YouTube Originals will soon be free to watch for everyone

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YouTube is changing its original content strategy.

Starting next year, YouTube will make its original content free to watch on the platform. Previously, the company’s scripted shows like the Karate Kid spinoff Cobra Kai were only made available to users who paid for its subscription offering, YouTube Premium. For non-Premium subscribers, YouTube’s free to watch originals will be ad-supported.

YouTube will also pull back on its scripted original content in 2020 as it reduces its production budget in light of the pivot in strategy, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The video platform’s paid subscription service originally launched in 2015 as YouTube Red. The company rebranded the service as YouTube Premium last year. In the early days of the subscription service, the platform’s original content mostly consisted of premium series’ starring YouTube creators like PewDiePie. Not too long after, the site started investing in higher quality productions with films like Step Up: High Water, based on the dance movie franchise, and the sci-fi series “Origin” from the same production company who created Netflix’s The Crown. Read more…

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Cyber Monday sale extension: Get up to 90% off Udemy online courses through Nov. 29

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If you ever felt like you needed a change in your life, or you feel like you’re in a dead-end job that’s going nowhere, then you should take advantage of all the possibilities Udemy has to offer you. Through Nov. 29, you can save up to 90% off all of their online courses, which means you only pay $9.99 per class. (The promo code 1811CYBERMONDAYEXTENSION should be automatically applied at checkout.)

SEE ALSO: Our favorite picks from Amazon’s sale on ugly Christmas sweaters

Udemy offers more than 80,000 online courses that are designed to help people reach their personal goals and pursue their dreams through learning and education. If you want to learn web design, Udemy offers classes such as Web Design for Beginners: Real World Coding in HTML & CSS, or if you want to learn video game coding, the company also offers courses like Become a Game Designer the Complete Series Coding to Design.  Read more…

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Loot boxes recommended for ‘comprehensive review’ in Australia

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The question over whether loot boxes constitute as gambling keeps popping up.

Australia’s government could be the latest set to investigate the gaming feature, after a Senate committee recommended a “comprehensive review” of loot boxes in a report released Tuesday.

SEE ALSO: Labeling loot boxes as ‘gambling’ isn’t just dangerous for EA. It’s dangerous for gamers, too.

One of the committee’s chairs, The Greens senator Jordon Steele-John, is behind the push for a wider look into the feature and whether they could pose any gambling-related harm, especially to children. However, he criticised the “watered-down report,” which only made a single recommendation. Read more…

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Judge Judy is TV’s highest paid host

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Real cases, real people, real money.

Judge Judy is officially the highest paid host on TV, raking in a whopping $147 million last year.

Judy Sheindlin, the formidable host of the courtroom show, is sitting in the top spot of a new Forbes list, which ranks television’s highest earners.

SEE ALSO: Jason Momoa, Claire Foy, and Matt Damon to host ‘SNL’

Sheindlin’s staggering haul reportedly comes down to her $47 million fee for hosting Judge Judy, which has been nailing it since 1996 and averages a casual 10 million daily viewers, and producing her other courtroom talk show, Hot Bench, with her company Queen Bee Productions. Read more…

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Gifts for the truly cromulent ‘Simpsons’ fan

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The Simpsons is one of the most relentlessly quotable shows on television.

I personally can’t hear “dental plan” or “money down!” without thinking about the long-running program now, which is a terrible thing to bear.

SEE ALSO: Next-level tech gift ideas for the techie who has it all

With all those memorable moments and sayings, there are plenty of things you can buy for the Simpsons fan in your life this holiday season.

From pins to clothes to toys to things you can hang on your walls, we’ve put together some Simpsons-related items ranging from as little as $5 to more than $300. Read more…

1A Steamed Hams pin

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Now any rich idiot can run their own Bird scooter empire

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So you fancy yourself an entrepreneur. A doer. Someone who seizes opportunities and grabs life by the handlebars. Well hot damn, has Bird got a deal for you. 

You see, for the low low cost of buying your own e-scooters and paying Bird a 20 percent commission on all rides in perpetuity, you can now run your own fleet of Bird scooters. The program, announced Nov. 27, is called Bird Platform, and gives would-be two-wheeled tycoons the opportunity to do Bird CEO Travis VanderZanden’s job for him. 

“Bird Platform enables independent operators to manage their own fleet of shared e-scooter vehicles,” explains the Bird Platform page. Simply “[upload] your logo, select a sleeve color, cover the cost of city permits, and we’ll do the rest.” Read more…

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Absolute moo-nit: Look at this really big cow

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Friends, gather round. We’d like you to look at this really big cow (OK, steer) named Knickers, who is six feet, three inches tall and currently dwarfing his peers on a farm in Western Australia.

Knickers, a seven-year-old Holstein Friesian, who was originally purchased to lead other cattle around, currently holds the unofficial title of Australia’s biggest bovine representative. He weighs 1.4 tonnes, which is about 3,086 pounds. A lot! 

See if you can spot him in this video from 7 News in Brisbane. It’s OK; take your time.

SEE ALSO: Enjoy this adorable gang of otters crashing a marriage proposal photo Read more…

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Up your tailgating game: Coleman portable grills on sale at Walmart

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This is America. You better believe we won’t let the elements (rain, snow, wind) stop us from getting our grill on during the pre-game tailgate. It could be 20 degrees outside and 8 a.m. but on game day, those burgers are sure gonna be ready to go in time for kickoff.

The only problem is that most “proper” grills aren’t what one would call portable, and who wants to waste time with those cheap little charcoal buckets? Not me, that’s who.

SEE ALSO: 8 of the best grills to help you become a grill master

The Coleman RoadTrip LXE Portable Propane Grill is $114.95 at Walmart right now, $84.05 off the original price of $199, and can make your tailgating experience a hell of a lot easier. Read more…

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19 wild headlines from 2018 that sadly aren’t from The Onion

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Has 2018 felt unreasonably long to anyone else?

Between the mess of our presidential administration and the bizarre internet drama we’ve all sat through, it has been a year. Can you believe snacking on Tide Pods was a thing in January? How has the year managed to drag on for so long?

Here are the wildest headlines from 2018 that, unfortunately, aren’t articles from The Onion. 

1Trump bragged that his “nuclear button” was bigger than Kim Jong-un’s

Let’s start early. During his annual address to the nation, Kim Jong-un announced that North Korea could easily strike the United States with nuclear missiles. In response, Trump went full dick measuring contest and tweeted, “I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his.”  Read more…

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