Connect with us

Technologies

Why Tiger Woods, Tom Brady and others are joining in on the NFT craze

Tiger Woods is the latest to sell digital collectibles as NFTs. But how much are they going for nowadays? We’ll explain.

You’ve probably heard about NFTs, short for nonfungible tokens. But what exactly are they? It’s a new type of digital asset similar to cryptocurrency that can cost you a lot of money. The craze began in 2017, and since then, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, rock legends Kings of Leon and even Tiger Woods have sold NFTs for a pretty penny (more below).

But what exactly are you buying when you purchase an NFT? It’s not a collectible that you can keep in your dresser drawer, like Pokemon cards, a comic book or paintings. They’re entirely digital and are tied to almost anything — a video highlight, a meme or even a tweet.

If this doesn’t make much sense to you, well you’re not alone.

In short, NFTs offer a blockchain-created certificate of authenticity for a digital asset or piece of art. The interest has created a digital market that boasted $250 million in sales in 2020, with NFTs reaching new levels of hype from Visa, Warner Music Group and Nike. Even toilet paper companies are in on the latest cryptocurrency wave. Still confused? We’ll break down what NFTs really are, how much they cost and how you can get in on the latest bidding wars.

What’s an NFT?

This is the part that takes a bit of open-mindedness. An NFT is a unique digital token, with most using the Ethereum blockchain to digitally record transactions. It’s not a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ethereum, because those are fungible — exchangeable for another Bitcoin or cash. NFTs are recorded in a digital ledger in the same way as cryptocurrency, so there’s a listing of who owns each one.

What makes an NFT unique is the digital asset tied to the token. This can be an image, video, tweet or piece of music that’s uploaded to a marketplace, which creates the NFT to be sold.

Do I own the asset if I own an NFT?

Nope.

That’s the real kicker to understanding the whole concept. The person who buys the NFT doesn’t own the actual asset.

«NFTs challenge the idea of ownership: digital files can be reproduced infinitely and you do not (usually) buy the copyright or a license when purchasing an NFT,» said Jeffrey Thompson, associate professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.

For example, the creator of the Nyan Cat meme sold an NFT of it for $590,000. The person who bought the token owns the token, but doesn’t actually own the meme. That still belongs to the creator, who held onto intellectual and creative rights.

What the owner of the token has is a record and a hash code showing ownership of the unique token associated with the particular digital asset. People might download Nyan Cat and use it on social media if they want, but they won’t own the token. This also means they can’t sell the token as the owner can.

Why are NFTs so expensive?

As with physical collectibles such as Beanie Babies, baseball cards and toys, there’s a market for NFTs. The buyers tend to be tech-savvy individuals who understand the idea of wanting to purchase digital goods and likely made a killing this past year with cryptocurrencies. Ethereum, for example, went from just over $100 last March to a current price of about $3,400. In some cases, buyers are just flexing their digital wallets to show off how much crypto they have, but for others, there’s a deeper interest.

window.CnetFunctions.logWithLabel(‘%c One Trust ‘, «Service loaded: script_twitterwidget with class optanon-category-5»);

«Specifically for art-related NFTs, there is a huge surge in demand due to their novelty and creativity of early artists,» Jason Lau, chief operating officer of crypto exchange OKCoin, said in an email. «Whether it’s a physical work with an attached NFT (think of it as a digital autograph and proof of veracity), or an entirely digital work (where the NFT is the art), this new medium is opening new ways for collectors and artists to explore their relationship with the artwork itself.»

It’s also great for the artists, says Lau. By selling digital art directly to those interested, an artist can begin monetizing work without having to try to sell it in a gallery.

What kind of NFTs can I buy?

NFTs can be tied to any digital asset. Anything you see online can be an NFT — music, social media posts, clip art and more. Today, Sorare released its «Super Rare» Lionel Messi digital trading card that’s currently bidding at €29,992.75, equivalating to over $35,000. Sorare also announced that it raised $680 million for its next-level sports fantasy game. The funding is currently led by SoftBank.

And today, Tiger Woods will sell thousands of digital collectibles on Autograph on the DraftKings marketplace. The second collection will launch on Sept. 28. Autograph is co-founded by Tom Brady, another athlete in the NFT market.

But NFTs are going far beyond sports. Recently, Fortune gave its readers a chance to get in on the NFT craze. The company sold 256 copies of the limited edition cover from the graphic artist Pplpleasr for Fortune’s August/September magazine on OpenSea. The copies sold out within five minutes starting at $1 Etherum (estimated $3,000). But the NFTs were available for resale at three times the cost.

And in August, a clip art of a rock, better known as Ether Rock, was sold for $400,000 Etherum (estimated $1.3 million). Two weeks ago, it was valued at $97,716. And in August, Visa announced its NFT CryptoPunks purchase for $150,000 in Ethereum. The financial corporation believes that NFTs play a big role in the «future of retail, social media, entertainment, and commerce.» And Vine’s co-creator, Dom Hoffman, is reportedly inventing a new way to gamify NFTs with his fantasy gaming console, Supdive.

window.CnetFunctions.logWithLabel(‘%c One Trust ‘, «Service loaded: script_twitterwidget with class optanon-category-5»);

As the hype for NFTs grows, expect more digital assets to come up for sale and bring in some big money.

Where can I buy or sell an NFT?

While you may not want to jump right in bidding six figures, there are multiple NFT marketplaces out there to check out, with Opensea being the biggest. Buyers can search for art, domain names and random collectibles to bid on without having to break the bank. And Woods’ digital collection is one of the many NFT collections available on DraftKings marketplace, including Tony Hawk’s collection.

On the other hand, if you want to sell an NFT of your art, you can use NFTify, the Shopify NFT store, to sell NFTs without creating your own store. You’ll also need a MetaMask account to get going. And Burberry recently announced a partnership with Mythical Games to gamify buying, selling and collecting toys as NFTs through the Blankos Block Party game. CNET’s own Chris Parker also made a step-by-step guide on how to make and sell your own NFT, in the video below.

What are the downsides of NFTs?

A drawback is the hundreds of dollars in fees required to create an NFT. If you’re making your own token on the Ethereum blockchain, you need to use some Ethereum, which as mentioned earlier is kind of pricey. Then after you make an NFT, there’s a «gas» fee that pays for the work that goes into handling the transaction and that’s also based on the price of Ethereum. Marketplaces simplify the process by handling everything for a fee when an NFT is sold.

There’s also an environmental cost. Like Bitcoin, Ethereum requires computers to handle the computations, known as «mining,» and those computer tasks require a lot of energy. An analysis from Cambridge University found that mining for Bitcoin consumed more energy than the entire country of Argentina. Ethereum is second to Bitcoin in popularity, and its power consumption is on the rise and comparable to the amount of energy used by Libya.

Related Topics:

Technologies

iPhone 17E vs. iPhone 16E Specs: Is It Time to Upgrade Your Affordable iPhone?

The $599 iPhone 17E comes with some notable improvements over the iPhone 16E. Here’s what’s new.

Apple’s iPhone 17E is officially out at a $599 price, bringing a nice set of upgrades to its more affordable iPhone. If you own an iPhone 16E, you might be wondering whether the changes here are enough to justify buying the newer model. 

Apple has made two key upgrades, not just in specs but also in durability and quality-of-life features, like introducing MagSafe and increasing base storage.

Here’s what you need to consider before deciding on an upgrade. 

Display and build

The iPhone 17E and iPhone 16E both have the same dimensions. They are both 5.78 by 2.82 by 0.31 inches, and they both have a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display. The resolution works out to 25,312 by 11,700 at 460 pixels per inch, so there isn’t much of a difference here, and both have a peak brightness of 1200 nits for HDR content and a typical max brightness of 800 nits. Overall, this will translate into an equally crisp and bright display for both models, with the same notch. 

In terms of overall design and appearance, including the button layout and aluminum frame, the two phones are essentially identical. Neither is going to be as hand- or pocket-busting as the iPhone 17 Pro Max with its 6.9-inch screen. However, the iPhone 17E is slightly heavier at 5.96 ounces compared to the 16E’s 5.88 ounces.

 
This difference likely comes down to Apple’s durability upgrades for the newer model. The 17E uses Ceramic Shield 2 for the front glass, which offers three times the scratch resistance of the plain old Ceramic Shield on the iPhone 16E. 

Both phones are also IP68 rated, offering water resistance up to 6 meters for up to 30 minutes.

There’s a slight difference with color options. The iPhone 17E comes in three colors — black, white and the ever-popular pink color — while the iPhone 16E limits you to black and white. 

Ultimately, nothing in the hardware we’d say really moves the needle, aside from the added screen durability, though you could always get a screen protector and case if you’re worried. 

Hardware, battery and storage 

The big changes with phones start when you take a peek under the hood. The iPhone 17E has a newer A19 chip. It comes with a six-core CPU with two performance and four efficiency cores, as well as a four-core GPU with Neural Accelerators. It also has a 16-core Neural Engine and hardware-accelerated ray tracing. This is a step above the A18 chip in the iPhone 16E, which has the same core configuration but lacks the Neural Engine that comes with the GPU.

We haven’t run performance benchmarks or tested the iPhone 17E’s A19 chip yet, but we expect the newer chipset to offer a performance boost over the A18.

Worth noting is that in our review of the iPhone 16E, it performed well in its CPU benchmark, scoring higher than the iPhone 16, iPhone 15, and iPhone SE. In graphics performance, the iPhone 16 had an advantage over the iPhone 16E thanks to its extra GPU core, but we expect that will be a different story with the A19 on the iPhone 17E since it has the same chip as the iPhone 17, just with one less GPU core. 

iPhone 17E vs. iPhone 16E

iPhone 17E Apple iPhone 16E
Display size, tech, resolution, refresh rate 6.1-inch OLED display; 2,532×1,170 pixels; 60Hz refresh rate 6.1-inch OLED display; 2,532×1,170 pixels; 60Hz refresh rate
Pixel density 460ppi 460ppi
Dimensions (inches) 5.78×2.82×0.31 in 5.78×2.82×0.31 in
Dimensions (millimeters) 146.7×71.5×7.8 mm 146.7×71.5×7.8 mm
Weight (grams, ounces) 169g (5.96oz) 167g (5.88oz)
Mobile software iOS 26 (at launch) iOS 18 (at launch)
Camera 48 megapixel (wide) 48 megapixel (wide)
Front-facing camera 12 megapixel 12 megapixel
Video capture 4K/60fps 4K/60fps
Processor Apple A19 Apple A18
RAM + storage RAM unknown + 256GB, 512GB RAM unknown + 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
Expandable storage None None
Battery 4,005 mAh 4,005 mAh
Fingerprint sensor None, Face ID None, Face ID
Connector USB-C, MagSafe USB-C
Headphone jack None None
Special features Action button, Apple C1X 5G modem, Apple Intelligence, Ceramic Shield 2, Emergency SOS, satellite connectivity, IP68 resistance, 15W Qi wireless charging, MagSafe Action button, Apple C1 5G modem, Apple Intelligence, Ceramic Shield, Emergency SOS, satellite connectivity, IP68 resistance, 20W wired charging, 7.5W Qi wireless charging
US price starts at $599 (256GB) $599 (128GB)

That means in benchmark tests, we expect the iPhone 17E to outperform both the iPhone 16E and iPhone 16 in graphics performance, but it’s likely to fall short of the iPhone 17. 

«Benchmark tests for the CPU in Geekbench 6 place the iPhone 17 above the iPhone 16 Pro Max, as well as the full iPhone 15 lineup,» said Abrar Al-Heeti, CNET senior technology reporter, in her iPhone 17 review. «In a graphics test using 3DMark’s Wild Life Extreme, the iPhone 17 exceeded the performance of the entire iPhone 16 series, but was topped by the Galaxy S25 lineup.»  

In real-world use, we don’t expect any performance issues with the newer iPhone 17E since it’s likely to fall right between the iPhone 16E and iPhone 17 in terms of performance. 

 
«In everyday use, the phone had no issues playing video games, editing and saving videos and using Apple Intelligence,» said Patrick Holland, CNET managing editor, commenting on his day-to-day use of the iPhone 16E. 

The other significant change comes from the storage upgrade. The iPhone 17E starts at a higher base storage model: 256GB for $599 and 512GB for $799, with the 128GB option dropped from the iPhone 16E. This is a pretty nice change, especially for those who were often brushing up against the storage limit of the entry model. 

The truly substantial improvement between generations comes with the addition of MagSafe to the iPhone 17E, which was one of our big gripes when we tested the iPhone 16E. MagSafe being included in this generation means you now have support for a vast array of MagSafe cases, mounts, chargers, docks and other accessories.

This also bumps wireless charging support to Qi 2 at 15W, up from the 7.5W Qi wireless charging on the iPhone 17E. However, neither is as good as the iPhone 17, which supports 25W Qi charging. Both phones come with USB-C ports for charging and data, so that hasn’t changed, with a 50% charge in 30 minutes. 

Cameras 

The cameras haven’t seen a substantial change either. Both the iPhone 17E and 16E feature a 48-megapixel Fusion camera system as their primary rear sensor. That’s not unexpected, since Apple usually reserves its multisensor setup for the mainstay line, like the iPhone 17 and iPhone 16. 

You get optical image stabilization for both 1x and 2x optical zoom, True Tone flash, Photonic Engine, Deep Fusion, Smart HDR 5, Night mode, Portrait Lighting and more.

One minor note: The iPhone 17E Portrait mode includes Depth and Focus controls, while the iPhone 16E Portrait mode had only Depth controls. 

With the front camera, again, the setup remains the same. A 12MP TrueDepth camera is used for Face ID. For video recording, both support 4K Dolby Vision up to 60 frames per second and 1080p Slo-mo video at 240fps. Naturally, you get OIS and spatial audio and stereo recording too.

 
Looking at our iPhone 16E review should give you a fairly good idea of how well the iPhone 17E snaps pictures, though naturally, we’ll be testing it ourselves. 

«The 16E’s main camera takes lovely photos, even when using night mode,» said Holland about the iPhone 16E. «It has a 48-megapixel sensor, which has enough resolution for sensor cropping to offer a 2x magnification, and the results are decent. Images look sharp, have a nice dynamic range (good for high-contrast lighting like sunrises/sunsets), and colors are attractively subdued.»

Apple software and connectivity 

On the software end, you should expect essentially identical software. Both support Apple Intelligence and Siri and will get the latest iOS updates. The iPhone 17E comes with iOS 26 installed, while the iPhone 16E launched with iOS 18.3 but also supports iOS 26.  

When it comes to connectivity, both the iPhone 17E and iPhone 16E have a nearly identical load out. They support 5G (sub-6 GHz) with 4×4 MIMO, gigabit LTE, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3. You also get NFC, VoLTE and Wi-Fi calling. Both also support dual eSIMs and storage for 8 or more.

The sole difference is that the iPhone 17E comes with the C1X modem, while the iPhone 16E has the C1 modem.  

Should you upgrade?

There are two reasons you might consider upgrading from the iPhone 16E to the iPhone 17E. First, if you’re often running out of storage space on a 128GB iPhone 16E, you can get the iPhone 17E for $599 starting at 256GB. Or you can spring for the 512GB model for $799 if your needs are more substantial. 

The other big reason is MagSafe. We won’t lie: There’s a pretty significant improvement in quality of life with MagSafe if you’ve had to worry about plugging or unplugging a cable. MagSafe-compatible accessories also make it easy to use cases, phone mounts, wallet attachments and other accessories. However, worth noting is that you can pick up third-party cases that add magnets to give you MagSafe compatibility. 

Now, are those two reasons enough to pay $599 for a phone that you probably paid the same price for just a year ago? We’d say probably not. You’d likely be better off with the iPhone 17 base model if you’re looking for a more substantial performance and feature upgrade. 

However, if you have a much older model or you’re an Android user looking for a cheap entry point into the Apple ecosystem, getting an iPhone 17E might be worth it.

Continue Reading

Technologies

Meta Enters the AI Shopping Wars to Challenge ChatGPT and Gemini

Mark Zuckerberg’s company begins a partial rollout of its agentic AI shopping research tool.

It was only a matter of time before Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta jumped into the AI shopping race. According to a Bloomberg report, Meta is testing a new AI shopping assistant feature to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini in one of the fastest-growing areas of e-commerce.

A representative for Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Meta joins an AI shopping assistant market that is expected to boom. Research and consulting firm Grand View Research projects the market to grow from $3.36 billion in 2024 to $28.54 billion by 2033 — an annual rate of nearly 27%. North America currently controls 40% of the worldwide market.

Other AI shopping assistants aside from ChatGPT, Gemini and now Meta are also available. They include Amazon’s Rufus (ZDNet loves it), Amazon’s Interests, Klarna (by OpenAI), Shopify and even eBay.

Initially, only some US-based Meta AI users will see the new feature within the chatbot, according to Bloomberg.

Say you ask the chatbot about the most popular cat toys. The AI will return a horizontal carousel of products, along with price, brand information, and websites where you can buy them. 

The AI tool will also offer a short explanation of why it is recommending each product. You won’t be able to directly purchase from the Meta AI site, however. You will need to visit the merchant’s external link.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT already has an AI shopping research feature. I tried it and asked, «Please show me the best cat toys to buy.» The AI responded with a curated list of highly rated cat toys. It offered a horizontal, scrollable carousel of products; each product displayed its price at different stores. As with Meta, you have to click on the store’s website link for each product to buy it.

With Google’s Gemini AI shopping assistant, I asked the same question: «Please show me the best cat toys to buy.» Gemini responded with products, images, prices, descriptions and links to stores — basically the same setup as Meta and ChatGPT.

Meta’s entrance into the AI shopping market reflects a broader shift in how consumers engage with products online, as AI reshapes e-commerce experiences and businesses seek deeper integration between social, search and purchase journeys.

Traditionally, online shopping began with keyword searches on e-commerce sites or search engines, but AI now enables more natural language, personalized discovery and tailored suggestions based on context, intent and user data.

Brad Jashinsky, director analyst at research firm Gartner, said customer trust is an issue with AI shopping assistants.

«Our recent survey found that nearly two-thirds of consumers think GenAI-powered shopping tools, whether provided by retailers or by GenAI platforms, will make biased shopping recommendations,» Jashinsky told CNET. «Customer behavior takes a long time to change. It wasn’t until 2023 that more e-commerce shopping was done on mobile devices versus desktop devices in the US. That was 16 years after the iPhone debuted.»

Jashinsky said companies have been slow to adopt agentic AI and GenAI for online shopping experiences.

«More than half of customer experience leaders fear that AI delivering inaccurate responses or content threatens the customer experience,» he said.

Continue Reading

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for March 4, #1719

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for March 4, No. 1,719.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a bit tricky, thanks to a repeated letter, but it’s a fairly common word. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Read more: New Study Reveals Wordle’s Top 10 Toughest Words of 2025

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has one repeated letter.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has one vowel.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with T.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with T.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to the action of stealing.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is THEFT.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, March 3, No. 1718, was LINEN.

Recent Wordle answers

Feb. 27, No. 1714: DIZZY

Feb. 28, No. 1715: HYDRA

March 1, No. 1716: FLUKE

March 2, No. 1717: SLIME

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © Verum World Media