netflix – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Netflix’s ‘Cloverfield’ sequel starts streaming tonight

Last year Netflix’s Super Bowl ad focused on a season of Stranger Things we still had months to wait for, but this year things are different. The streaming company dropped a surprise 30-second teaser for The Cloverfield Paradox , a sequel to the 2008 monster movie that will be available for viewing worldwide tonight, after the game. As Deadline notes, the Paramount/J.J. Abrams flick had been planned for a theatrical release this weekend, but reports that dealing with Netflix made the movie “immediately profitable.” Also, on Twitter Netflix revealed a promotional deal that will send snacks directly to viewers in New York, San Francisco, LA and Chicago, in time for the movie’s debut after the game. Netflix: In the near future, a group of international astronauts on a space station are working to solve a massive energy crisis on Earth. The experimental technology aboard the station has an unexpected result, leaving the team isolated and fighting for their survival. Developing… NY, SF, LA, Chicago: since we’re doing surprises tonight, tweet back with #CloverfieldParadox

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Netflix’s ‘Cloverfield’ sequel starts streaming tonight

Are Music CDs Dying? Best Buy Stops Selling CDs

An anonymous reader quotes Complex magazine: The future of physical music isn’t looking good. According to Billboard, consumer electronics company Best Buy will no longer carry physical CDs and Target may be following suit in the near future. Best Buy notified music suppliers that they will cease selling CDs at stores beginning July 1. The move is sure to hurt the already declining sales of CDs as consumers are switching to streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal in large numbers. CD sales have already dropped by a sizable 18.5 percent in the past year, Billboard reports. Billboard also reports Target has given an “ultimatum” to music and video suppliers. “Currently, Target takes the inventory risk by agreeing to pay for any goods it is shipped within 60 days, and must pay to ship back unsold CDs for credit… Target has demanded to music suppliers that it wants CDs to be sold on what amounts to a consignment basis…” “If the majors don’t play ball and give in to the new sale terms, it could considerably hasten the phase down of the CD format.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Are Music CDs Dying? Best Buy Stops Selling CDs

eBay will soon replace PayPal as its main payment option

eBay and PayPal remained tight even after the two headed to splitsville in 2015. That’s bound to change in the near future now that the auction site has decided to offer an integrated payment system built by Amsterdam-based company Adyen. The move will give way to a more seamless payment experience — no need to log into another website to pay — since Adyen’s product (already used by Netflix and Uber) is purely a back-end payment service. You might encounter the new payment system as soon as the second half of 2018, when the e-commerce giant deploys it (on a small scale) in North America. Its availability will expand in 2019 and the year after, until all sellers have been transitioned to the new system by 2021. eBay has an existing contract to continue offering PayPal as a payment option until July 2023, but neither company has announced if they have plans to extend that partnership beyond that point. According to the auction site’s announcement, offering its own intermediate payment system will allow it to build a central console where sellers can track all their transactions easily. Plus, it’ll lower the payment processing charges sellers have to pay. Even with the lower charges, Recode says the move will boost eBay’s revenue by $2 billion, since it can now pocket those payment processing fees. At the moment, PayPal’s value is billions more than eBay — its shares fell after news of eBay’s decision was announced, but it remains to be seen if it will have a huge and permanent effect on the payment portal’s business. Wenig: We have made the decision to intermediate payments on $eBay . We have already begun building this capability, and will move as quickly as we can under the terms of our operating agreement with PayPal. pic.twitter.com/qDp3mDmBVx — eBay Newsroom (@eBayNewsroom) January 31, 2018 Via: Recode Source: eBay , (Twitter)

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eBay will soon replace PayPal as its main payment option

Movie Ticket Sales Hit A 22-Year Low in 2017

An anonymous reader quotes the Los Angeles Times: Hollywood is celebrating the end of 2017 with astronomical sales from “Star Wars: The Last Jedi, ” which is on track to soon exceed $1 billion in global ticket sales and eventually become the biggest movie of the year. But that won’t be enough to write a happy storyline for the industry. Although movie ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada are expected to dip just below last year’s record of $11.38 billion, the number of tickets sold is projected to drop 4% to 1.26 billion — the lowest level since 1995, according to preliminary estimates from studio executives. The falloff in ticket sales can mostly be explained by a handful of movies that flopped, especially during the dreary summer season that posted the worst results in more than two decades. Even such massive hits as “Wonder Woman, ” “Thor: Ragnarok” and “It” couldn’t make up for a lackluster summer lineup populated by rickety franchises (“Alien: Covenant”) and poorly reviewed retreads (“The Mummy”). However, the long-term decline in attendance reflects systemic challenges facing the industry. Audiences are spending less time going to the movies and are consuming more entertainment on small screens and through streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon that are spending billions on original video content. At the same time, while higher ticket prices have helped to offset attendance declines, they have made consumers pickier about what movies they’re willing to go see. And those increasingly discerning consumers turn to social media and Rotten Tomatoes to decide what’s worth their time and money. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Netflix now streams HDR video on Windows 10

You no longer have to turn to your phone or TV to watch Netflix’s more vibrant HDR video selection. The streaming behemoth has added support for playing HDR on Windows 10, both in the native Netflix app and in the Edge browser (sorry, no Chrome here). You’re already set software-wise if you’re running the Fall Creators Update . However, it’s the hardware requirements that might leave you hanging — and we don’t just mean the need for an HDR10-compatible display . Netflix noted that you’ll need one of Intel’s 7th-generation or later Core processors, and you’ll have to use either the integrated graphics or a recent NVIDIA graphics card like the GTX 1050 or higher. For now, at least, anyone in the AMD camp is out of luck. The service said that this is the result of years-long partnerships, although AMD’s Vega graphics are technically capable of the 10 bits per channel color you need for HDR. Technically, there shouldn’t be much getting in the way. The limited hardware options aren’t entirely shocking. HDR is relatively well-established in the living room, but it’s still undercooked in the PC space with not just few devices, but few apps that can actually display it. Netflix’s Windows 10 release is a big help in that sense — it might spur PC makers and software developers to add HDR support knowing that more people can use it. Source: Netflix Tech Blog (Medium) , Netflix Help

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Netflix now streams HDR video on Windows 10

T-Mobile Is Becoming a Cable Company

T-Mobile has revealed that it’s launching a TV service in 2018, and that is has acquired Layer3 TV (a company that integrates TV, streaming and social networking) to make this happen. The company thinks people are ditching cable due to the providers, not TV itself. Engadget reports: It claims that it can “uncarrier” TV the way it did with wireless service, and has already targeted a few areas it thinks it can fix: it doesn’t like the years-long contracts, bloated bundles, outdated tech and poor customer service that are staples of TV service in the U.S. T-Mobile hasn’t gone into detail about the functionality of the service yet. How will it be delivered? How much will it cost? Where will it be available? And will this affect the company’s free Netflix offer? This is more a declaration of intent than a concrete roadmap, so it’s far from certain that the company will live up to its promises. Ultimately, the move represents a big bet on T-Mobile’s part: that people like TV and are cutting the cord based on a disdain for the companies, not the service. There’s a degree of truth to that when many Americans are all too familiar with paying ever-increasing rates to get hundreds of channels they don’t watch. However, there’s no guarantee that it’ll work in an era when many people (particularly younger people) are more likely to use Netflix, YouTube or a streaming TV service like Sling TV. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Keylogger Found On Nearly 5,500 WordPress Sites

An anonymous reader writes: Nearly 5, 500 WordPress sites are infected with a malicious script that logs keystrokes and sometimes loads an in-browser cryptocurrency miner. The malicious script is being loaded from the “cloudflare.solutions” domain, which is not affiliated with Cloudflare in any way, and logs anything that users type inside form fields as soon as the user switches away from an input field. The script is included on both the sites’ frontends and backends, meaning it can steal both admin account credentials and credit card data from WP sites running e-commerce stores. According to site source code search engine PublicWWW, there are 5, 496 sites running this keylogger. The attacker has been active since April. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Keylogger Found On Nearly 5,500 WordPress Sites

John Scalzi’s ‘Old Man’s War’ sci-fi series is headed to Netflix

Award-winning science fiction author John Scalzi famously chose military SF for his Old Man’s War series because it was a marketable sub-genre . Lucky for us that he did, as the eventual six-book series has been a critical and commercial success. According to a report from Deadline , Netflix has just acquired the first novel with intentions to make it into a film. In the Old Man’s War universe, set hundreds of years from now, older people are given a loaded choice. Either age and die on Earth or get healthy young bodies that are conscripted into the military to fight space aliens. Protagonist John Perry makes the obvious choice and becomes a high-octane space marine who ends up being pretty good at leading troops into battle. Of course, all is not as it seems, and Perry begins to piece together what’s really going on. The engaging story will likely make a good movie, provided it’s done right (looking at you, Ender’s Game ). The film is being produced by John Shestak Productions ( Air Force One , Dan in Real Life ) and Madhouse Entertainment . Source: Deadline

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John Scalzi’s ‘Old Man’s War’ sci-fi series is headed to Netflix

‘MST3K’ will mock B movies for another season on Netflix

If Twitch’s Mystery Science Theater 3000 binge-fest didn’t scratch your itch, we’ve got good news for you: Netflix is renewing the show’s revival MST3K: The Return for a second season (and the 12th season overall). A brief announcement video (featuring series creator Joel Hodgson, current host Jonah Ray, and Felicia Day) hit YouTube shortly after Shout Factory’s annual Turkey Day marathon — which diehards no doubt tuned in to for Thanksgiving b-movie wisecracks. If you’re planning to make it a MST3K -themed weekend, you can still catch the 20 classic episodes stocked on Netflix. Or, maybe you’re saving a box set or two for the occasion. After all, nothing says Thanksgiving like robots sending up Space Mutiny . Source: Mystery Science Theater 3000 (YouTube)

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‘MST3K’ will mock B movies for another season on Netflix

A live-action ‘Star Wars’ show is headed to Disney’s streaming service

After years of rumors of a live-action Star Wars TV series, it’s finally happening. The only catch? It’ll be exclusive to Disney’s upcoming streaming service, Polygon reports . CEO Bob Iger didn’t have any details to share about the new series, but the fact that it’s coming is still a bombshell for the Star Wars universe. And, of course, it’s also a smart way to sell Disney’s streaming service, which is set to launch in 2019 . Additionally, Disney will be producing three other original series from its Marvel, Monster’s Inc. and High School Musical franchises. Disney revealed a few months ago that it’ll remove its content from Netflix, which includes existing Star Wars films, and move it over to the company’s streaming service in 2019. Via: Polygon