Binge-watching Netflix on your smartphone just got easier. The streaming service is letting some users of its Android app try ‘Play Something’, a feature that suggests content for you to watch, Engadget reports.
The feature is already live on Netflix’s TV apps but it’s only being tested on select Android users for now, ahead of a wider rollout. If you’ve been selected, you’ll see the Play Something button appear on both adult and child profiles.
Play Something uses your viewing history and algorithms to suggest movies, documentaries, and TV shows that you might like. Hit the Play Something button and you’ll jump right in, no endless scrolling required.
Don’t like what you see? With another click, Netlfix will pick something else – this will either be from your queue, something you haven’t finished watching, or something else new based on your viewing habits.
Given the rise in rival streaming services such as Disney+, Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video, Netflix appears to be looking for extra ways to distinguish itself from the competition. What will it think of next?
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Acer has announced SpatialLabs, a new 3D technology that will debut on the company’s ConceptD laptops. I got a chance to try it. It’s not something we’ll realistically see on a consumer device anytime soon — but it’s pretty dang cool nonetheless.
SpatialLabs is, according to Acer, “a suite of experiences empowered by cutting-edge optical solutions.” Plainly, it’s a set of tools that makes 3D work look very realistic and cool without requiring special glasses to see it. It delivers content in Stereoscopic 3D, which presents a pair of nearly-but-not-quite-identical 2D images (one to each eye) that combine in your brain to look like one 3D picture. (It’s essentially imitating what your eyes already do.)
SpatialLabs uses a combination of three things to do this. There’s a stereo camera, consisting of two image sensors, in the laptop’s top bezel, which tracks the position of your eyes and head. There’s an optical lens bonded to the top of the display; the images for each eye are projected through this lens, then refracted to your eyes. And there’s real-time rendering technology inside, which allows you to rotate and move 3D models in certain applications.
That means there are some limitations to how SpatialLabs can be used. For one, only one person can use it at a time; Acer emphasized that I couldn’t have anyone behind me during my demo. You also can’t have a mask on during use and can’t have strong light behind you. And needless to say, you need a powerful system to run this stuff well: Acer sent me a ConceptD 7 Pro with an eight-core Core i7-10875H, an Nvidia Quadro RTX 3000, and 32GB of RAM to test the tech. One of these would cost $2,899.99 without the SpatialLabs features, and Acer didn’t specify how much the extra stuff would add to the cost. Regardless, I’m sure it’ll be well outside of my price range, but I can dream.
Acer showed me SpatialLabs at work in both proprietary and third-party software. In SpatialLabs Model Viewer, which professionals would use to showcase 3D models, I was able to play around with some animated 3D objects. The light and shadows change as the objects move, and you can adjust the light’s intensity and the direction it’s coming from. The very neat thing, though, is that you can move the objects along the Z-axis (that is, pull them toward you and push them away from you), and it looks surprisingly realistic.
The experience that really blew me away, though, was SpatialLabs Player, where you can play videos in stereoscopic 3D. You can swap between 3D mode and 2D mode (where you’ll see two images side by side). What I saw wasn’t seamless — there was visible ghosting, especially right after I moved my head — but things really looked like they were popping out of the screen at me. I ducked as a flurry of baseballs was thrown my way. I reached out and tried to touch a flying alien because it looked very real, and I am 12 years old.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen glasses-free 3D on a portable device, of course. All kinds of devices have tried it in the past, from smartphones to Nintendo’s 3DS. But this was the first iteration I’ve ever seen where turning my head an inch to the left didn’t ruin the entire thing. It was quite impressive.
You can also edit content in 2D on an external display while viewing it in real-time stereoscopic 3D on the ConceptD, using Maya through PiStage (which allows you to quickly present projects with Unreal Engine) or Blender through SpatialLabs Go. You can also use the latter to view YouTube content that was created for VR or 3D TV.
This could be you, for just $3,000. Image: Acer
Finally, SpatialLabs supports Unreal Engine through Acer’s XR Runtime. You could use these to create and present 3D “experiences” (such as virtual showrooms). Acer is running a beta program for Unreal Engine developers and will loan admitted participants a free ConceptD SpatialLabs notebook for three months.
I saw a demo of a game, with all kinds of battle debris flying out of the screen at me, and one of a virtual furniture showroom, which I could wander around in. The ConceptD had trouble with both of these on the first run; the game was stuttery, and the showroom froze and wouldn’t close. Acer says that’s not uncommon due to how demanding the programs are, and restarting the system would do the trick. It did, and they worked fine the second time. But Acer does still have a kink or two to work out, it seems.
These were all quite fun for me to experience as a layperson. But the main benefit of this technology, of course, would be for users who actually work with 3D. So I asked The Verge’s senior motion designer, Grayson Blackmon, whether something like this would actually be useful for his workflow.
Blackmon was largely dubious. While he finds the idea of editing models in 3D intriguing, he’s not sure what the practical benefit would be for creators like him. “A lot of times, we’re creating for people who don’t have these technologies who are viewing a 2D image,” he told me. Blackmon also can’t see himself doing these kinds of tasks on a laptop. “If I’m getting into serious work, I’m usually sitting at a desktop,” he says. He’d be more interested if SpatialLabs were built into a bigger monitor.
But designers like Blackmon are also used to new technologies not holding up to their promises. His team usually holds off on updating to new versions of Adobe, for example, because they bring new bugs, and novel fancy-looking features tend not to be as helpful as they appear. For that reason, Blackmon doesn’t see himself being an early adopter of this kind of tech. “I might do it for my own personal enjoyment, but I’m not going to rely on it for production,” he says.
So that’s where we are. There are a number of caveats to SpatialLabs. It may be a while before we see professionals adopting it in full force and even longer before consumers can realistically try it out. (Acer is shooting to have SpatialLabs on the market sometime later this year.)
But hey, Acer does have a working product. And it’s very cool to witness. If nothing else, like so many other laptop technologies out there, it’s a possible glimpse of the future.
The 105th Indy 500 date is set and the race underway this Sunday, live from the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The biggest oval race of the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series will see 135,000 fans (in face masks, of course) cheer on defending Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato and pole-sitter Scott Dixon as they compete for the Borg-Warner Trophy and a bottle of ice-cold milk.
Ready to lay down some rubber at the Brickyard? Carb day (final practice) starts at 4pm BST on Friday, followed by the epic, 200-lap Indy 500 race on Sunday for an Indy 500 start time of 5.45pm BST (12.45pm ET). Make sure you know how to watch an Indy 500 live stream wherever you are in the world.
Indy 500 live stream
Start time: 5.45pm BST / 12.45am ET / 2.45am AEST
Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indiana
US streams: NBC Sports | FuboTV (free trial)
Watch anywhere: Try ExpressVPN risk-free today
UK stream: Sky Sports F1 | Now
AUS stream: KayoSports
Buy tickets: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
This year’s 500-mile extravaganza will take about 3 hours to complete, depending on pitstops, crashes and safety cars. The 33-car field will be led away by six-time IndyCar champ – the greatest driver of his generation – Scott Dixon. The Iceman secured pole last weekend by just 0.03 seconds in a thrilling Fast Nine.
“It was pretty hairy, glad it’s over. It was definitely pretty tense,” Dixon told Fox News. “I could see the mechanics working on the car as we rolled through, adjusting the wings. I asked them not to tell me. It’s definitely a roller coaster of emotions for everybody and I’m actually really relieved that that’s all over.”
Colton Herta captured second place. The 21-year-old Andretti Autosport driver put in a monster lap to bump 20-year-old Dutchman Rinus VeeKay into third place. The aptly-named Will Power smacked the wall on the final lap but will still make the race. Simona de Silvestro will get her first start since 2015 (last year’s race lacked a female driver for the first time in 20 years).
Anything can happen in IndyCar, but with Dixon set for his sixth front row start in his 19th Indy 500, the No. 9 Dallara-Honda is now odds-on favourite to the take the honours once more.
The 2021 Indy 500 presented by Gainbridge starts at 5.45pm UK time on Sunday. You can even stream the action on your TV and a host of devices including Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Xbox, PlayStation, iOS and Android devices.
Make sure you know how to watch an Indy 500 live stream from anywhere in the world.
Feast your eyes on the best TVs you can buy
Indy 500 live stream for only €9.99
(Image credit: Wikipedia / TPSDave – indianapolis-motor-speedway-1848561 archive copy)
Those in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Cyprus and Israel can watch an Indy 500 live stream using DAZN, the subscription-based sports streaming service. The price varies from region to region and there’s also a free trial which means you could watch the Indy 500 for free!
Those in the Czech Republic will be able to sign up for €9.99 per month to watch the Indy 500 live stream. There’s no lock-in contract, so you can cancel anytime.
Going to be outside the CR this weekend? Simply use a VPN to access your chosen Indy 500 live stream without being blocked. Try ExpressVPN risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Free trial available
Indy 500 live stream on DAZN for €9.99
DAZN has the rights to the Indy 500, UFC, Bundesliga, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, US Sports, Fightsports, and much more live and on demand in selected countries. Try for 1 month. Cancel at anytime.
The DAZN app is available on Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Sticks, as well as selected smart TVs including Android TV, LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony and Philips.
If you have a games console, look for the DAZN app on Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. You can also download the DAZN app for Android and iOS mobile devices.
Watch an Indy 500 live stream using a VPN
Even if you have subscribed to the relevant Indy 500 rights holders, you won’t be able to access them when outside your own country. The service will know your location based on your IP address, and will automatically block your access.
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) helps you get around this obstacle. A VPN creates a private connection between your device and the internet, such that the servers and services you’re accessing aren’t aware of what you’re doing. All the information passing back and forth is entirely encrypted.
There are many VPN providers out there, with some more reliable and safe than others. As a rule, we’d suggest a paid-for service such as ExpressVPN which offers a 100 per cent risk-free money back guarantee. If you’re not happy with the service any time within the first 30-days, then you can cancel with no penalties at all.
Try ExpressVPN risk-free for 30 days ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money back guarantee with its VPN service. You can use it to watch on your mobile, tablet, laptop, TV, games console and more. There’s 24/7 customer support and three months free when you sign-up. Try it – you’ll be surprised how simple it is.
How to watch the Indy 500 in the USA
(Image credit: Wikipedia / Greg Hildebrand from Plymouth, IN – 2011 Indy 500874)
The Indy 500 race will air on NBC. Pre-race coverage starts at 9am ET on NBCSN, moving to NBC at 11am and finishing at 4pm. It also will be available to stream via the NBC Sports App and NBCSports.com.
Not got cable? US fans also have to option to watch the Indy 500 via FuboTV, a streaming service that carries NBC and offers a free 7-day trial.
FuboTV supports Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, iPhone, iPad and Android phones/tablets. You can also use FuboTV to watch the Indy 500 on your TV using Google Chromecast or Apple Airplay.
After the FuboTV trial ends, you’ll be bumped onto the $65 a month plan, which includes access to a host of premium TV channels. There’s no lock-in contract, so you can cancel at any time – and before the free trial ends, if you so wish.
Can I watch the Indy 500 in 4K?
FuboTV is a great way to watch the the occasional sporting event in 4K Ultra HD, but, sadly, not the 2021 Indy 500.
How to watch the Indy 500 in the UK
(Image credit: Sky)
Sky has the rights to show the Indy 500 in the UK. You can watch live on Sky Sports F1, or via the SkyGo app. The build-up starts at 3.45pm with the race set to get underway at 5.45pm.
Not a Sky subscriber? Anyone can enjoy the Indy 500 using Sky’s pay-per-view platform, Now. Now is available on all good smart TVs and set-top-boxes. A one-day pass costs from £9.99 gets you live coverage of F1, football, golf and more.
Now Sports Pass Watch the Indy 500 from just £9.99 A day pass for sports on Now can cost as little as £9.99, with a monthly pass coming in at £33.99 for those wanting to see the Indy 500 plus a few F1 grand prix, as well as football, golf and tennis.
How to watch the Indy 500 in Australia
(Image credit: Kayo)
Fox Sports has the rights to screen the 2021 IndyCar Series down under. Aussies seeking an Indy 500 live stream should click onto Kayo Sports.
The streaming platform’s premium package costs AU$35 per month but you can grab a free 14-day trial here.
Indy 500 schedule
5am ET – Garage opens
6am ET – Gates open
6.30am ET – Tech inspection
8.15am ET – Cars pushed to pit lane
10.30am ET – Cars on the starting grid
11:47am ET – Driver introductions
12.38pmET– Command to start engines
12.45pm ET – Green flag for the 105th Indy 500
Why does the Indy 500 winner drink milk?
The tradition dates to 1936, when Louis Meyer won his third Indy 500. It’s said that Meyer used to drink buttermilk to refresh himself on hot days, and when a photographer snapper a picture of him guzzling from a glass bottle in victory lane, the picture appeared in several newspapers.
It wasn’t long before a canny marketing executive representing the Milk Federation realised that ‘winners drink milk’ was a great way to sell the American public yet more milk. Ever since then, aside from a short hiatus between 1946-55, the winner of the Indy 500 has been presented with a bottle of ice-cold milk (actually it was a whole churn last year).
There was uproar in 1993 when contrary Brazilian driver Emerson Fittipaldi mugged off the milk in favour of a bottle of orange juice. Some sections of the audience booed but Fittipaldi had the last laugh when he was revealed as the owner of a 500,000-acre orange grove in Brazil. Fittipaldi was later forced to issue an apology.
Nintendo could announce its OLED Switch console in the next couple of weeks. Sources have told Bloomberg that the portable games console could be unveiled ahead of the E3 gaming conference which kicks off on 12th June.
Assembly is planned to start in July, with the console going on sale in September or October, they added.
An announcement ahead of E3 would let publishers showcase their full range of Switch games at the conference.
The new machine is likely to be more expensive than the current model, which it will eventually replace, leaving the OLED model and Switch Lite as the two models in Nintendo’s line.
The new console is thought to be called the Nintendo Switch Pro, though its official name is only known to a handful of people within Nintendo.
Its main selling point is the screen. According to leaks, it will be bigger than the current model’s (7in vs 6.2in) and use OLED technology to offer better contrast and colour (the current model has an LCD display). OLED is also more energy-efficient, which could mean better battery life – crucial for a console you can play on your travels.
It’s also thought to boast a new Nvidia chip with 4K upscaling, which would make game graphics look far better on a big-screen TV without the need for huge file sizes.
Next-gen games consoles are in the midst of a chip shortage caused by the pandemic, meaning the PS5 and Xbox Series X have been in short supply since launching in November 2020. Hopefully, the situation will be a distant memory by September, or will the Nintendo Switch Pro be another console that struggles to meet demand?
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Nintendo could release its heavily rumored new version of the Switch in September or October, according to a report by Bloomberg. Manufacturing is reportedly planned to start as soon as July, and Bloomberg says the system may be announced before the E3 trade show, which kicks off in virtual form on June 12th.
As Bloomberg notes, an announcement ahead of E3 would allow third-party publishers, as well as Nintendo itself, to show their games running on the new hardware. This version of the Switch is said to use more powerful silicon from Nvidia that works with DLSS technology, allowing for 4K output to a TV. It also reportedly has a 7-inch OLED display sourced from Samsung.
Bloomberg says Nintendo’s suppliers are “confident” in their ability to fulfill the orders even though there’s a global shortage of chips and other components. “Production lines are better prepared for the potential component shake-up and the parts Nintendo is using are subject to less competition than those in its rivals’ more powerful consoles,” according to the report, though it still warns that “the company’s ability to meet consumer demand won’t be guaranteed.”
The current model of the Switch has been difficult to find in many regions throughout the past year, with increased demand during the pandemic exacerbated by challenges with the supply chain.
Apple, a company notorious for making its products difficult to repair, has given us a real head-scratcher of a repair situation with its next-generation streaming remote.
At issue here are a pair of screws that would appear to make repair semi-straightforward but absolutely do not. iFixit tore down the second-generation Siri Remote, which will ship with the latest Apple TV 4K streaming box, and found that these two screws on the outside of the remote do basically nothing. Do not, in other words, expect to be able to fix your new remote or its battery easily.
First off, Apple’s new wand features a one-piece aluminum outer casing design — meaning that while minimal and pretty, this thing was probably already going to prove difficult to tinker with. You might think, therefore, that a pair of tiny screws at the bottom of the remote near its charging port would offer easy access to the thing most likely to need to be repaired on this remote: the battery. You would be wrong.
The previous generation of Siri Remote (left) shown next to the newer remote (right). The newer remote has two tiny screws at the bottom. They do nothing.Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
Instead, iFixit’s video teardown indicated that the tiny plate that covers its Lightning port — another Siri Remote sin, if I’m being honest — effectively goes nowhere. To get inside the remote, iFixit needed to use a handful of specialized tools to pop off the buttons on the remote, remove more tiny screws and tiny component parts, wriggle the remote’s inner frame out of its aluminum shell, unscrew the logic board from the remote’s skeleton, and finally, pop out the 1.52Wh battery. Oh, and its cables are soldered together with those of the Lightning port, making DIY repairs all the more difficult.
Is the lack of simple repairability on the next-generation Siri Remote entirely surprising? Well, no. Of course not. Repairing the first-generation Siri wand was similarly a whole entire thing. Apple is also notorious for lobbying against right-to-repair legislation, has been shown to be internally conflicted about its own position on the matter, and has used bad-faith arguments to shield itself from criticism about how difficult its products are to fix, particularly where it relates to proprietary component parts and repair instructions.
But for a remote with a rechargeable battery, Apple sure makes it difficult to actually get in there and access one of the things most likely to need replacement down the road. And tricking us with a pair of screws that do little for repairability doesn’t exactly curry favor on the repair front, either.
In 2019, Sony quietly established a subsidiary dedicated to researching artificial intelligence. What exactly the company plans to do with this tech has always been a bit unclear, but a recent corporate strategy meeting offers a little more information.
“Sony AI […] has begun a collaboration with PlayStation that will make game experiences even richer and more enjoyable,” say notes from a recent strategy presentation given by Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida. “By leveraging reinforcement learning, we are developing Game AI Agents that can be a player’s in-game opponent or collaboration partner.”
This is pretty much what you’d expect from a partnership between PlayStation and Sony’s AI team, but it’s still good to have confirmation! Reinforcement learning, which relies on trial and error to teach AI agents how to carry out tasks, has proved to be a natural fit for video game environments, where agents can run at high speeds under close observation. It’s been the focus of heavy-hitting research, like DeepMind’s StarCraft II AI.
Other big tech companies with gaming interests such as Microsoft are also exploring this space. But while Microsoft’s efforts are tilted towards pure research, Sony’s sound like they’re more focused on getting this research out of the lab and into video games, pronto. The end result should be smarter teammates as well as opponents.
Tom Holland will be starring as Nathan Drake in the upcoming Uncharted movie adaptation — part of Sony’s ongoing ambitions to expand its franchises into TV and film. Image: Tom Holland via Instagram
This tidbit was just one point in the presentation, though, in which Sony laid out numerous plans for its future growth. Here are some of the other ambitions mentioned:
Expand Sony’s first-party titles and franchises to mobile. “PlayStation has a huge catalog of diverse first-party IP that can transition to smartphone gaming and complement our AAA games or live service games,” say the notes. (Though it’s worth noting Sony established a subsidiary dedicated to making smartphone games in 2016, and it hasn’t had a huge impact yet.)
Make more Sony games into movies and TV shows. This will be done through the company’s PlayStation Productions subsidiary. Sony gives the example of the upcoming Uncharted film, starring Tom Holland as Nathan Drake.
Grow the PlayStation Network, PlayStation Now, and PS Plus networks. The company says it currently connects to about 160 million users but would like to grow that number to 1 billion (I mean, sure, who wouldn’t want more customers?). Getting there will mean growing the company’s various online services and subscriptions, including PlayStation Plus, which has seen steady, but not explosive, growth. It’s interesting to compare this to Microsoft’s huge push in subscription gaming through Xbox Game Pass.
Sony’s PS Plus network has seen steady but not explosive growth.Image: Sony
For more details you can check out Sony’s presentation for yourself here. Though, be prepared to wade through some absolutely incredible corporation-speak. We particularly liked the opening declaration that the company has now “implemented structural reform that liberated us from a loss-making paradigm.” In other words: they changed things so that Sony makes money instead of losing it! Got to dress that up somehow, I guess.
You don’t hear much abut them, but Royole unveiled the first foldable phone in the world and is now working on another technology – stretchable displays. These are based on micro-LED tech built on a stretchy, elastic circuit. Why would you even want a stretchable display?
For one these can be stretched into various shapes, creating spherical and dome-shaped displays. It’s like those curved screens you see on TVs, monitors and phones, except with a curve on two axes.
Royole sees applications in the fields of health and fitness, sports and fashion as well as transportation. Stretchy displays can be molded to fit the shape of the human body or create an interactive globe.
Here are a few details about the new type of display panel. They can be stretched to 130% and bent to 40º. They can be transparent too, letting through 70% of the light (much more than transparent OLED panels do, e.g. LG’s transparent TV lets through only 40% of the light). The current designs can have pixel densities up to 120 ppi, comparable to a typical laptops.
Below you can see a 2.7” 96 x 60 pixel panel that was built to prove that the technology works:
A proof of concept 2.7″ stretchable display (96 x 60 px) • It’s transparent too
And here’s the stretchiness in action:
True to their name, micro-LEDs are smaller than OLEDs, which allows for a bigger gap between individual pixels. This means more room for stretchy material between the pixels (and more room for light to go through).
Royole believes this stretchable technology can be applied to the manufacturing processes for foldable displays made today, which will help scale the production capacity quickly.
Samsung has been growing the number of displays it sells over the last few years, adding professional-grade and gaming monitors to its line-up. Now, Samsung is attempting to add another category to its list – Smart Monitors.
Samsung’s Smart Monitor range is expanding this week, with a new 43-inch 4K M7 model and a smaller, 24-inch M5 model with 1080p resolution. The key thing that sets these monitors apart is the introduction of Smart TV technology, powered by Samsung’s own Tizen processors.
Samsung wants these to be “do-it-all” displays, good for work, gaming and general entertainment, which will be accessible through a Smart TV style UI with support for apps like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. These Smart Monitors also feature apps for remote desktop connections and productivity apps like Microsoft Office. This functionality essentially turns the monitor into its own all-in-one computer.
Samsung now has Smart Monitors in 43-inch and 32-inch 4K options, as well as 1080p versions from 24-inches up to 32-inches, with prices starting at $229.99.
KitGuru Says: The lines between PC monitors and TVs has been getting blurry over the years. What do you think of Samsung’s ‘Smart Monitors’?
Owners of Amazon’s Eero 6 and Pro 6 routers will now be able to isolate their HomeKit IoT devices from the rest of their home network and the wider internet, thanks to a new integration with Apple’s HomeKit that’s now rolling out (via MacRumors). The new feature is coming as part of a firmware update, and makes the routers some of the first Wi-Fi 6 systems that support Apple’s integration.
The added feature may be welcome, but it’s probably not a surprise for those who have been paying attention: Eero’s other, cheaper routers were updated to support it in February, 2020, and an Eero Support account mentioned in November that the router was going through Apple’s certification process.
Setting up your Eero (or any other supported routers) with HomeKit lets you manage how much data your other HomeKit devices are allowed to share over the network. If, for example, you had some smart window blinds that were a bit shady, you could use HomeKit to only allow them to talk to your local HomeKit Hub, and not connect to the internet (or other apps). It’s a niche benefit, to be sure, but if you were holding off on an Eero 6 purchase until it was available, it looks like the time has finally come.
It’s worth noting that, to use the feature, a separate HomeKit Hub is required: this can be either an Apple TV, HomePod (regular or Mini), or iPad that stays in the house. If you want to activate HomeKit on your Eero router, the company has a support page laying out all the details.
Philo has become the latest live TV option for cord-cutters hoping to skirt cable contracts to get a price bump — but there’s a workaround for current subscribers.
Beginning June 8th, Philo’s monthly subscription cost for incoming customers will hike to $25 from $20. But those who are subscribed to the service before that date will be able to keep their plans at the current cost with no change, Philo CEO Andrew McCollum said in a Tuesday announcement on the company’s blog. To offset the price increase, Philo will be increasing its unlimited DVR storage period to a full year, up from 30 days, and existing customers who’d like to upgrade their storage will be able to bump up to the new price tier if they so choose.
McCollum cited an increase in contract fees with content partners as being behind the price change. Philo is “relentless in our focus on keeping our price low,” McCollum said, but the company “can’t offset these rising costs indefinitely, and this change reflects that reality.”
Philo’s hardly the only cable alternative of late to get a price hike. Other live TV cord-cutting services that have seen their subscription prices rise over the last couple of years include Fubo TV, Hulu with Live TV, and YouTube TV, all of which currently start at around $65 per month before any additional premium add-ons.
Philo reported last November that it had reached 800,000 subscribers, meaning it’s substantially smaller than larger live TV services like YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV, both of which have subscriber figures in the millions. It hasn’t technically seen a price hike since its launch back in 2017 (though it did initially offer a cheaper “skinny” tier that cost $16 per month before the plan was axed in 2019). And at $25, it still remains one of the cheapest ways to access live and linear TV, particularly given its unlimited DVR and 63 live channels.
But with Philo, you will be missing out on some premium features available on other services. For example, the service doesn’t include dedicated live sports channels, but some of its channels do occasionally run live sports programming. It also lacks local news channels, and its live channels only stream in 720p resolution while on-demand programming streams in 1080p. Philo also doesn’t have originals, though a spokesperson told The Verge that original programming “is something we may consider in the future.”
If you’ve been considering a Philo subscription, now’s the time to get it. June 8th is swiftly approaching, and that extra $5 a month starts to add up — particularly when accounting for any number of other subscriptions you may already be paying for.
Netflix might be the world’s largest subscription streaming service with more than 180 million paid subscribers worldwide, but it seems it’s not resting on its laurels. Growing evidence – collected by TheVerge – suggests that Netflix itself wants to become the Netflix of games.
The rumours started last Friday when The Informationreported that Netflix was looking to expand beyond film and TV content. The article revealed that the streaming giant was on the hunt for a top executive to oversee a major push into gaming.
Then, on Monday, Axios followed up by quoting an anonymous source who tipped the upcoming service to be “a smaller Apple Arcade” bundle, featuring a mix of Netflix-developed games and indie titles. The source claimed ‘Netflix Arcade’ could launch as soon as 2022.
Other outlets have since suggested that Netflix had already approached several high-flying games industry veterans with a view to offering subscribers both streamed and downloadable games.
If the rumours are true, ‘Netflix Arcade’ will be the company’s second significant foray into button-bashing. Back in 2019, Netflix teamed up with Finnish studio Next Games to create a puzzle role-player based on the hit 80s-themed horror series, Stranger Things.
Netflix is yet to comment, but in the past, in a statement issued to GameSpot, it has hinted that interactive experiences are very much on its radar:
“Members… enjoy engaging more directly with stories they love – through interactive shows like Bandersnatch and You v. Wild, or games based on Stranger Things, La Casa de Papel and To All the Boys. So we’re excited to do more with interactive entertainment.”
In the past 20 years we’ve seen many a video game franchises, from Tomb Raider to Resident Evil, adapted for the big screen. Netflix is currently showing four series of Castlevania, a TV show based on the hit 90s platformer, while Paramount+ is expected to launch its Xbox-inspired Halo TV series in February 2022.
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Find out: Amazon Prime Video vs Netflix – which is better?
Compared to competitors like YouTube TV and Hulu, Sling TV has never had the flashiest app, and the overall user experience leaves something to be desired. It’s been easy enough to overlook these faults since Sling TV undercuts those rivals on price, but today the company announced a completely redesigned app that focuses on more polish and personalized recommendations.
The new Sling TV app is rolling out first to “select customers” using Amazon’s Fire TV devices, and other platforms will be added as the year stretches on. (It’ll arrive on Roku sometime this summer, for example.) The Dish-owned company describes this as the “most comprehensive update in Sling TV’s history.” And based on screenshots and the GIF above, it does look like a significant makeover.
“After a year of talking to customers and working with our design and advanced engineering teams, we’re happy to roll out the new Sling TV app to deliver the best in live sports, news and entertainment, at the same unbeatable low price point,” Michael Schwimmer, group president of Sling TV, said in a press release.
The redesign comes with a lot of changes, including a left-side navigation column and a new homescreen that focuses on content recommendations. The channel guide has been “reimagined” to make favoriting channels and filtering easier, though it will still feel familiar to customers who want that traditional cable-like grid.
A dedicated DVR section provides easy access to your cloud recordings.Image: Sling TV
Sling TV’s cloud DVR now gets its own tab, which should make it easier to sort through your recordings. By default, the service comes with 50 hours of DVR space, but you can expand this to 200 hours for an extra $5 per month.
“If a streaming app is done right, it should be practically invisible, allowing the user to get to the most relevant content quickly and easily — the new Sling TV experience does just that,” said Jon Lin, Sling TV’s VP of product.
Public, the trading and social networking app, is the next app to get into live audio. Like many apps before it, the company says it’s planning to roll out live audio features starting this week under the name Public Live. Unlike its competitors, like Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces, however, Public will initially program these chats with moderators it pays, meaning not just anyone can start a conversation. It’ll host about three events a week, and users will receive a push notification to join, along with a badge inside the app allowing them to hop into it. Topics might include coverage of an upcoming IPO, the day’s news, or analysis.
The first chat will be between Scott Galloway, who co-hosts the Pivot podcast and is an investor in the app, and Stephanie Ruhle, an NBC News senior business correspondent and MSNBC anchor. It’ll be live in the app this upcoming Wednesday and won’t be recorded for publish anywhere else. Other future hosts include Nora Ali, a former Cheddar News anchor, and Kinsey Grant, co-founder of Thinking is Cool and the former host of the Morning Brew Business Casual podcast.
An example of what a Public Live event badge will look like in the app.Image: Public
In a chat with The Verge, Public co-founder Leif Abraham says the team plans to eventually allow more people to host live audio rooms, but it’s taking its time with the feature and wants to see how things go before opening it up. Crucially, the first iteration also won’t allow people to get onstage live and ask questions. They’ll instead be limited to emoji reactions.
Abraham says the core reasoning behind limiting the release at first is to keep the quality of the content “high” and also to effectively moderate by actually employing the moderators and programming the chats, as opposed to leaving it to app users who haven’t been vetted. (Although the chats won’t be recorded for distribution, he says they will be recorded on the backend for moderation and regulation purposes.)
Interestingly, Public’s moderators come from media backgrounds; two out of three have hosted business TV programs. He says audio made more sense for the app than live video because it doesn’t require as much setup or production costs. Also, listeners can tune in while doing other things on their phones.
The decision to build live audio into another app speaks to the broader push to integrate live audio into existing platforms rather than building it as a separate product. Companies like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter see the feature as a way to augment their platforms, and Clubhouse, famously, is the main app that’s completely dedicated itself to live audio. For Public, Abraham says people are already using the app to chat about trading and stocks, so having conversations about finance just makes sense — despite other apps also often hosting similar chats.
“We are the place where they get their financial news,” he says. “We are the place where they learn about investing strategies, and therefore, we are the button that they think of when they want to dive into the stock market, or business strategy, or investing strategy, and so on.”
Clubhouse and other apps might host chats with randos who claim to understand the stock market and Bitcoin, but Abraham and his team are betting people are more interested in formal live programming that Public can guarantee will be well-moderated and from “trusted” sources.
Netflix has dipped a toe in gaming on occasion, with perhaps the hugely-successful “choose your own adventure”-style film Black Mirror: Bandersnatchas the most prominent example. But the streaming giant may be expanding further into gaming with a new bundle for Netflix subscribers, according to several reports over the past few days.
The Information had the first report on Friday, writing that Netflix wants to hire an executive to oversee new gaming efforts, and that the company is considering a bundle of games similar to Apple Arcade. (Hours later, Reuters corroborated that a gaming exec is a planned hire at Netflix.) The company has also chosen not to include ads in the games, according to The Information. But The Information also said that Netflix’s plans are still “very much in flux.”
In a report published Monday, however, Axios shared more details from its own reporting. An Axios source said to think of the upcoming service, which would be offered to Netflix subscribers, as “a smaller Apple Arcade” bundle that would include both licensed Netflix IP and games commissioned from indie studios. The service could be a ways out, though, “possibly launching in 2022.”
While Netflix hasn’t publicly confirmed the potential expansion of its gaming efforts, in a statement published by both The Information and Polygon, the company left the door open to the idea that it is indeed planning to do more with gaming:
Our members value the variety and quality of our content. It’s why we’ve continually expanded our offering — from series to documentaries, film, local language originals and reality TV. Members also enjoy engaging more directly with stories they love — through interactive shows like Bandersnatch and You v. Wild, or games based on Stranger Things, LaCasa de Papel and To All the Boys. So we’re excited to do more with interactive entertainment.
Netflix has a lot of titles based on popular video games that are out now or in the works, such as Castlevania, Resident Evil, and The Witcher (which is one of Netflix’s biggest shows), so the company clearly sees the value of video games as IP. It’s not outlandish to think that the company would want to market its series through new games, or, in the ultimate ouroboros, make a new game that eventually becomes a new Netflix show in the future.
Netflix seemed to be on its way in 2019 — it had partnered with Telltale Games on a secret Stranger Things game that died before it was announced, with a source telling The Verge that “Netflix was just getting into the space and didn’t really have a games group in place yet.” Telltale’s Minecraft: Story Mode did survive, though, and is still at least partially playable on Netflix now.
Many companies are trying to build a service that’s “Netflix, but for games.” Apple Arcade and Xbox Game Pass are just two that come to mind. But these reports and Netflix’s curious non-denial suggest Netflix might like to eat its own lunch this time around.
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