The Morning After: Netflix plans cheaper, ad-supported subscription tiers
Netflix might offer cheaper, ad-supported plans in the coming years. In the company’s most recent earnings call, co-CEO Reed Hastings said the company is working on the offering, and it’ll finalize details for those plans “over the next year or two.”
The service lost around 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2022, a development it blamed on stiffer competition, inability to expand in some territories due to technological limitations and pesky account sharing. It also lost 700,000 subscribers in early March after its decision to suspend service in Russia.
To tackle account sharing, Netflix has tested a feature in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru that allowed subscribers to add two “sub-members,” who’ll get their own log-ins and profiles, for $3 — much less than the typical subscription cost. Netflix executives noted on its earning call that this model could expand to other countries. We’ve put our account-sharing parents and children on notice.
— Mat Smith
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Revenue rose to $18.76 billion in the face of rising inflation.
Tesla built 305,000 vehicles in the first “exceptionally difficult” quarter of this year, delivered 310,000 vehicles to customers and opened new factories in Berlin and Austin — all while CEO Elon Musk sought a highly publicized hostile takeover of Twitter. And just generally made headlines.
Like many companies, Tesla faces an increasingly tight supply of critical semiconductors and rising prices spurred by inflation brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It’s also currently navigating the shuttering of its Gigafactory in Shanghai, which closed due to COVID outbreaks in the region.
The peripheral maker is now called ‘Glorious.’
Glorious PC Gaming Race, the maker of the Model O gaming mouse, the GMMK Pro mechanical keyboard and other popular peripherals, is changing its name. In rebranding as Glorious, the company is hoping to leave behind a name tinged with racial overtones. “While we remain committed to serving PC gamers and not taking ourselves too seriously, we have also grown and matured significantly as a brand,” Shazim Mohammad, the founder and CEO of Glorious, said in a statement.
SpaceX has wanted to put Starlink internet on planes for quite some time.
Delta Chief Executive Ed Bastian has revealed in an interview that the airline held talks with SpaceX and conducted “exploratory tests” of Starlink’s internet technology for its planes. According to The Wall Street Journal, Bastian declined to divulge specifics about the test, but SpaceX’s Jonathan Hofeller mentioned the company’s discussions with several airlines back in mid-2021.
‘Sonic Origins’ includes the first four Sonic games.
Sega
Sega has its Sonic Origins collection will debut June 23rd on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Switch. The $40 (£33) standard version will include remasters of Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic CD, while a $45 (£37) Digital Deluxe edition adds difficult missions, exclusive music and cosmetics. Because it’s 2022.
‘AMP harms users’ privacy, security and internet experience.’
Brave is bypassing any pages rendered with AMP and taking users directly to the original website. “Where possible, De-AMP will rewrite links and URLs to prevent users from visiting AMP pages altogether,” the company wrote in a blog post.
The faster load times you might experience with Google’s AMP pages — hard to complain about that — are undercut by the way they offer Google a much tighter grip on advertising, hosting content on its servers. A group of publishers recently announced it was from AMP, and a filed by several US states accuses Google of running a monopoly that harmed both advertising rivals and publishers.
A user-accessible computer will be able to run full Windows apps.
Engadget
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