Items tagged with Netflix
Netflix fans have a love-hate relationship with the streaming giant at times. It certainly has some fantastic original movies and series, but it also has some junk filling up the bulk of its catalog. Netflix had a gigantic budget for 2018 of $8 billion and to cover the cost of all the original programming it makes, and cover debt, Netflix is raising prices for all of its 58 million U.S. subscribers. The price increase is the biggest increase since Netflix launched its streaming service over a decade ago. The most significant price hike will come to subscribers on its most popular plan that allows...
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For about the past three years, Netflix has allowed iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV owners to pay for a streaming subscription through iTunes as a matter of convenience. Now, however, that is no longer an option for new users. While existing subscribers who already pay for Netflix through iTunes may continue to do so, Netflix has stopped offering it as a payment option for new members. Netflix actually started incorporating the change earlier this year in select markets. Apparently satisfied with the outcome (i.e., iOS users have likely shown they're willing to jump through an extra hoop to pay for...
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Some new years begin with champagne and fireworks, others begin with termination of employment. Activision Blizzard announced that they plan to fire their Chief Financial Officer Spencer Neumann for undisclosed reasons. The announcement comes on the heels of a rather rocky financial year for Blizzard. Neumann has been placed on paid leave and will receive the opportunity to argue against his termination. Starting today, Chief Corporate Officer (CCO) Dennis Durkin will assume Neumann’s responsibilities and will fully take over the position once Neumann is fired. Blizzard claims that Neumann’s...
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Phishing attacks have become one of the most common methods of scamming unsuspecting people out of something - usually money. We may all think we have our guards up to all forms of attacks, but when they can hit us through every form of communication, it's bound to happen to someone. In a recent series of phishing attacks, Netflix and its many millions of customers have been targeted. The risk of damage from this phishing attempt seeking payment information has led the FTC to issue a specific warning about it. The agency also notes simple things you can do you spot a phishing attack: the first...
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Mark Zuckerberg may end up finding out the hard way that even Facebook, the largest social network on the planet, is not invincible. After being dogged by numerous security gaffes and privacy outrages, including the Cambridge Analytica scandal that caused the company to be put under a microscope, it's now come to attention that Facebook allowed some of the biggest technology companies in the world to have greater access to people's data than it let on. No little thing, Facebook is home to around 2.27 billion monthly active users, after having surpassed 1 billion users six years ago. Privacy is...
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Netflix is a textbook example of a company pivoting to stay relevant with a changing landscape. At one time solely a DVD-by-mail subscription service, Netflix is now much more popular in the streaming video space, and had even spun off its DVD-by-mail business into Qwikster. It operates in more than 100 countries, though the same selection of movies and TV shows is not available in each location. That is where virtual private networks (VPNs) come into play. VPNs are primarily used to enable a more secure connection and are particularly useful when sending and receiving data over a shared or public...
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In an effort to expand its footprint in emerging markets, Netflix is rolling out a $3 monthly subscription plan that is for mobile devices only. This may or may not be a permanent thing—as of right now, the ultra-cheap mobile plan is part of a wider test as Netflix looks to gain ground in the streaming space with cheaper packages. The $3 per month plan shouldn't come as a surprise, not after Netflix CEO Reed Hastings recently indicated plans to test cheaper packages. Netflix is testing a mobile-only subscription for around $3 per month in a handful of countries worldwide, including Malaysia...
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With the Nintendo Switch being out for a while now and racking up big sales numbers, the Nintendo Wii gets almost no love. Odds are that Nintendo fans that had a Wii, and skipped the disappointing Wii U, probably already have a Nintendo Switch they are enjoying right about now. This likely means that a number of those Wii consoles out there have been relegated to a kids room or guest room to use as a video streaming device. Nintendo announced last year that it would be closing its Wii Shop in January 2019 and now we're hearing further end of life news. What some might not have considered is...
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Love or hate Apple there is no denying that the company is a behemoth and it is the most valuable company in the world right now. While sales of smartphones have sagged globally because people are holding onto their devices for long and computer sales sag for the same reasons, Apple continues to grow. Much of that growth is laid at the feet of the booming app ecosystem and the fact that Apple takes a 30% cut of sales and subscriptions from the App Store, with that cut decreasing to 15% after the first year of a subscription. Netflix is running an experiment with its iOS app that is specifically...
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Charter is not making many friends in high places in New York. Just the opposite, the New York State Public Service Commission announced it has revoked its approval of a 2016 merger between Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable (TWC) due to Charter, doing business as Spectrum, wavering on promises it made, along with "various instances of misconduct." One of the times the Commission noted in its revocation announcement is a 2017 lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman. In the lawsuit, the AG accused Spectrum of throttling Internet speeds for streaming services like...
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If you purchased a new television recently, there's a better-than-good chance that it is a 4K Ultra HD set, as those have become the norm, and not the exception. One way to take advantage of the added resolution (over Full HD) is through select content on Netflix. Depending on the luck of the draw, however, you might be charged an added fee to have access to 4K streams. But wait, isn't that already the case? It sure is, but Netflix is reportedly testing a new tier that is pricier than the current Premium tier. Here is how things currently stand: Click to Enlarge Netflix currently offers three tiers—Basic...
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We've all been there, binging one of our favorite shows on Netflix and you have to sit through the show's intro over and over unless you hit that skip button. All you really want is to find the episode of The Walking Dead where you hope Carl gets his face eaten off by a walker (maybe that's just me) and you just want to skip the intro and speed the process up. Netflix added the ability to skip those intros last year, but if you were watching on a Chromecast device, throwing Netflix up to your TV, you were doomed to watch all of that intro, no matter way. Fortunately, that is now changing...
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A few days ago, AMD started pushing out a new Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.4.1 driver release that, according to the release notes, introduced support for the April 2018 Update for Windows 10. Other than a handful of bug fixes, there didn't appear to be anything else special about the latest driver package—no game optimizations and no additional features, or so we thought. While not listed in the release notes, AMD's latest GPU drivers enable streaming 4K Ultra HD video from Netflix on your PC. The added functionality was first spotted by Hardware.info, which noticed that latest driver...
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Are you one of the millions of Americans that are sick and tired of paying high rates for cable TV and satellite packages? Many are paying outrageous prices for dozens (or even hundreds) of channels that they probably don't even watch. Given the rising costs of TV packages, more and more people are cutting the cord. Just how expensive have cable and satellite TV options become over the years? Well, according to Kagan, S&P Global Market Intelligence, the average monthly cost for premium TV packages has increased 74 percent since 2000 from just under $60 to nearly $100. Given that median wages...
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