Seven days after beating the Packers for the second time this year, the Eagles have a rematch with the Rams in the NFC conference semifinal round.
January 2025
Grading the NL East’s offseason: How have the division’s teams improved (or not) so far this winter?
The Mets have made moves to be significantly better in 2025. The Braves and Nationals? Not so much.
Grading the NL East’s offseason: How have the division’s teams improved (or not) so far this winter?
The Mets have made moves to be significantly better in 2025. The Braves and Nationals? Not so much.
Grading the NL East’s offseason: How have the division’s teams improved (or not) so far this winter?
The Mets have made moves to be significantly better in 2025. The Braves and Nationals? Not so much.
Knicks Injury Tracker: Karl-Anthony Towns questionable for Wednesday’s game vs. Sixers
The latest injury news and possible return dates for New York Knicks players…
Australian Open 2025: How to watch the Carlos Alcaraz vs. Yoshihito Nishioka match tonight
Carlos Alcaraz will play Yoshihito Nishioka at the Australian Open tonight, here’s how to tune in.
Why Some TikTok Users Are Fleeing to RedNote, Another Chinese Social Media App
TikTok’s future in the United States is looking more uncertain than ever. With a potential ban just days away, angry TikTok users are looking for alternatives—and they’re not all turning to American-based platforms like Instagram.
Instead, these users, who dub themselves “TikTok refugees,” are looking to stick it to the U.S. government, who is trying to ban their favorite app over issues of national security. TikTok’s parent company is ByteDance, which is based in China. As such, the TikTok refugees are largely targeting social media platforms that are also run by companies based in China.
An app called RedNote is one of the most prominent options getting attention. Perhaps that’s an understatement: As of this writing, RedNote is the number one app on both the iOS App Store and Google Play Store.
What is RedNote?
RedNote’s Chinese name is Xiaohongshu, which translates to “Little Red Book.” (Also the name of the collection of writings of Chinese political revolutionary Mao Zedong.) It’s a popular social media app in its native country, created in 2013 by developer Xingyin Information Technology. It is similar to, but not an exact replica of TikTok.
Like TikTok, RedNote hosts short-form videos you can scroll through endlessly. But in addition to videos, the app also lets you create collaborative “boards,” and even shop in its in-app marketplace—though I’m not sure what the shipping costs would be to buy used furniture from across the world. At the end of the day, it’s a social media experience, one that the U.S. government probably didn’t anticipate would play host to disgruntled Americans.
Of course, what’s drawing the crowds are RedNote’s TikTok-like short videos. I downloaded the app to see what the hullabaloo is all about.
What data RedNote asks for when you install it
As far as privacy and security goes, the app will scrape your device ID, and developer Xingin can potentially use that to track you across other apps and websites. That’s not great, but it’s also not unusual: For context, TikTok also tracks your device ID, as well as your email address and phone number—two data points RedNote does not track. RedNote also collects other data points that are linked directly to you, including your purchases, search history, user ID, and contacts. Finally, the app takes a number of data points that are not directly linked to you, including your advertising data, product interaction, coarse location, product interaction, precise location, physical address, name, phone number, photos or videos, audio data, customer support info, user content, crash data, and performance data.
It’s worth noting again that plenty of apps ask for data points like this, both linked and not linked to your identity. It’s your choice what you’re comfortable with offering up, and there are always steps to take to prevent certain data from leaking from your device to the app. For example, you can use a VPN to mask your location and device ID, or disable your location settings for the app altogether; create an account through Apple and use Hide My Email to shield your email address from the app; disable photos and videos access for the app, except for specific pictures and clips you choose to share; and block the app from accessing your contacts, if you’d rather find your friends there one-by-one.
What it’s like using RedNote as an English speaker
As I scroll through the app, it largely looks like TikTok meets the Instagram Explore page. Indeed, RedNote’s main feed is called “Explore,” a grid layout of different videos you can check out. Tap one, and it plays. Scroll down, and you can watch another video. If you’ve used a short-form video platform before, you’ll get the gist pretty quick. In fact, there’s a dedicated “Trending” tab, that is your basic short-form video experience. Of course, there are some feature unique to RedNote: Pinch in, and you clear the UI, to focus on the video at hand. Long-press, and you’ll find a series of extra options, including “Auto scroll,” if scrolling by hand gets to be too much.
In most respects, this is a short-form video app that anyone who has watched TikTok, Instagram Reels, or YouTube Shorts can understand quickly—perhaps minus actually reading a lot of the writing in it. Not only is the developer of this app based in China, the primary language of the app itself is reportedly Mandarin, which means most of the discourse on it is not in English. If you, like me, do not know a word of Chinese, you may miss out on things as you scroll through comments and captions in a language you don’t understand.
Of course, there are ways to translate elements of your display, but you might not have to: Part of the quirk of so many English-speaking American users flooding the app is that the Chinese-speaking users are now posting in English as well. Users from both countries have even been chatting and joking with one another: Chinese-based users are posting in English, saying that they’re happy to see Americans, as their jobs as their “Chinese spies” will be saved. (Others are asking Americans for help with their English homework.) In general, users from both countries seem to be having a good time getting to know one another.
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As much buzz as RedNote is getting this week, it’s obviously nowhere near as popular as TikTok, even in China: The former has 300 million active users, compared to TikTok’s one billion. But should TikTok be banned in the U.S. next week, the app may lose its 170 million American users—at least the ones that don’t use workarounds to keep the app alive. It will be interesting to see how RedNote continues to grow, and whether that growth will in turn inspire the U.S. government to try to ban it as well. If the TikTok ban is successful, it’s not hard to see a RedNote ban become a reality, too.
The Mets clock ticks on Pete Alonso, along with the rest of the offseason | The Mets Pod
On the latest episode of The Mets Pod presented by Tri-State Cadillac, Connor Rogers and Joe DeMayo are still checking on Pete Alonso, and checking the checklist for the remainder of the offseason.
Why Walgreens Stock Tumbled 64% in 2024
The New Google Pixel 9 Pro Is Already $150 Off
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The Pixel 9 Pro is the latest and most premium model in the Pixel lineup, and right now, the unlocked 128GB Google Pixel 9 Pro is discounted to $849 (originally $999). That’s the lowest price it has ever been on Amazon, according to price-tracking tools. The 256GB version is also at its lowest price of $947.46 (originally $1,099), doubling your storage for less than $100, as is the 512GB version, currently $1,069 (originally $1,219).
Operating System: Android 14, CPU: Google Tensor G4, Dimensions: 6.0 by 2.8 by 0.3 inches.
Google Pixel 9 Pro, 128 GB
$849.00
at Amazon
$999.00
Save $150.00
Save $150.00
$849.00
at Amazon
$999.00
Save $150.00
Save $150.00
Operating System: Android 14, CPU: Google Tensor G4, Dimensions: 6.0 by 2.8 by 0.3 inches.
Google Pixel 9 Pro, 256 GB
$949.00
at Amazon
$1,099.00
Save $150.00
Save $150.00
$949.00
at Amazon
$1,099.00
Save $150.00
Save $150.00
Operating System: Android 14, CPU: Google Tensor G4, Dimensions: 6.0 by 2.8 by 0.3 inches.
Google Pixel 9 Pro, 512 GB
$1,069.00
at Amazon
$1,219.00
Save $150.00
Save $150.00
$1,069.00
at Amazon
$1,219.00
Save $150.00
Save $150.00
The Pixel 9 Pro is the middle-of-the-pack option, sandwiched between the cheaper Pixel 9 and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. (the Pixel 9 Pro XL is essentially the same phone, just bigger). The Pixel 9 Pro comes with 16GB of RAM, 128GB of memory storage, a maximum 120 HZ refresh rate, and the Android 14 operating system. As Lifehacker’s associate tech editor Michelle Ehrhardt explained in her review of the Pixel 9 Pro, the phone’s hardware is the best Google has made so far, but its AI features still have hiccups. However, AI features will keep improving over time; the most important thing to get right is the hardware.
The battery life can last around 18 hours and 40 minutes, according to Michelle’s review (she watched YouTube videos the whole time). The main camera has a 50MP shooter, a 48MP ultra-wide camera with a 123-degree field of view, and a 48MP telephoto camera with a 30x Super Res Zoom.
If you have the Pixel 8 Pro, you might not notice a huge upgrade to this version. However, if you’re upgrading from an older version or doing a switch from a non-Pixel phone, the 9 Pro has a lot to love. One of my favorite things about Pixel phones is the ongoing support for many years. My Pixel 6A still gets all of the updates and tons of AI features that make the phone feel fresh many years later, with the latest ones dropping last month. With the Pixel 9 Pro, you’ll be getting a quality phone with software updates for a while (as long as seven years).