GoKawiil
Tech News
Subscribing to eight leading ad-free streaming services now costs about $151 monthly, up from roughly $90 four years ago, according to new pricing data. Apple TV+ has raised prices 200% since its 2019 launch, while Netflix's Premium tier is up 125% since 2013, and price hikes accelerated further with an 11.8% jump over the past year alone.
Florida has filed a lawsuit against Netflix, alleging the streaming company misled subscribers about its privacy practices while secretly gathering detailed data on users' devices, locations and viewing habits. The suit contends this tracking extended to children and families who were unaware of the extent of the surveillance.
The Toronto International Film Festival kicked off its annual lineup, featuring new work from Takashi Miike, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Werner Herzog, and a four-hour Elon Musk documentary. Among the festival's early standouts is 'The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,' starring John Turturro as an aging, technophobic thief navigating a city that has moved on to smartphones. The film hits theaters October 30th.
An independent pricing tracker compiled monthly rates for nine flagship streaming tiers—Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Paramount+, Peacock, YouTube Premium and Spotify—comparing March 2021 to today. The combined monthly cost for the same services rose from $95.91 to $154.41, a 61% jump equal to $702 more annually, without any downgrades or cancellations factored in.
An Ampere Analysis report cited by Business Insider found that average ad minutes per hour across major US ad-supported streaming tiers rose 18% between January and August 2026. Paramount+ now shows the most ads at just over nine minutes per hour, while Netflix saw the sharpest percentage jump, climbing from 1.40 to 2.44 minutes per hour, though it still airs the fewest ads overall. Prime Video was the only service among the group to actually cut its ad load during this period.
Streaming and video-call services have modest bandwidth needs on their own—Netflix 4K needs just 15 Mbps and Zoom calls need under 5 Mbps—but households with multiple devices running simultaneously need far more headroom. Experts recommend at least 100 Mbps for one or two people, 300 Mbps for larger or work-from-home households, and 500 Mbps or more for heavy users, while noting the FCC's official broadband baseline is now 100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up.
Apple TV won 20 Creative Arts Emmy awards this weekend ahead of the September 14th Primetime ceremony, putting it in third place behind HBO Max's 16 and Netflix's 13. Comedy Widows Bay accounted for 8 of Apple's wins, including Outstanding Guest Actress for Betty Gilpin, with Pluribus, Margo's Got Money Troubles, Palm Royale and Mr Scorsese also contributing wins.
Netflix has ordered a live-action series called Ravenloft, based on the Dungeons & Dragons setting, focusing on the origin story of vampire villain Strahd von Zarovich. Alfonso Cuarón will executive produce, while John August, known for writing several Tim Burton films, will pen the script.
Netflix is developing a live-action series based on the Dungeons & Dragons Ravenloft setting, with Alfonso Cuarón and John August attached as executive producers alongside Hasbro Entertainment. The show will reportedly focus on Strahd von Zarovich, tracing his transformation from a tragic figure into one of D&D's most notorious vampire villains. Deadline also reported that Netflix has scrapped a separate live-action Forgotten Realms series that was being developed by Shawn Levy and Drew Crevello.
Rockstar's 27-minute 'Extended Look' at Grand Theft Auto VI premiered on Netflix on August 27 and racked up over 31 million views in four days, topping viewership charts in 87 of 93 countries. The clip also pulled over 20 million views on YouTube after its Netflix exclusivity window ended, while Sensor Tower data showed Netflix's website traffic jumped 125% and mobile app usage rose 50%, briefly crashing the site.
Netflix's Tudum top 10 for August 24-30 ranked Rockstar's nearly 30-minute GTA VI extended look as the most-watched movie, topping charts in 58 countries with 31.1 million views despite only a six-hour exclusivity deal. After that window closed, Rockstar posted the same footage to YouTube, where it has since drawn over 17.7 million views using a different counting method.
An entrepreneur who returned as CEO of his company in early 2024 describes reorganizing its technology strategy around profitable growth just as large language models surged in prominence. Rather than chasing AI investment without restraint, as he observed many companies doing, he prioritized cost discipline, setting a goal of $100 million in free cash flow within three years while using AI to address internal data problems that mirror those of the company's merchant customers.