Month: May 2022

Following its rare drop in subscriber numbers last quarter, Netflix is accelerating its efforts to attract new users. According to a new report from The New York Times, Netflix is aiming to launch a more affordable ad-supported tier sometime during the fourth quarter of this year.

Around that same time, Netflix is also hoping to roll out its long-rumored crackdown on password sharing…

According to today’s report, Netflix laid out this timeline in an email to employees. During last quarter’s earnings call, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings indicated that the company would take its time to roll out an ad supported tear, saying the company would “figure it out over the next year or two.”

The company now appears to have accelerated that timeline, with today’s note to employees explaining that the goal is “fast and ambitious” and “will require some trade-offs.” Netflix also pointed out that “every major streaming company excluding Apple has or has announced an ad-supported service,” and that consumers are hungry for “lower-priced options.”

Netflix is clearly still in the early stages of planning its lower-priced tier with ads, so we still don’t know much about it. As it stands today, the cheapest Netflix plan is $10 per month, while you’ll have to shell out $20 per month if you want 4K streaming. Netflix’s most recent round of price increases went into effect last month.

At the same time as it is planning an ad-supported tier, Netflix is also aiming to crack down on password sharing. The company detailed its plans to charge more for sharing passwords in March, explaining that it was testing the ability to “easily and securely” share your password with people outside of house, but at the cost of “paying a bit more.”

In today’s note to employees, Netflix said that it hopes to implement its password sharing changes “around the same time” as the launch of the ad-supported tier.

Netflix is banking on these changes increasing both subscriber numbers and revenue. The company lost 200,000 subscribers during the first quarter of the year. Perhaps more notably, however, the company also predicted that it will lose two million subscribers in Q2.

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Stories discussed in this episode:

• Apple restructuring services to focus on streaming and ads
• WWDC 2022 in-person event: What we know
• Display for foldable iPhones could use similar tech to Samsung

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Call of Duty: Warzone is getting a massive new event from May 11-25. In Operation Monarch, players will need to survive a war against Godzilla and King Kong — yes, this is a tie in to the Godzilla vs. Kong movie that came out over a year ago. Players will be rewarded for their efforts with a variety of monster-themed merchandise, including a gun blueprint.

Operation Monarch’s main mode will be a variant on the Resurgence game mode and players will group up with three other friends in four person squads. All 60 players will then get dropped into a cornered-off section of the Caldera map and need to survive longer than any other squad — the typical way teams win Warzone.

But Operation Monarch has a catch. There are two big catches. The kings of monsters, Godzilla and King Kong, are also on the map. For extra information, players can do damage or call them in to get super kill streaks. They’ll fight back, but will be mostly docile for most of the match — “most” being the operative word here.

At a certain point in every match, (the beginning of the match and another unspecified time), Godzilla or Kong will unleash their fury upon players. The monsters will attack more vigorously and actively try to kill anyone around them. These situations are open to both players who can fight and run. However, the player with the highest damage will be awarded a killstreak that allows them to heat ray or ground pound an area they choose.

In Operation Monarch, players will receive some awards just from playing with friends, but they’ll need to spend extra cash on cosmetic bundles if they want all the monster-themed goodies. By completing all eight of the game’s challenges, players will earn the special “Ancient Rivalry” Marksman Rifle blueprint.

All of the rewards, and the bundles for King Kong, Godzilla, and Mechagodzilla will be available until May 25 when the Titans go back into hiding and the event disappears.

Electronic Arts announced Tuesday that this fall’s planned FIFA 23 will be the last title, in a nearly 30-year run, to carry the branding of world football’s governing body. Beginning in July 2023, EA Sports’ soccer flagship will be called EA Sports FC.

“The introduction of EA SPORTS FC will not impact any current EA Sports global football games, and EA and FIFA are excited to deliver the greatest, most expansive EA SPORTS FIFA ever later this fall,” EA said in a statement. “Our final FIFA product will also include more game modes, features, teams, leagues, players, and competitions than any previous edition.”

Last fall, Cam Weber, EA Sports’ general manager and top executive, said the company was reevaluating its licensing agreement with FIFA, considering the enormous patchwork of licenses the game already carried, from individual soccer leagues and teams, and what the FIFA brand actually added to the product. EA Sports FC was also trademarked in the U.K.

In Tuesday’s statement Andrew Wilson, chief executive of EA, stated that EA Sports FC would be the “largest and most influential football club in the globe, at the epicenter for football fandom .”

“For nearly 30 years, we’ve been building the world’s biggest football community — with hundreds of millions of players, thousands of athlete partners, and hundreds of leagues, federations, and teams,” Wilson said. “EA SPORTS FC will be the club for every one of them, and for football fans everywhere.”

Reading between the lines, the statement reveals how little FIFA’s branding actually brought to a game that also has exclusive partnerships with UEFA’s Champions League tournament, the English Premier League, most of Italy’s Serie A clubs, South America’s Copa Libertadores club championship, and other major brands not controlled or managed by FIFA. Tuesday’s statement from Electronic Arts mentioned that EA Sports FC will have “more than 300 individual licensed partners, giving players access to more than 19,000 athletes, across 700 teams, in 100 stadiums and over 30 leagues around the world.”

FIFA does own and control the branding for the World Cup and the Women’s World Cup, but those tournaments run every four years, and have traditionally showed up in an update to the main video game a few months before the real-life events begin. The last stand-alone World Cup title that Electronic Arts released was 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil for PlayStation 3, Windows PC, and Xbox 360.

A name like EA Sports FC not only saves money but it also gives a publisher valuable branding space. Officially, every title has its brand name on it. The publisher’s soccer franchise has taken the FIFA name since 1993’s FIFA International Soccer for Sega Genesis, making FIFA the third-longest title partner in the publisher’s history, behind the Madden NFL series (1988) and NHL (1991).

In Tuesday’s statement, Weber said that EA Sports FC will be a continuation of everything players have come to expect from EA Sports’ FIFA series on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. “Everything you love about our games will be part of EA SPORTS FC – the same great experiences, modes, leagues, tournaments, clubs and athletes will be there,” Weber said. Weber stated that the Ultimate Team, Career Mode and Pro Clubs, as well as Volta Football, will all be .”

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The statement also said that EA Sports FC’s new licensing structure will help the game “innovate in new areas around both women’s and grassroots football for the global community.”

Lego is the latest brand to offer the Super Smash Bros. experience. However, instead of pitting characters against one another, Lego brawls allows you to build your character.

Now, technically, this game isn’t new. It’s actually a port of a mobile game from 2019, which was an Apple Arcade exclusive. But the upcoming port will bring it to a wider audience on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.

In Lego brawls ,, you can create your Lego character and compete against other Lego characters. And, true to the Lego spirit, you can customize just about everything about your little brawler, which means they can fight with rocket fists, or baguettes, or more. It’s like the orderly fun of building a Lego set, with the destructive fun of a fighting game.

The first trailer showcases just a small portion of the customization options and some levels that are inspired by Lego sets. The game will release late in the summer. preorders have already opened .

After unveiling a look at its new MagSafe charger back at CES, LINE has launched the unique LINESTAND. Built from a solid block of aluminum, the 3-in-1 charger for iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch works flat on a surface or floats with a VESA mount. Read on for our hands-on details.

With countless wireless and MagSafe chargers on the market, Line is looking to stand out from the crowd by offering distinctive design and functionality with LINESTAND.

Featuring a super-solid aluminum build, LINESTAND has a floating picture aesthetic and includes VESA mount threads if you want to go for an air desk setup. It can also be used with desks or countertops that have rubber feet integrated.

Available today is the LINESTAND Trio which offers spots for two MagSafe pucks plus one Apple Watch charger.

Hands-on with LINESTAND

The moment you pick up LINESTAND, you realize what a solid build it has. Coming in at just over 3 pounds in weight, the 70% recycled aluminum has a clean brushed silver finish and will last a lifetime.

Along with the solid metal build, the longevity is thanks to the fact that you do need to bring your own MagSafe and Apple Watch chargers for this dock. If one of yours does die, the other can be easily replaced. But the downside is if you don’t already have two MagSafe chargers and an Apple Watch puck that’s another ~$100 you’ll need to spend.

I tested out the LINESTAND with the lay-flat configuration which looked nice with my MacBook Pro and black desk. It definitely gives a prominent docking station feel for your Apple gear and at 3 pounds in weight, it doesn’t move in the slightest when removing devices.

While using the official Apple MagSafe charger and Apple Watch charger are guaranteed to fit perfectly, I found that mophie’s black Snap+ wireless chargers work too.

One important thing to remember is that the charging case has cable routing so cables with a thickness greater than Apple’s will not fit. You can opt for a floating VESA mounting setup.

9to5Mac’s Take

I appreciate the creativeness of LINESTAND, which allows for a traditional or floating desktop. This is the first VESA-mountable MagSafe multidevice charger that I have seen.

While there are a number of other pros like full 15W MagSafe charging and a solid aluminum build that should last forever (or as long as iPhone and Apple Watch keep using these chargers), there are some cons.

I think that the most important one is the cost. You’re looking at $169 for LINESTAND which is without the three chargers and power adapters needed.

If you need to buy MagSafe and Apple Watch chargers, power adapters, as well as a VESA arm (if you want to do a floating install), you’re looking at $300+. One other downside is three cables to manage and plug in.

But for those that love the design, especially the floating option, this unique MagSafe dock could be worth the premium price.

LINESTAND is available now direct from LINE.