Share: This month Netflix raised the prices of two of their monthly plans, on top of introducing a new 2-screen streaming plan for a lower price with the addition of ads. Along with the price hikes and password-sharing crackdowns, the idea of a cheaper plan with ads goes against what the original streaming model was and has been. Although ads aren’t necessarily the worst thing to happen to streaming, what separates streaming from cable now? “Netflix as a company seem out of touch,” second-year student …
Media overload has shattered kids’ attention spans
Share: While the average attention span feels like it’s never been shorter, one overlooked factor has been the difference in technological advancements from generation to generation. The current generation is always unfairly maligned by the previous for not displaying enough of the same positive virtues they remember through their rose-tinted spectacles. The time when the library was the best place to go for research is over as access to whatever information you want fits conveniently in your pocket. The increasingly shorter attention spans of Millennials …
NO FAKES Act will protect artists from being swindled by AI
Share: The last few years have been rife with conflict and staggering developments in artificial intelligence technology. Two subjects that seem to go together hand in hand far more often than not, especially of late. From the horrific wars decimating Ukraine and Palestine, to the now months long disputes in Hollywood between the studios and their workforce, AI still manages to rear its ominous head, highlighting the chilling implications that come with such effective yet powerful technology. Following the studios’ petulant decision to walk away …
Meta’s celebrity driven AI still threatens your privacy
Share: Meta, the parent company of Facebook, launched a new Artificial intelligence branch and it’s called Meta AI. Meta AI will have plenty of features that include language modeling and on-the-stop artistic drawing. Another main and popular feature Meta AI provides is a chatbot tool for the image and likeness of famous celebrities with different names attached and is responsive to a specific setting for the user. I might seem innocuous, but I am worried, and you should be, too. AI Chat has the potential …
Prioritizing fast food workers over healthcare workers is ridiculous
Share: Governor Gavin Newsom has recently signed in a new law raising the minimum wage for healthcare workers to be bumped to $25 an hour that will come into effect in 2026. Our healthcare workers need better pay, and it shouldn’t be a 2 year waiting game. This new bill will come into effect following a minimum wage hike for fast food workers to $20 an hour, as brought to light in an article by the Office of the Governor on Sep 28, 2023. It …
Directors deserve a final say on their films (if there’s something new to say)
Share: With many movies emerging from a 90-minute runtime to a 2-hour runtime, it has become a modernized form of cinematic storytelling for some film directors to release “director’s cuts” of their movies. Their films are typically released with a shorter runtime due to many possible reasons spanning from budget cuts and studio executives’ interventions. A director’s cut of a film should only be absolutely released if it is necessary and serves a purpose for the director and their circumstances. Ridley Scott, known for directing …
At best, Kevin de León is a moron. At worst, he ruins the future for Latinos in office
Share: When everyone, including the President of the United States, wants someone out of office, that’s the sign to get bags packed and run for the hills, going as far away from an office with an assistant as humanly possible. Unfortunately, Los Angeles District 14 Councilmember Kevin de León did not get the memo. His unbearable ego outweighs any semblance of accountability or dignity after private, racist conversations surfaced online in 2022 involving de León and three other Councilmembers, embarrassing District 14, my district, in …
Polarization in war drowns out those who need to be heard
Share: Everytime something in the media surfaces about an internationally significant situation, millions across the media, social media, and other forms of sharing become a cesspool of “armchair geopolitical experts.” It muddies the waters and dims the voices of those who actually need to be heard, which in this case is one’s with bombs being dropped on their homes, who are facing the brunt of ethnic cleansing, war crimes, genocide and the denial of their dignity as human beings. The discussions that take place on …
Student loan relief doesn’t ease the burden for borrowers
Share: Last year, I woke up to the most surreal news when President Joe Biden forgave my outstanding student loan debt and declared me almost debt free. This week I was reminded that 6 out of 9 people decided that was stupid and slapped me in the face with my debt again. Now after three years of payments being paused, millions of Americans are coming face to face with their student loans again, but some know their debt will never be paid off. For college …
‘No sabo kids’: A generation of Latinos shamed by native Spanish speakers
Share: In everyday life for Latino kids right now, they balance with the struggle of either being rejected from their families or Latino communities for not speaking Spanish well. On the other hand, it has been an issue for years in this country, especially in the 90s, that Latino students were discriminated against just for speaking their own language during school. Many of these Latino children in current times struggle with understanding Spanish due to many contributing factors such as unacceptance from others, the struggle …