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What Is Shrinkflation and What Does It Mean for Your Favorite Supermarket Items?

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What Is Shrinkflation and What Does It Mean for Your Favorite Supermarket Items?

Higher grocery bills continue to plague American consumers, as the Consumer Price Index for May shows that the "food at home index" was up another 1% in May. Food prices in April were already up 10.8% from where they were a year ago, the largest 12-month increase since November 1980, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

It's not just consumers, though: Manufacturers are feeling the pinch of inflation as well, with ingredients costing more and supply chain issues making it harder to get goods to store shelves. 

Rather than just raise prices, some manufacturers shrink their packaging, a practice known as "shrinkflation." 

Shoppers across the US have reported smaller toilet paper rolls, fewer potato chips and other reductions in supermarket staples.

"It comes in waves," consumer advocate Edgar Dworsky told NPR. "We happen to be in a tidal wave at the moment because of inflation."

Read on to learn more about shrinkflation, including whether it's legal, how to guard against it and which manufacturers are downsizing their products.

What does "shrinkflation" mean?

Shrinkflation is the practice of reducing the size or quantity of a product while keeping the same price. It can mean fewer chips in the bag, fewer scoops of ice cream in the container. Basically, the purchase price remains the same but the cost per unit rises.

Customers may not notice what are effectively price increases, John Gourville, a professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School. "We found that consumers reacted greatly to periodic changes in price, but not at all to periodic (yet systematic) reductions in quantity," Gourville said in an interview back in 2004. 

Some companies disguise shrinkflation with a package redesign, according to Gourville, like adding dents to the bottom of bottles or touting claims of "lower calories." 

A Gatorade representative told Quartz in March that the company redesigned its bottles to be "more aerodynamic" and "easier to grab." It also happened to reduce the amount of Gatorade in the container from 32 to 28 ounces.

Is shrinkflation legal?

Shrinking package size is not illegal so long as the product amounts are clearly labeled and "and the business is not engaging in unfair or deceptive practices," according to the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs.

"This is legal -- companies can change prices of their products however they want. This way they do it and it reduces the amount of complaints that the companies receive as a consequence of this stuff," Tom Fullerton, an economics professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, told KFOX.

How can I protect myself against shrinkflation?

Consumers tend to pay more attention to product prices than package sizes. Breaking that habit is the top tip for steeling yourself against shrinkflation: learn the package sizes and per-unit pricing for your favorite products.

If you notice that a product has shrunk or reduced the number of included items, consider competitors who offer a similar product at a lower cost per ounce or item. Compare per-unit prices to see which product provides a better deal.

Charmin has reportedly reduced the amount of toilet paper in its Mega package from 266 sheets per roll to 244.

Olivier Douliery/Getty Images

Shrinkflation also offers an opportunity to wean yourself off packaged foods. Retailers might be able to make cereal boxes and granola bars smaller, but they can't shrink a pound of apples.  

Dworsky, the consumer advocate, has made shrinkflation (or "downsizing," as he calls it) a major focus of his website MousePrint, which is dedicated to examining the fine print of advertising claims.

Every few months, Dworsky publishescompilations of all the products he's found that have recently decreased in size. He usually posts on Mondays and crowdsources items from his readers to get a fuller picture of which products have changed.

The Reddit message board /r/shrinkflation also serves as a good source for tracking package size changes for your favorite products. Users post instances of shrinkflation that they've found in their local stores or online, usually with screenshots or photos as evidence.

Which products have shrunk?

Consumers have reported shrinkage in all kinds of household products. A keen eye on Reddit found that Huggies Little Snugglers packs dropped from 96 diapers per box to 84.

Procter & Gamble's Cascade reduced the number of dishwashing pods in a box from 78 to 63, while Unilever's Seventh Generation liquid dish soap dropped from 25 to 19 ounces with a bottle redesign.

Charmin has shrunk its Super Mega package from 396 double-ply sheets per roll to 366, MousePrint reported. The toiler paper company also reduced its Mega package from 266 sheets per roll to 244.

Cottonelle reduced the number of toilet paper sheets in its Ultra Clean line from 340 sheets to 312 and in its Ultra Comfort brand from 284 sheets to 268.

Memories Are Captured/Getty Images

Other bath products have also gotten smaller: Pantene has rebranded its Curl Protection Conditioner and in the process reduced the size from 12 to 10.4 ounces, per Reddit. And MousePrint reports that Dove Body Wash recently shrunk from 24 to 22 ounces.

Snacks are another popular target for shrinkflation, as they often come in bags that make it difficult to spot changes. Last year, Doritos decreased the weight of its regular-size bags from 9.75 to 9.25 ounces, a loss of about five chips per bag. Redditors also noticed that Doritos' party-size bag has shrunk from 15.5 to 14.5 ounces.

A party-size bag of Fritos Scoops, which used to be 18 ounces, is now reportedly just under 16 ounces, the Associated Press reported. A tube of Pringles now carries 165 grams of potato chips, down from 200 grams.

Nabisco's Wheat Thins made its "Family Size" product smaller, too, lowering the package weight from 16 to 14 ounces, per Reddit.

A bag of Keebler's Vienna Fingers bag has shrunk from 14.2 to 12 ounces, per Reddit. And MousePrint reports that the size of the company's regular Chips Deluxe package dwindled from 11.3 to 9.7 ounces. (The "family size" package decreased from 17.2 to 14.6 ounces.) 

Package downsizing has also hit fast-food chains: Domino's has cut down the number of boneless wings in an order from ten to eight, citing "unprecedented ingredient costs." Burger King is doing the same with its chicken nuggets.

And Subway rotisserie chicken wraps and sandwiches now contain less meat, Bloomberg reported.

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What Is 3D Printing?

What Is 3D Printing?

Spend any time at an online craft market like Etsy, and you'll notice a lot of the products there are 3D printed or include 3D-printed parts. But what do we actually mean by that, and how easy is it to start 3D printing your own items? 

The answer isn't as simple as you might hope, but also not as complicated as you might fear.

How does a 3D printer work? 

3D printing is a type of additive manufacturing that uses material to build layers into 3D objects. Essentially it prints by adding material (usually a form of plastic) one drop at a time. The 3D printer draws a shape on a flat surface and then draws another on top of it until the model is complete.

There are a lot of different types of materials used to create these layers, but the ones you're most likely to use as a hobbyist are melted plastic and UV resin. Which type you use will depend on the result you want to achieve. The best 3D printers automate a lot of the process, but there is still a lot of trial and error to get it right. 

This picture shows one of the positives of owning a 3D printer. My colleague Dan Ackerman needed a mount for his iPhone to attach to his MacBook. A few hours and about $0.15 of material later, he had one up and running. It's satisfying to solve this kind of problem almost immediately.

Making 3D printed parts save you time and money

Dan Ackerman/CNET

What are the types of 3D printer?

Printers come in all different shapes and sizes and can be configured in various ways depending on your end goals, but most of the ones a hobbyist or small business will use can be broken down into two distinct types: FDM and resin.

Fused deposition modeling

This is the most common type of printer and the type most widely used by businesses and hobbyists. An FDM 3D printer is simply a plotting device. It pushes a plastic filament through a hot nozzle to squish layers into the print surface in a pattern.

There are a lot of different materials that you can use with an FDM printer. I won't go into detail here -- if you want more information, check out our list of the best 3D printer filaments -- but the simplest one to use is PLA. It's a type of non-toxic plant-based plastic that prints at fairly low temperatures.

You should buy an FDM 3D printer if you are looking to 3D print practical pieces, medium-sized decorative models and cosplay armor.

SLA (stereolithography) or resin 3D printing

SLA printing, more commonly known as resin printing, is almost the opposite of FDM printing. Instead of melting plastic into liquid, it uses a UV reactive liquid that's hardened under light. Each layer is "cured" using an LED array, which emits light in a set pattern.

Resin printing produces far more detailed models as an end result but it's a lot harder to work with. There are plenty of great resins out there for you to try but you need a wash-and-cure station to make sure they're safe to handle after you have printed them.

You should buy an SLA resin 3D printer if you want to print highly detailed models such as Dungeons and Dragons miniatures jewelry or even dentistry (assuming you're a dentist).

There is another process for 3D printing: Sintering uses a laser to fuse powder into shape. It's expensive and produces amazing results, but it requires large machines and plenty of space. It's certainly not great for use in your garage.

Even though it costs very little, this printer delivers excellent quality every time.

James Bricknell/CNET

How much is a 3D printer? 

Prices for 3D printers vary wildly depending on what you want to do with them, how big the printer is and how detailed you want the models from the printer to be. We have a list of the best budget 3D printers on the site if you're looking for something under $500. Or we can recommend the best 3D printers overall if you have a little more money to spend. There are even semi-professional rigs that can cost a few thousand dollars.

The Neptune 2 is a good starting point for beginners. It's easy to set up and use and it's usually priced at under $200. While it isn't going to print the most detailed models, it will give you a good understanding of everything that 3D printing entails. The most important thing is that it's cheap, making it accessible.

If money's no object and you want an amazing in-home 3D printing experience, then the Prusa Mk3S Plus is the best choice. It comes in both kit and preassembled forms, but if you want to learn more about 3D printing you should buy the kit. It's an excellent introduction to how the whole process works, and it'll save you money. 

At $799 plus shipping, it isn't the cheapest 3D printer, but it is the best out-of-the-box 3D printing experience money can buy. It's an investment when you're first starting out, but it can save you money in the long run: Some cheaper 3D printers require aftermarket upgrades and replacement parts to really shine. 

In the four years that I've owned it, it's been my most consistent 3D printer in terms of reliability and output quality.

Resin 3D printers are similarly priced as their FDM counterparts, though the differences between the price point are more about speed and size than quality. A budget resin printer like the Anycubic M3 can be as low as $270 but the level of detail it can capture is as good as printers five times the cost. What keeps the price cheap is the size of the build area. Simply put; the more space you want the more you will expect to pay. 

Is now a good time to buy a 3D printer?

3D printing is currently in a golden age. Unlike days past, when you needed an engineering degree to use a 3D printer, nowadays you can get set up and started with most printers in under 15 minutes. 

Advanced safety features such as filament runout sensors and power loss protection are now standard even on budget-friendly options, so you're less likely to experience failures and more likely to succeed. That's not to say you'll never get failures -- you will, I promise. But failures are a good learning experience, and they won't be the majority of your results, like they used to be.

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What Is Net Metering and How Does It Work?

What Is Net Metering and How Does It Work?

If you're interested in setting up solar panels at your home, you've likely run into a number of new concepts when it comes to how utilities handle the electricity you'll generate. Perhaps you've run into the term "net metering" otherwise known as "net energy metering" or NEM, a concept unique to commercial and residential areas that generate their own electricity. 

With solar panels, you can generate enough energy to provide electricity to your home and, sometimes, more than you can use or store. When that happens, you can sell that excess electricity to the utility company to distribute elsewhere along the power grid. That process is known as net metering.

How does net metering work?

In states that offer net metering (check here to see if your state qualifies), you can sell your excess solar energy back to your utility company in exchange for credits that offset the cost of your energy usage. You may generate excess solar power when it is clear and sunny out, but see less energy than is necessary to power your home when it is cloudy or rainy. By selling your excess energy back to the utility grid, you'll be able to use the credit to cover the cost for any electricity you need to use. You end up paying only for the "net" energy, or the difference between how much you sold and actually used.

The types of net metering

There are three different models of net metering, and which one is available to you may depend on your state and your utility provider.

Net metering

Net metering is the most common arrangement, and works by selling any surplus power generated by your solar panels to the utility operator in exchange for credits, which offset any electricity you may need to use from the grid. The credit is applied at the retail rate, which means the rate that you pay for electricity. Only one meter is required to track this, though your meter may need to be upgraded when you go solar.

Buy all/sell all

The buy all/sell all model works by selling 100% of the energy that your solar panels generate to the utility company. It is sold at wholesale price, which is cheaper for the purchases. In exchange, you get 100% of your home's energy from the utility company, which you pay the retail rate to use. This requires two separate meters, and you will pay the difference -- if any -- between the amount generated and the amount consumed. It's important to note that under this model, you do not directly consume any of the energy your solar panels generate.

Net billing

Much like net metering, the net billing model allows you to use the electricity generated by your solar panels and sell the excess to the utility company at retail price. Unlike the net metering model, though, you cannot bank credits for future billing cycles. This arrangement is more common for commercial situations than residential ones. 

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Advertiser Disclosure : CNET's corporate partner, SaveOnEnergy, can help you find the right energy fit for your home. The SaveOnEnergy marketplace helps you search, compare, sign up and save on the right energy fit for your home — all for free. If you're interested in solar, answer a few questions to get an exact price quote from our solar advisors. 

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What to consider when it comes to net metering types

In some cases you won't have a choice when it comes to the type of net energy metering arrangement, as utility companies may only offer one option. However, if you can choose, you'll want to keep in mind a couple things.

Net metering is the most common option for a reason: it's the simplest to understand. You get credits for energy sold and those credits are at retail price, meaning they are paid at the same rate that you pay for your electricity. That makes the math simple.

However, that doesn't mean it's the best deal available to you. If you're in a situation where you expect to generate a lot of electricity -- a region where it is sunny most of the time and there isn't much rain or cloud cover to interfere with your panels -- a buy all/sell all option may work better. While you'll be selling at a wholesale rate, meaning it is a lower rate for you since you are acting as a provider, you'll also be selling much more than you otherwise would. All of your solar power generation will be monetized, as opposed to just the excess.

You should also keep in mind other fees associated with net metering. For instance, you may have to pay a connection fee. This is a monthly expense that you pay for connecting to the utility company's grid. It typically isn't much, between $10-20 per month, but it is an expense to keep in mind.

No matter what arrangement ends up working best for you, net energy metering a great way to get the most out of your solar panels. Not only does it allow you to power your own house or pay for your full electricity use, but it also allows you to monetize your energy generation and let others make use of it.

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What Is Home Equity?

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What Is Home Equity?

Most homeowners now have more equity in their homes than they did two years ago, thanks to surging home values during the pandemic. That means right now is a good time to consider tapping into your home equity if you're looking to borrow money at a lower interest rate than you might get with other types of loans such as personal loans. Home equity is the difference between what you owe on your mortgage and the current market value of your home.

You build equity in your home by consistently making mortgage payments over the years. Equity is valuable because it allows you to borrow money against your home at lower interest rates than other types of financing. Once you have enough equity built up in your home, lenders and banks will allow you to borrow against it. Some of the most common reasons to borrow against your equity are to pay for life expenses such as home improvements, higher education costs such as tuition, or to pay off high-interest credit card debt.

Most lenders want to see that you've built up at least 15% to 20% in equity in order to let you borrow money against your house in the form of refinancing or other kinds of home equity loans. One of the simplest ways to ensure you have a good chunk of equity in your home is to make a large down payment if you are able to. 

For a typical homeowner with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, building up 15% to 20% usually takes about 5 to 10 years. Even if you paid less for your home when you bought it years ago, your equity is based on the present-day value of your house. If, for example, your home is currently worth $500,000 and you have $400,000 left to pay on your mortgage, you would have $100,000 of equity in your home.

Here's what you need to know about home equity, what it is, how to calculate it and why it's important to homeowners. 

How do you calculate home equity?

To calculate your home equity, simply subtract your remaining mortgage balance from the current market value of your home. So if you owe $400,000 on your mortgage and your house is worth $500,000, you have $100,000, or 20% equity in your home. You may need to work with an appraiser or real estate agent in order to get an accurate evaluation of your home's fair market value, especially since home values have risen by record-breaking amounts since the beginning of the pandemic. 

Ways to borrow against home equity 

There are various ways to access the equity in your home. Some of the most common equity financing options are home equity loans, home equity lines of credit (or HELOCs) and reverse mortgages. It's important, however, to keep in mind that all of these options require you to put up your home as collateral to secure the loan, so it's critical to understand that there's a risk of losing your home to foreclosure if you miss payments or default on your loan for any reason. 

Home equity loan

A home equity loan lets you borrow money against the equity you've built in your home and provides you with a lump sum of cash at a fixed interest rate. Lenders typically want to see that you have at least 15% to 20% in your home to approve you for a home equity loan. A home equity loan doesn't replace your mortgage like a refinance, rather, it's an entirely new loan that you'll repay monthly along with your existing mortgage payment. But just like a mortgage, with a home equity loan, your interest rate never changes and your monthly payments are fixed, too.

HELOCs

A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is a type of loan that lets you borrow against the equity you've built up in your home and functions like a credit card. It provides you with an open line of credit that you can access for a certain amount of time, typically 10 years, followed by a set repayment period, which is usually 20 years. Lenders also generally want you to have at least 15% to 20% in your home for HELOC approval. With a HELOC, you don't have to take all of your funds out at once, and you can withdraw money repeatedly from your HELOC over the 10-year period, once previously borrowed sums are paid back.

"A HELOC offers more flexibility than a home equity loan -- you can't withdraw money from a home equity loan like you can with a HELOC, and a HELOC allows you to receive replenished funds as you pay your outstanding balance," said Robert Heck, VP of Mortgage at Morty, an online mortgage marketplace.

HELOCs have variable interest rates however, so it's important to make sure you can afford higher monthly payments if your rate goes up once your introductory interest rate expires, especially in the current economic climate. 

Reverse mortgage  

You must be 62 years or older to access a reverse mortgage and have either paid off your home or have significant equity accumulated, usually at least 50%. With a reverse mortgage, you do not have to make monthly mortgage payments and the bank or lender actually makes payments to you. You must still pay your property taxes and homeowners insurance and continue to live in the house, however. A reverse mortgage allows you to access the equity in your home and not pay back the funds for an extended period of time while using them for other expenses during retirement. It's important to keep in mind that you are building a mortgage balance back up as you borrow against your equity, and your estate will eventually have to pay off your loan. A common way to repay this loan is to sell your house. 

The bottom line

Unlocking the equity in your home can be a valuable way to access financing to cover other life expenses. It's important to understand the differences between the kinds of equity loans available to secure the best one for your particular financial situation. When comparing ways to access equity, always take into account the interest rate, additional lender costs and fees, and the size of the loan and how it will be disbursed to you, as well as the amount of time you have to pay it back, before you enter into an agreement to borrow against the equity in your home. 

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Hollywood's Next Hit Could Be Based on an NFT -- And You'd Never Know It

Hollywood's Next Hit Could Be Based on an NFT -- And You'd Never Know It

In 1994, True Lies was a massive hit, raking in almost $400 million at the box office. That makes sense: It starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood history, and was helmed by James Cameron, fresh off directing Terminator 2.

But how many people watched La Totale, the French movie it was based on?

That's the question on John Wick creator Derek Kolstad's mind. In between writing Netflix's upcoming Splinter Cell show, Kolstad is penning an eight-episode anime show, based on Forgotten Runes Wizard's Cult.

If you've never heard of Forgotten Runes, that's probably because you don't spend your nights surfing NFT marketplace OpenSea. It's an NFT collection that launched last July and consists of just under 10,000 fantasy characters. The question is simple: Is it possible for a show based on NFTs to cross over to a mainstream audience that may not even know what those three letters stand for?

"There's real life and there's what Web3 is doing, and there's a divide between the two," Kolstad said in a recent Zoom interview. "You [need] to bridge the divide by just making a good thing, a good thing that makes people say, 'What is this? It's based on something? What's that?'"

NFT collections, like the Bored Ape Yacht Club, typically feature thousands of different characters, as well as a loose story that ties them together. But NFTs are polarizing. They've been enthusiastically adopted by some, but are despised by many. Those working in the industry are aware that interest is too limited to market NFT adaptations, like a TV show, based on its crypto credentials alone.

But that doesn't mean NFT characters, stories and franchises can't be fodder for an adaptation that goes mainstream. Forgotten Runes is one of many NFT brands hoping to jump from the blockchain to the big screen.

"The number of [NFT owners] in a single collection is usually around 5,000," said Bryce Anderson, production executive at Clubhouse Pictures, which helped produce I, Tonya and Birds of Prey. "If that's your audience, it's not enough to make a global brand. We talk about our TV shows, and it's 500,000 people per week or you get canceled. That's what you need."

It won't be easy. Much of the hype around NFTs was generated by the speculative bubble that enveloped the crypto market in 2021. The crash of crypto prices in recent months has sedated that speculative mania, dampening enthusiasm for NFTs. Despite the cold winds of "crypto winter," many creators are trying to prove that NFTs are here to stay.

Similar to how some developers and engineers left the Silicon Valley giants to join the crypto industry, renowned creatives are exploring NFTs. Most notable are the celebrities. Seth Green is working on a show that will star his Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT. Reese Witherspoon's production house is working on a film and TV universe for the World of Women NFT collection. Equally important are the artists and scriptwriters, who've come from companies like Pixar and Marvel.

"You never know what something's going to become," said Bearsnake, one of Forgotten Runes' founders. Bearsnake declined to give his real name but verified to CNET that he ran creative at an entertainment startup acquired by Disney. "Hello Kitty started as a vinyl coin purse. Did they know it was going to turn into... one of the biggest media franchises in the world? No, but it found an organic way to where it is now."

28 of the NFTs in Forgotten Runes Wizard's Cult, a collection of 9,995 pixelated NFTs. 

Forgotten Runes/OpenSea

Fund a show, own a character

For some, the goal is for a universe created from an NFT collection to break through the cryptographic ceiling and go mainstream. Others see NFTs more practically: as a way to help fund productions.

"The biggest barrier for any young filmmaker has been finance," said Spike Lee during a talk at the NFT.NYC conference in June. "Where are you gonna get the money?"

Lee says technology has helped decentralize filmmaking, as amateurs can now shoot and edit video on their phones and laptops. Funding, however, continues to bedevil up-and-coming artists. Lee hopes NFTs can change that. He's piloting a program at New York University, where he teaches filmmaking, that will allow his students to fund projects by issuing NFTs.

"Films are still going to be made by the studios, and I think that NFTs will fit in the independent cinema," Lee said.

At the center of the premise is intellectual property. Punters can invest in up-and-coming filmmakers and the characters they create, just like they can invest in startup companies. The more popular those characters become, in theory, the bigger the returns.

IP bleeds into the second proposed benefit of media creation via the blockchain. Buying an NFT often means buying the IP for the depicted character -- and the right to build on top of that IP by creating a backstory. Many hope this can change the way films and TV are written and created.

Take Forgotten Runes. Wizard's Cult is a collection of 9,995, each depicting a different fantasy character: mages, warriors, alchemists, clairvoyants and more. Those who own an NFT get access to the Book of Lore, wherein they can write an official backstory for their character. Once it's written, it can't be changed -- even if the NFT is sold to another person.

It sounds like a recipe for chaos -- the internet is undefeated at loading unsuspecting platforms with offensive content -- but the idea is that self-interest will prevail. Worthwhile characters can be chosen to appear in Forgotten Runes' upcoming anime. If it becomes a hit, the characters within, and their attached NFT, become more valuable.

Writing fan fiction is technically illegal, points out Bearsnake, as it violates copyright law. The proposition, made by many NFT collections, is that franchises can be built quicker by embracing the passion of fans rather than merely tolerating it.

"Some of my favorite pieces of literature of the last 10 years, like actual literature, is stuff people wrote on the internet, and released on the internet, for free," said Clubhouse Picture's Anderson. "That was their creative impulse, and I think [NFTs help find] a way to let that live in a more public way."

Anderson is cocreator of Runner, an upcoming NFT collection. Runner takes place on a planet called Omega and focuses on The Omega Race, a contest that determines who rules the whole planet. It's being penned by Blaise Hemingway who, through the Disney Animation Story Trust, helped write Frozen and Big Hero 6.

Runner is an upcoming NFT collection. It's founded by Bryce Anderson and Bryan Unkeless, both of Clubhouse Pictures. Between them, they've worked on films like The Hunger Games and I, Tonya.

Runner

To Hemingway, the idea of NFT holders being able to create official backstories for their characters reminded him of being a kid and creating storylines for his Star Wars figurines.

"There could be a character that appears on screen for two seconds in a cantina scene, but what's that character's story?" he said. "We're following the story of about 12 central characters, but there's an entire world that has parallel stories going on that intersect with this."

Hemingway and Anderson have plans to adapt Runner to other mediums, though none are concrete yet. A film or TV expression seems inevitable given the team's credentials: Working with Hemingway and Anderson are Bryan Unkeless, producer of the Hunger Games, and Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, director of Snow White and the Huntsman.

NFTs going pop

The business models of NFT collections -- the ones that have business models in the first place -- often rely on the ability to break out into mainstream culture. But breaking out requires quality products, and quality products take a lot of time and effort to make.

Forgotten Runes is among the more ambitious NFT groups. Beyond the anime show, there's a comic book series that had its first issue in June, plans for a tabletop game and, curiously, even a cookbook. A Forgotten Runes massively multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMORPG, is in development and is due for release early next year.

The idea of creating a franchise and expanding it into different mediums is as old as Disney, said Bearsnake. What's new with NFTs is a set of tools that allows fans to play a more crucial role in that process. Those tools, however, create problems as well as solutions. Creators need to make products with mainstream appeal but also placate NFT investors who are mostly speculators, more interested in short-term hype than long-term vision.

"The majority of people in the space are really in it for financial gain, and that's OK," said Bearsnake. "I think there's a lot of unrealistic expectations from a lot of the community to the founders, because not everybody understands what goes into just even making a comic book. Like, that was hard."

It's a difficult time to be branching out. The past few months have been tough on all things crypto. Ether, the currency behind most NFTs, is down over 50% since the year began. That's tanked not only NFT valuations -- Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs are at about a third of their all-time-high -- but also mainstream interest in the arcane technology.

The circumstances for a blockchain blockbuster aren't the most auspicious, but NFT creators don't need to make the next True Lies. They just need to make the next La Totale.

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Motorola Razr 2020 review: The iconic flip phone has done it again, this time with 5G

Motorola Razr 2020 review: The iconic flip phone has done it again, this time with 5G

The new Motorola Razr 2020 addresses most of the issues I had with the Razr (2019) that came out in February. Overall it's a better phone. The new Razr gets a slew of upgraded specs, but lacks the top of the line ones found in the Motorola Edge Plus and Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. But neither of those phones can fold into something incredibly small.

With the Razr you're paying $1,400 (£1,399, which is about AU$2,470) for a foldable screen. And that's important to remember because there isn't wireless charging or a high refresh rate display, or a gigantic battery or IP-rated water and dust resistance, or a headphone jack or headphones or the most powerful Snapdragon processor. If you want to fold a 6.2-inch phone into something the size of a small drink coaster in 2020, you're going to pay a lot of money. 

The Razr's refined foldable flip phone feels fantastic to use. With the new cameras, addition of support for 5G and all the useful enhancements to the external display, the Razr feels like a "normal" phone that can do "normal" everyday stuff with its "anything but normal" foldable build. If I were to compare the Razr to a car, it would be a fun two-seat convertible.

But not everything is rosy with this new Razr. The speaker in the chin is OK, but doesn't produce great-sounding audio at louder volumes. The glass on the back of my review unit has accumulated a few scuffs over 10 days. They're barely visible, but they're there. A case could have prevented these and Motorola will sell a nifty $50 case for the Razr.

Also, when I opened and closed my 2019 Razr review unit in February it made this weird loud squeak. For the most part, this new one didn't. I say for the most part because when I was filming the unboxing video for the Razr, I didn't hear a squeak. But when reviewing the footage, one of my video producers noticed that my mic picked up a small squeak.

Aside from the squeak (more on that below) my experience overall has been good with the new Raz. I have to give Motorola a ton of credit for all the changes and implementations they made.

As far as the price, this isn't a phone for everyone, especially with the financial hardship so many people are enduring right now. If you were seriously considering the Motorola Razr (2019) and didn't get it and you have the cash, you should consider this version. It's a refinement in nearly every way over that phone. But know that you're paying a lot of money for a phone that folds in half.

The body of the new Razr is made of aluminum and Gorilla Glass 5.

Patrick Holland/CNET

The new Razr's aluminum and Gorilla Glass 5 body feels solid

During my time with the new Razr, I used it like a regular phone. I didn't feel the need to be careful with it. I wiped the foldable screen on my jeans. I keep the phone in my pocket or in my bag.

Some of that assurance comes from its build. When you close the phone, the sides sit flush, encompassing and protecting the display. But some of that is my perception. I want to be confident that if the Razr is in a pocket with my house keys, that it won't get destroyed. That confidence and trust is huge, and I didn't feel that all-the-time when I reviewed the 2019 Razr. 

The new Razr is built from aluminum and Gorilla Glass 5 and feels solid compared to the prototype feel of the February version. Also that plastic back is gone!

To reinforce the phone's robustness, Motorola invited me to visit one of their testing labs and see one of the 40 different testing machines it uses to test the Razr (wearing a mask and socially distanced, of course). I got to see a machine that folds the Razr in half to simulate years of use in just a matter of days. The idea is most people will never fold this phone enough to hit Motorola's 200,000-fold lifespan.

Read more: Motorola claims the Razr can fold 200,000 times. We get a peek at how the phone is tested

This is one of four new Motorola Razr phones on a machine that opens and closes it once every four seconds. Over the course of 10 days the phones will be folded 200,000 times.

Patrick Holland/CNET

My time with the Razr has largely been squeak-free… until Friday. I don't know if it's the humidity or what, but there's a little squeak anytime I open or close it. The only time I don't hear it is when I flick the Razr open one-handed. The squeak isn't as loud as the 2019 Razr. But when I hear it, I feel conflicted. I feel disappointed.

I asked a friend how they felt about the squeak and they said it didn't bother them. I guess when it comes to screen notches, foldable screen creases and now foldable phone squeaks, some of you will get used to these things while others will be wildly annoyed. 

I should add that the squeak comes from the hinge mechanism, but doesn't indicate any mechanical problems.

Quick View display separates the Razr from the Galaxy Z Flip 5G

Perhaps my favorite feature is the Quick View display which got a lot more useful with the new Razr. Fundamentally this is where the Razr and the Galaxy Z Flip couldn't be more different. There are basically three modes to the outside display: The first is a Peek Display mode that lets you see notifications just by pressing and holding on an icon. The next is like a Peek Display plus mode where you can press and hold an icon, then swipe up to reveal multiple notifications and respond to them. The keyboard basically takes up the entire screen, but after a few uses I got better at typing on it.

But it's the third mode -- let's call it mini-Android mode -- where the true power of the Quick View display gets unleashed. When the Razr is closed and unlocked, you can swipe down to get to the control panel, swipe up to see something similar to the notification shade, swipe to the left to go to the camera and swipe right to see a grid of apps and swipe to the right again, to see contact favorites.

The Quick View display on the Razr is officially the smallest screen I've ever played PUBG Mobile on.

Patrick Holland/CNET

The phone can curate a list of apps that work well on the smaller external screen. Apps like Gmail, YouTube and Messages can be used complete with a mini keyboard. Also, you can go back and forth between the Quick View display and the interior display and pick right up where you were at.

You can also do what I did and go into the Manage apps setting and turn on unlimited which allowed me to try pretty much any app I wanted on the Quick View display. So I decided to try PUBG Mobile. I could barely make out the controls, but it is possible to play PUBG on the Quick View display. I also played Alto's Odyssey and Super Mario Run. Not every app is optimized for that small of a display. But this iteration of the Quick View display marks an enormous step in the right direction for Motorola.

Razr has a new 48-megapixel main camera

Then there are the cameras both of which got a solid upgrade. The selfie camera atop the internal display is much better and works great for Zoom meetings and taking selfies. Though video recording on the selfie camera does top out at 1080p.

The exterior camera has 48-megapixels and uses pixel-binning to create good 12-megapixel photos. This camera is much better than the 2019 Razr. And thanks to the optical image stabilization and a time-of-flight sensor, I got an acceptable rate of in-focus and sharp photos.

The HDR mode works rather well without it being too heavy-handed. It kept the faded blue of the pickup just right.

Patrick Holland/CNET

This was taken with the digital zoom at 2x. It's remarkable the detail it was able to capture. It also shows off the lens' natural bokeh.

Patrick Holland/CNET

Here's another photo where the Razr went into HDR mode.

Patrick Holland/CNET

This is a selfie I took with the exterior 48-megapixel camera with the phone closed.

Patrick Holland/CNET

But the Razr's cameras are not on the same level as the iPhone 11 or Google Pixel 4A. Unless Motorola added a Note 20 Ultra-sized camera bump onto the Razr (please don't do that) there is only such room for a sensor and lens inside something this small.

Low-light and zoomed in photos are soft and look like a painting because of noise reduction. There is a Night Vision mode that can help, but I find it works best in medium-to-low lighting versus situations where it's dark.

Here is a 5x digital zoom of the John Hancock building off in the distance. The details are definitely soft.

Patrick Holland/CNET

This photo was taken in the regular photo mode.

Patrick Holland/CNET

This photo was taken with Night Vision. This is the best Night Vision photo I took with the Razr. That said, the sky looks painted on.

Patrick Holland/CNET

The main camera also shoots 4K video and the quality is decent. Video definitely doesn't have the same dynamic range as photos and suffers from image noise and artifacts. But I'm happy with the clips I was able to record. Check some out video clips I shot below:

OK battery life, sub-6 5G and Snapdragon 765G

Motorola claims a benefit of using the Quick View display more is it doesn't tax battery life as bad as using the main display. And that's good news. In my use, the new Razr gets me barely through a day. I typically find myself topping off at dinner time. And that's while I'm connected to 5G. I'm getting about 7 hours, 30 minutes of screen-on time and in a test with continuous video playback on Airplane mode the Razr lasted 15 hours, 53 minutes, that's 1 hour, 50 minutes more than the 2019 Razr lasted in the same test. And that's 53 minutes more than the Galaxy Z Flip.

The new Razr has a larger battery than the 2019 Razr and some of that is to compensate for use on 5G, which can eat up battery life. The Razr can work on sub-6 flavors of 5G like on AT&T and T-Mobile. I've been testing this Razr on T-Mobile's 5G here in Chicago. Sometimes I get speeds over 100Mbps for downloads (that's outdoors) and other times I get speeds that are 4.55Mbps (that's also outdoors). Both of those results were well within the 5G coverage on T-Mobile's map and speaks more to T-Mobile's 5G network than it does the phone.

Powering all this is 8GB of RAM and a Snapdragon 765G processor. There will be some who will write the new Razr off because it doesn't have a Snapdragon 865 processor. But as we've seen in other Android phones this year, the 765G is a solid processor. In the Razr, it handled gaming, videos, photo edits, multitasking really well. And in benchmark tests, the Razr scored right on par with the LG Velvet.

3DMark Slingshot Unlimited

Motorola Razr (2020)

Motorola Razr (2019)

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance

Geekbench v.5.0 single-core

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance

Geekbench v.5.0 multicore

Motorola Razr (2020)

Motorola Razr (2019)

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance

Even with all these improvements, it's hard to recommend a $1,400 especially one that is still very much a concept waiting to live up to its hype in the real world. The same can be said about the Galaxy Z Flip 5G. That said, I'm excited for Motorola and hope they make as big a step forward with the next Razr as the company did with this one.

Motorola Razr (2020) specs verus Motorola Razr (2019), Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2

	Motorola Razr (2020)	Motorola Razr (2019)	Samsung Galaxy Z Flip	Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2
Display size, resolution	Internal: 6.2-inch, foldable pOLED; 2,142x876p pixels (21:9) / External: 2.7-inch glass OLED, 800x600-pixels (4:3)	Internal: 6.2-inch, foldable pOLED; 2,142x876p pixels (21:9) / External: 2.7-inch glass OLED, 800x600-pixels (4:3)	Internal: 6.7-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED; 2,636x1,080-pixels / External: 1.1-inch Super AMOLED; 300x112-pixels	External 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED; Internal: 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED; External: 2260 x 816 pixels Internal: 2208 x 1768
Pixel density	373ppi (internal screen)	373ppi (internal screen)	425ppi (internal) / 303ppi (external)	386ppi + 373ppi
Dimensions (Inches)	Folded: 2.86x3.61x0.63 in, Unfolded: 2.86x6.66x0.31 in	Unfolded: 6.8x2.8x0.28 in / Folded: 3.7x2.8x0.55 in	Folded: 2.99x3.44x0.62 ~ 0.68 in / Unfolded: 2.99x6.59x0.27 ~0.28 in	Folded: 2.67x6.26x0.6 in (Hinge) ~ 0.54 in(Sagging), Unfolded: 5.04x6.26x0.27 in(Frame) ~ 0.23 in(Screen)
Dimensions (Millimeters)	Folded: 72.6x91.7x16mm, Unfolded: 72.6 x 169.2 x 7.9mm	Unfolded: 172x7 2x6.9mm / Folded: 94x72x14mm	Folded: 73.6x87.4x15.4 ~17.3 mm / Unfolded: 73.6x167.3x6.9 ~ 7.2 mm	Folded: 68.0x159.2x16.8mm (Hinge) ~ 13.8mm(Sagging), Unfolded: 128.2x159.2x6.9mm(Frame) ~ 6.0mm(Screen)
Weight (Ounces, Grams)	6.77 oz; 192g	7.2 oz; 205g	6.46 oz; 183g	9.95 oz; 282 grams
Mobile software	Android 10	Android 9 Pie	Android 10	Android 10
Camera	48-megapixel (exterior)	16-megapixel external (f/1.7, dual pixel AF), 5-megapixel internal	12-megapixel (wide-angle), 12-megapixel (ultra wide-angle)	12-megapixel (main) + 12-megapixel (wide angle) + 12 megapixel (telephoto)
Front-facing camera	20-megapixel (interior)	Same as main 16-megapixel external	10-megapixel	10-megapixel, 10-megapixel
Video capture	4K	4K	4K	4K
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G	Qualcomm Snapdragon 710	Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus	Snapdragon 865 Plus
Storage	256GB	128GB	256GB	256GB
RAM	8GB	6GB	8GB	12GBRAM
Expandable storage	No	None	None	No
Battery	2,800 mAh	2,510 mAh	3,300 mAh	4,500 mAh
Fingerprint sensor	Back	Below screen	Power button	Side
Connector	USB-C	USB-C	USB-C	USB-C
Headphone jack	No	No	No	No
Special features	5G enabled, Foldable display, Dual SIM, Time of flight sensor, OIS exterior camera, splashproof	Foldable display, eSIM, Motorola gestures, splashproof	Foldable display; wireless PowerShare; wireless charging; fast charging	5G enabled, Foldable display, 120Hz refresh rate, wireless charging support,
Price off-contract (USD)	$1,400	$1,499	$1,380	$2,000
Price (GBP)	£1,399	£1,000	£1,300	£1,799
Price (AUD)	Converts to AU$2,470	AU$1,799	AU$1,999	AU$2,999

Originally published Sept. 14

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