Netflix's mobile app allows you to watch at 1.25x and 1.5x speeds.People told me they use this for reality shows like "Love Is Blind," or while watching at the gym.Our modern appetite for content might mean we've stretched our brains to watch faster and faster. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. Consider the delicate, nuanced performances of a Netflix series like "The Diplomat." Now, imagine that sped up by 50%, "Chipmunks"-style. This might not appeal to you, a cinaste who savors the art of the flickering screen. But for some people, this is the dream: They're watching Netflix at 1.5x speed.But ... why? What craven need for speed goes on in the dopamine-wrecked frontal cortex of someone who watches stuff at super speed? I talked to some people who do.The most common explanation: They only use the 1.25x or 1.5x settings for certain shows. Netflix's "Love Is Blind" was mentioned several times as an example of something great to speed watch. I tested it out on the reality show, and, to be honest, I can see the appeal. It's a show that has lots of long, dramatic pauses and little visual action just two people sitting on a couch talking. At 1.25x, the voices weren't unnaturally high, just faster.I asked Netflix how many people use these speed-watching settings, but they didn't provide the data. Netflix added the feature to its mobile app and web browser versions in 2020. (The feature isn't available on smart TVs.)My sense is these speed watchers are in the minority, but I've discovered they're passionate about their habit.There are the reality show watchers who just want to get things like "Love Is Blind" out of the way quickly. And others just want to be able to consume more in their TV-watching time a sentiment Nicholas Quah wrote about for Vulture in defense of his own speedwatching habit.It can also be situational, it seems. A few people said they do it only at the gym or on the elliptical, like the TV equivalent of listening to uptempo music while you work out.Already, many podcast and audiobook listeners listen at slightly sped-up speeds. (I think 1.2x is perfect for podcasts.) YouTube has a way of speeding up videos to 2x, which makes sense because a lot of YouTube is just someone talking and they're incentivized to make their videos looong. Quite a few truly impatient people told me that they use a Chrome extension that allows them to speed up any video to 5x.I imagine that our fractured content consumption landscape has something to do with all this speed-watching.Young people consume content on their phones in strange and weird ways (RIP Quibi; you were ahead of your time). I've found myself sucked into those "brain rot" videos on TikTok where a dramatic clip from a show plays in a split screen of someone playing with slime or playing a video game.Our modern, insatiable appetite for video content might mean that we've adapted and stretched our brains to watch faster and faster. That's an optimistic way of looking at it; the other way is that our attention spans have dwindled to the size of a grape.As much as I'd like to accuse these speed watchers of being monsters, I have to consider my own preferred method of watching movies: at regular speed, on the big TV but looking at my phone the entire time.

Philip Wiseman and his wife moved to Idaho because they were fed up with California's politics.The retirees made a large spreadsheet to decide which Republican-leaning state to move to.They ended up in Eagle, Idaho, and love the conservative values of the community. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Philip Wiseman, a 70-year-old retiree who moved from California to Idaho with his wife in 2021.They're part of a trend of conservatives moving to red states. Data compiled by Idaho officials showed 78% of voters who moved from California to Idaho registered as Republicans between 2020 and 2023.The median home price in the California town the Wisemans lived, Monte Sereno, was$5.5 million in September 2024, according to Redfin, compared to $748,000 in Eagle, Idaho,the town they moved to.This story has been edited for length and clarity.We moved to Idaho from Northern California three years ago this December.My wife is a fourth-generation Californian, and I moved there in 1985. We loved the state. It was the coolest state to live in forever.We just were very obviously conservative. We had friends that were like-minded but the city itself and the surrounding area is quite liberal. And we knew that we couldn't talk politics with our neighbors.Our best friends across the street put up a Biden sign in the front yard. I thought, "Are you serious?" We have a lot of respect for those people. And then they doubled down on Biden. I couldn't believe it.We always say we didn't leave California. California left us.Over time the decisions that the politicians and the governors and the district attorneys and all of these people started making were just really wrong. Everything from being a sanctuary state with protections for undocumented immigrants to some of the highest taxes in the country tonot prosecuting criminals, among other reasons. It's just insanity.Over time, I felt like it was death by a thousand pinpricks. We got to the point where we decided that we just couldn't put up with it any longer.We miss our California and what California used to be. It's still beautiful. You fly over it and you realize, "God, the state is so pretty. It has so much to offer." But it's just so screwed up. We had to get the hell out.We're sad about it every day. We think about it all the time.We made a huge spreadsheet to decide which red state to move toOnce we decided to leave, which was a huge decision, the question then became, "Where are we going to go?"We looked at several different states. My wife put a huge spreadsheet together with average rainfall, average snowfall, average sunny days, average rainy days, average distance from our daughter, who lives in Nevada, to a major airport. It had to be red, obviously, as red as we could find, and we'd love it to have been a state with no state income tax, but more importantly, we looked at what it costs to live there.Some states we considered were Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Tennessee, and Florida.A big spreadsheet later, we ended up coming to Idaho.I knew a guy that had used to live here and asked him what he thought of the area, and he said it was great and we should look at the Boise area. So we did.We didn't know a soul. We came up here and looked around and found a realtor to show us around. We probably made three fact-finding missions up here looking at different areas and neighborhoods. When we finally moved here, we rented for a year, and we looked at neighborhood after neighborhood after neighborhood.We ended up buying a house here in Eagle, and we've been loving it ever since. We've been here just about two years now.We love the Eagle area because it's very conservative and there's a lot of like-minded people. It was easy to make friends here. People are polite and friendly. They wave all the time. We're both retired now, so this is our forever home.Eagle is also full of people who moved here from California for basically the same reasons we did. And not just Californians; there are also people from Oregon and Seattle.I used to love California but things changed as I got olderI moved to California when I was around 30. I just turned 70. When I was a younger man, I didn't pay much attention to politics. California was wonderful. The beach, the ocean, the food, my career.But over time, you grow up, you grow older, you grow wiser, you get married, you have a child, and you start noticing things more. The more you pay attention, the more things piss you off.I think it's best for conservatives to live in conservative neighborhoods. Liberals can live in their own neighborhoods. It didn't used to be that big a deal, so I hate to say that because it does suck. But I'm just noticing the fact is all.

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to launch a mass deportation program starting on day one of his second term. That could have devastating consequences for the millions of people residing in mixed status households: those in which both undocumented immigrants and people with permanent legal status reside.Trump has said he would rely on an 18th-century law to carry out mass deportations and that he intends to first target known or suspected gang members, drug dealers, or cartel members. Vice President-elect JD Vance has set an initial goal of 1 million deportations. A representative for the Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment about whether any exceptions would be made for undocumented immigrants who have lived in the US for a long time or who have immediate family here, including US-citizen spouses and children. There are many such people: The US has an estimated 4.7 million mixed-status households, according to a 2024 Center for Migration Studies report. Roughly 500,000 people in those households may have hoped for new protections against deportation through a Biden administration program that would have cleared the way for undocumented spouses and stepchildren of US citizens to apply for legal status. That program was struck down in federal court on Thursday.If Trump gets his way, his deportation program threatens to rip families apart in what could be a new iteration of his first administrations policy of separating immigrant families. However, Tom Homan, Trumps former director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and current immigration adviser, has also proposed that families could be deported together, apparently including US citizens. It is not clear whether he was suggesting that they would go voluntarily together. There are clear practical challenges associated with implementing a mass deportation program on the scale Trump is promising. But if he manages to overcome those hurdles, such a program could wreak lasting psychological damage on millions of US-born children in mixed-status families, place economic strain on their communities, and even weaken the US economy. The familiar damage of family separationResearch on the effects of Trumps previous policy of separating immigrant families sheds light on the potential fallout from breaking up mixed-status families through mass deportations. In his first term, Trump adopted what was called the zero tolerance policy for undocumented immigrants arriving at the southern border. Parents were sent to immigration detention to await deportation proceedings. Their children, meanwhile, were sent to separate facilities operated by the Department of Health and Human Services and, in some cases, released to other family members in the US or to foster homes. (Previous administrations, in most cases, would not have detained the parents or children, releasing them together into the US.)At least 5,000 families were separated before a California federal court ordered the federal government in June 2018 to reunify the families affected and end the policy. As of May 2024, some 1,400 still had not been reunited, despite an ongoing Biden administration effort to do so. The harm the policy would inflict was well-known to Trump officials at the outset. Commander Jonathan White, who previously oversaw the governments program providing care to unaccompanied immigrant children during the first Trump administration, told Congress he had repeatedly warned the officials who concocted the policy that it would likely cause significant potential for traumatic psychological injury to the child.A September 2019 government report confirmed those effects, finding that immigrant children who entered government custody in 2018 frequently experienced intense trauma, and those who were unexpectedly separated from a parent even more so. In 2021, a group of pediatricians concluded in a study that separating families constitutes cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment that rises to the level of torture.As Vox previously reported, psychologists have seen that childhood trauma manifested in three main ways: disruptions to social attachments, increases in emotional vulnerability, and, in some cases, post-traumatic stress disorder. Those symptoms could be short-lived or they could persist; they could also not even manifest until a child enters their teen years or adulthood. Any of them could significantly hinder a childs later success in academics and in the workplace.The family separation caused by mass deportations would look different from family separation at the border, and whether the psychological effects on separated children are more or less extreme will depend on their circumstances. What is clear, however, is that mass deportation would cause family separation at a scale far larger than anything Trump tried in his first term in office.This is orders of magnitude higher as far as families that are going to be split apart, and the kind of life-altering consequences of that will be visited upon 5.5 million US-born children, said Matthew Lisiecki, a senior research and policy analyst at the Center for Migration Studies.He and his co-researcher Gerard Apruzzese conservatively estimate that a third of American-born children in mixed-status families, including 1.8 million who live in households with two undocumented parents, would remain in the US even if their household members were deported. That would inflict not just psychological suffering, but also a hefty financial cost: Children who remain in the US would see their median household income drop by nearly half, from $75,500 to $39,000, if their undocumented household members were deported, Lisiecki and Apruzzese found. Other family members or public social services would have to pick up the cost of raising them, which the researchers estimate at $116.5 billion. The loss of their parents productivity and the $96.7 billion they contribute annually in taxes could also hurt the US economy.The kind of trauma experienced as part of that is something that these Americans will be living with every day of their life from here on out, Lisiecki said. I dont think we have the experience at that scale to say what that means for the lives of those kids as they grow up and move forward.Whether Trump can actually deliver on his promises of mass deportations is a big question mark. He has said the program would have no price tag, suggesting that the budget is unlimited, but he would need congressional support to make that happen. Its not yet clear hell have the numbers to increase the immigration enforcement budget, especially given that control of the House is still undecided. But even if implemented on a small scale, the consequences for affected mixed-status families would be dire. Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Destiny 2's Exotic vendor, Xur, is back again this week. Here's how to find him, what he's selling, and whether we recommend his offerings before he vanishes again.

My top 10 PlayStation video games of the last 30 years Readers FeatureGameCentralPublished Nov 10, 2024, 9:00amHorizon Forbidden West one of the PlayStations best (Sony Interactive Entertainment)With the 30th anniversary of PlayStation fast approaching a reader lists his favourite games and, surprisingly, most are from this decade.Things arent going so great for Sony at the moment, but I didnt want to be so down for their 30th anniversary. Instead, I wanted to share some of my favourite games and consoles/peripherals over this time.For this list I havent chosen any third party games. So, for instance, games like Elden Ring, the Batman: Arkham games, Grand Theft Auto, and Red Dead Redemption 2 arent included.Instead, Ive included only Sony exclusives, which arent available anywhere else except, in some cases, on PC.10. Horizon Forbidden WestThe Horizon series hasnt grabbed me as much as other third person Sony games. It doesnt help that Im not particularly skilled at stealth. The combat though is decent. Id pick this game over the original because I found the platforming, although basic, to be a step up over its predecessor; the environments more engaging and also because, frankly, its absolutely gorgeous.9. Ratchet & Clank: Rift ApartA lot was made of the ability to open portals to open rifts between different areas, but in reality this didnt add much to the gameplay. That being said, I still enjoyed the game. I cant really remember much about it, if Im honest, other than getting around the map was pretty fun, I seem to recall a flying dragon and some rocket boots. Also, the variety of weird weapons such as one that fired a disco ball so enemies were distracted by being made to dance, which I believe was one particular highlight. A game I want to revisit at some point in the near future.8. Sackboy: A Big AdventureI feel both Sony and Microsoft are miles behind Nintendo when it comes to both platformers and family friendly games in general. This isnt the best example of the genre but even so, I still had a good time with the game. The game looks great, with interesting levels that are bright and colourful. The game makes uses of licensed music to great effect and the challenge levels add a new degree of difficulty to the main game.7. The Last GuardianAlthough most probably prefer Shadow Of The Colossus Ive never been a big fan. Personally, I much prefer The Last Guardian. I can understand why, Trico the giant dog you command doesnt always respond to button prompts, much like a real dog, but to me it kinds of adds to the charm. I also enjoy the platforming and puzzles. For me though, where the game really shines is when you are scaling great heights. I really feel like they have nailed the sense of how it must feel knowing you could plummet back down to your death at any point.6. Uncharted 4: A Thiefs EndThe last third of the game loses pace a little but otherwise this game skips from one great action set piece to another, taking place in multiple different locations that all looking stunning. I remember how amazing the game looked when I first played, with Madagascar being the standout. I think this game also has the most engaging story out of the series too.5. Astro BotI was debating where to rank this in the list and truth be told, right now, Id probably say it could be at least two or three places higher. I cant think of anything bad to say about it other than perhaps it does recycle certain elements from previous games. Outside of a select few Super Mario games, Id say its the best platform game Ive played.The levels are varied, the graphics and artwork is stunning, the power-ups are good fun, and add to the level design such as my favourite, the one that slows down time. The way the game utilises the PlayStation 5 controller in terms of motion controls and haptic feedback is unrivalled. An amazing game. Only time will tell if it will be considered a classic in years to come, which is why it isnt higher on the list.4. God Of War (2018)Modern games usually seem to take an age to get going. Theyll be a somewhat lengthy and self-indulgent cut scene, followed by some smaller cut scenes and a tutorial, and by the time you get to the core gameplay youre already two or three hours into the game. God Of War, on the other hand, starts with a bang and the first hour is action packed, with battles against a number of challenging enemies, including taking on a troll and a boss fight with the main antagonist.God Of War is essentially a beat em-up at heart, but an engaging story, stunning graphics, great combat with arguably the most satisfying weapon in all of gaming elevate it to the next level.3. Marvels Spider-ManSpider-Man probably isnt as highly regarded as other games on this list. And in some ways, I can see why. Therere games with more engaging storylines or games that are more impressive from a technical perspective. The gameplay itself isnt particularly original, given it essentially borrows heavily from the Batman: Arkham games. Despite this, I dont think any other game has quite grabbed my interest as much.I played this game so much and even when the credits rolled I still continued, until Id reached that elusive 100% completion rate something which I very rarely do, especially with open world games. It was my first ever Platinum trophy and to this date remains one of only a handful. Although, Id argue Miles Morales is better, I cant deny the pure enjoyment I had with its predecessor.2. The Last Of Us Part 2Theres been a certain amount of online discourse over the game and especially over the treatment of Joel. But although he isnt a playable character (albeit for a brief few minutes) hes arguably the most important. The decisions he makes towards the end of the first game prove the catalyst for the events of The Last Of Us Part 2. The flashbacks between him and Ellie show their relationship evolve over time, from one between a father and daughter to more strained and fractious. The fact that they were on the verge of mending that relationship shows gives context for Ellies actions.Certain The Last Of Us Part 2 fans or detractors like to paint Joel as either hero or villain. I see him more as neither. Joel is violent and selfish but hes also caring and nurturing. In short, hes a flawed person whos a product of his environment. Much has been made of The Last Of Us Part 2s themes of violence and revenge, but it also explores the nature of empathy, compassion, redemption, and forgiveness. The Last Of Us Part 2 might not have been the game the fans wanted but I think its all the better for it.1. The Last Of UsI tried to avoid having more than one game from the same franchise in this list but in the end, I just couldnt bring myself to not include both The Last Of Us games. Most games can be played regardless of whether you have played any of the previous ones, but I feel like both so intrinsically linked you cant enjoy one without the other.A lot has been said about the story of The Last Of Us and with good reason. The Last Of Us and its sequel, for me, are miles ahead of the competition in terms of motion capture, dialogue, and sheer emotion impact of its themes and characters.However, the gameplay isnt without merit. Sure, mechanics like item crafting, listen mode, and the mixture of stealth, melee and armed combat arent exactly groundbreaking but shiving a clicker always feels satisfying; as does stunning an infected with a brick before taking them down with a baseball bat to the head or taking out a well-armed militia group using well-placed arrow shot and stealth takedowns.The Last Of Us is a game that utilises many different gameplay elements but does them all with a high level of competence, that other similar games dont achieve. And all whilst having a high level of polish and production values.By reader matc7884The Last Of Us Part 1 better than the sequel? (Sony Interactive Entertainment)The readers features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you wont need to send an email.MORE : As a parent I would be perfectly happy with banning GTA 5 - Reader's FeatureMORE : Why I don't think Starfield is a misunderstood gem - Reader's FeatureMORE : The PS5 Pro is not worth a near 50% price increase - Reader's FeatureSign up to all the exclusive gaming content, latest releases before they're seen on the site.Privacy Policy This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Demolition Man Limited Edition on 4K Blu-ray $37.43 (was $60) See at Amazon Demolition Man is one of the most culturally significant and influential action films from the '90s, so it's pretty cool to see Arrow Video go all out for the upcoming 4K Blu-ray release. Demolition Man's 4K Limited Edition launches December 17, and you can save big on your preorder right now. Normally $60, Demolition Man is available for only $37.43 at Amazon, which sounds like a bargain considering how many physical goodies and special features are bundled with it.This upcoming release is a complete 4K restoration of the Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes action movie, which was the first feature film directed by Marco Brambilla.Continue Reading at GameSpot

A small update arrived to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on November 8, and the patch notes include several fixes across multiplayer and Zombies, as well as another nerf to the game's overpowered Recon Combat Specialty bonus. A playlist update also adds larger and more chaotic player counts for multiplayer matches.Black Ops 6's Recon Combat Specialty bonus basically gives players wallhacks for a brief time after respawning, highlighting enemy players on the map in red. This was a really overpowered feature at launch, but a recent update nerfed the time down from 2 to 1.5 seconds. Unfortunately, that still wasn't impactful enough, so now Treyarch has further reduced the highlighted duration down to just 1 second.Treyarch has resolved issues with XP earn rates. This includes an issue where the match bonus was being improperly scaled across game modes, and an error that caused match bonuses to not always be awarded in Search and Destroy.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Fourteen years after its initial release, Red Dead Redemption has finally landed on PC. The PC port is, without a doubt, the best way to play Rockstars open-world Western. Rockstar and co-developer Double Eleven have added a handful of graphical features and improvements that make this the smoothest and most beautiful version of Red Dead Redemption to date. These visual improvements accentuate an already excellent tale that has unquestionably withstood the test of time.Ive spent roughly 20 hours exploring each of the games major regions on max settings with an ultrawide monitor, and it is sublime. Red Dead Redemption was praised in 2010 for its impeccable atmosphere, and that remains intact after all these years. The rhythmic thumping of hooves echoing throughout the plains as the early morning sun peeks through the clouds is just as intoxicating as it was in 2010. Moments like this are frequent in Red Dead Redemption and the improved visuals and performance further enhance these highs.The most obvious upgrade is the extended draw distances. While impressive at the time, the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Red Dead Redemption look as though anything outside of protagonist John Marstons immediate vicinity has a blurry filter over it. Like 2023s PS5 version, the PC port uses the extra horsepower to fill out those details to create a much cleaner image. When paired with the PC ports native 4K resolution, Red Dead Redemption hardly looks its age. Eagle-eyed players may notice a few objects and textures that still look a little muddy, such as a couple side characters or the collectible herbs that dot the frontier, but its easy to forget when youre riding through the golden plains of West Elizabeth.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Few stories translate over to anime better than those that focus on sports. From common sports like baseball to those with smaller spotlights like bowling, every sport imaginable has been put up on television screens in a Japanese animated style.

An unlucky Skyrim player online has discovered a silly glitch in-game that appears to be shrinking their Dragonborn indefinitely. If this Skyrim glitch doesn't go away for this player, there'll soon be nothing left of their main character.