Szyman currently serves as the worldwide president of Advanced Patient Monitoring at Becton Dickinson and Co.

Find insight on diversified semiconductor vendors, Netflix, potential Canadian tariffs, and more in the latest Market Talks covering Technology, Media and Telecom.

This NOVA presentation examines flying-saucer sightings and how conspiratorial thinking takes hold in the absence of definitive proof.

Judy Garland, Wernher von Braun, Supreme Court justices, major politiciansthere was nothing quite like Perle Mestas parties.

Here we go again New Netflix price hikes increase subscription fees by up to $2.50 a month The cheapest ad-free plan increases from $15.49 to $17.99. Scharon Harding Jan 21, 2025 5:20 pm | 0 A scene from the Netflix original series Squid Game. Credit: Netflix A scene from the Netflix original series Squid Game. Credit: Netflix Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreToday Netflix, the biggest streaming service based on subscriber count, announced that it will increase subscription prices by up to $2.50 per month.In a letter to investors [PDF], Netflix announced price changes starting today in the US, Canada, Argentina, and Portugal.People who subscribe to Netflix's cheapest ad-free plan (Standard) will see the biggest increase in monthly costs. The subscription will go from $15.49/month to $17.99/month, representing a 16.14 percent bump. The subscription tier allows commercial-free streaming for up to two devices and maxes out at 1080p resolution. It's Netflix's most popular subscription in the US, Bloomberg noted.Netflix's Premium ad-free tier has cost $22.99/month but is going up 8.7 percent to $24.99/month. The priciest Netflix subscription supports simultaneous streaming for up to four devices, downloads on up to six devices, 4K resolution, HDR, and spatial audio.Finally, Netflix's Standard With Ads tier will go up by $1, or 14.3 percent, to $7.99/month. This tier supports streaming from up to two devices and up to 1080p resolution. In Q4 2024, this subscription represented "over 55 percent of sign-ups" in countries where it's available and generally grew "nearly 30 percent quarter over quarter," Netflix said in its quarterly letter to investors."As we continue to invest in programming and deliver more value for our members, we will occasionally ask our members to pay a little more so that we can re-invest to further improve Netflix," Netflix's letter reads.Netflix most recently raised subscription prices in 2023, when the Premium plan went up by $3 and the Basic plan increased by $2 (Netflix killed off the Basic plan in 2024).Ads continue to be a central focus for Netflix moving forward. As it stands, Netflix's ad business wasn't yet large enough to be broken out in Netflix's Q4 2024 earnings report but should be relevant by 2026, the streaming company said."Were on track to reach sufficient scale for ads members in all of our ads countries in 2025," Netflix told investors. "A top priority in 2025 is to improve our offering for advertisers so that we can substantially grow our advertising revenue."In Q4 2024, Netflix gained more subscribers than it ever has in a single quarter, buoyed by live sporting events and a new season of one of its most popular series, Squid Game. The streaming platform added 18.91 million subscribers for a total of 301.63 million. Netflix has said it will not report quarterly subscriber numbers in future reports.In addition to record subscriber gains, Netflix also saw its largest quarterly revenue gainup 16 percent to $10.2 billionsince 2021 in Q4 2024.With Netflix already enacting a successful password crackdown, launching an ad-supported subscription offering, and topping subscriber counts, there are limited ways for it to fuel growth. It also needs billions of dollars to pay for and continue to win the rights to stream live events. Netflix plans to get some of these funds from current subscribers' wallets.Scharon HardingSenior Technology ReporterScharon HardingSenior Technology Reporter Scharon is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica writing news, reviews, and analysis on consumer gadgets and services. She's been reporting on technology for over 10 years, with bylines at Toms Hardware, Channelnomics, and CRN UK. 0 Comments

Digital distribution RIP EAs Origin launcher: We knew ye all too well, unfortunately End of 32-bit Windows support offered an excuse to put the nail in the coffin. Samuel Axon Jan 21, 2025 4:17 pm | 39 Things did not go well for Origin. Credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty Images Things did not go well for Origin. Credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreAfter 14 years, EA will retire its controversial Origin game distribution app for Windows, the company announced. Origin will stop working on April 17, 2025. Folks still using it will be directed to install the newer EA app, which launched in 2022.The launch of Origin in 2011 was a flashpoint of controversy among gamers, as EAalready not a beloved company by this pointbegan pulling titles like Crysis 2 from the popular Steam platform to drive players to its own launcher.Frankly, it all made sense from EA's point of view. For a publisher that size, Valve had relatively little to offer in terms of services or tools, yet it was taking a big chunk of games' revenue. Why wouldn't EA want to get that money back?The transition was a rough one, though, because it didn't make as much sense from the consumer's point of view. Players distrusted EA and had a lot of goodwill for Valve and Steam. Origin lacked features players liked on Steam, and old habits and social connections die hard. Plus, EA's use of Origina long-dead brand name tied to classic RPGs and other games of the '80s and '90sfor something like this felt to some like a slap in the face.EA eventually put its games back on Steam starting in 2019. It also announced plans to retire the Origin name and app in favor of a more simply branded "EA" app, which launched in 2022.The company attempted to migrate its users from Origin to the new app and stopped releasing games on Origin, but it still remained an option for older games. Come April 17, the app will be retired completely.EA cited Microsoft's plan to end support for the 32-bit version of Windows 10 this coming October as a catalyst. Since there is no 32-bit version of Windows 11, that effectively ends OS support for 32-bit Windows applications as we previously knew it. (The Origin app is 32-bit, and the newer EA app is 64-bit.) It seems as good a time as any to pull the plug.Samuel AxonSenior EditorSamuel AxonSenior Editor Samuel Axon is a senior editor at Ars Technica. He covers Apple, software development, gaming, AI, entertainment, and mixed reality. He has been writing about gaming and technology for nearly two decades at Engadget, PC World, Mashable, Vice, Polygon, Wired, and others. He previously ran a marketing and PR agency in the gaming industry, led editorial for the TV network CBS, and worked on social media marketing strategy for Samsung Mobile at the creative agency SPCSHP. He also is an independent software and game developer for iOS, Windows, and other platforms, and heis a graduate of DePaul University, where he studied interactive media and software development. 39 Comments

Public health programmes around the world could be cut due to the US leaving the WHOJohn Moore/ Getty ImagesIn one of his first executive orders as president, Donald Trump has begun the process of withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization (WHO). One years notice is required to retreat from the international public health body, at which time the US will stop contributing funds. The impact could be huge. In recent years the US has contributed nearly a fifth of the WHOs $6.8 billion budget.In a statement released with the order, the

A ridge in south-east Sicily that was eroded by the megafloodKevin Sciberras and Neil PetroniJumbled deposits of rock found on the top of hills in south-east Sicily were left by the megaflood that refilled the Mediterranean sea 5 million years the largest known flooding event in Earths history.The rock deposits and eroded hills in this part of Sicily, a region of Italy, are the first land-based evidence found for the megaflood, says Paul Carling at the University of Southampton in the UK. You can actually walk around and see it, says Carling. AdvertisementAround 6 million years ago, during the so-called Messinian salinity crisis, the Mediterranean Sea was cut off from the Atlantic Ocean and began to dry out. Vast deposits of salt formed at this time and the sea level may have dropped by a kilometre or more.Water once again started flowing through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean around 5.3 million years ago. Researchers initially thought an enormous waterfall near Gibraltar refilled it over a period of tens of thousands of years.But in 2009, the discovery of a massive eroded channel on the bottom of the strait pointed to a much more abrupt megaflood. The evidence for this has been growing ever since. The latest science news delivered to your inbox, every day.Sign up to newsletterThis megaflood first filled up the western basin of the Mediterranean Sea, says Carling. Eroded features on the seafloor suggest it then spilled over the underwater ridge, known as the Sicilian sill, into the eastern basin.Team member Giovanni Barreca at the University of Catania in Italy, who grew up in south-east Sicily, suspected the land there was also shaped by the megaflood. So he and his fellow researchers took a closer look and analysed rock samples.Sure enough, they found the jumbled deposits near the top of some hills contain rocks that have been eroded from much deeper layers and somehow carried up to the top of the hill. You can tell from their nature that they were from these lower levels, says Carling. And they were carried up and over these hills.Many of the hills themselves have a streamlined shape, and resemble ones in Montana that were sculpted by a massive flood caused by an ice dam breaking at the end of the last glacial period. Theyre quite distinctive, says Carling. And the only thing can streamline features of this scale is very large-scale, deep flooding.More Sicilian ridges shaped by the megafloodDaniel Garcia CastellanosThe team estimated during the peak of the flood the water was flowing at around 115 kilometres per hour and covered the tops of the hills which are around 100 metres above the modern-day sea level with about 40 metres of water.The researchers also studied the seafloor around Sicily and found yet more evidence for the megaflood, such as eroded ridges and channels. Their modelling suggested the entire Mediterranean Sea refilled in between two and 16 years, but the main flooding event in Sicily probably lasted only days, Carling says.Journal reference:Communications Earth & Environment DOI: 10.1038/s43247-024-01972-wTopics:

James Fishback, an outside DOGE advisor, told BI that he wants to take Vivek Ramaswamy's spot.Ramaswamy left DOGE on Monday and is expected to run for governor of Ohio.Fishback said that he wants to refocus DOGE on regulatory reform, but hasn't spoken to Trump or Musk.One day after Vivek Ramaswamy announced he is leaving the Department of Government Efficiency, James Fishback, co-founder and CEO of the investment firm Azoria, told Business Insider he's ready to fill the open role.Fishback, a confidant of Ramaswamy, has said he's already worked as an outside advisor to DOGE. Should he take over as DOGE co-head, he told BI he'd want to focus on deregulation, as NBC first reported Tuesday. It's not yet clear whether someone will step into Ramaswamy's role as co-leader with Elon Musk or how the decision will be made."I think it's honestly going to be up to two people: Elon and President Trump, the latter having, of course, more sway," Fishback told BI. He said he didn't know of other people vying for the role, but added that it was a "fast-moving situation."As of Tuesday afternoon, Fishback told BI he had not talked to President Donald Trump or Musk about his desire to take Ramaswamy's place. Though he's based in Florida, Fishback said he plans to stay in Washington, DC for a few more days and will meet with employees in the White House."And it's not necessarily to make the case for me, it is primarily to make the case that the regulatory work that Vivek Ramaswamy was leading first and foremost that to be reintegrated back into DOGE in one way, shape, or form," he told BI.On Monday, Trump signed an executive order establishing DOGE as an agency inside the White House, instead of an external group as was widely expected. The order seemingly limited DOGE's mission, scaling it back from a commission devoted to deregulation and trillion-dollar spending cuts to one focused on updating the federal government's tech systems.Representatives for Musk and Trump did not respond to BI's request for comment.

When I first tried keto, I lost 130 pounds quickly but found that the diet was unsustainable for me.Now, I'm counting macros to lose weight and rebuilding my relationship with different kinds of food.I want to eat meals that make me feel good about myself without attaching morality to certain foods.Many people sing the praises of the keto diet, and I used to be one of them. I lost 130 pounds over 14 months while being able to stuff my face with bacon. Although the diet was restrictive, it felt sustainable until it wasn't.I no longer follow the keto diet because I ultimately found it wasn't suitable for me. For example, following it raised my cholesterol and gave me food fatigue. I also gained a lot of weight back since I stopped doing keto.Instead, I'm now counting macros adding up the total number of grams of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats I consume per meal. By counting macros, I'm focusing on getting enough protein to maintain muscle mass while eating in a caloric deficit.It's been a few months of following this method, and I already feel happier and less obsessed with my diet.I'm trying to develop a truly healthy relationship with food I want to eat more meals that make me feel good. Jennifer Still Though keto helped me shed weight quickly, I'm one of those people who didn't find the diet helpful in every way.Keto didn't do me any favors when it came to healing my relationship with food, and it furthered my disordered eating by assigning a certain level of morality to what I ate.If I went out to dinner with my partner and had a few french fries, I had an overwhelming sense of guilt and felt I'd "failed" in some way.This time around, I'm trying to find a true middle of the road and learn the meaning of moderation, which is easier said than done.I'm focusing on how food makes me feel rather than how it makes me lookI'd be lying if I said I don't want to lose the weight I regained after stepping away from keto, but it's not my primary focus this time.As I start my macros journey, I have an incredible level of fitness under my belt, which is much different from when I began my keto experience. I'm also approaching food as a vehicle for making me feel stronger and giving me more endurance for workouts.This is a real mindset change, and I'm more drawn to foods that make me feel good instead of things I feel like I have to eat because they fit a certain diet.I'm eating fewer processed and 'keto-fied' treats I'm don't want to attach morality to the food on my plate. Jennifer Still Not everyone on keto falls into this trap, but some of us end up eating a lot of processed foods to make up for what's missing in our diet.For instance, when I was on keto, I ate sausage, bacon, and other processed meats on a daily basis. It wrecked my cholesterol levels. Because I couldn't enjoy regular ice cream or cookies, I'd also load up on protein bars or other keto-friendly versions of treats that were typically high in calories and fat but not very nutritious.Now that I'm counting macros, I make lean protein my priority and fill my plate with plant-based foods like sweet potatoes, beans, leafy greens, and squash. If I want a cookie, I eat a real one. I still occasionally eat sausage and bacon, too.I'm learning to practice patienceWhen I followed the keto diet, it felt great to quickly shed weight, but I also found out how unsustainable it was after I gained it back.My method of counting macros will likely mean it'll take much longer for me to lose a few pounds. But this time, I don't want to lose quite as much and I want to do it right.Above all, I'm treating counting macros as a lifestyle change, not a diet with a finish date and end goal.This story was originally published on August 23, 2022, and most recently updated on January 21, 2o25.