Amazon Prime Day has established itself as one of the biggest online sales events since the dawn of online shopping. This year, Prime Day is on July 15 and 16, and Amazon is offering deals on everything from electronics to baby supplies. But other retailers are starting to catch on, giving Amazon a run for its money and giving you even more opportunities to compare prices and save.

Not to be outdone, Walmart is running thousands of special deals in an even longer window than Prime Day. Price cuts and rollbacks begin on July 14 (one day before Prime Day) and run through Wednesday, July 17 (one day after Prime Day) with new deals being added daily.

Some standout Walmart deals available right now include:

Keep reading for a full list of the best deals Walmart has to offer. We'll be updating this list as new deals roll out throughout the week.

Following is a transcript of the video.

Narrator: This is the AMC on East Illinois Street in Chicago. They're playing 17 movies. But you actually have 21 options because there's so many formats. Should you see "Toy Story 4" in 3D? Digital? Hang on, what's Dolby? And why does it cost 18 bucks? Which one do you pick?

If you've bought a movie ticket in the last decade, you've seen this: a bunch of different options, each with dramatically different prices. The same movie is being screened, but there are a lot of ways it can be projected. In order to figure out why there are so many formats, we need to find out what these actually mean. It's more complicated than the five names you see listed.

Let's start with the basics. Standard, sometimes just referred to as digital: This is your average movie-theater experience, found anywhere from Regal to a small independent theater. Then there's 3D, the one with the glasses, usually branded as RealD 3D. These projectors use polarized light to create the illusion of depth, which supposedly makes the film more immersive. But a lot of people just find it disorienting. 3D movies aren't as popular as they once were. In fact, in 2018, the MPAA reported a 20% year-over-year decrease in the global 3D box office. All right, let's ditch those 3D glasses and check out the newest format to hit theaters, Dolby.

Dolby Digital Cinemas, made by Dolby, can be found at AMC theaters. It uses dual 4K laser projectors. That's four times more resolution than a standard theater projector. These projectors produce super crisp images with deep blacks and bright highlights, at 500 times the contrast ratio and twice the brightness of a standard projector. Dolby is the best HDR you can get in the theater. High dynamic range means really bright highlights and really dark blacks. Dolby Cinema images appear less muddy or gray compared to the traditional projectors. Overall, it's supposed to create a more realistic image. And it reminds you, over and over, with this video...

Ad announcer: Fire becomes fire. Sun becomes sun.

Narrator: Yeah, we get it. But the biggest difference with Dolby is their sound system. They call it Dolby Atmos. All movie theaters use surround sound. That means using more speakers so the viewer can hear sounds from the direction they're supposed to be coming from onscreen, like behind you, or to your right. But Dolby Atmos is like super surround sound. It uses many more speakers to completely surround the viewer. There are even speakers on the ceiling and transducers, which produce bass under the seats. There's also a version of Dolby that offers 3D movies. Thanks to the higher-quality projectors, the image actually appears brighter than with traditional 3D. And then there's IMAX.

You've probably heard of IMAX, because it's actually been around since the '70s. But this can get a little confusing, because unlike Dolby, not every IMAX theater is the same. Unique to IMAX is its huge screen, which is bigger than any other format, up to 40% larger, and it uses an aspect ratio that's taller than other theaters. With some movies, this means you're seeing more of the image instead of black bars on the top and bottom of the frame. The newest IMAX theaters use dual 4K laser projectors and have an upgraded sound system. But if you buy an IMAX ticket, you might not be getting your money's worth. Depending on your theater, you may be getting what some refer to as Lie-MAX. These Lie-MAX, ahem, IMAX Experience theaters have a smaller screen and lower-resolution projectors. It's not clear just from buying your ticket if your theater is IMAX with laser or Lie-MAX, but you can check this website to find out. Like Dolby, some theaters also offer IMAX 3D. But if you're walking out of your IMAX movie wondering why the screen felt smaller than last time, you might spot one more logo.

RPX is Regal's own large-format experience, offering bigger screens, newer projectors, and an updated sound system. That list probably sounds familiar by now. Basically, RPX will look and sound better than a standard movie theater. But it's not as premium as Dolby or IMAX with laser. Oh yeah, there's also 4DX, but, uh, that's its own thing.

This is a lot of information. But that's actually just digital. Some films offer special screenings where you can view actual film being projected. "Dunkirk" and "The Hateful Eight" offered 70-millimeter screenings. 70mm is huge, more than six times bigger than standard 35mm film. There's also 70mm IMAX, which is how IMAX first started. Some moviegoers enjoy film projections because it creates a more organic and less sterile image compared to digital. Besides 70mm, some theaters still offer 35mm film projections, but these are usually for special events, not new releases. So yeah, there's a lot more to these screenings than just their names.

Here are a few takeaways from all of those specs: Bigger screens, newer projectors, and larger sound systems usually make a better viewing experience. But if IMAX and Dolby are both bigger and higher-quality, which is better? Well, it depends. If you want the biggest screen size you can get, you want IMAX. With some screens over 80 feet wide, IMAX is way bigger than Dolby. Just make sure it's IMAX with laser. But if you're an audiophile who has to get the best sound possible, go with Dolby. Dolby Atmos is noticeably more immersive than traditional surround sound. Dolby theaters are also usually newer, so chances are it will be better maintained.

But both Dolby and IMAX have better quality control over the sound and image than a standard theater. Dolby does offer a crisper, brighter image with deeper blacks than IMAX. But both IMAX with laser and Dolby look great. The average moviegoer probably wouldn't notice a difference without seeing these images side by side. But IMAX theaters also have a taller screen, so if you're watching a movie like "Avengers: Endgame" that was specifically shot for IMAX, you'll see more of the image instead of having black bars on the top and bottom. But projection isn't everything. If you're going to watch a three-hour "Avengers" movie, you want to be comfortable. Certain theaters offer reclining seats, food trays, or paired seats. These are a deal-breaker for some people. The specifics will vary theater to theater, but you can usually check online before buying your ticket.

Obviously, all of these features won't come cheap. If you want to see a newer, higher-quality format, your ticket is going to cost more. Now, if all you wanted was to see a movie on a hot summer day, this might seem silly to you. But some people are passionate about how they watch a movie. And who can blame them? Movie tickets have hit an average price of over $9 nationwide, and in big cities it's even more expensive. If you're paying a bunch of money, you want the best experience possible. All of these formats give moviegoers more choice. If you just want to see a comedy with some friends, standard digital is probably fine. But if you're seeing the big blockbuster you've been waiting a year for, it might be worth the extra money to see it in the biggest format available.

Different genres lend themselves to different formats. And these formats give directors and cinematographers more choices too. Christopher Nolan shot parts of "Dunkirk" with an IMAX camera, which made those exterior shots feel large and epic, while the interior shots felt tight and confined. The taller IMAX aspect ratio was used to add more impact to the story. And sound designers are able to be more detailed and creative when using a system like Dolby Atmos. All of these formats give filmmakers the opportunity to tell their story the way they want to tell it.

Of course, it helps the theaters too. Formats like Dolby and IMAX are a reason to go to the theater instead of watching at home. But whether you want crispy Dolby or grainy 35mm, you've got a lot of options. And that's a good thing. Imagine if 3D was the only way you could see a movie.

Under the waves in the English Channel over the weekend, the biologist Lizzie Daly came face-to-face with an enormous underwater denizen: a 5-foot-long barrel jellyfish.

Daly was diving near Cornwall, off the coast of the UK, with her colleague Dan Abbott, an underwater photographer. Abbott snapped a remarkable shot of the cream-colored, nearly translucent jelly; it was almost as big as Daly.

"It was breathtaking," Daly, an ambassador for the United Kingdom's Marine Conservation Society, told USA Today. "We had been diving for about half an hour, and out of the murky water was this single enormous jellyfish."

The jellyfish, whose scientific name is Rhizostoma pulmo, is generally harmless and commonly seen during the summer across waters in the UK, as well as in the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and Black seas.

It's the largest jellyfish species found in Britain, but this particular specimen was bigger than any Daly or Abbott had seen before.

"I've never seen a barrel fish or any jellyfish that big," Daly said in a video that she and Abbott produced about the encounter for Wild Ocean Week. "It was the size of my body."

Typically, barrel jellies' mushroom-shaped domed ends (called bells) can reach 3 feet in diameter. The animal can weigh up to 77 pounds.

Read more: 12 incredible facts about jellyfish

Daly told CBS News that she and Abbott followed the solitary jellyfish for about an hour.

"It was very humbling to be swimming alongside of it," she said.

A barrel jellyfish near Piran, Slovenia.Ales Kladnik/Wikimedia Commons

Despite its imposing appearance and frilly tentacles, the barrel jellyfish isn't dangerous to humans or other marine creatures; it feeds entirely on plankton.

"Barrel jellyfish are harmless to us in spite of their size," the marine biologist Cathy Lucas told The Guardian. "All jellyfish sting, but the barrel sting is weak."

The jellies' tentacles are covered in tiny stingers (which can even sting after the jelly has died), but they mostly serve to protect the animal from predators like the leatherback turtle.

"They're not a threat to humans," Daly told CBS.

Jellyfish have roamed the oceans for the past 500 million years. Composed of 95% water, the creatures don't have brains, stomachs, intestines, or lungs. Instead, nutrients and oxygen slip through their gelatinous layers of see-through skin.

Groups of jellies are called "blooms."

In the summers of 2014 and 2015, UK citizens discovered scores of barrel-jellyfish blooms near the same part of the Cornwall coast where Daly spotted her barrel jelly. The jellyfish had been drawn close to shore by plankton in warm summer water, but some washed up on the area's beaches.

A box jellyfish at Bakoven Rock, South Africa.Peter Southwood/Wikimedia Commons

Of course, not all jellyfish are so benign. Some, like the box jellyfish pictured above, can kill a human in minutes. Their venom targets the heart and nervous system, and packs such a punch that swimmers can drown or die of heart failure before reaching shore.

Perhaps the best thing to buy on Prime Day is tech. Usually, tech devices are expensive investments that you really have to mull over, but when a lot of the best devices go on sale, it's a lot easier to just hit "Add to Cart."

We've looked through thousands of discounts over the course of the first day of deals to find the best Prime Day sales on all kinds of tech. We've updated this list several times to ensure that the deals are still available, though a few have been going in and out of stock.

Whether you want a new laptop, tablet, phone, smart speaker, headphones, smart home tech, or accessories, there's a deal on Amazon for you.

Shop Prime Day Deals

Keep scrolling to see the best tech deals of Prime Day 2019, running July 15-16.

Every year around halfway through July, Amazon Prime Day brings some of the best deals on all kinds of products. In recent years, Prime Day deals have rivaled those on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and this year's event is no exception to that rule.

One of the best things you can look for on Prime Day 2019 is laptops. There are a ton of laptop models on sale, so you can get a great model for cheap.

Laptop deals range across brands, from Asus, to Acer, to HP, to Samsung, and there are great Windows laptops and Chromebooks alike — so there should be something for most shoppers.

Best Windows laptop deals

Amazon

If you want a Windows 10 laptop that's ultra-affordable and still relatively capable, then the Acer Aspire 1 is an excellent option. The device ships with Windows 10 S and offers 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, plus it comes with Microsoft Office 365 Personal. It's available for a very affordable $199.

Buy for $199 (you save $50.99)

Amazon

The Acer Aspire E steps things up a little in the performance department, offering an Intel Core i3 processor, 1TB of storage, and 6GB of RAM. It ships with a full version of Windows 10, and has a 15.6-inch display, which is perfect for watching movies. The device is available for $362.

Buy for $289 (you save $90.99)

Amazon

The Acer Aspire 5 has a 15.6-inch display and an AMD Ryzen 3 processor, along with 128GB of storage and Windows 10 S, Microsoft's lightweight computer operating system. The device is available for $269, which is a pretty incredible price given the device's performance.

Buy for $269 (you save $80.99)

Amazon

If you want performance for under $1,000, look no further than the HP Envy 13, which boasts an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and a hefty 512GB of storage. The device even offers an NVIDIA GeForce MX250 graphics card, meaning it should be able to handle basic gaming and video processing.

Buy for $999 (you save $350.99)

Amazon

The Dell XPS 13 is one of our favorite laptops of the year, and this variant of the laptop has a ton going for it. The laptop has a 13.3-inch display along with an 8th-gen Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a massive 1TB solid-state drive. Safe to say, if you need performance, this is the way to go, especially given the fact that the device is $250 off.

Buy for $1,399.99 (you save $250)

Best gaming laptop deals

Amazon

The Razer Blade is one of the thinnest and most portable gaming laptops out there, but thankfully that doesn't mean that it sacrifices on performance. The device boasts an Intel Core i7 processor, along with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card, so you know it should be able to handle almost everything you can throw at it.

Buy for $1,349.11 (you save $250.88)

Amazon

ASUS has been building great laptops in its ROG line for some time now, and the ROG Zephyrus S is no exception to that rule. The device boasts an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card, and it's available for over $500 off, which is pretty impressive for a laptop this powerful.

Buy for $1,249.99 (you save $549.01)

Amazon

Not everyone has over $1,000 to spend on a gaming laptop, but thankfully those that have a more limited budget still have some great options - like the Asus FX504 gaming laptop, which has an Intel Core i7 processor and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX1050 Ti graphics card. It's available for $749.99, which is a pretty impressive price.

Buy for $749 (you save $250.99)

Amazon

MSI is another breakout company over the past few years. The MSI GS75 Stealth offers better performance than almost any other laptop thanks to its NVIDIA GeForce RTX2080 graphics card, which is an absolute beast. The laptop is a hefty $644.45 off, which is an incredible deal.

Buy for $2,119.18 (you save $679.82)

Amazon

The ASUS ROG Strix Scar Edition has a massive 17.3-inch display and an Intel Core i7 processor with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050Ti, plus it's available for under $1,000, meaning that it offers excellent value for money.

Buy for $999.99 (you save $299.01)

Best Chromebook deals

Amazon

Acer's Chromebook lineup has been getting better and better, and this device has a nice, big 15.6-inch display with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage - which should be enough for most users on a laptop like this. The device is available for $50 off, which brings its already low price even lower.

Buy for $209.99 (you save $50)

Amazon

The ASUS Chromebook C423NA-DH02 has a nice 14-inch display with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which essentially means that it should be a little more portable while still offering the same performance compared to its 15-inch+ counterparts. The device is available for $245, which isn't a bad price at all for a laptop like this.

Buy for $179.99 (you save $90)

Amazon

If you're looking for an ultra-cheap laptop that will get the job done, look no further than the Lenovo Chromebook S330, which has a 14-inch display, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage. The device also has a pretty nice design, and will likely offer more than enough power for most users.

Buy for $144.99 (you save $145)

Amazon

The Asus Chromebook Flip offers a little more flexibility than most other Chromebooks, thanks to the fact that the display can flip around the keyboard so the device can be used as a tablet. Under the hood, the device has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, plus it has an Intel Core m3 processor, making it one of the more powerful devices on this list.

Buy for $399.99 (you save $85.99)

Amazon

Looking for something ultra-portable? The Asus Chromebook R11 has a 2-in-1 design, plus it has a small 11.6-inch display making it perfect for those that need something they can quickly and easily chuck in a backpack or bag. The device also has 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which is perfect for things like web browsing, emailing, and watching Netflix.

Buy for $199.99 (you save $100)

Amazon

The Samsung Chromebook Plus is a 2-in-1 laptop that has a touchscreen and can run Android apps. It has 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, plus, it comes with a stylus.

Buy for $379.99 (you save $170)

Amazon

The Acer Chromebook Spin 13 is for those that need a little extra performance from their Chromebook. The device boasts an Intel Core i5 processor, along with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, plus it also has a 2-in-1 design and comes at an impressive $223.36 off the original price.

Buy for $599.99 (you save $223.36)

Truly wireless earbuds like Apple's AirPods have become super popular over the past few years. Although they're not audiophile-level earbuds, the AirPods are incredibly convenient. They pair nearly instantly with your phone, they charge up in their little case, and they're super lightweight and portable.

The only downside to AirPods is that they are a tad pricey, and they very rarely go on sale. Luckily, you can get the latest version of the AirPods at a small discount this Prime Day. You'll only save $14 to $20 depending on which model you choose, but given how rarely Apple discounts its latest products and the fact that the new ones have never been discounted, this is still a great deal.

Beyond the charging method, there is no difference between the two AirPod models. Both sets of earbuds have the same audio tech, the same Apple H1 processing chip, and the same design. Regardless of which ones you choose, you'll be getting a pair of arguably the most popular wireless earbuds around, but act quickly — we do not know how long these deals will last.

Read more: The Apple Watch and a few iPads are on sale for Prime Day 2019 — here are the best deals

Apple

If you want to get the latest AirPods that come in a wireless charging case, you can save $20 and pay $179. With the wireless charging case, you can simply pop the case onto a wireless charger and it will juice up the case and the headphones insider. It's a pretty nifty feature, especially if you regularly use a wireless charger with your iPhone.

Buy for $179 (you save $20)

Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

Of course, you may prefer to save some money and opt for the AirPods that come in a normal charging case for $144.99. The discount is less at $14.01, but the overall price is cheaper. This case juices up with the same lightning cable you use to charge your iPhone or iPad, so it's also easy to use.

Buy for $144.99 (you save $14.01)

One of the first things you might want to do when you set up a new Samsung Galaxy S10 is to record a voicemail greeting. Unfortunately, it's not obvious how to do that, so many people make do with the default greeting.

The good news: It's easy to set up a personal voicemail greeting on your Galaxy S10.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

Galaxy S10 (From $499 at Best Buy)

How to set up a personal voicemail greeting on the Samsung Galaxy S10

1. Start the Phone app and, if you don't see the numeric keypad, tap "Keypad" at the bottom of the screen.

You can access voicemail by tapping and holding the "1." Dave Johnson/Business Insider

2. Tap and hold the "1" for about two seconds until the phone automatically calls voicemail.

3. Immediately tap "3" to access voicemail settings.

4. Listen to the options. On most voicemail systems, tap "2" to start the process to record a new greeting.

5. The current personal greeting will play; then tap "2" again to record a new greeting.

6. Say the greeting you want, and tap "#" when you're done. To save the greeting, tap "1."

7. Hang up the call.

How to set up your voicemail using a visual voicemail app

If you have a visual voicemail app installed on your phone, you can alternately use that app to record and set a greeting instead.

In the T-Mobile Visual Voicemail app, for example, tap the three-dot menu at the top right and then choose "Settings." In the Greetings & Pin section, you can tap the default greeting and record a new one.

A potentially easier way to record and manage voicemail greetings is by using a visual voicemail app. Dave Johnson/Business Insider

Here are visual voicemail apps for the most common cellular providers:

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon praised Amazon on Monday, saying he admired the company for its "speed, innovation," and "customer centricity."

McMillon made the remarks at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech, an annual technology summit, as Walmart held massive sales online coinciding with Amazon's Prime Day, which is the tech giant's second-biggest annual sales event.

During his remarks, McMillon admitted that Walmart "fell behind" on e-commerce and has been "playing catch-up."

"We're not proud. We're not egotistical," McMillon said. "If somebody is doing better — something better — than we are, let's copy and paste what we should and can. And in the case of Amazon and others, clearly customers are responding to convenience. Everybody loves saving time and something that's easy."

He said Walmart was learning to adjust its pace to help create a more seamless experience for customers across its stores and website.

Read more: Walmart US CEO says half his store visits make him 'grumpy' — and he's turning up the heat on managers

He told a story about Walmart founder Sam Walton visiting a competing store that was a total mess and finding one aspect where it was doing better than Walmart.

"The store didn't look very good," McMillon said.

But when Walton exited the store he said, "Did you see the pantyhose rack? It was awesome. Like that was the best pantyhose rack I have ever seen. It conveyed the merchandise and the price. It was organized. It was in stock."

"Sam found the one thing in that competitive store that we needed to adopt to make Walmart better," McMillon said. "So culturally, you know, that story represents how we think about competition."

To take full advantage of the many features of an Apple Watch, you must turn on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on your paired iPhone.

Below, we detail how to connect your Apple Watch to a Wi-Fi network, and which Apple Watch features are available with and without Wi-Fi.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

iPhone XS (From $999 at Apple)

Apple Watch Series 4 (From $399 at Apple)

Apple Watch Series 3 (From $279 at Apple)

Why you need Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on an Apple Watch

The Apple Watch communicates with its paired iPhone using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. It can also use a cellular network to stay connected, but only the most recent models have this feature ( Series 4 and Series 3). The Watch switches between these options automatically to create the most power-efficient connection.

How to turn on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on your Apple Watch's paired iPhone

1. Open the Control Center on your iPhone by swiping up from the bottom of any screen, or from the top-right of the screen on iPhone X models.

2. Tap the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth icons, which will be colored blue when turned on and gray when off.

Turn on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on your paired iPhone. Abigail Abesamis/Business Insider

If you don't have your iPhone nearby, there are still several things you can do with your Apple Watch, such as track workouts using the Workout app, listen to podcasts stored on Apple Watch, make purchases using Apple Pay and (of course) check the time.

With a Wi-Fi or cellular connection, this list expands to include sending and receiving messages using iMessage, checking the weather, streaming music, or listening to the radio.

How to connect your Apple Watch to Wi-Fi

1. Ensure you have watchOS 5 or later, and update your Watch if necessary.

2. Open the Settings app on the Apple Watch (the gray gear icon).

Open Settings on your Apple Watch. Abigail Abesamis/Business Insider

3. Tap Wi-Fi. If you're already connected to a Wi-Fi network via your iPhone or otherwise, the network name will appear here.

4. If Wi-Fi is turned off (the slider is gray), tap the slider to turn it on. The Apple Watch will automatically search for networks.

5. Choose the network you'd like to join by tapping on it. An Apple Support article notes that the Apple Watch can only connect to 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi networks. It can connect to networks your paired iPhone has joined previously while connected to the Apple Watch via Bluetooth. It won't connect to public networks that require a login or subscription.

Turn on Wi-Fi and select the network you want to connect to. Abigail Abesamis/Business Insider

6. If prompted, enter the password for the Wi-Fi network using Scribble, writing the letters on the Watch screen with your finger. If you need to change a scribbled character, turn the Digital Crown to see more options (including uppercase, lowercase, and alternative letters similar in shape to the one you scribbled).

Draw each letter of the password in the space provided. Abigail Abesamis/Business Insider

7. Tap "Join."

Shopping on Amazon can be tricky business, with constantly shifting prices and dozens of product listings that look the same. Even in the midst of major sales like Amazon Prime Day, the sheer number of sales can make it difficult to figure out which products actually provide the best value.

Whether you're looking for bluetooth headphones, new shoes, or garden tools, you'll need to be ready to sift through hundreds of product listings to find the right item, and even then it's hard to guarantee that you're getting the best price.

Read more: These 8 Amazon shopping tricks will help you get the best deals possible on Prime Day

Whenever you're shopping on Amazon, you should consider using these two easy online tools to make sure you're getting the best deal possible.

"The Haunting of Bly Manor" is filling out its cast with familiar faces.

Actor Oliver Jackson-Cohen is joining the sequel season to Netflix's hit horror anthology "The Haunting of Hill House." The Wrap first reported the news, which was confirmed by Netflix. It was previously announced that another "Hill House" alum, Victoria Pedretti, will be starring in "Bly Manor."

READ MORE: Victoria Pedretti To Headline 'The Haunting of Bly Manor' Netflix Series

Jackson-Cohen and Pedretti played siblings Luke and Nell in last year's "Hill House," but will play new characters in "Bly Manor," akin to how actors portray different roles throughout FX's "American Horror Story."

Jackson-Cohen is playing Peter in "Bly Manor," who Netflix described to Business Insider only as a "charming fellow." Jackson-Cohen said in a Twitter video that he is a "charming young man who lives at Bly." Pedretti will play Dani, who takes care of two orphans at Bly Manor.

"Hill House" director Mike Flanagan is also returning to direct "The Haunting of Bly Manor" as part of his multiyear TV deal with Netflix, along with producing partner Trevor Macy.

"Bly Manor" is expected to debut in 2020 on Netflix.

TikTok is one of the hottest video apps for teens and Fanbytes, a two-year-old startup based in the UK, is helping music giants like Universal and Warner try and cash in on it by getting their songs into viral clips. TikTok allows its users share short-form videos of themselves lip-syncing and dancing to popular music or video clips.

24-year-old Fanbytes CEO, Timothy Armoo, said his startup employs around 30 millennials, who use their understanding of social-media trends to build creative campaigns for brands on platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram, with the goal of getting them to go viral.

On TikTok, these campaigns often take the form of "challenges," where users respond to videos under a specific hashtag, by creating their own version. Some of these custom challenges have landed on TikTok's trending page and garnered millions of views, Armoo said.

#canttakeitfromme

Fanbytes created the #canttakeitfromme challenge for the artist management group mTheory to promote the electronic dance trio Major Lazer's latest song, "Can't Take It From Me."

The campaign challenged TikTok users to create a video of themselves playing a sport and stealing the ball from their opponent on the verse, "can't take it from me." It landed on TikTok's trending page, with over 5,000 submitted videos and generated 6.2 million hashtag views, according to Fanbytes.

See also: TikTok: the rise of the insanely popular video

"Let's be honest, we are all on social media to show off," Armoo told Business Insider. "With a campaign like 'Can't Take It From Me,' people can show off how good they are in any particular sport. That goes back to TikTok allowing you to creatively express yourself, in a way other platforms can't."

Leveraging creators for success

To give their challenges a boost, Fanbytes leverages a network of 2,000 TikTok creators, and pays them to distribute hashtag campaigns. These creators help to spread the campaigns - lifting them above the noise by encouraging their hundreds to thousands of fans to participate in the challenge using the hashtag.

Fanbytes uses a scoring system to determine how much individual influencers will be paid for a campaign. The score, created by Fanbytes cofounder Ambrose Cooke, takes into account the amount of fans a creator has, their most recent average engagement, and their live stream engagement.

Fanbytes recently added Steve McKell, who goes by @stevenmckell with 1.5 million TikTok fans; Sur Face, who goes by @surfaceldn with 873,000 TikTok fans; and David, who goes by @dsp1994 with 339,000 TikTok fans; as exclusive Fanbytes creators, making the company the only place these creators receive paid campaigns from, according to Armoo.

How it works

Aside from music, Fanbytes also works for brands to create advertising campaigns on Snapchat and Instagram, building AR lenses and filters for Stories.

Fanbytes provides companies with a minimum view guarantee, Armoo said. Armoo declined to tell Business Insider how much a typical campaign costs, but the cost per view ranges from $0.02 to $0.05, according to Armoo.

That's roughly comparable to how much advertisers pay for a Snapchat campaign, a media executive who works with influencers told Business Insider. Snapchat advertisements tend to hover around the same $0.02 to $0.05 range, this exec said.

Fanbytes isn't the only influencer marketing agency creating TikTok campaigns. Companies like Viral Nation have also created campaigns on the app.

Armoo said the fact that his employees are young and understand the technology is Fanbytes biggest advantage over its competitors. Fanbytes' employees are "obsessed" with TikTok, Armoo said, and pick out the latest TikTok crazes they'll notice from spending time on the app, to present as campaign ideas.

There has been a surge of advertisement campaigns popping up on TikTok. The denim brand Guess used its branded hashtag challenge (#InMyDenim) to reach Gen Z users. Chipotle advertised free delivery on Cinco de Mayo in May with its #ChipotleLidFlip challenge.

Visiting Masada, the ancient fortress built atop a mountain plateau in modern day Israel, is a life-changing experience. No caveats necessary.

There's simply nothing like visiting an ancient mountaintop fortress that overlooks the Dead Sea. It doesn't feel real. But because of its isolation and the arid desert climate, the fortress once occupied by King Herod is a remarkably well-preserved relic of humanity's ancient past, one you can climb to on the same paths used by visiting dignitaries and invading Roman troops.

I did exactly that last July — here's what it was like:

Apple has a new neighbor in London — and it happens to be one of its biggest competitors.

Microsoft unveiled its first European store on Thursday, which is just meters away from Apple's own London flagship.

We visited the two stores and see how they compare. Here's what we found:

In the USA, we sure do love pickup trucks. Especially full-size pickups, which are at the heart of the market.

Since 2014, Ford, Chevy, and RAM — the Big Three of pickup brands — have each redesigned their bread-and-butter (Meat and potatoes?) truck.

I've driven them all, but I've also checked out the Toyota Tundra, a solid pickup that sells outside the top three, and that hasn't been revamped for a while.

These are all pretty good trucks, and for this roundup, I've highlighted some of their best features (by the way, I skipped towing because all four trucks can tow weight that's within the expectations of this class).

The Federal Trade Commission is gearing up to hit Facebook with a staggering, record-breaking $5 billion penalty.

Wall Street is viewing this as a good thing.

And the reason why speaks volumes about the sheer scale and power of Facebook today.

Some background: For the last year, the FTC has been investigating Facebook's various privacy snafus. The agency started with a probe into whether Cambridge Analytica's misappropriation of 87 million users' data amounted to a breach of the company's 2012 consent decree with it. It later expanded the inquiry to incorporate the California tech giant's myriad other recent privacy scandals.

This process is now drawing to a close. According to multiple reports, the commission has agreed to a settlement that would include a fine of roughly $5 billion.

Read this: The FTC has approved a roughly $5 billion settlement with Facebook

That amount is extraordinarily large. It's an order of magnitude bigger than the previous record penalty imposed by the agency — the $22.5 million fine it levied against Google in 2012. But when the news broke on Friday, Facebook stock actually rose, trading up around 1%.

This is likely because, despite the penalty's unprecedented size, it's still just a drop in the ocean compared to the gigantic amount of cash Facebook regularly produces. The company makes billions of dollars in profit and generates three times the total settlement amount in revenue every three months or so. It also set $3 billion aside in preparation for this back in April 2019, warning investors that it expected a penalty between $3 billion to $5 billion — meaning the cost of the settlement was already baked into the company's share price months ago.

In fact, Wall Street seems to be breathing a sigh of relief, as evidenced by the slight stock uptick, that the penalty wasn't more severe.

We don't yet know exactly what the settlement will look like, and the devil will be the details. Both Facebook and the FTC declined to comment about it when approached by Business Insider.

But it seems unlikely the deal will require the kind of fundamental changes the company's staunchest critics have called for and that could significantly affect its bottom line. To wit, The New York Times reported that "none of the conditions in the settlement will restrict Facebook's ability to collect and share data with third parties."

Accordingly, the settlement has drawn criticism inside and outside the FTC. The Democratic members of the commission reportedly voted against it, pushing for harsher penalties.

Meanwhile, David Cicilline, a Democratic congressperson for Rhode Island, labeled it "a slap on the wrist" and said "the FTC just gave Facebook a Christmas present five months early." Connecticut senator Richard Blumenthal called it a "seemingly inadequate, unconscionably delayed, and historically hollow result" and called for a congressional hearing.

Georgetown Law attorney Lindsey Barrett added: "Anyone saying that a [$5 billion] fine without other meaningful restrictions for a company that made [$22 billion] this year and has repeatedly engaged in illegal conduct at a massive scale is spinning, and spinning for a reason."

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Tropical Storm Barry is getting stronger as it heads for New Orleans, and is likely to become a Category 1 hurricane by the time it makes landfall in Louisiana tomorrow morning, according to the National Hurricane Center.

A hurricane warning is in effect for a swath of the Louisiana coast, and forecasts suggest the Mississippi River could crest as high as 19 or 20 feet— the highest level the river has reached in New Orleans since 1950. (The river has already swelled to 16 feet.)

That could create the biggest test ever of the city's river levees, which were built in 1927.

Louisiana Gov. John Bell Edwards has declared a state of emergency and warned that there could be "a considerable amount of overtopping" of levees in Plaquemines Parish, a suburban district southeast of New Orleans.

Here's everything you need to know about what levees are, how they work, and what the system looks like in New Orleans.

Levee systems rely on embankments, flood-walls, and pumps

Most levees are trapezoid-shaped, elevated embankments that separate bodies of water from inhabited flood plains. They're meant to protect those areas in the event a lake or river level rises.

Roads and railways sometimes cross a levee, so flood-walls — which are usually made of concrete or steel — and other structures are used to close those gaps. Flood-walls are also often built to supplement levee systems in high-density urban areas where there isn't enough space for a large levee.

The US Army Corps of Engineers classifies levees by the environment they protect (urban or rural) and the body of water they protect it from (river, coastal, or estuary).

A view from the top of the levee that protects the Ninth Ward from the Industrial Canal is pictured as Tropical Storm Barry approaches land in New Orleans, Louisiana.Jonathan Bachman/Reuters

Different types of river levees can run parallel the main river channel, encircle a protected area, or provide backup or protection to an existing levee.

New Orleans has two levee systems along the Mississippi River

Two levee systems hold back the Mississippi in New Orleans: the East Bank System and the West Bank System. Together, these systems boast 192 miles of levees and 99 miles of flood-walls.

But it's unclear just how much water the river levees can withstand. The official levee database run by USACE shows levee heights as low as 18 feet above sea level in some parts of the city. That puts it below forecast for peak river heights due to Tropical Storm Barry.

However, the Army Corps has disputed the information in its own database. Ricky Boyett, a Corps spokesperson, told The Times-Picayune and New Orleans Advocate that the group's model still "does not show overtopping of the levees in the 9th Ward."

The Corps even has an internal analysis of the river levees in New Orleans that ranks both the East Bank and West Bank System as at moderate to high risk of a breach.

Levees can fail, and this will be the biggest test yet

If the river water rises higher than the levee it will spill over, but a levee breach is not just a question of height. Levees can also crumble under pressure due to poor maintenance, inadequate foundations, or erosion.

Too much water can seep through a levee and cause it to slough away, or simply seep through the ground below and spout up on the other side in what are known as "sand boils." Animals also burrow below levees sometimes, creating unintentional paths for pent-up water.

Of course, a levee that breaks is far more dangerous than a levee that's too short. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused a New Orleans coastal levee to break, releasing a wall of water. The flooding killed over 1,000 people. Since then, Congress has invested $15 billion in repairing the levee system around New Orleans.

The river levees at risk of a breach due to Tropical Storm Barry, however, held during Katrina.

Mark Zuckerberg must be feeling a bit like President Donald Trump now.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, a confident Trump famously said that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in New York and "wouldn't lose any voters."

After the news on Friday that the Federal Trade Commission is close to finalizing a settlement with his company for a mere $5 billion, Zuckerberg has got to be feeling similarly untouchable. If, after all the privacy and security fiascos Facebook admitted to over the past two years — including, but not limited to, the Cambridge Analytica scandal — it gets off with such a small penalty, he's got to think he probably could get away with murder.

Read this: The FTC has approved a roughly $5 billion settlement with Facebook

Of course, Zuckerberg's felt he could act with impunity for years. When Harvard students uploaded photos and other personal information to his newly launched Facebook site soon after it launched, he notoriously derided them as "dumb f---s" and offered to share with a friend such details of anyone of interest to the person. He repeatedly pushed privacy boundaries in terms of the data Facebook collected from its users and what it did with that information. When controversies arose about that — as they repeatedly did — the company simply took a step back only to quietly push forward again soon thereafter.

Even a previous FTC investigation proved to be little more than a hiccup. The settlement in that case resulted in no fine. While it was supposed to restrict some of Facebook's activities and protect users' privacy, it turned out to do very little of either. Despite numerous complaints from privacy advocates that the company was violating the terms of the settlement, the FTC didn't take any enforcement actions against the social-networking giant.

This time could have been different

There was reason to think that things would be different this time around. The Cambridge Analytica imbroglio resonated much more widely with the public than the company's previous privacy missteps. That's probably because of the scale of the data leak — up to 87 million users were affected — and because of Cambridge Analytica's ties to Trump's election campaign.

Facebook was already under scrutiny for the hijacking of its service by Russian-linked figures to spread propaganda that benefited Trump's campaign during that election. The Cambridge Analytica leak suggested its service had played another hidden role in Trump's victory, allowing Trump's campaign to exploit the data of Facebook users — collected without their knowledge — to target election ads.

And it turned out that the Cambridge Analytica was only one of numerous privacy and security scandals Facebook faced. The company later acknowledged that malicious actors had separately collected data on "most" of its 2 billion users, that some 14 million users had been affected by a bug that made their supposedly private status updates publicly viewable, that data on some 30 million users was compromised in a hacking attack, and that photos from some 7 million users that were intended to be kept private might have been shared with as many as 1,500 apps.

What's more, the company knew about the problems related to Cambridge Analytica as far back as 2015, according to court filings. And, according to a report in The New York Times, the company gave preferential access to its user data to certain companies even after supposedly curtailing access to it to most companies.

On top of all this, the political environment has changed. Not only are Democrats upset with Facebook, but so too are Republicans. Led by Trump, they've accused the company and other social-networking corporations of censoring conservative voices. And both sides of the political aisle have been calling for an antitrust investigation into Zuckerberg's company and new rules to limit its power.

So, if government regulators were going to get serious about reining in Facebook and holding it accountable, you would think now would be the time.

But you'd be wrong.

To Facebook, this is a slap on the wrist

The FTC settlement, at least as it is described in numerous reports, will amount to little more than a slap on the wrist. Facebook will get to put to bed all of the agency's investigations into its privacy practices. Although it will face some additional oversight over its privacy practices, it won't have any restrictions on its ability to collect or share data with other companies or organizations, according to The New York Times. And it doesn't look like Zuckerberg will be held personally responsible for any of his company's multiple failings or be under any particular scrutiny going forward.

Depending on how that oversight shapes up, the only real cost of the deal for Facebook is likely that it will have to pay that $5 billion fine.

That might sound like a lot — and it is a huge amount to the average person. It also would be the largest fine ever assessed by the FTC, a fact the agency is likely to tout quite a bit when it officially announces the deal.

But to Facebook, $5 billion just isn't that much money. It represents less than 1% of its $580 billion market capitalization. Heck, it's only about 7% of Mark Zuckerberg's net worth.

Put another way, Facebook is such a profitable company that it generates $5 billion in cash — even after accounting for all its day-to-day operating expenses — every 49 days. The company will be able to pay its $5 billion fine and still have money left over to put in the bank at the end of the quarter — that's how meaningless this fine will be to the company.

Wall Street recognizes this. Facebook's stock actually rose on the news of the settlement, even though the fine is now expected to be at the top end of the range the company offered investors in April.

The two Democrats on the commission appeared to recognize that the agency was letting Facebook off easy. They reportedly voted against the deal. It will go forward because the three Republicans on the commission approved it.

They can fool themselves into thinking they've dealt sternly with Facebook, but everyone else knows better. More importantly, Zuckerberg knows better.

If he and Facebook were able to get away with so much with so little consequence this time around, one can only imagine what they'll try to get away the next time. "Dumb f---s," indeed.

A group of Amazon's tech workers are openly supporting the planned strike by Amazon warehouse workers in Shakopee, Minnesota, next week during the online retailer's Prime Day shopping event.

Some of them will even be flying out to walk the picket line and give speeches during the strike, Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, the employee activist group organizing this show of support, said.

Others are publicly sharing letters and words of encourage to the strikers via Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, with multiple employees saying they are ashamed of the treatment of the fulfillment center workers.

"The treatment of FC workers is a source of shame to me as an Amazon employee," the Amazon employee Nancy Urban wrote in a blog post shared by the activist group.

"All Amazon employees should be proud to call themselves such. It is shameful that while Amazon chooses to be the industry leader in so many aspects of their employment policies, and yet continues to allow other aspects of their policies to be worthy of being called 'inhumane,'" another anonymous employee wrote in the blog post.

"When I was working as an engineer in Fulfillment, I spent a few days working in the warehouses and could not even come close to meeting the individual productivity quotas. The quotas are unrealistically high for most humans. I support FC employees in Minnesota who wish to lower quotas for safer and more comfortable working conditions," Joey Siracusa wrote in that same post.

Read: Amazon CTO Werner Vogels shared a powerful response to the ongoing protests of the company's involvement with ICE

This show of support for their fellow employees was organized by a group with a primary mission to push Amazon to better combat climate change.

Matt Cardy / Stringer / Getty Images They want Amazon to stop using fossil fuels in its operations entirely and become a zero-emissions company in a timeline dictated by science. Amazon does have numerous green initiatives, such as building its own solar and wind farms. It has also promised to eventually use 100% renewable energy for its global infrastructure, but it has been vague as to the timeline.

Meanwhile, Prime Day, the retailer's annual shopping event, is coming next week. While Amazon customers are anticipating the bargains, these Minnesota workers are using the spotlight to push for better conditions.

They want higher pay, more reasonable workloads, and better opportunities for advancement. Amazon did not immediately return a request for comment to this story, but Amazon has said in reaction to the strike that it already offers the workers what they are asking for with its $15 minimum wage and pay up to $20.80 an hour, plus benefits like healthcare, parental leave, paid education, and training.

In addition, Amazon just this week announced a program to train 100,000 of its employees with new tech skills, including new programs available to warehouse workers who want to learn how to code. It will also be offering more tuition assistance to those who want to train for other high-demand occupations.

Read more: This Amazon exec helped Alexa work with 60,000 devices, but says he only really understood its power when his kid came home from school

But new training options don't combat the perception that the warehouse job involves inhumane expectations.

The company recently endured another round of criticism when John Oliver, the host of the HBO show "Last Week Tonight," showcased the warehouse situation. His segment featured employees talking about how hard Amazon pushes them, their inability to take bathroom breaks, and showed Amazon's anti-union training video.

The Amazon exec Dave Clark, the senior vice president of operations, said Oliver's portrayal of the job is untrue, adding that the company even offers tours of its warehouses. That's true, the tours are limited to specific warehouses, but the Shakopee, Minnesota, facility is among them.

Still, Business Insider previously reported that the company does appear to treat its warehouse workforce like robots. It even uses an automated system that tracks warehouse workers' productivity that can automatically generate the paperwork to fire them for failing to meet expectations.

One anonymous Amazon tech worker said in the blog post: "You guys are the lifeblood of Amazon! Keep raising the bar and insisting on the highest working standards! You have the support of Seattle!"

Facebook is facing a penalty of about $5 billion from the Federal Trade Commission for violating a privacy consent decree set in 2011.

The multibillion-dollar penalty — which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Friday — is poised to be the largest of its kind against a tech company, eclipsing a $22 million settlement with Google. For Facebook, though, it looks to be an easy bill to pay, given the roughly $45 billion in cash it has on hand.

For Facebook, $5 billion is about 9% of its total revenue for 2018, which notched in at $55.83 billion. For a more recent figure to put it into context, Facebook generated about $15 billion in revenue in the first three months of 2019, averaging out to about $5 billion a month.

Indeed, earlier this year, Facebook announced that it had already set aside $3 billion to deal with any fine from the FTC, which it had already estimated would be around $5 billion.

The other thing

What could be more of a headache to Facebook than the monetary costs of the settlement is any oversight of its business going forward. The Wall Street Journal reported that terms of the settlement were "expected to include other government restrictions on how Facebook treats user privacy."

However, it's not immediately clear what such restrictions might entail, as The New York Times reported that the settlement didn't place any conditions on Facebook's ability to collect and share data with third parties, though it does have provisions for more "comprehensive oversight" of how the social network handles users' data.

That's likely good news for Facebook's core advertising business. However, that oversight could still introduce more overhead to the company and put a damper on new products and plans — we've already seen skepticism from politicians such as President Donald Trump over Libra, Facebook's new cryptocurrency initiative.

In other words, for a company made famous for moving fast and breaking things, this could force Facebook to slow down a little bit.

Read more: Trump blasts Bitcoin and says cryptocurrencies, including Facebook's Libra, should be 'subject to all banking regulations'

It also remains to be seen whether CEO Mark Zuckerberg will be held personally liable for future infringements on the FTC consent decree, an idea that has been previously floated but is considered unlikely to come to pass.

History lesson

The expected multibillion dollar penalty comes as a result of an FTC investigation into Facebook's Cambridge Analytica affair, in which the personal data for tens of millions of Facebook users was improperly accessed by the data firm.

The main question of the investigation was whether Facebook's handling of user data in the case violated a 2011 agreement with the agency — as part of the terms of a settlement at that time, Facebook agreed to take steps to protect user data.

The $5 billion that goes into settling the inquiry may not have a tremendous influence on the company's bottom line. In fact, Facebook stock closed up 1.8% on Friday and climbed slightly higher in after-hours trading, even in the wake of the report of the settlement.

However, depending on the additional terms of the settlement, this could have ripple effects on Facebook's business going forward. And if nothing else, remember that there's nothing stopping the FTC from opening another investigation, should circumstances warrant it.