GoKawiil
Tech News
Disney announced it has hired Karandeep Anand, former CEO of Character.AI, to fill a newly created role as senior executive vice president and chief technology officer, effective October 2. Anand will report directly to CEO Josh D'Amaro and oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data, AI platforms, product and engineering across the company.
Disney has established a new Chief Technology Officer position and named Karandeep Anand, currently head of Character.AI, to fill it. Anand will report directly to CEO Josh D'Amaro, signaling elevated priority for technology within the company's leadership structure.
Disney has hired Karandeep Anand, who spent just over a year as CEO of chatbot startup Character.AI, to become the company's first chief technology officer. Anand will report to new CEO Josh D'Amaro and oversee Disney's infrastructure, product, engineering, and data/AI platforms teams.
Walt Disney World is rolling out a beta AI assistant on its booking site and app, built on Google's Gemini but limited to official Disney data. Guests will be able to ask conversational questions about hotels, resorts, and amenities, and receive AI-generated summaries on pricing and availability before being directed to booking links. The beta will initially reach randomly selected guests in the US and Canada, excluding Lightning Lane and dining reservations for now.
IMAX has extended its brand beyond cinemas with an 'IMAX Enhanced' label now appearing on a growing number of titles on services like Disney+. Despite the name, this designation doesn't guarantee top-tier picture or audio quality, since streaming bitrates remain capped to avoid buffering, meaning 4K Blu-ray discs can still surpass IMAX Enhanced streams in fidelity.
Spotify rolled out a new setting that lets account holders exclude children's and family music from their taste profile, keeping it out of Wrapped summaries and personalized recommendations. The feature is available now on mobile for both Free and Premium users worldwide and works automatically once turned on.
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.
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.
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.
Disney has agreed to pay $50 million to settle Biddle v. The Walt Disney Company, a lawsuit accusing it of using ESPN's leverage to force streaming services into pricier bundled channel packages. The settlement covers anyone who subscribed to YouTube TV or DirecTV Stream (including DirecTV Now or AT&T TV Now) between April 1, 2019 and March 31, 2026, and claims must be filed by Sept. 8. Disney denies wrongdoing, and payout amounts will vary based on subscription length and total number of claims submitted.
Marvel and Disney+ published a 15-title 'Countdown to Doomsday' playlist and a companion weekly podcast to prep fans for Avengers: Doomsday's December 18 release, totaling roughly 42 hours of viewing. The list oddly includes two pre-MCU X-Men films, likely tied to rumored returning cast members like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, while skipping 2023's The Marvels.
The FCC filed a motion to dismiss Disney's lawsuit, defending its decision to launch an early review of the broadcast licenses held by ABC's eight owned stations. The agency argues the review concerns only alleged discrimination tied to Disney's diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, not Chairman Brendan Carr's public threats over Jimmy Kimmel jokes or The View's political content. Separately, two watchdog groups and individual ABC viewers are seeking to intervene in the case, fearing Disney could strike a settlement with the FCC that doesn't serve the public interest, a motion Disney itself opposes.