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en:ecrit:articles-en [2025/01/06 17:37] – [Are Employers Ready for a Mass Exodus? More Than Half of US Workers Planning Career Changes] natashaen:ecrit:articles-en [2025/07/22 07:58] (current) – [Bald eagle's new status as the official US bird brings pride and hope to many Native Americans] natasha
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-===== Why Choosing Something To Watch Feels So Difficult =====+===== Rainbow armbands are dividing opinion at Euro 2025 =====
  
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-By Michael Dinich | Wealth of Geeks undefined+By CIARÁN FAHEY AP Sports Writer
  
-Too much of a good thing? Streaming service subscribers report that content overload and hidden fees are leading to frustration and subscription fatigue.+Some captains are wearing them, some are not.
  
-In fact, the new survey of 2,000 American streaming service subscribers revealed that the average person spends 110 hours per year scrolling through streaming services, struggling to find something worth watching — stark reminder of the "too much content, too little time" dilemma.+Rainbow armbands at the Women's European Championship are proving more divisive than perhaps intended for symbol promoting tolerance and inclusion.
  
-Commissioned by UserTesting and conducted by Talker Research, the study revealed one in five believe it's harder to find something to watch today than it was 10 years ago. According to them, the underlying cause comes from being overwhelmed by too much content.+UEFA is giving team captains the option of wearing armbands with the bright colors of the rainbow flag or plain monocolored versions with the word "respect" when they play.
  
-Many struggled with having larger content libraries (41%) and feeling like there's too much original content being produced (26%).+"Standard yellow and blue armbands are provided to all teams and rainbow armbands are available upon request," UEFA told The Associated Press.
  
-**Watch Recommendations: A Double-Edged Sword**+Both versions have been worn so far at the tournament in Switzerland, with the captains' choices facing scrutiny for the meaning behind their decisions.
  
-And although 75% appreciate streaming service algorithms serving them accurate recommendations, 51% admitted the quantity of recommended content is also overwhelming, explaining they want to watch everything recommended to them.+**What it means**
  
-Nearly half (48%) do not have traditional cable anymore. And those that choose streaming platforms do so because they like the variety (43%)the shows they want to watch are not on cable (34%), and they find streaming more convenient for on-the-go viewing (29%).+The rainbow armband is intended to show solidarity with the LGBTQ+ communitywhile it also stands for diversity.
  
-Howeverpeople are generally dissatisfied with the current streaming services available. In fact51% would rather have more streaming service options — even if those options included ads.+"UEFA is committed to making football a safe and welcoming environment for everybodyindependent of who we love, our gender identification or gender expression," the governing body said before the women's Euro 2022where it also gave team captains the option of wearing rainbow armbands.
  
-When asked what their "dream" streaming platform would look like, top features included premium channels and networks for no added cost (40%) and an easy-to-navigate interface (39%).+UEFA faced criticism the year before when it nixed Munich's plans to illuminate its stadium in rainbow colors for Germany's game against Hungary during the men's European Championship.
  
-Further, 52% said platform's user interface plays a massive or significant role in their decision to subscribe.+The Germans wanted to protest to law passed by Hungarian lawmakers the week before that prohibited sharing with minors any content portraying homosexuality or sex reassignment.
  
-The average person said all of the above should be available for no more than $46 per month — although 11% admitted they'd willingly pay over $100 per month for the service.+**Who's wearing the rainbow armbands?**
  
-"The streaming landscape has evolved from solving the problem of content access to creating a new challenge of content discovery," said Bobby MeixnerSenior Director of Industry Solutions at UserTesting. "Our research shows that despite advanced recommendation algorithms, viewers are spending nearly five full days each year just trying to decide what to watch–time that could be spent actually enjoying content."+When Germany played France in their quarterfinal on Saturday, the German captainJanina Mingewore a rainbow armband while her French counterpart did not.
  
-The study also found number of frustrations streaming subscribers have experienced.+Switzerland captain Lia Wälti wore rainbow armband in her team's quarterfinal against Spain the day before. Her opposite, Irene Paredes, did not.
  
-A substantial 79% expressed frustration with streaming services requiring additional subscription fees for select content.+Norway captain Ada Hegerberg wore a rainbow armband, as did Wales captain Angharad James, Iceland's Glódís Viggósdóttir, England's Leah Williamson and others.
  
-When encountering those added fees, the majority (59%) are unlikely to pay and would instead look for content on different platform they subscribe to (73%)give up and watch something else (77%) or consider canceling their subscription altogether (37%). Nearly one in five (19%) would sign up for a free trial of a platform to find show they want to watch.+England defender Lucy Bronze also wore rainbow wristband during her team's quarterfinal win over Swedenwhose captain, Kosovare Asllani, also wore rainbow armband.
  
-Respondents also showed disdain for platforms pulling shows without noticewhich directly impacts loyalty.+Elena Linari became the first to wear a rainbow armband for Italy when she captained the side against Spainbut Cristiana Girelli wore a plain one when she returned for the quarterfinal against Norway.
  
-Over the past year, 69% have opened a streaming service at least once to find the show they were looking for is no longer there.+**France chose 'respect' armband**
  
-Forty-four percent said they would likely end their subscription to a streaming service and subscribe to a new one just to continue watching a favorite show, and 56% would cancel that subscription as soon as they finish watching said show.+France captain Griedge Mbock Bathy suggested the rainbow armband's message is too restrictive because of its focus on LGBTQ+ rights.
  
-**Challenges in Cancellation**+"Highlighting a single issue also potentially excludes the others," she said. "We cannot champion a single cause through our diverse group because there are so many causes to defend."
  
-But when canceling, nearly a quarter (23%) have experienced difficulties, claiming it's hard for them to find the cancellation option on the platform's website (39%) or that the cancellation process was overly-complicated with multiple steps (36%).+Mbock said the France team is "so diverse that we cannot highlight just one cause. I think that the armband with the word 'respect' really represents what we want to convey as a message and that is the most important thing."
  
-"We're seeing a fundamental shift in how streaming platforms need to approach user experience," continued Bobby Meixner. "With 52% of subscribers saying interface design significantly impacts their subscription decisionsand 79% frustrated by hidden fees, streaming services must balance content abundance with accessibility and transparency to maintain subscriber loyalty."+When told that nine of the 16 countries participating at Euro 2025 wear the rainbow armbandFrance coach Laurent Bonadei defended his team's choice not to.
  
-Survey Methodology:+"Our one has 'respect' written on it. Respect as a word gathers a lot of causes such as racism. I think the 'respect' one is really a nice one," Bonadei said.
  
-Talker Research surveyed 2,000 American adults who subscribe to at least one streaming service; the survey was commissioned by UserTesting and administered and conducted online by Talker Research between Novand Nov7, 2024. +**Controversy in Qatar** 
-===== Will New Year's Eve be loud or quiet? What are the top 2025 resolutions? AP-NORC poll has answers =====+ 
 +Swedish player Nilla Fischerthe former Wolfsburg captain, was the first in Germany to wear the rainbow armband in the women's Bundesliga in 2017. She inspired others to follow suit, both in women's and men's sports. 
 + 
 +Germany was a strong campaigner for rainbow armbands at the men's World Cup in Qatar in 2022. That developed into a showdown with FIFA over the compromise "One Love" campaign, which featured a rainbow-type heart design that was supposed to be a symbol against discrimination. It was still largely seen as a snub to the host nation, where homosexual acts are illegal and its treatment of migrant workers was a decade-long controversy. 
 + 
 +FIFA banned the armbands and threatened to book team captains who wore them, leading the German players to cover their mouths for the team photo before their opening game, suggesting they were being silenced. 
 + 
 +Germany's interior minister at the timeNancy Faeser, who was also responsible for sports, wore a "One Love" armband in the stands beside FIFA president Gianni Infantino. 
 + 
 +Qatari supporters later hit back by holding pictures of former Germany player Mesut Özil while covering their mouths during Germany's match against Spain. They were referring to the racist abuse in Germany of Özil, a German-born descendant of Turkish immigrants, who became a scapegoat for Germany's early World Cup exit in 2018. 
 + 
 +Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann called for an end to political statements in 2024, saying they were too distracting for his players. The German men's team ultimately failed to deliver on the field. 
 + 
 +AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer 
 +===== The risks and rewards of tokenization as crypto heavyweights push for it =====
  
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 + 
 +By ALAN SUDERMAN AP Business Writer 
 + 
 +As cryptocurrencies become more intertwined with the traditional financial system, industry heavyweights are racing for a long-sought goal of turning real-world assets into digital tokens. 
 + 
 +"Tokenization is going to open the door to a massive trading revolution," said Vlad Tenev, the CEO of the trading platform Robinhood at a recent James Bond-themed tokenization launch event in the south of France. 
 + 
 +Advocates say tokenization is the next leap forward in crypto and can help break down walls that have advantaged the wealthy and make trading cheaper, more transparent and more accessible for everyday investors. 
 + 
 +But critics say tokenization threatens to undermine a century's worth of securities law and investor protections that have made the U.S. financial system the envy of the world. And Robinhood's push into tokenizing shares of private companies quickly faced pushback from one of the world's most popular startups. 
 + 
 +**What is tokenization?** 
 + 
 +The basic idea behind tokenization: Use blockchain technology that powers cryptocurrencies to create digital tokens as stand-ins for things like bonds, real estate or even fractional ownership of a piece of art and that can be traded like crypto by virtually anyone, anywhere at any time. 
 + 
 +The massive growth of stablecoins, which are a type of cryptocurrency typically bought and sold for $1, has helped fuel the appetite to tokenize other financial assets, crypto venture capitalist Katie Haun said on a recent podcast. 
 + 
 +She said tokenization will upend investing in ways similar to how streamers radically changed how people watch television. 
 + 
 +"You used to have to sit there on a Thursday night and watch Seinfeld," Haun said. "You tune in at a specific time, you don't get to choose your program, you couldn't be watching a program like Squid Games from Korea. Netflix was market-expanding. In the same way, I think the tokenization of real-world assets will be market expanding." 
 + 
 +**Growing momentum** 
 + 
 +Robinhood began offering tokenized stock trading of major U.S. public companies for its European customers earlier this month and gave away tokens to some customers meant to represent shares in OpenAI and SpaceX, two highly valued private companies.
  
-By MARK KENNEDY and LINLEY SANDERS Associated Press+Several other firms are diving in. Crypto exchange Kraken also allows customers outside the U.S. to trade tokenized stocks while Coinbase has petitioned regulators to open the market to its U.S. customers. Wall Street giants BlackRock and Franklin Templeton currently offer tokenized money market funds. McKinsey projects that tokenized assets could reach $2 trillion by 2030.
  
-NEW YORK (AP) — If you're planning on ringing in the new year quietly at home, you're not alone.+**Crypto's golden age**
  
-A majority of U.S adults intend to celebrate New Year's Eve at home, according to new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.+The push for tokenization comes at a heady time in crypto, an industry that's seen enormous growth from the creation and early development of bitcoin more than 15 years ago by libertarian-leaning computer enthusiasts to a growing acceptance in mainstream finance.
  
-"As I've gotten older over the last few yearsit'like if I don't make it to midnight, it'not a big deal, you know?says Carla Woods, 70, from Vinton, Iowa.+The world's most popular cryptocurrency is now regularly setting all-time highs — more than $123,000 on Monday — while other forms of crypto like stablecoins are exploding in use and the Trump administration has pledged to usher in what'been called the "golden age" for digital assets.
  
-Nearly 2 in 10 will be celebrating at friend or family member's home, and just 5% plan to go out to celebrate at a bar, restaurant or organized event, the poll found.+Lee Reiners, a lecturing fellow at Duke University, said the biggest winners in the push for tokenization could be a small handful of exchanges like Robinhood that see their trading volumes and influence spike.
  
-But many U.S. adults will celebrate the new year in a different way — by making a resolution. More than half say they'll make at least one resolution for 2025.+"Which is kind of ironic given the origins of crypto, which was to bypass intermediaries," Reiners said.
  
-There's some optimism about the year ahead, although more than half aren't expecting a positive change. About 4 in 10 say 2025 will be a better year for them personally. About one-third don't expect much of a difference between 2024 and 2025, and about one-quarter think 2025 will be a worse year than 2024.+**Trump bump**
  
-**Relaxed New Year's Eve plans for many**+Interest in tokenization has also gotten a boost thanks to the election of President Donald Trump, who has made enacting more crypto-friendly regulations a top priority of his administration and signed a new law regulating stablecoins on Friday.
  
-Kourtney Kershaw, a 32-year-old bartender in Chicago, often fields questions from customers and friends about upcoming events for New Year's Eve. She said this year is trending toward low-key.+"Tokenization is an innovation and we at the SEC should be focused on how do we advance innovation at the marketplace," said Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins.
  
-"A majority of who I've spoken to in my age range, they want to go out, but they don't know what they're going to do because they haven't found anything or things are just really expensive," she said. "Party packages or an entry fee are like a turnoff, especially with the climate of the world and how much things cost."+**Is it legal?**
  
-As expectedyounger people are more interested in ringing in the new year at a bar or organized event — about 1 in 10 U.S. adults under 30 say they plan to do that. But about 3 in 10 older adults — 60 and above — say they won't celebrate the beginning of 2025 at all.+Securities law can be complex and even defining what is a security can be a hotly debated questionparticularly in crypto. The crypto exchange Binance pulled back offerings of tokenized securities in 2021 after German regulators raised questions about potential violations of that country's securities law.
  
-Anthony Tremblay35, from Pittsburgh, doesn't usually go out to toast the arrival of the new year, but this year he's got something special cooked up: He and his wife will be traveling through Ireland.+Under Trump, the SEC has taken a much less expansive view than the previous administration and dropped or paused litigation against crypto companies that the agency had previously accused of violating securities law.
  
-"I don't do anything too crazy for New Year'susually. So this is definitely change," he said. "I wanted to do something unique this year, so I did."+Hilary Allen, a professor at the American University Washington College of Law, said crypto companies have been emboldened by Trump's victory to be more aggressive in pushing what they can offer.
  
-Woods will be working New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. She answers calls on The Iowa Warmline, confidentialnoncrisis listening line for people struggling with mental health or substance use issues.+"The most pressing risk is (tokenization) being used as a regulatory arbitrage play as way of getting around the rules," she said.
  
-"Holidays are really hard for peopleso I don't mind working," she said. "I'm passionate about it because I have mental health issues in the family and so being able to help people is rewarding to me."+Howeverthe SEC has struck a cautionary tone when it comes to tokens. Shortly after Robinhood's announcementSEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, who has been an outspoken crypto supporter, issued a statement saying companies issuing tokenized stock should consider "their disclosure obligationsunder federal law.
  
-**Younger Americans are more likely to make a resolution**+"As powerful as blockchain technology is, it does not have magical abilities to transform the nature of the underlying asset," Peirce said.
  
-Every New Year's also triggers the eternal debate about resolutions. A majority of U.S. adults say they intend to make a New Year's resolution of some type, but millennials and Gen Z are especially likely to be on board — about two-thirds expect to do so, compared to about half of older adults. Women are also more likely than men to say they will set a goal for 2025.+**All eyes on private companies**
  
-Tremblay hopes to lose some weight and focus more on self-care — more sleepmeditation and breathing exercises. "It's probably a good year to focus on mental health," he said.+One of the most closely watched areas of tokenization involves private companieswhich aren't subject to strict financial reporting requirements like publicly traded ones.
  
-Many others agree. About 3 in 10 adults choose resolutions involving exercise or eating healthier. About one-quarter said they'll make a resolution involving losing weight and a similar number said they'll resolve to make changes about priorities of money or mental health.+Many hot startups are not going public as often as they used to and instead are increasingly relying on wealthy and institutional investors to raise large sums of money and stay private.
  
-Woodsresolutions are to stay social and active. As a mental health counselorshe knows those are key to a happy 2025 and beyond: "Probably one of my biggest resolutions is trying to make sure I stay social, try to get out at least once a week — get out and either have coffee or do something with a friend. That's not only for the physical but also for the mental health part."+That's unfair to the little guysay advocates of tokenization.
  
-Kershaw, the bartender, says weight loss and better health are the top resolutions she hears people make. "Mental health is the new onebut I think it's high up there as well as with regular health," she said.+"These are massive wealth generators for a very small group of rich, well-connected insiders who get access to these deals early," said Robinhood executive Johann Kerbrat"Crypto has the power to solve this inequality."
  
-She prefers more goal-oriented resolutions and, this time, it's to do more traveling and see more of the world: "I don't know if that's really a resolution, but that's a goal that I'm setting."+**"Please be careful"**
  
-And how will she welcome the arrival of 2025? Usually, she takes the night off and stays home watching movies with plenty of snacksbut this year Kershaw has a different plan, maybe one of the most Chicago things you can do.+But Robinhood's giveaway of tokens meant to represent an investment in OpenAI immediately drew pushback from the company itselfwhich said it was not involved in Robinhood'plan and did not endorse it.
  
-This die-hard sports fan will be at Wrigley Field on Tuesday watching the Chicago Blackhawks take on the St. Louis Blues. "Hockey's my favorite sportSo I will be watching hockey and bringing in the new year,she said.+"Any transfer of OpenAI equity requires our approval—we did not approve any transfer," OpenAI said on social media. "Please be careful."
  
 +Public companies have strict public reporting requirements about their financial health that private companies don't have to produce. Such reporting requirements have helped protect investors and give a legitimacy to the U.S. financial system, said Allen, who said the push for tokenized sales of shares in private companies is "eerily familiar" to how things played out before the creation of the SEC nearly a century ago.
  
-The AP-NORC poll of 1,251 adults was conducted Dec5-92024using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.+"Where we're headed is where we were in the 1920s," she said"Door-to-door salesmen offering stocks and bondshalf of it had nothing behind itpeople losing their life savings betting on stuff they didn't understand."
  
-Sanders reported from Washington. 
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