Author Archives: Carol Edwards

The reality of life postpartum and the images we see of it could not be further apart.

But a new photo campaign by Australian leakproof apparel brand Modibodi and Getty Images hopes to bridge that gulf by showing what life in the 12-month post-birth period is really like.

Getty photographers from around the world took portraits of mothers in the first year after giving birth to create the ‘Embodied: Postpartum Unfiltered’ gallery.

The campaign aims to redefine portrayals of postpartum life beyond the ‘baby bliss’ or ‘baby blues’ stereotypes. Instead, the photos show new mums and their babies amid the emotional and physical reality of this period of time.

Modibodi founder and CEO Kristy Chong says that the brand found the range of available images limited when launching a new range of postpartum range of leak-proof bras, camisoles, and briefs, and reusable nappies.

“Most postpartum images were disheartening photos of mums scared or frustrated. At the other end of the spectrum were glossy celeb mum and bub snaps,” she says. “We knew this had to change.”

The image gallery contains more than 1,500 photos taken by 27 photographers from around the world. Svetlana Zhukova, director of custom solutions at Getty Images, says the photographers “tapped into their own families and friends to capture the very real perspectives from this vulnerable part of many women’s lives.”

The images can be accessed on gettyimages.com using the keywords ‘postpartum,’ ’embodied,’ and ‘unfiltered’ from Oct. 1 2021.

Businesses, brands, and media organisations are encouraged to licence the images when portraying the postpartum experience.

Chong says that postpartum life isn’t portrayed authentically in media and advertising — particularly the highpoints and lowpoints, the tiredness, loneliness, and anxiety.

“I’ve had four different postpartum experiences,” says Chong. “Among the intense feelings of happiness and limitless love was a sense that I had to keep the challenging parts like loneliness, cracked nipples, postpartum bleeding, exhaustion, and bladder leaks a secret.”

“While it’s not the experience for all new mums, breastfeeding in public was hard for me. Sentiment was changing towards it being OK to feed in public, however, all my life I had been told to cover up my breasts, that they are private,” adds Chong.

“It was hard for me to switch my brain to feel relaxed and comfortable about getting my boobs out to breastfeed in public. Instead I’d struggle with these wraps to cover myself and my bub would feel the tension and not feed very well.”

As part of the campaign, Modibodi wants parents from around the world to share their own postpartum images on social media using the #PostpartumUnfiltered hashtag.

In order to succeed in college, you’re gonna need a little help from the internet.

College can be scary and overwhelming, and it’s hard to know where to get a little help with your academic tasks. Knowing which websites can help you with various aspects of college life, especially when it comes to assignments, can make all the difference.

We’ve collected 10 websites that will help you along the way in your studies — in fact, you might already be using a few. They’re all great resources that can assist you with essay writing, organization, and troubleshooting math and science problems.

1. Canvas or Blackboard

Canvas and Blackboard are the leading learning management systems. Depending on your campus and your individual classes, one of these websites (or a website like it) will be where your professors post announcements, the syllabus, and your grades. It’s also where you will submit assignments.

2. Your school’s library website

We can’t emphasize this enough — your school’s library website will list all the resources that your school subscribes to and how to access them. Before hitting GoogleScholar when starting on a research paper, check out your library website because there is probably a guide on how to start research on different topics. There will also be the contact info for research librarians, don’t hesitate to set up a meeting with one of them because they will know about resources that may be hard for you to find on your own.

3. Facebook

Lots of student organizations use Facebook to communicate and it’s a great place to find out about events on campus that you might not otherwise know about. Many student organizations use Facebook Groups to communicate with members and following event organization pPages can keep you in the loop about events happening on campus.

4. Desmos

Desmos is an online graphing calculator that’s way easier to use than a physical graphing calculator.

5. Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha is an answer engine that’s way better than Yahoo Answers. Search your question and chances are Wolfram Alpha will have a step-by-step solution. Wolfram Alpha is a lifesaver for math and science classes, but can also answer your humanities and life questions. Pop this guy into the search bar “∫ln(4x^3) + 6x δx” and you’ll get an answer!

6. Chegg

Chegg is a website with all kinds of student services, from textbook and e-book rentals to flashcards. The most helpful part of Chegg is CheggStudy, which has textbook solutions and expert Q&A. Textbook solutions are the step-by-step answers to questions found in textbooks. If you post a question on Chegg, an expert will post a step-by-step solution to it. You can also search and see all the questions previously asked and answered through the expert Q&A function. CheggStudy costs $14.95 per month, but chances are someone you know pays for it or has a login, so ask around.

If you’re studying math, CheggStudy is helpful because it has both solutions to textbook problems and expert Q&A to draw answers from. It’s likely that — whatever you’re studying — your question is from a textbook or someone else has already asked it or something similar, so Chegg is a great problem solving tool.

7. Google Calendar

Google Calendar is a great way to organize your busy schedule. Through Google Calendar you can keep track of your classes, deadlines, and extracurriculars.

8. Jstor

Jstor is an online research database that your school may subscribe to. Jstor has access to 12 million academic journal articles, primary sources, and books. Check your school’s library website to see which research databases it subscribes to.

9. Ebsco

Ebsco is another online research database that your school may subscribe to. It’s a good first stop on your research journey for any paper. Your school’s library website will tell you if you have access to Ebsco.

10. Word Hippo

No list of websites for college students is complete without a thesaurus. Word Hippo is an elite thesaurus that will help you make sure your essays aren’t too repetitive.

This might be surprising, but the best VPNs aren’t necessarily the most expensive. Some of the best VPNs are actually really affordable, which is great news for anyone looking to secure cheap online security and data protection.

You have come to the right place if you’re looking for a premium VPN with advanced features, without the big price tag. We’ve lined up some great value options for absolutely everyone, and there is no need to compromise on security, connection speed, customer support, or anything else.

But first, there are a few things we need to cover.

What is a VPN?

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) provide valuable protection for your data and identity when you’re navigating the online world. How do they do this? VPNs offer online privacy and anonymity by creating a private network that hides your real IP address and makes all of your information unreadable.

All of your activity is untraceable and secure, because your online traffic passes through an encrypted tunnel. Everything inside the tunnel is protected against online threats like viruses, hackers, and malware. VPNs are primarily designed to provide online security, but there is another reason that millions of people use these services.

VPNs can also be used to stream movies and shows from around the world, and the process is actually really simple. We’ve already mentioned how VPNs provide anonymity by hiding your real IP address. Well, this technique can also be used to manipulate the streaming market. By hiding your real IP address and connecting you to a server in another location, you can trick your favourite streaming sites into thinking that you are based in a different country. This provides access to all the extra content that would normally be restricted in your location.

Should you consider free VPNs?

The question that everyone wants an answer to is whether you really need to pay for a VPN. There are plenty of free VPNs out there, but do these offer the features you need to browse, shop, and stream securely? Unfortunately, there is usually some sort of catch with free versions (usually in the form of a limitation on your data usage or connection speed).

Occasional users will probably be satisfied with a free VPN, but if you’re going to be streaming or downloading on a regular basis, you should look elsewhere. The only exception to this rule is a free trial. These come without limitations, but obviously don’t tend to last for a long time. PureVPN offers one of the best free trials, but this isn’t a long-term solution. 

The conclusion is that the best option for securing your data and streaming more content from around the world is with a paid subscription. The sad fact is that you’ll have to pay to gain access to advanced security features without limitations on your usage. It’s not all bad news though, because there are plenty of cheap plans out there, especially if you’re willing to commit to a lengthy contract.

What are the most important things to consider before subscribing?

The process of actually selecting a VPN can be seriously tricky, especially if you don’t know what to consider. Most of the best VPNs offer many of the same features with similar packages, so it’s important to know what matters.

To make your life a little bit easier, we have shortlisted a few things to consider before making any sort of decision:

Network size and location — The best VPNs offer a large network of geographically diverse servers. The more servers (and server locations) offered by a VPN, the more likely you are to find a reliable and fast connection. This is also particularly important for streaming, as you should always be able to connect to a server in the country with the content you want to watch.

Trustworthiness — We recommend finding an experienced provider with a strong track record and a clear privacy policy. It’s important that your VPN of choice guarantees your data won’t be logged or collected. If it isn’t obvious what happens to your data, you should steer clear.

Jurisdiction — It’s a good idea to look for VPNs based in the British Virgin Islands, Panama, Switzerland, and other privacy-friendly countries. VPNs based in countries that fall under the jurisdiction of the intelligence-sharing alliances should be avoided: the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, France, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and Spain. VPNs in these countries can be forced by authorities to collect and hand over user data.

Customer support — VPNs can be difficult to understand if you’re not an experienced user, and even if you are, problems can occur. Whether you’re a total beginner or not, customer support is key for dealing with any potential issues that might arise. You should also consider whether customer support is offered by phone, email, or web chat.

Make sure you consider these features before deciding on the VPN that suits you and your lifestyle. Once you have narrowed down your options, you can begin the process of finding the best deal.

What is the best VPN?

We’re sorry to burst your bubble, but there isn’t one VPN that beats all the rest. The best VPN for you really comes down to your own set of personal preferences. Once you find a few options that tick your boxes, you need to consider the best deals.

We have reached out to partners in order to provide you with market-leading prices on VPN subscriptions, with performance and security in mind. All of these VPN services have been handpicked not only because of the prices and deals on offer, but because they all offer the most important features to protect your online data and identity.

There are also plenty of services to consider on this list if your priority is unlocking streaming sites like Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+. Online security should always be the priority, but we know that many subscribers use these services to unlock more content from around the world. We get it, and we’re here to help.

These are the best and cheapest VPN deals in September 2021.

Everyone loves settling down for a streaming session, right? Lining up all your favourite snacks and drinks, surrounding yourself with cushions and blankets, and then spending hours in front of a screen can be a truly therapeutic experience, but there is one big problem with this hobby: There is a limited amount of content out there to keep you satisfied.

Regular streamers can quickly get to a point when it feels like there’s nothing left to watch, and what are you supposed to do then? Don’t panic, because there is a simple solution to this problem.

If you’ve reached this point of saturation, you should consider investing in a VPN.

What is a VPN?

VPNs are security tools that provide protection for your information by creating a private network that hides your real IP address. All of your activity is untraceable and secure, because all of your online traffic passes through an encrypted tunnel. Nobody can see into the tunnel, and everything inside the tunnel is protected against online threats like hackers, viruses, and malware.

The act of hiding your real IP address is what can trick leading streaming sites into thinking you are based in another country.

What are the advantages of using a VPN?

First and foremost, VPNs are used to provide protection for your sensitive information. This is obviously important, but there’s another reason that VPNs are so popular. These tools can be also be used to watch content that is normally blocked in your location.

By hiding your real IP address and connecting you to a server in another country, you can watch all your favourite content from that location. For example, you could watch all the extra films and shows on American Netflix that are not usually accessible outside of the U.S. There is so much content out there that can be accessed with the help of a VPN.

We’re all in need of something that can bypass geo-restrictions to access all of this blocked entertainment, and that something is a VPN. These services are kind of like keys to the online world, granting you access to more of the shows and films you love.

How do you access American Netflix with a VPN?

If you think the process of accessing American Netflix is going to be tricky with a VPN, think again. It’s actually a really simple process that absolutely everyone can understand.

All you need to do is open up your preferred VPN, select an American server in order to spoof your IP to a U.S. address, and then head to Netflix. This quick and easy action makes Netflix think you’re in the U.S. when you’re actually in the UK, so you can watch all that great content that is normally unavailable. Not too complicated, right?

If you’re worried that this whole thing sounds a bit illegal, then maybe we can reassure you. It’s currently legal to watch Netflix while using a VPN, although we should point out that Netflix states in its terms of service that it may restrict your account without compensation or notice if you are engaged in “improper” use. We’re not entirely sure what that means, but consider yourself warned.

We should make it very clear that you still need to be subscribed to Netflix for this trick to work. A VPN is not going to grant access to the streaming site for free. A VPN provides access to more libraries from around the world, once you’re subscribed.

What is the best VPN for Netflix?

There are a lot of VPN services out there that can effectively unblock American Netflix, but which is the best? There are plenty of strong options for you to consider, but we wouldn’t want you wasting your time checking everything out. To save you time, we’ve handpicked your best options. Each service has a different set of features that will suit some users better than others, and it’s all about finding something that works for you.

It’s tough to pick the best VPN for accessing American Netflix, but ExpressVPN does stand out from the competition for a number of reasons. It has a streaming-friendly interface, security focused features, and strong connection speeds. All of this provides users with a straightforward and speedy streaming experience. Speed is probably the most important feature to consider when it comes to picking a VPN for streaming. Using a VPN to connect to another country often affects your download speed, which can be devastating when you are trying to binge on your favourite show. We found that using ExpressVPN consistently results in the lowest buffering time when streaming Netflix in 4K. It is however a little pricey.

ExpressVPN is at the top of this list because it combines essential features with impressive results, but it isn’t the only option available to you. We have lined up all the best VPNs for unblocking Netflix, with something for everyone on this list. We’ve highlighted the best deals on the likes of Surfshark, PureVPN, CyberGhost VPN, NordVPN, and ZenMateVPN.

These are the best VPNs for Netflix in 2021.

The online world can be a dangerous place, with hackers, viruses, and surveillance software absolutely everywhere. We’re not trying to worry you, but have you ever considered just how much of your personal data is exposed to this sort of thing whilst you’re browsing? If not, you probably should. You might be surprised.

Your personal data is seriously valuable stuff these days, and everyone is looking to get their hands on it. Once you come to understand that the internet is insecure, it’s perfectly normal to feel a little concerned about how much of your data is up for grabs. There’s no need to panic though, because there is a simple and effective way that you can stay protected.

To stay safe online, and keep all of your data and personal information secure, you should invest in a VPN.

What even is a VPN, anyway?

VPNs provide protection for your data and identity by creating a private network that hides your real IP address. All of your activity is untraceable and secure because everything passes through an encrypted tunnel.

Nobody can see into the tunnel, and everything inside is protected against online threats. This means that hackers, governments, and your internet service provider will be unable to access any of your information.

What are the advantages of using a VPN?

We’ve already covered the fact that investing in a VPN is one of the best ways to ensure your safety and anonymity online. VPNs are vital tools in the fight against scammers and cybercriminals, but there’s another reason you might consider these security services. And it has nothing to do with security.

VPNs can be used to unlock streaming services from around the world, including the likes of Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+. How do they do this? It’s actually a really simple process, and it can significantly boost your content options. All you need to do is open up your preferred VPN, connect to a server from another country in order to spoof your IP to another address, and then head to your preferred streaming site. This process tricks the site into thinking you are based in another country, meaning you can watch all that great content that is normally blocked.

So VPNs are really useful for cybersecurity and streaming, which means they should be a worthwhile investment for just about everyone.

What should you consider before selecting a VPN?

Choosing a VPN that is right for you is not easy, because there are a lot of options all offering similar packages. To make your life a little easier, we have highlighted a selection of the most important things to consider before making any sort of decision:

Connection speed: This is absolutely vital whether you’re looking to use a VPN for online security or streaming. It’s normal for a VPN to result in a drop in your connection speed, but you shouldn’t accept anything significant.

Encryption: We know that a lot of people will be using VPNs for streaming, but these services are primarily designed to provide cybersecurity, so encryption is important. The best VPNs will offer powerful protection for your data, meaning that everything is unreadable and untraceable.

Number of connections: You should seek out a VPN that offers multiple simultaneous connections, so you can stay protected on all your devices at the same time. This is also beneficial for large families or households with multiple people likely to be online at the same time.

Privacy policy: The best VPNs should be very clear about how they handle, store, and use your data. These practices should be laid out in a privacy policy, and if they aren’t super clear, you should look elsewhere.

Server network: The best VPNs provide access to thousands of servers located all around the world. This is useful as you should always be able to find a stable and speedy connection for streaming, shopping, or browsing.

There are plenty of other things that are worth considering, like bandwidth, apps for certain operating systems, and customer support, but these are probably the most important features to keep in mind.

What is the best VPN?

There are a lot of VPNs out there, and we recommend taking some time to carefully access all your options. Once you have established exactly what you need, you can turn your attention to finding the best deals on all the top VPNs.

We have reached out to partners in order to line up a list of the best deals on the most popular providers, to help you save big. You can find all the best deals on the likes of ExpressVPN, NordVPN, PureVPN, and more.

These are the best VPN deals in September 2021.

If you’re one of the 10.2 million subscribers who show up to the mat for Yoga with Adriene, you’ll be well aware that Benji is often the star of the show, the embodiment of downward dog.

The star of the best yoga YouTube channels for practicing at home, Adriene Mishler has been posting practices for nine years now, always accompanied by her loveable blue heeler, Benji, who often wanders around in the space before finding a suitable napping spot.

Celebrating her channel’s ninth birthday since launching in 2012, Mishler posted a trailer for a cute new animated series starring none other than her four-legged sidekick. “In this inaugural episode, Benji learns Box Breath and Star Pose to help navigate anxiety after spending a bit too long cooped up inside the house,” she wrote in an email newsletter.

The full 12-minute episode is only available for paid subscribers of YWA’s Find What Feels Good online community. If you’re not a subscriber, you can enjoy the trailer, which features the most adorable animated version of the yoga teacher and her pup, both of whom have got many of us through some really tough times.

The story was written by Mishler and Jeff Mills, while the animation and design is by Will Rose, with music by David Hamburger.

Welcome to the wonderful world of VPNs. These popular security tools protect your identity and data, bypass online restrictions, and much more. If this is all very new to you, you’ve probably got a lot of questions. Don’t worry, because we can help.

We’ve done all the hard work for you and researched these services to provide the information that matters. We’re nice like that.

This is the definitive breakdown of everything you need to know about VPNs.

What is a VPN?

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) provide important protection for your data and identity when you’re online. They offer this online privacy and anonymity by creating a private network that hides your real IP address. This means that all of your activity is untraceable and secure.

Basically, you can think about VPNs as encrypted tunnels through which all of your online traffic passes through. Nobody can see into the tunnel, and everything inside the tunnel is protected against online threats like viruses, hackers, and malware.

What are the advantages of using a VPN?

Any sort of activity on an unsecured WiFi network leaves your private information and browsing habits exposed to the world, unless you’re using a VPN. There’s no need to panic, because whether you’re sending important emails, doing some online shopping, or paying essential bills, VPNs make sure that everything remains private and anonymous.

First and foremost, VPNs are designed to provide online security, but there is another reason that millions of people use these services: streaming more content from around the world. By hiding your real IP address and connecting you to a server in another location, you can trick your favourite streaming services into thinking that you are based in a different country. This means that you can watch all of the shows and films from global libraries, like all the extra content on American Netflix. This is the quickest and easiest way of boosting your content options, without the need to rely on a dodgy stream.

What are the most important things to consider when selecting a VPN?

There are plenty of things that you should consider when it comes to VPNs, but we don’t have all day. Instead of listing off every feature offered by the best VPNs, we have highlighted a selection of the most important things to think about.

Before you make any sort of decision, you should look out for connection speed, server network, number of logins, and more important features:

Connection speed: Using a VPN is going to produce a drop in your connection speed, but you shouldn’t accept a significant drop that is going to result in buffering. Be sure to select a VPN that doesn’t negatively impact your connection speed to the point that you can’t watch a film or download a file without frustration.

Number of connections: Some VPNs let you connect an unlimited number of devices with the same account. Others limit you to just a single device. You should look out for a service that offers multiple simultaneous connections, so you can stay protected on all your devices at the same time.

Server network: The very best VPNs provide access to literally thousands of geographically diverse servers. It’s useful if a VPN has a lot of servers in key locations, because you should always be able to find a stable and speedy connection for streaming, shopping, or browsing anonymously. It’s not a straightforward case of more is better, but it’s always good to have options.

Privacy policy: It’s worth paying special attention to the data-handling, storage, and usage practices of the VPN you are planning on using. These practices should be laid out in a privacy policy, and if they aren’t clear, it’s best to avoid. Most VPNs require access to your IP address, online transactions, and browsing history, plus your personal details when you sign up. If privacy is the objective, it’s absolutely essential that your VPN is not going to store these details. If it does, the whole thing is kind of pointless.

Encryption: There are different levels of encryption, and whilst it’s important to take note of the grade provided by your VPN, the best options will all offer powerful protection for your data. You are likely to come across terms like “military-grade” and “enterprise-grade,” which just means that you can rely on it to do its job.

Bandwidth: There are some VPNs out there that place monthly caps on network bandwidth, meaning you can only download a certain amount of data. You should avoid these services, unless you’re on a free trial. If you’re paying for a VPN, you should be able to download and upload as much as you want.

There are other things to consider, like price and subscription options, but these features are a good place to start.

Do you need to pay for a VPN?

The good news is that there are plenty of free versions of popular VPNs, plus free trials of VPNs with full access to everything you get with a premium plan. Alternatively, you can pay for a VPN. So which option is best for you and your lifestyle?

As with most things in life, you get what you pay for with VPNs. There tends to always be a catch with free versions, and it’s normally in the form of limited data usage. If you’re just an occasional user, these plans will work fine. But if you’re going to be streaming or downloading, this isn’t going to work. Free trials are a little bit different: they come with everything you get in a paid plan, but obviously they don’t tend to last very long. Trials are great for testing out a service before committing, but this isn’t a long-term solution.

What we’re saying is that the best option for streaming securely and accessing the online world without restrictions is with a paid subscription to a VPN. To gain access to advanced security features without limitations on usage, you need to pay up. The best VPNs are generally the most expensive, but there are plenty of cheap plans out there, especially if you’re willing to commit to a lengthy contract.

What is the best VPN?

There are a lot of VPN providers out there all offering different sets of features, with different pricing structures. We recommend taking some time to carefully access your options, and decide on what you really need from your provider. Once you have established your priorities, you can check out this roundup of the very best VPNs.

We have tracked down everything on offer and lined up a selection of the very best VPNs for streaming, shopping, and everything else. We have tried to find something for everyone and every budget, and you can find popular services like ExpressVPN, NordVPN, and CyberGhost VPN in this list. All you need to do is weigh up these options against your own set of priorities, and then pick a favourite from the bunch. Simple, right?

These are the best VPNs in 2021.

Amid the countless streaming apps available today, Netflix reigns supreme.

At 209 million subscribers — Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ follow at 175 million and 103.6 million, respectively — Netflix remains the most widely used streaming service in the world. But after more than 18 months of social distancing, staying indoors, and bingeing TV, the app’s extensive library can seem pretty dull.

Luckily, you can use other programs to spice up your viewing experience. Whether you’re tired of mindlessly scrolling through the home screen to find a new comfort show now that The Office is gone, or if you’re over Googling reviews to make sure you won’t ruin a hook-up by watching something depressing, here are seven Chrome extensions that will elevate Netflix for you.

1. Teleparty

The app formerly known as Netflix Party carried social interactions through the pandemic. Now called Teleparty, the Chrome extensions allows viewers in different locations to watch synced movies and shows on Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and Disney+. Just make sure that everyone in the party is signed in to both Teleparty and Netflix, share the party link, and start watching together.

You can add Teleparty to Google Chrome here.

2. Netflix Flip

Have you ever wished you could watch TV laying down? Good news for chronic recliners and anyone who’s Just Tired: you can! Netflix Flip literally allows you to rotate your viewing window without having to physically tilt your screen or contort yourself into unnatural positions just to watch TV while laying sideways.

You can add Netflix Flip to Google Chrome here.

3. No Netflix Originals

Netflix’s tendency to push its original content over the other TV shows and movies in its library is exhausting, and it frustrates subscribers who want to discover new content without being spoon-fed Netflix and nothing else. No Netflix Originals blocks Netflix from promoting its own content both on the home screen and in recommended queues.

You can add No Netflix Originals to Google Chrome here.

4. Netflix Hidden Category

Bored of aimlessly scrolling through Netflix’s recommended watches? Netflix does categorize its content into hyper-specific genres, but it doesn’t display them to users. Some subscribers put together a comprehensive list of codes that Netflix uses to categorize its content so that users can browse them by searching the code on the home screen. You can skip that step entirely by using Netflix Hidden Category, which lets you browse hyper-specific categories like “Scary Cult Movies from the 1990s” and “Showbiz Movies Based on Real Life.”

You can add Netflix Hidden Category to Google Chrome here.

5. Trim

Netflix purged user reviews in 2018 to discourage viewers from sabotaging new releases with poor ratings. Users have to look up reviews themselves — or use Trim, an extension that displays IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes ratings for content on Netflix and Amazon Prime. The extension can also filter out movies with low ratings, as well as “trim” recommended content so they aren’t displayed on Netflix.

You can add Trim to Google Chrome here.

6. Wachee VPN

Unfortunately, certain shows and movies aren’t available in every country. Netflix caught on to viewers who used regular VPNs to watch restricted content, and now shows an error screen asking them to turn off their proxy. Wachee claims that Netflix won’t filter out its VPN, allowing users to watch any Netflix content from any location in the world. The basic plan is free, but to stream in higher video quality Wachee charges a subscription fee.

You can add Wachee VPN to Google Chrome here.

7. Language Reactor

Active listening is one of the most effective ways to pick up a new language, and watching movies or TV shows can be helpful when you can’t always have a conversation with a native speaker. Language Reactor adds dual language subtitles and a popup dictionary to Netflix, and also provides viewers with more precise playback controls. It also works on YouTube.

You can add Language Reactor to Google Chrome here.

Enjoy watching!

Marvel Studios didn’t give anyone other than attractive white men the top billing on a movie until almost 10 years into the life of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the 2018 release of Black Panther.

It was a historic box office winner. Now, in 2021, we’ve had Scarlet Johansson headline a Black Widow that earned almost $80 million dollars, despite being released during a pandemic with a simultaneous streaming premier on Disney+. And here we are again, a couple months later, with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, a Marvel interpretation of wuxia cinema led by Simu Liu, shattering the all-time U.S. Labor Day box office record.

Over the three-day period from Friday to Sunday, Shang-Chi earned an estimated $71.4 million in North American ticket sales. It added another $56.2 million from overseas markets. Neither of these numbers — which Comscore’s report notes “obliterated” previous estimates — account for Labor Day, which is currently projected to add another $10-15 million to the global total.

Shang-Chi‘s North American total is a box office record for Labor Day, with its $71.4 million more than doubling the previous record set by 2007’s Halloween remake, which earned $30.6 million over the four-day weekend. So yeah, Ten Rings is doing pretty all right numbers.

We love to see it. Marvel may be late to inclusive top billings, but that doesn’t devalue the success of releases like this one. Black Panther was a box office monster, and it still ranks as the second-highest earner among MCU releases in North America. Shang-Chi‘s opening is considerably smaller, but it’s also Marvel’s first-ever release for the typically sleepy Labor Day weekend.

We can only wonder what the weekend would’ve looked like if there was no global pandemic. But Marvel’s theatrical fortunes have been a rare bright spot in 2021’s COVID-addled box office. With not even one full weekend in the books, Shang-Chi immediately slides into the year’s top 10 earners, between Free Guy and the Space Jam sequel. (Black Widow is currently #1.)

There’s something to be said for the star power inherent in a Marvel production. Shang-Chi isn’t the most well-known comic book superhero, and until this movie Liu was better known for his TV work. But with the Marvel stamp (and the MCU stamp specifically) on Ten Rings, both the character and the star who plays him get an immediate boost. That’s a win for everyone.

There have been plenty of missteps along the way, make no mistake. The franchise’s first canonically gay character, for example, didn’t show up until more than a year after Black Panther, and it was a bit player appearing in just one scene. Even as recently as 2021, there are still signs that Marvel isn’t ready to center anything other than heteronormative representations of love and relationships.

There’s also Black Panther itself. The MCU kicked off with Iron Man in May 2008. Black Panther released in Feb. 2018, almost a decade later. There were 17 movies before it, worth billions in ticket and home video sales. And while there was some Black representation in the MCU prior to 2018, it’s hard to make the case that Marvel was banking on anything other than the power of its brand and its predominantly white, male stars to propel the franchise.

Since then, we’ve gotten Captain Marvel, led by Brie Larson. We got the Disney+ series WandaVision, led by Elizabeth Olsen. There was also the Captain America and the Winter Soldier streaming series, which delved directly into racial issues (albeit imperfectly) and introduced Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson, who is Black, as the next Captain America.

There’s more coming, too: A Ms. Marvel series starring the young up-and-comer Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan; a She-Hulk series starring Tatiana Maslany as the eponymous green-skinned lawyer for superhumans; a Moon Knight series starring Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector, who is Jewish (somewhat problematically, Isaac has Jewish heritage though he wasn’t raised that way); and more beyond that, including a Black Panther sequel and a Disney+ take on Ironheart, led by Dominique Thorne. There’s also November’s Eternals, which features a diverse ensemble.

I’m not trying to sit here and say Marvel Studios is perfect with this stuff, or that it’s going to get things right every single time. But if Shang-Chi, which centers Asian and Asian-American perspectives for the first time in the MCU, can dominate at the box office during the historically chill Labor Day weekend, and while we’re still mired in a devastating pandemic, maybe it’s a sign Marvel is learning how to actively leverage its immense power over the entertainment industry in positive ways.

Welcome to Porn Week, Mashable’s annual close up on the business and pleasure of porn.

---

Over the last five years, the adult industry titan MindGeek — best known as the parent company behind Pornhub, Brazzers, and a slew of other popular porn studios and tube sites — has gone all in on developing and promoting one of its most seemingly niche endeavors: Nutaku, a platform devoted to the development and distribution of hentai games, which are explicitly sexual and animated.

Some of Nutaku’s top-rated hentai games include: King of Kinks, an RPG in which players build a party of (at most) scantily clad fantasy heroines, then “stumble upon inhuman beauties, ready to suck you dry.” Booty Farm, a dating sim that the site promises will “get XXX very fast.” And Merge Nymphs, a puzzle game that rewards success with sexual tableaus featuring cartoon women that the game bills as both “eco-friendly and dick-friendly.”

Since its 2015 launch, Nutaku, with MindGeek’s backing, has notably invested millions in hentai game development, and organized numerous extravagant marketing gimmicks, like a New York arts exhibition titled Hentai Is Art, to build the brand — and get unfamiliar Western consumers a bit more comfortable with the concept of cartoon sex, long associated primarily with the Japanese porn world. The platform has also inserted avatars of some of Pornhub’s most popular performers into its biggest games, clearly connecting the venture to the wider MindGeek ecosystem, and all the clout and eyes that come with it. The cartoonified facsimile of porn star Asa Akira even wears a Pornhub-branded tank top during her appearance in the dating sim Booty Calls… briefly.

As of 2021, ads for Nutaku, or games it offers, are a common fixture not only on MindGeek sites, but also many other adult venues. The platform hosts “over 500 lewd games!” And announcements for new Nutaku titles or initiatives land in adult industry trade publications every few days.

“It’s readily apparent that a ton of money has gone into the platform,” said Geoffrey Celen of The Porn Dude, a prominent review site that ranks adult gaming platforms.

Nutaku claims that MindGeek has been willing to invest in it because the porn powerhouse simply wants to tap a huge, underserved market for hentai games. But a number of adult industry insiders and observers, as well as information security experts, suspect there may be another motive at play: the absolutely obscene amount of user data that companies can potentially mine out of porn games. Data is, after all, far better than cash in the bank for any modern digital company — but its rampant collection is extremely worrying for any modern digital consumer.

MindGeek most likely did need a uniquely compelling motive, beyond the mere glimmer of a potential market, to devote so much effort to Nutaku’s growth and visibility, because the platform poses a real risk to the company’s wider endeavors. The conglomerate has expended considerable effort over the last decade trying to garner mainstream cultural acceptance and social respectability. However, hentai games have a decidedly bad reputation among MindGeek’s core Western consumer base.

They’re often popularly associated with stilted and immature writing, cheap and disconcerting graphics, and gleeful depictions of sexual assault, implicit or explicit underage sex, and acts of rampant misogyny — all of which do crop up far too frequently in hentai content. Hentai games also have a history of deception and disappointment — like advertising the horniest content ever, only to deliver a half-assed clone of a game like Call of Duty with a splash of sexualized graphics or a few jerky NSFW cut scenes. Or a collection of sex mini-games that just involve button-mashing and stiff, repetitive thrusts and moans. Since at least the late 1980s, far too many hentai games have also been little more than trojan horses for computer viruses and credential phishing scams.

“There even seems to be a stigma [against porn games] from people who like traditional porn,” said Michelle Clough, chair of the International Game Developers Association’s Romance and Sexuality Special Interest Group.

Hentai’s historical reputation is so bad that some popular gaming platforms categorically refuse to even consider carrying porn games. Even Nutaku has openly and repeatedly acknowledged the genre’s entrenched image issue, and the challenges of working against it, in official statements.

It’s always hard to pin down one definitive explanation for a big decision like MindGeek’s seemingly bold bet on Nutaku — in large part because they usually stem from multiple distinct motivating forces operating in parallel. However, the appeal of the type and level of user data hentai games stand to offer may pack enough appeal for a company like MindGeek to overcome a fair amount of apparent reputational risk.

What’s more, MindGeek has built abundant permissions for data collection and dissemination right into Nutaku’s privacy policy. Nutaku reserves the right to collect information on pretty much everything a user does on the site or app, share all that info with other MindGeek sites for “customization of content, advertising, and analytics,” and send aggregated data, sans personally identifiable details, to anyone, “without restriction.” The policy adds that this data “may be used to develop content and services that we hope you and other users will find of interest.”

It’s The (Adult) Economy, Stupid

When asked about the potential appeal of data derived from hentai gaming for a company like MindGeek, Nutaku communications manager Jay Acevedo avoided offering a direct answer.

He claimed MindGeek decided to launch Nutaku because it noticed “massive consumer demand for adult games in the West.” The Nutaku team has also seen signs of cultural change, he added, that may portend an erosion of the stigmas around fusing adult content and gaming that made it tricky to serve this market in the past.

Acevedo seemed confident that he and his team can “do the necessary pushes to help break that stigma,” although he acknowledged that “there is still so much to do.”

Adult and video game industry observers say there is certainly something to this explanation.

“There’s always been some desire for sexual content in games among gaming fans,” Matthew Wysocki, a professor of communications at Flagler University, a liberal arts college in Florida, who studies both porn and video games, said. Notably, the early explicit dating sim Softporn Adventure (1979), sold about 25,000 copies — to an apparently eager market of about 100,000 Apple II home computer owners.

“There’s always been some desire for sexual content in games among gaming fans.”

However, once video games started to become a proper industry, major U.S. retailers made it clear that they would not sell adult content, both to appease censorious cultural forces and to lean into the initial trend of marketing video games primarily towards children. For decades, this has made it hard for most consumers to encounter any porn games, much less well-produced content, or to feel safe when buying them off of some rinky-dink retailer in a seedy back alley of the internet.

Yet the persistent supply of cheap, crappy hentai games — and even their use as a consistent, and thus presumably moderately successful, vehicle for scams — speaks to an unyielding underlying demand. As do intensive fan efforts to mod mainstream games to add sexual content like basic nudity into them.

Then, over the last decade major mainstream games, like entries in the Baldur’s Gate, God of War, and Witcher series, started to feature increasingly explicit sexual content, in recognition of the maturing demographics and desires of video game consumers. Simultaneously, the democratization of game development tools and tutorials, and the rise of crowdfunding platforms, enabled a burst of no-holds-barred indie game development, Wysocki explained. A fair number of these indie producers found success creating openly NSFW games, attracting loyal followers, and avoiding censorship on these platforms in the mid-2010s. These developments sent clear signals of cultural change.

Still, many digital retailers remain reticent to embrace adult games. And game developers complain that many of the mainstream retailers and crowdfunding platforms that do in theory allow explicit adult content seem to place opaque caveats around that permission, leading to sporadic and seemingly capricious crackdowns on select hentai games.

This heady combination of unleashed creation and demand, yet uncertain marketplaces, all but demanded the creation of new hubs — like Nutaku — that offer a secure haven for creators, and a well-curated one-stop-shop for consumers to browse without worrying about scams, their privacy, or egregiously awful content.

Nutaku has notably voiced a commitment to keeping depictions of violent, underage, and incestuous sex off of its platform through proactive pre-release review processes. (However, critics argue that the site has featured plenty of games that involve sexual pressure or duplicity, characters who appear worryingly young, and absolutely rampant misogyny over the years.)

“It would be leaving money on the table for big adult companies to stay out of this,” Celen noted.

Porn’s data drive

But companies leave theoretical gobs of cash on proverbial tables all the time. So, simply establishing why MindGeek could in theory viably explore the hentai gaming space does not necessarily say anything about why the company would take the gamble inherent in doing so.

One obvious explanation for MindGeek’s foray into this space would be that it expected a hefty payout for taking risks and making investments. Nutaku registration is free, but users have to pay to purchase around 90 percent of its games.

However, the majority of Nutaku titles cost between $1 and $10, and many of its top games are free-to-play. Its games do lean heavily on micro-transactions, which always have the potential to net tidy sums. But we do not have any good information on Nutaku’s raw profitability now, much less what MindGeek made of its earnings potential in 2015 — around the same time Wysocki says making money on games mainly via micro-transactions was just starting to gain acceptance in the gaming world overall.

However, we do know that rich and robust data always appeals to the adult industry. Strongly.

Although they don’t broadcast the fact, pornographers are incredibly hungry for user data. Just like other media companies, they want to use it to guide content creation — to shoot photos and films that will keep people glued to screens as long, and coming back to a site as often, as possible.

Data also helps porn companies put the right videos in front of each consumer, driving up subscriptions, sales, and other site transactions as well as time spent on the platform. Increased page engagement times can boost a site’s appeal to advertisers, and their willingness to pay for space. And selling data itself, or insights drawn from it, to companies eager to best tailor and target their own products and marketing can potentially net particularly tidy profits.

This potential income is all especially important in a porn world that has been economically devastated over the last decade — largely by the advent of free porn sites, including many of MindGeek’s.

“Porn is merely a strategy for collecting user data.”

“MindGeek is a web development company first and foremost. Porn is merely a strategy for collecting user data,” said Brandon Arroyo, a porn researcher and host of the podcast Porno Cultures.

Yet the adult industry has not always been great at accumulating robust, actionable data. That’s partially because viewing porn is a very passive experience, Celen points out. Consumers “type in a keyword or browse a little, do their business, and they’re done in five to seven minutes.”

At best, sites can look at all the search and browsing activity connected to one IP address, device, and browser to build up a dossier on a user. Notably, most sites in theory have the capacity to track how long an individual lingered on a page, what parts of a clip they watched, whether they were actively on a page while the clip played, and a host of other ancillary details. Then they can aggregate this sort of user data, and fill it in with some best guesses about demographics, to develop the broad-level insights they so desire. But the brevity of active engagement with porn, as well as the active efforts some consumers make to confuse or mislead adult sites especially in bids to safeguard their sexual privacy, mean that this data has some hard and fast limitations.

Porn companies may try to supplement these basic insights with richer, and more definitively demographically pegged survey data. Brazzers periodically puts out a blitz of aggressive ads asking consumers to fill out its questionnaires. But people tend to lie on surveys, even when they’re anonymous, and especially when they cover taboo topics. And there’s likely a degree of selection bias in who, even among porn viewers, is willing to fill out an entire survey on the topic. So, even this seemingly heartier source of potential data is likewise hobbled from the get-go.

How your games can watch you

Gaming is a much more active, engaged digital activity, with players constantly making subtle choices that, when played online — as most hentai games are — can all in theory be monitored.

“Every gaming choice is effectively like a survey question,” Rob Shavell of the data security firm Abine said. But it’s a question answered, typically, without the belief that anyone is in fact watching, and may therefore be more honest, on average, than a standard survey response.

“Some groups have begun designing games specifically for market research,” Shavell noted.

In adult games, users constantly make decisions, whether by creating an avatar or selecting the dating sim character they want to pursue or picking a kink from a list in an RPG, Wysocki points out, that add up to comparatively massive sexual data troves.

“There’s a lot of data to be gotten just from watching people mash buttons,” concurred Chris Ling, CEO of Sekai Project, a video game publisher whose sister company, Denpasoft, has licensed, translated, and published adult games from Japan for a Western audience since 2014.

He added that, since Denpasoft focuses on visual novels that don’t involve many active choices, “that’s not our business.” However, he wouldn’t be surprised if tracking decision-making is core to other companies’ profit strategies.

Notably, many of the games on Nutaku seem to involve ample active decision-making.

What’s more, Shavell points out that almost every adult game platform requires registration and age verification — often including credit card details for games that involve micro-transactions. This allows them to potentially collect more detailed, reliable user demographic information than they could in most circumstances, “under the auspices of being compliant with regulations.”

According to Acevedo, as of 2021 Nutaku has over 60 million registered users, and continues to experience exponential growth. Past analyses of hentai gamers have suggested that the majority play games every day.

Whether or not data collection played a key role in MindGeek’s development and promotion of Nutaku, that is an obscene fuckton of ever-growing, ever-enticing user information sitting there, waiting for the analytics-happy company to make free use of it.

More data, more problems

It’s easy to accept the data collection potential inherent in Nutaku and other hentai gaming sites as just another neutral fact of the modern digital world. After all, we’re constantly smearing data around the internet in implicit exchange for almost every digital product or service we enjoy. And adult sites actually tend to have an unusually strong interest in protecting user data, given the PR crisis they’d face if any of that prurient content leaked out into the world unintentionally.

But there are always risks associated with heavy data collection.

“Attacks against game platforms are common,” Shavell said, as fraudsters are eager to access personal data on them. For example, recent research from the cybersecurity firm Akamai showed that, between 2018 and 2020, American gaming platforms suffered upwards of 10 billion “credential stuffing” attempts, in which scammers try to plug username and password pairs they’ve picked up from prior leaks across the internet into a platform to find accounts to invade.

Nutaku’s policies also acknowledge that, like most sites, it uses third party services, which independently collect information on user actions — each of which has its own policies on what it collects, protects, and shares. As is likewise standard, Nutaku does not vouch for or meaningfully restrict how those sites handle information that they collect from site users.

Beyond personal privacy concerns, we already know that when adult content creators get their hands on even a smidgen of consumer data they don’t necessarily use it to make content that better represents the full spectrum of human sexuality, learning about and filling every reasonable unmet niche and by so doing ideally helping us all explore our identities and desires. They’re businesses, ultimately driven by their bottom lines. So, they typically use data to gain a more refined sense of who their most lucrative consumers are, current or potential, and of the types of content that best attracts, engages, and retains these folks. Then, they double down on that content exactly. At its worst, this can artificially amplify some niche trends or desires, while suppressing other broad ones. The accumulation of more robust data troves, like those hentai gaming platforms potentially offer, may risk accelerating this warping, homogenizing tendency.

Subtle biases in datasets can also lead to significant errors in judgment or action. And rich as it may seem, data drawn from hentai game sites will likely contain plenty of biases. Notably, while Nutaku has made conscious efforts to increase its female and queer user bases, it is still largely male and straight — mirroring traditional video game consumer target demographics. (Clough of the International Game Developers Association, suspects this is because, to her eye, most of the site’s ostensibly female- and LGBTQ-friendly content feels like it was made by heterosexual men, filtering their best guesses at what other groups might want through their own perspectives and desires. It’s also, she added, still buried under a mountain of far more aggressively made-for-a-male-gaze hentai content — which can be very off-putting to outsiders.)

Nutaku users also often interact with, and make decisions within the context of, games that still reflect some of the field’s worst misogynistic tendencies: They frame women as collectibles to catch and ogle. They treat sex as an inevitable prize for following a proper sequence of actions. They all too often guide users towards aggressive, coercive, or otherwise simply shitty decisions to obtain their desired prizes. This overt priming and choice funneling introduces more potential subtle biases, which may be much harder to catch and control for than simple demographic skews.

And those unchecked biases could end up helping to drive the creation of content that reinforces these toxic tropes — not just within the relatively narrow and self-reinforcing ecosystem of one hentai gaming site but throughout the wider porn world.

Keep reading

• A beginner’s guide to the best porn games

• The best alternatives to Pornhub and Xvideos

• How to watch VR porn: Everything you need to know

• Porn ushered in a golden age of TV dicks

• Can’t figure out what kind of porn to consume? This handy infographic can help