The state of Indiana is no stranger to underdog stories. Hoosiers and Rudy, two of the most iconic underdog sports films ever made, both take place in the state, and both are based on true stories.
Hoosier nation now has a trilogy.
Indiana University’s football team had been a Big Ten doormat for as long as the conference had existed. Then, athletic director Scott Dolson hired Curt Cignetti as head coach, and Cignetti embarked on the greatest turnaround story in modern college sports. In just his second season, he led the Hoosiers to their first-ever national championship, defeating the University of Miami Hurricanes, 27-21, on Monday night, and completing a perfect season that nobody saw coming. Well, except for Cignetti himself.
It took more than just one person, but Cignetti was the catalyst that eventually catapulted IU to the top of the sport. Here’s a look at some key numbers from an unforgettable Hoosiers season.
16-0
Indiana became the first major college football team to go 16-0 in a single season since Yale in 1894. The caveat being that those Bulldogs didnt play all 16 games against other colleges, mixing in a few games against athletic clubs.
$93 million
Cignetti has signed three different contracts with Indiana: his initial contract in November 2023, an extension worth $8 million per year in November 2024, and then a behemoth extension worth nearly $93 million over eight years in October 2025.
3
Through that last contract, Cignetti is entitled to a good-faith market review and renegotiation that makes him no less than the third-highest-paid Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) coach should the Hoosiers make it to the College Football Playoff semifinal. Thanks to Coach Lane Kiffins contract at LSU, Cignetti will be due for another raise shortly.
5
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza became just the fifth quarterback in the last 75 years to win the Heisman Trophy while leading his team to an undefeated national championship. He joins Joe Burrow (LSU, 2019), Jameis Winston (Florida State, 2013), Cam Newton (Auburn, 2010), and Matt Leinart (USC, 2004) in that club. Mendoza is currently –8000 to join Burrow, Winston, and Newton as first overall NFL Draft picks as well.
12
Mendozas 12-yard touchdown run on 4th down and five with just under ten minutes to play is the most memorable play from the game. The Hoosiers dialed up a designed quarterback run, and the Miami native made a juke move to gain the first down, then powered through multiple would-be tacklers to dive over the goal line for the score.
715
Entering the 2025 season, Indianas 715 all-time losses were the most by any program in major college football. Conference foe Northwestern lost its 716th game against USC on November 7th, taking the dubious honor from the Hoosiers.
2.5x
Indianas football budget rose more than 2.5x from 2021 to 2024, when the budget was last reported at just over $61 million. That figure likely climbed even more from 2024 to 2025, with the Hoosiers going all in on Cignetti. The 2024 mark was the first time since at least 2005 that IU has exceeded the median Big Ten football budget.
24
Indiana University is not a stranger to winning national championships, football notwithstanding. The Hoosiers have won 24 NCAA team championships between six different sports, including five in mens basketball. The last NCAA Championship that IU won was mens soccer in 2012, when it defeated Georgetown.
.798
Curt Cignettis winning percentage as a head college football coach ranks among the most impressive in the country. Between Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania, FCS Elon, James Madison (in both FCS and FBS), and now, Indiana, hes won 146 of his 183 games. Nick Saban widely regarded as the greatest college football coach ever won just a shade over 80% of his games. Its not the highest mark of all time (Mount Union legend Vince Kehres won over 92% of his games, coaching Division III) or even in his own conference (Ohio States Ryan Day has won 87% of his games) but considering the circumstances, he keeps pretty special company.
He wins. Google him.
+10,000
Per Sportsoddshistory.com, Indiana was +10,000 to win the national championship in the preseason. No other national champion dating back to the start of the database (2001) had preseason odds longer than +5000. The Hoosiers had the same odds as Florida State, which went 5-7, Nebraska, which went 7-6, and USC, which went 9-4.
$10.90
The amount Cignetti spends every day on his Chipotle Burrito Bowl for his lunch in the office. Chicken, beans, rice, and a side of guac.
Netflix exceeded Wall Street’s revenue estimates for its holiday quarter, as it crossed 325 million subscribers, the company said on Tuesday.
Revenue came in at $12.1 billion for October through Decembertopping forecasts of $11.97 billion for the quarter, according to analysts surveyed by LSEG.
Nielsen reported that Netflix’s monthly viewership rose 10% in December, thanks largely to the final season of hit sci-fi series “Stranger Things,” which generated 15 billion viewing minutes. Netflix also streamed two National Football League games on Christmas Day and released a third film in the “Knives Out” murder mystery series.
Investors remain focused on Netflix’s $82.7 billion pursuit of Warner Bros Discovery’s studio and other entertainment assets, as it seeks to fend off a hostile bid from Paramount Skydance.
Netflix amended its merger agreement to an all-cash offer for the film and television studios, its extensive content library, and major entertainment franchises, including “Game of Thrones,” “Harry Potter,” and DC Comics’ superheroes like Batman and Superman.
“Our revised all-cash agreement will enable an expedited timeline to a stockholder vote and provide greater financial certainty,” Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in a statement accompanying Tuesday’s amended bid.
In its note to investors, Netflix said the Warner Bros acquisition will provide it with an even broader and higher-quality selection of movies and shows for its subscribers, while it will be able to offer more personalized, flexible subscription offers with the addition of HBO Max.
The company said it obtained commitments for a $59 billion bridge loan on December 4 to support the Warner acquisition. On Monday, it increased the bridge loan commitment by $8.2 billion to support its all-cash $27.75 per share offer.
In financial results, Netflix reported adjusted per-share earnings of 56 cents for the fourth quarter ended in December, slightly above estimates of 55 cents per share.
Netflix forecasts continued growth in 2026, with revenue of $50.7 billion to $51.7 billion. Ad revenue is expected to roughly double, Netflix said.
Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine, Reuters
Below, Chris Duffy shares five key insights from his new book, Humor Me: How Laughing More Can Make You Present, Creative, Connected, and Happy.
Chris is a comedian, television writer, and the host of TEDs award-winning How to Be a Better Human podcast. Chris wrote for both seasons of Wyatt Cenacs Problem Areas on HBO, executive-produced by John Oliver. He is both a former fifth-grade teacher and a former fifth-grade student.
Whats the big idea?
Humor isnt just about being funny. When we notice, share, and even save the small absurdities of everyday life, laughter can make us more relatable, more curious, and better able to connect, think, and work together.
Listen to the audio version of this Book Biteread by Chris himselfbelow, or in the Next Big Idea App.
1. People like you more if youre a little bit of a mess.
Many of us spend so much energy and stress trying to get things to be perfect. I know I do. Ive wasted countless hours trying to hide my flaws from other people, especially strangers. But it turns out that not only is that a battle Im never going to win, but its counterproductive.
One of my favorite studies had study subjects rate potential job candidates (who were secretly in on the experiment). When asked to rate high-performing candidates and average candidates, study participants preferred the high performers. No surprise there. But the highest-rated candidates of all were the high performers who had also just spilled coffee all over themselves before walking in the door. In other words, we want you to be able to do your job, but we dont mind if youre kind of a mess. In fact, we prefer it! Youre relatable.
Now, Im not suggesting that you dump scalding hot coffee on yourself before your next high-stakes interview. But I am suggesting that being willing to openly acknowledge and laugh at your flaws and imperfections wont undermine your success, it will enhance it. Nobody likes a perfect goody two-shoes; everyone loves a person whos a bit of a mess but trying their best.
2. Looking for laughs can lead to big, serious ideas.
Millions of people are alive today because of the discovery of penicillin. But when Alexander Fleming walked into the lab and saw penicillin for the first time, he didnt shout Eureka! Instead, he walked up to a dirty petri dish that had been left out overnight and said, Thats funny, before taking a culture of the mold.
The idea of seeing something odd and funny and then investigating it has led to many breakthroughs. In fact, every year, hundreds of the worlds most brilliant thinkers converge in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for the Ig Nobel Prizes. If youre not already familiar with the Ig Nobels, theyre a lot like the Nobel Prizes. But instead of recognizing the most world-changing achievements in physics, chemistry, and peace, the Ig Nobels recognize the most hilarious discoveries of the year. Their slogan is Research that makes people laugh, then think.
The idea of seeing something odd and funny and then investigating it has led to many breakthroughs.
The winners are people who have published papers on things like constipated scorpions or what happens if you use a crash test dummy thats shaped like a moose. An international team won the Ig Nobel Prize in Literature for studying the sensations people feel when they repeat a single word many, many, many, many, many, many, many times. Or Georgia Tech scientists were awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering a universal urination duration. Using fluid dynamics, they demonstrated that all mammals weighing over three kilograms take about twenty-one seconds to completely empty a full bladder.
So why would actual Nobel Laureates and celebrated geniuses from around the world make time in their busy schedules to attend an event like this? For one, its fun. I attended the 2024 Ig Nobels, and it was hilarious and an absolute blast. But the Ig Nobels attract such a distinguished crowd for another reason as well! These people are smart enough to know that when it comes to big ideas, a laugh is never just a laugh. Following your sense of humor makes you pay more attention and be intellectually open to new, surprising insights and observations.
3. You dont have to be the center of attention to have a great sense of humor.
I am a glutton for attention. I love talking to strangers, and I have built my career around happily getting up in front of crowds to share my thoughts. Im a tried-and-true extrovert.
My wife, Mollie, on the other hand, is an introvert who would much rather be curled up at home with a good book than chatting with a neighbor on the bus.
But heres the thing: Mollie has an incredible sense of humor! People often make the mistake of thinking that a sense of humor means youre at a party, in the middle of a large group, loudly telling a joke. In fact, it could just as easily be that you are on a walk alone when you notice an extremely chubby squirrel going to town on an acorn. The point is that youre bringing laughter into your daily life and enjoying the delightful absurdity of the world that you might otherwise have missed.
People often make the mistake of thinking that a sense of humor means youre at a party, in the middle of a large group, loudly telling a joke.
And if youre curious, Mollie really did see that jumbo squirrel having the time of its life. Even just hearing her report secondhand later in the day, I was clutching my sides too at that little squirrel feast.
4. If you want a group to work well together, try being like Abraham Lincoln.
When Abraham Lincoln assembled his famous team of rivals, he had a cabinet full of brilliant statesmen. There was only one problem: They mostly hated each other, and they didnt particularly like him. So how did Honest Abe turn the group of rival politicians into a team?
Lincolns answer was, in part, to laugh with them. To create a group identity with inside jokes, folksy anecdotes, and shared humor. Everyone who knew Lincoln knew he had no shortage of jokes. One contemporary said Lincolns jokes were as plenty as blackberries. And if theres one thing we know about blackberries, its that there are lots of them.
Modern portrayals of Lincoln tend to paint him as a serious and tragic figure, for understandable reasons. But much of Lincolns skill as a politician and leader was his ability to connect with people by getting them laughing. Benjamin P. Thomas, a Lincoln scholar, wrote that Lincoln was ready with an instant witticism or retort under almost any circumstances.
One excellent example of Lincolns humor is a joke he made about himself being ugly. During the Lincoln-Douglas debates, when he was accused of being two-faced, Lincoln responded, Honestly, if I were two-faced, would I be showing you this one? A very solid self-burn!
Bob Mankoff, the former cartoon editor for The New Yorker, has long been interested in Lincolns humor. In an essay, he wrote that Lincoln was much more about laughingwith than laughing at. And when laughing at, it was often himself he was mocking.
Much of Lincolns skill as a politician and leader was his ability to connect with people by getting them laughing.
That Lincoln-style congeniality and empathy can help disarm detractors and create a more comfortable space for positive group dynamics to form. There are evolutionary reasons to suspect that this may be one of the earliest and most important functions of humor. Animal behavior experts have long observed that chimpanzees and other primates engage in an equivalent of human laughter. After laughing together, primates are often more relaxed and less aggressive. If it works for chimps, it might work for your colleagues at the office, too!
5. You can stockpile laughter in a file folder.
If youre anything like me, you can instantly recall humiliating and embarrassing moments from decades ago. I will often be in the shower minding my own business when all of a sudden I have a vivid recollection of something horrifying, like the time I had a phone conversation with my crush in high school and it ended with her saying I dont think I have a crush on you anymore because you talk too much. Or when I was in one of my first ever big deal meetings with a TV executive, I told her I hated reality TV and then turned around to see a giant poster for the show Jersey Shore with her name listed as one of the producers.
Its no challenge for me to give a vivid play-by-play of any one of thousands of cringeworthy interactions. But ask me to give you an equivalent retelling of the funniest jokes and best laughs Ive had, and it takes a lot more effort. We tend to forget the laughs and retain the skin-crawling mortification.
But you can change that! Every time you find something that makes you laugh uncontrollably, write it down or find a way to experience it again. Maybe its a list on your computer of the online videos that make you cry tears of laughter, a jar full of Post-it notes with inside jokes from your marriage, or an album of the most hilariously bad photos youve ever taken of your kids or your friends. The form it takes isnt particularly important, but your ability to re-access a good laugh when you need it is.
Every time you find something that makes you laugh uncontrollably, write it down or find a way to experience it again.
When I interviewed the care team at a Hong Kong nursing home about the wildly successful humor program they had implemented, they told me that residents in the program had needed less pain medicine, felt more connected, and experienced an increase in life satisfaction. One of the biggest parts of their program was simply keeping a folder of writing, cartoons, images, and jokes that made them laugh and then sharing it with others. Thats a prescription that any of us can try, and theres no copay.
Enjoy our full library of Book Bitesread by the authors!in the Next Big Idea App.
This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
Anthropic is undoubtedly having a moment right now. First came Claude Code, an AI-powered coding tool for developers, in early 2025, which quickly gained a cult following among that community. “You spent your holidays with your family? That’s nice I spent my holidays with Claude Code,” recently posted one tech-policy expert. But most people aren’t developers, let alone know their way around a command-line interface.
So last week, Anthropic launched Claude Cowork, which the company calls “Claude Code for the rest of your work.” Available now as a research preview on Anthropics $100-per-month Max plan, Cowork is the best example of what “vibe coding“an AI-powered approach where people use natural language prompts to bring their software ideas to lifecan do. Designed for non-developers, its a desktop app that aims to help regular workers with all kinds of tasks, like organizing files or crunching data.
Case in point: Anthropic’s new working agent was largely built by Claude itself, in just a week and a half. The memes write themselves.
“Claude, here is a picture of my bank account. claude, make that number go up to $1 billion. make no mistakes,” one X user prompted.
“Claude here is my life. all of it. down to the last detail. make me happy. beautiful. successful. make no mistakes,” another posted.
“Claude, here are my notes where I keep all of my passwords. here are my bank account details and phone number for 2fa. run my life and make money, wrote another. Make no mistakes.
While Claude might not be able to satisfy those demands (yet), AI is undoubtedly turning the workforce on its head. Research shows that 85% of employees globally are saving one to seven hours a week with AI. Yet, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned that we could be “sleepwalking into a white-collar bloodbath,” with AI wiping out huge swathes of entry-level jobs in just one update.
Software engineers in particular, have found themselves directly in the impact zone.
Yea Im a full-stack engineer, one X user posted. Their stack: Claude, Terminal, and Cursor. But they arent alone. “Bankers, lawyers, and consultants looking at everyone else joining them in the unemployment line after the Claude Cowork release,” quipped another.
In fact, no one is marked safe. “I’m assembling a team,” wrote one X user alongside an image of a company leadership team with Claude in every C-suite role. A follow-up post read “just got kicked out of my own company.”
“Got told I was ‘slowing everyone down.'” Despite the discourse, data currently shows that theres little evidence for actual AI-caused displacement in the job market. For now, well at least have the popcorn ready for the memes that just wont quit.
Eighteen months ago, it was plausible that artificial intelligence might take a different path than social media. Back then, AIs development hadnt consolidated under a small number of big tech firms. Nor had it capitalized on consumer attention, surveilling users, and delivering ads.
Unfortunately, the AI industry is now taking a page from the social media playbook and has set its sights on monetizing consumer attention. When OpenAI launched its ChatGPT Search feature in late 2024 and its browser, ChatGPT Atlas, in October 2025, it kicked off a race to capture online behavioral data to power advertising. Its part of a yearslong turnabout by OpenAI, whose CEO Sam Altman once called the combination of ads and AI unsettling and now promises that ads can be deployed in AI apps while preserving trust. The rampant speculation among OpenAI users who believe they see paid placements in ChatGPT responses suggests they are not convinced.
In 2024, AI search company Perplexity started experimenting with ads in its offerings. A few months after that, Microsoft introduced ads to its Copilot AI. Googles AI Mode for search now increasingly features ads, as does Amazons Rufus chatbot.
As a security expert and data scientist, we see these examples as harbingers of a future where AI companies profit from manipulating their users behavior for the benefit of their advertisers and investors. Its also a reminder that time to steer the direction of AI development away from private exploitation and toward public benefit is quickly running out.
The functionality of ChatGPT Search and its Atlas browser is not really new. Meta, commercial AI competitor Perplexity, and even ChatGPT itself have had similar AI search features for years, and both Google and Microsoft beat OpenAI to the punch by integrating AI with their browsers. But OpenAIs business positioning signals a shift.
We believe the ChatGPT Search and Atlas announcements are worrisome because there is really only one way to make money on search: the advertising model pioneered ruthlessly by Google.
Advertising model
Ruled a monopolist in U.S. federal court, Google has earned more than US$1.6 trillion in advertising revenue since 2001. You may think of Google as a web search company, or a streaming video company (YouTube), or an email company (Gmail), or a mobile phone company (Android, Pixel), or maybe even an AI company (Gemini). But those products are ancillary to Googles bottom line. The advertising segment typically accounts for 80% to 90% of its total revenue. Everything else is there to collect users data and direct users attention to its advertising revenue stream.
After two decades in this monopoly position, Googles search product is much more tuned to the companys needs than those of its users. When Google Search first arrived decades ago, it was revelatory in its ability to instantly find useful information across the still-nascent web. In 2025, its search result pages are dominated by low-quality and often AI-generated content, spam sites that exist solely to drive traffic to Amazon salesa tactic known as affiliate marketingand paid ad placements, which at times are indistinguishable from organic results.
Plenty of advertisers and observers seem to think AI-powered advertising is the future of the ad business.
Big Techs AI advertising plans are shaking up the industry.
Highly persuasive
Paid advertising in AI search, and AI models generally, could look very different from traditional web search. It has the potential to influence your thinking, spending patterns, and even personal beliefs in much more subtle ways. Because AI can engage in active dialogue, addressing your specific questions, concerns, and ideas rather than just filtering static content, its potential for influence is much greater. Its like the difference between reading a textbook and having a conversation with its author.
Imagine youre conversing with your AI agent about an upcoming vacation. Did it recommend a particular airline or hotel chain because they really are best for you, or does the company get a kickback for every mention? If you ask abou a political issue, does the model bias its answer based on which political party has paid the company a fee, or based on the bias of the models corporate owners?
There is mounting evidence that AI models are at least as effective as people at persuading users to do things. A December 2023 meta-analysis of 121 randomized trials reported that AI models are as good as humans at shifting peoples perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors. A more recent meta-analysis of eight studies similarly concluded there was no significant overall difference in persuasive performance between (large language models) and humans.
This influence may go well beyond shaping what products you buy or who you vote for. As with the field of search engine optimization, the incentive for humans to perform for AI models might shape the way people write and communicate with each other. How we express ourselves online is likely to be increasingly directed to win the attention of AIs and earn placement in the responses they return to users.
A different way forward
Much of this is discouraging, but there is much that can be done to change it.
First, its important to recognize that todays AI is fundamentally untrustworthy, for the same reasons that search engines and social media platforms are.
The problem is not the technology itself; fast ways to find information and communicate with friends and family can be wonderful capabilities. The problem is the priorities of the corporations who own these platforms and for whose benefit they are operated. Recognize that you dont have control over what data is fed to the AI, who it is shared with and how it is used. Its important to keep that in mind when you connect devices and services to AI platforms, ask them questions, or consider buying or doing the things they suggest.
There is also a lot that people can demand of governments to restrain harmful corporate uses of AI. In the U.S., Congress could enshrine consumers rights to control their own personal data, as the EU already has. It could also create a data protection enforcement agency, as essentially every other developed nation has.
Governments worldwide could invest in Public AImodels built by public agencies offered universally for public benefit and transparently under public oversight. They could also restrict how corporations can collude to exploit people using AI, for example, by barring advertisements for dangerous products such as cigarettes and requiring disclosure of paid endorsements.
Every technology company seeks to differentiate itself from competitors, particularly in an era when yesterdays groundbreaking AI quickly becomes a commodity that will run on any kids phone. One differentiator is in building a trustworthy service. It remains to be seen whether companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic can sustain profitable businesses on the back of subscription AI services like the premium editions of ChatGPT, Plus, and Pro, and Claude Pro. If they are going to continue convincing consumers and businesses to pay for these premium services, they will need to build trust.
That will require making real commitments to consumers on transparency, privacy, reliability, and security that are followed through consistently and verifiably.
And while no one knows what the future business models for AI will be, we can be certain that consumers do not want to be exploited by AI, secretly or otherwise.
Bruce Schneier is an adjunct lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School.
Nathan Sanders is an affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
On January 20, Netflix is bringing back the popular talent competition Star Search, with a twist: For the first time in its history, Netflix will let its audience decide the outcome of a show with live voting. However, unlike how shows have done this in the past, audiences wont have to send text messages or call a special number to make their votes count. Instead, viewers will vote with their TVs remote control, or right within the Netflix app if they watch the show on their phones.
Netflix hopes that this level of simplicity will help to make live programs like Star Search a lot more exciting, and offer its audience a chance to experience shared watercooler moments that tend to be missing from todays world of hyper-personalized streaming. You can influence the outcome [together with] everyone at the same time, says Netflix member product VP Elmar Nubbemeyer. Youre part of the Zeitgeist at that moment.
To bring real-time voting to Star Search, Netflix relied on work it previously did for interactive narrative shows. It also snuck voting tests into David Changs Netflix show, and showed focus groups segments from two fake shows it cooked up for testing purposes. The company even built internal tools that will help it to repurpose live voting and polling for other live events and shows in the future.
We are planning more of these types of moments, says Netflix product designer Navin Iyengar. Star Search is really the big unveiling of it.
From ‘Bandersnatch’ to Star Search
When Star Search debuts Tuesday evening, viewers will have two distinct opportunities to make their voices heard. Once a singer or comedian is done with their performance, a graphic will pop up on screen, encouraging each viewer to give it a rating ranging from one to five stars. We knew early on that giving a star rating as an interaction was really important, says Iyengar. Its core to the Star Search IP.
Later on, theyll also get the chance to choose their personal champion of the night out of four choices presented next to each other on screen. Each voting graphic will remain on screen for about 60 seconds, and the shows hostAnthony Anderson, best known for the ABC sitcom Blackishwill respond to the incoming vote tally in real time.
Chrissy Teigen, Jelly Roll, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Anthony Anderson [Photo: Matt Sayles/Netflix 2025]
Its the first time Netflix has done real-time voting like this, but the company has been experimenting with getting viewers more actively involved for almost a decade. In 2017, the streaming service released its first interactive TV shows, which prompted viewers to choose their own adventure through branched narratives. In one scene of “Bandersnatch,” an interactive episode of the dystopian sci-fi show Black Mirror, the viewer has to decide whether the main character should take his medication by pressing left or right buttons on their remote control, with different choices leading to vastly varying outcomes.
Even in those early days, Netflix engineers and designers already thought about ways to bring the same kind of interactivity to live content. We always felt that interactive experiences should go live, because members could actually interact in the moment and impact the story as it’s happening in real time instead of filming all the different potential outcomes, recalls Iyengar.
Netflix eventually discontinued branched narrative shows because they did not take off with consumers, but the company kept pursuing the idea to marry live content with interactivity. And when Star Search came along, it quickly became clear that this was a perfect opportunity to bring back some of that interactive tech first built for titles like Bandersnatch, and use it to improve the way audience participation is usually done.
Talent shows like American Idol used to rely heavily on phone calls to register votes, but nowadays use a mix of online and text message voting. Shows often allow participants to vote multiple times, leading to massive vote counts, which often dwarf the number of voters.
It’s a surprisingly low share of viewers who actually reach out and vote, Iyengar says, adding that industry estimates put that number somewhere between five and ten percent. Voting has always been difficult for these shows, he adds.
Netflix employees believed that the tech first built for Bandersnatch, which allowed viewers to send feedback with their TV remote, would already go a long way towards making it easier to participate. But they quickly realized that great tech alone wasnt enough.
Keeping voting fair, even for Star Search
Netflix began testing prototypes for live voting with focus groups nearly a year ago. To do so, the company repurposed two existing titlesa dating show and a talent competition. We basically made fake shows, Iyengar says. We edited them down to make them feel live and make it feel like your vote was really important.
Then, it put select viewers into a lab designed to look like a living room, with a double-sided mirror to observe how they reacted. We put our prototypes on a TV, Iyengar says. We had a TV remote that could control it. People were sitting on a couch, and we would actually just leave them alone.
Netflix researchers just told test participants that they get to take a peek at a prototype, without explaining that the show would allow them to vote. People really got it, Iyengar recalls. Almost everyone, without prompting from us, would pick up the remote in these moments, and interact.
In fact, people didnt just get itthey got hooked. We found that they got really invested in the stakes of the show, even though it was fake, Iyengar says. They wanted to know what their vote was going to do. Did the person I voted for win? Show me the math for how you actually calculated the vote. People just took the idea of voting and fairness seriously.
Netflix built its voting tech to only allow one vote per Netflix profile. But those early tests showed that fairness was as much about the way different options were presented, and that long held beliefs about UI design could introduce perceived biases.
One example: Designers like Iyengar like to direct the eye to simplify smart TV interfaces. When you open up the Netflix app on your TV, youll find that one title is always pre-selected, which helps to understand what to do if you want to navigate to the title right next to it, or perhap one in a row below. On TV, you should always have something in focus, he says. Otherwise people don’t understand where the focus state is.
When Iyengars team built the interface people will use to award stars to Star Search performers, they initially followed that same principle, and highlighted the third star to direct the eye. Test audiences immediately pushed back. People did not like that we were filling up the stars for them, he says. They were like: why are you voting for me?
Voting on tuna sandwiches and sports competitions?
In addition to the interface, Netflix also built a dedicated tool called Pollster that allows producers to integrate voting into their shows, then trigger each round in real time. To test Pollster and the backend tech for voting ahead of this weeks Star Search premiere, the streamer snuck a few test votes into Diner Time Live, a live cooking show hosted by celebrity chef David Chang.
Diner Time Live is not a competition, so testing star ratings didnt really make sense. David Changs team nonetheless embraced the idea, and let the shows audience rate different kinds of sandwiches. It wasn’t something high stakes, Iyengar says. Audience participation was nonetheless high. I’m really glad we did it, he says. We learned a lot.
The streamer is now ready to put those lessons learned to the test with the premiere of Star Search on Tuesday and already has plans to bring it to additional live entertainment formats in the future. We have many other ideas where we could apply this technology, Nubbemeyer says. One of the things were [considering] is polling. Netflix may, for instance, use its voting tech to ask viewers of a sports event to decide who the most impactful player is.
All these things could enrich the entertainment experience by making it more participatory, Nubbemeyer says.
The average American checks their phone over 140 times a day, clocking an average of 4.5 hours of daily use, with 57% of people admitting theyre addicted to their phone. Tech companies, influencers, and other content creators compete for all that attention, which has incentivized the rise of misinformation.
Considering this challenging information landscape, strong critical reading skills are as relevant and necessary as theyve ever been.
Unfortunately, literacy continues to be a serious concern. Reading comprehension scores have continued to decline. The majority of Gen Z parents are not reading aloud to their young children because they view it as a chore. Many college students cannot make it through an entire book.
With their endless scrolling and easy reposting and sharing of content, social media platforms are designed to encourage passive engagement that people use to relieve boredom and escape stress.
As a cognitive scientist and a literacy expert, we research the ways people process information through reading. Based on our work, we believe that deep reading can be an effective way to counter misinformation as well as reduce stress and loneliness. It can be tough to go deeper than a speedy skim, but there are strategies you can use to strengthen important reading skills.
Deep reading versus doomscrolling
People use smartphones and social media for a variety of reasons, such as to relieve boredom, seek attention, make connections, and share news. The infinite amount of information available at your fingertips can lead to information overload, interfering with how you pay attention and make decisions. Research from cognitive science helps to explain how scrolling trains your brain to think passively.
To keep people engaged, social media algorithms feed people content similar to what theyve already engaged with, reinforcing users beliefs with similar posts. Repeated exposure to information increases its believability, especially if different sources repeat the information, an effect known as illusory truth.
Deep reading, on the other hand, refers to the intentional process of engaging with information in critical, analytical, and empathetic ways. It involves making inferences, drawing connections, engaging with different perspectives, and questioning possible interpretations.
Deep reading does require effort. It can trigger negative feelings like irritation or confusion, and it can very often feel unpleasant. The important question, then: Why would anyone choose the hard work of deep reading when they can just scroll and skim?
Motivating mental effort
Mindless scrolling may come with unintended consequences. Smartphone and social media use is associated with increased boredom and loneliness. And doomscrolling is related to higher levels of existential anxiety and misanthropy.
In contrast, attention and effort, despite being exhausting, can deepen your sense of purpose and strengthen social connection. People also feel motivated to complete tasks that help them pursue personal goals, especially when these tasks are recognized by others. For these reasons, sharing books may be one tool to promote deep reading.
One example is a teacher who guides students through longer texts, like novels, paired with active discussions about the books to reinforce comprehension and interpretation. While the debate over the ongoing practice of assigning excerpts over full books in schools continues, evidence does suggest that sustained reading in social settings can promote lifelong enjoyment in reading.
With social connection in mind, social media can actually be used as a positive tool. BookTok is a popular online community of people who use TikTok to discuss and recommend books. Fans post in-depth analyses of K-Pop Demon Hunters and other movies or shows, demonstrating that close analysis still has a place in the endless scroll of social media.
Slowing yourself down to read deeply
There are steps you can take to meaningfully engage with the constant stream of information you encounter. Of course, this process can be taxing, and people only have so much effort and attention to expend. Its important to both recognize your limited cognitive resources and be intentional about how you direct those resources.
Simply being aware of how digital reading practices shape your brain can encourage new attitudes and habits toward how you consume information. Just pausing can reduce susceptibility to misinformation. Taking a few extra seconds to consciously judge information can counteract illusory truth, indicating that intentionally slowing down even just a bit can be beneficial.
Reading deeply means being able to intentionally choose when to read at different speeds, slowing down as needed to wrestle with difficult passages, savor striking prose, critically evaluate information, and reflect on the meaning of a text. It involves entering into a dialogue with the text rather than gleaning information.
Awareness does not mean that you never doomscroll at the end of a long day. But it does mean becoming conscious of the need to also stick with a single text more frequently and to engage with different perspectives.
You can start small, perhaps with poem, short stories, or essays, before moving up to longer texts. Partner with a friend or family member and set a goal to read a full-length novel or nonfiction book. Accomplish that goal in small chunks, such as reading one chapter a day and discussing what you read with your reading buddy. Practicing deep reading, such as reading novels, can open you up to new perspectives and ideas that you can explore in conversation with others, in person, or even on TikTok.
JT Torres is a director of the Harte Center for Teaching and Learning at Washington and Lee University.
Jeff Saerys-Foy is an associate professor of psychology at Quinnipiac University.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The northern lights have been viewable from locations you don’t normally see them on a number of recent occasions, and on the evening of January 20, the same will be true.
On Tuesday night, the aurora borealis may be visible in parts of more than half of all U.S. states. That’s a few more than the usual six or so Northern states that are used to seeing the colorful lit-up skies. That’s because solar storms can change visibility, making the spectacle visible to additional locations in times of heightened geomagnetic activity.
According to an announcement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), that’s precisely what’s in the forecast this evening as geomagnetic activity has been strengthening, reaching G4 (severe) levels early this morning at around 3:23 a.m. ET. Essentially, when it comes to hopeful viewers, that could mean some amazing visuals, as the heightened activity will make for a stronger aurora.
Just yesterday, the northern lights were visible in more states than usual, too, with the aurora making an appearance in Southern states like Alabama and New Mexico. Tonight, however, far more individuals across the country will be able to catch a glimpse of the event.
According to the SWPC’s projected view line, the lights will are predicted to be visible in Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Of course, nothing is set in stone. The view line is just a prediction that could change as the storm shifts, the agency says.
When it comes to seeing the northern lights, NOAA says that close to midnight (within an hour or two before or after) is your best shot. “These hours of active aurora expand toward evening and morning as the level of geomagnetic activity increases,” the agency’s web page explains. “There may be aurora in the evening and morning, but it is usually not as active and, therefore, not as visually appealing.”
If you’ve been wondering why the northern lights have been visible to more locations more often of late, it’s not all in your head. According to astronomers at BBC Weather, it has to do with the sun, which hit the peak of its 11-year solar cycle in 2025. Still, solar activity will remain high throughout 2026. That means more shots at seeing the northern lights.
As the official celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence culminate on July 4, a well-financed, privately funded initiative will kick off to try to connect hundreds of millions of Americans with efforts to solve local problems.
The “Be The People” campaign aspires to change the perception that the U.S. is hopelessly divided and that individuals have little power to overcome problems like poverty, addiction, violence, and stalled economic mobility. It also wants to move people to take action to solve those problems.
Brian Hooks, chairman and CEO of the nonprofit network Stand Together, said the 250th anniversary is a unique moment to show people that they matter, that they have a part to play, and that the future is unwritten, but it depends on each one of us stepping up to play our part.
Funded by a mix of 50 philanthropic foundations and individual donors, Be The People builds on research that indicates many people want to contribute to their communities but don’t know how. The initiative is targeting more than $200 million for its first year’s budget.
Founding members range from nonprofits including GivingTuesday, Goodwill Industries, and Habitat for Humanity, businesses like Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment and the National Basketball Association, to funders like the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and More Perfect.
Hooks said this is a 10-year commitment toward trying to achieve what would be a profound shift in behavior and culture. He referenced a 2024 Pew Research Center survey that found most Americans in 2023 and 2024 did not believe that the U.S. could solve its most important problems, saying it was a red alert for the country.
Hooks said the initiative envisions actions far beyond volunteering or service that people could do in their free time. He pointed to a role for businesses and schools and said the initiative would launch a major data collection effort to track whether people are actually more engaged and whether problems are actually getting solved.
Stand Together, which was founded by the billionaire Charles Koch, works across a broad range of issues and communities in the U.S. and has carved out a role for itself as a convener that can bring coalitions together across ideological lines.
Be The People, will not incorporate as a new nonprofit, but act more like a banner for groups to organize under and use to connect to resources. As an example, at the Atlanta Hawks game on Monday, Martin Luther King III and his wife, Arndrea Waters King, linked a program they launched last year, Realize the Dream, which aims to increase acts of service, to the new campaign.
Our vision is that Be The People helps lift up what is already happening in communities across the country and reminds people that service and shared responsibility are defining parts of the American story, the Kings said in a written statement.
Asha Curran, the CEO of the nonprofit GivingTuesday, said small actions can build on each other like exercising a muscle.
Our experience with GivingTuesday is that when people volunteer together, when people work together on something to do with positive social impact, they find it harder and harder to demonize each other, said Asha Curran, its CEO.
The initiative comes against a backdrop of deep polarization, economic inequality, and the degradation of democratic norms and institutions in the U.S.
Hahrie Han, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University, has studied civic engagement and said people need more opportunities to authentically participate as problem solvers when connecting with local organizations.
Theyre more likely to be invited into things where people are asked to let professional staff do most of the problem solving and they show up and give their time or their money, she said.
The result is that people feel less committed and dont see their participation as helping to achieve their interests or goals.
A growing number of private foundations have started funding issues related to the health of U.S. democracy, said Kristin Goss, a professor who directs the Center for the Study of Philanthropy and Voluntarism at Duke University. While foundations cannot participate in elections, Goss said they can influence policy or public opinion in other ways.
Funders are getting more concerned about of the health of American democracy, the future of the democratic experiment and pluralism and inclusion, Goss said.
Another group of funders, including the Freedom Together Foundation, launched a project last year to recognize people and groups who stand up for their communities, which they called a civic bravery award. In a November report, they issued a similar call for funders to invest in helping individuals organize together in response to a rise in authoritarianism.
Hooks and the other leaders of Be The People have also convened major communications teams to help tell these stories, which they think are lost in the current information ecosystem.
What were doing is were helping to lift up the story of Americans that is unfolding at the local level, but is not breaking through, Hooks said. So were holding up a mirror and a microphone to Americans to reveal to each other who we truly are.
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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of APs philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
Thalia Beaty, Associated Press
All eyes are on Netflix, which is set to report fourth-quarter earnings after Tuesday’s closing bell.
In the ongoing saga over whether Netflix will acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, the streaming giant is now offering to pay all cash for the deal, revising a previous bid that included a mix of stock with cash, according to a filing from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
On Tuesday, Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery announced the amended agreement, which simplifies the deal for investors who no longer have to worry about Netflixs fluctuating stock price.
The news comes as Netflix continues to stave off a hostile takeover bid from rival Skydance-owned Paramount, led by chief executive David Ellison, who has tried to blow up the deal. The acquisition deal would include Warner Bros. Discovery’s movie studio, along with HBO and HBO Max, a natural fit for Netflix. (Paramount had been offering an all-cash deal.)
The saga started about six weeks ago in early December, when Netflix initially offered to buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s assets in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $27.75 per WBD share ($23.25 per share in cash, $4.50 in Netflix stock), which comes out to about $72 billion in equity value and totals $82.7 billion in enterprise value.
Warner has repeatedly rebuffed Paramount’s offer. The WBD Board continues to support and unanimously recommend our transaction, and we are confident that it will deliver the best outcome for stockholders, consumers, creators, and the broader entertainment community, Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, said in a statement.
The large scope of the megamerger “would reshape the entertainment industry,” according to CNN. And the back-and-forth developments have had both Wall Street and investors closely watching their share prices.
Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) was trading up nearly 1%, while Warner Bros. Discovery (Nasdaq: WBD) was up 0.58%, to $28.74 midday on Tuesday, at the time of this writing.
Analysts expect Netflix to report a solid fourth quarter, with the success of new seasons of shows like Stranger Things, but investors are concerned about the high price tag for the Warner Bros. Discovery deal, which would incur debt, per Yahoo Finance.
Netflix has had a string of solid quarters but missed estimates in the third quarter of 2025. The company’s stock price has decreased 30% since October, when rumors of the Warner Bros. Discovery deal first surfaced, CNBC reported. The financial news channel also said Wall Street has focused on Netflix’s ad revenue and whether price hikes are impacting subscriber numbers. Analysts polled by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) expect earnings per share to come in at 55 cents, with revenue of around $11.97 billion.
