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Ghostbusters 3 Sequel: What you need to know plus Kevin Feige

George Cando
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Ghostbusters 3 Sequel: What you need to know plus Kevin Feige

Even after fans hated on the last attempt to revive the “Ghostbusters” franchise with an all-female cast, Ivan Reitman will be bringing back some of the original cast along with hot fresh faces to draw in all demographics. He is still a believer in going after that four-quadrant demo.

The upcoming “Ghostbusters” sequel will focus on the descendants of the original ghost-catchers who rushed around New York City in proton packs and jumpsuits.

Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd revealed details of the new film, saying it is expected out next year and will star Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon and McKenna Grace. Reitman directed the original 1984 film and Aykroyd co-wrote and co-starred in it. Reitman’s son, Jason, is directing the new movie.

“I think it’s a wonderful story because people seem to continue to be interested in 35 years after we came out with the first one. And I think we’re trying to expand it a little bit. And I think Jason’s movie does that,” Ivan Reitman said Thursday. “This is a story about a family.”

Both men were at Universal Studios Hollywood, where they were promoting a “Ghostbusters”-themed “Halloween Horror Nights” maze attraction.

The franchise was last revived in 2016 with a group of four actresses — Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones — taking over as the title characters, a gender reversal from the original.

Aykroyd, who is a producer along with Reitman on the new “Ghostbusters,” praised the 2016 film but said it was time to hand off the mantle “to a new generation.”

“Although the girls’ movie kept the concept and the ideas alive — and it was really good, they were great in it — it wasn’t like giving it to the new generation, the actual descendants of the original Ghostbusters. So we’re going to link to the DNA old and new there,” he said.

Ghostbusters 3 FAQ

When will Ghostbusters 3 be released in theaters?

“Ghostbusters 3” will be released in US cinemas on 10th July 2020. It has not yet been revealed when the film will come out in the UK. 

Who is in the cast of Ghostbusters 3?

Captain Marvel star McKenna Grace, aged 12, will lead the cast of the film – but details of her character have not yet been revealed. She is joined by “Stranger Things” actor Finn Wolfhard as her character’s brother and “The Sinner’s” Carrie Coon as her mother, and recently director Jason Reitman revealed a first-look picture of their family as filming began.

In June 2019, it was reported by Variety that “Ant-Man” star Paul Rudd would also feature as a teacher, presumably in charge of Grace and Wolfhard’s characters. Rudd’s involvement was confirmed by Ghostbusters’ official Twitter account which shared a video of the actor in front of the iconic firehouse used in the franchise.

“When I heard they were going to call me, well, as you can imagine, I nearly slimed myself,” he says. “I can’t wait to join the cast this fall for ‘Ghostbusters.’ In fact, I’m sliming myself right now.”

Producer Ivan Reitman – who helmed the first two “Ghostbusters” films, with his son Jason Reitman directing the upcoming sequel – has shared a few new snippets about Rudd’s role.

“He’s a seismologist who’s come to this small town because they’ve been having mysterious earthquakes,” Ivan explained to ET Online. “He’s also teaching summer school there and he’s extraordinarily funny.”

Which original Ghostbusters stars will be reprising their roles in Ghostbusters 3?

Sigourney Weaver will be back as Dana Barrett, and she seemed to hint she would be reuniting with Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson for the movie, telling Parade: “It’s going to be crazy working with the guys again.”

However, there’s been no official confirmation yet that the trio will be returning as Dr Peter Venkman, Dr Raymond Stantz and Winston Zeddemore. For now, both Aykroyd and Hudson are enthusiastically tweeting about the new film.

Harold Ramis, who played Dr Egon Spengler, passed away in 2014 and is unlikely to be recast.

What is Ghostbusters 3 about?

The new film will center around four teenagers – two boys and two girls – and will tell the story of a family moving “back home to a small town where they learn more about who they are”, according to Pursue News.

Ghostbusters 3 will be a direct sequel to 1989’s Ghostbusters II and will take place in a different universe to the 2016 all-female reboot.

“I think we have a story that’s going to work and it’s being written right now by really good filmmakers,” Ackroyd told AXS TV’s The Big Interview With Dan Rather back in November last year.

“I can’t say their names. They’re a good team and they are making an effort to bring back all the emotion and spirit of the first two movies and then take it into the 21st century with a vernacular that’s needed today to get it across.”

Speaking about Murray and whether he will return, he said: “The story is so good, he’ll come, even if he plays a ghost.”

Why does Ghostbusters 3 ignore the all-female Ghostbusters reboot?

The new movie isn’t a reboot it picks up the original story as more of a ‘legacy movie’ , but the move has caused debate.

Ghostbusters reboot star Leslie Jones tweeted: “So insulting. Like f*** us. We dint count. It’s like something trump would do. (Trump voice)”Gonna redo ghostbusteeeeers, better with men, will be huge. Those women ain’t ghostbusteeeeers” ugh so annoying. Such a d*** move. And I don’t give f*** I’m saying something!!”

Who is directing Ghostbusters 3?

Jason Reitman, the son of the franchise’s original director Ivan Reitman, will helm the movie.

“I’ve always thought of myself as the first Ghostbusters fan, when I was a six-year-old visiting the set,” Reitman told Entertainment Weekly. “I wanted to make a movie for all the other fans. This is the next chapter in the original franchise. It is not a reboot. What happened in the ‘80s happened in the ‘80s, and this is set in the present day.”

Reitman, who wrote and directed The Front Runner, has co-written the Ghostbusters sequel with Gil Kenan. His father Ivan will produce the new film. 

What other films have been in the Ghostbusters franchise?

The original “Ghostbusters” movie in 1984 starred Murray, Aykroyd, Hudson, and Ramis as a group of guys who set up a paranormal investigation and elimination service – Ghostbusters.

There was a sequel in 1989 and then, in 2016, there was an all-female reboot starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones and directed by Paul Feig.

An animated Ghostbusters film has been in development.

Is there a trailer out for Ghostbusters 3?

Yes, but just a teaser trailer and it looks very promising.

Kevin Feige awarded Marvel Avengers award.

Kevin Feige Gets Marvel Avenger Worthy Award

Kevin Feige was honored at the 45th annual Saturn Awards but the Marvel Studios president gave higher praise to someone other than himself.

Feige said in a video message Friday night that he was “humbled” after accepting the inaugural Stan Lee Builder award, named after the late Marvel Comics mastermind. He paid homage to Lee for kick-starting the Marvel legacy, calling him a “genius.”

“He was enthused with humanity and kindness,” said Feige, who did not attend the ceremony but spoke on a large video screen. “He put that into every creation he had, which is why they all still resonate today. It will resonate for centuries to come.”

Feige was recognized for the successful creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a film world with multiple story lines and characters that so far has spanned 23 films over 11 years. The latest phase of the franchise triumphantly concluded with the record-breaking “Avengers: Endgame” film, which took home multiple awards including best comic-to-motion picture release.

The awards show was simulcast for the first time on several platforms including its official YouTube channel, Twitch, Cinedigm’s CONtv and Pluto TV Sci-Fi Channel.

Aisha Tyler hosted the event, created in 1973 to recognize horror, sci-fi and fantasy films that typically don’t get recognized at major award shows. The awards were presented at the Avalon Hollywood venue in Los Angeles.

“Iron Man” and “Lion King” director Jon Favreau and Marvel’s head of television Jeph Loeb also received honorary awards. Favreau was handed the Saturn Visionary award for his work in modern cinema, while Loeb was given the Dan Curtis Legacy award, which highlights the accomplishments in genre television.

Favreau remembered when he first saw a Saturn Award while visiting Feige’s office years ago. He also spoke about the progression of superhero films along with sci-fi and fantasy genres.

“At the time, people weren’t really recognizing superhero films or genre films. Now, we’re a part of mainstream,” Favreau said. “Now horror, superheroes and sci-fi have become a part of what keeps the film business going. But way back when I was growing up, it was a small group in the lunch room that liked that kind of stuff. … It’s so amazing how this has blossomed.”

Loeb said his father’s colorful stories of his workday during his childhood encouraged him to become a storyteller.

“He told a story about going to the post office. But in my mind, he was Indiana Jones meets Jesse James,” he said. “He was a stockbroker for 37 years, but he made me want to be a storyteller. … They say in this business don’t meet your heroes. You’ll find out they’re just mortals. But I have and they’re in this room. They’re in my office and on my sets.”

“Halloween” star Jamie Lee Curtis received a standing ovation after winning best actress in a 2018 film. The actress isn’t a huge fan of horror films but said she was grateful that her role in the first “Halloween,” in 1978, help kick-start her career.

“I never, ever, ever thought I would be an actress,” Curtis said.

Robert Downey Jr. won best actor for his work in “Avengers: Endgame.”

George Takei, the “Star Trek” actor, called himself an “O.G. nerd” before announcing HBO’s “Westworld” as the winner for best science fiction television series.

“Supergirl” star Melissa Benoist accepted the award for the CW show, which won best superhero television series.

Box Office Actuals: ‘It: Chapter Two” reigns high for Stephen King films

George Cando
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Box Office Actuals: ‘It: Chapter Two” reigns high for Stephen King films

It came as no surprise that the killer clown “It: Chapter Two,” topped the box office weekend as it was the sole newcomer of the week. This is a success for Warner Bros. (distributor), not to mention theater owners as last weekend saw little action from a small group of movies that had been held over. Reviews weren’t as strong for the sequel as the original, but that didn’t keep audiences away. The sequel earned a 64 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes while the original received an 86.

Top 5 Stephen King Movies – from Redbox.com

1.       Shawshank Redemption

2.       The Green Mile

3.       The Shining

4.       It

5.       Stand by Me

A robust audience turned out to catch “It: Chapter Two” in movie theaters this weekend, but not quite as big as the first.

Warner Bros. says Sunday that “It: Chapter Two,” the only major new release, earned an estimated $91 million from North American ticket sales in its first weekend from 4,570 screens.

Trailing only its predecessor that debuted to a record $123.4 million in September 2017, the launch of “It: Chapter Two” is the second highest opening for a horror film ever and the month of September, which before “It” was not a strong month for blockbusters. Both were directed by Argentine filmmaker Andy Muschietti.

Like the first movie, “It Chapter Two” was adapted from the Stephen King novel and directed by Andrés Muschietti. It is set 27 years after the events of the first film, with adult actors including James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain and Bill Hader playing grown-up versions of characters from the original. They are reassembled in their hometown to address the return of the dangerous and mysterious Pennywise (Skarsgard).

Jeff Goldstein, who oversees domestic distribution for Warner Bros., called the debut “sensational” and isn’t concerned that “Chapter Two” didn’t hit the heights of the first.

“How many movies open to $91 million? That was lightning in a bottle,” Goldstein said. “You don’t get lightning in a bottle twice. You get close though.”

Based on Stephen King’s novel, “It: Chapter Two” brings the Losers Club back to Derry 27 years later to take on the demonic clown Pennywise, and stars James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain and Bill Hader as a few of the adult “losers.” The sequel cost around $79.5 million to make. Reviews were a little more mixed than for the first — 86% versus 64% on Rotten Tomatoes — but audiences were consistent. Both films got a B+ CinemaScore.

“Andy Muschietti does an incredible job of scaring the stuffing out of audiences,” Goldstein said. “I think our team, starting with New Line in making this and our marketing team in bringing it to audiences around the globe, have hit the mark right on. They nailed it.”

Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian noted that, unlike most horror films which tend drop off significantly after opening weekend, “It: Chapter Two,” like its predecessor and some of the recent high quality horror films could have “incredibly long playability.”

“It: Chapter Two” is also a big win for Warner Bros., which had a few disappointments this summer with “The Kitchen” and “Shaft,” but also have a few films that could really take off, including “Joker,” out Oct. 4, and another King adaptation, “Doctor Sleep,” out Nov. 8.

The rest of the top 10 was populated by holdovers: “Angel Has Fallen” took a distant second with $6 million and “Good Boys” placed third with $5.4 million. In limited release, the documentary “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice” performed well in its first weekend, grossing $115,500 from seven locations.

After a down summer for the industry as a whole and a year that is still running 6% down, “It: Chapter Two” is a promising start to the fall movie season, which runs from the day after Labor Day weekend through November.

“It’s really important to have a movie to get the momentum going,” Dergarabedian said.

North American Actual Box Office Totals

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “It: Chapter Two,” $91 million ($94 million international).

2. “Angel Has Fallen,” $5.9 million ($7.6 million international).

3. “Good Boys,” $5.5 million ($2.3 million international).

4. “The Lion King,” $4.3 million ($13.4 million international).

5. “Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw,” $3.8 million ($15.7 million international).

6. “Overcomer,” $3.7 million.

7. “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” $2.34 million ($2.3 million international).

8. “Ready or Not,” $2.2 million ($2.3 million international).

9. “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” $2.29 million ($701,000 international).

10. “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” $2.2 million ($13 million)

It chapter two brings in box office money 2019

Worldwide Actual Box Office Totals

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to Comscore:

1. “It: Chapter Two,” $94 million.

2. “Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw,” $15.7 million.

3. “The Lion King,” $13.4 million.

4. “Once Upon a Time In Hollywood,” $13 million.

5. “Ne Zha,” $8.1 million.

6. “Angel Has Fallen,” $7.6 million.

7. “Toy Story 4,” $4.9 million.

8. “The Angry Birds Movie 2,” $4.4 million.

9. “Free Solo,” $3.3 million.

10. “2.0,” $2.6 million.

scooby doo supernatural crossever with winchester brothers

A Little Scooby Doo Factoid For You

Ever identify with a character in a movie? Of course! Now, what about a dog? Just like humans, they have quirks, traits and personalities all their own. And now, in honor of the ultimate movie dog Scooby Doo’s 50th birthday (Scooby Doo first aired on the small screen on Sept. 13, 1969), it’s time to find out which you’re most similar to. Inspired by Redbox’s list of top five favorite movie dogs (according to a poll of avid users), we provide a list of movie pooches and their personality type — Loyal and curious? Scooby. Adventurous and heroic? Sam in I Am Legend. Rambunctious and fun? Hooch. Ask yourself: Which one is your spirit animal.

 Top 5 Movie Dogs

1.       Scooby Doo in “Scooby Doo”

2.       Hooch in “Turner and Hooch”

3.       Marley in “Marley and Me”

4.       Sam in “I Am Legend”

5.       Bolt in “Bolt”

Rafael Nadal ready for Daniil Medvedev final at U.S. Open 2019

Luka Alario
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Rafael Nadal ready for Daniil Medvedev final at U.S. Open 2019

Rafael Nadal is more than making up for any past injuries this year at the 2019 U.S. Open. He knocked out Berrettini and will take on Daniil Medvedev in the finals on Sunday.

Rafa shrugged his shoulders once, twice, three times. If his words weren’t going to make his position clear, his body language would.

The question: Would he like to end up with the record for most Grand Slam titles won by a man? The answer, essentially: Yes, of course.

And if he doesn’t?

“I would love to be the one to have more, yes, but you cannot be all day frustrated or all day thinking about what your neighbor has better than you,” the 33-year-old Spaniard said after reaching the U.S. Open final to give himself a shot at another major championship. “You have to be happy with yourself. You have to do your way. If you are the one to achieve more, fantastic. If not, at least I give my best during all my career. That’s all.”

If he can beat Daniil Medvedev on Sunday at Flushing Meadows, Nadal will collect his fourth trophy in New York. Of more historical significance is that it would move him within one title of rival Roger Federer in the Slam standings.

Right now, Federer leads the way with 20, Nadal is next with 18 and Novak Djokovic has 16.

“I am happy about my career. I am very happy about what I’m doing. I’m going to keep working hard to try to produce chances,” Nadal said. “Sunday is one. It’s just one more chance, that’s all.”

In addition to his trio of U.S. Open triumphs, he already owns 12 titles from the French Open, two from Wimbledon and one from the Australian Open.

This will be the 27th Grand Slam final of the No. 2-seeded Nadal’s career, and the first for No. 5 Medvevev, as 23-year-old from Russia.

Medvedev had never been past the fourth round at a major until now.

“We’re going to prepare this like a normal match, because that’s how Daniil is thinking. I would not talk about ‘first final’ or stuff like that, because it won’t help him,” said Medvedev’s coach, Gilles Cervara. “If he’s in position to win the tournament, maybe he can feel some nervousness. But he’s totally able to manage this and to come on the court with his mind 100% ready to play his best tennis and to win the match.”

Medvedev has been doing a lot of winning lately, playing going 20-2 during the North American hard-court swing and reaching the final at each of his past four tournaments.

That includes a runner-up finish to Nadal at the Montreal Masters in August by a 6-3, 6-0 score.

“We have to try to do good things to beat him,” said one of Nadal’s coaches, Francisco Roig, who then added with a laugh: “I’m not going to tell you which things.”

What the 6-foot-6 (1.97-meter) Medvedev has grabbed the most attention for during the past two weeks is his interactions with the crowds at Flushing Meadows. During a third-round victory over Feliciano Lopez, he drew the ire of spectators for angrily grabbing a white towel from a ballperson and later holding up his middle finger against his face. They began booing during the match, then really let him hear it at the end. Medvedev basked in the jeers, antagonizing people even more by saying their negativity helped him win.

A similar scenario played out after his next win, too. Since then, Medvedev has been apologetic about his trolling and much calmer during matches, while playing deliciously defensive tennis that he can abandon to be more aggressive when he deems necessary.

“After these matches, I was like, ’I don’t want to lose these matches because I get crazy or because I lose some concentration because of the fans, because of the referees (or) something that happens during the match,” Medvedev said. “I want to lose matches because I was a (worse) tennis player on the court than my opponent.”

He spoke about getting good preparation for facing Nadal by already having beaten three other left-handers in New York.

But taking on Nadal is an entirely different task.

Here’s the way Matteo Berrettini, the 23-year-old Italian who lost to Nadal in the semifinals, described what awaits Medvedev:

“He has a heavy forehand. Very fast backhand. His backhands gave me a lot of trouble. They arrived strong and fast. His serve is a shot that is underrated. Nobody says, ‘Nadal has a great serve.’ But it bothers you. He changes angles a lot. And he’s a lefty, so it comes with a different spin. And then, that first shot he hits after he serves hurts you.”

Those characteristics have carried Nadal to 18 Grand Slam championships so far. One more victory, and that’ll change to 19. And then, perhaps, Nadal can start to think about No. 20.

novak djokovic roger federer rafael nadal holy trinity of tennis 2019

Rafael Nadal Becomes Sole 1 Of Holy Trinity Left At 2019 U.S. Open

Rafael Nadal is as gracious and complimentary as can be whenever discussing an upcoming foe, so it came as no surprise to hear him talk up the player he’ll face in the U.S. Open semifinals Friday, 23-year-old Matteo Berrettini of Italy.

“Nice guy. Young, with very good potential,” Nadal said. “He’s in the semifinals of a Grand Slam, so he’s playing great.”

After all, Nadal explained, “You can’t expect an easy opponent. You can’t expect an easy match. I really believe that if you want to win tournaments, you need to go through tough opponents.”

In this instance, though, the No. 2-seeded Nadal will not need to go through the toughest ones of all. That’s because he is the lone member of the Big Three still standing.

Novak Djokovic, the defending champion and No. 1 seed, stopped playing while way behind in his fourth-round match, citing a painful left shoulder.

Roger Federer, the No. 3 seed and owner of 20 Grand Slam titles, finished his five-set loss to 78th-ranked Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals, but was clearly compromised by a problem in his upper back.

Win two more matches — against No. 24 Berrettini first, then against either Dimitrov or No. 5 seed Daniil Medvedev in the final — and Nadal would raise his major championships total to 19. That would allow him to move within one trophy of Federer’s record for men, and with time on his side: Nadal is 33; Federer is 38.

Nadal made it to the semifinals at all four Slams in 2019. His lone title from those tournaments came at the French Open, where he defeated Federer but did not play Djokovic. At the Australian Open in January, Nadal lost in the final to Djokovic. At Wimbledon in July, Nadal lost in the semifinals to Federer, who went on to lose a nearly five-hour final to Djokovic in a fifth-set tiebreaker.

Each of the past 11 majors has been won by one of that trio.

If anyone other than Nadal ends up holding the trophy Sunday, it would be the first time since Marin Cilic at the 2014 U.S. Open that there is a first-time Slam champion.

One of these really is not like the others.

Neither Berrettini, seeded 24th, nor Medvedev had ever even reached a major quarterfinal until this week. Dimitrov, the lowest-ranked semifinalist at Flushing Meadows since a 39-year-old Jimmy Connors was outside the top 150 in 1991, is 0-2 in past trips to the semifinals at Grand Slam tournaments.

Dimitrov’s resurgence is quite sudden: He used to be ranked No. 3 but has struggled with injuries and inconsistency.

“The past six, seven months have been pretty rough for me. But I had somebody to lean on — my friends, my family. I kept on believing again in the work, the rehab I had to put behind my shoulder, the exercise, the practice, fixing up the racket a little bit. There were so many things I had to adjust in such a small, but big, period of time,” Dimitrov said. “Next thing you know, you’re almost (at the) end of the year, you have a result like that. It’s pretty special to me.”

Berrettini and Medvedev, both just 23, have shown signs that this sort of thing could be on the way.

Medvedev leads the tour in wins this season and in appearances in tournament finals. He has a varied style that helped him make it to the title matches at three hard-court tuneups heading to New York.

Berrettini saved match points in the third round at Wimbledon to earn his Week 2 debut at a major, then ran up against Federer.

Now he takes on Nadal, someone Berrettini called “the greatest fighter ever in this sport.”

serena williams takes on bianca andreescu us open 2019
September 3, 2019 – Serena Williams reacts against Qiang Wang in a quarterfinal match at the 2019 US Open. (Photo by Pete Staples/USTA)

Serena Williams Takes On Andreescu

Serena Williams lost her temper and then lost the match when she played for last year’s U.S. Open championship.

She gets another chance Saturday night, again seeking a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title when she faces 19-year-old Canadian Bianca Andreescu.

The 37-year-old Williams has lost all three major finals she has reached since returning from giving birth, including to Naomi Osaka in Flushing Meadows last year. That match is best remembered for Williams’ arguments with chair umpire Carlos Ramos.

She remains one behind Margaret Court’s record for most Grand Slam trophies and seeks her seventh at the U.S. Open, 20 years after winning her first.

Andreescu, 33-4 this season, can become the first Canadian woman to win a Grand Slam title.

Are you ready for Facebook to handle your dating world?

Jeffrey Lang
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Facebook was already famous for breaking up many marriages, so it comes as no surprise that they want to go legitimate in bringing people together. We reported last year that Mark Zuckerberg and his social media giant would be entering that realm, and now they have made if official.

Zuckerberg and company are now looking to conquer a new frontier: love. One that he hasn’t always been lucky in.

Facebook Dating, a matchmaking service the company already offers in Brazil, Canada and 17 other countries, arrives in the U.S. on Thursday. But after years of privacy missteps by the social network, will people trust it with their love lives?

For a company that’s also developing its own digital currency and dabbling in e-commerce, love is another step toward reaching into all aspects of human existence.

Although many features resemble what other matchmaking services offer, Facebook’s version promises to be different, just as Tinder brought swiping and Bumble brought female-first messaging. Your Facebook Dating profile will be separate from your main one, but it will let you tap your network of friends to identify “secret crushes.”

Facebook Dating, a mobile-only service that’s free to use and free of ads, can still help Facebook make money if it keeps people glued to its other services longer.

That’s if users can get over concerns about privacy.

“A feature on Facebook that people don’t trust isn’t going to be successful,” said Rob Sherman, the company’s deputy chief privacy officer. “We built in privacy from the ground up.”

Tell that to Seth Carter, 32, an engineer from Terre Haute, Indiana, who tried a host of dating apps ranging from Match to Bumble, Tinder and Christian Mingle prior to his current relationship.

“Facebook is here to make money and I get that,” he said. But he worries that Facebook’s stated commitment to privacy would ultimately buckle under pressure to make money off the service. “That likely means they’re going to sell my dating preferences, which means even more intrusions into my life.”

Facebook says it won’t be doing any of that. But users like Carter can hardly be blamed for their apprehension, given the company’s multiple stumbles over protecting people’s private information. Facebook was fined a record $5 billion this summer by the Federal Trade Commission over privacy violations. It’s also under scrutiny for allowing for the spread of election-related misinformation and discrimination in U.S. housing ads.

Facebook Dating comes as the popularity of online dating grows: In 2016, 15% of all U.S. adults said they had used online dating services, up from virtually none in 2005, according to the Pew Research Center.

The market is crowded. From old school sites like eHarmony to Hinge or The League, a members-only service promising to bring together folks with “ambition and a drive to succeed,” there are also apps focused on farmers, religious groups, seniors, the LGBT community and so on.

When he announced the feature last year, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook Dating is “not just for hookups” but to build “meaningful, long-term relationships.” That appeared to be a direct swipe at Tinder, a service best known for hooking people up with people they find attractive by showing their photo, age and first name.

With Facebook, you start by creating a dating profile distinct from your Facebook profile. It’s easy to bring over details such as your school and job — but you’re free to embellish or hide any of that just for Facebook Dating. You can also add up to 36 of your Instagram photos.

You have to be at least 18, rather than 13 with the main Facebook service. The service isn’t limited to those who’ve listed themselves as “single.”

Facebook Dating shows your age but hides your last name. When you see a suggested match, you “like” someone by tapping a heart icon, or tap “X″ to dislike. You can’t search for mates by interests or other keywords, the way you can with Match. You’re limited to what Facebook suggests. As with Tinder, you have to decide whether or not you like someone before seeing the next match.

Facebook Dating won’t suggest friends as matches, nor will your dating profile show up on your main news feed or be visible to friends. Facebook insists it won’t use information gleaned from your dating profiles for advertising and says there won’t be ads on Facebook Dating.

Facebook won’t let lonely hearts — or creeps — send photos or website links, which could help cut down on unsolicited photos. As a safety measure, you can also share your location with friends while you’re on a date.

To help you meet offline and share interests, the service will suggest matches based on your existing Facebook groups and events. If you and a match are both going to a concert, you can make plans to meet up there. (These options require you to intentionally activate them.)

Harbor hidden passions for your existing Facebook friends or Instagram followers? You can pick up to nine as a “secret crush.” You’ll both be notified if your crush is also on Facebook Dating and has likewise picked you. Otherwise, Facebook says, the crush remains secret.

But based on Facebook’s history with users’ private information, there’s certainly a possibility that it won’t, so prepare to be embarrassed.

Rafael Nadal ready for Berrettini and Roger Federer’s Grand Slam record

Luka Alario
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Rafael Nadal ready for Berrettini and Roger Federer’s Grand Slam record

Rafael Nadal continues tearing through the U.S. Open in his determination to knock out Matteo Berrettini on Friday while pursuing Roger Federer’s grand slam record.

“Today I make a step forward, in my opinion,” said Nadal in his on-court interview at Flushing Meadows.

“That match gives me confidence. Two matches in a row against two tough opponents.

“That’s a moment to increase a little bit more the level, and I really believe that I can do it.”

While Rafa can make it look easy, the quarterfinal was no walk in the park for the Spaniard as Schwartzman recovered two times from four-game deficits.

He also had to call the trainer for a problem with his left forearm early in the final set.

“I had some mistakes of course but I am super happy the way I accepted the challenge,” said Nadal.

“I just keep going point by point and here I am in the semifinals and that is super important for me. It means everything.”

Nadal kept pulling away in his U.S. Open quarterfinal, then getting reeled back in by Diego Schwartzman.

In the first set, Nadal led 4-0 before Schwartzman got to 4-all. In the second, Nadal went up 5-1 before Schwartzman made it 5-all.

Took more than two hours just for those two sets. Eventually, both were claimed by Nadal. And so, ultimately, was the match and a berth in a 33rd Grand Slam semifinal for Nadal, who prevented Schwartzman from reaching his first by winning 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 after 12:30 a.m. Thursday in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“Like a lion in the … jungle. He’s big. He’s a fighter. He knows how to play the important moments, every single time,” Schwartzman said. “I’ve played him eight times and every important moment, he played better than me.”

No wonder Nadal is 8-0 against the guy.

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are both out of the bracket, but Nadal is still around, meaning at least one member of the Big Three is in the semis at a 62nd consecutive major tournament. That trio has combined to win the last 11 Slam trophies — and Nadal is going to be heavily favored to make that 12.

None of the other men left has played in a major final, let alone won one. Nadal, though, is closing in on a fourth championship at the U.S. Open and his 19th at all majors, which would move him within only one of Federer’s record for men.

rafael nadal returns serve beating off schwartzman at us open 2019

On Friday, Nadal will play No. 24 Matteo Berrettini, a 23-year-old from Rome who is Italy’s first male semifinalist in New York since 1977. Berrettini barely got there, edging No. 13 Gael Monfils 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (5) on Wednesday.

The other men’s semifinal will be No. 5 Daniil Medvedev of Russia vs. 78th-ranked Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.

In the women’s semifinals Thursday, Serena Williams meets No. 5 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, and No. 13 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland takes on No. 15 Bianca Andreescu of Canada.

Dimitrov won a five-setter Tuesday night against Federer, who was hampered by an issue with his upper back. Medvedev won his quarterfinal in four sets against Stan Wawrinka, who had built a big lead in the fourth round against Djokovic when the defending champion stopped because of pain in his left shoulder.

A year ago, it was Nadal whose body broke down: He retired from his semifinal against runner-up Juan Martin del Potro because of a bad knee.

This time, on a muggy night with the humidity above 50%, the left-hander raised some concern by having a trainer come out to rub a cream into that forearm during a changeover early in the third set. At the next changeover, Nadal flexed his right forearm and was visited again by the trainer, took a salt pill and guzzled some drinks, then shook that arm between points in the following game.

Afterward, Nadal said he had dealt with cramps late in the second set and early in the third.

“And then I took some salt, that’s all, and then it was over. The body is in good shape, I think. Not big problems,” Nadal said. “Just, of course, a little tired. Long day.”

Still, Nadal managed to play his best when it mattered the most against the 20th-seeded Schwartzman, an Argentine serenaded by loud choruses of “Olé! Olé! Olé! Olé!” by an audience that included former San Antonio Spurs star Manu Ginobili.

Nadal came up with a service break in the last game of each of the opening two sets, then the last one he would need made it 4-2 in the third and he broke yet again to end it.

“I don’t know how,” Schwartzman said, “but this guy is improving every time.”

Now Nadal becomes Berrettini’s problem.

Berrettini describes his mental coach as a big help and a best friend. They’ve been speaking on the phone before and after every match. And they certainly had plenty to chat about when it came to this latest victory.

Berrettini double-faulted away his initial match point and then needed four more to finally put away Monfils after nearly four hours.

“He told me, ‘I need to thank you, because I thought that everyone is born once and dies once. But during that match, I was born and died 15 or 16 times,’” Berrettini said about his conversation with the mental coach he’s worked with for several years. “I collapsed and got back up. I collapsed and got back up. That match point. Those other chances. I was down then I came back. It’s a great source of pride for me.”

In truth, the denouement was hardly a thing of beauty, with both men, clearly spent, fighting themselves and the tension of the moment as much as the guy on the other side of the net.

Monfils finished with 17 double-faults but managed to avoid any throughout the entire, exhausting fifth set until he served at 6-5 — and then he had three in that game, plus another two in the deciding tiebreaker, often doubling over between points to rest and catch his breath.

“A very bad day for me, serving,” Monfils said.

Berrettini acknowledged the obvious afterward, too, saying he felt “a little bit tight.”

You think?

It all was a bit of a whir.

“Right now, I don’t remember any points, just the (last) match point, you know?” he said. “I remember also the double-fault; I have to be honest.”

Nadal has now reached the semifinals of all four majors in the same year for the second time in his career.

While Nadal was one of the favorites to win the US Open ahead of the competition, following Djokovic’s retirement through injury and Federer’s shock quarterfinal exit, he is now cemented as the front runner to lift the trophy.

Despite all three members of the “Big Three” being in their thirties, they have shown no evidence of slowing down — the past 11 Grand Slams have all been won by either Nadal, Djokovic or Federer.

Rafael Nadal Brings His Intensity To US Open 2019

Luka Alario
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Rafael Nadal Brings His Intensity To US Open 2019

Rafael Nadal is all ready to take on Diego Schwartzman in the U.S. Open quarterfinals Wednesday night, and you can expect him to give the same inspiring performance he recently gave to golf legend Tiger Woods. For those hoping to see Rafa go up against Roger Federer in the finals, it wasn’t in the cards this year.

If Nadal beats Schwartzman, he will go on to tackle Matteo Berrettini in the semi-finals after his beating Gael Monfils in five very grueling sets on Wednesday. 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (5) should have the Italian tennis player hyped and ready for the Spanish legend.

Rafa Inspires Tiger Woods

Locked in a tight test at the U.S. Open, Rafael Nadal conjured up an over-the-shoulder, back-to-the-net flick of a volley winner that he celebrated with a leap and punch of the air.

If that wasn’t the shot of the match, then surely this was, a couple of points later: a cross-court backhand passing winner off an overhead by his opponent, 2014 champion Marin Cilic, good enough to earn a yell and four fist pumps from Nadal — along with an uppercut from Tiger Woods in the Arthur Ashe Stadium stands. Then again, maybe it was the sprinting, sliding, bend-it-around-the-net-post forehand winner to get to match point, which Woods loved, too.

Nadal is looking healthy and hungry at Flushing Meadows so far, and he quickly broke things open against Cilic by seizing nine consecutive games for a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory in the fourth round Monday night.

Asked to explain that shot on the next-to-last point, Nadal chuckled a bit and said: “It’s easy to describe and difficult to make.”

“I hit it well,” Nadal said, “but to hit that spot, of course, you need some luck.”

The 33-year-old Spaniard reached his ninth quarterfinal in New York and 40th at all major tournaments.

The No. 2-seeded Nadal, who retired from his 2018 semifinal at the U.S. Open with a knee injury, will try to get back to the final four by beating No. 20 Diego Schwartzman in the quarterfinals. Schwartzman advanced earlier Monday by eliminating No. 6 Alexander Zverev 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3.

Nadal is attempting to claim his fourth U.S. Open championship and 19th Grand Slam trophy overall. Roger Federer holds the men’s record of 20 majors. The rivals never have played each other in New York; they only could meet in the finals this year. Sadly, that will not be this year as Federer lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals before a very stunned crowd 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. He didn’t go out easily, but his back caused some major problems for the Swiss maestro.

Against Cilic, who entered Monday with a 5-0 mark in fourth-round matches at Flushing Meadows, everything turned shortly after Nadal ceded a set for the first time in the tournament. As it is, he only had played two matches before this one, because his second-round opponent, Thanasi Kokkinakis, withdrew with a bad shoulder.

At 2-1 in the third set, with Cilic serving, Nadal came up with that no-look volley to begin things. After Cilic missed a shot, Nadal’s big backhand made it love-40. One double-fault later, that game was over — as, essentially, was the match.

Cilic simply never recovered.

They would go on to play for about another hour, and he managed to grab just two more games.

rafael nadal screaming excitement in victory at us open win 2019
September 2, 2019 – Rafael Nadal reacts after beating Marin Cilic at the 2019 US Open. (Photo by Pete Staples/USTA)

Rafael Nadal Makes Even A Simple Practice Into An Intense Experience

Rafael Nadal enters the court slowly, somberly, every ounce of him emanating stolid focus. He is locked in. One gets the feeling, watching him strut, that if he were to walk into a wall at this moment, it would be the wall that crumbles.

It is a look we see from him often, viewing him on court in a tense match.

But this is not a match. It’s practice.

It’s happening on the grounds of the United States Open, where Nadal has reached the quarterfinals in his drive for his 19th major title. It’s happening at noon on Tuesday, 14 hours after his late-night, four-set win against Marin Cilic — a contest in which he’d played with his hallmark hammering style from the first point to the last.

On Wednesday, Nadal faces the Argentine Diego Schwartzman, whose punishing groundstrokes and court savvy seem prime to produce a marathon fight.

You’d think that on a day like this, an off day, a rest day, Nadal would relax.

Not even close.

He has never let up on a tennis court, whether it’s a final on Arthur Ashe Stadium or a session on Practice Court 5, the last in a row of dedicated warm-up courts at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, with looming stands constructed so anyone with a general grounds pass can easily view the players preparing for their matches.

No Grand Slam tournament makes it easier to view competitors in this kind of setting. There is also no real corollary at this level of sports. Imagine getting to see the Golden State Warriors run through their paces — working on their zone defense — in the middle of an N.B.A. finals series. Or going to batting practice at Yankee Stadium, only the Yankees are playing an intrasquad game and your ticket lets you sit 20 feet behind home plate.

At the U.S. Open’s practice courts, fans line the fences in deep rows to watch both the lesser-knowns and the biggest stars — from Nadal to Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams to Coco Gauff.

Take in enough of these sessions and it quickly becomes clear that nobody else treats practice with Nadal’s unquenchable seriousness.

Many of the other competitors go through their routines at half to three-quarter speeds. By contrast, Nadal’s pugilism is on full display. It takes just two or three minutes of easy hitting before his groundstrokes begin catapulting off his Babolat racket with a remarkable urgency.

Tuesday afternoon, as is often the case, there is nothing particularly complicated about his routine. He rallies with his coach, Carlos Moya, a former world No. 1, not long ago retired, who struggles mightily to handle Nadal’s pace.

The session lasts an hour. It is mostly Nadal uppercuts, up the gut of the court, and mostly forehands. Fans gasp as they take in the sight of 20 or 30 hard shots struck consecutively without a miss — balls hit all-out, often far harder than he would in a match — the rallies often followed by haymakers hit on the run, slicing against the sideline and out of Moya’s reach.

It’s like this again and again. Nadal simply can’t let up. Mats Wilander, the seven-time Grand Slam champion, on the grounds broadcasting the matches for Eurosport TV, describes the Spaniard’s practice routine as an act of exploration. “In practice, he’s searching constantly for the perfect shot, the perfect forehand,” Wilander says. “It’s like he always need to find it. To feel so comfortable with it that, emotionally, he can take risks” during the thumping stress of the biggest matches.

At the practice complex, top pros occupy each of the adjacent courts. You can see them stealing glances at Nadal, as if comparing their preparation against his. They work hard, but not like this, not with this constancy, this pressing energy. They hit hard, but not like this.

The sound of his shots reverberates through the stands and settles in the ears. It’s like an ax splitting a pine tree. “That sound, that sound, I’m never going to forget it,” says one of the throng of fans, Loreen Beaudry. “It’s just deeper than anyone else makes. The sound of ridiculous power.”

He keeps hitting — booming blows, twirling with copious topspin. He keeps searching.

Here comes a backhand, then another and another, but they are followed by a long series of bolo punch forehands — five, then 12 — which he sends skidding through the air like Max Scherzer fastballs.

He does not smile. He does not look up at the crowd. He is drenched with sweat. His face. His legs. His orange hat. His gray shirt and gray shorts; like he’s walked through a carwash.

But he keeps going. Ten years ago, when he was 23, it would not have been shocking to see him on his toes between rallies during a practice like this, as his coaches scurried to scoop up balls. But time has its way. At 33, adjustments in routine must be made. Now, he moves more methodically as his team of coaches gathers for another round.

But not for long. Moya feeds him a groundstroke, and the hyperkinetic race begins again.

Fifteen minutes left: volleys, but not many.

Ten minutes left: serves, which he crushes to every corner.

And then returns, which, naturally, he also crushes to every corner.

It has now been a solid hour. The pros that were on the other practice courts when he began are mostly gone, but the fans are still there, watching his every move. Nadal speaks to his coaches. He does not exactly look pleased. Maybe the perfect forehand was not there today. Maybe he will have to find it Wednesday, in yet another long, concussive warm-up before his U.S. Open quarterfinal.

How YouTube Quickly Changed After $170 Million FTC Fine

Jason Smith
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How YouTube Quickly Changed After $170 Million FTC Fine

After Google agreed on Wednesday to pay a record $170 million fine, YouTube is suddenly changing what it shows to kids. Critics have dismissed the fine as paltry, similar to Facebook’s $5 billion one, but the video giant is actually doing something about it. People will soon learn if the slap on the wrist for one of the world’s richest companies will bring better safety to children.

The new business practices, along with $170 million in fines, settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission and New York state that YouTube owner Google violated children’s online privacy by collecting personal data without parents’ permission.

Some of the new responsibilities will be on video creators themselves, as they will have to label videos that are geared toward kids under 13.

Here’s a look at what’s behind the dispute and what’s changing.

WHAT THE LAW SAYS

The FTC’s complaint is based on a 1998 federal law called the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA. It bans websites from collecting personal information from children under 13 without their parents’ consent.

Tech companies, however, have long skirted this by saying they officially exclude kids from their services, even though they don’t really check. A group of privacy advocates asked the FTC in April 2018 to investigate YouTube’s compliance.

MIXED MESSAGES

YouTube has long said its service is intended for people ages 13 and older, a message that theoretically kept it in line with that law.

Ask any kid or parent, however, and the reality was far different. Younger kids commonly watch videos on YouTube, and many popular YouTube channels feature cartoons or sing-a-longs made for children. YouTube acknowledged Wednesday that “the likelihood of children watching without supervision has increased” since its founding because there are more shared devices and a “boom in family content.”

The FTC’s complaint details how Google boasted about its youthful audience when talking to major advertisers. The FTC includes as evidence Google’s visual presentations made to toy companies Mattel and Hasbro where YouTube is described as the “new Saturday Morning Cartoons” and the ”#1 website regularly visited by kids.”

CHANGES ON YOUTUBE’S MAIN SERVICE

Starting early next year, anyone who uploads a video to YouTube will have to designate whether or not that video is directed at children.

If a video is identified as child-focused, such as a cartoon or the “unboxing” of a new toy, Google has agreed not to put up “behavioral” ads — those that cater to specific viewers based on their age and other social characteristics. Google also won’t track the viewers’ online identities. Google says these restrictions will be in place even if the viewer is an adult.

But Google will still show generic ads, as well as “contextual” ads — those that cater to the type of content rather than the specific viewer. These typically don’t bring in as much money as viewer-specific ads.

And Google is stopping short of seeking parental consent on its main service, even for kids-focused video. The law doesn’t require it to, as long as there’s no data collection.

CHANGES ON YOUTUBE KIDS

Google already gets parental consent for its kids-focused service, YouTube Kids. But the service has traditionally been used far less frequently — after all, the main service had all the same videos and more.

YouTube said it will start promoting the kids service more aggressively. On Wednesday, kids-focused pages on YouTube’s main service had pop-ups suggesting YouTube Kids.

YouTube Kids similarly does not offer behavioral ads targeted at individuals, but it does collect some basic viewer information to recommend videos. It also collects the device’s numeric IP address.

YouTube said it will dole out $100 million over three years to encourage more videos for children.

NEW ONUS ON CREATORS

Google says the changes to the main service will happen in four months to give video creators a chance to adjust. In taking this approach, Google is putting much of the responsibility on video creators themselves, though the company says it will also use artificial intelligence to flag content that targets children but wasn’t properly identified as such.

Those who consider the settlement too weak are already concerned about what happens when video creators try to cheat the new system.

Democratic FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, in a dissenting opinion, said high-profile companies like Hasbro and Mattel will likely comply, as they won’t want to run afoul of federal rules even it means fewer kids seeing their toy promotions.

But she said it’s less clear how it will curb abuses by the millions of others who post videos on YouTube — especially those outside the United States who are beyond the FTC’s “practical reach.”

youtube slammed with 170 billion fine for children

Google Gets Slap On Wrist With $170 Million FTC Settlement Fine

Google will pay $170 million to settle allegations its YouTube video service collected personal data on children without their parents’ consent.

The company agreed to work with video creators to label material aimed at kids and said it will limit data collection when users view such videos, regardless of their age.

Some lawmakers and children’s advocacy groups, however, complained that the settlement terms aren’t strong enough to rein in a company whose parent, Alphabet, made a profit of $30.7 billion last year on revenue of $136.8 billion, mostly from targeted ads.

Google will pay $136 million to the Federal Trade Commission and $34 million to New York state, which had a similar investigation. The fine is the largest the FTC has levied against Google, but it’s tiny compared with the $5 billion fine against Facebook this year for privacy violations.

YouTube “baited kids with nursery rhymes, cartoons, and more to feed its massively profitable behavioral advertising business,” Democratic Commissioner Rohit Chopra said in a tweet. “It was lucrative, and it was illegal.”

The federal government has increased scrutiny of big tech companies in the past two years — especially questioning how the tech giants collect and use personal information from their billions of customers. Many of the huge Silicon Valley companies are also under antitrust investigations aimed at determining whether the companies have unlawfully stifled competition.

Kids under 13 are protected by a 1998 federal law that requires parental consent before companies can collect and share their personal information.

Tech companies typically skirt that by banning kids under 13 entirely, though such bans are rarely enforced. In YouTube’s lengthy terms of service, those who are under 13 are simply asked, “please do not use the Service.”

Yet many popular YouTube channels feature cartoons or sing-a-longs made for children. According to the FTC, YouTube assigned ratings to its video channels and even had a “Y″ category directed at kids ages 7 or under, but YouTube targeted ads to those kids just as they would adults.

The FTC’s complaint includes as evidence Google presentations describing YouTube to toy companies Mattel and Hasbro as the “new Saturday Morning Cartoons” and the ”#1 website regularly visited by kids.”

“YouTube touted its popularity with children to prospective corporate clients,” FTC Chairman Joe Simons said. But when it came to complying with the law, he said, “the company refused to acknowledge that portions of its platform were clearly directed to kids.”

According to the settlement, Google and YouTube will get “verifiable” consent from parents before they collect or use personal information from children. The company also agreed not to use data collected from children before.

YouTube has its own service for children, YouTube Kids. The kids-focused service already requires parental consent and uses simple math problems to ensure that kids aren’t signing in on their own.

YouTube Kids does not target ads based on viewer interests the way the main YouTube service does. But the children’s version does track information about what kids are watching in order to recommend videos. It also collects personally identifying device information.

On Wednesday, Google said that starting early next year, YouTube will also limit personalized ads on its main service for videos meant for kids. Google is relying on video creators to label such items but will employ artificial intelligence to help.

YouTube won’t seek parental consent there, however, even on videos intended for children. YouTube is avoiding that precaution by instead turning off any personal tracking on those videos, saying it will collect only what is needed to make the service work. For such videos, YouTube also won’t offer features like comments and notifications.

The settlement now needs to be approved by a federal court in Washington. As with the Facebook settlement, the FTC vote was 3-2, with both Democrats opposing it as too weak.

Sen. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said the settlement won’t turn YouTube into a safe place for children and “makes clear that this FTC stands for ‘Forgetting Teens and Children.’”

A coalition of advocacy groups that helped trigger the investigation said the outcome will reduce behavioral advertising targeting children.

Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, said the settlement “finally forced Google to confront its longstanding lie that it wasn’t targeting children on YouTube.”

But he said the “paltry” fine signals that politically powerful corporations can break the law without serious consequences.

Other critics, including dissenting Democratic Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, said too much responsibility was being placed on video creators to classify their own content as kid-oriented, and thus limited to less-lucrative ads. They say that potentially allows Google to turn a blind eye as some try to cheat the system to make more money through ad revenue sharing.

Andrew Smith, the FTC’s consumer protection director, acknowledged that concern as valid, but said YouTube “has strong incentives to police its platform” to avoid further action.

Google is already under a 2011 agreement with the FTC that barred it from mispresenting its privacy policy and subjected the company to 20 years of regular, independent privacy audits. Google was fined $22.5 million in 2012 for violating that settlement when the FTC found it improperly used tracking cookies on Apple’s Safari browser.

Roger Federer gets a workout from Nagal at US Open

Luka Alario
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Roger Federer gets a workout from Nagal at US Open

Roger Federer normally makes every game he plays look effortless, but he came up against one play who gave him quite the workout for his first round at the 2019 US Open. The Swiss maestro actually dropped the first set he played at this year’s U.S. Open — against someone named Nagal.

No, not Nadal.

Nagal.

Federer shrugged off that slow start and came back for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 victory Monday night against Sumit Nagal, a qualifier from India ranked 190th.

How did the 20-time Grand Slam champion deal with digging himself that hole?

“Just try to forget it,” Federer said during his on-court interview in Arthur Ashe Stadium. “Play tough. Stay with him. It was a tough first set for me. … Credit to him.”

When that first set ended, there were plenty of people looking on in disbelief — in Federer’s guest box, certainly; around the stands, of course; and in front of TVs at home, surely.

“People expect a different result,” Federer said. “I expect something else.”

This was not, after all, Rafael Nadal, someone Federer has never faced at Flushing Meadows but trails 24-16 head-to-head overall.

Instead, it was Nagal, who is now 0-5 in tour-level matches for his career, trailing Federer by 1,224 victories.

“It would have been a better story,” said Nagal, who now heads to Genoa, Italy, to enter a low-tier Challenge Tour event on red clay, “if I had got another set or more.”

Federer was a big part of what transpired in the early going: Of the 32 points Nagal won in the first set, only three arrived via his own winners. Of the other 29, 19 were thanks to unforced errors by Federer, and another 10 were forced errors off the Swiss star’s racket.

One particular issue was Federer’s serve: He won merely seven of his initial 20 second-serve points.

But he returned well throughout, breaking in Nagal’s first service game of every set, and eventually, the rest of Federer’s game came around, too.

“Maybe it’s not a bad thing to go through a match like this,” said Federer, who has now won his past 62 first-round Slam matches. “It was very similar at Wimbledon.”

That’s true. He ceded his very first set at the All England Club in July, then wound up making it all the way to the final — even holding championship points before eventually losing to Novak Djokovic in a fifth-set tiebreaker.

Nagal soon saw a better Federer than was present at the outset Monday.

“He loves putting pressure on the other guy. The thing with him is you don’t know what type of shot (he’ll play),” Nagal said. “He’s always making you think. … You have no idea where the ball is coming back.”

VENUS WILLIams still loving tennis at 21st us open 2019

VENUS WILLIAMS STILL LOVING TENNIS

Venus Williams still loves her job. And she’s still capable of doing it rather well.

Playing in the U.S. Open for the 21st time, tying Martina Navratilova’s record, Williams improved to 21-0 in first-round matches at Flushing Meadows by beating Zheng Saisai 6-1, 6-0 in all of 66 minutes in Louis Armstrong Stadium on Monday.

“I was happy with today,” Williams said, “so I’m not going to ask for more.”

Williams is a two-time champion in New York — back in 2000 and 2001 — and owns seven Grand Slam singles titles in all, along with another 14 in doubles. But she’s also 39, had lost in the first round at the French Open and Wimbledon this year and her ranking is down to No. 52. That puts her 14 spots behind Zheng.

Sure didn’t seem that way on this afternoon. Williams dominated from beginning to end, winning twice as many total points, 58-29, compiling more than four times as many winners, 25-6, and two fewer unforced errors than her opponent.

Williams also showed off her big serve, reaching 121 mph, and set up a match against No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina next.

For years, as her ranking has slipped further away from the No. 1 spot she once briefly held, and her results have been less than what they once were, Williams repeatedly has faced questions about whether she was considering retirement. She never really paid any heed to that, often saying that she feels she has more to give to the sport.

And Monday, she sure looked and sounded as if she still does.

“It’s a wonderful job, and it’s all-consuming. So if you don’t love it, it’s really hard to do well at it,” Williams said. “And the fact that I have done well has shown that I have loved it and will love it and I’ll always love it. Even when it’s all over, I’ll still be a tennis player.”

Reilly Opelka beats fabio fognini grand slam 2019

REILLY OPELKA DOES IT AGAIN

Reilly Opelka is making a habit of eliminating seeded players at Grand Slam tournaments. The 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) American’s latest such win came in his main-draw debut at the U.S. Open, against No. 11 Fabio Fognini of Italy.

That 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3 victory Monday on Court 17 came courtesy not so much of Opelka’s booming serve, although he did smack 26 aces, but his impressive performance at the baseline, including thanks to a backhand Fognini called “very strange.”

Opelka, currently ranked a career-high 42nd, acknowledged that his serve wasn’t at its very best, but said the victory “shows that I’ve got more than that to back it up.”

This follows a win over John Isner at the Australian Open in January and over three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka at Wimbledon in July, when Opelka reached the third round for the first time at a major.

“I’ve done a great job staying within myself, within my limits, against those guys,” said Opelka, who turns 22 on Wednesday, when he’ll play his second-round match. “The margins, the gap, is so small between top 10 and top 20 and whatnot. For example, today, I did a great job of staying within myself.”

The only real slip-up by Opelka on Monday came when he served for the match ahead 6-5 in the third set. Still, after getting broken there and eventually dropping that set, Opelka recovered quickly to grab the fourth.

“Players like that,” Fognini said, “make you play badly and they put you under pressure.”

angelique kerber out of grand slam 2019
Angelique Kerber reagiert niedergeschlagen,enttaeuscht,Enttaeuschung,Emotion *** Angelique Kerber reacts dejected,disappointed,disappointment,emotion Copyright: xJuergenxHasenkopfx

LATER, KERBER

Angelique Kerber seems to alternate good Grand Slam years with bad ones. This was a bad one.

The three-time major champion and former No. 1 bowed out of the U.S. Open in the first round Monday, beaten by Kristina Mladenovic 7-5, 0-6, 6-4.

Kerber, who was seeded 14th, won more points, 105-93 thanks to the way she controlled the second set, but just couldn’t hang in there down the stretch.

This comes after a second-round loss at Wimbledon, which followed a first-round loss at the French Open.

In 2016, Kerber won the Australian Open and U.S. Open for her first two Slam titles. In 2017, though, she had a pair of first-round exits at majors. In 2018, Kerber won Wimbledon and reached another Slam semifinal. Now she’ll hope the pattern continues in 2020 after a disappointing 2019.

“Not really the best year for Grand Slams for me,” she said.

Nick Kyrgios ‘corrupt’ rage punishment plus Stefanos Tsitsipas ‘weirdos’

Luka Alario
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Nick Kyrgios ‘corrupt’ rage punishment plus Stefanos Tsitsipas ‘weirdos’

Nick Kyrgios continues sparking controversy this year, and his latest “corrupt” comment could really place him in hot water with the ATP. His antics have been turning off fans recently, so we’ll see if he remembers what made him a tennis star to begin with; playing good tennis.

Nick Kyrgios Corrupt Comment

The tennis organization is considering whether to punish Nick Kyrgios for a “major offense” after he called the men’s tennis tour “corrupt” because it fined him more than $100,000 for his behavior during a match last month.

A tour spokesman issued a statement Wednesday saying that Gayle Bradshaw, the ATP’s executive vice president for rules and competition, would determine what to do about Kyrgios’ comments made at the U.S. Open.

The 2019 ATP Rule Book says a “major offense” may be punished by a fine of up to the amount of prize money won at a tournament and a suspension of up to a year.

About a half-hour after the tour’s statement, Kyrgios sent out a Tweet in an effort “to clarify my comment around the ATP being corrupt,” saying “it was not the correct choice of words” and explaining the “intention was to address what I see as double standards rather than corruption.”

Speaking to a small group of reporters after his straight-set victory over Steve Johnson in the first round at Flushing Meadows ended after 1 a.m. on Wednesday, Kyrgios was asked about whether the recent fine affected him mentally as the year’s last Grand Slam tournament began.

“Not at all. ATP’s pretty corrupt, anyway, so I’m not fussed about it at all,” Kyrgios said.

It is the latest in a long list of clashes with tennis authorities for the 24-year-old Australian, who is seeded 28th at the U.S. Open.

He was defaulted from a match at the Italian Open in May after throwing a chair during a match and was suspended by the ATP in 2016 for not trying to win and insulting fans during the Shanghai Masters.

At the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati this month, Kyrgios insulted a chair umpire and left the court to smash two rackets during a second-round loss. The next day, the ATP listed a breakdown of eight fines ranging from $3,000 to $20,000 each, for violations such as unsportsmanlike conduct, verbal abuse and audible obscenity, with the total penalty reaching $113,000.

In the wee hours of Wednesday, when a follow-up question was asked about his “corrupt” comment, Kyrgios said: “Why are we talking about something that happened three weeks ago, when I just chopped up someone (in the) first round of U.S. Open?”

More than 10 hours later, in his tweet, Kyrgios wrote: “I know my behavior at times has been controversial and that has landed me in trouble, which at times is granted and valid but my issue is around others … doing the same or similar behavior and not being sanctioned.”

He added: “To be clear I know I’m not perfect and do not pretend to be and I acknowledge I’ve deserved fines and sanctioning at times but I expect consistency and fairness with this across the board (and) to date that’s not happened.”

Stefanos Tsitsipas accuses tennis officials being weirdos 2019 images

Stefanos Tsitsipas Weirdos

Stefanos Tsitsipas accused a U.S. Open chair umpire of having a bias against him during a tirade in which he told the official, “You’re all weirdos!”

Tsitsipas told Damien Dumusois that the cause of his bias was “because you’re French probably and you’re all weirdos!”

The argument came midway through the fourth set of Tsitsipas’ 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (7), 7-5 loss to Andrey Rublev on Tuesday, a day when he and fellow young star Dominic Thiem both lost in the first round for the second straight major tournament.

Tsitsipas, the No. 8 seed from Greece, appeared to be battling cramps and was slow to return to the court after losing his serve.

Dumusois told Tsitsipas it was time to play, but Tsitsipas was still reaching into his bag for a new headband and screamed at Dumusois that he still needed time to change. Dumusois responded that Tsitsipas would be penalized.

“I don’t care,” Tsitsipas replied. “Do whatever you want, because you’re the worst.”

“I don’t know what you have against me,” Tsitsipas continued. “Because you’re French probably and you’re all weirdos! You’re all weirdos!”

Dumusois is indeed French.

Tsitsipas had been angry that Dumusois believed he was getting coaching during the match from his father, Apostolos, which is not allowed.

“The chair umpire was very incorrect in what he was telling me during the match,” Tsitsipas said afterward. “I don’t know what this chair umpire has in specific against my team, but he’s been complaining and telling me that my team talks all of the time when I’m out on the court playing. He’s very — I don’t know. I believe he’s not right, because I never hear anything of what my team says from the outside.”

Tsitsipas added that he thought tennis needed more umpires who are fair to all players.

“I feel like some of them have preferences when they are on the court,” he said.

Tsitsipas opened his Grand Slam season by beating Roger Federer en route to the Australian Open semifinals. He fell at Wimbledon to Thomas Fabbiano, who then sent Thiem to another quick exit by beating the No. 4 seed 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 on a day when four top-10 seeds in the bottom half of the bracket were upset.

The two-time French Open runner-up said he was battling an illness leading into the tournament and said he was exhausted after two sets.

“I’m far away from 100%,” Thiem said. “Like this, it’s very tough to win.”

Tsitsipas was clear that his problems stemmed from the influence of Dumusois.

“Well, it’s not very pleasant when you have the umpire give you warnings and time violations and coaching violations during a match,” Tsitsipas said. “It can affect your thinking. It can affect your decision-making.”

‘Angel Has Fallen’ tops box office actuals beating ‘Good Boys’

George Cando
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‘Angel Has Fallen’ tops box office actuals beating ‘Good Boys’

Bad reviews couldn’t kill off Gerard Butler’s “Angel Has Fallen” at the box office, as it pushed “Good Boys” into the second place spot. Mike Banning might have lost favor as a Secret Service agent in the third installment of the “Fallen” series, but North American audiences found him to be very favorable.

“Angel Has Fallen” easily topped the box office with a $21.4 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday, as the action sequel became the latest mid-budget release to find modest success in the often quiet late summer.

The Lionsgate film beat expectations going into the weekend, opening similarly to the previous 2016 installment “London Has Fallen.” The film series stars Gerard Butler as a Secret Service agent protecting the U.S. president played by Morgan Freeman. In “Angel Has Fallen,” Butler’s agent is wrongly accused of trying to assassinate the president.

Going back to 2013′s “Olympus Has Fallen,” the franchise has been a quietly consistent performer, taking in roughly $200 million worldwide each time. “Angel Has Fallen,” produced for about $40 million by Millennium Films, is poised for a similar course, opening just shy of the $21.6 million “London Has Fallen” debut.

David Spitz, president of domestic distribution for Lionsgate, pointed to the film’s A-minus CinemaScore and 94% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes (far better than the 40% critic score) as good word-of-mouth harbingers for the continued playability of “Angel Has Fallen” through the last weeks of summer.

“That’s a great sign that the movie is going to be theaters for a long time,” Spitz said. “Over-performing this weekend and exit polls suggesting we’re going to have a nice long runway is terrific.”

Late August is known as a sleepy period at the box office, but it’s also one of the few parts of the calendar relatively light on big-budget tentpole releases.

That’s given some room for recent successes such as Universal’s comedy hit “Good Boys,” which slid to second with $11.6 million. Last week, it became the first R-rated comedy in more than three years to land at No.1. And the Lionsgate-distributed “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” has also flourished in August, taking in $50.5 million in three weeks including $5.8 million this weekend.

Some of the bigger films are still expanding around the globe, though. The “Fast & Furious” spinoff “Hobbs & Shaw” opened this weekend in China — where the high-octane franchise has regularly thrived — grossing $102 million and pushing the film to a worldwide total of $588.9 million.

Disney’s “The Lion King,” after seven weeks of release, still ranks among the top four films domestically and has now passed $1.5 billion worldwide. That ranks ninth all time, not accounting for inflation.

However, the acclaimed Fox Searchlight horror release “Ready or Not,” about a bride forced into a deadly game of hide-and-seek with her new in-laws, got off to a lackluster start. It took in $8 million in ticket sales and $10.6 million since opening Wednesday.

Faring better was the Christian film “Overcomer,” from Sony’s Affirm Films, which landed in third with an $8.1 million opening weekend. It also scored an A-plus CinemaScore from audiences.

Among specialty releases, Amazon’s “Brittany Runs a Marathon,” about a young woman (Jillian Bell) who devotes herself to running to lose weight, scored the weekend’s most packed theaters. It debuted with a per-theater average of $35,194 in five locations.

And Roadside Attractions’ “Peanut Butter Falcon” made an impression in expansion, taking in $2.9 million from 984 theaters. The film stars Zack Gottsagen, who has Down syndrome, Shia LaBeouf and Dakota Johnson.

angel has fallen box office versus good boys 2019 images

North America Box Office

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included.

1. “Angel Has Fallen,” $21.4 million ($8.4 million international).

2. “Good Boys,” $11.6 million ($3.5 million international).

3. “Overcomer,” $8.1 million.

4. “Hobbs & Shaw,” $8 million ($120 million international).

5. “The Lion King,” $8 million ($30 million international).

6. “Ready or Not,” $8 million.

7. “The Angry Birds 2 Movie,” $6.4 million ($10.2 million international).

8. “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” $5.8 million ($3.5 million international).

9. “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” $5.3 million ($3.2 million international).

10. “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” $5 million ($28 million international).

Worldwide Box Office

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to Comscore.

1. “Hobbs & Shaw,” $120 million.

2. “The Lion King,” $30 million.

3. “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” $28 million.

4. “Ne Zha,” $22.9 million.

5. “The Angry Birds Movie 2,” $10.2 million.

6. “Angel Has Fallen,” $8.4 million.

7. “The Bravest,” $6.1 million.

8. “The Secret Life of Pets,” $4.9 million.

9. “Metamorphosis,” $4.7 million.

10. “Crawl,” $4.1 million.

Diet versus Exercise: What is most important for Weight Loss?

Jackie Warner
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Diet versus Exercise: What is most important for Weight Loss?

You can’t out-exercise a bad diet’ – that’s what some old phrase says, and they would be quite right – because the bottom line is this; when it comes to looking out for your body, diet is key. Again, diet is always key to weight loss that lasts and stays off.

Imagine what you would look like without 6 months of healthy nutritious food – how your skin, hair, muscles, and bones would look like if you filled up on empty calories and junk food? But you sure can go without exercise for 6 months and continue eating excellent nutritional food – you wouldn’t look too bad for it either. Simply put, diet trumps exercise when it comes to weight loss but both are very important to healthy weight loss and maintaining it long term.

Both diet and exercise are pretty important though

  • You need both diet and exercise if you want to lose fat and gain some muscle. Nutritional habits have a far greater impact on your body and health goals rather than just exercising, but both play their own important role in losing the weight and keeping it off. The ideal though is to combine healthy nutrition with exercise. Doing both will produce even more success in attaining your body goals and losing weight.
  • If you apply 80% nutrition and 20% exercise rule, it is very apparent which plays a bigger role in weight loss. Exercise is just not complete without healthy eating. There is even a possibility for weight gain if changes in diet are not put into place and you increase the amount of exercise you do–this is because exercising tends to make you hungrier as well! Changing your diet is very important because the equation for weight loss is simple — calories in should be less than calories out.  Exercise, on the other hand, is very important to build and maintain muscle which helps the body burn more calories and stay healthy.
diet vs exercise steve carrell with ryan gosling workout 2019

Simply put, you are what you eat

  • It might be nice to believe that you can make permanent weight loss changes to your body if you concentrate only on exercise, but that is far from the truth. If you want to lose weight, then exercise and diet together will yield the best results.
  • While exercise is vital for helping you to lead a healthy life, just doing exercises exclusively isn’t going to promote weight loss. A study completed in 2015 found that controlling your calories is more successful than exercise. Further research found that when you work out you might burn more calories, but eventually, your body adjusts and the effect on weight loss plateaus if you only focus on exercise alone. This is why it is very important to stress that to get healthy weight loss, both diet and exercise go hand in hand! Eating the right food is very important but physical activity and exercise helps not only build muscle, but also helps reduce the risk for heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. It also helps in boosting your mood and can help you sleep better.

Why is diet more important than exercise?

For many years, physical exercise has been championed as being the most effective vehicle for driving home weight loss. While a good exercise regime is certainly very important; it is nonetheless the diet that drives sustained weight loss. If you are not fully convinced, here are some top reasons why diet is more effective than exercise, along with some steps you can take to benefit from this.

1. Exercise alone does not drive significant weight loss

Studies prove this.  Some people become physically active to compensate for the calories they eat. The quality of food and the amount of food though will play a very big role and exercise alone will never be able to counteract the effects of a bad diet. To help with this, it is a good idea to keep a food diary that lists the food you consume, so it is easy to assess if your diet is in line with your weight loss goals.

2. Exercise increases your appetite

Yes, regular exercise can trigger subconscious eating habits, based on research, and that physical exertion increases your appetite and metabolism. Studies also show that those who do adhere to rigid exercise regimes increase their calorie intake simultaneously. This kind of cancels out the impact of workouts – it means snacks and meals need to be regulated to get the weight loss results you want to achieve.

3. All this increased physical activity hasn’t countered rising obesity levels

Between 2001 and 2009 in the US, people involved in physical activities increased hugely, yet obesity continued to rise, confirming that exercise is not sufficient to prevent weight gain. One needs to review the nutritional values of the meals they consume because exercise alone will not cut it.

4. Food is the fuel source that drives exercise

Many people misunderstand this statement. Without the right calories from the correct healthy foods, you won’t be able to exercise effectively and achieve the weight loss that you desire. You have to fuel your body with the right foods to achieve your weight loss and fitness goals.

5. Short-term weight loss driven by diet

Today’s new age makes everything around us fast-paced. We become impatient if we don’t see fast results, and that includes dieting. Experts estimate that weight loss generally consists of 75% diet and 25% exercise, that short-term weight loss occurs through eating smart and lessening the calories you take – in other words, over the short-term, people look at diet first for losing weight over-exercise in the same period.

6. The effectiveness of just exercise for weight loss as a standalone is not effective

The American Dietetic Association highlights this; that it is almost impossible for overweight people to produce the required weight loss effectively without managing and reducing what they eat – the fundamental rule of weight loss. Exercise is important but diet still has a bigger effect on weight loss.

So Is It Diet Or Exercise? Or Both?

Now its time for you to ask yourself the big question. Is it diet or exercise first for you? The answer should be both, but don’t forget that changing your diet and eating habits are key to attaining your weight loss goals!

Robocall fight hits all 50 states plus Facebook blocks data gathering

Jeffrey Lang
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Robocall fight hits all 50 states plus Facebook blocks data gathering

Back in June, the FCC began stepping up the fight against spam and robocalls that plague all of us even if we have one of those unlisted phone numbers. Now, all 50 states are also stepping up to help make our lives a little less annoying.

Major phone companies have pledged to do more to fight robocalls plaguing Americans, the country’s state attorneys general say.

It’s the latest step from government and industry to combat the growing problem. Americans get nearly 5 billion automated calls from scammers, telemarketers, debt collectors and others every month. Parts of the agreement echo steps already taken by regulators and Congress, which is working on anti-robocall bills.

There’s no timeline, though, for the 12 major phone companies in the pact to fulfill the promises announced Thursday by attorneys general from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

According to the agreement, the companies will offer call-blocking tools for free to customers, with the exception of those who still use old copper landline phones (where it’s more difficult from a technical standpoint). Many of the major companies already offer this, although some charge for some or all of the services.

The companies will also block calls for everyone at the network level, landlines included.

The Federal Communications Commission has called on phone companies to block unwanted calls and expects carriers not to charge.

The agreement also asks the carriers to deploy a system that can label caller ID numbers as real. Scammers often use faked numbers to get people to pick up. The FCC already has asked for such a system, and companies have started rolling it out.

The state AGs also asks the companies to “dedicate sufficient resources” to quickly figure out where illegal robocalls are coming from when asked by law enforcement or by an existing industry group that is dedicated to tracing the origin of scam calls.

The telecom companies involved are AT&T, Bandwidth, CenturyLink, Charter, Comcast, Consolidated Communications, Frontier, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon and Windstream. Not included are Altice and Cox, cable companies with millions of customers, as well as many small rural telecoms.

facebook blocks data gathering software

Facebook Cleans Up Again

Soon, you could get fewer familiar ads following you around the internet — or at least on Facebook.

Facebook is launching a long-promised tool that lets you limit what the social network can gather about you on outside websites and apps.

The company said Tuesday that it is adding a section where you can see the activity that Facebook tracks outside its service via its “like” buttons and other means. You can choose to turn off the tracking; otherwise, tracking will continue the same way it has been.

Formerly known as “clear history,” the tool will now go by the slightly clunkier moniker “off-Facebook activity.” The feature launches in South Korea, Ireland and Spain on Tuesday, consistent with Facebook’s tendency to launch features in smaller markets first. The company did not give a timeline for when it might expand it to the U.S. and other countries, only that it will be in “coming months.”

What you do off Facebook is among the many pieces of information that Facebook uses to target ads to people. Blocking the tracking could mean fewer ads that seem familiar — for example, for a pair of shoes you decided not to buy, or a nonprofit you donated money to. But it won’t change the actual number of ads you’ll see on Facebook. Nor will it change how your actions on Facebook are used to show you ads.

Even if you turn off tracking, Facebook will still gather data on your off-Facebook activities. It will simply disconnect those activities from your Facebook profile. Facebook says businesses won’t know you clicked on their ad — but they’ll know that someone did. So Facebook can still tell advertisers how well their ads are performing.

Jasmine Enberg, social media analyst at research firm eMarketer, said the tool is part of Facebook’s efforts to be clearer to users on how it tracks them and likely “an effort to stay one step ahead of regulators, in the U.S. and abroad.”

Facebook faces increasing governmental scrutiny over its privacy practices, including a record $5 billion fine from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for mishandling user data. Boosting its privacy protections could help the company pre-empt regulation and further punishment. But it’s a delicate dance, as Facebook still depends on highly targeted advertising for nearly all of its revenue.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the “clear history” feature more than a year ago. The company said building it has been a complicated technical process, which is also the reason for the slow, gradual rollout. Facebook said it sought input from users, privacy experts and policymakers along the way, which led to some changes. For instance, users will be able to disconnect their activity from a specific websites or apps, or reconnect to a specific site while keeping other future tracking turned off.

You’ll be able to access the feature by going to your Facebook settings and scrolling down to “your Facebook information.” The “off-Facebook activity” section will be there when it launches.

The tool will let you delete your past browsing history from Facebook and prevent it from keeping track of your future clicks, taps and website visits going forward. Doing so means that Facebook won’t use information gleaned from apps and websites to target ads to you on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger. It also won’t use such information to show you posts that Facebook thinks you might like based on your offsite activity, such as news articles shared by your friends.

Stephanie Max, product manager at Facebook, said the company believes the tool could affect revenue, though she didn’t say how much. But she said giving people “transparency and control” is important.

Enberg, the eMarketer analyst, said the ultimate impact “depends on consumer adoption. It takes a proactive step for consumers to go into their Facebook settings and turn on the feature.”

People who say they value privacy often don’t actually do anything about it, she said, so it’s possible too few people will use this tool to have a meaningful effect on Facebook’s bottom line.

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