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Vision Pro apps: Why some big brands have actively opted out

Vision Pro apps | Apple promo image on a plane

With pre-orders open, we know which of Apple’s Vision Pro apps will be pre-installed – but we also know some major third-party apps have no current plans to support the device.

While there’s still time for things to change, it’s already clear that some developers have made a deliberate decision to stay off Vision Pro, going so far as to block their iPad apps from running. That’s likely for three reasons …

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Streaming TV services may be struggling with attention as well as subscription costs

Streaming TV services | Apple TV apps shown on modern flatscreen

A report yesterday revealed that a set of popular streaming TV services can now cost more than traditional cable TV packages.

It pointed out that subscription costs have risen dramatically, which creates an obvious risk of people cutting back on the number of services. But I think there’s a second issue, too, and that’s the competition for attention …

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Netflix is silently killing its basic plan without ads

Netflix subscription plans down

Netflix last year introduced a cheaper ad-based plan in an attempt to attract more subscribers, as people had been abandoning the platform due to the cost of regular plans. Even so, the company still offers a basic plan without ads – but that may not last long. In Canada, Netflix has now quietly killed this tier, forcing users to subscribe to the ad-based plan or pay more for higher tiers.

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Netflix kills DVD-in-the-mail business, upgrades ad-supported plan from 720p

The newsiest part of this story may be that Netflix has continued to mail DVDs to customers as a subscription service. The development, however, is that the company is officially ending the red-envelope-in-the-mail part of its business.

Physical media from Netflix was such a relic in 2011 that company leadership proposed rebranding the DVD rentals to Qwikster. The Twitter handle @qwikster was occupied by a random dude at the time who had no intentions of letting it go. Qwikster lost a million subscribers over the weird name and a price increase, and the branding plan from another planet was canceled.

Still, the service that was the origin of Netflix lived on for another dozen years. Eventually “DVD.com, a Netflix company” was born.

To recap, Netflix killed Blockbuster with its no due dates or late fees DVD business, then Netflix killed its own movie rental business, and now the remnants of what kickstarted Netflix as we know it today have now gone.

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Apple and others may have to pay toward European 5G infrastructure [U]

European 5G infrastructure | Mobile base station

Update: The consultation has now begun, and will last for 12 weeks – see end of piece.

Under a proposal currently being discussed, tech giants could be asked to help pay for European 5G infrastructure, with Apple potentially on the list of companies receiving a bill.

The European Union is planning to consult on the idea of asking companies which generate a lot of Internet bandwidth to contribute to the cost of upgrading the telecoms equipment used to deliver it …

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Netflix password sharing rules hit new countries; how to check who has access to your account

netflix password sharing

Netflix has announced an update on its efforts to crack down on password sharing. In a blog post published today, Netflix explained that “over 100 million households are sharing accounts,” which impacts its “ability to invest in great new TV and films.”

With that in mind, Netflix says that it is expanding its restrictions on password and account sharing to new countries. There’s also a new way to easily manage who has access to your account via the Netflix website…

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Netflix password sharing is still safe in most countries… for now

Netflix sharing account passwords

Earlier this week, Netflix updated the FAQ section on its website to detail how it will prevent users from sharing their account password with other people who don’t live in the same house. However, the new guidelines have now been taken down from Netflix’s website as the company claims that they were mistakenly published to all users around the world.

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