Technologies

YouTube Launches Video Program Creating a Pathway to Real College Credits

Using YouTube videos as a launchpad to Arizona State University virtual courses, people can work toward first-year college credit with little upfront cost.

YouTube is kicking off a series of online courses that can progress into earning official, transferable college credits, an initiative aimed at breaking down cost and accessibility barriers to higher education.

The program, called College Foundations, is an extension of YouTube’s existing partnership with Arizona State University and educational video company Crash Course, which was launched by internet creators Hank and John Green. The partners have been posting college-related videos for nearly a year on the YouTube channel Study Hall, with nearly 42,000 followers.

Starting Tuesday, people can sign up for up to four courses on the Study Hall channel, which will begin on March 7. Collectively called College Foundations, the first four courses are English Composition, College Math, US History and Human Communication, which the partners said were selected for being among the most common elements of a first-year, general-education college curriculum. The College Foundations series is planned to expand to 12 courses by January 2025.

The videos in these courses on Study Hall are free to watch. If learners are interested in pursuing college credits, they can pay $25 to participate in full online courses mapped to those subjects offered by ASU, including direct interaction with other students and faculty. These formal coursework programs last seven weeks, and if students are unsatisfied with their grade, they can retake the $25 course again without penalty until they’ve earned the grade they want.

The highest price comes if students wish to unlock college credits. A credit free is $400 per course, though people who sign up before March 7 qualify for a «scholarship» price of $350 each. The amount may give some people sticker shock, but YouTube and its partners said it represents less than one-third the average course cost at a public four-year university for in-state students and is nearly 90% lower than the average course cost of a private four-year university.

The credits can then be used at any institution that accepts ASU credits.

Ideally, the College Foundations program would also give learners confidence that they can handle college-level coursework — and start earning credit toward a degree — before committing to the greater expense and effort of applying for college, according to Katie Kurtz, the global head of learning at YouTube. As the series widens to 12 courses, students could accumulate «an entire full year of college credits before you’ve even had to apply,» she added.

This extension of their partnership into transferable college credits heightens YouTube’s ongoing interest in education. YouTube itself — with more 2 billion monthly users and a tight connection to the world’s most pervasive internet search engine — is one of the most impactful sources of online information on Earth. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, the daughter of a professor and a teacher, routinely touts YouTube as a educational resource.

«YouTube is where the world comes to learn,» Wojcicki said in a statement about new program. «By partnering with ASU and Crash Course, we are excited to use our platform to give learners the tools they need to pursue higher education while also making the path more accessible and affordable.»

Kurtz said none of the fees associated with the College Foundations credit-earning courses generate revenue for YouTube, and the Study Hall channel, which is a collaboration of ASU and Crash Course, doesn’t have advertising. (Crash Course has its own YouTube channel, which does have ads; some Study Hall videos coexist on the Crash Course channel.)

She characterized the project as a product of more than four years working to figure out ways the informal learning that people glean from YouTube can be part of a pathway to more formal learning experiences, one where learners’ acquired knowledge gets some external recognition. «This is one enhancement of many that you’ll be seeing,» she said.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, Sept. 6

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Sept. 6.

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

Today’s Mini Crossword is extra-long, as usual on Saturdays. And a couple of the clues were stumpers! Need answers? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: U.S. prez who served four terms
Answer: FDR

4A clue: Hurry, in Shakespearean English
Answer: HIE

7A clue: Only country to have a musical instrument (the harp) as its national emblem
Answer: IRELAND

9A clue: Big name in rum
Answer: BACARDI

10A clue: She holds the record for most #1 Billboard hits by a female rapper (5)
Answer: CARDIB

11A clue: Ancient time-tracking device
Answer: SUNDIAL

12A clue: Ctrl-___-Del
Answer: ALT

13A clue: Opposite of SSW
Answer: NNE

14A clue: Used to be
Answer: WAS

15A clue: Jupiter or Saturn, primarily
Answer: GAS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Small lie
Answer: FIB

2D clue: Whom Count von Count of «Sesame Street» is a parody of
Answer: DRACULA

3D clue: Takes back, as testimony
Answer: RECANTS

4D clue: 1920s U.S. president
Answer: HARDING

5D clue: Home to the W.N.B.A.’s Fever
Answer: INDIANA

6D clue: Weed gummies
Answer: EDIBLES

8D clue: Cooking grease
Answer: LARD

11D clue: Observed
Answer: SAW

Technologies

Researchers Discover 18 Popular VPNs Are Connected: Why This Matters

All are owned by 3 separate groups but CNET’s recommended VPNs are not on the list

Virtual private networks are popular ways to keep your online activity private and hide your physical location from your internet service provider and apps. But it’s obviously important to choose a safe and secure VPN.

Three university researchers have discovered that 18 of the most widely used VPNs have shared infrastructures with serious security flaws that could expose customers’ browsing activity and leave their systems vulnerable to corrupted data. These VPNs are among the top 100 most popular on the Google Play Store, comprising more than 700 million downloads.

Read more: Best VPN Service for 2025: Our Top Picks in a Tight Race

The peer-reviewed study by the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium found that these VPNs, despite calling themselves independent businesses, are actually grouped into three separate families of companies.

None of CNET’s recommended VPNs — ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Surfshark, Proton VPN and Mullvad — are on the list. (If you currently don’t have a VPN, here’s why you might want to start using one.)

According to the findings, these are the three groups that contain the 18 VPNs:

Family A: Turbo VPN, Turbo VPN Lite, VPN Monster, VPN Proxy Master, VPN Proxy Master Lite, Robot VPN, Snap VPN and SuperNet VPN
Family B: Global VPN, Inf VPN, Melon VPN, Super Z VPN, Touch VPN, VPN ProMaster, XY VPN and 3X VPN
Family C: X-VPN and Fast Potato VPN

Researchers determined that the VPNs in Family A are shared between three providers linked to Qihoo 360, a firm identified by the US Department of Defense as a Chinese military company. The VPNs in Family B use the same IP addresses from the same hosting company.

Know your VPN’s parent company

It’s a cautionary tale about why it’s important to know who’s behind the VPN you’re using, says CNET senior writer Attila Tomaschek.

«It’s also crucial to know what kinds of data the VPN provider is sharing with its parent company and affiliated entities,» Tomaschek said. «Some of these companies may even be compelled to log customer activity and share it with authorities, depending on the jurisdiction in which they operate.»

Despite the warnings, Tomaschek says it’s not so easy to figure out who controls your VPN. But he says there are measures that customers can take.

«Users can do a few things to help ensure the VPN they’re using is reputable,» Tomaschek says. «Check the privacy policy — specifically for terms like ‘logging,’ ‘data sharing’ or ‘data collection.’ A Google search of the provider can help determine whether the VPN has been involved in questionable activity. Read detailed, unbiased reviews from reputable sources. Be especially wary of signing on with a free VPN, even if it’s listed as a top choice in your app store.»

The PETS researchers examined the most downloaded VPNs on Android, looking for overlaps among business paperwork, web presence and codebase. After identifying code similarities, they were able to group the 18 VPNs into three groups. The study was initially spurred by VPN Pro’s own findings, «Who owns your VPN? 105 VPNs run by just 24 companies.»

CNET’s Tomaschek has advice for anyone who has been using one of these 18 VPNs.

«I’d recommend deleting it from your device immediately,» he said. «If you suspect that any sensitive personal data may have been compromised, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on your credit report and look into services like dark web monitoring or identity theft protection.»

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Sept. 6, #348

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Sept. 6, No. 348.

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

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition was a stumper. But if you play cards, the green group is a fun one for sure. If you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Racket time.

Green group hint: Ante up!

Blue group hint: NY signal-callers.

Purple group hint: Coach’s CV.