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9 great reads from CNET this week

What phones get right and wrong, when internet use means hard choices and how men can use tech to overcome premature ejaculation.

CNET staff
2 min read

The digital divide is a massive problem affecting millions of people -- but if you only think about it that way, it can be abstract and overwhelming. It becomes a lot more real when you look at the individuals grappling with it day to day. Like Michelle in Scotland, anguishing over internet bills and her daughter's online schooling. Like Jaqueline and Amelie in Kentucky, trying to get senior citizens registered to receive COVID-19 vaccines.

They're just a few of the people you'll encounter in the first two stories below, in our continuing series on the broadband gap. Sometimes the answer is changes in government policies, as proposed in an internet access bill just introduced in Parliament in the UK. Sometimes, as one man notes, "you have to think of nontechnical solutions."

Those stories are among the many in-depth features and thought-provoking commentaries that appeared on CNET this week. So here you go. These are the stories you don't want to miss:

When it's internet or food, broadband policies aren't working

Even in wealthy countries, families are forced to make compromises to ensure their children have the required internet connection for remote learning.

Girl sitting on a park bench looking at a phone
Richard Bailey/Getty

COVID-19 vaccine is tough to find unless you're an internet genius with broadband

For many seniors and people of color, technology is a barrier to getting the vaccine.

Illustration showing a vial of vaccine locked away while people stand waiting to get access
Richard Bailey/Getty

This video game helps men level up in bed by tackling sexual dysfunction

"They are learning progressively to control their body and their mind."

Shirtless man sitting on the edge of a bed, hunched over in thought

Apple's new ProRaw photo format has finally turned me into an iPhone guy

The advanced format is making the iPhone better for photography enthusiasts like me.

Cactus backlit by sunrise
Stephen Shankland/CNET

My foldable phone expectations were way too high

Phones have gotten boring, and foldables offered a glimmer of potential excitement. It didn't last.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip and Z Fold
Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Hollywood is slowly working to rectify decades of Muslim misrepresentation

Shows like Ramy, Transplant and DC's Legends of Tomorrow are pushing the industry away from stereotypical portrayals of Muslims as terrorists. But there's a long road ahead.

Scene from the Hulu show Ramy
Hulu

PS5 and Xbox Series X out of stock? How a global chip shortage is 'impacting everything'

Cristiano Amon, incoming CEO of chipmaker Qualcomm, warns in an interview with CNET that the shortage may not end until late 2021.

Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon
Qualcomm

Why Paramount's biggest show, Yellowstone, isn't on Paramount Plus

ViacomCBS is betting Yellowstone is worth more off Paramount Plus than on it.

Kevin Costner in Yellowstone
Paramount Network

WandaVision's line about 'grief' was a portal to everything bad about the internet

It was a line powerful enough to send social media into a doom spiral.

Wanda and Vision stand in a living room, half in black-and-white and half in color
Marvel
Watch this: Chip supplies are scarce, and it may not get better till late 2021