of flushing so-called "toxins" out of the body. These can come in the form of detox teas, meal replacement shakes, green juice fasting and other methods that require you to eliminate large food groups and consume very few calories. They may not use the word "diet," but that's exactly what they are, and not a healthy or effective one either.

There is no scientific evidence to prove that cleanses and detoxes work. Instead they're an unsustainable (and even dangerous) method to lose weight or "reset" your body. Isabel Vasquez, a licensed dietitian and nutritionist at Nutritiously Yours and Your Latina Nutritionist, says that most of these cleanses may make you feel good initially, but the feeling is short-lived. "These are not sustainable and when we consume excess amounts of certain vitamins, we just excrete them in our urine," she explains. 

Instead of going on an extreme cleanse or diet, Vasquez suggests hydrating adequately and adding fruits and vegetables into your diet for digestion and your overall health. 

Your body also doesn't need a detox, because your kidneys, liver and other organs help with cleansing on a regular basis. But if you think your organs aren't doing their cleansing duties correctly, it's best to see a doctor who can run tests and give you a proper diagnosis. 

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Getty Images

Processed foods

Processed foods are products that have been changed (e.g. washed, cut, milled, frozen) or infused with additives to preserve freshness and improve taste. These foods can include a range of items you'd find in your local supermarket, such as cereal, canned beans, milk, fresh fruits and vegetables, olive oil and your favorite cookies. 

The issue with the term "processed foods" is that it's generally used as an umbrella term implying everything you eat that's processed is bad for you. Most people, when they think of processed foods, think about fast foods that are higher in calories, fat, sugar and additives. 

While it's true that these foods are processed and should be consumed mindfully, some foods need to be processed to preserve their freshness, boost their nutritional value and make them easily accessible. Some processed foods, like frozen fruit or oatmeal, are perfectly safe and healthy to eat in abundance. Being processed isn't inherently bad or good. Therefore you can ease your fears about processed foods and instead enjoy them all in a well-balanced diet. 

Cheat day or cheat meal

The terms "cheat day" or "cheat meal" basically mean you're planning on breaking your diet by eating a highly caloric meal or meals that you normally wouldn't have. They sound like harmless terms, but they can ultimately affect your relationship with food. Gabriela Barreto, a registered sports dietitian, says, "This can set people up for a binge-restricted cycle where they restrict certain foods to only be eaten at a certain time and in a large amount."

Even more concerning is if an individual already has a history of food addiction since it can exacerbate those issues for them. Barreto adds, "This kind of restriction we know doesn't work and by setting unhealthy relationships with foods we are more likely to weight cycle when we can no longer uphold those restrictions."

Instead she recommends eating a balanced diet that includes foods that you enjoy as well as foods that promote health without restriction, learning to listen to your body's needs intuitively, and working on your relationship with food.

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Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

'Good' and 'bad' foods

Putting foods into categories such as "good" or "bad" further contributes to diet culture and causes people to tie the way they eat to their self worth. These terms are also interchangeably used to describe an individual's eating behavior as being bad or good based on what they ate. "Assigning moral value to food only creates more guilt and shame around certain food choices," says Miriam Fried, a NYC-based personal trainer and founder of MF Strong. She elaborates, "Guilt leads to restriction and restriction often leads to unhealthy behaviors around eating and a negative relationship with food."

Although foods are made up of different caloric content, nutritional and flavor profiles, the body uses it all for energy. Some foods do have more nutritional value than others, but it doesn't mean you have to restrict yourself to just those foods. "Can we acknowledge that a piece of broccoli might have more nutrients than a cookie without making the cookie "bad"? Food isn't good or bad, it simply is," Fried points out. The more you understand that all of these foods can fit into your diet, the easier it will be to stop labeling them as good or bad. 

All-natural

When the term "all-natural" is used, it suggests that the food you're eating has been minimally processed and is therefore safer. The truth is this word doesn't determine if a food is safer for us to eat (as we saw above, processing can be a good thing). In fact, the US Food and Drug Administration doesn't even regulate this term. 

To date, the organization hasn't established a formal definition for all-natural or natural, though the basic understanding is that it means that nothing artificial or synthetic has been added to a food that normally would not be expected to be in that food, such as dye. The other issue with this term is that it doesn't account for the complex food production and manufacturing process. Importantly, "natural" doesn't equal "organic," which is a term regulated by the US Department of Agriculture. Foods with the USDA organic label must meet strict requirements surrounding the use of antibiotics, hormones, fertilizers and pesticides during the production process; natural foods do not.

According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, natural products aren't automatically better or safer for you. In some cases, such as in medicine, it might cause greater risk or side effects to take a natural, unregulated product than a federally regulated medication. Therefore, take this buzzword with a grain of salt or get rid of it altogether.   

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Luis Alvarez/Getty Images

Chemical-free

"Chemical-free" is a buzzword that's commonly tied to the saying, "If you can't pronounce it, don't eat it." When the average person uses it regarding food (or other items), they're saying that all chemicals are synonymous with being toxic and unsafe. This is easily debunked because a basic science lesson will teach you that everything that exists around you, including the foods you eat are made up of chemicals. 

That doesn't negate the fact that there are toxic chemicals that should be avoided, or that you might want to steer clear from out of caution, a food sensitivity or just personal preference. If you are concerned about ingesting pesticides, for example, you can stick to certified organic produce., But it's impossible to completely avoid chemicals in any food. Blueberries, for example, are made up of chemicals known as anthocyanins, chlorogenic acid, pterostilbene and flavonids.

Without context, these chemicals look like something the average person should fear. The truth is marketing plays a big role in fear-mongering when it comes to our food and it's helpful to have reputable resources at our fingertips to debunk these myths. 

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.


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This Guy Sued A Spammer And Got $1,200 Without A Lawyer. You Can Fight Unwanted Calls And Texts, Too


This guy sued a spammer and got 1/2000 szcsm rendelet this guy sued a spammer and got 1540 this guy sued a spammer and got a davida this guy sued a spammer app this guy sued at fault this guy sued america this guy sued after chapter this guy sued for selling
This Guy Sued a Spammer and Got $1,200 Without a Lawyer. You Can Fight Unwanted Calls and Texts, Too


This Guy Sued a Spammer and Got $1,200 Without a Lawyer. You Can Fight Unwanted Calls and Texts, Too

David Weekly was fed up with spam calls. So he did something about it.

Telemarketing calls and texts were flooding his inbox every day, making it difficult to discern between genuine calls and telemarketing ads. After a text message hit his phone in June, he decided enough was enough. He sued the spammer, and it paid off: He ended up with a $1,200 check.

"Like every other human being on the planet with a cellphone, I get a lot of spam phone calls and text messages -- I find it kind of annoying," Weekly, a technology executive and California resident, told CNET.

"I've occasionally gone after spammers by reporting them to the shortlink services they use or the web or DNS host of the spamming domain," Weekly said. But this is the first time he sued a spammer in small claims court. And it was the first time he received a check from a spammer.

Though representing yourself in court isn't the easiest process, Weekly's story shows people aren't helpless. In fact, Weekly says his experience -- which went viral on Twitter after he shared it -- has inspired many others to take action against spammers, now knowing that the law gives you the right to sue them.

How one man sued a spam caller and won

Weekly received a text message from a company in June trying to sell him workers' compensation insurance. The company didn't conceal its identity. The text gave the name of the company, a website and an email address for the person running the business. 

A quick search online confirmed the company operated out of California. Though Weekly isn't a lawyer, he knew about the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and saw this as a clear violation of the law.

The TCPA is a federal law that, among other things, prohibits unsolicited calls made to cellphones using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice (aka a robocall). Text messages are considered calls under the TCPA, according to Anne Mitchell, attorney and CEO of the Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy. 

If a business violates the TCPA, it's obligated to pay $500 per violation or $1,500 each time it "willfully and knowingly" violates this law. If you're on the National Do Not Call Registry, the right to sue includes live telemarketing calls, which refer to spam phone calls involving a live person and not an automated system, according to Margot Saunders, general counsel at the National Consumer Law Center. 

Weekly researched the law and sent the company a demand letter stating how much they owed him and why. (Sending a demand letter prior to suing in small claims court is a requirement in California.) After 10 days passed without a reply, Weekly sued. 

"It was only about a day or two after I served them with the suit that I got a phone call and a text message saying, 'Hi, there. Looks like you've sued me. Can we talk?'" Weekly said. "Those weren't the exact words, but that was sort of the gist. He was apologetic about having done it, and he recognized that he had done the wrong thing. He asked if I could take it down a notch, and I said, 'Well, how about just a $1,200 check and we can call this thing done?'

"He agreed, and a week later, that $1,200 check showed up," Weekly said. "That was cool and surreal: I'm holding a check that somebody who spammed me sent as an apology. That's pretty neat."

In all, it took Weekly four hours to complete this entire process, and he didn't contact a lawyer or have to show up to court. He subsequently posted his story on Twitter, explaining how he sued the spammer in the thread.

Spam calls are a big nuisance, sure, but what drove Weekly to take legal action wasn't rooted in any deep animosity toward the spam callers.

"These people aren't out there to spam maliciously," Weekly said. "They spam because they did some economic calculus that says it's economically advantageous for them to do so. If even a small percentage of people who are spammed find ways to push back, you can quickly, dramatically change the calculus around whether spamming makes good economic sense."

Though not all TCPA violations are straightforward -- and it's not always easy to identify a spammer in the first place -- Weekly's story shows people aren't defenseless against spam calls. And suing is only one tool in your arsenal. Here's what you can do about spam calls and messages. 

Hands holding phones

The TCPA gives folks with the right to sue spammers.

PM Images/Getty Images

What can you do about spam calls and messages?

First, you should understand the difference between a spam call and a scam call.

Scam calls are those that are clearly illegal, designed to steal money from people. Scam calls might include people pretending to be a legitimate business (including Apple and Amazon), attempting to defraud an individual. They also include those you might receive about "your car's extended warranty" or your Social Security benefits. 

Spam calls, on the other hand, are calls that aren't necessarily trying to steal your money or information. These include legitimate telemarketing calls that you haven't consented to. 

Robocalls can be legitimate telemarketing, but they're also a large source of scams in the US. As many as 68 million Americans have reported losing money to phone scams, losing nearly $40 billion collectively within the last year, according to Truecaller's 2022 US Spam and Scam Report. Truecaller, one of the leading platforms for blocking unwanted communication, conducts the yearly review with Harris Poll. 

While you can also sue scam callers under the TCPA, it's much harder to find scammers. Often, they're overseas and use temporary numbers, making them almost impossible to find contact information for. But with legitimate businesses, you've got more of a shot of suing them and successfully collecting the damages you're owed.

You could take spammers to court, though that takes time and effort. If you don't want to go to those lengths and simply want to cut down on the number of unsolicited calls and texts you receive, there are some simpler steps you can take. 

Report it to your carrier

You can report spam calls and messages to your carrier by texting 7726 -- easy to remember, because it spells "SPAM." 

If you received a spam text message, you can forward, or copy and paste, the message to your carrier. (When doing this, take care not to open links that were sent to you.) If it's a call, you can send the caller's number to your carrier. 

Some carriers, like AT&T, may also provide online forms that allow you to file a spam complaint with more detail. Many popular US carriers also have apps that enable additional call-blocking features that aren't already included in your phone subscription. These apps, like T-Mobile's ScamShield, may include a specialized area where you can report individual unwanted communications. Verizon's app is called Call Filter and AT&T's app is called ActiveArmor. 

Sign up for the Do Not Call Registry

Managed by the Federal Trade Commission, the National Do Not Call Registry is a list of phone numbers of individuals who have requested that telemarketers do not contact them. Companies are required to check the Do Not Call Registry before making telemarketing calls, and calling someone on the list without prior consent is prohibited.

You can sign up for the Do Not Call Registry for free in just a couple of minutes. Though it won't stop all telemarketing calls from reaching you, stopping any amount of calls is helpful. Some organizations, such as political organizations, charities and telephone surveyors, may still call you even if you're on the list.

The Registry includes a complaint form where you can report spammers. The FTC's website also includes a form to report fraud.

Read moreThe FCC Wants Scammers to Stop Calling You

Implement tips from the FCC

The Federal Communications Commission is the federal agency responsible for implementing and enforcing US communications law and regulations. As such, in recent years, illegal calls have become a top consumer protection priority for the agency. Here's a list of easy tips from the FCC to help reduce unwanted communications, and protect yourself against conventional scam attempts:

  • Don't answer calls from blocked, unidentifiable or unknown numbers. Hang up immediately if you answer one of these calls.
  • Don't respond to questions from or interact with unwanted communications. Never respond to a question that can be easily answered with "yes."
  • Never give out personal information, including your Social Security number, passwords or other identifying information. Use caution if you are being pressured for information immediately.
  • If you get an inquiry call from someone who says they represent a company or government agency, such as the IRS, hang up immediately and call the entity from an official source (including your account statement or the entity's website).

Remember: The more you interact with spam or scam callers, the more likely they are to target you further. 

The FCC's website includes a page where you can report spam communications.

Sue the spam caller or messenger 

Suing is certainly an option if a spammer has violated the TCPA, but successfully doing so will require a bit more work -- and it's somewhat complex, based on the lawyers we spoke with.

Since the Do Not Call Registry expands your right to sue to telemarketing calls of any kind (regardless of what dialing system was used or whether it's live or a robocall), enrolling is a good first step before you file suit. If you're on the Do Not Call Registry and receive more than one telemarketing call from the same caller, you have the right to sue, and you can get $500 per call or text, according to Saunders.

Mitchell argues that receiving a telemarketing call to a number that's on the Do Not Call Registry may qualify as a "willful or knowing" violation of the TCPA, since companies are required to check the Registry before making a telemarketing call. A willful and knowing violation would qualify you for $1,500 per violation.

Some states require you to send a demand letter before suing, but even if it isn't required, Mitchell says it's advantageous to send one first. That's because it's often less costly for companies to settle with you -- they can avoid court and attorney's fees -- than it would be to appear in court. Settling can also save you money in court fees and serving the defendant with the complaint. 

"It's such small potatoes for these companies," Mitchell said. "Is it going to be worth the spammer paying the court and legal fees rather than just settling with you? It never is worth it for them. And they know what they're gonna lose."

If the spammer doesn't respond to your demand letter, then you can move forward with suing in your local small claims court as a TCPA violation.

Shaking hands in front of scales

You can settle with TCPA violators before taking them to court.

Prasit photo/Getty Images

Here's what you need to know to sue a spam caller

What is small claims court?

Small claims courts are local (e.g., county, municipal) courts that manage cases with a small amount of damages, typically between $5,000 to $10,000, though some states have much lower caps. This is the easiest place to file a TCPA violation, as long as the amount of damages you're claiming doesn't exceed the court's limit. Small claims court also tends to be a cheaper and faster process. Nolo, which is one of the largest online libraries of DIY legal guides, has information on small claims courts by state. 

How do I create and send a demand letter? 

You may be required to send a demand letter before suing in small claims court, depending on where you live, so you'll want to check in with the requirements of your state. 

For example, California has a self-help guide to writing a demand letter; your state may have one too, or maybe even a template to follow. It's best to follow the instructions and language of your particular court, but Nolo has general guidelines for writing a demand letter.

How do I file a claim?

This is the first step in initiating a lawsuit. For small claims court, the initial form is typically called a "statement of claim," but depending on the court, it may simply be called a "complaint." Many court websites will walk you through the process, though some are more user-friendly than others (California and Massachusetts have particularly good websites). The form and process for filing a claim vary by court, so be sure to research your particular court. An internet search with your state or county and "small claims court" should set you in the right direction. In any case, your claim will need to outline how much and why the defendants owe you.

What is 'serving the defendant'?

Adequately giving the defendant notice that you're suing them is an essential component of any lawsuit. This is called "service of process." States differ on what constitutes adequate service. For example, a majority of states (but not all) allow you to send a defendant the lawsuit through certified mail with a return receipt requested. You'll want to check in with the requirements of your state, but getting a private company to serve the defendant is usually the easiest way to go, though it'll cost you a bit more money than doing it yourself.

The bottom line on unwanted calls and messages

At best, unwanted communications are annoying. At worst, they're a large source of scams in the US that reap billions of dollars from American consumers. But whatever the form and content of these unwanted communications, you aren't powerless against the nuisance.

It may take some time and effort, but there are things you can do to push back, including taking legal action against spam or scam communications. As Weekly said, the more people push back, the more the economic calculus changes for spammers, making it riskier and costlier to spam. 


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When Local Newspapers Fold, Polarization Rises. Here's What You Can Do


When Local Newspapers Fold, Polarization Rises. Here's What You Can Do


When Local Newspapers Fold, Polarization Rises. Here's What You Can Do

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, rising energy costs and our ongoing struggles with the coronavirus pandemic take up a lot of our attention these days. But there's more going on a lot closer to home -- you just might not know it, because your local newspaper is gone.

More than a quarter of hometown newspapers have disappeared in the last century, leaving about 70 million Americans with little or no way to stay informed about their city and county governments, schools or businesses. As the country heads toward the 2022 midterm elections, Americans are increasingly turning to friends and social media to stay informed -- which isn't always trustworthy, as we learned during the 2016 election when around 44% of Americans were exposed to disinformation and misinformation through untrustworthy websites. 

"The state of local news in America is dire," said Tim Franklin, senior associate dean of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism and head of the Medill Local News Initiative.

Local journalism isn't just a nice idea. Community newspapers report some of the most important stories in our country. That includes the Boston Globe's 2002 series exposing the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston's sex abuse of minors, Sara Ganim and The Patriot-News' coverage revealing Penn State sex abuse scandal involving Jerry Sandusky and the Charleston Gazette-Mail's 2017 expose on opioids flooding into West Virginia. 

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This is part of Citizen Now, a package that aims to empower readers with information about our changing world. 

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But for every Pulitzer Prize-winning local journalism story, there are countless more that have  served as chroniclers of their communities and watchdogs of the people in power. And when they aren't there, research from the Brookings Institute found there's generally more government waste and fraud. 

"When you have less local news, there's various effects, some of which you'd find predictable: lower voting turnout, more corruption, more waste," said Steven Walden, president and co-founder of Report For America, a nonprofit that funds young reporters to work in understaffed newsrooms throughout the US. "There's also evidence that you have more polarization and misinformation."

The journalism industry has been struggling to adapt. Advertising, once a vital part of the newspaper world, has shifted to online. Meanwhile, profit-hungry newspaper owners have chosen to lay off staff and reduce the quality of their products.

Nonprofit organizations have stepped up to support newsrooms in several ways, but ultimately, they live or die by their communities. Many local papers and radio stations depend on individual donations to fund reporting that would never be done by larger publications, covering civic meetings and investigating local issues that lead to exposƩs which fix injustices. Even simply signing up for and reading local news draws people closer to issues that affect them -- and reinforces what publications do.

"Most of these stories weren't big but they mattered immensely to the residents in a community larger outlets didn't regularly cover," said Greg Yee, now a reporter at the Los Angeles Times, speaking about his year writing for the Farmington Daily Times in Farmington, New Mexico. (Full disclosure: Yee is a former colleague of this article's author.) Stories that stick out from that time include a mobile home park cut off from natural gas in winter and a new gas station opening in a Navajo Nation community, the only fuel access in 30 miles, that significantly improved locals' quality of life. 

"A good local news organization is a problem solver: it identifies problems and helps a community come together to solve it," said Penelope Abernathy, visiting professor at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, who heads a site dedicated to mapping news deserts, areas with one or zero local papers. "And a good news organization shows you how you are related to people you may not know you're related to in another part of the county, region or state."

Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams speaks in front of a circle of reporters, some standing with big cameras and others crouching while recording with smartphones..
The Washington Post / Getty Images

Long, withering decline

Journalism jobs have been shrinking for decades, driven by declining newspaper circulation and the rise in digital advertising. The news industry's advertising and subscription businesses have roughly halved over the past decade. Much of that money's shifted to Google, Facebook and Amazon, which together now hold 64% of the US online advertising market.

For newspapers, that shift in spending is catastrophic. In the decade after the great recession in 2009, the Pew Research Center found newspaper newsroom employment in the US had dropped by more than half, to about 35,000 workers. 

Ironically, the news industry has more readers than ever before – upwards of 10 times as many, according to Danielle Coffey, vice president and general council of the News Media Alliance. 

"We don't have a broken product. It's being consumed at exponential rates," she said. "The source of the problem is the revenue problem."

It wasn't always this way. 

The founding fathers believed so strongly in newspapers as a public good that they set up government subsidies for postal rates, reducing the cost of distributing the news – which at the time, was delivered on horseback.

In the 1960s and '70s, though, publicly traded paper owners began fixating on profits. To impress shareholders, news organizations conglomerated into big chains that gobbled up local papers into regional networks, said Amanda Lotz, professor of the Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University.

"The financialization pressure really moves [newspapers] away from the balance between a commercial and public service enterprise of providing news to a community," Lotz said. 

Rounds of acquisitions resulted in the gutting of editorial budgets and staff. With fewer reporters, newspapers started relying on national stories published by wire services, a trend that created "ghost papers" that had little or no local content. Meanwhile, the internet became an easy substitution for things online that had until then been exclusive to the paper, like weather, sports scores, classifieds and even news.

Venture capitalists and other financial firms began buying up newspapers in the 1980s but rapidly accelerated in the last two decades, growing to own over 23% of US newsrooms today while wringing out profits with more layoffs.

"Those losses put more strain on already stretched newsrooms and the publications ended up churning through staff," said Yee, who worked for four years at a pair of newspapers owned by hedge fund Alden Global Capital. "All of that translates into worse, inconsistent coverage of the communities they're trying to serve."

As a result, from 2004 until the start of the pandemic in 2020, the US lost a quarter (around 2100) of its newspapers, according to a report from the University of North Carolina's Hussman School of Journalism and Media. By the end of last year, another hundred were gone, Poynter reported, expanding news deserts that are mostly located in financially-impacted rural areas in the country's interior.

Some papers have tried to rely more heavily on subscriptions, while transitioning to mainly digital publishing. Some success stories include the Chattanooga Times Free Press, which has been operating since 1869. Last September, it switched to a daily digital edition and a single print edition on Sunday from a daily print edition. The publication spent $6.1 million to give all its monthly subscribers iPads and train them one-on-one how to use them to access their daily paper, and it's retained subscribers through the transition. 

"There are some real success stories in this transition. If you can lower your paper costs and your distribution costs and if you can attract enough digital subscribers, you can support a local newsroom on that. But many local news organizations are still getting a significant chunk of their revenue from print advertising," Medill's Franklin said.

Senator Amy Klobuchar stands at a Senate podium to speak, with several men and women behind her.
Bloomberg / Getty News

Legislative fix, maybe

One way the news industry could regain revenue and profit is to seek compensation from big tech platforms. After all, advocates say, Facebook, Google, Twitter make money selling ads next to links, videos and photos published and shared freely to their networks. 

Legislators in Australia were the first to pass a law in February 2021 requiring Google and Facebook to negotiate with publishers for compensation to use their work, while France followed with its own legislation shortly thereafter. The latter locked horns with Google before finally securing legal assurance that the search giant would pay local media outlets when they appear in search results. Critics like the Electronic Frontier Foundation lament that the Australian and French laws ensured deals for big media publishers at the expense of smaller ones, but that hasn't stopped  Canada and the UK from gearing up to pass their own versions. 

A version of that idea in the US, called the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, was proposed in March, 2021 by Senators Amy Klobuchar, Rand Paul, Cory Booker, and Lindsey Graham -- a rare bipartisan effort. The bill would allow news organizations to collectively bargain with tech companies for compensation, but hasn't moved out of committee yet.

Another idea to fund journalism Is the Local Journalism Sustainability Act introduced a year ago in the House by Representatives Ann Kirkpatrick and Dan Newhouse. That bill, if it were to become law, would give newsrooms around $50,000 annually in tax breaks to hire reporters. Small businesses, meanwhile, would receive $5,000 for the first year to advertise in local papers, and Americans would get a $250 stipend to pay for news subscriptions. It's unlikely to pass, though, in part because of partisan bickering over other spending plans on Capitol Hill.

"We need to make sure these publications can sustain themselves through this crisis and beyond, and I believe the credits in this bill make significant progress in providing a pathway to that sustainability," Rep. Kirkpatrick said when announcing the bill. 

Nonprofit newsrooms 

Some news organizations are finding funding beyond ads and subscriptions. Nonprofit foundations and philanthropic organizations are funneling grants and other aid money to newsrooms, including a new wave of nonprofit publications, like ProPublica, which run mostly on foundation and individual donations.

The American Journalism Project is a self-described venture philanthropy firm that to date has raised $90 million to back 32 local nonprofit newsrooms. Founded in 2019, it's also helped launch four more, taking the startup incubation model and applying it to digital newsrooms.

The organization focuses on both funding newsrooms and guiding them toward self-sustainability by diversifying their revenue streams, said Sarabeth Berman, CEO of the American Journalism Project. Newsrooms they've helped grow by around 67% in their first year and are projected to double their revenue in three years. 

"Will local news only be nonprofit? No. Is nonprofit news vital for the future of an informed citizenry? We think so," Berman said.

Report For America, founded in 2017, describes itself as a service organization, which helps pair young reporters fresh out of college with legacy newsrooms. The organization financially supports the reporter by paying half their salary (up to $25,000) the first year, then a third (up to $20,000) the following year. After that, it's up to the publication to decide whether to hire them permanently. 

"If you're not in New York or Boston or Washington, some of these news organizations have trouble getting people to go out to smaller towns," said Report For America's Waldman. "We have a very significant recruiting operation and are able to create a sort of self-selected group of people who are really passionate about local."

Report For America has grown its graduating class to 130 reporters this year, up from its first class of 13 in 2018 -- to date, over 560 reporters have gone through the program and partnered with local newsrooms. They include Laura Roche of the Charlotte News & Observer writing about the fraught debate over museums returning the unethically sourced remains of Black people, Sierra Clark of the Traverse City Record-Eagle writing about Melissa Isaac and many others in her Anishinaabek Neighbors series, and Brandon Drenon of the Indianapolis Star writing about the NAACP and others criticizing Indiana schools for failing Black students.

Report for America also connects newsrooms with donors in their area in an effort to get the community more involved in funding its local news again.

"Our goal is to actually help change the local business models in a way that they can sustain that," Waldman said.

The nonprofit Knight Foundation pledged to give $300 million to news organizations in 2019, some of which will go to both the American Journalism Project and Report For America, among other nonprofits that in turn support local newsrooms -- efforts that can be seen city by city on this interactive map. The flow of financial support is important for local newsrooms that operate on nonprofit and for-profit models, which are both valuable to their communities, said Jim Brady, vice president of the Knight Foundation's journalism program.

"Nonprofits tend to be more investigative or enterprise in nature, and the for-profits tend to provide more information on how consumers can live their daily lives. So we think both must be part of the answer to how local news can thrive," Brady said. 

A map showing all the counties of the US considered news deserts with one or zero local newspapers. While only a couple dozen don't have any, half the counties (1,540) only have one newspaper.

An infographic from the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media's project website, The Expanding News Desert, headed by Penelope Abernathy.

UNC Hussman

What to do if you don't have local journalism

News experts have advice for what to do if you live in a news desert, with little or no coverage. First on the list: Stop thinking that social media posts are an informative replacement for reporting. Social media can help people know what's going on, but it's rife with bias and misinformation. 

"There's a proliferation of misinformation and disinformation that goes unchecked because there's no local journalist checking on the facts. [Social media is] a place where unvetted gossip can get spread," Franklin said.

People need to learn to spot misinformation that's spread on social media by publications that look like they're trustworthy but aren't. Both the World Health Organization and the Poynter Institute have their own free online courses to learn how to fact-check posts yourself -- not just to spot fake news, but also to understand the agenda behind why they're spreading in the first place.

In the voids left by local papers, citizen journalists and bloggers have stepped up to provide their communities with informative coverage, but they lack the oversight and vetting a newsroom provides. For lack of better options, a citizen reporter could start a site on Substack and write about local events, Franklin suggested. 

The best thing to do is to reach out to regional papers the next town over and request coverage. You can find your nearest local or regional paper on Newspapers.com or  NewspaperMap.com. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has a station finder site too, and if you're a fan of National Public Radio, you can sign up to become a member of your local station in order to help support it. It isn't a perfect solution for an existing newsroom to stretch to cover another area, but is far better than starting a new local publication from scratch. 

But if your community decides to launch a new publication, organizing it as a nonprofit newsroom is a successful way to go. They rely on donations -- foundation support and individual giving account for a combined 83% of nonprofit revenue, according to the Institute of Nonprofit Newsrooms' 2021 Index. And that model is working: 83 of the over 400 nonprofit newsrooms affiliated with INN are less than five years old.

Then there's nonprofit newsroom Berkeleyside, which hosted the so-called first 'direct public offering' where it solicited a combined $1 million in funding from 355 of its readers (an average of $2,816 per person) in 2018 to get started. These are technically securities, but sold directly to its readers, and the publication continues to publish today. It's one of many ways newsrooms are innovating new ownership structures to stay solvent.

"We need to get more support from communities, from local community foundations, from national media foundations and from high net-worth individuals to help make local news sustainable in all areas of the country," Brady said.

Correction, June 28: The original version of this story incorrectly stated how many reporters were in Report For America's first graduating class. Its first graduating class of reporters was in 2018 and had 13 members.


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ExpressVPN Is A Case Study In Why VPN Reviews Require More Legwork


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ExpressVPN Is a Case Study in Why VPN Reviews Require More Legwork


ExpressVPN Is a Case Study in Why VPN Reviews Require More Legwork

Two members of Congress have called on the Federal Trade Commission to tackle a digital threat that privacy watchdogs have been concerned about for years: Virtual private network companies continue to profit from rising surveillance fears by advertising largely unverifiable promises not to log users' online activity.

In their July letter, Democrats Rep. Anna Eshoo, of California, and Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden address what may finally be a tipping point in the fight for VPN transparency -- more abortion-seekers are now turning to VPNs for protection while risking imprisonment in pursuit of life-saving health care. The letter's concerns about VPNs include the following, some of which are also issues ExpressVPN has publicly dealt with, and all of which are issues affecting how VPNs are reviewed. 

First, ethically dubious VPN companies armed with outsized advertising budgets often fund glowing faux-reviews disguised as unbiased consumer advice. Even among editorially independent reviewers, though, properly testing a VPN already means grappling with the complexities of not just encryption tech but the industry's overall resistance to investigation. This muddies the waters for consumers and may potentially conflict with US advertising regulations. 

Second, VPN tech and the VPN industry are both opaque. VPN companies serve customers in countries with anti-VPN laws, so sometimes they have servers discreetly placed in those countries. VPN owners often hide their true identities with legal sleight-of-hand in off-shore company shell games. These are two common industry practices. In the best cases, these practices may protect a good VPN from a government takedown. In the worst cases, these practices can allow a VPN to become a business front for government surveillance (a honeypot). Either way, these practices are profitable and make it impossible to fully vet a VPN independently.

These issues are important because a low-quality VPN review from a popular website could land a trusting reader in jail or worse. 

Read more: With Roe v. Wade Overturned, Your Abortion Searches Could Be Used to Prosecute You

Since my last review, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden issued a tweet telling users to abandon ExpressVPN because ExpressVPN CIO Daniel Gericke was cooperating with the FBI in an unrelated DOJ investigation. Immediately following the DOJ news, a London-based parent company that used to sell ad tech (and is backed by a billionaire previously jailed for insider trading) bought ExpressVPN for $936 million. Many reviewers warned users away from ExpressVPN. I almost did too. But instead, I spent several months methodically investigating the service and its parent company. I still recommend it to privacy-critical users. But that isn't the point of this commentary. 

The point of this commentary is that Congress is calling for investigation into the VPN industry and -- given the above paragraphs' content -- I am also calling for VPN reviewers to do better at investigating the VPNs they review. ExpressVPN's story is a case study on how reviewers like me can do this better. 

Read more: How We Test VPNs

Kape's evolving business model

When ExpressVPN first announced that it was being bought by London-based Kape, our biggest concern was that the VPN would be forced to share customer registration data with Kape -- outside of the VPN's privacy-protective British Virgin Islands jurisdiction -- as other Kape subsidiaries' policies allow. I've repeatedly reached out to Kape for comment without response, but there are still a few ways we can define the relative range of risk Kape poses to ExpressVPN's privacy integrity. 

First, ExpressVPN's own repeated public assertions of continued operational independence from Kape are somewhat self-affirming; they indicate Kape isn't making moves to silence its new VPN. ExpressVPN's statements also gain more weight as it raises the stakes for its own -- and Kape's -- public image by being a loud voice in the i2Coalition's continued calls for transparency in the VPN industry.  

Kape's revenue incentives have shifted as well -- from ad-tech dollars based on its previous CrossRider product, to a booming privacy market that Kape expects to grow 17% a year. That shift has paid off for Kape with an 89% revenue spike from $122 million in 2020 to $231 million in 2021. Within that increase, privacy product revenue jumped 30% and accounted for $117 million -- about half of overall revenue. Security-related revenue rose by 18% when Kape-owned Intego antivirus revenues surged 20%. And Kape's digital content profits -- which came entirely from the acquisition of Webselenese in March 2021 -- reached $88 million by year's end, representing 53% year-over-year growth for Webselenese. 

Read more: What is Kape Technologies? What you need to know about the parent company of CyberGhost VPN

"100% of Kape's revenue comes from subscription services or online content publishing; 0% of revenue comes from ad serving. Digital privacy and security accounted for 73.5% and 26.5% of its FY2020 revenue respectively. Since 2016, Kape has not earned a single dollar of revenue from ad-tech or any other aspect of the former Crossrider platform," Kape said in a September 2021 release. 

While the release isn't enough to hang a hat on, its sentiment was echoed in March when Kape CEO Ido Erlichman filed the company's 2021 wrap-up, touting 20% organic customer growth and a VPN-driven 260% increase in paying subscribers, for a total of 6.5 million subscribers. 

Kape, Erlichman said, is "one of the sole players wholly focused on digital privacy, and without any monetisation from any customer data."

Kape projects revenues will hit $610 million to $624 million at the end of 2022 -- more than double last year's revenue. 


Kape's year-end investor presentation from March 2022 details the company's revenue sources, including areas of anticipated growth in the privacy and security sectors.

Kape Technologies

There aren't any former Crossrider execs left in Kape's C-suite to hear the good news but there are still some familiar faces, including Teddy Sagi. The billionaire, who was convicted of insider trading in 1994, held a 54.3% controlling share in Kape as of its January holdings statement, a slight uptick from December -- when he put $60 million worth of loans on the table for Kape. That's down from his 60.5% holding before ExpressVPN was bought. That $60 million might hold a lot of sway, but it's not enough to keep Kape on Sagi's leash now that Kape's got a boosted debt facility of $290 million from the Bank of Ireland, Barclays, Citibank and others. 

ExpressVPN co-founders Peter Burchhardt and Dan Pomerantz got $237 million worth of shares in the $936 million purchase, landing them a collective 13.6% share of Kape. Both are staying on with Kape, managing ExpressVPN's operations. Burchhardt also got the right to appoint a non-voting board member for the foreseeable future -- or so long as ExpressVPN accounts for at least 5% of Kape's earnings. 

With an average growth rate of 35.1% over the past four years, ExpressVPN is unlikely to fall short. In 2020, it pulled down $279.4 million in revenue -- a 37% jump from 2019. Along with a slate of hardware partnerships, the company brought 290 staffers into the Kape fold, 48% of whom are the R&D engineers Kape said it needs. About $30 million worth of "synergy" cuts are coming as backroom ExpressVPN staff get folded into Kape's. Most crucially, though, are the 3 million subscribers Kape got with the ExpressVPN purchase, bringing Kape's retention rate to 81%. 

That 81% is the key number here. Kape says 92% of its revenue is recurrent. With Kape no longer relying on ad tech dollars, the tent-post revenue strategy is cross-product subscriptions targeting current users, 30% of which are already in their third year of using a Kape product. 

Good press is hard to find, but easy to buy  

How is Kape going to target those customers for retention? Through a journalistic conflict of interest.  

As noted above, Kape also now owns Webselenese, a platform for two no-longer-independent VPN review sites, vpnMentor.com and Wizcase.com. Kape bought the platform for $155.1 million per its full-year filing in March 2021. Webselenese's "integration" grew Kape's audience size by 62% with 105 million readers.

"Webselenese's mission is to provide honest and unbiased information via its well-regarded websites," Kape said in its March buying statement. "Its team of researchers extensively research and test every product before reviewing and recommending it, in doing this, Webselenese only recommends products and services that its writers would use themselves."

Sudden changes to VPN rankings on vpnMentor.com and Wizcase.com suggest otherwise. As noted by more reviewers that I can link to, both sites dropped NordVPN and Surfshark from their top-three picks following the Kape buyout, replacing them with Kape-owned Cyberghost and Private Internet Access. 

Read more: Why you should be skeptical about a VPN's no-logs claims

To that end, it certainly appears that Kape is following in the footsteps of other digital giants by self-dealing -- guiding otherwise unaware readers to its own in-house products and services. And it's paying off: In a July 2021 trading update, Kape said buying Webselenese led to "reduction in average customer acquisition cost." By March 2022, Webselenese's revenue was up 53%. And Kape's digital content profits accounted for the largest chunk of Kape revenue. 

That's the irony of Kape's evolving business model: Unlike the CrossRider days, the monetization of data now appears to be more of a liability than an asset. If you look at the transparency in ExpressVPN's audited tech, it's easy to see the most obvious incentive Kape would have to preserve the integrity of its flagship VPN: Any per-person data set the VPN would be able to gather on Kape's behalf would be embarrassingly incomplete compared with the finely polished and hypertargeted per-person data sets offered in a bullish market of invasive data brokers. Likewise, selling that customer data would expose Kape's highest-performing new VPN (its entire portfolio, really) to dangerous market competition, destabilizing Kape's overall subscriber retention rate while the company still carries a truckload of debt.

After all, why risk the reputation of your crown jewel privacy product when it's far more profitable to own an advertising machine that poses as an independent consumer technology review site? 

Read more:  VPN FAQ: What you need to know about the basics of virtual private networks

Who reviews the reviewers? 

While prudent reviewers who waved readers off ExpressVPN in the past few months no doubt intended to offer "better safe than sorry" counsel, there's a risk of creating the opposite effect if you issue uncritical calls to abandon ship based on uncertain new ownership or yet-unseen US government VPN interference. Just as dangerous are uncritical calls to stay the course, even as red flags begin appearing. Whether panning or praising ExpressVPN, neither of those uncritical calls take seriously the privacy needs of a growing number of vulnerable people who are new to privacy tools. 

VPN users who need safety from local-level law enforcement and ISP data collection aren't limited to exiled ex-spies, international criminals or UAE-surveilled human rights activists. They're everyday users who walk among us, and we have to stop dismissing their privacy needs as though they are the demands of paranoid outliers. Period.

Read more: Casual vs. Critical: When Your VPN Is a Matter of Life or Death, Here's How to Pick One

Not every surveillance state shares intelligence with the US, nor is there evidence that the US' surveillance apparatus -- vast though it may be -- is omniscient. ExpressVPN's hard-tested security, sprawling global infrastructure and flexible protocols allow its 3 million users to get potentially lifesaving information past law enforcement in countries where other VPNs falter. You can't account for every countries' broadband infrastructure quality, political restrictions, and local intelligence gathering capabilities -- but if any VPN is up and running in one of the world's tight spots, you can almost bet it's going to be ExpressVPN. 

Shooing these users away from what may be their only locally reliable VPN doesn't help privacy-critical VPN users whose own political concerns don't include being targeted by the US federal government -- such as everyday users in China and Russia. 

Nor does it help users in US states (where half of ExpressVPN users register) who lack federal protection while trying to survive dangerous state restrictions -- like abortion seekers in my own state of Kentucky. Add to that list all the gay kids on conservative college campus networks, abuse victims seeking escape, workers organizing labor unions and people working in one state's legal cannabis industry while living in another, anti-cannabis state. The list goes on. All of them are privacy-critical users, and I recommend they use ExpressVPN.

As always, that recommendation could change in an instant, in the event of a security breach, a privacy violation, an unexpected change in corporate policy or a savvy rival that ends up outgunning Express in terms of value or technology. But until it does, I'm offering my recommendation to use it, right along with a maxim that once hung on the wall of the City News Bureau of Chicago: 

If your mother says she loves you, go check it out.


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Curious About Cryptocurrency? 4 Ways To Start Investing Without Losing Your Shirt


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Curious About Cryptocurrency? 4 Ways to Start Investing Without Losing Your Shirt


Curious About Cryptocurrency? 4 Ways to Start Investing Without Losing Your Shirt

This story is part of So Money (subscribe here), an online community dedicated to financial empowerment and advice, led by CNET Editor at Large and So Money podcast host Farnoosh Torabi.

If I had a dollar for every email with the words "bitcoin" or "NFT" sent to me over the last few years, I'd be richer than some of the cryptocurrency millionaires making headlines.

OK, that may be an exaggeration. But I will say that in this sector it's exceedingly difficult to separate the fanfare from the fundamentals. As "experts" online tout crypto as the "investment of a lifetime," new data shows that a majority of young millionaires hold the bulk of their wealth in it. What's next? Kim Kardashian promoting an obscure cryptocurrency? Oh, wait...

Then there's the cryptocurrency market's recent steep sell-off, which points to its ongoing volatility and uncertainty about the future.

Through my efforts to learn more, I've found that investing experts and financial and tech journalists tend to agree that crypto has become part of our lives and is not going away. At the same time, there's a ton of investor misguidance. Too many people are making financial moves off of pure adrenaline and speculation. 

"Investing should be boring," says Georgia Lee Hussey, founder of Modernist Financial in Portland, Oregon. "If you're super duper excited about your portfolio, you're doing it wrong. Full stop." 

Spencer Jakab, a longtime Wall Street reporter and author of the new book The Revolution That Wasn't,isn't convinced we have to participate at all. "There's no rhyme or reason to it ... I'm not a fan," he says.

But we can't help but be curious. Many of you have told me you want to understand how to start trying out this market in a clearheaded, substantive way. Are there ways to test the crypto waters that are measured, emotionally intelligent and rooted in a strategy? I have some ideas below.

1. Explore career opportunities in the crypto market

One way to "invest" in the cryptocurrency market is by working for a crypto company. And now, there are more choices than ever. Crypto-related job opportunities surged 395% in the US between 2020 and 2021, according to LinkedIn. That's about four times more than job listings in the broader tech industry.

After spending most of her career working for conventional financial institutions like TIAA and BlackRock, corporate communications executive Lauren Post was tapped to join Bakkt, an Atlanta-based digital asset platform. Bakkt, which went public last fall, works with noncrypto companies that want to offer their clients cryptocurrency experiences. This includes working with credit card companies that offer cardholders crypto rewards, as well as teaming up with banks to help them integrate crypto trading with their platforms. 

"I was both intrigued and slightly apprehensive because I didn't know much about crypto," said Post in an email. "But, after having spent my career at traditional financial services companies, I realized that learning about crypto couldn't be much different from learning about target date funds, fixed income, credit default swaps or any other corner of finance. I also realized that the skills I have unpacking complex topics for general audiences can be applied to any industry and are timely for the crypto space right now."

2. Consider stablecoins

Not into pegging your cryptocurrency's success to a rally sparked by an Elon Musk tweet?

A new cryptocurrency genre called stablecoins bloomed in 2021, and unlike its peers, it promises less volatility and a more direct connection to traditional forms of value. Stablecoins are like "cryptocurrency with a twist," according to CNET's Julian Dossett. He explains: "Instead of being 'mined' by an open, distributed network of computers performing a combination of math and record-keeping, a stablecoin derives its price from the value of another asset. In short, a stablecoin is pegged to some other underlying asset." Many stablecoins are fixed to the US dollar. 

Think of a stablecoin as you would chips at a poker table, says Dossett. Instead of buying bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency directly with fiat money like the US dollar, you pay cash to buy stablecoins first -- they're available on most crypto exchanges including Coinbase -- and can then trade stablecoins for other forms of cryptocurrency.  

3. Engage with blockchain

A blockchain is a digital ledger that facilitates and records bitcoin transactions, but this technology can do more than power bitcoin. More broadly, due to its decentralization and cryptography, a blockchain can create much-needed efficiency and security to a number of markets from insurance to real estate, banking and legal. 

If you're interested in learning about the crypto market, consider looking into blockchain. It can be time well spent for someone seeking to enhance their business or examining how to leverage the technology where they work.

As an investor, I'm bullish on the concept of blockchain. To that end, I've chosen to contribute a tiny portion of my retirement savings in a fund called BLOK, which comprises established companies such as Square, Paypal and Nvidia that are investing in blockchain technology. 

4. Still want to buy crypto? Top off at 5% and diversify

Invest in cryptocurrency if you'd like to, but just because this is a new asset class doesn't mean abandoning tried-and-true methods of portfolio management. For starters, don't bet the farm. Hussey and many financial planners recommend limiting our holdings of so-called alternative and relatively high-risk assets like cryptocurrency, real estate and start-ups to no more than 5% of our total portfolio. "It is an asset class in its infancy," says Hussey. "We don't really understand the market because it's not built to be understandable." 

Finally, invest in a bunch of currencies. No matter how confident you may be in a particular digital coin, remember that diversification helps to mitigate losses over time. (You don't want to be like some of the early investors during the dawn of the internet who went all in on pets.com.)

"If you're really confident about some bet, if you have some reason to believe you've got an edge, you still don't bet all your money because there's no sure thing," says Jakab. "To invest exclusively in a single category is something not even the best gamblers do."


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