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Phone Won't Charge? Try This Easy DIY Toothpick Trick First


Phone Won't Charge? Try This Easy DIY Toothpick Trick First


Phone Won't Charge? Try This Easy DIY Toothpick Trick First

You've plugged your iPhone or Android phone into its charger and... nothing's happened. From broken or rusted charging ports to damaged power cables, there are plenty of reasons your phone might not charge and not all of them can be easily fixed at home. A common reason for faulty charging is simply that your charging port, whether that's Lightning on the iPhone 13 or USB-C on phones like the Google Pixel 6 Pro is clogged with months' worth of pocket fluff and the cable can't quite fit in anymore. 

Thankfully, this is one of the simplest and cheapest solutions to a charging problem. Here's how to fix it. 

CNET Tech Tips logo

Why is my charging port blocked? 

There are no covers on your phone's charging port, meaning they're exposed to every bit of dust, dirt and debris they encounter. Every time you slide your phone into your pocket your phone will be susceptible to pocket fluff and if, like me, you've got pockets filled with detritus from accidentally washing your jeans with old receipts in the pockets then that's asking for trouble. And that's to say nothing of the biscuit crumbs I have in there. Do not ask me why I have biscuit crumbs in my pockets. 

Day by day, this won't be a problem but those tiny bits of dust and fluff will build up over the months or years you have your phone, compacting together each time you plug in your charging cable until it forms a solid barrier that stops your charger from going all the way in and allowing it to connect and charge. 

Inserting a cocktail stick into an iPhone's charging port

A wooden cocktail stick is a great tool for the job as the wood won't damage the internal parts. 

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

If you've had your phone for more than six months and you're gradually finding the charger becoming less and less stable (particularly if you have to wiggle it around to get it to begin charging) then it's highly likely that dirt in your port is the culprit. 

How to clean out your phone's charging port 

It's a simple task to unclog your phone's port. You'll need a cocktail stick, toothpick or other thin item that you can poke in to the port to scrape out the grime. Wood or plastic is better as it's less likely to scrape against anything inside and potentially cause harm. I've done this using a metal SIM removal tool and while it worked well, it's not the safest option for your phone. 

Insert your tool of choice into the charging port until it won't go further and gently start scraping away. With an iPhone's Lightning port you can scrape back and forth, but with USB-C you'll need to scrape around the charging connector, which sits in the middle of the port. 

A cocktail stick inside an iPhone's charging port

Get it in there.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Eventually you'll start to work the compacted debris loose and you'll be able to encourage the dislodged material out of the port. It's a satisfying process and you might be surprised at how much stuff actually comes out. Gently work on the sides of the port too, but be mindful not to scrape hard against any of the metal charging connectors. 

Eventually you'll have pretty much all of it out. It's difficult to check for sure if you've gotten rid of it all as it's tricky to see inside the port, even if you have a good light to hand. But once you've got a good amount of nonsense out, you can try your charging cable again. 

Close up on dirt removed from an iPhone's charging port

The satisfying removal of nonsense from your phone's charging port.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Hopefully it'll plug in more securely now and begin charging. If not, carry on trying to extract more dirt and then test the charger again. If that still doesn't solve the issue it's time to consider other solutions like a new cable or charger. 


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Stop Rinsing Your Teeth With Water After Brushing. Here's Why


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Stop Rinsing Your Teeth With Water After Brushing. Here's Why


Stop Rinsing Your Teeth With Water After Brushing. Here's Why

This story is part of Home Tips, CNET's collection of practical advice for getting the most out of your home, inside and out.

You already know that brushing your teeth twice a day is considered the best dental hygiene practice. But did you know you should skip rinsing your mouth after? I used to rinse thoroughly after brushing my teeth to remove any remnants of toothpaste left in my mouth. But this method isn't the best and I only found out last year while scrolling through TikTok. 

Instead, I now spit out as much toothpaste as I can without swishing with water so I can allow the toothpaste to do its work just a little longer. However, I wasn't sure why I was doing this -- or what the benefits were -- until I spoke with an expert.

I talked to Dr. Edmond Hewlett, consumer advisor for the American Dental Association and professor at UCLA School of Dentistry, to find out why you shouldn't rinse your mouth with water after brushing your teeth. Here's the answer.

See also: Best Electric Toothbrush for 2022

Why it's important to skip rinsing with water after brushing your teeth

Fluoride is an important ingredient in toothpaste that helps make the enamel harder and more resistant to acids that cause cavities. Hewlett says it's the most well-established effective ingredient in toothpaste, so make sure yours has fluoride in it. 

When you brush your teeth, you're cleaning any film and bacteria from food and sugary drinks. When you go a step further and skip rinsing, you're leaving the fluoride from the toothpaste in your mouth for a longer time, giving you a better effect from the fluoride.

Wait at least 15 minutes after brushing to drink water. After brushing your teeth, Hewlett explains, your saliva will clear the toothpaste out so you won't taste it all day. 

What if you've been rinsing all your life? 

If you're just finding out about this tip, you may be thinking you've been undoing all your hard work of brushing every day. But that's not true. Hewlett says as long as you brush the standard two times a day for two minutes each time, the fluoride will remain in your mouth to help protect your teeth. 

You're still doing what you need to do to have good oral health to protect your teeth. The idea of not rinsing is just an extra step to help the fluoride be even more effective.

"When you measure a person's fluoride levels in saliva, if they don't rinse, there's more fluoride," Hewlett said. But it's not going to be a waste of your time if you do rinse. He said research is still being done to determine the difference it makes in the long term to prevent cavities. 

whitening toothpaste

Check that your toothpaste contains fluoride.

Sarah Mitroff/CNET

Your specific dental health also plays a role

There are different risk levels for getting cavities per person, Hewlett said. 

"If you typically don't get cavities, then you should continue using fluoride toothpaste. The decision to rinse or not to rinse after brushing probably won't make a difference."

On the other hand, for those who struggle with cavities, not rinsing is probably a better decision. Additionally, you should get help from your dentist to find out why you're getting cavities regularly -- for instance, it could be your eating habits, snacking on sugary foods or not brushing your teeth regularly. If you're at higher risk for cavities, you should do everything you can to help prevent them. 

Is it OK to use mouthwash to rinse your teeth after brushing?

It's OK as long as you use a mouthwash that also contains fluoride so you can still get the same effect. Otherwise, without fluoride, it's similar to rinsing with water.

More teeth brushing tips

Here are some additional tips for keeping your oral health up to par.

  • Always use a soft bristle toothbrush, and never medium or hard. Hewlett says anything but soft can increase the risk of gum recession. 
  • It doesn't matter if you floss before or after you brush your teeth, as long as you floss once a day to remove plaque and stuck food. 
  • You don't have to aggressively brush your teeth to get them clean. While scrubbing your dishes with extra force may make them extra clean, it's not necessary for your teeth and can also lead to gum recession.
  • Gently brush along the gum line with a soft bristle brush to help prevent gum disease.
  • Always consult with your dentist for personalized advice. They understand what your oral health profile looks like. 

For more, here's the best time to brush your teeth in the morning.

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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Why Bluey Is The Best Children's TV Show On The Planet


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Why Bluey Is the Best Children's TV Show on the Planet


Why Bluey Is the Best Children's TV Show on the Planet

When my oldest son was 3, he watched one of the consensus worst animated movies, Planes: Fire and Rescue, roughly four times a week. 

To be clear, this is a conservative estimate. An estimate designed to make myself feel better. An estimate to make you think I'm less of a horrorshow parent than I actually am. The actual number? I don't know. I don't want to know.

Kids have terrible taste in everything. And, if given the opportunity, tend to watch the same thing – over and over – until every frame is emblazoned like TV burn-in, directly on their hippocampus. I know. I've been here. Friends, I have suffered.

I am here to rescue you from this burden. 

I am here to tell you about Bluey.

Bluey is an Australian-made kids TV show about a family of anthropomorphic dogs who walk, talk and act like human beings. It premiered on ABC (Australia's version of the BBC) back in 2018 and slowly, but surely, began taking over the planet ever since. 

Bluey is the best kids TV show I have ever watched and I am obsessed with it.

Available to watch on Disney Plus in the US, Bluey is aimed at preschool children but I regularly watch it with both of my children, now aged 6 and 9. 

I definitely haven't been watching episodes by myself when the kids are at school. 

But if I was watching episodes of Bluey by myself when the kids were at school, I'd blame its uniquely calming aesthetics. I'd tell you about its commitment to quality in all its facets. I'd tell you the show regularly brings me to tears, with its relatable, yet courageous insights into family life and its lessons about what it's like to be a parent -- or just part of a family -- in the 21st century. 

camping

Camping is my favourite episode, but there are so many classics! 

Disney Plus

Surface level explanations of the show's quality don't do it justice. Bluey is a show about a family doing everyday family things, but it's the execution that counts. An episode about playing on a trampoline with your kids becomes a quiet reflection on how work inevitably encroaches on the joy of parenthood. An episode about a baby's first steps forces parents to confront the perils of being competitive with other moms and dads. Bluey is so delicately balanced that lessons rarely feel forced and come enriched with humor that transcends age barriers. Bluey is funny no matter how old you are, and never in a – shhhh – this is an adult joke wink-wink way, but in an accessible, democratic way that keeps everyone on board. 

Some episodes hit on a level that you truly don't expect. One episode, titled Camping, explores the strange nostalgia of a short-term vacation friend. I was sobbing by the end. Any episode where the kids dress up as "grannies" is hysterical and I challenge any mother to watch Sleepytime and leave with dry eyes. Fathers will find a role model in Bandit, maybe the best father in television history. He's creative, charming, and has me challenging my own assumptions about what it means to be an effective dad in 2022. Bandit is the north star and we're all left trailing in his wake. 

Ultimately Bluey is the rarest of shows. It speaks directly to parents without alienating children. It has lessons to teach but never patronizes or oversteps the mark. It's perfectly balanced and endlessly rewatchable. There's never been a kid's show like Bluey, Almost every episode is operating at the level of a high quality Pixar short. Watch it immediately. You won't regret it. For real life.

Just don't blame me if your kids start speaking with Australian accents. 


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Windows 7 To 10 Upgrade: Seriously, Here's Why You Need To Update


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Windows 7 to 10 upgrade: Seriously, here's why you need to update


Windows 7 to 10 upgrade: Seriously, here's why you need to update

It's been almost two years since Microsoft officially ended support for Windows 7 in January 2020. The end shouldn't have come as a surprise to Windows users: Microsoft promised 10 years of product support for Windows 7 when it was released in October 2009, before shifting focus to supporting newer technologies, like Windows 11

That means Microsoft no longer offers technical assistance or software updates to your device, and the company encouraged people to upgrade to Windows 10 to keep their PCs and laptops secure. (If you're a Windows 8.1 user, extended support for that OS won't end until January 2023.) But don't worry -- you can still use this trick to download Windows 10 for free if you want to. And with Windows 10, you can upgrade to Windows 11 for free.

Keep reading for everything you need to know about the end of Windows 7 support, and how to make the switch to Windows 10.

windows-10-ft-lead-1.jpg

The customizable Start menu on Windows 10.

Nate Ralph/CNET

Read more: How to download Windows 10 for free

Why did Microsoft end support for Windows 7?

Microsoft has a long-established Fixed Lifestyle Policy for many of its products. For each version of its OS, the company offers a minimum of 10 years of support (at least five years of Mainstream support, followed by five years of Extended support). Both types include security and program updates, self-help online topics and extra help you can pay for.

Windows 7 was released in October 2009, so its 10-year life cycle has come to a close. Windows 10 was released in 2015, and extended support for the latest version of the OS is slated to end in 2025.

Read more: New to Windows 10? Here's how long Microsoft will support it

Will my Windows 7 computer stop working?

Your Windows 7 computer will keep working, but Microsoft won't provide security updates or fixes, or technical support for any issues -- leaving your computer at greater risk from viruses and malware that may circulate to take advantage of any flaws that are later discovered.

That's why it's critically important for you to switch to an OS version that Microsoft will still put resources behind.

Read more:  Windows 7 support is dead, but these seven security tips will still protect your laptop

Do I have to make the switch to Windows 10?

No one can force you to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10, but you're leaving your devices and potentially your privacy vulnerable if you don't make the jump. Without security updates or fixes, you're putting your computer at risk -- an especially dangerous choice, as many forms of malwaretarget Windows devices.

Windows 10 also has a number of built-in security tools: Windows Defender Antivirus protects against malware and spyware across email, apps, the cloud and the web, while Windows Hello offers a password-free sign-in option to unlock your devices with your face or a fingerprint reader. A Find My Device service can lock and erase your Windows device remotely, or map the location of your device.

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

Isn't Windows 10 pretty buggy?

Some people have been hesitant to make the switch due to reports of several bugs in earlier versions of Windows 10. But Microsoft has made several changes to its update approach since then. The biggest change came with the May 2019 release, including slower rollouts with additional testing, more options for pausing updates and more disclosure of known issues, so your experience should be smoother.

Many of the issues were due to the fact that updates are happening more frequently, said Gartner Research analyst Steve Kleynhans. "But overall most users seem pretty happy with the OS and like the experience it brings, especially on newer devices," he added.

Read more: 6 simple security changes all Windows 10 users need to make

What's the difference between Windows 7 and Windows 10, anyway?

Besides a suite of security tools, Windows 10 also offers more features. One is the Your Phone app, which allows you to access texts, notifications and apps from your phone using your PC -- similar to Apple's Continuity features. A feature called Calls allows you to place and answer Android calls on your PC (and you can connect your iPhone to your Windows PC as well). A dictation feature lets you easily record ideas.

Microsoft's digital assistant Cortana is also available on Windows 10 PCs. The OS also integrates better with Microsoft OneDrive and other cloud tools.

Read more: 11 easy Windows 10 tricks you didn't know about

The most recent Windows 10 November 2021 update includes features like new Wi-Fi security standards and other changes aimed at management and security.

Unlike previous versions of the OS, Windows 10 offers automatic updates by default, to keep systems more secure. (You can turn these off if you want to, by going to Windows Update Settings > Advanced Options and changing from Automatic to another option in the drop-down menu.)

Read more: 5 Windows 10 features that beat what you had on Windows 7

How do I upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10? How much will it cost me?

You can buy and download Windows 10 via Microsoft's website for $139. While Microsoft technically ended its free Windows 10 upgrade program in July 2016, as of November 2021, CNET has confirmed the free update is still available for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 users. Check out our step-by-step guide on how to upgrade to Windows 10 for free.

Read more: 20 pro tips to make Windows 10 work the way you want (free PDF) (TechRepublic)


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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read more: How We Test VPNs

Kape's evolving business model

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Kape Technologies

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

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

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

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

Good press is hard to find, but easy to buy  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who reviews the reviewers? 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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Stop Pouring Vinegar Into Your Dishwasher. Here's Why


Stop Pouring Vinegar Into Your Dishwasher. Here's Why


Stop Pouring Vinegar Into Your Dishwasher. Here's Why

You've likely had someone tell you that putting vinegar into your dishwasher's rinse aid or detergent compartment was good for keeping your dishes spotless. While it can keep the water spots at bay and give your glasses that desired sparkle, white vinegar can ruin your dishwasher.

Yes, we understand vinegar is just a fraction of the cost of rinse aid. However, do you really want to drop $800 instead when your dishwasher no longer works?

We'll explain below why you shouldn't use vinegar as a rinse aid. If you're set on using it anyway, we'll tell you the best method so you won't ruin your dishwasher.

White vinegar can destroy your dishwasher

White vinegar is great for your everyday cleaning, from unclogging your kitchen sink to cleaning your showerhead. It's also great at removing hard water spots on your dishes. But there are some places it just doesn't belong, and your dishwasher rinse aid compartment is one of them.

White distilled vinegar is an acid with a pH of around 2 to 3. In comparison, sulfuric acid -- which destroys many substances it comes in contact with -- has a pH of around 1.

So, be aware that vinegar can break down the rubber gaskets and hoses in your dishwasher, leading to costly damage. On top of that, if vinegar mixes with salt that's been left on your dishes, it can discolor metal pans, flatware and mixing bowls.

The bottom line: We recommend using rinse aids that are designed to be used in a dishwasher -- for instance, Finish or Cascade. While they too can contain vinegar, the acidity is low enough to not damage your dishwasher or dishes.

If you must use vinegar, do this

If you're still set on using vinegar in your dishwasher, you can -- just don't put it in the rinse aid dispenser. Instead, follow these rules for cleaning your dishes in the dishwasher with vinegar to cause as little damage as possible.

  • Use white vinegar with the lowest acidity possible. Most come with 6% acidity but if you can, try to find 5%. This is the lowest concentration of acidity for household white vinegar and will cause the least amount of damage.
  • Pour the vinegar into the bottom of your dishwasher during the rinse cycle so it's diluted with water.
  • Even better, pour a cup of vinegar into a bowl and place it on the bottom rack of your dishwasher. 

How to prevent water spots on your dishes

If you're using a rinse aid -- or vinegar -- and still notice water spots or other heavy buildup on your dishes, there's another problem. Chances are you have hard water and will need to invest in a water softening system to prevent these spots.

Water is considered "hard" if it has high levels of dissolved compounds of magnesium and calcium, which causes mineral buildup on your dishes, faucets and bathtub. Water softeners are systems that remove the calcium and magnesium ions that cause the water to be considered hard. Once the water is "softened," it won't leave spots on your dishware and you'll hopefully never need to use vinegar in your dishwasher again.

For more cleaning tips, check out this hack that quickly unclogs your showerhead. Also, here's how to unclog your toilet without a plunger.


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Return Of Meme Stocks: Why Bed Bath & Beyond And GameStop Won't Go Away


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Return of Meme Stocks: Why Bed Bath & Beyond and GameStop Won't Go Away


Return of Meme Stocks: Why Bed Bath & Beyond and GameStop Won't Go Away

Meme stocks -- stocks that go viral online through social media or message boards -- continue to make news on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. Last Tuesday, Bed Bath & Beyond's stock price (BBBY) soared up 60% only to crater three days later. Retail investor favorite GameStop (GME) also saw a similar spike and fall.

In 2021, meme stocks like GameStop exploded in price due to large groups of retail investors promoting massive purchases online. A coordinated "short squeeze" of GameStop in January 2021 took its stock price over $500 -- 30 times more than its $17.25 valuation at the start of the year.

Hedge funds who had heavily "shorted" GameStop -- expecting its price to fall -- freaked out. Popular online brokerage Robinhood froze trading for GameStop and other meme stocks, earning the ire of both investors and politicians, as well as a class-action lawsuit.

Meme stocks -- stocks that gain popularity through social media, often through the sharing of memes -- gradually disappeared from the headlines last year, but the latest rise of BBBY and GME indicates that this investing phenomenon is far from finished. 

What are meme stocks and why are they making news in the stock market now? Learn why these stocks often trade for much more than their indicated worth and how online campaigns for meme stocks operate.

Note: Meme stocks are highly volatile and have seen wild price swings up and down over the past few years. These stocks come with a high level of risk and should be treated accordingly. If you're not an experienced investor, we recommend getting professional financial advice before investing any money in the stock market.

What are meme stocks?

Meme stocks are the shares of companies that have gone viral online, primarily propelled by social media hype. The price of a meme stock often rises considerably higher than the value suggested by its company's financial performance. 

Meme stock companies are promoted in online message boards and on social media sites like Reddit, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, typically through the sharing of memes. A meme is an idea or cultural signifier -- often a humorous image or animated gif -- that becomes popular online, usually via social media platforms.

Communities promoting meme stocks have their own terms and slang, including "stonks" (a funny term for stocks) and "bagholder" (someone who holds onto a meme stock after its price has crashed).

Who is promoting meme stocks online?

The subreddit WallStreetBets -- commonly referred to as /r/WallStreetBets or WSB -- on the social-media site Reddit is the epicenter of meme stocks. Started in 2012 by Jaime Rogozinski, the community message board has since experienced drama related to removing moderators with possible conflicts of interest.

The header image for the Wall Street Bets subreddit page
/r/WallStreetBets

WallStreetBets moved from internet niche to household name when it pushed GameStop in January 2021. First promoted by user Roaring Kitty in August 2020, the short squeeze of GameStop hit the right notes for going viral -- an outdated but popular gaming company that Wall Street had left for dead, plus a chance for small investors to "stick it to the man" by hurting hedge funds that had shorted the stock heavily.

The WallStreetBets subreddit hit its zenith of virality on Jan. 26, 2021, when Elon Musk tweeted out a link to the board with a one-word message: "Gamestonk!!" The WallStreetBets community currently has 12.4 million members.

Before GameStop, WallStreetBets had become popular online for its aggressive trading strategies, low-brow humor and YOLO ("you only live once") attitude toward investing, with Vice magazine labeling it "the 4chan of finance." An increase in contributors to the subreddit in the late 2010s was likely fueled by the rise of no-commission brokerages like Robinhood and mobile stock trading.

Other internet sites, such as the social media company StockTwits, have been involved in promoting meme stocks, but not on the same scale or with as large an impact as WallStreetBets.

How do meme stocks prices get so high?

It's all about critical mass. For any meme stock to make a noticeable spike in price, enough investors need to be convinced to buy the stock. As early adopters convince investors to buy in, the price starts to rise, attracting more investors struck by FOMO ("fear of missing out"). At some point in a meme stock's rise, owners of the stock start to cash out, bringing the price downward again.

In the case of GameStop, the heavily shorted positions held by hedge funds further helped fuel the rise of the stock price. As investors pushed the price of GameStop skyward, short sellers were forced to buy the stock to cover their positions, making the price of the stock go even higher. 

What are the companies whose shares have become meme stocks?

Aside from GameStop and the currently popular Bed Bath & Beyond, several more companies have been taken on the meme stock ride over the past few years. These companies include:

  • AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc (AMC). -- A US movie theater chain
  • Blackberry Ltd. (BB) -- A Canadian cybersecurity company best known for its outdated portable devices
  • Express Inc. (EXPR) -- An American fashion retailer
  • Koss Corp. (KOSS) -- A US manufacturer of headphones
  • Nio (NIO) -- A Chinese electric car producer
  • Nokia Corp. (NOK) -- A Finnish telecommunications company best known for its "brick" mobile phones
  • Novavax (NVAX) -- An American pharmaceutical company
  • Palantir (PLTR) -- An US software company
  • Peloton (PTON) -- An American bicycle/exercise company
  • Robinhood Markets Inc. (HOOD) -- An online, commission-free stock brokerage
  • Snap (SNAP) -- An American social media company
  • Tesla (TSLA) -- A US electric vehicle company
  • Tilray Brands (TLRY) -- An American packaged goods and cannabis company
  • Vinco Ventures Inc. (BBIG) -- A holding company for digital businesses
  • Virgin Galactic (SPCE) -- A US spaceflight company

One interesting potential new meme stock making a splash recently is AMTD Digital Inc., a Hong Kong-based financial technology company with about 50 employees. Near $16 in mid-July, its stock price leapt up to more than $2,000 in early August, putting its value at 4,000 times its earnings and placing it temporarily in the top 10 most valuable publicly traded companies in the world. Its price has since dropped back to slightly under $200.

What's different about meme stocks in 2022?

While the practice of pumping up stock prices far beyond their companies' value has been popular in the past few years, the novelty of the concept may have worn off in 2022. 

Casual investors who took part in the GameStop squeeze might not be as motivated to participate in pumping up less-iconic companies like Tilray Brands or Palantir. They might also have lost significant money last year when GameStop's price crashed in 2021 from a peak of $483 to $53.50 in about a week.

In an interview with Yahoo Finance, Interactive Brokers' chief strategist Steve Sosnick argues that the pool of meme-stock investors has shrunk considerably, making GameStop-style stock price spikes less likely.

"[With] the initial meme stock craze you had people coming in who never invested before putting money into these stocks and investing," Sosnick said. "Now it seems to be the same cast of characters chasing the same list of names with a couple of new exceptions every so often."

Ironically, meme stocks may have become part of the traditional stock-market industry that they were threatening in 2021. Financial advisor Roundhill Investments has created an exchange-traded fund (a tradeable mutual fund) based on meme stocks. The fund currently includes securities such as AMC, Palantir and Novavax.


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Motorola Moto Z3 Review: Solid, Midprice Phone With A Bright 5G Tomorrow


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Motorola Moto Z3 review: Solid, midprice phone with a bright 5G tomorrow


Motorola Moto Z3 review: Solid, midprice phone with a bright 5G tomorrow

The Moto Z3 is living on a prayer. A Verizon exclusive billed as the first phone to be upgradable to 5G speeds, the Moto Z3 does not actually have 5G capability built-in. For that, it needs the attachment known as the 5G Moto Mod, which is currently in prototype form and won't go on sale until early 2019.

That makes sense, because there also won't be any actual 5G wireless networks for the mod to tap into until next year, when carriers like Verizon are expected to spin up their first 5G networks in the United States. Even when the buds of 5G coverage do begin to bloom, it'll happen one market at a time, with 4G LTE speeds carrying on as usual while the roll-out slowly continues.

So if 5G's 10x faster speeds won't become reality for at least another five months, where does that leave the Moto Z3 today?

In a pretty good place, actually. The Moto Z3 is not worth buying solely for its 5G upgrade promise, but it does make sense for a Verizon customer in search of a solid, midrange device. It sells for $480, which works out to $20 per month on a two-year payment plan.

Read: Why the Moto Z3 has a 5G Mod instead of 5G inside

The Moto Z3 is good and reliable but not remarkable when stripped of its mods. You get a great, 6-inch screen, fast fingerprint reader on the right side, and a pretty fast processor, even if it is last year's Snapdragon 835 instead of this year's Snapdragon 845. The 12-megapixel dual cameras take respectable photos in a variety of lighting scenarios, including portrait shots, selfies and convincing black-and-white pictures using a newly introduced monochrome lens.

The Z3 is splashproof but not fully water-resistant. It lacks a headphone jack but does throw in a 3.5mm jack-to-USB-C dongle. You'll have a decent amount of built-in storage (64GB) and enough RAM for daily needs. Motorola has also given the Moto Z3 a strong 3,000mAh battery that lasted nearly 14.5 hours in CNET's looping video drain test.

The Moto Z3's monochrome lens makes for convincing black-and-white pictures.

Jessica Dolcourt/CNET

You'll also find software features that are consistent across most Moto phones, including gesture navigation that I like more than Google's take with Android P.

Since the Moto Z3 will only sell through Verizon for the foreseeable future (Motorola still hasn't confirmed if it will sell the phone unlocked on its website, or outside the US), it makes some buying decisions easy. 

Get the Moto Z3 if you want a solid device for nearly half the price of an iPhone or Galaxy S9 Plus (I do recommend picking up at least a backing module; it feels a little unfinished without one). Look to the Moto Z3 Play (unlocked) if battery life is your chief concern. And buy the unlocked OnePlus 6 if you're considering a switch to T-Mobile or AT&T and still want to keep costs in check.

Look, if the Moto Z3 really does wind up being the only 5G-ready phone in 2019, Verizon's reasonable price makes it an affordable option for data-hungry buyers with a need for speed to pick up as a potential second device when the 5G future becomes now. It's very likely that Verizon will heavily promote the Moto Z3 and its 5G Mod once 5G does switch on, which means more deals and bundles are sure to come.

And remember that access to 5G won't come cheap -- carriers will need to recoup on their investment into building up their new networks, and that means higher prices for 5G plans.

We also don't know how much the 5G Mod will cost. My guess is that you'll pay a premium for access one way or another, which would explain why the phone's price is so much lower than last year's Moto Z2 Force, which sold for between $730 and $810, depending on the carrier.

This review originally posted on August 13, 2018. 


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Lenovo Launches Less-expensive ThinkBook Laptops


Lenovo launches less-expensive ThinkBook laptops


Lenovo launches less-expensive ThinkBook laptops

For its new small-business-focused ThinkBook S line, Lenovo has jettisoned much of the traditional ThinkPad baggage in favor of a consumer-friendly but relatively durable clamshell laptop design. The ThinkBook S comes with a subset of the security and support options that differentiate Lenovo's enterprise from its mainstream hardware. There's an extended warranty, better service and some of the company's ThinkShield features, plus a physical shutter over the camera. 

Its prices are now more approachable: The ThinkBook 13s starts at $729, while the ThinkBook 14s starts at $749, and both will ship this month. We don't know pricing or availability for other regions, but those directly convert to approx £559 and AU$1,045 for the 13s and £575 and AU$1,075 for the 14s.

06-lenovo-thinkbook-13s-14s

The ThinkBook doesn't have a typical ThinkPad keyboard.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The ThinkPad's carbon black exterior gives way to silvery aluminum for the ThinkBooks. And the ThinkBook breaks with the past in a way the ThinkPad can't without causing a riot: The keyboard has the same sculpted keys, but it puts the ctrl and fn keys in more familiar locations (they're swapped on the ThinkPad keyboard). It also has a mainstream touchpad instead of the TrackPad, and there's no Trackpoint stick.

Why two models in such similar sizes and prices? Variations in regional demands. 

Comparative specifications


ThinkBook 13s ThinkBook 14s
CPU Up to 8th-gen Core i7 Up to 8th-gen Core i7
Graphics AMD Radeon 540X or Intel UHD 620 integrated AMD Radeon 540X
Memory 4, 8 or 16GB DDR4 8, 16GB DDR4
Storage up to 512GB SSD up to 512GB SSD
Battery Up to 11 hours Up to 10 hours
Display 13.3-inch 1,920 x 1,080 300 nits 72% NTSC gamut 14-inch 1,920 x 1,080 250 nits
Size 12.1x8.5x0.6 in. (308x216x16mm) 12.7x8.8x0.7 in. (323x223x17mm)
Weight 3.1 lbs. (1.4kg) 3.3 lbs. (1.5kg)
Connections 1 x USB-C 3.1 Gen 2, 2 x USB-A 3.1 Gen 1, 1 x HDMI 1.4b, 1 x combo audio 1 x USB-C 3.1 Gen 2, 2 x USB-A 3.1 Gen 1, 1 x HDMI 1.4b, 1 x combo audio
Starting price $729 $749

They're the same except in a few key ways: The 14s' base configuration has more memory and comes with the AMD discrete graphics. But it also has a lesser screen -- it's bigger but dimmer and with a smaller color gamut -- and the battery life is slightly lower, likely because of the discrete graphics. 

On the other end of the spectrum, Lenovo also refreshed its ThinkPad X1 Extreme, its business laptop for people who need a little more power under the hood. The X1 Extreme Gen 2 will be getting an option for a 4K OLED touch display and processor choices up to a ninth-gen Core i9 (8 cores). 

Lenovo's also upgrading the discrete graphics from the current Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti to the newer GTX 1650 Max-Q, which should offer a small bump in performance, though it still feels underpowered for a system that starts at $1,500 (directly converted, £1,150 and AU$2,150). And it will seem especially low-rent if you configure the system with the pricier i9 and OLED panel. But Lenovo's 'real' prices tend to be 10% lower than its nominal prices, so do the math. 

The updated model is slated to ship in July, though the OLED option won't appear until closer to the end of August.


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Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch And Charlotte: Why The WWE WrestleMania Main Event Matters


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Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch and Charlotte: Why the WWE WrestleMania main event matters


Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch and Charlotte: Why the WWE WrestleMania main event matters

On Monday's Raw it became official: For the first time, WrestleMania, the biggest professional wrestling event in the world, will be main-evented by women. Ronda Rousey will defend her Raw Women's Championship in the last match on the show against Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair.

This is good news, but fans of WWE and pro wrestling could be forgiven for reading it with a suspicious eye. WWE is a company obsessed with its public image, and isn't above making on-screen decisions for off-screen press. The company's PR Twitter account has been in overdrive for the past day, for instance, making sure everyone knows how progressive WWE is for making this decision.

Rousey, Lynch and Flair headlining WrestleMania would be historic in any circumstance. What makes this truly important, though, is that this really isn't about good PR. The women's match is the most anticipated on the show, features the company's most popular performers and has a chance to be the best match of the night.

On Tuesday's episode of SmackDown, WWE showed how serious it is about the main event by having Flair win the SmackDown Women's Championship. That means the WrestleMania triple threat will feature both Raw Women's Champion, Rousey, and SmackDown's Women's Champion, Flair. Two champions from separate TV shows and one extremely popular Becky Lynch. That's not winning recipe. 

rondavcharlotte
WWE

Why does the main event matter?

WrestleMania takes place on April 7 in New Jersey's MetLife Stadium, where over 60,000 fans will watch it live. More importantly, it'll stream live on the WWE Network, a streaming service whose main selling point is its broadcasting of monthly pay-per-views. The past few years have seen an explosion in non-WWE wrestling companies, like New Japan Pro Wrestling, but WrestleMania is still comfortably the biggest and most significant wrestling show of the year.

Being the main event of WrestleMania -- the last match, the match around which the show is promoted -- is considered the highest accolade in the wrestling industry. It means Vince McMahon, chairman and CEO of the company, believes you are the hottest commodity in the company and his best bet for selling tickets, Network subscriptions and merchandise. Championships come and go in a calendar year, but there's only one WrestleMania main event.

The idea of women headlining WrestleMania was preposterous only years ago. WWE's historic treatment of women is well documented. WWE in the mid to late '90s found success promoting the likes of Sunny and Sable as sex symbols, inking lucrative Playboy deals, and never really looked back. The men were referred to as WWE "Superstars," but the women were "Divas." Women's "wrestling" was more about Bra and Panties matches, where you win by stripping your opponent down to their undergarments, than serious title bouts.

Example: At WrestleMania 22, in 2006, Candice Michelle faced Torrie Wilson in a Playboy Pillow Flight.

WWE's treatment of women has improved greatly in recent years. NXT, an adored WWE-owned brand watchable on the WWE Network, in 2014 began featuring women in prominent spots on its shows. Women were given 10, 15 and 20 minutes to have show-stealing matches, rather than the sub-five minutes they would usually get on WWE pay-per-views. This proved a hit to fans, who then began a #GiveDivasAChance social media movement.

This was in early 2015, around the time Ronda Rousey was selling hundreds of thousands of UFC pay-per-views and becoming a bigger star than anyone in WWE. A year later, in 2016, the term "Diva" was dropped and the company resurrected the Women's Championship (and now both the Raw and SmackDown brands have their own women's champion). By the end of the year women, like Charlotte Flair, Bayley and Sasha Banks, were presented as top stars.

Read more: How to watch WWE WrestleMania 35

A Rowdy WrestleMania

MetLife Stadium is in New Jersey. If you watch Raw or SmackDown, you've probably heard commentators say that WrestleMania takes place at MetLife Stadium "in the shadow of New York." New Jersey isn't glamorous enough to host WrestleMania, you see, so instead WWE wants you to think it's taking place in New York. WWE cares a lot about PR.

It also cares about taking advantage of new markets and demographics (as any company should). In 2017 a wrestler named Jinder Mahal went from an undercard "enhancement talent" -- someone whose job it is to lose every week and make their opponent look strong -- to WWE Champion in the space of a month. His reign lasted just under six months, and now he's right back to losing on TV every week.

Why did WWE briefly put him on top of the card? Presumably because he's Indian and India is a quickly growing, potentially lucrative market. Mahal wasn't popular before he won the title, and he had little momentum. It was an experiment that, judging by his return to being a background character, the WWE didn't consider a success.

The women's main event at WrestleMania is not that. It's not an experiment or an empty gesture.

"Rowdy" Ronda Rousey, thanks to her UFC success, is the biggest pop culture star the company has other than maybe John Cena. Becky Lynch is not yet a household name, but she is the most popular wrestler in the company. Watch any show she's on and you'll see frenzied crowds chanting her name -- even when she's not in the ring. Charlotte Flair, meanwhile, has been the most consistently promoted and consistently awesome women's wrestler in the company.

The hero of this tale is Becky Lynch, who overcame injury at the Royal Rumble in January to earn a WrestleMania championship match against Rousey. The story has picked up steam, and controversy, in recent weeks as Rousey turned into an on-screen villain. Jealous that Lynch is cheered by fans over her, Rousey now vows to scrap "fake" pro wrestling and beat up her WrestleMania opponents "for real." 

Flair was inserted into the match, after Lynch had earned her shot, thanks to being the "corporate pick." The TV story goes that as a statuesque blonde and the daughter of the iconic Ric Flair, the WWE wants her to be champion and represent women's wrestling. The most recent episode of SmackDown saw her -- randomly, and to the dissatisfaction of many fans -- get an opportunity at Asuka's SmackDown Women's Championship. Flair won. WWE is using all of its tricks to make this main event as special as possible.

The three competitors share a blistering hatred for one another in their on-screen storyline. But this is an instance where the TV drama can't match the real-life history making.

These women weren't given the main event. They earned it.

Update, at 8:05 p.m.: Adds information following Flair's title win. 


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