What States Can and Can't Do When Banning Abortion

What States Can and Can't Do When Banning Abortion

For more information about your reproductive health rights and related federal resources, you can visit the US government's

Reproductive Rights

site.

Whether someone can get an abortion or related medical procedure mostly hinges on which state they live in after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month and ended the constitutional right to abortion. But the switch from federal protection to state law isn't straightforward and has led to confusion and misinformation on what pregnant patients and physicians can do.

In this still developing landscape, how confident can people be that their treatment is still legal?

"The answer to all your questions is 'Who the heck knows,'" said Dr. Louise Perkins King, a surgeon and bioethicist at Harvard Medical School. "And that's the problem."

The US Department of Health and Human Services issued guidance on July 11 reminding physicians of their responsibilities under the existing Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTLA, which supports the need to treat and stabilize patients in an emergency, including pregnant patients who may require an abortion. Days later, Texas sued the Biden administration over the law, which allows for medical assistance to save the life of the mother, because, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said, it "seeks to transform every emergency room in the country into a walk-in abortion clinic." 

On Tuesday, a judge in Texas blocked the EMTLA guidance, so physicians in that state may no longer be protected by federal law if they perform an abortion when they deem it medically necessary but it falls outside of Texas' interpretation of a life-endangering pregnancy. Physicians nationwide who are members of the American Association of Pro-Life Gynecologists and Obstetricians or the Christian Medical and Dental Association are also exempt -- a total of about 18,000 health care providers, according to the court document.

Texas' new trigger law -- which will be in effect on Aug. 25 -- bans all abortions except when the pregnancy puts the mother "at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function." Physicians who perform an illegal abortion will be committing a felony. It doesn't make exceptions for rape, incest or fetal abnormalities, and it also doesn't make an exception for when the pregnant person's risk of death would come from a "claim or diagnosis" that they'll be hurt or might die in the future. (This could be interpreted to mean a doctor can't provide an abortion if a woman threatens to die by suicide because she has depression.) All abortions are currently banned in Texas after the state's Supreme Court ruled that a law from the 1920s could stand.

Legal battles within some states will continue to shape post-Roe America, with the landscape changing by the day. And lawsuits like the one in Texas clarify the country's stance on whether state law preempts federal rule on abortion or reproductive health care. Basically, can federal regulations trump state law? 

"There's going to be cases that are going to have to determine this question," I. Glenn Cohen, a professor and bioethicist at Harvard Law School, said. 

The argument over medication abortion access -- which is banned or restricted in many states but still available to people if they order it (not without risk) online -- will likely also be one of the first big court cases post-Roe, Cohen said. Questions of whether federal regulations on medication abortion conflict directly enough with state restrictions will continue to be center stage.

Medication abortion, for use in early pregnancy, accounts for more than half of abortions in the US. Restricting the pills is the new frontier of abortion bans.

Robyn Beck/Getty Images

Other federal guidance issued by the Biden administration includes a reminder to pharmacists that they are required to fill medication and birth control prescriptions for patients. Failing to do so is discrimination based on pregnancy status. This was in response to the many reports of women having treatment delayed or prescriptions denied while health care workers try to  navigate around new state laws.

Here's what we know today.

Can states ban abortion pills? Not completely, but some are trying. 

Any state with a current total ban on abortion -- including Texas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and Wisconsin -- also bans medication abortion. Heavy restrictions in other states, including Tennessee and South Carolina, which ban abortion after about six weeks, also extend to medication abortion. This means providers can't prescribe the medication in those states and patients can't fill prescriptions at pharmacies.  

"If a state law bans abortion broadly, that includes medication abortions," Elisabeth Smith, director of state policy and advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told MedPage Today.

But abortion bans and state laws seek to punish abortion providers or people who assist them, not the person seeking the abortion (there's reason to believe this might change in the future). For now, people living in the most restrictive states can still order pills from an overseas pharmacy, including Aid Access. However, the pills could take awhile to arrive and potentially put the person past the point of pregnancy for which the medication is safe and effective (about 10 weeks).

Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

The fate of medication abortion pills in Republican-leaning states centers on mifepristone, the first pill given in the two-dose regimen of medication abortion. Because the US Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone as a safe and effective way to end a pregnancy over 20 years ago, states shouldn't be able to restrict it, the US attorney general's office argued the same day Roe was overturned. (Misoprostol, the second pill, is used off-label for abortion and miscarriage treatment. It's also used to treat health conditions such as stomach ulcers.) 

Whether this federal regulation (and the FDA's stamp of approval) supersedes state laws will need to be decided. Cohen said this is likely to be determined by the Supreme Court as "one of the first post-Dobbs cases."

"It's unclear whether that's going to be a winner of an argument, to be perfectly honest," Cohen said.

Last year, the FDA extended a pandemic-era rule that allowed patients to get medication abortion pills through the mail, instead of requiring them to be prescribed in person. This was seen as a victory for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other medical groups, which viewed the in-person requirement as unnecessary for a medication that's safe and effective in early pregnancy.   

But states have their own requirements for medication abortion, and providers licensed in Montana can't prescribe pills to patients who travel over from a restrictive state like South Dakota, NPR reported.

Read more: Worries About Post-Roe Data Privacy Put Spotlight on Period Apps  

Ectopic pregnancies can't result in a delivery and require medical treatment. Symptoms can start with typical pregnancy signs, including a missed period, but can progress to abdominal or pelvic pain, vaginal bleeding, weakness and more. 

Svetlana Gustova/Getty Images

Can states ban treatment for high risk pregnancies? The HHS says no, but doctors say state laws are restricting care.  

Even though the most restrictive states banning abortions leave room for some degree of medical emergency, practicing physicians need to decide where the medical emergency line is – and risk prosecution if a state sees it differently. 

This month, the story of a 10-year-old girl who was raped and pregnant and who traveled to Indiana from Ohio, where abortion is banned around six weeks without exception for rape or incest, made headlines. Not only was the physician publicly questioned by Indiana's attorney general on whether she followed state law, but Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in the aftermath that the girl should've been able to legally get an abortion under the state law's medical emergency exemption. Ohio's OB-GYNs disagreed. 

"It states specifically 'medically diagnosed condition,' and as far as I can tell, adolescent pregnancy is not a medically diagnosed condition that's listed," Dr. Jason Sayat, a Columbus OB-GYN, told the Ohio Capital Journal. 

The Department of Health and Human Services reminded physicians and hospitals that if they want to keep their Medicare agreement and avoid "civil penalties," they must treat pregnant patients and provide abortions if necessary as required under the 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. The EMTLA, now blocked in Texas, outlines certain life-endangering pregnancies that doctors must treat regardless of state law, including ectopic pregnancies, preeclampsia and complications of pregnancy loss.

But that narrow line of abortion exceptions for medical emergencies given by states like Wisconsin is what's troubling Dr. Jennifer McIntosh, a maternal-fetal medicine physician practicing in the state. While Wisconsin's attorney general said he wouldn't enforce a ban, physicians there stopped performing abortions because the state has a pre-Roe criminal statute that prohibits most abortions. The "save the life of the mother" abortion exception language in that law can leave out health conditions which may not be an immediate emergency but can become one down the line. 

"Some of what we do is to prevent emergencies from happening," McIntosh said. "To have to wait for an emergency to actually appear puts your patient's life at risk."

The treatment for an ectopic pregnancy is termination, because terminating the pregnancy is the only safe outcome when an embryo grows outside of the uterus, typically in a fallopian tube. Without treatment, the fallopian tube is likely to rupture, which can lead to internal bleeding and death. But some laws, like one in Texas, specifically restrict medications including methotrexate, which has led to access problems for people who are pregnant as well as people who are taking methotrexate for another health reason. 

Complicating confusion and risk over how abortion bans will affect treatments for ectopic pregnancies is the fact that more rare types of ectopic pregnancies exist, including ones where the pregnancy is growing inside a C-section scar or other area outside the safety of the main cavity of the uterus -- but still technically in the uterus. These rarer kinds of ectopic pregnancies are also life-threatening, and may be more difficult to diagnose and treat as such in a state that bans abortions with an emphasis on the pregnancy being in the uterus.

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

States are not prosecuting people who have abortions (yet)

Current state laws -- both those in effect and those in limbo in court -- prosecute other people involved in an abortion, not the person who's pregnant. 

But the health impact may be already felt when a doctor is hesitant to treat patients, or pharmacists are reluctant to fill a prescription for mifepristone before interviewing a woman to ascertain whether her pregnancy is already ended and her situation is in line with state law.

"Even in these straightforward cases of basic OB/GYN practice, the laws leave providers questioning and afraid," Dr. Carley Zeal, an OB-GYN in Wisconsin, told The New York Times. "These laws are already hurting my patients."

Aside from hesitancy among health care providers, physicians also fear that worries people have about being prosecuted for having an abortion or miscarriage will stop patients experiencing complications from any kind of pregnancy loss from seeking care. 

That's because it was already happening, before Roe was overturned. According to the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, there were over 1,700 arrests or prosecutions of women from 1973 (when Roe became law) to 2020 where their pregnancies were the focus of the case against them. 

So will doctors report you if they suspect you had an abortion? 

"The vast majority of health care professionals will not do that, because that's not caring for their patients," King said. But, she added, "I'm sure there's a very small, but unfortunately detrimental, minority who might." 

Your current access to birth control shouldn't be impacted by the overturn of Roe v. Wade. However, there's reason to believe that could change in the future.

Carol Yepes/Getty Images

Birth control is still protected under the Affordable Care Act

Right now, IUDs, birth control pills and other birth control methods are legal in all 50 states. And they should also be covered at no out-of-pocket cost for those covered under the Affordable Care Act. The right to birth control is protected under two Supreme Court rulings: Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) and Eisenstadt v. Baird. (Another Supreme Court Case, Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, chipped away a little of that protection, however, finding that some corporations are exempt for religious reasons.) 

Plan B or "morning after pill" brands are also not included in abortion bans, because they will not end an existing pregnancy. Most health plans should also cover them. 

Legislators in Missouri last year voted to block taxpayer funding for IUDs and emergency contraception, casting doubt that all birth control devices will be protected indefinitely, at least in some states. The claims of legislators like Paul Wieland, a Republican state senator in Missouri, are that anything that has the potential to disrupt a fertilized egg's implantation into the uterus is an abortifacient. 

The medical community has been clear that IUDs and emergency contraception do not cause abortions and will not end an existing pregnancy. Copper IUDs work mostly by causing a chemical change in the sperm and egg before they meet, according to the World Health Organization. Hormonal IUDs like Mirena work mostly by thickening cervical mucus so sperm can't reach the egg, and can also prevent ovulation. Plan B and similar pills likely won't work if a person has already ovulated, meaning the chances of it stopping implantation are currently understood to be slim.

Nevertheless, unlikely occurrences or instances where a fertilized egg may be prevented from implanting into a uterus could be called into question in future court cases.

Read more: Could a Post Roe v. Wade World Impact Your Access to Birth Control?   

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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New Windows 10 May 2021 update is here: How to download and everything else to know

New Windows 10 May 2021 update is here: How to download and everything else to know

The Windows 10 May 2021 Update (also known as version 21H1) started rolling out to compatible devices last Tuesday, Microsoft said in a blog post. The operating system update is the latest since the October 2020 update, and includes a few new features like Windows Hello multicamera support and security fixes. (If you're running Windows 7 ($5 at Target), you can still download Windows 10 free to get the May 2021 update and avoid security issues.)

While there are a few useful new features, it seems that Microsoft is using this smaller update cycle to prepare for a larger Windows 10 UI update, reportedly code-named Sun Valley, that will be part of Microsoft's renewed focus on Windows 10 that executives mentioned last year. On Wednesday at the Microsoft Build developer's conference, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella teased the next update, saying the company is planning "one of the most significant updates of Windows of the past decade," and that Microsoft plans to unveil the new version "very soon."

We won't know exactly what that update includes until it's formally revealed, but we've collected some rumors below. 

Read more: The best antivirus protection of 2021 for Windows 10 

Here's what to know about Windows 10 version 21H1, and what it could mean for the future of the OS. 

What is Windows 10 version 21H1?

Windows 10 version 21H1 is Microsoft's latest update to the OS, and started rolling out on May 18. It's also called the Windows 10 May 2021 update. 

Usually, Microsoft releases a larger feature update in the spring and a smaller one in the fall. But version 21H1, though a spring update, is a more minor update rather than an overhaul. 

Read more: Windows 10 tips: Secret Start menu, taking screenshots and more

What new features does the Windows 10 May 2021 update include?

According to a February Microsoft blog post, new Windows 10 features include:

• Multicamera support for Windows Hello, allowing users to choose an external camera when using high-end displays with integrated cameras.
• Improvements to Windows Defender Application Guard, including optimizing document opening scenario times.
• Improvements to Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Group Policy Service (GPSVC) updating, to support remote work. 

"The features we are releasing in this update are focused on the core experiences that customers have told us they're relying on most right now," the post said. "So, we optimized this release to support our customers' most pressing needs." 

According to Digital Trends, the update also includes new icons, updated settings pages and some tweaks to Cortana and the search box experience. 

How can I download the Windows 10 May 2021 update?

The May 2021 update began rolling out on May 18 to select devices, starting with those running Windows 10 version 2004 or later. Not all devices will be offered the update right away, so try to be patient until it reaches yours. There also may be some compatibility issues, according to Microsoft's blog post -- if that happens, Microsoft has a safeguard hold in place and will not offer you the update until the team is confident that you'll have a good update experience.

When the May 2021 update is available to you, you'll be able to download it by going to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update, and clicking Check for Updates. If available, you'll see Feature update to Windows 10, version 21H1. Click Download and install. 

This marks the first time an H1 (first half of the calendar year) feature update is being delivered using Microsoft's servicing technology. That means it'll arrive the same way that monthly Windows 10 updates do. It's also the same way the October 2020 update was released. If you're already running either Windows 10 version 2004 or version 20H2, it'll be a fast installation process to get the newest update.

What's this bigger Windows 10 update that could be coming next? 

On an October 2020 earnings call, Nadella said that Microsoft is "doubling down" on Windows and PCs, and will continue to innovate. 

This could take the form of a major OS update for Windows 10 later this year that would bring a major design refresh to the UI, according to a report from Windows Central. The update, reportedly code-named Sun Valley, could bring a redesigned Start menu, Action Center and File Explorer, with a more modern look and new features. Sun Valley is expected to be released around the 2021 holiday season, Windows Central says, but that could change. 

Again, at the Microsoft Build conference on May 25, Nadella teased the next Windows 10 update, saying the company is planning "one of the most significant updates of Windows of the past decade," and that Microsoft plans to unveil the new version "very soon."

Another factor: Microsoft said that its Windows 10X OS designed for dual-screen devices like the Surface Duo and the Surface Neo will not come to market this year, as Microsoft originally intended. Instead, Microsoft will build parts of that technology into other parts of Windows and products from the company, the May 18 blog post said.

For more, check out the best three new features in the Windows 10 October 2020 update and six simple security changes all Windows 10 users need to make. 

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What to know about HP's newest, lightest Aero laptop

What to know about HP's newest, lightest Aero laptop

Back in the 2010s, we saw computer manufacturers clambering to flatten their laptops and clinch the superlative of "thinnest and lightest." (See: CNET's YouTube compilation of "Every time Apple says 'This is the thinnest and lightest MacBook ever'" spanning the past 15 years.) But as laptops have bottomed out at under half an inch, it looks like the race to "the thinnest" has run its course: A computer can't get much skinnier without being, well, a sheet of paper. So, companies have pivoted the focus of their hot pursuit -- and now they're just vying to produce a laptop they can call "the lightest."

HP doesn't say its upcoming 13.3-inch Pavilion Aero 13, announced Tuesday, is the lightest laptop on the market. Instead the claim is that this is the lightest consumer laptop HP has ever produced, weighing less than 1 kilogram, or about 2 pounds. That's about 1 pound lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Pro. Starting at $749 on HP.com, the Pavilion Aero 13 will likely make its US debut in July. (HP predicts availability in the UK and Australia in August, starting at £750 and AU$1,599, respectively.) HP says it's expected to be compatible with Windows 11, which could roll out as early as October.

In a press briefing, HP touted how this lightweight laptop caters specifically to the post-pandemic mobility needs of younger people, who shuttle their computers between school, work, coffee shops and home. The Pavilion Aero 13 should last 10.5 hours on a full charge, and its display is visible even in outdoor sunlight. It comes in trendy color options like pale rose gold and ceramic white.

For a featherweight device, this laptop seems to pack a punch: The AMD Ryzen 5000 processors provide speed, the 2.5K resolution enables crisp visuals and a unique 16:10 aspect ratio offers 10% more size than 16:9 competitors. Plus, HP says the design prioritizes sustainability, incorporating materials you can recycle and plastics that would have otherwise hit the oceans.

The HP Pavilion Aero 13 is reasonably priced, and it seems as if it should suit those who need a smooth-running laptop that they can plunk into a backpack and carry from place to place. Once we grab one to review, we'll see if it's stricken with the same plasticky feel as the similar-weight Lenovo LaVie Z, or if it successfully balances portability with durability.

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Twitter Bot Exposes Gender Pay Gap of Companies Tweeting About International Women's Day

Twitter Bot Exposes Gender Pay Gap of Companies Tweeting About International Women's Day

Every day, there's a new main character on Twitter, and International Women's Day was no different. Providing an invaluable service to women everywhere, Gender Pay Gap Bot went viral on Tuesday when it revealed the extent to which companies celebrating IWD on Twitter were paying their female employees less than their male employees.

International Women's Day has long been appropriated by companies using the language and imagery of female empowerment to sell us things or simply to paint themselves in a positive and progressive light. But if we really want to understand whether a particular company believes in women's empowerment, the best place to start is by looking at their gender pay gap. Often, there is disconnect between what they say and what they do. This is exactly the kind of hypocrisy the Gender Pay Gap Bot highlights.

In the UK, companies with more than 250 employees are required to publicly share data about the differences in pay between men and women across their organizations. Gender pay gap data can reflect inequalities in men and women's experience of working for a company -- for example if a company only promotes men into senior managerial positions or recruits more women to lower paying roles. It's often used as a barometer for measuring gender equality within an organization.

The bot is the creation of copywriter Francesca Lawson and software developer Ali Fensome, both 27, from Manchester, England. Lawson and Fensome used this publicly available data to create a bot that identified British companies and organizations tweeting with the International Women's Day hashtag and would retweet them with information about their gender pay gaps.

Aware that the Gender Pay Gap Bot was airing their dirty laundry in public, many companies and organizations deleted their original International Women's Day tweets so they wouldn't show up in the Bot's feed. Twitter user Madeline Odent (@oldenoughtosay) started keeping track of employers who were deleting their tweets after being called out by the bot. She noticed that many of them reposted their tweets using a different variation of the IWD hashtag.

"I think it's pretty cowardly to delete the tweet after being called out -- it gives off the impression that they're embarrassed about their pay gap and they'd rather pretend it doesn't exist than own up to their problems and do something about it," Lawson said over email. "Nationwide Building Society and University of Sunderland responded with a bit more context about what is causing their gap, which I think is a much more helpful response."

Many of the original tweets used pictures and videos of smiling women working for British companies, with uplifting messages about the importance of female leadership and role models. In contrast, the retweets made for pretty depressing reading. Not all, but the majority of Gender Pay Gap Bot's tweets revealed that women's hourly median pay was lower than that of their male colleagues -- by as much as 73%.

It's no secret that the technology industry in particular has long had a gender and diversity problem. A report released in October by Anita.org, a nonprofit that works to advance women in computing, showed that half of women working in tech feel that it's a boys' club. We can perhaps glean why this is the case by examining some of the Gender Pay Gap Bot's tweets.

"While women have made great strides, there is a continued fight for equality and to eliminate discrimination and bias between genders," tweeted cloud technology company NetApp on Tuesday. "Together, we can forge women's equality. How will you #BreakTheBias?"

Meanwhile, the Gender Pay Gap Bot retweet of NetApp's tweet revealed that women working at the company were paid a median of 37% less per hour than men. 

This is just one example among many, but it highlights the extent to which companies are able to paint discrimination and bias as a problem for others to solve. In light of this, asking what individuals will do to "break the bias" looks like the very definition of passing the buck.

"NetApp's gap in gender pay is mostly driven by the fact that there are far more male employees in commissionable (sales) roles," a NetApp spokesperson said in a statement. "We know there is still work to do and are actively focused on gender balance. NetApp continues to take active steps in reviewing our pay positioning and ensuring we pay male and female employees equally who are in similar jobs that require similar skill sets."

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Facebook's Updated Values Include 'Meta, Metamates, Me'

Facebook's Updated Values Include 'Meta, Metamates, Me'

Facebook changed its name to Meta in October to reflect its focus on the creation of virtual spaces where people can work, play and socialize in what's known as the metaverse. Now the social media giant is revamping its values.

In a note to Facebook employees, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined six of the company's updated values. The values include move fast, focus on long-term impact, build awesome things, live in the future and be direct and respect your colleagues. The last value is "Meta, Metamates, Me," a reference to the Navy phrase "Ship, shipmate, self." 

"It's about the sense of responsibility we have for our collective success and to each other as teammates. It's about taking care of our company and each other," Zuckerberg writes in the note, which he shared publicly on Facebook on Tuesday. Facebook wrote its values in 2007. 

The social network's rebranding and the company's updated values showcase how Facebook is trying to revamp its battered image as it focuses on what Zuckerberg thinks will be the successor to the mobile internet. The social network has faced criticism from politicians, advocacy groups and others for failing to protect user privacy and combat hate speech and misinformation. Some of Meta's workers are also questioning if the company should be creating new products without fixing all the problems it already has on its social media platform, The New York Times reported in February. Meta will likely have a harder time policing offensive content such as online harassment in the metaverse, which is a problem the company is already grappling with in virtual reality. 

Meanwhile, Meta's problems are still growing.

On Monday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Meta, accusing the company of violating the state's privacy laws by capturing biometric data on tens of millions of Texans without properly obtaining consent. A Meta spokesperson said the "claims are without merit."

On Tuesday, Facebook also announced it would start referring to its News Feed as Feed to reflect the variety of content users see on the platform. 

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Dish Expands 5G, But There's a Catch: Here's What You Need to Know

Dish Expands 5G, But There's a Catch: Here's What You Need to Know

What's happening

Dish, the fourth US carrier, says it expanded 5G in 120 cities.

Why it matters

Dish took on its fourth carrier role when Sprint and T-Mobile merged, and has been under the gun by the FCC to roll out the service. It's supposed to a viable competitor to its bigger rivals.

What's next

Dish will still need to provide more clarity on the service, which is still invite only for now.

Dish Network may finally be on its way to offering a competitive 5G alternative to the big three national carriers. On Tuesday, the satellite TV provider updated its Project Genesis site to say 5G service is live in more than 120 cities, marking a claim of nationwide coverage amid a Federal Communications Commission deadline to roll out service to at least a fifth of the country's population. 

The announcement, a surprise change from earlier in the morning, when Las Vegas was the sole live city, could signal that the company is finally getting serious about the wireless business. Dish acquired wireless spectrum for years, but very little of a wireless network materialized. Then in 2020, Dish entered the mobile market by acquiring some of Sprint's mobile licenses, which Sprint was shedding as part of its merger with T-Mobile. The complex transaction suddenly made Dish the country's fourth-biggest carrier and led to the creation of Dish Wireless service.

But the FCC had a stipulation. To ensure competition, the regulatory agency required Dish to make sure 20% of Americans would be covered by its 5G network by June 14. The company said in a Wednesday release that the expansion exceeds that threshold. The "beta list" for the service is only available on an invite-basis only, and the company has been tightlipped about how many people will actually be able to access it.  

Dish wasn't available for comment, but Stephen Stokols, CEO of Dish-owned Boost Mobile, tweeted that 5G service is now live in 120 cities and linked to the Project Genesis site. When reached for comment, the FCC clarified that Dish is required to file status reports to the agency, with the first due on July 14. 

"Consumers benefit when there is more competition in our wireless industry," an FCC spokesperson said over email. "We are closely monitoring DISH's 5G build out to ensure that they are meeting all of their requirements in the law."

A host of issues has conspired to trip up Dish. The company acknowledged during an earnings call earlier this year that it had underestimated how much work it would take to get its own 5G network up and running. Supply chain issues only made the situation worse.

It's unclear whether Dish will suffer any consequences if it ends up missing the deadline. Neither Dish nor the FCC responded to a request for comment.

Here's what you need to know about Dish's 5G plans:

Why did the FCC put this requirement on Dish? 

The deadline is the result of a huge shift in the US mobile industry two years ago, when T-Mobile and Sprint combined in a $26.5 billion deal. The FCC nearly quashed the deal out of concern that it would lead to market concentration by taking one carrier out of the market. Only AT&T, Verizon and the new T-Mobile would remain. 

But Dish, which tried to add mobile service to its satellite TV offerings a decade ago, saw the carrier consolidation as an opportunity to become a mobile player. The company paid $5 billion for Boost Mobile, Sprint's prepaid mobile brand, as well as Sprint's 800MHz wireless spectrum specifically for 5G. Dish also secured rights to use part of T-Mobile's 5G network.

Dish still needed to build out its own 5G network, a task that it started mostly from scratch. To ensure Dish mobile customers would have solid service, the FCC originally set March 7, 2020, as the deadline for the company to have its 5G network up and running. The FCC also stipulated that coverage should reach 20% of the US population. 

The deadline, however, was pushed back at Dish's request several times. The latest deadline was set for June 14, 2022. Dish Chairman and co-founder Charlie Ergen decided against requesting another extension and expected that the carrier would meet the FCC deadline, the Fierce Wireless news site reported in May.

Did Dish make the deadline?

Dish updated its Project Genesis website the day of the deadline to say its 5G network has reached over 120 cities. But we don't know how many people in those cities are covered by the network, and ergo whether Dish has met its goal of covering 20% of the US population by June 14. According to the FCC's terms, failing to meet the deadline could result in Dish's license for wireless spectrums being revoked and paying fines of up to $2.2 billion, the Light Reading news site reported earlier this year. 

How far along is Dish's 5G network?

In early May, Dish made its 5G service publicly available in Las Vegas. Customers sign up for the service through "Project Genesis," an early access program that costs $30 per month and currently is only available on Motorola Edge Plus handsets. (The service plans accommodate other phones in the future.)

In February, Dish had said its 5G service would be live in more than two dozen cities by the June deadline. And after the Las Vegas service launched to the public, the carrier published a list of 113 cities it planned to include in Project Genesis. As recently as its first quarter earnings call in May, Dish had said it remained confident that it would activate 5G service in enough cities to reach 20% of the US population by the June deadline. 

The carrier didn't make public where 5G service was live beyond its first city until today, when it suddenly listed over 120 more cities that now have active service on the Project Genesis site. The service remains invite-only, and we don't know how much area in each city is covered.

In addition to securing Sprint's 800MHz range, Dish has also bid in several separate auctions to secure 5G spectrum licenses. These include spending $7.3 billion in January on midband 5G in the 3.45GHz spectrum and $913 million on the so-called C-band 5G in 2020. Combined, the chunks of connected 5G spectrum will serve as the backbone of its service. 

While Dish can use some of T-Mobile's 5G spectrum for years to come as part of agreements between the carriers, Dish also paid AT&T at least $5 billion in July 2021 for a 10-year contract to lean on the latter's 5G network while it builds out its own infrastructure.

What took Dish so long?

Unlike other carriers, which built their 5G networks on existing 4G LTE, Dish has more or less been building its network from scratch. It's also building the service on OpenRAN, a flexible type of cellular network that uses infrastructure from multiple vendors. 

Dish executives have acknowledged that they'd underestimated the work it would take to build their network and that they hadn't anticipated supply chain issues. 

How can you sign up for Dish 5G?

Right now, you can only sign up for Dish 5G's Project Genesis service by getting on a "beta list" of subscribers. First, check if you're located in any of the over 120 cities with 5G service. Then register by entering your email and address on the Project Genesis member site. Since the program is invite-only, there's no guarantee that applicants will be given the chance to subscribe.

Those in the Project Genesis Beta can use the Samsung Galaxy S22 and/or the NetGear 5G hotspot to access Dish's 5G network, while those in Las Vegas can use the Motorola Edge Plus smartphone. More devices will be made available later in the year.

Update, 1 pm PT and 3:45 pm PT: To include more details of the Project Genesis site and the 120 new cities. 

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The Productivity Hack That's Taking Over TikTok

The Productivity Hack That's Taking Over TikTok

If you've spent any time on TikTok lately, chances are you've scrolled past a livestream of a single person, head down, silently working. They may have a sign indicating their schedule and goals, but for the most part there's no fanfare. There are no attention-grabbing alerts or noises. 

It's dead quiet, save for the scratching of pens or clacking of keys. Most people will keep on scrolling, because it doesn't scratch their neurological itch for content.  But for some people, this silent space is a deeply necessary tool that helps them get through their workday. 

It's all thanks to the phenomenon of body doubling, and it's part of a productivity wave that's beginning to wash over online spaces.

What is body doubling?

Body doubling is the practice of actively and intentionally completing tasks in the presence of someone else, and it makes a tangible difference for those who struggle to retain focus. The double doesn't have to be doing the same task as you, they just need to be present (whether in person or via a livestream screen) and focusing on a project for the same amount of time. 

Body doubling has also long since had a reputation as a recommended self-help strategy for neurodivergent people, especially those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. 

When everyone worked in an office, there was a degree of accountability present in just having your colleagues beside you. It's much harder to get away with scrolling on your phone for 10 minutes if your deskmate can practically see over your shoulder.

But with remote work now more common, people are stuck operating solo, without company to keep them on task. 

For Emily Kula, a content creator who was recently diagnosed with ADHD, the practice of body doubling has made a world of difference. 

"It helps me stay grounded and focused," said Kula. "If left to my own devices I'd keep finding other distractions or remembering other tasks I need to complete … but for some reason just having someone else there helps keep me on track, like a physical human sticky note."

"Regardless of if we are working towards the same goal or not, it's nice having someone present to hold me accountable, even just by being within proximity of me."

While having someone nearby doesn't sound like it would make much difference, for some it has a substantial impact on productivity and functionality. 

The reasoning is twofold. First, there's a degree of accountability to the other person's time. They're working with you, and just like when you've booked an appointment, you feel a responsibility to make sure you're not wasting this person's time. 

Second, it gives you a model, a living reminder of what you're meant to be doing. If you're body doubling to get study done, seeing another person also study will serve as a reminder. Mirroring their actions keeps you on task. 

@dr.kojosarfo A unique way to potentially increase your productivity for individuals w/ ADHD! 💪 #adhd#adhdtips#adhdinwomen#bodydouble♬ Honobono suspicious comedy comical fagott - poco poco music

The jury is still out on the cognitive reasoning behind why it works so well -- some say it's behavioral modeling, others say it's all down to good collaborative vibes. Others even suggest mirror neurons could be responsible. Social learning theory suggests that observation and imitation are some of the most powerful learning tools at our disposal. 

But regardless of the neurological trigger, what's shown online is that for many people, it just works. And it's also not limited to work or study. The same can also be said for cleaning, self care and even just general day-to-day life. 

"Part of the power is in seeing other people doing all sorts of various tasks and allowing it to be normalized -- that the everyday ins and outs are not glamorous," said Anna Pugh, co-founder of body doubling and monotasking website Spacetime Monotasking. "We have this storytelling that we're trudging through, doing all of these things that nobody else has to do, but [body doubling] helps to dissolve this illusion of separateness."

Pugh's co-founder Marisa Mayes echoed the sentiment, saying, "We have people who use it to clean, to make lunch for themselves and take a shower. … It's amazing to see what people are using it for and what they need help with."

Spacetime and its origins

Pugh started Spacetime Monotasking in early 2021, after a series of videos she'd made on monotasking and productivity suddenly surged in popularity. 

Monotasking, which refers to the practice of staying present on one task or project for a specific period of time, is often found hand-in-hand with body doubling as both participants disregard outside distraction for the designated time period.

"When I started talking about it, the conversation that was happening in my comment section was a lot of people saying, 'Oh, this is body doubling,' she said. "I wasn't familiar with that term specifically, but then when I looked into it I thought, I've been doing this my whole life in order to get by … And so I started doing some live body doubling sessions.".

@annasinwonderland Tuesday with @Spacetime Monotasking! #monotask#monotasking#mindful#mindfulness#adhd#adhdtiktok#bodydouble#gentleproductivity#mindfulnesspractice#entrepreneur#entrepreneurship♬ Right Down the Line - Gerry Rafferty

From there, Mayes joined the team, and the livestreamed sessions turned into a fully fledged website, which seeks to provide a space for people to work alongside each other, taking one or two hours out of each day to participate in a community-driven flow or focus session.

The concept is simple: Over Zoom, users can provide body doubles for each other without the awkwardness of asking friends or colleagues to help, and without the distraction of wanting to chat about miscellaneous things.

Pugh detailed the process, explaining, "We usually open it up about five minutes before the beginning of the hour, and then we start the session about five minutes into the hour. So there's about a 10-minute window where you can join, you can connect with people, you can share your intentions for the hour, and the goal is to get clarity around where you're headed. … And then we go on mute."

With forced mute, nobody can be distracted by the clanging of a dropped item, or the barking of a disgruntled dog. They are simply there to be present with their fellow body doublers, working toward separate goals but with a common focus.

"The accountability of the group is enough for a lot of people," Pugh said. 

"We hear this feedback often: People will think, 'There's 10 minutes left in the session, I could just bounce right now, but this task I'm working on just needs a little bit more,' and as you go to click the leave button you see everybody else is still working and you're like, 'I can stick it out for 10 more minutes.'"

It's not a walk in the park

Committing to body doubling isn't as easy as you might think. The same room part is doable, but staying on task, without chatter, without questions, without distraction? It doesn't come naturally to everyone.

"We get people who try it out who'd never come back, because maybe it's not for them or it's also really hard to do – that's the thing that a lot of people don't understand, is that it's hard work to show up and to stay with something," said Pugh. 

This is even more prevalent in people experiencing brain fog after contracting COVID-19. In these cases, researchers believe brain fog can be attributed to inflammation in the brain, which leads to lessened concentration, inability to focus and weakened memory function. 

For people who had difficulty regulating their time prior to contracting the virus, it adds a whole new barrier to functionality. Those who haven't experienced it before have to adapt to entirely new methods of work.

"I think it's a big mindset shift because we're so used to bouncing from thing to thing and feeling busy," said Pugh. "But not actually feeling productive and not making true progress on things."

Standard productivity vs. gentle productivity

With hustle culture and a push to always be grinding, standard productivity models tend to skew to the perspective that if you're not succeeding, you need to try harder. Rigorous time management schemes and productivity hacks dominate social media sites like Pinterest, with the underpinning "motivational" message often making readers feel guilty for not pushing harder. 

Some lucky people may derive all the motivation they need from hustle culture without it affecting their health. For others, however, it can very quickly lead to burnout, exhaustion and toxicity. 

Erin Griffith of The New York Times spoke of toxic hustle culture leading to the idea of "toil glamour," where it's not enough to push yourself to the limits, but you also have to outwardly profess to love doing so. And it's not sustainable for most people.

"On TikTok specifically, it's hard to get people's attention with, 'Hey, let's be nicer to ourselves about productivity, and be gentle, and not be assholes to ourselves as we're talking about how much we're getting done every day'," said Mayes. 

It's all part of the growing gentle productivity movement. Characterized by an examination of goals, intentions and capacity, the movement seeks to release some of the pressures we've placed on ourselves as a result of hustle culture.

Body doubling and monotasking are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to gentle productivity methods on TikTok. In rebellion to the toxicity of hustle culture, the wider gentle productivity movement has found a welcoming home on the platform, with 1.4 million views under the #gentleproductivity hashtag. 

@annasinwonderland I'm trying to help myself move away from isolation, so my current bar is to leave the house at least once a day 😌 #gentleproductivity#selfcompassion#selfacceptance#creativeprocess#mindfulness#slowdown#productivity#healingtiktok#healing @annasinwonderland ♬ original sound - shekinah

It's not about allowing things to fall by the wayside in the interest of self-reward -- it's about consideration of what you need in order to get tasks done without causing distress or lack of functionality. Setting reasonable and flexible goals and expectations of yourself is paramount, which runs counter to the 'aim high' hustle mentality. 

Instead of routinely setting the bar out of reach, gentle productivity suggests relying on goals and strategies that are less hustle-focused, and trusting ourselves to get the job done regardless.

"We're going the other direction and saying it's actually those little moments of trusting yourself that really make a difference," Pugh said.

After two years of pandemic-related working changes and disruption, it's all the more important to develop an awareness of how your working environment and context may require tweaking in order to avoid burnout. 

According to the World Health Organization, "Burnout is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed." This is further characterized by feelings of energy depletion and exhaustion, increased mental distance from work and reduced professional efficacy.

By focusing on gentle productivity tools like body doubling and monotasking, the goal is to address burnout with preventative measures as opposed to remedial action. Instead of taking a vacation when your burnout reaches its peak, advocates suggest reframing your working style to incorporate these gentle techniques.

"We have a few business owners who are offering it as a resource to their employees and covering the cost of their membership," said Pugh. "I think about this for myself: If I had access to something like this, it probably would have reduced a lot of the friction on my inability to follow through, on my inability to stay focused. 

"I would have been a better employee if I had access to something like this."

Finding space and time

If it sounds a little counterintuitive to use a social media platform designed for 15-second sound bites to keep focused, that's understandable. But the value of body doubling sits comfortably in the extended livestreams, which have the capacity to break even the most hyperfocused doomscroll. 

In livestreams and Zoom sessions around the world, people are reconnecting by sharing that same space, focusing together despite working apart. Not only is the community growing, but the gentle productivity ethos is gaining traction all over the internet.

So if you're finding it hard to focus on tasks or feel isolated after working remotely over the course of the pandemic, perhaps body doubling could be a good starting point. 

It may not be as glamorous as the "work all day, hustle all night" culture, but practicing gentle productivity and body doubling is much kinder than forcing your mind and body into a lifestyle that doesn't work for you. In the end, that's all we can really ask for.

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Spotify's Car Thing Is About to Face the Music

Spotify's Car Thing Is About to Face the Music

A year has 525,600 minutes. Matt Suda spent 206,989 of them -- more than a third of last year -- listening to Spotify.

Suda was one of the earliest customers to get his hands on an invite-only release of Car Thing, Spotify's first-ever hardware device, which goes on sale Tuesday. Unlike him, you probably didn't spend more time streaming music than sleeping last year. But Spotify is betting that Suda and about 140 million of you have something in common: Your car doesn't have a fancy infotainment system to rival a Tesla's.

"I was just interested in seeing Spotify's take on actually building their own hardware," said Suda, a 26-year-old student in Houston, who drives a 2012 Honda. "I wasn't expecting a whole lot. But getting the device and using it -- you can understand more the problem they're going after."

Spotify's main listening location is the home, but the car is a close second, said Gustav Söderström, Spotify's chief research and development officer. He says Americans spent an "insane" 70 billion hours a year on the road pre-pandemic. But while roughly 50% to 70% of cars on US roads may be able to connect to a phone, they're not so fresh-off-the-line as to have an entertainment display that easily streams tunes and podcasts. 

To Spotify, that meant drivers in roughly 140 million cars might stream Spotify more -- or start paying for it if they don't already -- if a device could replicate Apple's Car Play or Android Auto for them. 

"Why would we do something ourselves here?" Söderström said. "If this already existed, we wouldn't have." 

Enter Car Thing.

Sarah Tew/CNET

It may look like a bit like a sideways Zune, Microsoft's failed music player that launched in 2006. But with a credit-card-size touchscreen, mics to pick up voice commands, five buttons and a dial, the $90 Car Thing is a souped-up Spotify remote control for your ride. It mounts to your dash, with the goal of bringing a better way to safely stream music to drivers missing one of those fancy infotainment systems -- no dashboard teardown or new car required. 

When Spotify first unveiled Car Thing in April, more than 2 million people signed up for its waitlist. The earliest people invited to try it got it free; by fall, people had to start paying $80. On Tuesday, it's finally going on sale in the US, with a $10 price hike to $90.

Currently, Car Thing works only with Spotify's premium tier. That means on top of the $90 you pay for the hardware, you also must pay for a Spotify membership. Its standard subscription is $10 a month, though it comes as cheap as $5 a month for students. 

So Car Thing is only for Spotify -- but only for now. 

Its software is on track for an update in "a few weeks" that will unlock it to control other audio apps, Söderström said. If you love Audible, Car Thing will be able to play, pause, skip and adjust volume for your audio books. The update will even allow Car Thing to work for services that are Spotify's direct competitors. "We want to be an open platform," he said. 

That openness could, eventually, extend to "deeper integrations with potential partners" if Car Thing takes off, he added. While Spotify wouldn't elaborate on future partnerships, a Car Thing that could toggle between Spotify and Google Maps or Waze would give it the one-two punch of both music navigation and, well, literal navigation. 

"Why would we do something ourselves here? If this already existed, we wouldn't have."

Gustav Söderström, Spotify chief research and development officer

Broadening Car Thing may be wise, because those 140 million cars may be a more niche market than it seems, according to Tatiana Cirisano, a music industry analyst and consultant at researcher MIDiA. Just 22% of US consumers stream music in the car. 

"Streaming services are battling for market share over this relatively small demographic," Cirisano said. 

With sales opening in the US on Tuesday, Spotify is about to start learning: Is Car Thing tapping into a caravan of unmet need for millions of drivers? Or is it driving headlong toward a dead end? 

But as vehicles steer toward a future of being more autonomous, anything Spotify can do to solidify itself as the must-have music service in the car may pay dividends down the road. 

"Full autonomy is probably the most elusive goal of all, but the dream is: You get into your car and all the windows turn into displays," said Edward Sanchez, a senior automotive analyst at Strategy Analytics. "That's what everyone's salivating at the prospect of."

Sarah Tew/CNET

Getting to mile one

The concept for something like Car Thing had been percolating at Spotify for a while, but the device's date of conception might be marked in 2018, when it got its name. First proposed over dinner among a handful of Spotify hardware designers and brand agents, Car Thing was a semi-serious placeholder that the design team adopted for a code name. The name was funny, very literal and a bit childish, said Andreas Cedborg, Spotify's head of hardware product. 

"People think, 'Hey, you can't name it like that,'" Cedborg said. "But, yeah, you can."

Hints about Spotify making hardware for the car soon trickled out. In 2018, some marketing materials made their way to a smattering of Spotify users, advertising a voice-command device you could mount on your dash and pay for as an add-on to your Spotify subscription. Images showed a round device with a lit-up text display with a green circle border. Spotify declined to comment on images at the time, but the company now says it was just a test; it never produced the device pictured.

By May 2019, Spotify came clean it was experimenting with a device called Car Thing. It was different from the device in the leaked test images, but it was also a long way from what Car Thing would become.

Spotify's first iteration of Car Thing. 

Spotify

The first Car Thing's screen was too small, its dial too big, Cedborg said. Its green accents, a nod to Spotify's flagship color, made it stick out from the rest of the dashboard rather than blending in. It also had its own battery, which the current version eschews in favor of a cable that connects to your car's USB port or 12-volt socket. While a battery would make Car Thing more self-sufficient, freezing temperatures inside a car during winter would ding battery life, and scorching heat with a car baking in the sun risked explosion. A battery also adds weight, making it trickier to mount well. 

The Car Thing team's eureka moment was combining a hat-trick of voice commands, touch screen and physical inputs like buttons and dials. Drivers needed all three, working in concert, they realized. A touchscreen is impossible for typing each letter of a song title while driving, but voice commands handle long titles easily. Yet voice commands are a frustrating way to get to the bottom of a long playlist; a physical dial makes that simple. This three-prong approach was "the user interface that we didn't see anywhere in the car world," Söderström said. 

After three more years of testing, redesign, user research and pandemic delays, Car Thing was ready for its unveiling. In April, Spotify published a blog post that yes, Car Thing was real. Yes, Car Thing was the name. And yes, it had arrived -- sort of. Spotify introduced the waitlist, and people who signed up for it could potentially get it free. 

The current design of Car Thing.

Sarah Tew/CNET

"We just can't make enough of them," CEO Daniel Ek said in October about getting Car Things into the hands of waitlisted customers. Progress was crimped by global chip shortages, a problem that halted carmakers' assembly lines, made Apple's iPhone 12 launch weeks late and turned finding a Sony's PS5 game console into a Christmas miracle. (Ek wasn't available to discuss Car Thing's US launch.)

But this slow seeding of the device allowed Spotify to gather feedback about Car Thing in the wild, figuring out what needed change or improvement. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

Road ahead

The version of Car Thing on sale Tuesday is the same physical device purchased off the waitlist. What's changed is the software. And the price. 

In pricing Car Thing at $90, Spotify is straddling two worlds. On one side, Car Thing isn't meant to be a revenue engine. Hardware "is a means to an end," Söderström said. Spotify hopes you'll pay for its service more so than its hardware. But on the other side, Spotify doesn't want to sell Car Thing at a loss just to make back the money on memberships. It wants to get Car Thing in as many cars as possible, but it will gauge Car Thing's success by the new subscribers and higher listening rates from existing members it attracts.

Despite the price hike, Spotify wants to get the price down. The $10 price increase was the result of the rising cost of chips, the company said. One thing that could help bring down price is selling Car Thing, eventually, outside the US, since scaling production can bring down the unit cost of making them. Spotify isn't committing to international expansion, but there are clear markets where Car Thing could go next, Söderström said, pointing theoretically to parts of Central and South America and Europe.

The company could also pursue bundles and deals that could make Car Thing a stronger value, he said.  

Gustav Söderström is Spotify's chief research and development officer.

Spotify

Söderström likens Car Thing to the Kindle, Amazon's hit e-reader. As Amazon's play to keep Apple from dominating digital books, Kindle was a means to an end, too. When the Kindle first launched in 2007, it was $399. Today, coincidentally, Kindles start at $90, the same price as Car Thing. 

Car Thing also comes at a time when Spotify's public image has been buffeted by drama over its most popular podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience. The debate pits accusations of dangerous COVID-19 misinformation against advocacy of freedom of speech. Spotify declined to comment on the Rogan debate.

Though 2 million on the Car Thing waitlist is a big number, it may have included flocks of people looking to score a freebie and a gaggle who were enticed by the hype around Spotify's first hardware. Sara Kayden, the marketing lead for Car Thing, says Spotify's conversion rate -- the amount people who actually buy Car Thing when they get off the waitlist -- was "healthy," without specifying further. 

The buyer reaction to Car Thing so far runs the gamut. Social media is dotted with both raves and regrets by people who got one off the waitlist. One Redditor mounted Car Thing to his Harley Davidson motorcycle and paired it to his Bluetooth headphones. Before Car Thing, switching tracks or adjusting volume was "nearly impossible" with his phone in his pocket and leather gloves on. 

But others have complained Car Thing was overpriced even when it was $80. 

Suda, the Spotify power user who scored Car Thing early and free, is still using the gadget every time he drives, nine months later. He's noticed that Car Thing's software has gotten zippier. "To me, it just makes it easier to listen and it's actually safer, if you don't have CarPlay or any of that fancy stuff," he said. 

In 2019, when Spotify revealed its first iteration of Car Thing, it also brought to light the possibility of a "Voice Thing" and "Home Thing." It was hardware that never materialized. Still, "it wasn't vaporware," Söderström said. "I've tried it. But it's not something we're launching right now." Spotify declined to comment on what its next thing in hardware would be. Regardless, they should definitely code-name it Next Thing.

And if Next Thing is ever to become a Real Thing, Spotify must pray Car Thing follows the roadmap of Kindle rather than Zune.

CNET's Katie Collins contributed to this report.  

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