Month: July 2024
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House of the Dragon Season 2, episode 7: Why is House Beesbury at war with the Hightowers?
In “House of the Dragon” Season 2, episode 7, it’s made clear that House Beesbury is causing problems for the Hightowers. Why?
With so much focus on Team Black and Team Green in House of the Dragon Season 2, it can sometimes be tricky to keep track of all the other Houses and their allegiances.
Take the brief Small Council meeting in King’s Landing in episode 7, for instance, during which an update on the war effort gets quickly derailed by the arrival of a visiting dragon. Just before Prince Regent Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) goes charging off on Vhagar, Lord Jasper Wylde (Paul Kennedy) gives the following info on the Hightowers.
“Lord Ormund Hightower makes slow progress,” he says. “There is great concern that his host is threatened on two fronts by armies allied with House Beesbury.”
This comment is easy to miss or forget, but it will likely prove crucial further down the line. The Hightowers — one of Team Green’s main allies as Queen Dowager Alicent’s (Olivia Cooke) lot — are having difficulty joining the war effort because another House is at their throats: House Beesbury.
But who exactly are House Beesbury, and why don’t they like the Hightowers?
Why is House Beesbury at war with the Hightowers?
House Beesbury has a pretty good reason to hate the Hightowers, but we have to jump back to House of the Dragon Season 1 to find it.
Basically, back when the war was about to kick off in Westeros following King Viserys’ death, then Master of Coin Lord Lyman Beesbury (Bill Paterson) was one of the few Small Council members to protest against Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) being placed on the Iron Throne over Viserys’ named heir, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy).
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Lord Beesbury’s resulting death wasn’t the goriest in House of the Dragon, but it was certainly a memorable one: Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) shoved him so hard back into his seat that his head was crushed against the little marble of office that everyone in the Small Council has.
Credit: HBO
That’s right: The reason House Beesbury now hates the Hightowers, and Team Green are having to fight a war on a whole other front, is down to Westeros’ very own public enemy number one, Criston Cole. Yet another piece of evidence to add to the “men’s egos causing wars” list.
New episodes of House of the Dragon air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.
AirPods 2 Hit All-Time Low $69.99 Price on Amazon, Plus Discounts on AirPods 3 and Pro 2
Amazon today is discounting a collection of Apple’s AirPods, including the AirPods 2, AirPods 3, and AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C. All of these deals represent the best prices we’ve tracked since Prime Day, and are overall solid second-best prices on most models.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
The AirPods 2 is available for $69.99, down from $129.00, and the AirPods 3 is on sale for $129.99, down from $169.00. Amazon also has the AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C for $179.99, down from $249.00. The AirPods 2 deal is a match for the all-time low price, while the other two are just about $10 higher than their previous record low prices.
$59 OFFAirPods 2 for $69.99
$39 OFFAirPods 3 for $129.99
$69 OFFAirPods Pro 2 (USB-C) for $179.99
Our full Deals Roundup has more information on the latest Apple-related sales and bargains.Related Roundup: Apple DealsThis article, “AirPods 2 Hit All-Time Low $69.99 Price on Amazon, Plus Discounts on AirPods 3 and Pro 2” first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums
Amazon today is discounting a collection of Apple’s AirPods, including the AirPods 2, AirPods 3, and AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C. All of these deals represent the best prices we’ve tracked since Prime Day, and are overall solid second-best prices on most models.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
The AirPods 2 is available for $69.99, down from $129.00, and the AirPods 3 is on sale for $129.99, down from $169.00. Amazon also has the AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C for $179.99, down from $249.00. The AirPods 2 deal is a match for the all-time low price, while the other two are just about $10 higher than their previous record low prices.
Our full Deals Roundup has more information on the latest Apple-related sales and bargains.
This article, “AirPods 2 Hit All-Time Low $69.99 Price on Amazon, Plus Discounts on AirPods 3 and Pro 2” first appeared on MacRumors.com
Discuss this article in our forums
Tesla recalls 1.8 million cars because their hoods can open while driving
The problem seems more prevalent in China than elsewhere, “for reasons unknown.”
Enlarge (credit: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The electric car manufacturer Tesla has had to issue a massive recall this month in order to fix faulty hood latches that can open while its cars are driving. The problem affects more than 1.8 million cars, which means it’s slightly smaller than the recall in December that applied to more than 2 million Teslas.
The problem, according to the official National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Part 573 safety recall report, affects model year 2021-2024 Model 3s (built between September 21, 2020 and June 2, 2024), model year 2021-2024 Model Ss (built between January 26, 2021 and July 15, 2024), model year 2021-2024 Model Xs (built between August 18, 2021 and July 15, 2024), and model year 2020-2024 Model Ys (built between January 9, 2020 and July 15, 2024).
The problem first became apparent to Tesla in March of this year after complaints about unintended hood opening from Chinese customers. By April it had identified the problem as deformation of the hood latch switch, “which could prevent the customer from being notified about an open hood state.”
Football frenzy: the impact of UEFA Euro 2024 on internet traffic
Football fever grips Europe, drastically shifting internet traffic as fans tune in to UEFA Euros 2024.
Football is considered the most popular sport in the world, boasting approximately 3.5 billion fans across the globe – and few events captivate European audiences like the UEFA European Championship (Euros).
The 2024 tournament, which started on 14th June and ran until 14th July, once again featured the best national teams across the continent. But, with millions of eyes on the football for a whole month, how do these matches influence internet traffic in the countries with national teams competing in the tournament?
Internet traffic trends during the Euros
Cloudflare’s comprehensive view of Internet activities give them a unique view on traffic trends during key events – and the current football tournament is no exception. With fans across every nation glued to a different kind of screen, it’s no surprise that Internet usage saw a downwards trend when games were on. In fact, on average, Internet activity dropped by 6% across competing countries during matches.
Internet traffic and HTTP requests are typically affected by significant events, including the Super Bowl, solar eclipses, and elections. However, football matches have a unique impact. When star-studded squads or national teams play, the attention they draw can significantly shift internet usage patterns. For instance, if a match is broadcast on national TV, internet traffic typically drops as people tune into the game on their televisions – a trend that is particularly evident when the broadcast is free-to-air.
Today’s streaming services add a whole new layer to these intriguing internet traffic trends. The advent of high-speed internet and the proliferation of smart devices have made it easier than ever for fans to stream live matches from anywhere. For example, England’s opening match against Serbia on the 16th of June was watched by 15 million people on the BBC One broadcast, with an additional 3.5 million streams on BBC iPlayer – highlighting a shift towards digital viewing, even when no subscription is required.
Football matches and internet traffic decline
To better understand the broader trend, you need only look at how internet traffic shifted in individual countries during their national team games. Several countries experienced significant drops in internet traffic during matches where their national team was playing.
Western Europe and neighboring countries had the biggest drops in internet traffic during their own matches. There were reductions of at least 12% in the countries including the Netherlands, Turkey, Belgium, Croatia, Slovakia, Serbia, and host nation, Germany, when compared to the previous week.
Meanwhile, England and Scotland experienced similar traffic declines of 8% and 6% respectively. This data underscores the significant and widespread impact of the Euros on regional internet usage.
While the popularity of football in these countries has a notable impact on this trend, these variations can be also be attributed to factors like the availability and accessibility of broadcasts and the level of national engagement with the tournament. For instance, in countries where football is a major part of the national culture, such as Germany and the Netherlands, the impact of games on internet traffic is more pronounced.
Conversely, countries such as Albania, Romania, Poland, Ukraine, and Slovenia recorded increases in HTTP requests during matches instead. In some cases, this might reflect a greater reliance on online streams rather than traditional TV broadcasts, or potentially indicates higher engagement with digital platforms providing real-time updates and interactions.
Analysis of country-specific HTTP data around game times shows a spike in social media usage during halftime as well as immediately before and after matches. Unsurprisingly, traffic to websites in categories such as AI chatbots e-commerce (with some exceptions during half time), business and financial services, and productivity tools are all seeing a decrease during Euro 2024 games.
Day one impact: Germany-Scotland
With so much build up and excitement ahead of the first kick off, it’s interesting to consider how the internet responded in the home nation of Germany on the first day of the competition.
The start of the ceremony saw online traffic drop by up to 11%, deepening to 12% when the first match between Germany and Scotland officially kicked off. During halftime, traffic briefly recovered to 4% below the previous week’s levels but fell again to 11% below during the second half.
But the downward trend didn’t stop with the end of the match. By 2am local time, requests had dropped by a significant 19% when compared to the previous week, marking a night of celebration for German fans.
But while online traffic drops during the games, the threats that come with the worldwide web remain just as significant as ever.
Headed to the finals
Let’s fast forward to the most recent matches of the tournament – the semi-finals. Both finalists, England and Spain experienced the most significant decrease in internet traffic as their games drew to a close, with reductions of 11% and 19% respectively. In contrast, France and the Netherlands saw a notable 27% drop, primarily in the first half.
During the Spanish team’s Euros campaign, the internet traffic in Spain reduced most significantly during matches against major teams and former champions like Italy (the defending champions), Germany, and France. Comparatively, England’s performance featured crucial moments toward the end of their games, which is when internet traffic in the UK decreased the most – particularly during the knockout rounds and after Scotland’s elimination from the tournament.
Cybersecurity concerns
With millions of fans tuning in, high-profile events such as this year’s tournament also create the perfect opportunity for criminals to ramp up cyber threats. In fact, throughout the Euros, there have been several cyberattacks in Germany.
The most prominent type of activity has been Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, aimed at a variety of targets. These incidents aim to overwhelm a target with a flood of internet traffic, rendering it inaccessible to legitimate users. Such an event can disrupt services, cause financial losses, and damage reputations.
During the Euros, the increased internet traffic and public attention make such events prime targets for cybercriminals seeking to exploit the situation for various motives, including political statements, financial gain, or simply to cause maximum disruption.
During the Euros, the increased internet traffic and public attention make such events prime targets for cybercriminals seeking to exploit the situation for various motives, including political statements, financial gain, or simply to cause maximum disruption.
These attacks highlight both the vulnerabilities in digital infrastructure during major events and the importance of robust cybersecurity measures to protect against such threats – not just during peak celebrations and cultural events, but always.
The football effect
Football holds a special place in the heart of Europe, so much so that it has caused notable shifts in internet traffic this year as fans tune in to watch their national teams compete in the Euros.
Despite the rise of online services such as live score apps, sports news websites with minute-by-minute updates and enhanced betting platforms with visual tools and statistics – people’s attention is still drawn away from the internet when there’s a game on.
Ultimately, the UEFA Euros 2024 has not only captivated audiences, but it has also significantly altered the continent’s internet traffic patterns, revealing a fascinating intersection between sports and digital behavior.
And, as digital viewing continues to rise, future tournaments may see even more pronounced shifts in internet usage.
We’ve featured the best TVs for sport.
This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro’s Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro
Qualcomm launches new ‘affordable and reliable’ Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 chip
Qualcomm has unveiled its new and affordable smartphone chip, the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 chipset, at an event in India.… Continue reading Qualcomm launches new ‘affordable and reliable’ Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 chip
The post Qualcomm launches new ‘affordable and reliable’ Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 chip appeared first on ReadWrite.
Qualcomm has unveiled its new and affordable smartphone chip, the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 chipset, at an event in India. The entry-level chip is set to be available in phones at the end of the year.
What sets it apart from last year’s Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 is its faster connectivity of up to 1 Gbps and improved camera capabilities for budget Android phones. The 5G-ready chip is said to be is much faster than the 4G-only silicon available in the similar price range.
Introducing fast, reliable performance with #Snapdragon 4s Gen 2. Users can elevate the experiences they love with ultra-fast Gigabit #5G, all-day battery life, #AI enhanced audio for transportive entertainment, and more. pic.twitter.com/iwV6F3fXOf
— Snapdragon (@Snapdragon) July 30, 2024
According to Qualcomm, Xiaomi and its other brands will be among the first to use the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 chip.
What are the specs for Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon chip?
The chip is fabbed on a 4nm process, and has a clock speed of up to 2 GHz, as well as a Qualcomm Adreno GPU. The model supports Qualcomm Spectra ISP image signal processing technology, which provides up to 84MP for its main camera sensors. It can also capture FHD videos at up to 60 frames per second.
The chip has Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1 local connectivity, rounded off by Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ tech and dual-frequency GPS.
Cited by Computer Weekly, Chris Patrick, senior vice-president and general manager of mobile handsets at Qualcomm Technologies, said the platform was a “significant leap forward in making 5G technology more accessible, so more people can navigate the world at 5G speeds.
“Thanks to cutting-edge engineering, we balanced affordability with reliability, offering strong performance with all-day battery life and widespread access to 5G for more enhanced mobile experiences.”
Xiaom India President Muralikrishnan B added: “We are excited to be working with Qualcomm Technologies to enable access to gigabit-fast connectivity for users.
“Many people have yet to experience the benefits of 5G, and thanks to Snapdragon 4s Gen 2, Xiaomi can bring 5G connectivity to a broader audience to help reshape the way the world connects and interacts.”
Data research company IDC reported that the entry level smartphone segment in India declined by 14 per cent year-on-year to 15 per cent, down from 20 per cent a year ago. That being said, Xiaomi and Poco continued to lead the segment.
Featured image: Qualcomm / Canva
The post Qualcomm launches new ‘affordable and reliable’ Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 chip appeared first on ReadWrite.
Unravelling code inefficiencies to optimize CPU
Businesses are looking at new methods to optimize their computing power usage, but how?
In today’s ever-evolving coding landscape, where efficiency, performance and sustainability are paramount, the impact of inefficient code on CPU utilization is a constant debate among software developers.
Businesses are constantly looking for new ways to be more sustainable and optimize their compute power usage. With the increased focus being placed on green coding and streamlining compute power to help contribute towards meeting sustainability targets, software developers are now at a crossroads – how do they make their code more efficient and sustainable, without impacting the desired outcome?
Balancing CPU power
Every line of code needs to contribute to a business’s software development since all lines of code that are executed consume valuable computational resources, so when code is not optimized, this leads to excessive CPU cycles, increasing operational costs and wasted compute power.
From a code-writing perspective, developers must ensure they are writing code that is efficient and not wasteful from day one. Outdated methods and inefficient coding often lead to wasteful code, and ultimately, wasteful code ends up wasting compute power on unnecessary tasks.
One way to balance your compute power usage is by ensuring developers are applying lean coding practices to ensure that they use compute power effectively and efficiently.
The shift to public cloud ‘hyperscalers’ such as AWS allows companies to take advantage of ‘elastic scale’ – only paying for the compute power you actually need, rather than buying hardware that may be largely under-utilized – not to mention the associated expense and environmental impact of keeping that hardware cool. This enhances efficiency, cuts operational costs, and allows more sustainable code execution.
The hardware and virtual resources selected when designing cloud deployments also have implications on energy use. Cloud platform vendors are moving to energy-saving technologies to reduce costs and align with their own sustainability goals, making new choices available to businesses hosting their software in the cloud. For example, Amazon’s new Graviton processor-based AWS virtual machine (EC2) instances use up to 60% less energy than comparable EC2 instances (ARM Processor – AWS Graviton Processor – AWS (amazon.com)).
Leveraging observability and a culture of performance focus within team
Modern cloud software development has moved on a long way from a time when developers would deploy code to bare metal servers hosted on-premises, where the impact of inefficient application logic, suboptimal database queries and excessive network calls on energy use would not be a consideration. In a cloud-hosted solution with a larger user base, the impact of inefficient design and implementation is measurable and highly visible in terms of the impact of hosting costs and energy use.
In the pursuit of sustainable software development, leveraging code observability to gain insights into performance can be a pivotal strategy. This approach involves implementing tools and practices to gain deep insights into the performance and behavior of software applications.
By harnessing observability, developers can effectively monitor how inefficient code impacts CPU utilization and overall resource consumption. This not only facilitates the identification of performance bottlenecks but also enables proactive measures to optimize code for reduced energy consumption and enhanced sustainability.
The more data that can be extrapolated about a business’s coding practices, the better. Businesses can then make data-driven decisions to rationalize their consumption, reduce their cloud allocation and reallocate workloads to optimize their cloud usage across the business.
Code observability serves as a cornerstone in the pursuit of more resource-efficient and environmentally conscious software solutions. These increased insights provide software development teams with the necessary insight to consistently evolve and adapt to new coding best practices, to help keep their code green and sustainable.
The most important part of the journey to green code is to build a culture of performance enhancement, and this requires collaboration across many teams. By empowering everyone to take ownership of performance makes it a foundational aspect of day-to-day work – positioning it as important as quality and security.
The evolution of programming languages
The prospect of refactoring a business’s code into a different programming language presents an alternative avenue for improvement, but is it necessary?
Developers may question whether transitioning to a different programming language could significantly enhance performance and reduce resource costs, but there is a practical discussion of whether businesses will see a return on investment and reap the savings benefits. Software development teams are constantly looking at new applications to improve efficiency. A decision to transition to a new language hinges on the existing codebases’ shortcomings, the benefits of adopting a more suitable language and whether the development teams are adept at the new coding language.
While low-level languages such as C and C++ are traditionally the most efficient, recent trends in performance optimization have seen languages like Go, Rust, and Zig emerge as new options in this space. However, there are fewer skilled developers in this area than more popular, higher-level languages like Python or JavaScript. Both Python and JavaScript are relatively inefficient as they are interpreted languages, rather than compiled – however advances in modern CPU technology may make any perceived advantages invalid. Therefore, a decision to switch to a more efficient coding language has multiple factors, including the possibility of employing new software developers who are experienced in the new language.
Overall, the pursuit of efficient and sustainable software development demands a multifaceted approach that encompasses code observability, strategic resource allocation, and consideration of programming languages.
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This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro’s Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro
HealthEquity data breach affects millions of customers — here’s what we know so far
Healthcare giant shared more details with the SEC, including how many people were affected by the attack.
The HealthEquity data breach that took place in March 2024 affected 4.3 million people, the company confirmed in a breach notification due to be sent to affected customers soon.
The major US healthcare service provider recently reported suffering a cyberattack, in which sensitive data belonging to some of its customers was stolen.
However HealthEquity filed a new 8-K report with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, in which it confirmed the exact number of victims (4.3 million), and shared a draft breach notification letter it will send to affected individuals starting August 9.
No payment data
“After receiving an alert, on March 25, 2024, HealthEquity became aware of a systems anomaly requiring extensive technical investigation and ultimately resulting in data forensics until June 10, 2024,” the company says in its letter. “Through this work, we discovered some unauthorized access to and potential disclosure of protected health information and/or personally identifiable information stored in an unstructured data repository outside our core systems.”
The affected data includes sign-up information for accounts and benefits the company administers. Furthermore, the data may include first name, last name, address, telephone number, employee ID, employer, social security number, dependent information (for general contact information only), and payment card information (but not payment card number or HealthEquity debit card information).
Not all people have had all of this information stolen – the archives vary from person to person, it was said.
“We are not aware of any actual or attempted misuse of information because of this incident to date,” HealthEquity concluded in the letter, adding that it will be offering credit and identity monitoring for two years through Equifax.
Via The Register
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Netflix’s ‘Simone Biles Rising’ is essential Paris 2024 viewing
If you’re watching Simone Biles at the 2024 Paris Olympics, you need to watch this Netflix documentary.
Let’s be real, we’re damn lucky to live in a time when Simone Biles is competing on our screens. The most decorated gymnast in history and an undisputed embodiment of the term GOAT, the 27-year old athlete has owned the world stage and the medal podium for over a decade now. She’s swimming in Olympic medals. Five gymnastic skills have been named after her. And with her return to gymnastics topped with the Paris 2024 Olympics, Biles is writing her next glorious chapter.
But it hasn’t been an easy cartwheel down the balance beam by any means for Biles — a challenging, compelling road you can join her on in Netflix’s excellent docuseries Simone Biles Rising. It’s cleverly directed by Katie Walsh with gorgeous cinematography from Jessica Young, both of whom worked on the 2021 Facebook Watch documentary Simone vs Herself. Two episodes of the four-part series have been released on Netflix, with more coming in autumn, and it’s the quintessential watch for Olympic enthusiasts, sports fans, and documentary lovers alike.
Simone Biles Rising covers a lot of ground
Simone Biles Rising always has Biles’ path to Paris on the horizon, but it begins at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, with the first episode mostly focusing on Biles’ most challenging career moment to date: her decision to withdraw from the artistic gymnastics women’s team final. Biles had the world’s eyes firmly fixed on her, navigating intense pressure to bring home the gold. In the final, Biles lost her way midair during a vault, experiencing a disconnection with her spatial awareness — an indication of “the twisties”. Biles describes the feeling in her interview as “in jail with my brain and body,” and the series digs further into just how dangerous and heartbreaking it can be for a gymnast, as well as the intense psychological stress related to it.
But Biles’ decision would redefine the term GOAT and publicly champion the need to take care of oneself. Walsh’s documentary examines how much pressure that term actually puts on an athlete, with perfection expected at every turn amid press and social media noise — admirably, Biles is tough enough to read some mean tweets right into the camera.
Some of the most impressive parts of the documentary are the sections in which you’re allowed to join Biles back in the gym post-Tokyo, starting her years of training to rebuild, with the 2021 World Championships on the horizon — yep, the one where she landed the never-seen-before Yurchenko double pike. Honestly, watching these training sections, if you’re a gymnastics noob like me, you won’t see anything wrong — the jaw-dropping skills are out, people. But for Biles, this was a long road to recovery. The word “inspiring” gets thrown around a lot, especially with sports documentaries, but watching Biles keep at it with the support of her teammates and coaches, you can’t really put it any other way.
Simone Biles is frank, courageous, and real about her personal experiences
Ever a powerful speaker, Biles is generously candid about her experiences in her interviews in the documentary, reflecting on caring for her mental health and the impact of trauma on one’s mind and body. Notably, Walsh gives Biles the space to reflect on recovery after sexual abuse. In 2018, among the #MeToo movement, Biles came forward with hundreds of women against USA Gymnastics team physician Larry Nassar, who was charged for decades of abuse against over 500 girls and young women — including Olympians Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, and McKayla Maroney. Biles showed incredible courage revisiting her trauma and testifying before the Senate with a powerful statement, and in the documentary, she’s generous again in speaking to it alongside her teammates (I can also highly recommend watching Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk’s outstanding and enraging documentary Athlete A on Netflix, which specifically centres the survivors and sheds light on the corrupt systems created by USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee that failed to protect athletes.)
Biles also gives viewers a personal insight into private elements of her life, speaking about her childhood and foster care over photo albums, sharing her personal video diaries following her Tokyo exit, and letting viewers into her “forbidden Olympic closet” — a genuine treasure trove fit for a future museum. Watching Biles suddenly confront her Tokyo leotard, the uniform she was wearing during her vault, is deeply moving — and seemingly cathartic for the athlete. But there’s plenty of joy too; watching Biles celebrate her successes is a delight to watch. The athlete taking you through all the moves named after her — including “The Biles” — with footage of each staggering skill is the most satisfying flex, and seeing Biles herself ask Siri “how many Olympic medals does Simone Biles have” is pure squeal.
A quintessential and comprehensive portrait of one of the greats — and she’s only 27.
Importantly, the series also takes a broader look at gymnastics itself, diving into the unethical pressure put on young athletes. This includes the impact of a lack of proper support for athletes through injuries, namely citing U.S. gymnast Kerri Strug who vaulted with a broken ankle in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The series also covers problematic beauty standards and centred whiteness within gymnastics and the experiences of Black women gymnasts like champions Betty Okino and Dominique Dawes, both of whom are interviewed in the series. Here, Biles also reflects on her epic “Black girl magic” moment sharing the World Championship podium with Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade and America’s Shilese Jones in 2023, and it rules.
In fact, Biles’ personal and professional story is told and supported by an impressive array of talking heads like these, including Biles’ mother Nellie, father Ron, and sister Adria, coaches Cécile Canqueteau-Landi and Laurent Landi, teammates including Aly Raisman and Joscelyn Roberson, NCAA gymnastics champion and psychology professor Onnie Willis Rogers, journalists Alice Park and Céline Nony, sports commentator Olly Hogben, and many more. Plus, there’s some very sweet moments with her husband, NFL player Jonathan Owens, whom Biles married in 2023.
Ultimately, the first two episodes of Simone Biles Rising are a quintessential and comprehensive portrait of one of the greats — and she’s only 27 — amid a broad brush consideration of the state of gymnastics itself by those in it. With two more chapters on the way, the series has already offered a compelling look at Biles’ athletic career that will perfectly pair with your Olympic viewing, while giving you an understanding of what it means to rebuild, work hard, and challenge yourself to overcome life’s curveballs — whatever form they may take.
How to watch: Simone Biles Rising is now streaming on Netflix.