I realized recently that its rare I watch something on YouTube unless theres a unique hook or challenge attached. When it comes to games, its usually speedrunning attempts, Nuzlocke runs, catching a shiny of every Pokmon before moving on that sort of thing and this probably explains why Ive found GeoWizard, a channel that introduces self-imposed restrictions to exploring the real world, so entertaining.His headline series has a simple premise: attempting to cross an entire country in as straight a line as possible. As you can imagine, the obstacles when walking coast to coast across European countries are many and varied; there are fast-moving rivers, felled forests, acres of farmland patrolled by diligent farmers, and fencing of both the thorny and manmade, barbed varieties. Even with some wiggle room of a few meters either side of the imaginary path to help skirt around the worst dangers or most serious trespassing, GeoWizard real name Tom Davies does his utmost to stick to the route, and tackles whatever is thrown his way with gusto and a camera in hand.While each attempt naturally lends itself to drama at regular intervals, theyre also a serious test of stamina, with early starts and long days walking over fields, valleys, and rolling hills. It helps that Davies is an effective storyteller and snappy editor to make these lengthy expeditions pacy and exciting, compressing hourslong treks through the countryside into tidy sped-up montages, before deftly teeing up the next spot of trouble to keep you watching.In early missions, insurmountable problems eventually arise and things are called off. But with more attempts under his belt and lessons learned, preparation improves, largely in the form of a small support crew who bring with them vital equipment such as kayaks to help cross lakes, or offer a brief respite from the elements with a snack-loaded van. Eventually, the adventures expand from just Davies to a wider cast that, like any good series, youre delighted to see continue popping up.Thankfully, even as attempts begin to succeed and countries are ticked off the list, the channel keeps its low-budget charm. Everything continues to be recorded on a rain-splattered GoPro, and recaps are annotated with Microsoft Paint-style scribbles over Google Earth footage, giving it a homemade feel a million subscribers in.If youre interested, Id recommend starting with Wales attempt two or Norway, then progressing to more Wales adventures, Scotland, and eventually England and once youve had your fill, branching out to GeoWizards other challenge videos, from exploring cities without using roads to seeing how far he can go with just pocket change. And, if you prefer your adventures more sedentary, as the channel name suggests hes also a proficient Geoguessr player though a recent video hints that the two worlds may soon combine, and if so, it could make for his most interesting set of challenges yet.

Downsizing means different things to different people. For some folks its about retirement and moving to a smaller, more manageable home. For others its about taking control over their lives. And for some its just a cleansing ritual that strips away the accumulated cruft of a busy life.Whatever your reasons for downsizing, one thing is universal: Its not easy. People have adopted many different strategies to streamline their lives and clear out their crowded homes, but for everyone who emerges from a downsizing movement with a crisp, newly minimalist life, theres someone else who gets overwhelmed and gives up. If thats you, theres one more move you should consider: Hire a downsizing consultant.A downsizing consultant is a professional organizer who helps you organize and implement a plan to declutter and reclaim your space or transition to a smaller home (consultants who specialize in helping seniors move into smaller homes or even assisted-living facilities are called "move managers"). The process is pretty straightforward, and typically involves:An initial consultation and walkthrough, separating stuff into what can be trashed, what can be donated, and what needs to be keptCoordinating with vendors to haul away stuff for donation or disposalCleaning and organizing, either at your current home or your new, smaller placeAside from the logistical support that a downsizing consultant brings to your efforts to shrink your life, they also offer emotional support by taking away the burden of decision-making. By letting an objective professional make decisions about a tightly packed garage or bursting closets, you can spare yourself a lot of stress. Here's how to know if you need a professional to help you with downsizing. A professional can help if you're overwhelmed Moving into a smaller home is often pitched in financial termsyou pull equity from your larger house, and youll have lower taxes and maintenance costs. But this doesnt take into account the fact that youve lived a certain lifestyle for years or even decades, and a smaller space means mastering a whole new way of organizing your life. Every aspect of your lifestyle, from the location of appliances to the way you navigate your kitchen, will be different in some way.If youre immediately overwhelmed by the long list of tasksif the sheer number of decisions makes you panic, or you dont even know what your first move ought to bea downsizing consultant can help you make a plan.You might need a professional if tensions are highIf youre fighting with family and friends over what to get rid of and who gets what, a downsizing consultant can be an impartial judge who isnt burdened with the same emotional baggage. They can act as a buffer between all the involved parties, keeping lines of communication open and offering some much-needed perspective that can lower the emotional temperature around distributing stuff.Consider professional help if time is a factorSometimes downsizing has to happen immediately. A new job that starts right away in a different city, a house sale that closed much faster than expected, a sudden change in health that necessitates a shift into a more manageable homesometimes you need to declutter and reorganize right away. In situations like this, handing a downsizing consultant the keys to the house and letting them manage the experience on your behalf can mean getting it all done as quickly and efficiently as possible.Contact a professional if you've tried to downsize beforeIf youve tried to downsize and declutter your life before and never got very far, a professional might be the extra resource you need to make it happen. Thats because they will treat the project like their jobbecause it is their jobinstead of a vague goal. Plus, they wont be sidetracked by busy days or tempted to postpone closet excavations, so the project will proceed according to schedule even if you get busy and distracted.How to find professional helpYou can find move managers to help with older folks trying to downsize by contacting the National Association of Senior & Specialty Move Managers (NASMM). If you just need help decluttering and downsizing, your best bet is to look for a professional organizer in your area who offers downsizing services.

For years, gardeners and farmers have relied on one of the world's most abundant resources to make fertilizer: animal poop. Animal manure is generally free and easy to obtain, either from your own animals or someone elses. Harvesting animal waste for fertilizer has generally been considered a safe practicemost manure is composted before being applied to the ground, which means it has gone through a period of heat treatment that reduces the risk of contamination. However, a number of current health considerations and warnings are worth considering when using manure at home, including two deaths attributed to the home harvesting of bat guano. Coupled with ongoing outbreaks of H5N1 avian flu, It's definitely a time to proceed with caution when feeding your plants.Manure is usually a great source of free fertilizerWhile the idea of harvesting poop may sound weird to non-gardeners, manure is an almost perfect fertilizer, provided it has been treated correctly. It is full of nutrients consumed by the animals that produced it, and if theyre your animals, you'll know what that diet included. Manure is also organic as heck, and in most cases can be obtained for free. Some manure is considered cold, meaning that it can be used immediately without harm to your plants (this includes poop from rabbits, ducks, goats).Some manure, including that from chickens, cows, and horses, can burn your plants if not treated correctly, so it is considered hot. Simply piling the manure up, ensuring there is a good ratio of carbon to nitrogen, and allowing the sun (and the composting process) to heat the pile will result in processed manure compost, perfect to use as fertilizer. Many types of commercially-produced fertilizers will make note of animal manure they contains.Animal manure can carry diseasesThe problem is that manure can also carry disease, fungus, and other pathogens. Some of these cells can be destroyed by the composting process, but not all of them. While the risk from these diseases transferring to your fruits and vegetables is low, the risk is to the person handling the manure is real. If youre treating your plants, fruits or vegetables topically with manure and dont wash it off well, it can remain on the surface.Even some commercial fertilizers may be a health riskRecently, two men died in unrelated incidents after inhaling spores from bat guano, which is thought to be particularly beneficial in the production of cannabis. In one case, the infected person hand harvested guano from wild bats, while in the second, the patient applied purchased commercial guano to cannabis he grew and smoked.In most cases, fertilizer that is sold commercially is regulated and should be considered safe. However, in the U.S., fertilizers are regulated at a state level, which means enforcement and regulations may vary depending on where the fertilizer was produced or sold. In the study of these deaths linked above, two of the scientists, Dr. Sudnik and Dr. Ted Louie, note that commercially sold bat guano fertilizer products do not mention the health risk of histoplasmosis, which both men died of, and that great care should be taken when using them. The use of masks or respirators can generally protect gardeners from exposing themselves when using animal waste products.Avian flu (H5N1) is persistent in chicken manureFar more ubiquitous than bat manure, manure sourced from the waste of chickens and other backyard fowl is an incredibly common fertilizer, but this can be a concern at a time when much of the world is facing a highly pathogenic form of avian flu (H5N1).The virus has now been found in cows, pigs, and domestic and large cats, and has infected people as well. When H5N1 is detected in birds, cows, or pigs on farms, those animals must be destroyed to help halt the spread.The main form of transmission for avian flu is bird manure. Infected birds drop manure around other animals, which eat it and become infected, and thereby infect other animals nearby.While large commercial farms are the greatest concern, backyard flocks are susceptible too. Handling bird manure can thus be dangerous for humansand because this avian flu is highly pathogenic, it can remain in manure even after composting if it does not reach sufficient temperature for long enough.Handling any manure without protection is a riskso maybe avoid it altogetherI wouldnt be handling animal manure unless I was wearing appropriate personal protective equipment, given the current situation, said Dan Teich, DVM, a vet and owner of District Veterinary in Washington, D.C. Thats an N95 mask or respirator [and] goggles and gloves, and Id be very careful washing up afterwards.Or, go cold turkey (no pun intended). It's a good idea to consider not repurposing backyard or farm manure in your garden while these threats are ongoing. While commercial fertilizers should mostly be safe, it is worthwhile to check labels for instructions for safe use, and consider only using fertilizers that have been through a treatment process and are labeled as such. Consult with your local garden center to find fertilizers that are appropriate for your use and have been vetted as safe.

While problems with the power grid arent new, electric whole-home backup systems are. Having emergency power on hand is a great idea, but power banks are also expensive, hard to move, and get in the way. Biolite, a new backup power brand on the market, has created a less expensive, easier, renter friendly solution that they'll be demoing at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Jan. 7-10th. Traditional backup generators are big and heavyIn the past few years weve seen releases of giant power generators from Anker Solix, Ecoflow, and others called Whole Home Backups. These hefty, barely portable devices dont require solar input (although theyre compatible); they can charge by plugging into your wall. When you need them, you haul them out to the most advantageous spot in your home or office, and they act as a battery backup for multiple appliances in your home, from your fridge to your microwave. They have terrific power capacity and output, but they are chonkers, weighing around 80 pounds, and they take up a lot of space. If youve ever used a backup generator, youll know it also means extension cords snaking all over your house.One solution has been to tie these backup generators directly into your circuit breaker box, so that if the power goes off, the whole house automatically flips over to your backup generator, acting like a giant UPS (uninterruptible power supply). While this is ideal since it doesnt require you to move things around or plug and unplug them, you cant actually directly plug into your breaker boxyou need a subpanel to do so. That installation is expensive, so now youve spent money on the backup generator, the hardware for the subpanel, and the installation of all of it.Biolite batteries have more flexibilityBiolite removes the middleman entirely. Although their generators carry the same power output as traditional whole-home generators, theyre flattened (under three inches thick) and lighter. Instead of being stored away in a closet, you mount them where youll use them, and the installation is DIY. The flat profile allows you to stow them in all sorts of places, and Biolite can be stored or installed in almost any orientation, so theyre going to fit most spaces. The battery is encased in such a waywith a corrugated aluminum heat sinkthat it maintains temperature and keeps dust out without much airflow.You're meant to keep Biolite plugged into the wall, and your appliances plugged into the Biolite. As soon as theres a power interruption, Biolite acts like a UPS, shifting power so quickly, representatives insist that most devices wont go offline or lose power. Its not simply for your fridge, either the base Biolite unit has a power strip that you can stick to your any magnetized surface, and plug in other appliances.A good backup solution for rentersWhat Biolite has in common with other backup generators is that you can daisy-chain the batteries together for more kilowatt hours. Each Biolite has about 1.5kW, but you string them together for up to 10kW. You dont have to keep them in the kitchen, either: You can add Biolites around the house, tucking them into small spaces near the items you need powered, waiting for when they need to spring into action. An app helps you manage all your Biolites, and informs you when theyre being used or not, so even if youre not home, you know if theres been a power interruption. Because there's no permanent installation, this is a way for renters to obtain backup power throughout the house that they can then take with them when they move.How backup power can help you save money An additional benefit of backup power is that you can use them to game the grid. Many people have time of use plans with their power company, so power is more expensive during parts of the day or specific weather events. During those times, you can elect to switch to your Biolite backup, subverting the power grid and using your battery backup instead, which should save you money.Biolite batteries will be released this summer. The core battery alone will run $2100, and the core battery plus an extra Biolite will run $3000, but because they count as an installed solution they qualify for a 30% tax credit.

Theres no longer any question that Threads and Bluesky have created the most viable alternatives to the platform once known as Twitter. But while the two services may share some of the same goals, theyve shown very different visions for how text-based social networks should operate.Threads, of course, is controlled by Meta, which is controlled by Mark Zuckerberg. And though the company has claimed to embrace public conversation, it has also consistently put its thumb on the scale to encourage certain types of speech over others. The company throttled political content in an election year, forcing users to tweak their settings to enable posts about elections or social topics to appear in their for you feed.This desire to limit any of what Meta described as "potentially sensitive" content has also led to some questionable moderation decisions. For months, the app prevented users from searching for some topics, including those related to COVID-19 and vaccines. Those limits have since been lifted, but there have been numerous and inexplicable instances of other moderation failures on Threads.In October, Instagram head Adam Mosseri admitted the company had found mistakes and made changes after users reported their accounts had been penalized for using mundane words like saltines and cracker. Earlier this month,, Metas communications director Andy Stone apologized after users noted that searches for posts about Austin Tice, the American journalist who disappeared in Syria in 2012, were blocked on the app because the content may be associated with the sale of drugs. Stone didnt offer an explanation but said the issue has been addressed.Bluesky, on the other hand, has taken less of a top-down approach to moderation. While the company employs some of its own moderators to enforce baseline moderation, users have a lot of control over how much questionable or harmful content they want to see. Blueksy also allows people to create their own moderation services for an even more custom experience.Moderation is in many ways, like governance, Bluesky CEO Jay Graber told me earlier this year. And setting the norms of a social space, we don't think one person or one company should be unilaterally deciding that for an entire ecosystem where people are having public conversations important to the state of the world.That philosophy plays out in other important ways. Twitter was never a major source of traffic for most publishers, even before Elon Musks takeover. But the platform once played a vital role in the news ecosystem. At a time when Elon Musk has acknowledged that X penalizes posts with links and Threads top exec has said that Meta doesnt want to encourage hard news, Blueskys leaders have actually tried to foster link sharing, and several publishers have reported seeing significantly more traffic from Bluesky, compared with Threads and X.But perhaps the most obvious difference between Meta and Blueskys approach is in what order posts even appear. Bluesky defaults to a reverse chronological feed that shows posts from accounts you follow. Users can also choose to add custom feeds based on hundreds of different topics. For example, I follow a cat pics feed that surfaces posts with photos of cats and a trending news feed that surfaces links to news stories that are being shared widely on the platform.And while Meta has recently come out with its own version of custom feeds, the app still defaults to an algorithmic for you feed that surfaces a mix of content users actually want and unasked-for drivel thats so random and bizarre its been compared to a gas leak. (Meta said it would test allowing users to make their following feed the default, but hasnt provided an update.) Its also telling that even the content creators getting paid hundreds or thousands of dollars to post on Threads dont really understand the platform.There are even more significant changes coming in 2025. While both Threads and Bluesky have so far been blissfully ad-free, both services will need to eventually make money.Bluesky has so far experimented with other ways of making money, including selling custom domains and an upcoming subscription service that will offer extra features to paying users. Though Graber hasnt entirely ruled out advertising, shes also been clear that she doesn't want to enshittify the service for the sake of advertising.Threads, on the other hand, is already attached to Metas multi-billion dollar ad machine, an entity so intrusive many people believe the companys apps literally listen to their conversations (a theory thats been repeatedly debunked.) Though Zuckerberg has indicated the company isnt in a rush to turn Threads into a very large business, it could see its first ads in January, according to reports, and theres little reason to believe Meta wont eventually employ the same playbook it has with all its other services.All this makes Bluesky even more of an underdog. Threads is already more than 10 times its size and Meta has made it clear it has no problem using its copy-or-kill tactics against the upstart.But thats also exactly why so many Bluesky users fervently believe that the platform is the one that has the juice. While Threads and X put public conversations in the hands of autocratic billionaires, Bluesky is an independent entity and has structured its platform much more democratically. The platform has had its share of moderation controversies, but it puts far more control in the hands of its users. Its welcomed developers, who have created dozens of third-party apps for the service.All that may not ultimately be enough to fend off Meta, which can afford to throw billions of dollars at Threads. But Blueskys vision for an open-source decentralized platform is about much more than becoming the next big social media site. We set out to change the way social media works from the bottom up, Graber said during a recent press event. I want us to have choice over what we see.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/bluesky-and-threads-showed-us-very-different-visions-for-a-post-x-future-171046336.html?src=rss

When it comes to new horror games, there are times of feast and famine, and this past year we gorged until our bellies bulged and our mouths dripped with gruesome grease. In 2024, we received a rich spread of dark experiences from solo creators, indie teams, AA developers and AAA studios in a vast array of genres and visual styles. There was a fantastic Silent Hill 2 remake and beefy updates to contemporary classics like Phasmophobia, Alan Wake 2 and The Outlast Trials, and there was also a steady cadence of brand-new horror franchises expanding the genre in unexpected ways.First, lets take a moment to celebrate a sampling of the years fresh horror universes. In 2024, we got the following new titles:Crow Country from brothers Adam Vian and Tom Vian at SFB GamesFear the Spotlight from husband-and-wife team Cozy Game PalsHollowbodyby solo dev Nathan Hamley at Headware GamesHome Safety Hotline by Utah studio Night Signal EntertainmentINDIKAfrom Spain- and Kazakhstan-based studio Odd MeterKunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess from CapcomLorelei and the Laser Eyes by the high-strangeness experts at SimogoMouthwashing from Swedish indie team Wrong OrganSlitterheadby Silent Hill and Gravity Rush creator Keiichir Toyama at Bokeh Game StudiosStill Wakes the Deep from horror veterans The Chinese RoomThis is not a comprehensive list of new horror franchises in 2024, but its a suitable demonstration of how vast and varied the offerings were this year. Indie studios are leading the charge when it comes to fresh ideas and original mechanics, of course, but there are also plenty of references to early-2000s graphics and PS1- or PS2-era survival horror on this list. The combination of innovation and nostalgia is particularly potent in titles like Fear the Spotlight, Crow Country, Mouthwashing and Hollowbody. These games infuse blocky 3D worlds with modern sensibilities and smooth animations, resulting in experiences that illuminate the staticky memories of Resident Evil and Silent Hill that lurk in our heads. This is how we wanted those games to feel, fixed camera angles be damned or, in the case of Hollowbody, lovingly embraced.Fear the SpotlightCozy Game PalsIt should also be noted that Fear the Spotlight marks the debut of acclaimed horror-movie maker Blumhouse as a video game publisher. Fear the Spotlight is the first release in Blumhouses lineup which includes future titles from EYES OUT, Half Mermaid, Perfect Garbage, Playmestudio and Vermila Studios and its an excellent exploration of low-fi teenage drama and dread. The horror-game revolution is upon us and Blumhouse is absolutely going to snag a piece.The least horror-like game on the above list may be Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, and it also happens to be the only title from a AAA studio. Ive included it because, as a dedicated fan of horror games, I think Kunitsu-Gami checks plenty of boxes: It features huge, disgusting demons and a lethal blight that envelops whole towns in skeletal yet strangely juicy organic material. Its monster designs feature colorful displays of lechery and body horror, and theres comfort to be found in its tense strategy-action gameplay loop. Kunitsu-Gami wasnt marketed as a horror experience, and it certainly contains just as many scenes of stunning beauty as it does grotesquerie, but I heartily recommend it to any horror fan. I think youll be pleasantly surprised.Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the GoddessCapcomINDIKA is another entry that straddles the genres of horror, camp and religious satire, but it definitely features a few scenes of soul-piercing terror. Plus, the literal devil is your friendly companion throughout the game, and that has to count for something. Among scenes of grief, inhumanity and devastation, INDIKA is a laugh riot, and its a preeminent example of mature themes handled well in video game form. An additional genre-bending standout from 2024 is Simogos Lorelei and the Laser Eyes. It contains incredibly satisfying logic puzzles in a hotel made out of mysteries but phantoms haunt the hallways, theres a corpse in the back garden and every scene drips with palpable unease. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is one of the best and most unsettling games of the year, period.Still Wakes the Deep, meanwhile, offers a familiar and beautiful brand of monster-stalking horror on an oil rig in the middle of the angry North Sea. Its a must-play game for any horror fan, acting as a vessel for The Chinese Room to show off its skills in building authentic worlds and cultivating ceaseless tension with a paranormal edge. Plus, it's one of the best-looking games I played on PS5 all year. Slitterhead is another one for the action-horror players out there, presenting a supernatural mystery in a version of Hong Kong thats been infested by body-snatching demons, featuring buckets of blood and frantic close-range combat.Still Wakes the DeepThe Chinese RoomThe year began with the release of Home Safety Hotline, a simulation of a 1990s call center where players help diagnose and treat household pests, which include otherworldly threats like Bed Teeth, Fae Flu, The Horde, Laundry Gnome, Mirror Nymph, Toilet Hobb, Unicorn Fungi and others. Home Safety Hotline really was the amuse bouche of 2024s horror game lineup and Mouthwashing is the dessert.All the horror kids nowadays are playing Mouthwashing, a polygonal first-person romp through a stranded space ship filled with doomed crew members steadily losing their minds, overseen by a maimed captain with a maniacal, bandaged smile. Mouthwashing is strange and claustrophobic, and its a fabulous way to end the year in horror gaming.Silent Hill 2Bloober TeamBut we havent even talked about the existing franchises yet. The Silent Hill 2 remake from Bloober Team, the Polish studio behind Layers of Fear and Blair Witch, was a brilliant success, even in the face of exacting standards from longtime series fans. The remake looks and feels like the game that players remember, only spit-shined and smoothed over, and Silent Hill 2 remains just as terrifying in 2024 as it originally was in 2001. Maybe even more so. Bloober Team had a lot to prove with this one, and they made us elder-Millennial horror players proud.Alan Wake 2 was one of the best games of 2023, horror or otherwise, and it received two significant batches of DLC this year: Night Springs landed in June and The Lake House went live in October. Each bit of content not only keeps Alan Wakes hellish world alive, but it adds depth to the cross-franchise universe that Remedy is building between Control and Alan Wake. Personally I always want more Alan Wake, and in that regard, 2024 didnt disappoint.The Outlast TrialsRed BarrelsTwo live-service indie games, The Outlast Trials and Phasmophobia, also saw major updates in the past 12 months. After entering early access in May 2023, The Outlast Trials studio Red Barrels has been working to establish a solid cadence of new content drops, and this year they really got into the groove. The Outlast Trials launched in full in March 2024 and its received multiple updates since then, introducing new enemies, maps, game modes and limited-time events for the players trapped in the Murkoff Corporations secret Sinyala Facility. The amount of work that Red Barrels puts into The Outlast Trials is endlessly impressive, especially considering there are only about 65 developers at the studio.Phasmophobia has an even smaller team than Red Barrels, but theyre making big moves. The crew at UK studio Kinetic Games have kept Phasmophobia alive since its Steam launch in September 2020, and this year, they finally brought the ghost-hunting game to consoles. Phasmophobia hit PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on October 29, and it also came to PS VR2. Kinetic Games has grand plans to keep supporting and expanding Phasmophobia in 2025 and beyond, so even though the console release happened four years after launch, this is really just the beginning.Lorelei and the Laser EyesSimogoThere it is our humble ode to horror gaming in 2024. Its been a dozen months of indie innovation and gorgeous gore, with a side dish of fabulous remakes and sizable updates. Some new horror games push against the boundaries of the genre, expanding our ideas of whats scary and why, while others find fresh ways to dissect classic tropes. Its a case of modern cuisine vs. comfort food, and on my plate, theres plenty of room for both.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/dang-2024-was-a-great-year-for-horror-game-fans-160009640.html?src=rss

How AI can help plan game night.

TechRadar speaks to the writer and director of Pixars Inside Out 2, Kelsey Mann, about the potential for a third movie.

It's been quite the year for tech! Here's our round up of the biggest trends in phones, computing, TVs, gaming, cameras, streaming and more in 2024.

Drugmakers plan to raise U.S. prices on at least 250 branded medications including Pfizer COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid, Bristol Myers Squibbs cancer cell therapies, and vaccines from Frances Sanofi at the start of 2025, according to data analyzed by healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors.Nearly all of the drug price increases are below 10%most well below. The median price increase of the drugs being hiked Jan. 1 is 4.5%, which is in line with the median for all price increases last year.The increases are to list prices, which do not include rebates to pharmacy benefit managers and other discounts.Larger drug price increases were once far more common in the U.S., but in recent years drugmakers have scaled them back after price hikes drew sharp criticism in the middle of the last decade.Drugmakers dont have much real estate any longer to increase prices over time, which means taking greater liberties on launch prices is really the only option they have in the face of expanded penalties for year-over-year price increases, 3 Axis President Antonio Ciaccia said.A Reuters analysis of prices for new drugs found that pharmaceutical companies launched new U.S. drugs in 2023 at prices 35% higher than in 2022.The over 250 drug hikes represent an increase from Dec. 29 last year when drugmakers unveiled plans to raise prices on more than 140 brands of drugs.Drug companies are also reducing some prices on Jan. 1. Merck & Co plans to cut the list price of its heavily discounted diabetes drugs Januvia and Janumet to align the list price more closely to the net price.U.S. PAYS MOSTThe U.S. pays more for prescription medicines than any other country, and incoming President Donald Trump has vowed to lower drug costs by focusing on middlemen in the U.S. healthcare system.More drug price increases are likely to be announced by other drugmakers over the course of Januaryhistorically the biggest month for drugmakers to raise prices.Pfizer raised prices of the most drugs on the latest listmore than 60 drugs. As well as a 3% hike on Paxlovid, the company raised prices on medicines including migraine treatment Nurtec and cancer drugs Adcetris, Ibrance, and Xeljanz between 3% and 5%.Pfizer has adjusted the average list prices of our medicines and vaccines for 2025 below the overall rate of inflationapproximately 2.4%across many products in our diverse product portfolio, Pfizer spokesperson Amy Rose said in an email. She said the increases help support investments in drug development and offset costs.Bristol Myers raised the price of its expensive cancer cell therapies Abecma and Breyanzi by 6% and 9%, respectively. The personalized blood cancer treatments can already cost close to half a million dollars.A BMS spokesperson said in an email that the company is committed to achieving unfettered patient access to its medicines. She said the price of Breyanzi in particular is reflective of the potentially transformative, individualized treatment in a one-time infusion.Sanofi raised prices on around a dozen of its vaccines between 2.9% and 9%.The largest brand price increases according to the 3 Axis analysis were from Leadiant Pharmaceuticals, a unit of Italys Essetifin. The company raised prices around 15% on its Hodgkins disease treatment Matulane and about 20% on Cystaran, eye drops to help patients with symptoms from a rare condition called cystinosis.Spokespeople from Leadiant and Sanofi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by David Gregorio