ShinyShiny snippets: Netflix password sharing crackdown to begin soon
Netflix’s long-promised crackdown on password sharing will begin in the coming months, the firm says. The plan means members who want to share accounts with people outside of their household will face an extra fee. The move, aimed at boosting subscribers, has been trialled in some countries but not yet rolled out in the UK or US. It comes as the company announced it would shut down the DVD rental service that launched the firm 25 years ago. Netflix has been on the hunt for ways to re-ignite growth, which has slowed sharply as competition heats up, households grapple with rising costs. BBC
The rival chat apps WhatsApp and Signal have joined forces in a rare show of unity to protest against the online safety bill, which they say could undermine the UK’s privacy and safety. In an open letter signed by the heads of both organisations as well as five other encrypted chat apps, the executives say the bill could be used to in effect outlaw end-to-end encryption, which prevents anyone but the intended recipient of a message from seeing its contents..Last month, WhatsApp’s chief, Will Cathcart, said the app would leave the UK rather than submit to a requirement to weaken encryption. The Guardian
Foldable phones are all the rage right now and Oppo has its own in the form of the Find N2 and Find N2 Flip. But what comes next? Oppo seems to think that it might have the answer. A new report claims that Oppo is hard at work on something that goes beyond the foldable. It’s a rollable, with the phone unrolling at the touch of a button to turn a standard phone into something much bigger. And what’s more, there’s no crease the likes of which we’re all far too familiar with. PocketLint
SpaceX is finally launching its Mars-bound Starship craft into orbit. The first attempt has been postponed after a “pressurisation issue” caused the company to pull the launch with just minutes to go. But it will try again on April 20 – which happens to be one of chief executive Elon Musk’s favourite dates. Eventually, SpaceX hopes to use the spacecraft to explore the Moon and Mars. But for now it will complete a short orbital flight, lifting up into space and then falling back down. Independent
The Google Pixel 7a and Pixel Fold could both be landing very soon, with the latest leak suggesting they’ll both be unveiled on May 10, but we have what looks like some bad news when it comes to prices. According to sources speaking to 9to5Google, the Pixel 7a will cost $499 in the US, which is $50 more than the Pixel 6a costs. There’s no news on pricing in other regions, but given that the Pixel 7 has the same price tag in pounds as dollars we might see the same in the UK, meaning £499, up from £399. Tech Radar
The Amazon-owned video-streaming platform Twitch has banned one of its most popular livestreamers. Kai Cenat holds the record for having the most subscriptions to his channel, with more than 300,000 at its peak. Now, a message that appears when visiting his channel says it is “temporarily unavailable due to a violation of Twitch’s… terms of service” and he has tweeted: “Banned.” Twitch streamers typically play video games while chatting to viewers. BBC
