Jul 19
Jul 19
Netflix Warns It Will Block TVs in 5 Countries If Password Sharers Don't Pay More
Posted in: Today's Chili
Netflix is sharpening its digital knives once more and taking aim at the more than 100 million accounts being shared by users on its platform. In a test beginning next month in five countries in Latin America, the streaming giant will limit the number of days you can watch Netflix on a TV outside your primary home.
Jul 19
The Demon Spider of Ulster County: How Six 'I Voted' Stickers Won the Internet 😍
Posted in: Today's Chili
It takes a special kind of talent to make people laugh even though they’re living through an absolute hot mess, otherwise known as politics in America. Hudson Rowan, a 14-year-old from Marbletown, New York, is extremely talented in this regard. He’s designed what has become the internet’s favorite “I Voted” sticker. …
Jul 19
Netflix is fighting password sharing in Latin America by charging for additional 'homes'
Posted in: Today's ChiliNetflix has introduced a new way people can share accounts — and, hence, a new way to curb password-sharing — for five Latin American countries. Starting on August 22nd, users in Argentina, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras will have to pay for extra “homes” if they want to access the streaming the service outside of their primary residence for longer than a short vacation.
Subscribers can watch Netflix on their phones or tablets anytime and as much as they want even while they’re traveling or visiting another place. But if they want to stream on a TV, they can only access Netflix at no additional charge for two weeks while away from their primary residence. Further, they can only stream for free at a particular location once. After those two weeks are up, or if they go back to a location where they previously maxed out free access to the service, Netflix will ask if they would like to add a home for an additional fee per month.
Basic tier subscribers can add one extra home, standard up to two extra and premium up to three extra. Netflix says it uses information such as IP addresses, device IDs and account activity to detect homes, but it’s advising people to make sure their devices are using the same internet connection and aren’t using VPN or proxy services in case its system is insisting that the viewer is outside their primary residence when they aren’t. The company will also allow members to stop paying for an extra home whenever they want and to replace their added home up to three times every six months.
Earlier this year, Netflix said it lost about 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2022 due to stiffer competition and the abundance of account sharing. According to Bloomberg, password sharing has been especially rampant in Latin America, which is most likely why that’s where the company is testing new features meant to prevent the behavior. In its announcement, Netflix said the service will cost users 219 Pesos per month per home in Argentina and $3 per month per home in the Dominican Republic, Honduras. El Salvador and Guatemala.
Jul 19
Is it a bad sign for an industry when technical issues and ending a little-known promotional campaign lead to immediate concerns that one of the biggest players in the crypto game is in financial danger? Let me just answer that question: yes, of course it is.
Jul 19
The “Top Gun” actor posed for pictures with admirers while joining Hayek and her billionaire husband François-Henri Pinault for dinner in London.
Jul 19
The US Government is inspecting Amazon warehouses over 'potential worker safety hazards'
Posted in: Today's ChiliAmazon warehouses in New York City and elsewhere are being investigated by federal prosecutors and the US Department of Labor over unsafe workplace conditions, ABC News has reported. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) conducted inspections “related, among other things, to Amazon’s required pace of work for its warehouse employees,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
On top of probing potential safety hazards, the investigators were also looking into “possible fraudulent conduct designed to hide injuries from OSHA and others,” the agency added. It said that it opened the inspections based on referrals from the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York regarding allegations of safety and health violations. It’s also probing Amazon workplaces outside of Illinois and Florida.
Over the last several years, Amazon has faced a number of complaints and probes over workplace safety, particularly around demanding tasks. Earlier this year, Washington state’s Department of Labor cited and fined the company for “strenuous work at an unsafe pace” in Kent. Last year, the company issued a rare apology for tweets attacking criticism of working conditions, specifically that drivers and other workers were forced to pee in bottles to achieve objectives.
Following the collapse of a warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois during a hurricane, the company was criticized by members of congress and the senate for “wholly inadequate” warehouse safety. In April, workers at New York’s Staten Island warehouse voted to form the company’s first US union.
Jul 19
The Morning After: The 68GB SSD floating inside the James Webb Space Telescope
Posted in: Today's ChiliWith the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) now powered up and snapping some spectacular images – some of them huge captures – where does it put them all? On an SSD, of course. It’s a relatively tiny 68GB SSD, according to IEEE Spectrum, which is just enough to handle a day’s worth of JWST images ahead of broadcasting them back to Earth.
Why so humble in size? The JWST is a million miles from Earth, getting bombarded by radiation and temperatures of less than 50 degrees above absolute zero (-370 degrees F). So the SSD, like all other parts, must be radiation hardened. Samsung’s latest pro-level SSD might not cut it. Plus, JWST sends data back to Earth much faster than Hubble – up to 57GB in the four hours it’s in range each day. It seems like just about enough storage.
-Mat Smith
The biggest stories you might have missed
Amazon makes Prime Video look more like Netflix (and every other streaming app)
Records reveal the scale of Homeland Security’s phone location data purchases
Snapchat’s messaging and calling features land on a new set of screens
Crunchyroll is lowering monthly subscription fees in almost 100 regions
US Congress calls for the FTC to regulate how VPN companies operate
Three-quarters of popular VPNs ‘misrepresented their products,’ the letter states.
US Democrats have urged the FTC to crack down on deceptive practices in the Virtual Private Network (VPN) industry. In an open letter, Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) cited research indicating that three-quarters of the most popular VPNs “misrepresented their products,” leading consumers to have a false sense of security.
Lucid’s Air Grand Touring EV delivers luxurious speed and range
The only decision is just how fast do you want to get to 60 miles per hour.
Lucid
We were impressed with the Lucid Air Dream Edition earlier this year, even though it was just a pre-production vehicle. Well, the automaker gave us time behind the wheel of its latest top-of-the-line Grand Touring Performance model with all the proper hardware and software ready to go. The Lucid Air GT models are shaping up to be more than just fast electric sedans. Check out our test-drive.
‘Stray’ review: A cute and contained cyberpunk adventure game
Play as a cat, just like you always wanted.
Stray
Stray is a cyberpunk playground where players are rewarded for trusting their instincts, and it offers a beautiful balance of exploration, puzzle solving and soothing cat activities. And somehow manages to tell a heart-wrenching human story without any people at all. Cat people are going to love it, says Engadget’s Jessica Conditt – and she’s one of our resident dog people!
UK forces Meta to halt its forced sale of Giphy
A court orders the antitrust watchdog to review the original decision.
The UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal has ordered the country’s antitrust watchdog to review its decision to force Meta to sell Giphy. “We have agreed to reconsider our decision in light of this finding,” a spokesperson for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) told the outlet, adding the agency hopes to complete the process within three months. The ruling comes after the tribunal sided with the watchdog on five of the agency’s six claims against the company. However, on the one ruling that went in Meta’s favor, the tribunal said the CMA had failed to properly inform the company of Snapchat’s acquisition of Gfycat, undermining its defense.
Jul 19
It’s one of several bills, including those enshrining abortion access, that Democrats are pushing to confront the Supreme Court’s conservative majority.
Jul 19
Netflix has launched a full trailer for its upcoming animated adaptation of Tekken, Bandai Namco’s famous fighting game franchise, and with it comes the show’s premiere date. Tekken: Bloodline is arriving on the streaming service on August 18th and will be available in several languages, including English and Japanese. The show focuses on Jin Kazama and takes place between the events of Tekken 2, which features his mother Jun Kazama as one of The King of Iron Fist Tournament competitors, and Tekken 3. Jin made his debut in the franchise’s third entry released back in 1996 after losing his mother and his home to Ogre, one of the franchise’s antagonists.
In the series, Jin trained under his grandfather Heihachi Mishima, the tournament’s founder, in his quest for revenge. You’ll hear Heihachi tell Jin to shed the pacifist Kazama ways and to “stoke [his] Mishima fire.” Yes, Heihachi sounds positively villainous, because he’s the franchise’s main antagonist. The trailer also shows faces that would be familiar to long-time fans, as characters from the games also appear in the show. They include Hwoarang, Julia Chang, Nina Williams, Paul Phoenix, Ling Xiaoyu and Heihachi’s son Kazuya Mishima.
You can watch show’s official trailer below:
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