On Wednesday, the Education Department announced that it's extending the deadline for borrowers to benefit from the one-time account adjustments. These adjustments are intended to bring payment progress up to date for those on income-driven repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
To receive the account adjustment automatically, borrowers must be in the federal direct loan program or have federally held loans in the Federal Family Education Loan program. Borrowers without those types of loans previously had until April 30 to consolidate into one of those programs to benefit, but now, the department is extending that deadline to June 30.
"The Department is working swiftly to ensure borrowers get credit for every month they've rightfully earned toward forgiveness," Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal said in a statement. "FFEL borrowers should consolidate as soon as possible in order to receive this benefit that has already provided forgiveness to nearly 1 million borrowers."
The department wrote in prior guidance that it could take at least 60 days to process consolidation applications, which is why it recommends borrowers do so as early as possible to benefit from the adjustment. Borrowers can apply for consolidation on the Federal Student Aid website here.
According to the department, adjustments will be fully implemented in September 2024, after which borrowers should see "a full and accurate count of their progress toward loan forgiveness."
Borrowers in PSLF can also get credit toward the program for any months covered by the account adjustments as long as they continue to certify that they work for a qualifying nonprofit or government employer.
The adjustments began in August 2023 following evidence that servicers were not accurately tracking borrowers' payment progress, causing some of them to miss out on loan forgiveness despite completing their qualifying payments. Since the adjustments began, according to the department, 996,000 borrowers have received $49.2 billion in debt relief.
Along with the account adjustments, the Education Department is also implementing relief through the SAVE income-driven repayment plan using a provision that cancels remaining balances for borrowers with an original balance of $12,000 or less and makes as few as 10 years of qualifying payments.
More broadly, the department is working to implement its broader version of student-debt relief after the Supreme Court struck its first plan down. The public comment period for the new plan — expected to benefit over 30 million borrowers — ends on Friday, after which the department will move toward final implementation as early as this fall.
New research suggests the KBC void is a 2 billion light-year-wide expanse of relatively empty space, and our galaxy sits right near the center of it.
Pablo Carlos Budassi / Wikimedia Commons
Evidence suggests that our galaxy is inside a cosmic void, a vast expanse of relatively empty space.
According to our laws of cosmology, however, this void should not exist.
New research says that such a void may explain unusual behavior in nearby galaxies.
Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, is just one of billions in our universe. So, in the grand scheme of things, we're not so special. But zoom in to our local cosmic neighborhood, and that story begins to change.
According to a growing list of evidence, we live in the crosshairs of a giant cosmic void — the largest ever observed. Astronomers first suggested such a void in 2013 and the evidence for its existence has been stacking up ever since.
But the kicker is that this giant void shouldn't exist in the first place. If it does exist, that means something is probably amiss with our understanding of the cosmos.
We live in a void that shouldn't exist
A map of our local universe.
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
According to a fundamental theory of cosmology called the cosmological principle, matter in the universe should be uniformly distributed on very large scales.
The reason this matters is that by assuming uniformity, scientists can apply the same laws of physics to nearby objects as objects at the fringes of the early universe. In other words, everything operates under the same universal laws.
It's a simple, straightforward approach to studying and understanding our universe, and it suggests that voids — like the one we may live in — shouldn't exist.
However, multiple observations over the last decade suggest that matter in the universe may clump into regions of high- and low densities, meaning it's not so uniform, after all.
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) made the largest 3D map of our universe to date. This sliver of the cosmos shows its high- and low- density regions.
Claire Lamman/DESI collaboration; custom colormap package by cmastro
"By now it's pretty clear that we are in a significant underdensity," Indranil Banik, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of St. Andrews, told Business Insider.
"There's a few people that are still opposed to it to a limited extent. For example, some people have correctly argued that such a void shouldn't exist in the standard model, which is true. That unfortunately doesn't prove it's not there," he added.
Banik co-authored a paper published late last year in the peer-reviewed journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society that suggests we may live near the center of this void — called the KBC void — about 2 billion light-years across. Wide enough to fit 20,000 Milky Way Galaxies in a row stretching from one end to the other.
The KBC void defies the laws of cosmology
Observations from the Hubble Telescope conflict with standard cosmology predictions about the expansion of the universe. The KBC void could explain why.
NASA
The KBC void isn't totally empty. It can't be, because we live in it. But, if Banik and his colleagues' calculations are correct, the void would be about 20% emptier than space outside its border.
That may not seem like a big deficit, but it's enough to cause some confusing behavior in our local cosmic neighborhood, according to the recent study.
In particular, nearby stars and galaxies are moving away from us faster than they should be. Cosmologists have a value, called the Hubble constant, which they use to help describe how fast the universe's expansion is accelerating.
The Hubble constant should be the same value wherever you look, whether it's close by or very far away. The problem is that the galaxies and stars in our local neighborhood appear to be moving away from us faster than the Hubble constant predicts, essentially defying our law of cosmology that describes how the universe grows and evolves.
Approximately 2.5 million light-years away, the Andromeda galaxy, is our Milky Way's largest galactic neighbor.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Astronomers can't agree on what's causing this discrepancy in the Hubble constant, and the contention has become known as the Hubble tension.
Banik and his colleagues suggest that the void could be a solution because high-density regions with stronger gravity outside the void could be pulling galaxies and stars toward them.
Banik argues that these outflows could explain why cosmologists have calculated a higher value for the Hubble constant when looking at nearby objects. Stuff moves faster in the void, flying out of our empty region towards crowded outer space.
Mystery solved? Not yet.
The KBC void isn't the only possible solution to the Hubble tension. Some scientists are peeling back layers of of the cosmos to reveal the earliest stages of its formation, and look for 'early dark energy.'
If the void does exist, as evidence suggests, that may mean we need to revise some of the physical laws we use to describe the cosmos. After all, Banik's theory would explain why the Hubble constant is higher in our local cosmic region.
"The hypothesis that a local void could explain the Hubble tension by inducing significant outflows seems sound in principle, especially given the supporting observational data cited in the study," Brian Keating, cosmologist and physics professor at UC San Diego who studies the Hubble constant, told BI in an email.
But there are still questions that need to be answered. For one, how far does the influence of the void extend? Keating asks.
"If the local void isn't representative of the wider cosmos, this may only provide a local solution, not a global one — that wouldn't 'solve' the Hubble tension," he wrote.
Keating also notes that Banik's theory has certain limitations. The study's results are dependent on the type of void model used, he wrote. Different models yield different predictions about void effects and the "bulk flow," or the average speed of galaxies as they move through the cosmos. Plus, models can only offer a simplified view of what the void really is.
All of this means that the void could offer a solution, but "it is not a definitive 'proof' yet of the resolution of the tension," Keating wrote.
There are other solutions to consider too, such as early dark energy. This theory proposes a new form of energy that affects the universe's expansion rate in its early stages, ultimately leading to the Hubble tension we observe today, Keating wrote.
Methuselah, the oldest star ever observed. Scientists disagree about exactly how old this star is, and some studies suggest it could somehow be older than the universe itself.
But Banik notes that the early dark energy theory conflicts with certain truths about the universe. For example, we'd have to amend the ages of ancient stars to make it work. Otherwise, these stars would have to be older than the universe itself, Banik said.
So, he's sticking to his void theory. His next research project will analyze supernovae data to figure out whether the Hubble constant returns to the value predicted by our standard model of cosmology outside of the void. If his theory is correct, there shouldn't be any Hubble tension outside the void's borders.
"This is the main thing which sometimes keeps me up a little bit — worrying about if the supernovae really show that we're in a universe that's actually expanding faster, and there's no sign of the void edge," Banik said.
Until then, the Hubble tension remains a mystery waiting to be solved.
A Chinese sailor stands guard in April at celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the founding of China's navy.
Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
China has secretly built what could be the world's first drone carrier, an analyst said.
The report pointed to the vessel's size to guess at its primary mission.
Having a drone carrier would allow China to use different types of drones to attack, an analyst told BI.
China's navy has secretly built what could be the world's first dedicated drone carrier ship, according to Naval News, a squat ship that looks like a mini-aircraft carrier.
The outlet used satellite imagery dated May 6, along with input from J. Michael Dahm, a senior resident fellow for aerospace and China studies at the Mitchell Institute.
"We are confident that this ship is the world's first dedicated fixed-wing drone carrier," it said. Other experts, however, cautioned that only time would tell its purpose.
***BREAKING***#China has built the world’s first dedicated drone carrier. It’s about the size of escort carriers of World War Two. #OSINThttps://t.co/nmUpdqO3YX
The report cited the vessel's flight deck length, which it said is about one-third the length and half the width of a Chinese or US Navy aircraft carrier. It's also roughly half the length of China's amphibious assault ships that launch manned helicopters, suggesting that the new ship's flight deck is designed for fewer helicopters or smaller aircraft like drones.
Warships' flight decks have been bases for drones like the US's MQ-8B Fire Scout helicopter and the lightweight Scan Eagle drone. What appears new is that the Chinese ship's entire function may be to launch and land drones, although its purpose will only be confirmed by future observations of its testing and operations.
The report estimated that the flight deck was wide enough to allow aircraft or drones with a wingspan of roughly 65 feet, like the Chinese equivalents of the Reaper drone, to operate from it.
Citing satellite imagery, the report also said that the flight deck appears to be "very" low, suggesting there's no hangar below for aircraft storage and maintenance like those of assault ships and carriers. As seen, the ship appears to be well under the length of a Chinese frigate.
Alessio Patalano, a professor of war and strategy in East Asia at the Department of War Studies at King's College London, backed up the assessment.
He told BI that the platform's flattop and compact deck, together with the reportedly catamaran-like hull, suggest that it will be used for drones; the US has also experimented with launching drones from catamaran-style ferries, but the ship's flight deck is much smaller.
Patalano also said it would make sense for the Chinese navy to keep its trials largely hidden from international scrutiny.
But Lyle Goldstein, Director of Asia Engagement at the DC-based think tank Defense Priorities, said he would hesitate to call it a drone carrier based on just one satellite image.
Strategically, however, he said it would make a lot of sense.
Drones have a relatively small range, limiting their deployment away from the coastline, Goldstein told BI, so having a carrier would give the Chinese navy a "robust" network and allow drones of different types to attack.
"I spend a lot of time looking at Taiwan scenarios, and I think China would be looking to really deploy huge amounts of these exploding drones as its main weapon," he said.
The possible drone mothership was spotted only weeks after China's third carrier started sea trials.
Apple announced a suite of updates for Global Disability Awareness Day.
Eye Tracking will let users control their iPhones and iPads by noticing where they look.
There's also a new music experience for deaf and hard of hearing users.
Apple will soon let iPad and iPhone users control their devices with a glance of their eyes.
A new AI-powered feature called Eye Tracking, unveiled Wednesday, is designed for people with physical disabilities. Apple said it's coming later this year.
The feature uses the front-facing camera to set up and calibrate, though Apple notes it doesn't access or share any data.
Users can navigate with Dwell Control, which works by monitoring how long the eyes stay trained on various controls. Users can access physical buttons and complete swipes and other gestures with their eyes.
"For nearly 40 years, Apple has championed inclusive design by embedding accessibility at the core of our hardware and software," CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.
Eye Tracking will be included in iOS and iPadOS, with no additional hardware required, Apple said.
The tech giant rolled out a suite of changes ahead of Global Accessibility Awareness Day on Thursday.
Other updates include Music Haptics, a new music experience for deaf or hard-of-hearing users in which taps and other vibrations are played along with music audio.
And two new features are designed for people with speech conditions: Vocal Shortcuts enables iPhone and iPad users to launch Siri shortcuts using custom phrases, while a Listen for Atypical Speech option can recognize a wider range of speech patterns.
Another cool feature may help motion sickness-plagued travelers.
Vehicle Motion Cues places moving black dots on the edge of device screens to denote which way a vehicle is moving. This helps motion sickness by assuaging the "sensory conflict between what a person sees and what they feel," Apple said.
JPMorgan Chase & Company Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon testifies at a Senate Banking Committee annual Wall Street oversight hearing, Sept. 22, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Dimon must undergo up to two days of questioning by lawyers handling lawsuits over whether the bank can be held liable in financier Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse of teenage girls and women, a federal judge said Tuesday, April 18, 2023.
AP Images/Jacquelyn Martin
The US should embrace full engagement with China, but expect a hard time along the way, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon told Sky News.
This will remain difficult as long as China is close to Russia, he noted.
But Dimons says the US should treat Beijing as a competitor instead of an enemy.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon considers full US engagement as the right approach to China, but says obstacles will make it a difficult course to follow, he told Sky News.
Chief among issues is Beijing's strengthening relationship with Moscow, Dimon told the outlet on Wednesday: "As long as China is kind of on the side of Russia, we're going to have a hard time."
In many ways, the two countries have aligned themselves as the up-and-coming alternative to the Western order, and China has become a major counterpoint to the numerous sanctions burdening the Russian economy since its invasion of Ukraine.
Geopolitically, both nations are also pursuing a "no-limits" partnership, and have recently engaged in a joint military exercise near Taiwan. The straight — a point of contention between US and China — will also remain a barrier to productive talks, Dimon cited.
But aside from these headwinds, Dimon said that the US and its allies are in a good state to take on Beijing, and should approach it as a serious competitor, but not necessarily an enemy
"We have competition with China. I think the American government is doing the right thing to fully engage. That doesn't mean that China's going to like everything we do, just like we don't like everything they do, but it doesn't have to be war," he said. "It can be tough competition, and we should be prepared for that."
In this mindset, Dimon cited that the US shouldn't shy away from trade, despite some downsides that receive too much emphasis, he said.
"There are some downsides to trade. We focus too much on that," he said. "We should count our blessings, be strategic, be very thoughtful, fully engage with China. They're not an enemy — but they're competing."
His comments followed after President Biden issued a slew of tariffs against Chinese imports, which included quadrupling the tax rate on electric vehicle products.
I booked a consultation with Crate & Barrel's Design Desk to revamp my living room.
Crate & Barrel's CEO credits the Design Desk with driving more business to the brand.
I got personalized design help, product recommendations, and a 3D model of my space for free.
When I visited a Crate & Barrel store for the first time in March, I found the retailer excels at elevated home basics like whiteware dishes and furniture in polished neutrals.
I also learned about the Design Desk service offering free interior design consultations, which Crate & Barrel's CEO, Janet Hayes, has credited with driving more business to the brand.
I decided to give the Design Desk a try to see why it's been such a success for the company — and to help revamp my living space. I booked a virtual consultation with a designer on Crate & Barrel's website.
Take a look at how the Design Desk reimagined my New York City apartment.
The Design Desk offers in-store, in-home, and virtual appointments with interior designers.
Crate & Barrel in New York City.
Talia Lakritz/Business Insider
Crate & Barrel's 23,000-square-foot flagship store in New York City opened in November. Crate & Barrel CEO Janet Hayes credited the store's team of 30 designers, as well as Design Desk workstations on both floors, with the new location's success.
Hayes told Business of Home in February that the flagship store books three times more design appointments and does 20% more business than the old SoHo location, which was 40% larger.
I booked a meeting with an interior designer to see how they could help me improve my living space.
The Design Desk at Crate & Barrel.
Talia Lakritz/Business Insider
I recently moved into a new apartment with more space than my old one. I chose to have the interior designer help me with my foyer and living room since I've found them the most puzzling to furnish.
While I have basic pieces of living-room furniture — an entryway table, sectional couch, dining table, and bookshelves — parts of the room still feel blank. I hoped that an interior designer could advise me on how to lay out the floor plan, enhance the room with more decor, and perhaps add some more pieces of furniture.
The online booking form asked me questions about which rooms I wanted help with, as well as my color and design preferences.
A question on Crate & Barrel's Design Desk booking form.
Crate & Barrel
The form consisted of seven questions and only took a few minutes to fill out.
It also provided a space to share inspiration photos or link to a Pinterest board of images to help the designer get a sense of my taste.
Once a form is submitted, a Design Desk team interior designer reaches out to coordinate further.
Abbey Walker, the Crate & Barrel designer I was paired with, asked for lots of photos of my apartment from various angles.
The author's foyer.
Talia Lakritz/Business Insider
The entryway of my apartment features a console table, a bench that functions as a shoe rack, and a colorful rug that has seen better days.
The large foyer leads right into the sunken living room, a layout I've never been quite sure how to furnish.
The author's living room viewed from the foyer.
Talia Lakritz/Business Insider
I've seen some people with similar layouts use the foyer as a dining room, but that always seemed a bit too cramped for the dinner parties I like to host. I was eager for Walker's professional opinion about how best to use the long space.
The living room features bookshelves, a TV, a sectional couch, an expandable dining table, and lots of empty space on the walls and floor.
The author's living room.
Talia Lakritz/Business Insider
I have a gallery wall of artwork from friends and family on the right side of the room, but the rest of the walls feel empty. With beige walls, a beige rug, and a beige couch, the room needs some more color, too.
Walker also requested measurements in order to create a three-dimensional model of the space and fill it with items from Crate & Barrel.
The measurements of the south wall of the living room.
Coren Feldman
I sent her a floor plan of my apartment that included the sizes of the foyer and living room, and measured out the placement of windows and doors on the walls so that she could create the 3D model.
For me, this was the most time-consuming part of the process — it took around two hours to put it all together. Measuring every corner of my apartment required balancing on a stepladder, wrangling a tape measure across large distances, and a good amount of math. I'd recommend having an extra set of hands to help you with this if you can.
After I sent everything in, Walker and I met for our virtual consultation.
Crate and Barrel interior designer Abbey Walker (left) in a consultation with the author.
Talia Lakritz/Business Insider
She asked me to describe my design style and share more about how I use the space.
"I think it's really important to view design not just as checking off things that you think you need within your space, but tuning in to how the client lives," she said.
I told her that I like minimalistic designs with pops of color and quirky details, and that I wanted to optimize my entryway-living room combination for hosting to make it feel cozy and inviting.
She also asked about my favorite colors and if there were any colors I definitely didn't want to see in the room. I'm not too picky about that — I actually prefer multicolored accent pieces instead of just picking one color to sprinkle throughout.
A few days later, the 3D rendering of my apartment appeared in my inbox. I couldn't believe how amazing it looked and that I hadn't paid a cent for it.
The new-and-improved living room design.
Crate & Barrel
Walker kept my current sectional couch and TV, but replaced everything else with items from Crate & Barrel. She added a new wool and viscose area rug that retails for $5,299 and replaced my dark wood TV stand with a lighter burl wood media console that retails for $1,999.
She also added a Henning leather accent chair for $1,599 for more color and seating options, as well as new coffee tables, a faux fig leaf tree, multicolored throw pillows, curtains, and additional art on the walls to fill the empty space I'd highlighted to her.
She recommended swapping the positions of the bookshelves and dining table to open up the room.
The Design Desk's rendering of the author's living room.
Crate & Barrel
"Moving your bookcases will create a separate living area space that is elevated and balanced," she wrote in her Design Desk notes. "It will also open up the whole room to have the table pulled out when needed."
She also recommended adding floating shelves near the table and a small gallery wall to the left of the TV. The shelves retail for $150 each, and the set of four picture frames for the gallery wall costs $239.80.
At $399 each, the white Petrie dining chairs she chose looked much nicer than my current ones, which I got for free from a neighborhood Facebook group.
In the virtual entryway, she replaced my small storage bench with a much larger one that also included hooks.
The reimagined entryway.
Crate & Barrel
I'd been unsure about whether to use the foyer for dining or simply as an entryway. Walker helped settle the debate by saying I shouldn't crowd the area too much.
"Keeping the entryway open and minimal will make it feel inviting," she wrote.
The Batten brown oak storage bench and panel set, which offered hidden storage to conceal clutter, costs $1,711 from Crate & Barrel.
She also reimagined the entryway table as a canvas for pieces of decor and floral displays.
The entryway as envisioned by Crate & Barrel's Design Desk.
Crate & Barrel
Walker's choice of a dark-blue rug for the high-traffic foyer area seemed more practical than my current one, which has turned gray over the years. The rug she included in the 3D floor plan retails for $1,599.
Altogether, the Crate & Barrel products chosen by the Design Desk for my apartment totaled $21,802.44.
The Crate & Barrel product list.
Crate & Barrel
I'm not able to spend that much on redecorating my apartment at the moment, but I appreciated learning some of the design principles that informed my interior designer's thought process. I was also grateful to finally get some answers to my design quandaries.
If I had wanted to buy anything from this list, I would have been able to work with an in-store Design Desk designer to look at the items in person and coordinate deliveries.
I can see why the Design Desk drives so much business for Crate & Barrel. On average, hiring an interior designer costs $100 per hour, with some charging up to $500 per hour, Forbes reported. While the price of the suggested product list was steep, getting personalized advice from the Design Desk was completely free.
One simple change I did make, inspired by the 3D model, was adding more art to the wall where my TV is.
The author's living room with additional art.
Talia Lakritz/Business Insider
I initially hadn't put artwork next to the TV because I thought it would be too distracting, but I loved how the gallery wall frames in Walker's design filled the blank space.
I hung two paintings by my grandmother, a prolific artist, and am thrilled with the way they look there.
Isla Moon is an OnlyFans creator who runs two profiles where she posts adult content.
Isla Moon
OnlyFans is a subscription-focused online platform with messaging features.
Creators can post content behind a paywall, and users pay to access it.
The platform has become popular among adult-content creators, with some making millions of dollars.
OnlyFans is an online platform where creators can publish paywalled content and chat with subscribers.
A creator's followers can access the content by subscribing to their account. Most subscriptions cost a few dollars a month, but some accounts are free.
Subscriptions, however, are not the only way creators can make money on OnlyFans. The platform offers a variety of monetization options, like direct messaging, tips, pay-per-view content, livestreaming, and more. Some OnlyFans models make millions of dollars a year selling pictures and videos to their subscribers.
OnlyFans has become a popular way for adult-content creators to make money.
The platform has grown exponentially since it was founded in 2016 — and there's a lot of opportunity for creators. OnlyFans exploded during the pandemic, reporting a 75% increase in sign-ups between March and April 2020. The company's most recent tax filings show that OnlyFans users spent over $5.6 billion on the platform in 2022, and there were over 3 million registered creators for almost 250 million fans.
Bryce Adams has amassed almost 1 million subscribers on Onlyfans.
Courtesy of Bryce Adams
Why OnlyFans is controversial
Adult content has been the main source of controversy for OnlyFans.
Celebrities like Bella Thorne, Blac Chyna, and Bhad Bhabie have taken advantage of the popularity of the platform and begun sharing content there, sometimes sparking backlash. When Bella Thorne made $1 million in a day, sex workers accused her of "gentrifying" the platform and failing to acknowledge their work.
OnlyFans also stoked the ire of sex workers when it tried to ban explicit content in the summer of 2021. It reversed the decision almost immediately.
Security concerns have also been raised about OnlyFans. For instance, a 2021 BBC investigation found that underage people had published explicit content there after finding ways to bypass the platform's age-verification system.
Another major issue for OnlyFans is revenge porn. A 2024 Reuters investigation found that over 120 people had filed complaints with the US police because they were included in explicit content published on OnlyFans without their consent.
Creators on the platform who publish content that is not safe for work also say that content leaks are frequent. OnlyFans has put measures in place to prevent screenshotting and downloading pictures and videos to try to limit this practice.
OnlyFans did not respond to a request for comment on the issues outlined above.
Another source of controversy, particularly among subscribers of adult-content creators, has been ghostwriting. Some creators have outsourced chatting to assistants or outside agencies to keep up with the high volume of interactions with their subscribers.
Recently, some creators have turned to using different forms of artificial intelligence for their content, including chatbots that can interact with subscribers. Some in the industry worry this may erode the trust their audiences have in them.
An AI-generated picture of adult-content creator Jessica Moore, made using the platform My.Club.
Jessica Moore/My.Club
How much does OnlyFans cost?
The price of an OnlyFans subscription can vary widely depending on the creator. Many creators set their price at a few dollars a month, but some also charge up to $25 or $30, while others keep their pages free of charge. Some models maintain multiple profiles at different price points to cater to different audiences.
OnlyFans takes a 20% cut of each page's earnings, while the remaining 80% goes to creators.
"I was absolutely in the dark," said creator Morgan Edwards, who uses the pseudonym "Kitty K" online, about establishing the price of her page on the platform. "One of the things that I did was really just sit back, observe, and sort of do what others did."
On top of subscriptions, there are a variety of other services creators can offer for additional charges, like personalized videos or texting sessions. Some create "tip menus" listing the types of content they provide for subscribers and how much they cost.
The amount of money OnlyFans creators make can vary — it usually starts small, but many creators are able to build up their incomes. Business Insider spoke with eight creators about their yearly earnings, and their answers ranged from $143,000 to $5.4 million.
The relationships OnlyFans creators build with their subscribers rely heavily on a monetary exchange. Some models, like Swedish Amber Sweetheart, have been able to earn millions of dollars by selling "connections" with their fans.
Amber Sweetheart has made millions of dollars on OnlyFans by selling "a connection" to her subscribers.
Amber Sweetheart
How to make $10,000 on OnlyFans
There's a lot of opportunity on OnlyFans, and many creators have been able to build their income to $10,000 a month.
The key to growing a subscriber base on the platform is ensuring traffic from outside sources, like other social-media platforms, because OnlyFans does not have a discovery algorithm.
Creators often use platforms like Twitter or Reddit to find potential new subscribers because those services tend to be friendly to adult content.
Despite its serious limitations on explicit content, some models have found TikTok helpful in bringing new audiences to their pages, thanks to its powerful algorithm.
For some of the more popular creators, another lucrative income stream is offering promotional "shoutouts" to smaller accounts in exchange for a fee. Creators collectively spend millions of dollars each month on this marketing practice.
It's not uncommon for OnlyFans creators to publish adult content without showing their faces.
Farrah, a former healthcare worker turned adult entertainer, has been able to make over $1 million in revenue without revealing her identity. One of the key ways she uses to promote her account is by posting regularly on Reddit.
Mrs Robinson is another creator who began posting on the platform without showing her face. She relies on the "hot teacher" persona she's built online and charges extra to reveal her face to subscribers in pay-per-view messages.
Renaissance Technologies bought 1 million GameStop shares last quarter.
Reuters
A top hedge fund built a GameStop stake from scratch last quarter ahead of the meme stock's surge.
Renaissance Technologies' 1 million shares were briefly worth $65 million at Tuesday's high.
RenTech, founded by the late Jim Simons, also boosted its AMC bet and pared Tesla and Nvidia.
A world-beating hedge fund revealed it built a GameStop stake from scratch last quarter, making it a potential winner from the meme stock's explosive leap this week.
Renaissance Technologies owned 1 million shares of the video-game retailer at the end of March, a position worth $13 million at the time, its first-quarter portfolio update shows.
GameStop stock was up more than 400% at its Tuesday high, briefly valuing RenTech's stake at $65 million if still intact. The stock has retreated from that peak of nearly $65 to about $33 on Wednesday, which still leaves the company worth more than $10 billion.
The breathless rally in GameStop shares had been fueled by Keith "Roaring Kitty" Gill's return to social media this week. The retail investor was one of the biggest winners from the social-media frenzy that caused GameStop to skyrocket in early 2021.
RenTech trusts algorithms to decide many of its trades, resulting in sweeping changes to its stock portfolio each quarter. It was founded by Jim Simons, the noted MIT math professor and Cold War codebreaker who died on Friday.
The quant fund made other striking changes to its holdings last quarter.
It slashed its Nvidia stake by nearly two-thirds from about 1.5 million shares to 551,000 shares, cutting the position's value from about $767 million to around $498 million.
Rentech also pared its Tesla stake from 2.6 million shares worth $635 million to 1.8 million shares worth $316 million. Moreover, it piled into another meme stock: AMC Entertainment. It boosted its bet on the theater chain from 4.9 million shares worth about $30 million in December to 8.7 million shares in March, valued at $60 million at Tuesday's close.
The total value of the firm's stock portfolio was almost flat at about $64 billion. Its top three holdings were Novo-Nordisk, Palantir, and Meta at the end of March. Uber and Nvidia were its second- and third-largest positions three months earlier.
It's worth emphasizing that quarterly portfolio updates only provide a snapshot of a firm's holdings on a particular date, and exclude shares sold short, private investments, and overseas bets.
They don't always paint a full picture of the investing strategy behind the picks, especially when algorithms are dictating trades.
Some big media companies are trying to package streaming services together in an old-fashioned bundle. You don't really want that to happen.
Coprid/Getty, MirageC/Getty, Tyler Le/BI
Big media companies are bundling TV services. Again.
This makes some people happy, in theory: For some reason, they have fond memories of TV's olden days.
But the new bundles aren't the same as the old bundle — and that's a good thing. The old bundle was a terrible way to watch, and pay for, TV.
I'm continually baffled when I hear people — oftentimes, smart people! — pine for the good ol' days of the TV bundle.
You have heard it, too. Maybe you say it yourself. Something like "There are too many shows on too many streamers and I just wish we could go back to the time when we paid one company and got all the TV we wanted in one thing. Like cable TV."
And now I hear some of you cheering for it, as Big Media companies announce that they're "bringing back the bundle."
These aren't the old-timey bundles you're thinking of, and I can explain why in a minute.
But more important: Unless you work at a Big TV company, you don't want the bundle to come back! It was a terrible way to pay for and watch TV, and when it was around, most of you complained about it.
For those of you who weren't around and/or don't remember: The old-timey TV bundle was a take-it-or-leave-it package, sold to you by your local cable monopoly (which you likelyhated). Never watched sports? Didn't matter, you were paying for ESPN, anyway. Never watched old movies? You still paid for TCM. Not into Rupert Murdoch's politics? You paid up for Fox News, regardless.
But it was worse than that. The old-timey bundle was also a prerequisite for some things you might want, like HBO or Showtime. Your local cable monopoly would only sell you those channels once you'd already subscribed to the basic bundle. And good luck unsubscribing to any of this stuff whenever you decided you were done with it — like you can with a single click for a streamer — the cable industry was infamous for making it hard to leave.
In short, think of all the things you like about the internet-enabled on-demand economy, where you order and consume what you want, when you want, ideally with multiple companies competing for your time and money. That's the opposite of the old-timey bundle.
And now, let's talk about the new-fangled bundle, which isn't the bundle you're thinking of.
Start with this: The Big TV guys are not "bringing back the bundle" because they want to give you what they want. They're trying to solve a problem that besets almost all of them: They're losing money running their streaming services.
And they think these bundles will help them save money on marketing (or "extend their marketing reach," if you like that framing better). And, crucially, they think the bundles will make you less likely to cancel their streaming service — a huge problem for the industry — if your subscription is also tied to other streaming services.
That's it. That's the whole thing.
Yes, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts promises that the bundle he's going to sell (exclusively to Comcast customers) will "come at a vastly reduced price to anything in the market today," but we've all seen how pricing works for this stuff — you start low, and then start ratcheting up. Which is why Disney+ launched without ads for $7 a month in 2019, and why the ad-free version of that service now costs $14 a month in 2024.
But maybe what you're really pining for is a better way to find the stuff you're already paying for. Maybe what you really want is a single screen where you can see everything your subscriptions will let you watch. That sounds pretty good, right?
Alas. You're definitely not getting that anytime soon because whoever controlled that single screen would be very powerful indeed. And no one with any power in the TV business wants to give more power to someone else unless they're desperate. (That's why Netflix didn't cooperate with Apple TV's guide when it launched in 2017 and still doesn't today.)
Because when companies consolidate, they … consolidate. They're going to find ways to cut costs wherever they can, and that most certainly includes programming. (For a refresher, consult the recent history of Warner Bros. Discovery, which fused the company that used to be called Time Warner with the Discovery networks and has been sheddingcontenteversince.)
And even without that consolidation, the TV guys are cutting back on new programming, after a decade-long "peak TV" boom while they spent wildly — in order to get you to subscribe to their channels. So the too-much-stuff-to-watch problem is going to be less of a problem, no matter what. Careful what you wish for.
The clerical worker in Minnesota has struggled to rise up the ranks throughout her career. She said she's earning a salary similar to some entry-level positions despite nearly three decades in her current role. She's nervous that even though she's eligible for a pension in a few years, it won't supplement Social Security payments nearly enough to live comfortably.
"I can't afford life while working. How can I even think of retiring?" the St. Paul, Minnesota resident said.
Cathy is among the 30 million "peak boomers" born between 1959 and 1964 who will reach the traditional retirement age of 65 in the next few years. However, many are struggling to make ends meet, let alone have enough saved for retirement. Over half of peak boomers have just $250,000 or below in assets, according to the Alliance for Lifetime Income's Retirement Income Institute.
Many peak boomers also fall into the growing category of ALICE, which stands for asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed. Many ALICE Americans fall above the federal poverty level and typically earn too much to qualify for government assistance, though most can't afford their daily expenses.
"People are educated, and they're trying to make a better living, but there are a lot of us who are barely making it because our wages are not livable," Cathy said. "We've been working our whole lives and working hard."
Living as an ALICE
Cathy grew up in Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota, after which she enrolled in law school. She worked full-time as a legal secretary at the Attorney General's office while in school part-time at night.
She said the job didn't work out, as her supervisor disapproved of her leaving an hour early each day to attend classes. Law school didn't pan out after two years, and she was laid off from her government position. She still had loads of student loan debt, and she took jobs in Minneapolis as a legal secretary at different law firms.
After a decade, she hadn't climbed the corporate ladder at any firm, so she returned to working for the state government to attempt to make more money and not lose benefits. She worked at the Department of Revenue in the mailroom, then got a job as an administrative assistant for the state's college system, which she kept for about 25 years.
Because she worked for the college system, she received free tuition for a degree, so she obtained a master's in public administration shortly before the pandemic. She believed this would help her propel her career and get her out of a cycle of financial instability.
However, even with a master's, she said she couldn't find anything higher-paying than clerical work, as she was constantly told she didn't have enough experience. She makes about $20 an hour and has good health insurance and vacation and sick leave, though she works part-time jobs as a tax consultant to supplement her income, which she said is common among many she knows.
She's frustrated that even with decades of experience and years of networking, she feels trapped in a position that doesn't pay her enough to fully get by. She said she's seen entry-level positions offering a similar salary to what she makes now after 25 years.
"I was told, you can't get a professional position because you don't supervise. You can't get a professional position because you don't deal with budget," Cathy said. "How are you supposed to get that experience when all you do is give me clerical work?"
She added that even finding flexible part-time work has been a struggle — she's applied to many part-time positions that would require late hours or long weekends.
"The competition for part-time jobs is huge, everybody's applying, but employers are not flexible for people who work full-time," she said. "The way things keep going up? When is it going to stop? People are barely making it. A lot of couples, one is retired, the other is still working."
'Barely making it'
For over three decades, she lived in an apartment complex in St. Paul with affordable rent that rarely increased. Recently, she said her building owners changed and forced residents to reapply for their apartments due to remodeling, and many left for more affordable apartments.
She said the rent in her new apartment, which is now over $1,500 for a two-bedroom, increases at least $70 each year. She lives alone, meaning she's reliant solely on what she brings in. Buying a home hasn't crossed her mind for years, she said, even with first-time buyer programs.
"My parents said education will get you somewhere. Well, not always," Cathy said. "The joke is that I'm one of the most educated clericals in the state of Minnesota."
Her biggest expenses are various loans that she can't consolidate due to high interest rates. To keep grocery bills down, she often coupons and only shops at the least expensive stores. She's grateful that she can work from home, which saves money on transportation.
"I don't own anything except a car, I always have to rent, but I don't know how seniors on limited income are paying rent," Cathy said.
She recently got her $40,000 in student loans forgiven from law school, though she said paying off much of it for 25 years on a clerical salary was challenging, especially with increased interest.
She thinks she can retire in five to seven years and get a pension that could give her enough to survive, though she's not confident she'll have enough. Per the Rule of 90 in Minnesota, in which a person becomes eligible for retirement benefits when their age plus years worked for the government exceeds 90, she can retire this year, though she would have to pay her health insurance until Medicare kicks in at 65.
"My biggest worry is how are we going to be able to keep affording rent when it keeps going up like that?" Cathy said. "There is only so much income I have. I live off of what I make every two weeks, and it's scary."
Are you a peak boomer or ALICE? Are you worried about retirement? Reach out to this reporter at nsheidlower@businessinsider.com.