Brazilian butt lifts may be a popular cosmetic surgery trend, but Jason Kelce has confessed he doesn’t love the look.
The retired NFL player, 36, weighed in with his opinion on BBLs while chatting to brother Travis, 34 ,during the Wednesday October 16 episode of their “New Heights” podcast.
“I’m not gonna lie, I’m not a fan of the BBLs. It looks OK for like a couple of years maybe, but then that thing that starts saggin’ and it looks like you got a diaper on the backside of you. It’s not a good look,” Jason said.
Related: See Baby Pics of Travis Kelce, ‘Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?‘ Costars
Travis Kelce and his celebrity classmates from Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? were always ready for their close-up, judging by their adorable childhood photos. In photos exclusive to Us Weekly, Kelce and some of the star-studded guest stars on Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? including Nikki Glaser, Garcelle Beauvais, Lala Kent, Natasha Leggero […]
Instead, Jason suggested people who wanted the look to try to obtain the results in a way that doesn’t require going under the knife.
“Just do some glute bridges!” he suggested. “You can build the wagon naturally, you don’t need the synthetics. Just doesn’t have the right shape. It just looks bad. When the hamstrings don’t match your a–, it doesn’t look good…You can’t just add to the a–, and then you got weak-a– hammies.”
The topic arose on their podcast after they discussed Travis learning what a BBL was during his new gig as host of Amazon Prime Video’s Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?
Travis Kelce(Photo by JC Olivera/Getty Images)
In the Wednesday, October 16 premiere of the streaming platform’s game show, a contestant told Travis she wanted to get a BBL. A confused Travis needed an explanation of what a BBL entailed — and soon found out it was a surgery that redistributes fat from a person’s midsection to their butt in order to create a fuller shape on their backside.
While Travis already has a successful sports career as the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, the athlete has garnered praise for his newfound skills as a gameshow host.
Related: Why Kylie Kelce Says Jason Kelce Has a ‘Chicken Ass’
Courtesy of Kylie Kelce/Instagram Jason Kelce knows exactly what his wife, Kylie Kelce, thinks about his backside. During the Wednesday, May 1, episode of Jason and brother Travis Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast, the 36-year-old Eagles alum shared an in-depth analysis of how butt size affects football performance. “I do think that you want more shapely […]
Speaking to Us Weekly for the new issue, guest stars Natasha Leggero and Ron Funches complimented Travis’ hosting abilities.
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“He brings his traditional golden retriever energy of a man who’s super attractive yet down to earth,” Funches, 41, said of Travis ahead of the premiere. “He is a pretty amazing gentlemen.”
Leggero, 50, agreed with the assessment, adding, “He really blew us away.”
The Are You Smarter Than game show series became popular with the 2007 premiere of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Fast forward to 2024 and celebrities are now getting involved as contestants will compete against a panel of stars to see who has the most knowledge.
What does image generative AI really tell us about our world?
Photo by Math on Unsplash
I recently had the opportunity to provide analysis on an interesting project, and I had more to say than could be included in that single piece, so today I’m going to discuss some more of my thoughts about it.
The approach the researchers took with this project involved providing a series of prompts to different generative AI image generation tools: Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, YandexART, and ERNIE-ViLG (by Baidu). The prompts were particularly framed around different generations — Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z, and requested images of these groups in different contexts, such as “with family”, “on vacation”, or “at work”.
While the results were very interesting, and perhaps revealed some insights about visual representation, I think we should also take note of what this cannot tell us, or what the limitations are. I’m going to divide up my discussion into the aesthetics (what the pictures look like) and representation (what is actually shown in the images), with a few side tracks into how these images come to exist in the first place, because that’s really important to both topics.
Before I start, though, a quick overview of these image generator models. They’re created by taking giant datasets of images (photographs, artwork, etc) paired with short text descriptions, and the goal is to get the model to learn the relationships between words and the appearance of the images, such that when given a word the model can create an image that matches, more or less. There’s a lot more detail under the hood, and the models (like other generative AI) have a built in degree of randomness that allows for variations and surprises.
When you use one of these hosted models, you give a text prompt and an image is returned. However, it’s important to note that your prompt is not the ONLY thing the model gets. There are also built in instructions, which I call pre-prompting instructions sometimes, and these can have an effect on what the output is. Examples might be telling the model to refuse to create certain kinds of offensive images, or to reject prompts using offensive language.
An important framing point here is that the training data, those big sets of images that are paired with text blurbs, is what the model is trying to replicate. So, we should ask more questions about the training data, and where it comes from. To train models like these, the volume of image data required is extraordinary. Midjourney was trained on https://laion.ai/, whose larger dataset has 5 billion image-text pairs across multiple languages, and we can assume the other models had similar volumes of content. This means that engineers can’t be TOO picky about which images are used for training, because they basically need everything they can get their hands on.
Ok, so where do we get images? How are they generated? Well, we create our own and post them on social media by the bucketload, so that’s necessarily going to be a chunk of it. (It’s also easy to get a hold of, from these platforms.) Media and advertising also create tons of images, from movies to commercials to magazines and beyond. Many other images are never going to be accessible to these models, like your grandma’s photo album that no one has digitized, but the ones that are available to train are largely from these two buckets: independent/individual creators and media/ads.
So, what do you actually get when you use one of these models?
One thing you’ll notice if you try out these different image generators is the stylistic distinctions between them, and the internal consistency of styles. I think this is really fascinating, because they feel like they almost have personalities! Midjourney is dark and moody, with shadowy elements, while Stable Diffusion is bright and hyper-saturated, with very high contrast. ERNIE-ViLG seems to lean towards a cartoonish style, also with very high contrast and textures appearing rubbery or highly filtered. YandexART has washed out coloring, with often featureless or very blurred backgrounds and the appearance of spotlighting (it reminds me of a family photo taken at a department store in some cases). A number of different elements may be responsible for each model’s trademark style.
As I’ve mentioned, pre-prompting instructions are applied in addition to whatever input the user gives. These may indicate specific aesthetic components that the outputs should always have, such as stylistic choices like the color tones, brightness, and contrast, or they may instruct the model not to follow objectionable instructions, among other things. This forms a way for the model provider to implement some limits and guardrails on the tool, preventing abuse, but can also create aesthetic continuity.
The process of fine tuning with reinforcement learning may also affect style, where human observers are making judgments about the outputs that are provided back to the model for learning. The human observers will have been trained and given instructions about what kinds of features of the output images to approve of/accept and which kinds should be rejected or down-scored, and this may involve giving higher ratings to certain kinds of visuals.
The type of training data also has an impact. We know some of the massive datasets that are employed for training the models, but there is probably more we don’t know, so we have to infer from what the models produce. If the model is producing high-contrast, brightly colored images, there’s a good chance the training data included a lot of images with those characteristics.
As we analyze the outputs of the different models, however, it’s important to keep in mind that these styles are probably a combination of pre-prompting instructions, the training data, and the human fine tuning.
Beyond the visual appeal/style of the images, what’s actually in them?
Limitations
What the models will have the capability to do is going to be limited by the reality of how they’re trained. These models are trained on images from the past — some the very recent past, but some much further back. For example, consider: as we move forward in time, younger generations will have images of their entire lives online, but for older groups, images from their youth or young adulthood are not available digitally in large quantities (or high quality) for training data, so we may never see them presented by these models as young people. It’s very visible in this project: For Gen Z and Millennials, in this data we see that the models struggle to “age” the subjects in the output appropriately to the actual age ranges of the generation today. Both groups seem to look more or less the same age in most cases, with Gen Z sometimes shown (in prompts related to schooling, for example) as actual children. In contrast, Boomers and Gen X are shown primarily in middle age or old age, because the training data that exists is unlikely to have scanned copies of photographs from their younger years, from the 1960s-1990s. This makes perfect sense if you think in the context of the training data.
[A]s we move forward in time, younger generations will have images of their entire lives online, but for older groups, images from their youth or young adulthood are not available digitally for training data, so we may never see them presented by these models as young people.
Identity
With this in mind, I’d argue that what we can get from these images, if we investigate them, is some impression of A. how different age groups present themselves in imagery, particularly selfies for the younger sets, and B. how media representation looks for these groups. (It’s hard to break these apart sometimes, because media and youth culture are so dialectical.)
The training data didn’t come out of nowhere — human beings chose to create, share, label, and curate the images, so those people’s choices are coloring everything about them. The models are getting the image of these generations that someone has chosen to portray, and in all cases these portrayals have a reason and intention behind it.
A teen or twentysomething taking a selfie and posting it online (so that it is accessible to become training data for these models) probably took ten, or twenty, or fifty before choosing which one to post to Instagram. At the same time, a professional photographer choosing a model to shoot for an ad campaign has many considerations in play, including the product, the audience, the brand identity, and more. Because professional advertising isn’t free of racism, sexism, ageism, or any of the other -isms, these images won’t be either, and as a result, the image output of these models comes with that same baggage. Looking at the images, you can see many more phenotypes resembling people of color among Millennial and Gen Z for certain models (Midjourney and Yandex in particular), but hardly any of those phenotypes among Gen X and Boomers in the same models. This may be at least partly because advertisers targeting certain groups choose representation of race and ethnicity (as well as age) among models that they believe will appeal to them and be relatable, and they’re presupposing that Boomers and Gen X are more likely to purchase if the models are older and white. These are the images that get created, and then end up in the training data, so that’s what the models learn to produce.
The point I want to make is that these are not free of influence from culture and society — whether that influence is good or bad. The training data came from human creations, so the model is bringing along all the social baggage that those humans had.
The point I want to make is that these are not free of influence from culture and society — whether that influence is good or bad. The training data came from human creations, so the model is bringing along all the social baggage that those humans had.
Because of this reality, I think that asking whether we can learn about generations from the images that models produce is kind of the wrong question, or at least a misguided premise. We might incidentally learn something about the people whose creations are in the training set, which may include selfies, but we’re much more likely to learn about the broader society, in the form of people taking pictures of others as well as themselves, the media, and commercialism. Some (or even a lot) of what we’re getting, especially for the older groups who don’t contribute as much self-generated visual media online, is at best perceptions of that group from advertising and media, which we know has inherent flaws.
Is there anything to be gained about generational understanding from these images? Perhaps. I’d say that this project can potentially help us see how generational identities are being filtered through media, although I wonder if it is the most convenient or easy way to do that analysis. After all, we could go to the source — although the aggregation that these models conduct may be academically interesting. It also may be more useful for younger generations, because more of the training data is self-produced, but even then I still think we should remember that we imbue our own biases and agendas into the images we put out into the world about ourselves.
As an aside, there is a knee-jerk impulse among some commentators to demand some sort of whitewashing of the things that models like this create— that’s how we get models that will create images of Nazi soldiers of various racial and ethnic appearances. As I’ve written before, this is largely a way to avoid dealing with the realities about our society that models feed back to us. We don’t like the way the mirror looks, so we paint over the glass instead of considering our own face.
Of course, that’s not completely true either — all of our norms and culture are not going to be represented in the model’s output, only that which we commit to images and feed in to the training data. We’re seeing some slice of our society, but not the whole thing in a truly warts-and-all fashion. So, we must set our expectations realistically based on what these models are and how they are created. We are not getting a pristine picture of our lives in these models, because the photos we take (and the ones we don’t take, or don’t share), and the images media creates and disseminates, are not free of bias or objective. It’s the same reason we shouldn’t judge ourselves and our lives against the images our friends post on Instagram — that’s not a complete and accurate picture of their life either. Unless we implement a massive campaign of photography and image labeling that pursues accuracy and equal representation, for use in training data, we are not going to be able to change the way this system works.
Getting to spend time with these ideas has been really interesting for me, and I hope the analysis is helpful for those of you who use these kinds of models regularly. There are lots of issues with using generative AI image generating models, from the environmental to the economic, but I think understanding what they are (and aren’t) and what they really do is critical if you choose to use the models in your day to day.
For our last full controller review on TouchArcade, I’ve been using the Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition for PC and PlayStation across my Steam Deck, PS5, and PS4 Pro for over a month now. Before I interviewed PDP Victrix about the controller and arcade sticks, I was very curious about the controller for its modular nature and also because I’ve wanted to try out another “Pro” controller after adoring the Xbox Elite (1st generation) and DualSense Edge over the years.
Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition Controller – what’s in the box
Usually, controllers just ship with a cable and sometimes a charging stand. In the case of the Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition, you get the controller, a braided cable, a high quality protective case to house the controller and everything else it ships with, a replacement fightpad module with a six button layout for fighting games, two gates, two replacement analog stick caps, two d-pad caps, a screwdriver for use with the controller, and a blue wireless USB dongle.
The items are all neatly placed within the case which is very good quality on its own. Unlike the normal Victrix Pro BFG controller, some of the items with this one are themed to match the new Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition aesthetic. Keep this in mind as I don’t see replacements available officially for this, but I hope they start selling them soon.
Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition Controller compatibility
On paper, the Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition Controller supports PS5, PS4, and PC. I don’t use Windows anymore, so I was curious if this would work on Steam Deck out of the box. Since I prefer the PlayStation button prompts in games, I set it to PS5 and plugged in the dongle into my Steam Deck Docking Station. It worked without issue and without needing any update.
On the console side, if you want to play wirelessly, you need the same dongle and to set the toggle to PS4 or PS5. I had no issues playing with it on my PS4 Pro in PS4 mode and on my PS5 in PS5 mode. In fact, since I don’t have any PS4 controller that works outside of arcade sticks with PS4 support, this is a very good bonus to have for when I want to test something on PS4 to compare with PS5.
Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition Controller features
The big draw of the Victrix Pro BFG controller is the modular nature letting you work with a symmetric stick layout, asymmetric stick layout, change things up for fighting games with the fightpad, adjust the triggers, thumbsticks, and also the d-pads. The aim with this design was to allow you to adjust the controller depending on the game you’re playing. As an example, I’d use the symmetric stick layout when playing Katamari Damacy Reroll, but I might swap to the Xbox-style asymmetric layout while playing DOOM Eternal.
Being able to adjust the trigger stop is also great as I can change that when playing a racing game with analog trigger support and also go for the shortest stop when playing a game with digital trigger support. Beyond that, the multiple d-pad options are very nice, but I’ve been trying to stick to the default diamond shape one to get used to it, and I like it a lot. I wouldn’t use it for platformers though, but the other d-pad options work well here.
Since this is an official PS5 and PS4 licensed controller, it is worth noting that this has no rumble, no haptic feedback, no adaptive trigger support, and no gyro/motion control support. I don’t care about gyro much, but no rumble at all is disappointing since you have sub $30 controllers now offering decent rumble, though they aren’t PS5 compatible. I’ve been informed that third party wireless controllers for PS5 might have restrictions for rumble as well, and I’ve seen more reports from folks using other third party controllers here. Either way, this is disappointing.
The Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition ships with 4 paddles or well paddle-like buttons. I wish there were proper paddles you could remove though. I mapped two of them to L3 and R3 and the ones above to L1 and R1 since I use those the most in games like Monster Hunter World and also hate pressing the sticks. Having four buttons here is very good though.
Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition Controller look and feel
Visually, I love the gorgeous and bright highlights and colors used on the Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition. It isn’t as elegant as the default black model with purple highlights, but for a themed controller it looks very good with its light blue, pink, purple, and Tekken 8 branding.
The Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition feels very comfortable, but it is a bit too light for my liking. The material on the main controller body ranges from feeling premium to just fine. It is a far cry from the premium feeling DualSense Edge, but that controller has that ugly glossy front plate that ruins things. The grip on this controller makes a big difference, and I’ve had 8 hour sessions with the controller wired without getting tired of holding it. It being light pays off here.
Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition Controller on PS5
On PS5, there are a few things to keep in mind. This is an officially licensed controller, but you can’t turn on your PS5 with it. This seems like a limitation for 3rd party controllers on PS5, but is an annoyance to keep in mind. Beyond that, haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, and gyro are not available here. Aside from that, it has touchpad support and all the buttons I use on a DualSense controller including the share button.
Victrix Pro BFG on Steam Deck
Like I mentioned above, the Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition works out of the box on Steam Deck with the dongle plugged into the official Docking Station I use. It even correctly is recognized as a PS5 Victrix controller with the share button working for capturing screenshots and the touchpad working as it should in PC games that have PlayStation controller support. This was great to see as some games don’t even recognize my DualSense correctly.
Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition Controller battery life
The huge advantage the Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition Controller or the normal one has over the DualSense and DualSense Edge is the battery life. It lasts multiple times longer than the DualSense and the DualSense Edge on a single charge. It also helps that the logo on the touchpad indicates when the battery is low. This is good for playing on Steam Deck as other controllers don’t really visually indicate when the battery is low.
Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition Controller software
The software is something I couldn’t test as it is only available on the Microsoft Store and I don’t use Windows anymore. Thankfully, it works out of the box with Steam Deck, PS5, and PS4. The one thing I was hoping to see is if the controller would work on iOS. I tested wirelessly with the dongle on my iPad, wired on my iPhone 15 Pro, and also wired on my iPad Pro with no luck.
Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition Controller negatives
Right now, it has a few big negatives. These include no rumble, the low polling rate, not shipping with the Hall Effect sensors, and it requires a dongle for wireless, at least for the model I have. The lack of rumble might not be an issue for some, but for a “Pro” controller, the polling rate is disappointing. There are multiple videos on YouTube showcasing this and why it is a problem as well. Comparatively, the DualSense Edge wired is massively better with its response.
As for the Hall Effect sensors, I’m glad Victrix now sells the new modules, but why do new purchases of the controller not just ship with those in the first place? Also if I were to buy either of the module color options available for my Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition Controller, it wouldn’t fit with the aesthetic and will not have PS5 face buttons.
Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition Controller Review
Having gotten well over a hundred hours of use out of the controller per platform across games like UFO 50, Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Persona 3 Reload, and many more, I can safely say that I love using the controller, but the few issues are annoying to see given its price point. In a lot of ways, the Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition has the potential to be one of the best controllers in years if it sees some fixes and changes for a potential successor. Right now, there are a few too many caveats involved for its high asking price that make sure it is very good, but not amazing. The big issues holding it back right now are the lack of rumble (which seems like a restriction from Sony), dongle requirement, additional cost involved for Hall Effect sticks, and the polling rate. These might not matter to some folks, but for a “Pro” controller priced at $200, I expected a bit more.
Victrix Pro BFG Tekken 8 Rage Art Edition Review Score: 4/5
Update: Added more information for the lack of a rumble feature.
Instead of simply pushing the data for 3rd party cookie depreciation again, Google announced that they will no longer phase out third-party cookies in Chrome. While this may seem like a big sigh of relief for advertisers and publishers, it’s important to note that even though they are abandoning this move, Google is proposing a different approach that will also impact your ability to target users and track conversions. Similar to the move Apple made a few years ago, Google’s alternative plan is to give Chrome users a new, informed choice when it comes to their privacy settings.
Chrome users will get new privacy control options. “Users can set their privacy preferences to apply across their web browsing activities”. Although the full impact of this change is unknown, there is an assumption that as users are presented with more control options around their privacy settings, that more will opt-out of cookie tracking, and it will be harder to track and reach these audiences. Google continues to test Privacy Sandbox APIs, and in the long term, many still expect 3rd party cookies to phase out and be replaced by different technology.
GCommerce recommends clients continue to focus on ways it can prepare for a more privacy centric web experience. As users opt-out of tracking and our ability to retarget and track all conversions continues to grow, it’s important to focus on growth strategies around 1st party data and truly understand where your audience is spending their time online to understand the best channels to buy media and gain awareness to potential guests.
Here are a few things to consider for your hotel in a more privacy centric web:
1. Focus on 1st party data collection for retargeting – although conversion tracking gets harder as users opt-out of tracking, the larger concern falls around retargeting and getting your ads in front of the right audience. Consider Facebook lead gen campaigns and on-site email capture forms.
2. Dive into your guest CRM data and develop a robust customer profile to help guide your targeting and media placement decisions.
3. Set up a Consent Management Platform on your site – also known as a cookie banner, these ensure you can control how cookies track visitors on your site as they pertain to local privacy law compliance (think GDPR for European visitors and CCPA for California). Tip: Go with a Google certified CMP like CookePro or OneTrust to easily enable Google Consent Mode. This helps platforms like Google Ads and GA4 estimate and model conversions even as visitors opt-out.
4. Use Keyword targeting intent across platforms on Google Search and beyond – continue to lean on the specific intent that keyword targeting in search provides. But did you know you can also use keyword targeting across other media types? Consider testing contextual targeting in display, and TikTok just rolled out search campaigns using keyword targeting on its platform.
5. Test new audience targeting partners that generate audiences based on 1st party data, such as Adara, Azira, Navigator, and more.
Need help creating a privacy centric hotel marketing strategy? Reach out to GCommerce Solutions today.
In a world dominated by screens, getting kids excited about reading is a challenge. PMI Kids’ World wants to change that. Its new line of miniature collectible toys, Booksy, is using the power of play to make reading engaging and exciting for kids again.
Booksy is a unique collection that merges the thrill of collecting toys with the educational benefits of reading. Each miniature figure pops open to reveal a tiny, readable book that’s the perfect size for little hands. Each Booksy offers not just imaginative play, but an opportunity for young readers to grow their literacy skills, explore new stories, and express their creativity.
Hit the books and the sewers with this crimefighting minature. | Source: PMI Kids’ World/The Toy Insider
Have a monstrous good time reading these “tails!” | Source: PMI Kids’ World/The Toy Insider
When they aren’t saving the world, the PAW Patrol curls up with a good book. | Source: PMI Kids’ World/The Toy Insider
While the digital age has put infinite knowledge into everyone’s pockets, the constant temptation of a screen allows kids to abandon other activities. Instead of reading the latest novel or doing a craft, kids are scrolling. According to researchers, only 33% of United States fourth graders in 2022 could read proficiently. Booksy is bridging the gap between engaging play and intellectual growth.
The core collection is based on PMI Kids World’s original characters: the Monster Tales. These quirky, adorable creatures are full of personality to inspire kids’ creativity. Each tiny book is illustrated and fully readable to introduce kids to the unique world of the monsters. The stories offer a screen-free and imaginative way to enjoy playing with their toys. As readers build their miniature library, they can display their collection in the Monster Tales bookcase. Get ready to stack those shelves!
No book is too big, no pup is too small! This November, familiar faces from popular kids’ television series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and PAW Patrol will join the Booksy family. This new chapter in the Booksy story features daring pups Chase and Sky of PAW Patrol, as well as the heroes in a half-shell Raphael and Michelangelo. Each miniature Booksy of the character will come with a tiny story set in their respective universes. By including characters and stories that matter to kids like these, Booksy is making literacy more approachable and compelling to young kids than it ever was before.
Booksy PAW Patrol and Booksy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will hit Walmart stores on Nov. 12, but you can add Booksy Monster Tales to your bookshelf at the link below!
BOOKSY MONSTER TAILS
Dive into the world of Booksy Monster Tails with this 1-pack dome collection. Each figure includes a legible miniature book filled with kid-related life lessons featuring over 40 pages of colorful illustrations and storytelling. These articulated, themed toys are also designed for interactive play. Collect them all to uncover each character’s captivating story, distinct personality,…
Already a Booksy reader? Show off your collection with the Monster Collector Display bookshelf available below.
BOOKSY BOOKSHELF MONSTER COLLECTOR DISPLAY
The Booksy Bookshelf Monster Collector Display Set is the perfect way to begin a child’s Booksy collection, including 1 Monster Bookshelf, 1 Exclusive Booksy Figure, and 1 Unique Book for the young reader and collector. Each Booksy figure packs a tiny fully readable book! Layered with fun and playful illustrations, these unique stories create a…
Trade in your iPad mini 6 at Best Buy to buy the iPad mini 7 – Image credit: Apple
Best Buy is throwing a massive Apple trade-in event, and its iPad mini deals deliver trade-in values higher than what Apple offers on several models.
If you have a last-gen iPad mini 6 and are eager to upgrade to the 7th Generation, it’s worth checking out Best Buy’s trade-in offer for your particular model. The sweet spot is the $350 value for the 256GB iPad mini 6 Wi-Fi, which is $120 more than Apple’s $230 trade-in incentive.
You can put the money toward a new iPad mini 7, which is available for preorder at Best Buy. The Apple Authorized Reseller also has competitive deals on MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models.
If you want to travel cheaper, better, and longer, one of the best tools in your arsenal is a solid rewards credit card.
Still, despite how often I talk about the topic, many travelers (or would-be travelers) are reluctant to get one. They think it’s a scam, don’t want to pay an annual fee, or just are generally wary of the whole thing.
If you’re in that camp, today I want to discuss a credit card that may be the perfect introduction to the world of points and miles: the Chase Freedom Unlimited®.
This card offers great value, with no annual fee and solid earning potential. It’s excellent as a standalone card with tons of potential for leveling up your game if and when you’re ready. It’s a favorite for newbies and seasoned travelers alike.
So, in this post, I’m going to break down why the Chase Freedom Unlimited deserves a spot in your wallet and how you can use it to turn everyday purchases into free travel.
What is the Chase Freedom Unlimited?
The Chase Freedom Unlimited (sometimes referred to as CFU) is a credit card issued by Chase. What I love about it is that it has a $0 annual fee and offers 1.5% cash back on all purchases. It’s great for points and miles beginners who don’t want to worry about earning at different rates across various categories.
Plus, if you do want to level up your game, you can combine it with a Chase Sapphire card to supercharge your rewards earning capabilities (more on that below).
This card earns you the following:
5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase TravelSM
5% cash back on Lyft rides (through March 2025)
3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery services
1.5% cash back on all other purchases
Current welcome offer: an extra 1.5% cash back on everything you buy on up to $20,000 spent in the first year
You can redeem this cash back against your next statement or choose to get it directly deposited into your bank account.
But you can get even more out of this card when you combine it with one of Chase’s Sapphire cards (more on this soon).
Perks and Benefits of the Chase Freedom Unlimited
In addition to these excellent earning rates, you’ll get access to a number of perks and benefits. Again, since it has a $0 annual fee, these are all just bonuses.
Access to Chase Offers, an ever-changing selection of deals for various merchants , including online shopping, gas stations, delivery services, clothing brands, and hotels, among many other sectors (you could really see anything here)
Complimentary three months of DashPass when you activate by January 31, 2025 (through which members get up to $10 off quarterly on non-restaurant DoorDash orders)
Secondary Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver
Trip cancellation/interruption insurance (up to $1,500 per person and $6,000 per trip for your prepaid, nonrefundable passenger fares, if your trip is canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather, or other covered situations)
Purchase protection (covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account)
Extended warranty protection
Combining with a Chase Sapphire Card
While this card is a great cash-back card in its own right, it’s best when paired with a more premium Chase card that earns transferable points. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (CSP) or the Chase Sapphire Reserve® are the two most popular, though you could also do this with my favorite business card, the Ink Business Preferred®. (Note that these cards do have fees.)
That’s because, when you also hold one of these cards, you can convert the cash back earned on the CFU to valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards points. (The Freedom Unlimited on its own only earns cash back.) That means you can pool points earned on either card together and have access to Chase’s great airline and hotel transfer partners.
While getting cash back is easier (and certainly enticing), I consider points to be much more valuable. That’s because you can typically get at least 2 cents per point when transferring to travel partners (sometimes much more).
So why not just have one of the Chase Sapphire Cards and no Freedom Unlimited?
While this is an excellent option (and what many people do), having two cards within the same “family” ensures that you maximize earning categories while earning the same type of points. (You don’t want to spread yourself too thin across too many different cards earning different types of points that you can’t combine.)
By holding both a Chase Sapphire card and the Chase Freedom Unlimited, you can be sure that you’re earning at least 1.5x points on all purchases, a rarity in a travel card (both Sapphires only earn 1x points on all purchases).
If you hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Chase Freedom Unlimited, for example, you’d earn:
1.5x on all purchases (CFU)
2x on all travel (CSP)
3x on drugstores (CFU)
3x on dining, including takeout and eligible delivery services (both cards)
5x on Lyft (until March 2025, both cards)
5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel (both cards)
Lastly, since the CFU does have a foreign transaction fee, you won’t want to use this card when traveling. Think of the CSP as your travel card and the CFU as your everyday card with a higher earning rate on all purchases. Using the two together is an excellent combination.
Pros of the CFU
No annual fee
Solid rewards structure, with at least 1.5% back on everything
Easy to redeem cash back as statement credit or direct deposit
Great value when paired with a Chase Sapphire card
Cons of the CFU
3% foreign transaction fee
Not a ton of travel benefits
Who is this card for?
The Chase Freedom Unlimited is ideal for those who want an easy-to-use card that gets a better-than-average earning rate on all purchases. It also leaves room to grow into the points-and-miles world when combined with a higher-level card from Chase. And, if you already have a Sapphire card, adding the CFU to your wallet allows you to continue to level up your game, maximizing your rewards on all purchases.
As with any credit card, you should not get it if you’re already carrying a balance or plan to carry one. Interest rates for travel credit cards are notoriously high, and this one is no different. The points just aren’t worth it if you’re paying interest each month.
This card is also not for anyone with poor credit, as you need good or excellent credit to qualify. (If that’s you, check out the best credit cards for bad credit so you can start improving your score today.)
Lastly, this card does count toward Chase’s 5/24 rule (you can’t open more than five cards within 24 months). If you’ve already opened five credit cards (any cards, not just Chase cards) within the past two years (or want to open more soon), you either won’t be able to get this card or might want to skip it for now.
***
Whether you’re just dipping your toes into the points-and-miles game or looking to complement your current lineup, the Chase Freedom Unlimited is a fantastic card. With no annual fee and impressive earning rates, it’s the perfect gateway to the world of points and miles if you’re just starting out.
And, if and when you want to take things up a notch, you can pair it with a premium Chase card down the road to really maximize your points. It’s a no-brainer choice that can kickstart your journey to mastering points and miles.
Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks
Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner. It’s my favorite search engine because it searches websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is being left unturned.
Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as it consistently returns the cheapest rates for guesthouses and hotels.
Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:
Want to Travel for Free? Travel credit cards allow you to earn points that can be redeemed for free flights and accommodation — all without any extra spending. Check out my guide to picking the right card and my current favorites to get started and see the latest best deals.
Need Help Finding Activities for Your Trip? Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace where you can find cool walking tours, fun excursions, skip-the-line tickets, private guides, and more.
Ready to Book Your Trip? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel. I list all the ones I use when I travel. They are the best in class and you can’t go wrong using them on your trip.
China Roundup: reusable satellites, lunar EVA suits, and expanding spaceports – NASASpaceFlight.com
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Senior Staff Writer & Call of Duty lead. Professional writer for over 10 years. Lover of all things Marvel, Destiny 2, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, and more. Previous bylines include PC Gamer, Red Bull Esports, Fanbyte, and Esports Nation.
DogDad to corgis Yogi and Mickey, sports fan (NY Yankees, NY Jets, NY Rangers, NY Knicks), Paramore fanatic, cardio enthusiast.
Data shows the Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Index has remained negative during the rally to $68,000. Here’s what this could mean for the asset.
Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Index Is Currently Showing Red Values
As explained by an analyst in a CryptoQuant Quicktake post, the BTC Coinbase Premium Index is inside the negative zone right now. The “Coinbase Premium Index” is an indicator that measures the difference between the Bitcoin prices listed on the cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase (USD pair) and Binance (USDT pair).
When the value of this metric is positive, it means the BTC price listed on Coinbase is currently higher than that on Binance. Such a trend suggests the former is observing a higher buying pressure (or a lower selling pressure) than the latter.
Related Reading
On the other hand, the negative indicator implies that Coinbase users are participating in a higher degree of selling than Binance ones, as the coin is trading at a lower rate there.
Now, here is a chart that shows the trend in the Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Index over the last few months:
The value of the metric appears to have been on the decline in recent days | Source: CryptoQuant
As displayed in the above graph, the Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Index has shown an interesting relationship with price until recently. It would appear that whenever the metric would assume positive values, the asset would rally, and whenever it would dip into the negative territory, the price would also plunge.
This pattern extends beyond the chart window, as 2024 in its entirety has generally shown the two moving with notable correlation. The trend naturally suggests that Coinbase users have been potential market drivers, as the changes in their behavior have been inducing price action.
Coinbase is the preferred platform of investors based in the US, especially large institutional entities, while Binance is the hub of global investors. As such, the index’s value tells us about how the behavior of American whales differs from the rest of the world.
While the US-based institutional investors have been key for much of 2024, the pattern appears to have diverged recently. The chart shows that as the latest rally in the Bitcoin price has occurred, the indicator’s value has been red.
This isn’t the only pattern that has been broken, as the index also tends to turn green whenever the spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) witness inflows. The spot ETFs have seen significant net inflows recently, but the metric’s value has not flipped.
“This raises the question of whether investors on Binance, whether retailers, institutions, or whales, are surpassing the buying pressure on Coinbase Pro,” notes the quant.
Related Reading
It remains to be seen if the index and the price will continue to show a divergence shortly, implying a possible shift in market structure away from being Coinbase-dominated, or if it’s just a temporary deviation.
BTC Price
Bitcoin has continued its recent bullish push during the past day, as its price has now reached $68,000.
The price of the coin appears to have been marching up recently | Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView
Featured image from Dall-E, CryptoQuant.com, chart from TradingView.com
