- Dean McDermott says Tori Spelling invited her pet pig into their bed —ruining the marriage New York Post
- Dean McDermott blames Tori Spelling split on his drunken rages, her choice to have barn animals in bedroom Fox News
- Dean McDermott Claims a Pig in His ‘Marital Bed’ with Tori Spelling — Plus a Bathroom Chicken — Pushed Him Away PEOPLE
- Why Dean McDermott Says a Pig and a Chicken Played a Role in Tori Spelling Marital Problems E! NEWS
- Dean McDermott Drank ‘A Fifth Of Tequila Every Night’ Prior To Tori Spelling Split Access Hollywood
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Tag Archives: Ruining
Dad blames wife’s C-section for making him crack, ruining marriage in bizarre suit – Fox News
- Dad blames wife’s C-section for making him crack, ruining marriage in bizarre suit Fox News
- Dad sues hospital for $642M after witnessing his wife’s C-section: ‘It gave me psychotic illness’ New York Post
- Indian-Origin Man In Australia Sues Hospital Claiming Wife’s C-Section Caused Him “Psychotic Illness” NDTV
- Indian-origin man tries to sue Australian hospital after watching wife’s C-section The Siasat Daily
- Australian Sues For $1 Billion After Watching Wife Give Birth ‘Traumatised’ Him Into Psychosis DMARGE
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Vanderpump Rules’ Lala Kent Slams “Narcissist” Tom Sandoval For Ruining Raquel Leviss’ Life – E! NEWS
- Vanderpump Rules’ Lala Kent Slams “Narcissist” Tom Sandoval For Ruining Raquel Leviss’ Life E! NEWS
- Vanderpump Rules: Why Tom’s Disgusting “T-Shirt” Comment Was The Real Reunion Bombshell Screen Rant
- Lala Kent Expresses Regret for Attacking Raquel Leviss at ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Reunion: ‘I Felt Dirty’ PEOPLE
- Andy Cohen Said Tom Sandoval Weaponized Ariana Madix’s ‘Body Issues’ With T-Shirt Comment Yahoo Entertainment
- Andy Cohen believes Raquel Leviss was ‘really medicated’ during three-part Vanderpump Rules reunion Daily Mail
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Tom Sandoval loses his mind after being trolled for ‘ruining’ nail polish: Tag ‘me if you’re gonna talk s–t’ – Page Six
- Tom Sandoval loses his mind after being trolled for ‘ruining’ nail polish: Tag ‘me if you’re gonna talk s–t’ Page Six
- Tom Sandoval Attacks Female Journalist for Daring To Have an Opinion Yahoo Entertainment
- Tom Sandoval Goes Wild Over Backlash About His White Nail Polish: Details Us Weekly
- Vanderpump Rules’ Tom Sandoval Doesn’t Want to Hear the Criticism—About His White Nail Polish E! NEWS
- Vanderpump Rules’ disgraced Tom Sandoval mocked for his ‘failed’ clapback at fans who hate his signature na… The US Sun
- View Full Coverage on Google News
If You Take This Common Medication, It Could Be Ruining Your Sex Life, Doctors Say
Many of us need to take prescription medication for one reason or another. In fact, 131 million U.S. adults (roughly 66 percent of the population) take at least one prescription drug daily. Most of these drugs treat five common chronic conditions—heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, and cancer. And while medications for these conditions often have unwanted side effects, their benefits tend to outweigh their drawbacks.
However, if you’re a man and take medication for one common health condition, you could be increasing your odds of erectile dysfunction (ED). Read on to find out which medication can cause ED, so you can avoid potentially awkward (and embarrassing) encounters in the bedroom.
READ THIS NEXT: Breathing This Way Could Be Hurting Your Sex Life, Doctors Say.
Sexual dysfunction can show up in several ways.
It’s no secret that medications come with baggage in the form of side effects, many of which impact your sexual health. Common symptoms of sexual dysfunction caused by prescription and OTC medications include low libido, impotence, lack of arousal, failure to reach orgasm, and pain during sex. And the more medications you take, the more your risk of sexual dysfunction increases.
Sexual dysfunction is defined as “persistent, recurrent problems with sexual response, desire, orgasm or pain — that distress you or strain your relationship with your partner,” reports the Mayo Clinic. Common prescription medications that affect sexual health include antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, opioid pain relievers, steroids, and beta-blockers.
READ THIS NEXT: If You’re Taking This Common Medication, Call Your Doctor Now, FDA Warns.
Taking this medication can lead to ED.
If you’re a man with high blood pressure and you struggle with ED, the medication you take to treat your hypertension could be the culprit behind your impotence. An estimated 25 percent of all ED cases are caused by blood pressure medications, according to the Harvard Medical School. However, while several types of blood pressure medications exist, not all of them affect sexual function.
“The blood pressure medication most commonly involved in ED is a class of medication called beta-blockers,” says Laura Purdy, MD, MBA, a board-certified family physician in Fort Benning, Georgia. “These medications can slow down the heart rate and prevent the body from achieving and maintaining erections.”
The good news is that if you’re experiencing ED due to beta-blockers, you can ask your doctor about other blood pressure meds that don’t impair your ability to perform in bed. “If a patient does have ED, it’s perfectly acceptable to offer them other types of blood pressure medication,” says Purdy.
Beta-blockers reduce blood flow.
It’s estimated that half of U.S. adults have high blood pressure, and nearly 92 million take some form of blood pressure medication. Beta-blockers are one of the most widely prescribed drugs among these blood pressure medications in America. According to a 2021 study published in Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, beta-blockers are associated with reduced blood flow, fatigue, low libido, and sexual dysfunction. Another study published in Vascular Health and Risk Management in 2020 noted that among 1,007 adult males who took beta-blockers for at least six months, 71 percent reported having ED.
If you’re looking for ways to address your ED on your own, Purdy advises, “Make sure that all of your medical problems are under control. For example, diabetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, and other medical conditions should be addressed and optimized regarding their management. Other medications, such as sildenafil and Viagra, can treat ED, even in men with high blood pressure.”
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Know when to see a doctor for your ED.
If ED has become an intrusive, nagging problem in your life or negatively affects your relationship with your partner, consider visiting your healthcare provider. “Intermittent, situational, or occasional ED can be considered normal and a common experience for men. But when it’s repeatedly occurring with every instance, or if there’s pain or other changes to the penis, it’s advisable to seek medical attention right away,” Purdy says.
Like most other medical conditions, adopting healthy lifestyle habits can reduce your chances of developing ED. Common modifiable risk factors for ED include smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and depression. Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet combined with regular exercise is a recipe for addressing high blood pressure and sexual dysfunction and adding years to your life.
Best Life offers the most up-to-date information from top experts, new research, and health agencies, but our content is not meant to be a substitute for professional guidance. Always consult your healthcare provider directly when it comes to the medication you’re taking or any other health questions you have.
7 Ways You’re Ruining Your Liver Without Even Realizing It — Eat This Not That
The liver is a three pound organ that performs over 500 vital jobs for us daily without a break, so taking care of the liver is essential for overall health. The liver performs important duties like discarding waste, maintaining blood sugar levels, regulating blood clotting and more. You can’t live without your liver so when it’s in trouble, so are you. Eat This, Not That! Health spoke with experts who share seven ways you’re damaging your liver that you might not realize. Read on—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don’t miss these Sure Signs You’ve Already Had COVID.
Dr. Anthony Puopolo, the Chief Medical Officer at RexMD and a board-certified physician tells us, “It comes as no surprise that excessive alcohol consumption can cause liver damage but there is another beverage that can be extremely destructive to that organ and is currently consumed in larger quantities, and that would be soft drinks.. The average American drinks an astounding 45 gallons of this sugary drink every year or just shy of 400 pounds of soda annually. Studies have shown that those who consume excessive amounts of soft drinks have a higher risk of fatty liver disease. This also puts someone at a greater risk of inflammation, fibrosis, and even cirrhosis. Therefore, if you are consuming soft drinks on a daily basis, or even worse, multiple times a day, it would be best to cut that down to limited quantities, as moderation is the best approach.”
Trista Best, MPH, RD, LD says, “A major way we impact the health of our liver is by taking unnecessary supplements. I recommend only taking those vitamins and supplements that have been deemed necessary by your healthcare provider. This is primarily due to the strain that herbal supplements and remedies can place on the liver and kidneys. Some may have negative side effects like constipation, which is why clearing your supplements with your healthcare provider is important. Supplements must be broken down in much the same way as our food. Excess will be filtered by the liver and kidneys and ultimately expelled through the urine. Large amounts of unnecessary supplements can place the liver in undue stress.”
Christine Kingsley, a US Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) and the Health and Wellness Director of Lung Institute explains, “Consuming too much of the liver-damaging drug acetaminophen a.k.a. Tylenol, in particular, is one of the fastest ways to permanently inflict liver failure on yourself. The danger here is that people often think that the lack of prescription instructions is an invitation to just take any OTC medication as much as they want when, in truth, the liver can be damaged regardless of what drugs are overconsumed. If taking medications is necessary, be sure to consult your physician and read the medicine’s package insert about the dosage and frequency at all times.”
Kingsley reminds us, “Healthy eating habits and well-balanced nutrition are pushed by medical health professionals for a reason, and it’s because the liver can only take on so much. Too much of the wrong food can easily overwork the organ, prompting it to store all the excess fat it failed to break down in its own liver cells which leads to liver inflammation and cell damage over time. Overall, having poor nutrition and unhealthy eating habits puts the liver in a never-ending position of being pushed to its limits until it’s unable to function the way it’s supposed to and is forced to damage itself. Maintain a healthy diet and regularly eat a balanced nutritional diet to not just boost your liver, but to protect it from itself.”
Kingsley shares, “Unfortunately, many people seem to normalize sleep deprivation in order to keep up with our fast-paced modern world. Along with plenty of other detrimental consequences on health, lack of sleep is particularly damaging to the liver due to its oxidative stress effects that lead to higher pressure on the liver. It creates an interference with the organ’s ability to process fat efficiently, causing fat to amass which invites obesity, diabetes, and heart disease to be developed. Not to mention, the liver is one of the most hardworking organs in the body, it relies on the reparative benefits that a full 8-hour restful sleep provides to keep itself well-functioning. When there’s a constant lack of sleep, however, your elimination process becomes disrupted and the liver ends up being damaged. Be sure to get 8 hours of sleep each night to provide your system with all the benefits it needs to fulfill its duties in keeping you alive and well.”
Kingsley emphasizes, “Practicing a sedentary lifestyle is dangerous for your health for so many reasons but it is one of the major catalysts for Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and liver damage. An inactive lifestyle increases hepatic fatty infiltration, as well as hepatic inflammation and fibrosis, which increases the risk of NAFLD. Finding a balance between sitting and being comfortable vs being active is key because a healthy amount of physical activity offers improved serum liver enzymes that mainly keep the liver healthy.”
Kingsley explains, “Alcohol drinking has been embedded in a modern social culture that the majority of the population can no longer function without it in their system. While this practice offers some positive benefits, they’re never worth the negative effects it inflicts on the body and the liver. Heavy drinking during the pandemic has led to a sharp increase in the number of people hospitalized for alcoholic liver disease nationwide. Heavy alcohol is the number of liver-damaging culprits, leaving the organ constantly inflamed which increases the risks of fatal conditions like cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver failure. It’s high time people stop relying heavily on inhibition-suppressants like alcohol: Healthy relationships with alcohol drinking must be developed by establishing a two-drink per day limit.”
Heather Newgen
Heather Newgen has two decades of experience reporting and writing about health, fitness, entertainment and travel. Heather currently freelances for several publications. Read more about Heather
Big Ten adding USC, UCLA further ruining charm we love about college football: Vannini
We need to stop calling it conference “realignment” or “expansion.” The more accurate word would be “consolidation” — at least for the people who actually control what we currently know as college sports.
It’s coming. Maybe in a few years. Maybe in a decade or two. But there’s no stopping it now. With USC and UCLA moving to the Big Ten, one year after Texas and Oklahoma accepted invitations to the SEC, the college Super League(s) is on its way. College football as we knew it is on its last legs. It will eventually be replaced by an NFL Jr.-type sport, and the TV executives who have long dreamed about this will finally get their wish for a simpler product to package. The people at the right schools will make a lot of money, and the fans at the wrong schools will be left behind.
College administrators spent a year-plus telling the public that they worried name, image and likeness would ruin the purity of college football and turn off fans. Many did so while chasing any extra dollar they could find, even when that meant ending century-old rivalries and conference affiliations. Concern about the uncertainty in college athletics? Who do you think caused all that? Look in the mirror. Don’t let it be lost that this is coming from “non-profit” organizations, either.
It was never going to be NIL and a handful of million-dollar deals for players that turned off fans. It was, rather, slowly taking away everything that gave this sport its charm and moving toward a national corporate model, changes fueled primarily by money, especially television dollars. It’s like any other business now.
ESPN and Fox will never say they had a hand in these moves, but you’d have to be oblivious not to see the role they play. In 2011, then-Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo said ESPN told the ACC what to do in realignment, before later walking it back and issuing an apology, saying it was a misunderstanding. Last year, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby alleged ESPN (his conference’s own media partner) was working to destabilize the Big 12 by nudging teams to the SEC and AAC and released a cease-and-desist. (ESPN denied the claim.)
ESPN will soon have all of the SEC’s media rights. Fox owns 61 percent of the Big Ten Network and reportedly locked up half of the Big Ten’s next media rights deal and is sitting in on the league’s conversations with other potential media rights partners. The Big Ten and SEC had already been projected to perhaps double the other Power 5 conferences in TV revenue by the end of the decade. That’s why this is all happening.
Even if ESPN and Fox don’t directly say “Add this team,” they make it clear who they’ll pay more money for and who they won’t. Those conversations happen all the time. It’s basic business.
“I think they are quietly behind the scenes,” one FBS athletic director told The Athletic. “They really don’t like to be known as deciding who is in what league, but don’t think there aren’t conversations of, ‘If we take this property, how much value are they going to bring?’ We’re not picking random schools. … They just don’t want the optics of them deciding, but the money is coming from them. They have to tell the league or someone (the TV value of schools).”
It’s why we lost the Backyard Brawl between Pitt and West Virginia. It’s why we lost the Border War between Kansas and Missouri. It’s why we lost Nebraska-Oklahoma. It’s why we lost Duke-Maryland. It’s why we’ll lose so many more rivalries. (And, yes, now it’s why we’ll get Texas-Texas A&M back.)
We’re going to get Big Ten games from noon ET Saturday until Sunday morning. ESPN will have the SEC in everything but the 10 p.m. kickoff window. Even without the money, the other conferences are going to be squeezed out of the main TV windows on the biggest channels.
It may feel like we’re heading toward an ESPN conference and a Fox conference, though Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren has been a proponent of having multiple media partners. Competition is needed to drive up the price, after all. Maybe it’s CBS, NBC, ESPN and/or Apple. But Fox still wields the power. Ultimately, it’s two television organizations going all-in on the most valuable thing left on TV — live football — and leaving all kinds of change in the wake.
That’s all in the short term, but let’s step back for a broader look. What are the long-term effects? Some generations grew up with the Southwest Conference. My generation grew up with Big East football. Neither exists anymore. Change in college football has been constant. So it’s not hard now to imagine younger generations growing up with just two major conferences.
This move is not only about this generation of fans, even though the immediate television money will be enormous. It’s also about the next generation. How do you explain this move to Washington State fans? Or Oregon State fans? Or Iowa State fans? Or Kansas State fans? You can’t. You hope they still watch and wait for the next generation to grow up.
When college football reaches the inevitable end of this road with 30 to 40 teams left at the highest level, the powers that be won’t want you to hand down your Washington State fandom to your children. They’ll want your kids to latch on to USC or Texas or Alabama, much like the Golden State Warriors or the Kansas City Chiefs have fans all over the world. It’s about brands now, because brands can be sold to anyone.
That’s the ultimate endgame of realignment, and why it’s not actually realignment. After it gets big, it’ll shrink. Whether the superconferences kick out members or the biggest brands go off on their own, they’ll eventually drop the dead weight that hurts the TV value, even if they’re in the Big Ten or SEC today. It may not even be a decision made by anyone currently in a position of power, but when you’ve started down the road of corporate reorganization, you always reach that stage, and the real charm of the sport will be gone. It’s already happened in baseball with the shrinking of the minor leagues.
What is college football at that point? If the SEC and Big Ten have their own playoff(s), will Texas Tech or Oregon State fans care? Will NFL fans watch more college football if it’s organized into a cleaner and more accessible version of the NBA G-League?
I don’t know. It’s not hard to see swaths of hardcore fans bailing if their team is left out of the top tier. Maybe not all at once, but slowly over time. Or maybe there’s enough casual college football fandom for an NFL Jr. to survive and thrive. That’s the bet being made now through TV.
In the end, the SEC and the Big Ten have the largest quantities of passionate fans. That’s what this comes down to. No amount of commissioner maneuvering could change that. Eventually, the schools with their own large fan bases outside those leagues were going to join the others.
Maybe there was no way to stop this. Maybe the biggest schools were always going to be pulled together in the end and a century-plus of regional college football was always going to die and be replaced by a national sport. It’s become a television product first and foremost. That’s become evident for more than 20 years now, from late kickoffs to last-minute start time announcements to endless TV timeouts. It runs the sport.
The question now is if fans will still care, if this big-money play will keep enough of them around.
I grew up in Big Ten country. I rooted for Michigan as a kid and then attended Michigan State. As far as I can tell from my Big Ten circles and what I’ve seen elsewhere, after the initial shock, the general reaction among those fans to the USC/UCLA news was mostly apathy. Sure, some are excited. Some hate it, too. Most felt powerless to do anything about it, a grim acceptance that the sport they grew up with is changing no matter how they feel. And these are fans of the winners in this game of musical chairs.
This sport had always been unique. It’s why we fell in love with it. The huge pool of teams to follow. The regional flair. The small towns. The states that don’t have professional sports teams. The intensity of the rivalries. The generational upsets. The connections to a school as alumni. The messiness and nonsense was the charm of it all. The biggest stadiums in this country host college games, not professional. Few NFL fans care about the league’s history before the Super Bowl. College football fans can tell you a story about a game from 1917.
It’s clear now that a lot of the charm that draw us to college football is on its way out. All in the name of finding every last dollar. So pour one out for the 2007 season. For Boise State-Oklahoma. For split national titles. For Appalachian State-Michigan. For the Rose Bowl.
I’ll still be watching. So will millions of others. The sport isn’t going to die. It just won’t be what so many of us fell in love with in the first place, and a lot of fans will be left behind.
(Photo: Richard Mackson / USA Today)
Astronomers Rally to Stop Satellite Megaconstellations From Ruining the Sky
A new center established by the International Astronomical Union is seeking to protect the interests of astronomers as the number of satellites in Earth orbit continues to climb.
The Center for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference, announced February 2, will be hosted by the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab) and the Square Kilometre Array Organization (SKAO). NOIRLab will concern itself with optical astronomy, while SKAO will look into issues related to radio astronomy.
“The new Centre is an important step towards ensuring that technological advances do not inadvertently impede our study and enjoyment of the sky,” Debra Elmegreen, the president of IAU, said in a statement. “I am confident that the Centre co-hosts can facilitate global coordination and bring together the necessary expertise from many sectors for this vital effort.”
The Centre will encourage satellite providers to minimize light pollution and other forms of astronomical interference, encourage governments and state officials to better regulate this blooming industry, and support the global community of astronomers who are now having to deal with problems caused by satellite interference.
Jessica West, a senior researcher on space security at Project Ploughshares, a Canadian peace and security research institute, said we’re reaching the point where our ability to observe space is being significantly harmed.
“This is a big problem,” she wrote to me in an email. “Astronomy is key to our exploration and use of space, deep space navigation, planetary defence from asteroids, and our knowledge of the Earth, Solar System, and Universe. And watching the night sky is core to who we are as humans. Losing that is a loss for every single person around the world.”
The cost of launching rockets and building satellites has never been lower. This is resulting in a mad rush to claim prime real estate in Earth orbit, as it now represents a viable place to do business. The private sector’s use of large fleets of interconnected satellites to provide broadband internet to paying customers is currently the most dominant example. Elon Musk has taken an early lead in this race for space, as SpaceX has now launched more than 2,000 Starlink satellites, with plans to launch at least 2,400 more. London-based OneWeb has launched hundreds of similar satellites, while Jeff Bezos’s Project Kuiper and the European Union intend to do the same.
The problem with so many satellites up there is that they’re messing with optical and radio observations. Long exposures at optical wavelengths are particularly affected; research from last month found a dramatic increase in the number of images taken during the twilight hours that contained streaks caused by Starlink satellites. That’s a problem for astronomy, but also for our security; views of the horizon at dusk and dawn are critical for detecting threatening near-Earth objects. At the same time, radio interference produced by satellite data downlinks could make it difficult to study the cosmic microwave background, for example.
Hence this coordinated response from astronomers. The IAU is positioning the new Center as the “the leading voice for astronomical matters that relate to the protection of the dark and quiet sky from satellite constellations and to act as a hub of information and resources to which any stakeholder group will be able to contribute and from which they can draw in support of their own activities.”
Accordingly, the group will call upon astronomers, satellite operators, government regulators, and the wider community to get involved. Satellite companies will be asked to provide more information about their space-based assets, such as coordinates and predicted movements. The group will also help astronomers to deal with associated problems, like providing software to remove visual artifacts from telescope images. The Centre will also encourage an open forum to discuss voluntary measures, such as reducing the reflectivity of satellites and for satellite companies to use higher, less obtrusive orbits.
West agrees that solutions exist.
“It’s a not a question of satellites versus astronomy, but rather how to mediate the different needs and interests and values that coalesce in outer space, including those that are less powerful,” she explained. “This requires open dialogue and coordinated and collective action. The international astronomy community is showing us how to do this. And the world is listening. This is a critical moment for space governance.”
This is a good and necessary starting point. Astronomers and regulators are currently behind in this struggle for space, if that’s a fair way to describe it, with satellite operators, for the most part, currently setting the rules. And by rules, I mean no rules—hence the problem. The IAU’s new Center has very good intentions. Let’s hope the relevant stakeholders are listening and willing to respond.
More: Elon Musk’s Starlink Is Causing More Streaks to Appear in Space Images.
After ruining Android messaging, Google says iMessage is too powerful
Google took to Twitter this weekend to complain that iMessage is just too darn influential with today’s kids. The company was responding to a Wall Street Journal report detailing the lock-in and social pressure Apple’s walled garden is creating among US teens. iMessage brands texts from iPhone users with a blue background and gives them additional features, while texts from Android phones are branded green and only have the base SMS feature set. According to the article, “Teens and college students said they dread the ostracism that comes with a green text. The social pressure is palpable, with some reporting being ostracized or singled out after switching away from iPhones.” Google apparently feels this is a problem.
“iMessage should not benefit from bullying,” the official Android Twitter account wrote. “Texting should bring us together, and the solution exists. Let’s fix this as one industry.” Google SVP Hiroshi Lockheimer chimed in too, saying “Apple’s iMessage lock-in is a documented strategy. Using peer pressure and bullying as a way to sell products is disingenuous for a company that has humanity and equity as a core part of its marketing. The standards exist today to fix this.”
The “solution” Google is pushing here is RCS, or Rich Communication Services, a GSMA standard from 2008 that has slowly gained traction as an upgrade to SMS. RCS adds typing indicators, user presence, and better image sharing to carrier messaging. It is a 14-year-old carrier standard though, so it lacks many things you would want from a modern messaging service, like end-to-end encryption and support for nonphone devices. Google tries to band-aid over the aging standard with its “Google Messaging” client, but the result is a lot of clunky solutions which aren’t as good as a modern messaging service.
Since RCS replaces SMS, Google has been on a campaign to get the industry to make the upgrade. After years of protesting, the US carriers are all onboard, and there is some uptake among the international carriers, too. The biggest holdout is Apple, which only supports SMS though iMessage.
Enlarge / Apple’s green-versus-blue bubble explainer from its website.
Apple
Apple hasn’t ever publicly shot down the idea of adding RCS to iMessage, but thanks to documents revealed in the Epic v. Apple case, we know the company views iMessage lock-in as a valuable weapon. Bringing RCS to iMessage and making communication easier with Android users would only help to weaken Apple’s walled garden, and the company has said it doesn’t want that.
In the US, iPhones are more popular with young adults than ever. As the Wall Street Journal notes, “Among U.S. consumers, 40% use iPhones, but among those aged 18 to 24, more than 70% are iPhone users.” It credits Apple’s lock-in with apps like iMessage for this success.
Reaping what you sow
Google clearly views iMessage’s popularity as a problem, and the company is hoping this public-shaming campaign will get Apple to change its mind on RCS. Having Google give other companies advice on a messaging strategy is a laughable idea though, since Google probably has the least credibility of any tech company when it comes to messaging services. If the company really wants to do something about iMessage, it should try competing with it.
As we recently detailed in a 25,000-word article, Google’s messaging history is one of constant product startups and shutdowns. Thanks to a lack of product focus or any kind of top-down mandate from Google’s CEO, no division is really “in charge” of messaging. As a consequence, the company has released 13 halfhearted messaging products since iMessage launched in 2011. If Google has anyone to blame for the iMessage’s dominance, it should start with itself, since it has continually sabotaged and abandoned its own plans to make an iMessage competitor.
Messaging is important, and even if it isn’t directly monetizable, a dominant messaging app has real, tangible benefits for an ecosystem. The rest of the industry understood this years ago. Facebook paid $22 billion to buy WhatsApp in 2014 and took the app from 450 million users to 2 billion users. Along with Facebook Messenger, Facebook has two dominant messaging platforms today, especially internationally. Salesforce paid $27 billion for Slack in 2020, and Tencent’s WeChat, a Chinese messaging app, is pulling in 1.2 billion users and yearly revenues of $5.5 billion. Snapchat is up to a $67 billion market cap, and Telegram is getting $40 billion valuations from investors. Google keeps trying ideas in this market, but it never makes an investment that is anywhere close to the competition.
Cheaters are already ruining Halo Infinite multiplayer games
Halo Infinite is currently suffering from an influx of hackers and cheaters. Halo Infinite players have been reporting multiple instances of cheaters over the Thanksgiving weekend, with recordings showing people clearly using aimbots and wallhacks to cheat. It’s the latest game to be hit by an increase in cheating across the world’s biggest PC games.
Reddit and Twitter users have been posting clips of cheaters, where you can clearly see them snapping to players and getting killing sprees, or tracing rival players through walls. Most of these cheaters are clearly using third-party software on PC, and it has led many players to call for an option to disable crossplay.
Halo Infinite currently mixes players across PC and Xbox in quick-play modes and even most ranked modes unless PC players are playing solo or in a pair. While disabling crossplay could fix most cheaters for console players, cheats also exist on the console side through third-party controllers like Cronus. These modified controllers allow players to reduce recoil, increase the effects of aim assist, and generally outplay opponents.
Unlike many other PC games, Halo Infinite doesn’t use an anti-cheat solution like Easy Anti-Cheat, BattlEye, or even a custom client-side detection system. Instead, 343 Industries has opted for a server-side behavior-based system that’s supposed to detect cheaters and boot them out of the game.
This behavior-based system clearly isn’t working well yet, and cheat providers are advertising tools that include aimbots, wallhacks, infinite ammo, infinite abilities, infinite grenades, rapid fire mods, speed hacks, and even the ability to jump up to five times higher.
Halo Infinite players are understandably frustrated. As Halo Infinite is free to play, it’s likely easy for cheaters to create another Microsoft Account and keep evading bans. A lack of client-side anti-cheat could be a big problem unless 343 Industries gets on top of these hacks and can detect them properly.
Halo Infinite has had a popular debut on PC, with an all-time peak of more than 250,000 players on its first day of release earlier this month. The game has been averaging around 150,000 daily peaks since its release, too.
Cheaters have also been targeting games like CS:GO, Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone, Destiny 2, PUBG, and many other popular multiplayer titles. While the cheating problems have certainly improved in games like Call of Duty: Warzone and Destiny 2, thanks to new anti-cheat systems, Halo Infinite seems to be the latest target for cheaters who just want to ruin the fun for everyone else.