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Twitter could cut back on hate speech with suspension warnings, study says

Twitter could cut back on hate speech with suspension warnings, study says

Since Twitter launched in 2006, it's become a giant networking event, bar hangout, meme-generator and casual conversation hub stuffed into one. But for every 280-word-long timely news update and witty remark, you'll find a violent, hateful post.

Among the crew of experts strategizing to disarm the dark side of Twitter, a team from New York University ran an experiment to test whether warning accounts that hate speech will result in suspension is a functional technique. Turns out, it could be pretty effective.

After studying over 4,300 Twitter users and 600,000 tweets, the scientists found warning accounts of such consequences "can significantly reduce their hateful language for one week." That dip was even more apparent when warnings were phrased politely.

Hopefully the team's paper, published Monday in the journal Perspectives on Politics, will help address the racist, vicious and abusive content that pollutes social media. 

"Debates over the effectiveness of social media account suspensions and bans on abusive users abound, but we know little about the impact of either warning a user of suspending an account or of outright suspensions in order to reduce hate speech," Mustafa Mikdat Yildirim, an NYU doctoral candidate and the lead author of the paper, said in a statement. 

"Even though the impact of warnings is temporary, the research nonetheless provides a potential path forward for platforms seeking to reduce the use of hateful language by users."

These warnings, Mikdat Yildirim observed, don't even have to come from Twitter itself. The ratio of tweets containing hateful speech per user lowered by between 10% and 20% even when the warning originated from a standard Twitter account with just 100 followers -- an "account" made by the team for experimental purposes.

"We suspect, as well, that these are conservative estimates, in the sense that increasing the number of followers that our account had could lead to even higher effects...to say nothing of what an official warning from Twitter would do," they write in the paper.

At this point you might be wondering: Why bother "warning" hate speech endorsers when we can just rid Twitter of them? Intuitively, an immediate suspension should achieve the same, if not stronger, effect.

Why not just ban hate speech ASAP?

While online hate speech has existed for decades, it's ramped up in recent years, particularly toward minorities. Physical violence as a result of such negativity has seen a spike as well. That includes tragedies like mass shootings and lynchings.

But there's evidence to show unannounced account removal may not be the way to combat the matter.

As an example, the paper points out former President Donald Trump's notorious and erroneous tweets following the 2020 United States presidential election. They consisted of election misinformation like calling the results fraudulent and praise for rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. His account was promptly suspended.

Twitter said the suspension was "due to the risk of further incitement of violence," but the problem was Trump later attempted to access other ways of posting online, such as tweeting through the official @Potus account. "Even when bans reduce unwanted deviant behavior within one platform, they might fail in reducing the overall deviant behavior within the online sphere," the paper says. 

Twitter suspended President Donald Trump's Twitter account on Jan. 8, 2021. 

Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET

In contrast to quick bans or suspensions, Mikdat Yildirim and fellow researchers say warnings of account suspension could curb the issue long term because users will try to protect their account instead of moving somewhere else as a last resort.

Experimental evidence for warning signals

There were a few steps to the team's experiment. First, they created six Twitter accounts with names like @basic_person_12, @hate_suspension and @warner_on_hate. 

Then, they downloaded 600,000 tweets on July 21, 2020 that were posted the week prior to identify accounts likely to be suspended during the course of the study. This period saw an uptick in hate speech against Asian and Black communities, the researchers say, due to COVID-19 backlash and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Sifting through those tweets, the team picked out any that used hate language as per a dictionary outlined by a researcher in 2017 and isolated those created after January 1, 2020. They reasoned that newer accounts are more likely to be suspended -- over 50 of those accounts did, in fact, get suspended. 

Anticipating those suspensions, the researchers gathered 27 of those accounts' follower lists beforehand. After a bit more filtering, the researchers ended up with 4,327 Twitterers to study. "We limited our participant population to people who had previously used hateful language on Twitter and followed someone who actually had just been suspended," they clarify in the paper. 

Next, the team sent warnings of different politeness levels -- the politest of which they believe created an air of "legitimacy" -- from each account to the candidates divided into six groups. One control group didn't receive a message.

Legitimacy, they believe, was important because "to effectively convey a warning message to its target, the message needs to make the target aware of the consequences of their behavior and also make them believe that these consequences will be administered," they write.

Ultimately, the method led to a reduction in the ratio of hateful posts by 10% for blunt warnings, such as "If you continue to use hate speech, you might lose your posts, friends and followers, and not get your account back" and by 15% to 20% with more respectful warnings, which included sentiments like "I understand that you have every right to express yourself but please keep in mind that using hate speech can get you suspended." 

But it's not that simple

Even so, the research team notes that "we stop short, however, of unambiguously recommending that Twitter simply implement the system we tested without further study because of two important caveats."

Foremost, they say a message from a large corporation like Twitter could create backlash in a way the study's smaller accounts did not. Secondly, Twitter wouldn't have the benefit of ambiguity in suspension messages. They can't really say "you might" lose your account. Thus, they'd need a blanket rule. 

And with any blanket rule, there could be wrongfully accused users. 

"It would be important to weigh the incremental harm that such a warning program could bring to an incorrectly suspended user," the team writes. 

Although the main impact of the team's warnings dematerialized about a month later and there are a couple of avenues yet to be explored, they still urge this technique could be a tenable option to mitigate violent, racist and abusive speech that continues to imperil the Twitter community.

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DIY Peloton bike: How to build your own smart cycle on the cheap

DIY Peloton bike: How to build your own smart cycle on the cheap

Indoor exercise bikes have been around forever, but it feels like Peloton turned what used to be a dull, monotonous fitness activity into something exciting. Unfortunately, Peloton also turned it into something expensive: With prices ranging from $1,895 to $2,495, these "smart bikes" cost considerably more than most "dumb" ones. And that's not even factoring in the required subscription for exercise classes, which runs $40 a month.

Let's forgo the debate over whether the bike and service are worth the money. Instead, let's look at ways to get a Peloton-like cycling experience at home for less -- quite possibly a lot less.

Read more: Best workout subscription apps for 2020: Peloton, Daily Burn and more

For starters, I've already tested a number of affordable Peloton alternatives -- "connected" bikes that have similar designs and, in some cases, similar spin-class offerings. But even then you're looking at around $900 at a minimum. Surely there must be cheaper DIY options for budget-strapped cyclists?

There are:

• You can buy an inexpensive exercise bike and use it with any number of "experiential" iPad or iPhone apps -- including Peloton's (see below).
• You can buy a "trainer" and use the outdoor bike you already own -- again with apps to enhance the experience.

The hardware is actually the easier part of the equation, so let's start by looking at the software.

Read more: The best smart home-gym tech

It's all about the app(s)

The Peloton app gives you full access to all Peloton fitness content, but for a much lower price ($13 a month) than bike owners pay.

Rick Broida/CNET

As you know, the Peloton bike slings all manner of live and recorded classes to its big built-in screen. But what you may not know is that Peloton also offers these classes to the masses -- those who don't own the company's equipment -- courtesy of the Peloton app. 

Available for Android, iOS, Fire TV, Roku and Chromecast, it allows you to "BYO bike" (or treadmill, just FYI), though with one key omission: You won't get all the same live stats and metrics (distance, resistance, calories burned and so on) as you would from a Peloton bike. Likewise, it may be difficult to mirror the exact resistance called out by instructors during classes; a "20" on the Peloton bike has no real correlation to a bike that uses an analog dial for resistance. You also don't get the Peloton's large screen to watch classes or keep track of your stats, but I'll cover how to replicate the experience below. 

However, you can feed heart-rate data to the app -- all you need is an inexpensive third-party heart-rate monitor. Similarly, the app can capture cadence (i.e., pedal-rate) data, which, again, can come from an inexpensive sensor. More on those options later.

Here's the real surprise: The Peloton app costs just $13 per month, not $40 like for owners of the Peloton bike. Whatever bike you end up using, your overall costs will end up much lower.

Since you're going the BYO route anyway, you don't necessarily have to use the Peloton app. Or, you can switch between that and any number of others. Maybe you're not interested in spin-type classes; maybe you'd prefer virtual rides through famous city streets or on beautiful mountain trails. Maybe you'd like to compete in virtual races. There are lots of cycling apps designed to let you do all that and more. A few examples:

There are two newcomers worth mentioning as well: Fitscope Studio ($10 a month or $80 annually) and Motosumo ($13 a month). The latter promises to "turn any bike into a smart bike," offering live indoor cycling classes with various stats (collected from a Bluetooth HR monitor and power meter) displayed on your phone. Fitscope Studio offers a wider array of classes (including elliptical, treadmill and "scenery runs"), but without the live option or stat-monitoring.

There's no law that says you have to use a cycling app at all. Maybe you'd prefer to read a book in the Kindle app or stream The Queen's Gambit on Netflix. That's about as far away from the "Peloton experience" as you can get, but it's also a very low-cost option. (Here are 10 free Netflix alternatives to keep costs even lower.)

Inexpensive indoor exercise bikes

This Pyhigh bike sells for around $300. It's no Peloton, but if you're using the Peloton app to take classes, will you even notice?

Pyhigh

As noted, there are exercise bikes that cost a fraction of what you'll pay for the Peloton. You won't get all the same features, and build quality might not be as good. But if your goal is simply to ride inside while enjoying instructor-led classes, that's easily accomplished.

What should you look for in an indoor bike? A few key specs: The weight of the flywheel (conventional wisdom holds that heavier is better), the type of resistance (friction or magnetic, the latter typically quieter) and the inclusion of a phone or tablet holder. This last is pretty important, as you'll need a device for whatever app(s) you plan to use. You can buy a third-party holder if the bike you like doesn't include one -- more on that below.

However, any bike in the $200-$400 range won't be "connected," meaning it won't have any way to pair with that device. If you want heart-rate and/or cadence data from your rides, you'll have to add that equipment on your own.

Search Amazon for indoor exercise bikes and you'll find a dizzying array of choices, many of them from brands you're not likely to recognize: L Now, Pooboo, Pyhigh and so on. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it can make your decision that much more difficult.

Having perused a lot of these brands and models, I found a few that appear to tick most of the important boxes. The Pyhigh S2 Indoor Cycling Bike features a 35-pound flywheel, an LCD monitor that displays basic cycling stats and a tablet holder. It currently sells for $307, though in the past it's been as low as $220.

The S2 is also notable because it has over 1,700 user reviews, and those average out to a solid 4.4 stars. With that kind of review volume, it's less likely you're seeing a preponderance of fakes, something to consider when looking at a product that has only a couple dozen ratings. (Find out more about this in my story on how to spot fake Amazon reviews.)

If you want a bike that uses magnetic resistance, which will definitely get you a little closer to a Peloton-like ride, check out the Joroto X2 for $400. It has a 4.5-star rating from over 1,900 buyers.

Again, these are just two options out of many. You could also head to your local sporting-goods store in search of bikes you can actually try before buying.

Indoor trainers for your outdoor bike

BYO bike and mount it on something like the Saris CycleOps M2 ($550) for a more realistic (but still app-connected) indoor-cycling experience.

Saris

Avid outdoor cyclists will tell you to skip these fancy (and even less fancy) exercise bikes in favor of the one you already own. You'll spend considerably less money and get a much more familiar (and realistic) riding experience.

The key piece of hardware you'll need: An indoor trainer, which typically combines a simple stationary stand for your front wheel and a roller for the back one. The trainer holds your bike upright; all you do is hop on and pedal.

These things range in price from under $100 on up to $1,000 and more, depending on design and features. One standout is the Saris CycleOps M2, a "smart" trainer that connects directly to apps like Rouvy and Zwift. Its electromagnetic roller will automatically adjust the tension to correspond with your virtual ride. (Pedaling up a hill, for example? The tension will increase.) The M2 is currently selling for $550, but has been as low as $430 in the past.

Your bike plus $150 gets you an indoor-cycling setup.

Sportneer

Looking for a less expensive option? For $150 (previously as low as $90), the Sportneer Bike Trainer offers a simple rear-wheel roller along with a handlebar-mounted remote that provides six resistance settings. It has a 4.4-star rating from nearly 4,000 buyers.

Just one wrinkle in this plan: Your bike probably doesn't have a place to put a tablet. You could always prop it up on a nearby table or shelf, but that'll make it harder to see and impossible to reach while riding. Thankfully, there are super-cheap tablet mounts designed for indoor bikes (ironic!) that should also work with your road bike. Here's one that costs all of $16.

Other gear you'll need

There are a couple key stats that go hand-in-hand with the Peloton experience: heart rate and cadence. Fortunately, you can track both without spending a lot, and feed that data directly to whatever app(s) you're using.

The Wahoo Cadence Sensor can install on nearly any bike. It feeds speed data to cycling apps.

Wahoo

The Wahoo Cadence Sensor is a popular choice; it can mount on your shoe or, more permanently, one of your bike's crank arms. It sells for $40.

Wahoo also makes a chest-strap heart-rate monitor, the Tickr, that runs $50. However, if you don't mind going a little off-brand, you can get something like the CooSpo heart-rate monitor for $39.

Finally, although you can use your phone, a tablet with a larger screen is really the ideal option -- the better to see your instructor or virtual bike trail. One of the cheapest options: The Amazon Fire HD 10, which sells for $150 but routinely goes on sale for $30-$50 less. There's a version of the Peloton app available for Fire tablets, same as for Android and iOS tablets.

Now for the bad news: Peloton is just about the only popular cycling app that's available for Fire. No FulGaz, no iFit, no Rouvy, no Zwift. If you want to run those, you'll need an Android tablet or an iPad. Check out CNET's roundup of the best tablets of 2020 if you need some recommendations.

My advice: Be on the lookout for an iPad deal. The current-gen iPad 10.2, for example, lists for $329 but often goes on sale for $279. There aren't many Android tablets available these days, and anything with a 10-inch screen is likely to cost you more than that iPad.

Let's do the math

When all is said and done, how much will it really cost you to recreate the Peloton experience without the Peloton bike? That depends on how much equipment you might already own and how much you need to buy. But the Peloton app itself feels like the real bargain at just $13 per month. In addition to live and on-demand cycling classes, it serves up a wealth of other fitness content: cardio, HIIT, yoga, meditation, stretching and more.

At the top end, you might spend $400 on a bike, $250 on a tablet and $100 on miscellaneous extras, for a total of around $750. That's still less than half the price of a Peloton bike, and you're not locked into a $39-a-month subscription.

Now let's hear from you: What kind of home-brew Peloton setup are you planning to put together? And if you've already got one, what kind of gear does it have, and how's it working out?

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Here's How a Digital Detox Will Benefit Your Mental Health

Here's How a Digital Detox Will Benefit Your Mental Health

We go about our day-to-day lives attached to our phones. They wake us up in the morning, and we check our emails and social media as soon as we open our eyes. We spend a big chunk of the day glued to a screen, be it a computer, laptop or phone. In fact, nearly half of smartphone users in the US say they can't imagine life without their phones.

According to a February 2021 survey, 46% of respondents said they spend an average of 5 to 6 hours a day on their phones for non-work-related use. Another study conducted by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that, on average, Americans spend around 3 hours a day watching TV. 

It's safe to say that we've become heavily dependent on our phones for pretty much everything. But, how is the use of technology affecting our mental health? And what can we do to offset that dependency?

Many have turned to digital detoxes as a way to disconnect from technology. Research links digital detoxes to the improvement of depression symptoms, among other mental health benefits. Ready to try a digital detox? Here's what you need to know.

Morsa Images/Getty

What is a digital detox?

A digital detox is when you completely abstain or intentionally reduce your time using electronic devices like smartphones, computers, TVs and tablets. The idea of a digital detox is to disconnect from the online world to focus more on the present moment without distractions. The most common things people avoid during a digital detox include:

• Emails
  
• Text messages
  
• Video games
  
• Watching TV
  
• Smartphones, tablets, laptops and computers
  

What is a social media detox?

Like a digital detox, a social media detox is when someone refrains from engaging with or using social media for a period of time or indefinitely to improve their mental health and well-being. It's one of the most popular forms of digital detox.

A quantitative study conducted on college students who underwent social media detoxes that lasted from one to seven days found that most students reported positive changes in mood, better productivity, improved sleep and reduced anxiety.

Another study published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology found that limiting social media to 30 minutes a day can significantly improve one's overall well-being.

How social media affects mental health

There's no denying we benefit a lot from social media. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok keep us connected to friends and family while also serving as an outlet to find inspiring people. However, the constant comparison, fear of missing out and highly curated content we're exposed to on social media can come with some drawbacks.

A 2020 systematic review linked social media to detrimental effects on the mental health of its users. The same study found that those people's levels of anxiety and depression are affected by social media envy -- being envious of someone else's life as perceived on social media.

"Time spent scrolling through social media has the potential to promote unreasonable expectations as we see influencers posting an often filtered and edited version of their seemingly perfect lives. This can trigger feelings that others are having more fun or living better lives than you are, potentially causing a negative impact on your mental health. The increasing popularity of photo filters has also been linked to poor self-esteem and self-image as we manipulate our photos to change our reality online," says Myra Altman, who holds a PhD and is VP of Clinical Care at Modern Health. 

Georgijevic/Getty

Benefits of a digital detox

There may be personal reasons to consider a digital detox. It could be that you feel like technology is a distraction, or you just need some time away from the stressors of the online world. Whatever the reason may be, you are sure to see many benefits from taking a break from technology.

Here are some of the most common benefits of a digital detox.

Reduced anxiety and depression

According to a recent study published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, a social media break of just a week can reduce anxiety and depression. The same study found causal evidence that even short breaks from social media can positively impact a person's overall well-being, life satisfaction and emotions.

Enhanced focus and increased productivity

This one should come as no surprise. When we are free from distractions, we allow ourselves to be more present. Mindless scrolling on social media, checking notifications on your phone and feeling the urge to reply immediately to emails are time consumers. When we set aside distractions, we allow more time to focus on our responsibilities. 

Improved sleep

Disconnecting from electronic devices a few hours before going to sleep can significantly improve our quality of sleep. One study found that people who used social media before bed were more likely to have anxiety, insomnia and short sleep duration on weeknights.

Avoiding screen time before bed also reduces our exposure to blue light, which has been associated with disrupted sleep.

Meaningful connections in real life

Think about the last time you were anywhere alone at the doctor's office, standing in line at the grocery store or waiting for your friend at a table in a restaurant. How much of that time was spent glued to your phone? The answer is probably a lot. 

A small 2019 study found that smartphones alter the fabric of social interactions. In the experiment, a group of strangers was put in a waiting room with or without their phones. The study found that those who had their phones present were less likely to smile at someone compared to those without a phone.

Setting your phone aside can help you stay engaged with those around you.

Luis Alvarez/Getty

More time for things that bring you joy

Have you ever thought about how many times a day you pick up your phone to check your emails, respond to messages and check social media? According to a survey conducted by Asurion, a global tech care company, respondents checked their phones on average 96 times a day. To put that in perspective, that's once every 10 minutes.

"One reason to consider a social media detox is to regain authority in your life and time. Many people find themselves scrolling for hours a day and then feel unproductive, leading to anxiety and depression. A detox can help put a pause on social media consumption and allow you to regain interest in other hobbies that bring happiness. The detox can also allow you the time you need to be with those you love in real life," says Raghu Kiran Appasani, MD Psychiatry and Founder and CEO of The MINDS Foundation. 

Signs that you might need a break from technology

If you made your way to this page, chances are you are already considering a digital detox -- which is a sign itself that you might need a break from your electronic devices. The best way to know you need a digital detox is to check in with yourself and see how interacting with social media and technology makes you feel.

• If you feel any of the following when engaging with the online world, it's time to say goodbye (for now) to technology:
  
• Anxiety, stress or depression after checking social media
  
• Social withdrawal
  
• Urge to check your phone every few minutes
  
• Trouble concentrating and staying focused on the task at hand
  
• Imposter syndrome or feeling insecure about where you are in life
  
• Disrupted sleep
  
• Feeling obligated to respond immediately to emails and text messages
  

How to do a digital detox

If you're ready for a digital detox challenge but aren't sure where to start, we got you. It's important to remember why you're detoxing from your digital devices in the first place. The goal is to create boundaries that ensure you're using technology in a way that benefits and works for you. Ultimately, you want to feel good about the time you are dedicating online.

Set realistic goals

A digital detox can be anything you want it to be. It can be refraining from using any type of technology, disconnecting from social media or just limiting daily screen time. The most important thing to keep in mind is that whatever you want to achieve has to be realistic. For example, if your work requires you to be in front of a computer all day, it may not be wise to set a goal that won't allow you access to your computer. Instead, you can opt to set screen time limits on your free time.

Create healthy boundaries and limits

Sometimes disconnecting completely from electronic devices isn't possible, but setting boundaries is a great way to limit how much time we spend on electronic devices. 

Here are some ideas of other times you can create limits for:

• When working out: If you want to get the most out of your workout, try to avoid any distractions. If you like to listen to music while doing so, you can download your music beforehand and set your phone to airplane mode so that you don't get any notifications.
  
• Before going to sleep: Smartphones were designed to keep us alert and productive, so the last thing we want is to bombard our brains with more information. Sleep experts recommend cutting off screen time 30 minutes to 1 hour before bed.
  
• When waking up: You never know what you will encounter when you look at your phone. Seeing bad news as soon as you wake up can trigger your stress response and leave you feeling anxious all day. Allow yourself some time to wake up without outside distractions and enjoy the present moment.
  
• While enjoying a meal: If you're scrolling through your phone while you eat, you may not be aware of how much you are eating and miss your body's cue that it is full. Instead, you can practice mindful eating and savor every moment of your meal.
  
• When spending time with the people you love: It's good to keep your phone away or silent when socializing and spending time with people. When you limit your distractions, you can have deeper and more meaningful conversations.
  

Occupy yourself with things that nourish your mind and body

You've decided to do a digital detox, you put away your phone, now what? It's easy to give in to checking your phone if you are bored, so you'll want to fill in this extra time with things that make you feel good.

If you are having a hard time figuring out what to do with your extra time, here are some ideas.

• Pick up a new hobby, something you've always wanted to try.
  
• Go for a walk or a hike
  
• Call a family member you haven't talked to in a while
  
• Go for coffee with a friend
  
• Read a new book (or reread your favorite one)
  
• Journal about how you're feeling right now
  
• Volunteer at a local charity that is doing important work
  
• Learn to cook a new recipe
  
• Sign up for an exercise class like kick-boxing, yoga or pilates
  
• Meditate or practice mindful breathing 
  

Klaus Vedfelt/Getty

Reward yourself for following through

It's easier to stay motivated when looking forward to something, so take this opportunity to celebrate your wins by rewarding yourself. It doesn't have to be something grand (though it can be if you want); it can be as simple as cooking your favorite meal or taking yourself out to the movies. Whatever you decide your reward should be, make sure it's something that excites you.

Tips for your digital detox

Some people will find it fairly easy to disconnect from digital devices, while others may find it more challenging. Luckily, there are some things you can do before you go off the grid to ensure that you have a successful digital detox.

• If you're doing a social media detox, delete the apps from your phone and sign out from your account on your computer, laptop or tablet.
  
• Let your friends and family know about your detox and the best ways for them to contact you and provide support.
  
• Schedule activities to keep you busy beforehand.
  
• Track your progress. You can write down how you're feeling each day, seeing tangible progress may keep you motivated.
  
• Mute or turn off notifications on your phone and computer
  
• Designate tech-free zones in your house, like your bedroom or dining room.
  
• Remember why you started. If you feel the need to check your phone throughout your detox, think of how you felt before starting and why you decided to take a break.
  

Be patient with yourself

Deciding to disconnect from the digital world can make you feel anxious or even scared of missing out on important things, and it's okay to feel that way. As the days go by, you'll start to feel better about yourself and have a deeper understanding of your relationship with technology. Take the time to enjoy being present and do things that bring you happiness.

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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Twitter might launch a long-form format so users can write articles

Twitter might launch a long-form format so users can write articles

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How to Win the New York Times Spelling Bee Every Single Time

How to Win the New York Times Spelling Bee Every Single Time

Wordle  isn't the only word game worth mastering -- CNET has recommended a number of others. My absolute favorite is The New York Times Spelling Bee.

The NYT Spelling Bee has been around since 2014 in print and since 2018 online. The rules are pretty simple: Each day offers up seven letters arranged in a honeycomb shape (honeycomb, spelling BEE, somebody on the Times design staff got a buzz out of that). 

Players need to make words of four or more letters using the given letters, and always have to include the center letter. There's always one pangram, which means a word that uses all seven of the letters and counts for big points. The game reminds me of a childhood favorite, Boggle, minus the little lettered dice and fun-to-shake game tray, but with all the setup and scoring done for me.

As you find words, the puzzle praises you with such compliments as "genius" or "amazing" and moves your score up a little line giving you higher ranks as you progress. If you find all the possible words, you're rewarded with the title of "Queen Bee." Or, uh, so I hear. I have yet to ever do that.

Can I play the Spelling Bee for free?

Note that while Wordle is free on the New York Times site -- at least for now -- the New York Times Spelling Bee is more complicated. Stay with me, here.

People who don't subscribe to any form of the New York Times, paper or digital, can play up to the rank of "Solid," a Times spokesperson told me in an email, noting that this may be a different number of words each day, depending upon the puzzle.

If you get the print version of the Times delivered, you have access to play the Spelling Bee daily. If you have a digital subscription, it depends on the pricing level you pay. Games, including the Spelling Bee, aren't included in the cheapest subscription, the Basic level. But the next level up, All-Access, does include NYT Games. Those levels are explained here.

You can also choose to buy a NYT Games subscription, which costs $40 a year, or $1.25 a week, paid monthly. The newspaper is smart enough to know that some people just want its iconic crossword puzzle and other word games, including the Spelling Bee, and so lets people pay to do just that. You also have access to puzzle archives and a whole batch of other game goodies with this deal.

Want to play via an app? The Times Games app (called simply The New York Times Crossword) on iOS and Android is free to download for anyone, but only home delivery, All-Access and NYT Games subscribers have full access to everything the app offers, the spokesperson told me.

New York Times Spelling Bee tips, tricks and strategies

Just as with Wordle , there are some tips and strategies for playing the New York Times Spelling Bee. Here's my best advice.

1. Look for prefixes and suffixes

So you've made a word -- say, "happy." You'll be even happier if you can turn that base word into a bunch more. If you have the right letters, use a prefix, like "unhappy," or a suffix -- "happiness." There are levels of happy, too, like "happiest" or "happier." No reason not to wring as much juice out of one word as possible.

2. -ING and -ED endings

If you ever see the letters ING or ED in your daily spelling bee, you're golden. Maybe you found a word like "test," as in "The New York Times Spelling Bee is a real test of my patience." You can dress that up with "testing" or "tested."

3. Share the load with a friend

CNET's Connie Guglielmo shared this advice for the Bee in our Wordle tips story. She plays the Spelling Bee with her husband. One of them starts the game and finds as many words as they can. The Genius level requires 68 points, so one person works their way up to 34, then the other player takes over. Once they reach the Genius level, either one can chime in with more words in their attempt to reach the Queen Bee level. "In 18 months of playing, we've only gotten Queen Bee twice!" she says.

4. Remember that pangram

The puzzle promises that there is always one pangram -- a word using all seven of the provided letters. Just knowing that word is out there sometimes pushes me to see the options. I'll keep rearranging the letters to see if I'm inspired to find that magical word. Not that it could be longer than seven letters, if you reuse a letter or two. And once you have it, check to see if there are smaller words (minimum of four letters though) hidden inside that long word.

5. Check previous games for oddball words

You can go back and look at the previous day's game -- and you should. As Guglielmo points out, over time, you'll learn that words you may never have thought of are included, such as "ratatatat." CNET staffer Dan Avery, a frequent player, notes that just like with crossword puzzles, certain relatively obscure words show up again and again, such as "acai" and "acacia."

6. Hit that reshuffle button often

The Spelling Bee has a super-simple layout. Below the day's letters, there's a button to delete letters from your guess and a button to enter, or submit, your guess. In-between those buttons is an unlabeled reshuffle button. This doesn't give you new letters, but it does rearrange the day's batch. Use that button, often. Getting different letters next to each other helps you start to see obvious words that you missed, Guglielmo points out.

7. Remember to reuse letters

Just like in Wordle, letters can be used more than once. As you study the honeycomb of letters, think about which ones are frequently doubled up in words (EE, RR, LL) and see if you can do that here.

8. Center letter strategies

Oof, that diabolical center letter. It has to be in every word you make, and many times I've thought I had a great answer, only to have my word rejected because I forgot the center letter. If you have a word rejected for this reason, consider if that word can be used in a compound word that might include the center letter.

9. Weird plurals

The puzzles never include the letter S, because then, almost every word players find could be made plural. But you can be on the lookout for plural forms of words that don't include an S, like "teeth" and "children."

10. More tips from the Times

The New York Times asked some of its dedicated Spelling Bee players to share their secrets and published the results. Their story points out online fan sites and forums, and relevant Twitter hashtags, all of which can be used to get daily help with the game.

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iPadOS 16 Hands-On: Monitor Multitasking Takes Steps Forward and Sideways

iPadOS 16 Hands-On: Monitor Multitasking Takes Steps Forward and Sideways

Twitter, Slack, Outlook and Safari are open all at once, and I'm browsing and scanning between all of them. This is on my monitor. It's like any other day. Meanwhile, I'm playing Catan on my iPad. Everything I'm doing is powered by the iPad, with the monitor connected via USB-C as a secondary display. I feel almost like I'm on a Mac. But… I'm not.

iPadOS 16 introduces a feature I've wanted on iPads for years: truer multiwindow multitasking, and real external monitor support for extended workspaces. A public beta preview of the software is available now (which I wouldn't recommend installing on your everyday personal device). How iPadOS makes both of these happen is the weird part. The navigation needs a lot of finessing, based on my early experiences so far.

You also need an M1-equipped iPad to make these new multitasking features work, which means a current iPad Pro or iPad Air model. No others will be compatible. These iPads are on the expensive side, making this a pro feature you may not even consider worth upgrading for yet.

Read more: iPad Air 2022 (M1) Review

I could go into other iPadOS features, but I'll do that later because, really, this is the feature this year. Stage Manager, which enables these extra multitasking perks, brings a whole new layout that's also extremely alien-feeling. And that's the problem with iPadOS now. It's powerful, and it's also strange and still not Mac-like enough.

It feels like Apple is trying to evolve a new computer interface, but through tiny steps and experiments. As iPadOS drifts between iPhone and Mac, picking up more parts of each and blending them, the pieces don't always make sense. That's where I'm at after trying the public beta out: striving to find my iPadOS sea legs.

Laying out iPad apps on a big monitor is finally useful in iPadOS 16.

Scott Stein/CNET

The Good: Monitor magic

Plug in a monitor now, and wow, it's just like a Mac. Apps can be opened on the monitor, or on the iPad, and the mouse or trackpad cursor will just move back and forth like on a monitor-connected Mac. I don't think Apple's new Stage Manager changes things much for people working directly on an iPad (see below), but wow, it opens up possibilities if you have a monitor nearby.

Using an iPad Air with Magic Keyboard attached, I just perched it in front of my Dell monitor and felt it become a two-screen device at last. It's particularly weird and fun to control apps with the keyboard and trackpad, while also doing things with the touchscreen on the iPad with an app open there. For me it was playing Catan while also responding to emails and Slacks. Dumb, and also awesome.

Now I'm playing some John Williams soundtracks while writing and Slacking and playing some Catan and checking Twitter, and this basically feels like my typical screen-immersed day, but all iPad-enabled.

The whole experience reminds me, in a lot of ways, of using Samsung's DeX, which allows desktop-type computer experiences on its tablets and phones when connected to a monitor. Years ago, I found that DeX ended up working surprisingly well, sometimes. Apple's doing a similar type of move on the iPad M1 models, but super powered. Running multiple apps at once is far more useful than you might think, since you're probably doing it unconsciously every day on your laptop.

Plug in a monitor, and you'll find that it connects the way monitors should, allowing separate apps to open independently of the iPad display. In a new Settings feature for Displays, you can also choose to mirror your iPad the way iPadOS only allowed previously (who wants that?). The monitor settings allow the second display orientation to be moved around: if you pick the monitor as "above" your iPad, the mouse/trackpad cursor will move from iPad to monitor when you move up. 

There's also a new extra resolution mode on the iPad display itself, which compresses text and apps for "more space." On the 11-inch iPad Air, it didn't seem to do much for my work experience other than make text smaller. On the larger 12.9-inch iPad Pro, it can make the screen feel more laptop-like.

Getting apps to open simultaneously requires opening them from the dock and dragging them into position. App windows can be size-adjusted now, but not with full freedom. Windows can squish and stretch and go horizontal or vertical, but Apple limits the sizes and shapes. It feels like fuzzy experimentation to get the layout you want. And if windows get too big, Apple overlaps the windows. But only in very specific ways, so it's not as free as a regular Mac's window-based (not Windows-based!) OS.

The multiple windows get less useful on the iPad display, especially if you don't have the larger 12.9-inch iPad Pro (right).

Scott Stein/CNET

The Bad: How does this work, again?

Getting all the apps to be open, and work, and figure out how to navigate them, is another matter. Apple has introduced Stage Manager, a new multitasking manager, but the app/feature only launches from within Control Center, by swiping down and tapping a cryptic icon with a block and three dots. No one will normally ever figure this out.

It gets weirder. Stage Manager has instances of grouped open apps, but if an app is already open, you'll just swap to that instance instead of overlaying it with the others that are open, although you can also drag open apps on and off that side dock and into your workspace. On the iPad itself, these other app windows stay open on the side, shrinking your free app display space. Apps can be re-expanded, but jumping back and forth to choose apps gets confusing fast. And then there's that three-dot icon above windows, which still handles app zooming, split-screening and minimizing just like iPadOS 15. Following me? I expect you're not.

I lost my way, despite being a longtime iPadOS user. And apps can't be easily dragged from one window to another, either. Just when I started feeling like I was slipping into a Mac flow, iPadOS throws me into an uncanny valley again.

And there are public beta bugs, too: connecting to a monitor turns off my iPad audio unless I use headphones. Sometimes I've had sudden crash restarts from too many apps open. And, if I unplug from the monitor, I find some app groups suddenly having empty black windows. Oh, and I tried launching Catan on my monitor, and it started up sideways. Beta explorers, good luck.

Stage Manager gets so annoying on the iPad display that I instantly turn it off again unless I'm connected to a monitor. To me, it's specifically a monitor multitasking Mode.

The deeper I go, the weirder and buggier it feels. I try launching Batman Returns on Apple TV to watch while I write this, and it automatically plays on the monitor instead of my iPad screen. I can shift the whole video up to the monitor completely, but not back down to the iPad again. And then when I try shifting Pages from the monitor to the iPad screen (which is done via that very small three-dot icon at the top of each window, which now has a menu that vaguely says "move to display"), the app suddenly goes blank and I have to force quit it.

Overall: A step forward (if you love monitors), but a weird one

iPadOS 16 has most of iOS 16's greatest hits, minus that cool new customizable Lock Screen feature. There's also an Apple-made Weather App, now, finally (yay?). There are more integrated ways to share docs and group-collaborate through Messages, or FaceTime, extending what was started last year. Apple's promising collaborative white board app, called Freeform, isn't in the public beta yet but is expected this fall.

I still don't recommend downloading a public OS beta from Apple on your main device, because too many strange and bad things can happen. The iPadOS 16 beta has crashed a number of times for me.

But just for that way it can make M1 iPads use an extra monitor as a true second screen, I'm already thrilled. I just wish the whole Stage Manager process made more sense and allowed for far more fluid or flexible window placement and screen-jumping, because right now it feels much like a beta feature. Even the way Apple allows you to turn the feature off and on via Control Center suggests that perhaps it's not thought of as an everyday feature yet, but instead, a "pro" one you'll need to consciously look for to use.

I'm enjoying writing and playing Catan at the same time, though. It's made having my iPad Pro at my desk a far more fun and far more productive tool, even if it's made me less productive. Sorry, it's my turn now. I'm going to build a city.

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Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs Explained

Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs Explained

NFTs have been around for five years, but the nonfungible token boom only truly began in 2021. It coincided almost perfectly with the launch of Bored Ape Yacht Club, a collection of 10,000 cartoon ape NFTs that's come to embody the whole industry. BAYC has over the past year become a bellwether for NFTs, just like bitcoin is for the crypto market at large. 

When NFTs were at their hottest, in April, the entry price for Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs was $400,000. Following the crypto crash, caused by the Federal Reserve's hiking of inflation rates to tackle inflation, that's fallen closer to $150,000. Far from the all-time-high, but insane considering these NFTs sold for about $200 apiece last April. 

You've probably seen a BAYC, even if you didn't realize you were looking at one.

Bored Ape owners currently using their NFT as a Twiter profile picture include Timbaland (1.6 million followers), Eminem (22.6 million followers) and footballer Neyman Jr. (55 million followers). Jimmy Fallon and Paris Hilton are also BAYC holders, discussing their Apes in a (cringey) Tonight Show segment. Justin Bieber made headlines with his purchase of a $1.29 million Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT in February. 

In June, Eminem and Snoop Dogg released a video clip in which the rappers are depicted by their respective Bored Apes. 

Yuga Labs, the company behind the NFT collection, has already expanded the ecosystem to include a cryptocurrency (Ape Coin). More importantly, it's developing a "metaverse" MMORPG game called "Otherside." People holding Bored Ape NFTs are betting that the brand will completely break through and go mainstream. Already it's collaborated with brands like Adidas and Gucci, and last year a Bored Ape graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. 

Like everything else to do with NFTs, the Bored Ape Yacht Club is contentious. Apes inspire jealousy among those who own and trade NFT art but confusion and suspicion among people who don't. Their value is instrinsically tied to ether, the second biggest cryptocurrency. That means NFTs like BAYC are likely to lose their lustre if crypto collapses -- something critics have prophesized for years. 

Here's what you need to know about the collection.

10 of the 10,000 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. Each has different attributes, some rarer than others, that makes them unique. 

OpenSea

Wait, what are NFTs again?

NFT is short for nonfungible token. These are tokens verify ownership on the blockchain. In essence, an NFT is like a certificate of authenticity for a fancy watch or the deed to a house. It certifies that the digital asset -- in this case a cartoon picture of an ape -- is legitimate, and denotes who the owner is.

The most ubiquitous criticism of NFTs is that they're useless because pictures can simply be right-clicked and saved for free. The point of NFT technology is that it makes public who the owner of an asset is. The idea is that anyone can buy a Mona Lisa print for a few bucks, but only one person or institution can own the original. Everyone in the world can save a BAYC jpeg on their computer, but only one person can own the NFT. 

Whether that makes NFTs valuable is a judgement call. Some people think they'll revolutionize the internet, at last allowing digital goods to be bought and sold like real-world, physical products. Others think they're an environmentally-costly ponzi scheme. 

Why are there 10,000 Bored Apes?

Broadly speaking, there are two types of NFT art. First, you have one-off visuals that are sold as non-fungible tokens, just like paintings in real life. Think the Beeple NFTs that were sold at Christie's for as high as $69 million. Second, you have NFT collections like the Bored Ape Yacht Club, which are mostly designed to be used as profile pictures on social media. The latter have become the dominant style, where most of the money is spent. 

Pioneered by CryptoPunks in 2017, NFT collections are a little like Pokemon cards. You have a set amount -- usually between 5,000 and 10,000 -- which all have the same template, but each has different attributes that make them unique. In the case of BAYC, there are 10,000 apes, each with varying fur types, facial expressions, clothing, accessories and more. Each attribute has a rarity component, which makes some much more valuable than others. 

These properties are displayed on OpenSea, the main platform where NFTs are traded. On any given NFT's page, its properties will be listed as well as the percentage of NFTs in the collection that share the property. Usually, anything under 1% is considered rare. For instance out of 10,000 apes only 46 have solid gold fur, making these particularly valuable.

Each NFT has traits which are ranked by rarity, making some more valuable than others. 

OpenSea

As noted, the "floor price" for the project -- what you'll pay for an ape with common traits -- is currently about $150,000 (85 ether). Apes with the golden fur trait are rare, and so sell for much more. One sold in January for $1.3 million. Another with gold fur and laser eyes, two sub-1% traits, went for $3 million.

BAYC is the biggest NFT project of this kind, recently eclipsing CryptoPunks, which is credited as the first "pfp" (profile picture) collections. Other notable sets include CyberKongz, Doodles and Cool Cats.

What makes Bored Ape Yacht Club valuable?

This is a complicated question. The short answer is that they're status symbols, and like all status symbols their value comes from perception and branding rather than utility. Just like a CEO may try to communicate business acumen with a Rolex or a luxury suit, people who trade NFTs display their success with a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT. Their argument is that NFTs are better status symbols than real-world items, since when used as profile pictures they can be seen by millions of people on Twitter and Instagram.

Let's start at the beginning. Bored Ape Yacht Club was launched last April. It took 12 hours for all 10,000 to sell out at a price of $190 (0.08 ether). The price of Bored Ape NFTs rose steadily until July, when they spiked dramatically and the collection became a blue-chip set.

What makes an NFT collection successful is highly subjective. Broadly, it's a mix of four things: Influencer or celebrity involvement, mainstream potential, utility for members and community appeal.

The first and second are obvious. When famous people own an NFT, it makes others want to own one too. When celebrities like Jimmy Fallon and Justin Bieber bought into Bored Ape, it caused a run in sales and hype -- and hype is what the NFT market is all about. People buying into BAYC today, at a steep price of over $150,000, are likely to believe that the brand could one day adorn more than celebrity social media accounts: Netflix shows, popular games and Hollywood movies are the goal. 

Thirdly, utility. Most NFT projects claim to offer a utility of some sort, which means it does something other than act as a profile picture. That can be access to play-to-earn games or the option to stake an NFT in exchange for an associated cryptocurrency. 

Bored Ape Yacht Club has done a few things to keep owners interested. First, it created the Bored Ape Kennel Club, offering owners the opportunity to "adopt" a dog NFT with traits that mimic those of the Bored Apes. Another freebie came in August of 2021: Digital vials of mutant serum. Owners could mix their Bored Ape with the serum to create a Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT (see below). 

The advent of this second collection last August is when the Bored Ape brand really popped. Seen as doing innovative things with NFT technology, and coinciding with a huge amount of money entering the space that month, Bored Ape Yacht Club started to be seen as the premiere NFT brand. 

Both Kennel Club and Mutant Ape NFTs now sell for a lot. The Mutant Ape Yacht Club collection entry point is about $30,000, while Bored Ape Kennel Clubs are selling for about half that. (Remember, these were free to BAYC holders.)

A Bored Ape and its Mutant Ape counterpart. 

Yuga Labs

Last but not least is the community that's built around a collection. NFTs double as membership cards to holder groups. The more valuable people find belonging to that community, the less they'll want to sell their NFT. Bored Ape Yacht Club has organized meetups in New York and California, and there have been Bored Ape get-togethers in Hong Kong and the UK, too. This past June, BAYC holders were treated to "Ape Fest", a festival that included performances from Eminem, Snoop Dogg, LCD Soundsystem and Amy Schumer.

But "community value" also extends to financial self interest. The higher the floor price on a collection, the more crypto-rich traders you can expect to be holders. These savvy investors trade information within locked Discord groups, providing valuable (sometimes insanely valuable) tips to one another. Sell your NFT and you'll no longer be privvy to such tips. 

Eminem is the latest celebrity to flaunt a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT as a social media profile picture.

Twitter

Who's behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club?

The Bored Ape Yacht Club was developed by Yuga Labs. At the time, Yuga Labs consisted of four people, all of whom went by pseudonyms. There's Gordon Goner and Gargamel, who are the two co-founders, and two friends who helped on the development side, No Sass and Emperor Tomato Ketchup.

All four went exclusively by their pseudonyms until February, when BuzzFeed reported the identities of Gordon Goner and Gargamel. Gargamel is Greg Solano, a writer and book critic, and Gordon Goner is 35-year-old Wylie Aronow. Both went on to post pictures of themselves on Twitter alongside their Bored Apes. Following that, Emperor Tomato Ketchup and Sass both "doxxed" themselves -- that is, revealed their identity -- by doing the same. 

The actual art was created by freelance artist Seneca, who's not part of Yuga Labs. 

What's next?

Yuga Labs has big plans for its Bored Ape Yacht Club brand, plans that are both on- and offchain. (That is, both on the blockchain and in the real world.)

Start with more blockchain stuff. In March, Yuga Labs released Ape Coin, its own cryptocurrency. All Bored Ape holders were airdropped just over 10,000 Ape Coins at launch, worth around $100,000 at the time (now about $70,000). Ape Coin will be the primary currency in Otherside, the metaverse Yuga Labs is building.

Metaverses are big, virtual spaces shared by hundreds or thousands of people at a time. They've existed for a long time, think Second Life or even Fortnite. Blockchain-integrated metaverses are different only in the sense that the land, building and items within the world are owned by users as NFTs. Yuga Labs has already sold land for the metaverse, making over $300 million in just a few hours of sales.

Out in the physical world, the Bored Apes are integrating themselves into fashion. Adidas launched its first NFT project, Into The Metaverse, in collaboration with several NFT brands, Bored Ape Yacht Club chief among them. Collaborations between Adidas and BAYC on both virtual and physical clothing are coming soon. 

Adidas is also a member of the Bored Ape Yacht Club. 

Twitter

The Bored Ape Yacht Club brand has popped up in other industries too. Literally in the case of food: A pop-up restaurant in Los Angeles was recently turned into a permanent burger spot. In January, a mobile game, Apes vs. Mutants, launched on both the App Store and Google's Play Store. (Reviews have been unkind.) Another mobile game is in production, scheduled for Q2. Bored Ape figurines by Super Plastic are on the way too.

More unusual, though, is what people are doing with their apes. Owning a Bored Ape NFT gives you full commercial rights to it, and holders are taking advantage of that in some creative ways. One Bored Ape owner set up a Twitter account for his ape where he created a backstory, turning him into Jenkins, a valet that works for the Yacht Club. Jenkins is now signed to a real-world agency, and has a biography written by New York Times bestseller Neil Strauss. Universal Music Group has invested by signing a band consisting of three Bored Apes and one Mutant Ape. 

You might think NFTs are silly -- and terrible for the environment -- but don't expect the Bored Apes to disappear anytime soon.

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