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Original Content podcast: Netflix‘Rhythm + Flow& tweaks the music competition formula

&Rhythm + Flow& is Netflix take on a reality TV staple — the music competition show. With Cardi B, Chance the Rapper and Tip &T.I.& Harris on-board as judges, the series searches for the next big hip-hop star.

In some ways, &Rhythm + Flow& sticks to the formula popularized by &American Idol,& &The Voice& and similar shows, with several episodes devoted to auditions in Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta and Chicago, followed by a gauntlet of challenges in which contestants hone their skills and prove their worth, culminating in a final showdown with one big winner.

But as fellow TechCrunch writer Megan Rose Dickey helps us explain on the latest episode of the Original Content podcast, the series stands out in a few key ways. For one thing, itthe first music competition to focus on hip hop. And rather than asking the audience to watch live/week-to-week, the show is now fully binge-able (it was initially released in batches of episodes over a two-week period).

We appreciated the fact that &Rhythm + Flow& didn&t linger on the spectacularly bad performers (and there were some) — it reserved most of its screen time for the genuine talents.

We also enjoyed the judges, who seemed to be enjoying themselves while also offering thoughtful commentary. Cardi B, in particular, was always entertaining, whether she was being enthusiastic, supportive or dismissive.

You can listen in the player below, subscribe using Apple Podcastsor find us in your podcast player of choice. If you like the show, please let us know by leaving a review on Apple. You can also send us feedback directly. (Or suggest shows and movies for us to review!)

A quick warning: While we felt that you can&t really &spoil& a reality show thatbeen out for a month, we do reveal who won.

And if you&d like to skip ahead, herehow the episode breaks down: 0:00 Intro 1:30 Disney+ follow-up 8:28 &Rhythm + Flow& review

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The International Energy Agency published its annual World Energy Outlook ten days ago. In this era of climate crisis, that outlook includes, as you would expect, stern warnings of catastrophic warming. But it also includes interesting nuggets of hope and optimism — and they aren&t alone. Global warming is a slow-motion in-progress planetary train-wreck, true; but you don&t have to look too hard to find evidence that new technology might yet, eventually, after enormous expense and had work, get us halfway back on non-catastrophic rails.

Consider the dreaded coal mine. Coal mines are really, really bad. How bad? New research suggests that methane leakage from coal mines, alone — without even considering burning the coal after itmined! — has &a greater warming impact than aviation and shipping combined.& (Italics mine.) Fly less and drink from paper straws if it makes you feel better, but if you really want to fight global warming, help close coal mines and/or prevent new ones from opening.

The WEO projects a long plateau in our collective reliance on coal over the next decades. That may seem surprising, but: &rising demand in India is one of the key factors holding global coal use steady, despite rapid falls in developed economies.& However, in India, &510GW of new coal has been cancelled since 2010 due to competition from cheaper renewables, financial distress at utility firms and public opposition& while Indian &coal power generation shows a declining trend since August 2019.& (Again, italics mine.) This is because of a decrease in demand, but itone thatespecially well-timed …

…because at the same time, renewables are on a tear in India, and around the world. They just keep getting cheaper. The IEA is infamous for drastically, comically underestimating how fast solar power capacity will grow around the world. (Herea paper which tries to explain why.) Bewilderingly, they are sticking to this, despite having been proven spectacularly wrong every year for the last decade:

Itvery easy to envision a scenario in which solar continues to skyrocket, coal diminishes faster than the IEA currently projects, and we emit significantly less methane and carbon dioxide than expected. (Oh, and reap massive public health benefits, too.) Yes, renewables will eventually run into significant unsolved, intermittency problems, but as Ramez Naam puts it, &these problems are distant.&

In the shorter term, even if the IEAimpressively pessimistic projections are correct, they are still actually reason for relative optimism. The famous IPCC Fifth Assessment report on climate change gave us four scenarios. The worst case is known as RPC8.5 (RPC for Representative Concentration Pathway, a name only a bureaucrat could love, and 8.5 for the watts per meter squared of radiative forcing, i.e. the difference between energy received from the sun and that radiated back out to space.) The second-worse is RPC6.0. And the IEAWorld Energy Outlook seems to indicate that we&re currently tracking better than either of those cases;

Again, this is relative optimism: itby no means &everything is going to be fine,& but it is &thanks to the spectacular growth of renewable energy, we do not seem to be on course for the IPCCworst or even second-worst projection.& Of course this is all estimation. Models are complex and comparisons are hard. For instance, the IEA projections do not include cement:

But speaking of cement, therea recent potential breakthrough there, too. Cement is responsible for some 8% of global carbon emissions, and 40% of those come from simply heating limestone to over 1,000 degrees. Heliogennew solar thermal plant can do that with sunlight — using machine learning.

Of course what we ultimately want is carbon capture. But wait! Therea recent potential breakthrough there, as well. A few years ago the cost of capturing carbon from the air was estimated at hundreds of dollars per ton. But that is on a steep decline, with estimates for new technologies now as low as $50/ton. (A typical car releases about 5 tons per year.)

Hockey-sticking renewable energies. Solar thermal cement. Cheaper carbon capture. In what may often seem like the forthcoming wasteland of the climate crisis, there are a surprising number of green shoots. Of course not all of them may grow. Theremany a slip ‘twixt breakthrough proof-of-concept and actual production at scale. And therealways the chance that better data and models may undercut apparent (relatively) good news.

But at the same time, in addition to the apocalypticists who seem to take a grim glee in oncoming catastrophe, and the hairshirt moralizers who seem to believe that suggesting anything other than &we&re all doomed, unless we go back to living in carbon-neutral caves!& is dangerous, there is another narrative. One which says &we, as a species, have a huge amount of incredibly expensive work to do, yes, but despair is not the only thing on the menu.& Ittrue that politicians seem unlikely to save us from a climate disaster. Technology, however, still might.

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John Lewis Black Friday phone deals: two-year guarantee on top of price matchesJohn Lewis Black Friday phone deals: two-year guarantee on top of price matches

There are some great smartphone deals as part of the Black Friday sales, and while some retailers are showing bigger discounts than others, it seems John Lewis Black Friday sale isn't going to win any prizes for smartphone deals. That's okay, though, because there's another reason you'd want to buy there.

This reason is the excellent John Lewis

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There are some great John Lewis Black Friday Apple deals on iPhones, iPads, moreThere are some great John Lewis Black Friday Apple deals on iPhones, iPads, more

If you're looking for great Black Friday Apple deals, on things like iPhones, iPads, Macs, AirPods, Apple Watches and more, there's a reason the John Lewis Black Friday sales are the place to go.

John Lewis Black Friday quick links

John Lewis offers guarantees on all its products, the amount of time depending on what you're buying, but this

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Fantastic John Lewis Black Friday laptop deals come with a unique reason to buyFantastic John Lewis Black Friday laptop deals come with a unique reason to buy

There are plenty of laptop deals as part of the Black Friday sales, but you should check out the John Lewis Black Friday laptop sales for a new laptop, for one particular reason.

Sure, John Lewis' laptop deals only match competitors, even on Black Friday, and you'd be hard pressed to find a portable computer cheaper there than elsewhere. So why

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This PlayStation VR Black Friday bundle includes five games for under $200This PlayStation VR Black Friday bundle includes five games for under $200

Walmart have unleashed their PlayStation VR Black Friday bundle upon us, and you can pick up a headset and five excellent games for under $200 right now. Included in this fantastic price are PlayStation Worlds, Skyrim, Astro Bot, Resident Evil 7, and Everybody's Golf VR, a great selection from across the broad landscape of experiences available on

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