GoKawiil
Tech News
A new explainer outlines how major streaming platforms handle offline downloads, noting that Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and YouTube support downloading content for offline viewing on desktop and laptop computers. Netflix and several other services, by contrast, now limit offline downloads mostly to mobile devices and Chromebooks. Crunchyroll offers downloads for its anime library, but only on mobile.
Prime Video's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' will shift its season 3 rollout from weekly episodes to grouped batches, according to the show's showrunner. The change marks a departure from the week-by-week release pattern used in the series' first two seasons.
Amazon provides a standard 30-day free trial of Prime that converts to a paid subscription unless canceled, with no guaranteed waiting period for repeat trials. The company also offers Prime for Young Adults, giving six months free to those 18-24 or enrolled students before charging $7.49 monthly or $69 annually, and Prime Access at $6.99 monthly after a 30-day trial for SNAP or Medicaid recipients and others meeting income requirements.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told investors on Thursday's earnings call that Prime Video has grown into a business with a revenue run rate in the tens of billions of dollars and is now profitable. Amazon MGM Studios has generated more than $1.2 billion in global box office this year, led by Project Hail Mary, while shows like Reacher and sports programming including Thursday Night Football have driven viewership gains.
Prime Video announced Fallout Shelter: The Experiment, a 10-episode reality competition based on the Fallout game and TV franchise, premiering Jan. 13, 2027 with four episodes, followed by weekly releases through Jan. 27. Contestants will face apocalypse-themed drills and moral dilemmas in a Vault-Tec-style shelter, competing for a $1 million prize. The announcement coincided with Fallout Day, Oct. 23, which marks the fictional start of the Great War in the game's lore.
Prime Video has released the official trailer for The Rings of Power's third season, showing Sauron's forces conquering Middle-Earth while elves, dwarves and men scramble to resist. The trailer also introduces the human men destined to become Ringwraiths, called the Nazgnagol by showrunners, and new cast additions including Jamie Campbell Bower as Celeborn and Zubin Varla as Khamul.
A day after EA shut down BioWare and canceled its new Mass Effect project, a trailer for the game surfaced on Reddit. The footage, labeled as in-engine with pre-production assets, shows a human ex-soldier talking to an Asari character and includes a flashback battle sequence and a cameo from a character from the original trilogy, ending with the title Mass Effect: Universe. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier and IGN have both said the trailer is authentic.
Mike Flanagan has adapted Stephen King's novel Carrie into an eight-episode miniseries for Prime Video, timed to the 50th anniversary of Brian De Palma's 1976 film. A reviewer calls the series largely successful at capturing both the story's tenderness and its violence, though it has one significant flaw.
Amazon announced plans to invest more than $17 billion in Germany, covering AI infrastructure, high-speed satellite internet, logistics projects, and new Prime Video content. The investment marks one of the company's largest commitments to a single European market.
Following the cancellation of 'The Wheel of Time' after its third season on Prime Video, a large collection of props and set pieces from the Rosamund Pike-led fantasy series is being put up for auction. The sale reportedly includes items tied to the show's climactic battle sequences.
Prime Video premiered the complete trailer for its series Blade Runner 2099 at New York Comic-Con, with showrunner Silka Luisa joined onstage by stars Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer. Luisa explained the eight-episode series is set 50 years after Blade Runner 2049, following a replicant uprising in which humanity has lost dominance. All eight episodes will be released together on Prime Video on November 25, 2026.
Nicolas Cage told a New York Comic Con panel that he declined to sign an AI usage waiver Amazon wanted for his role in Spider-Noir, calling Amazon "a very AI-friendly company" given its $50 billion OpenAI investment. Amazon canceled the acclaimed series after one season, shortly before it received 11 Emmy nominations, and Cage said he doubts he'll work with the studio again.