Tech News Roundup for February 23, 2021
Here are a few of the stories I’ve found interesting over the last few days.
Disney+ Star launches
Today was a big day for the Streaming Wars in Canada. Disney launched Star, a new part of the Disney+ streaming service that includes a ton of content from various Disney properties that are not part of the Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, National Geographic, or “traditional” Disney content. Content on Star includes first run content broadcast by ABC, FX, and all of the content that Disney acquired when it purchased 21st Century Fox. This is basically Disney’s international answer to the Hulu service in the United States.
This makes Disney+ a leading contender in the Streaming Wars, with an explosion of content that I personally will be watching quite a bit of. Not all of the content Disney owns is on the platform yet, but as deals expire with other content providers like Netflix and Crave, we can expect all of Disney’s properties to appear on Disney+ Star.
You know, properties that we traditionally think of Disney, like Deadpool, Borat, 24, and Family Guy.
Star is a new section in Disney+ that adds this content at no additional cost… however the base price for Disney+ is going up. New users who sign up as of today will pay $12/month or $120 for a year compared to $9 and $90 before. Existing users will get the previous price until August, even those paying monthly, after which their price will go up.
As much as I lament the cost of these services going up, the sheer amount of new content on the platform now, in my opinion, justifies the price, and I won’t be dropping Disney+ anytime soon.
https://mobilesyrup.com/2021/02/23/disney-plus-star-canada-now-available/
Samsung Announces “At Least” Four Years of Android Security Updates
This is a big deal. Samsung is now outdoing Google in promising security updates for its Android phones. The company will now provide 4 years of security updates for the vast majority of phones and tablets that it has released since 2019. Pair this with 3 Android version updates for most of its phones as well, and Samsung now equals or exceeds Google’s promised support for its Pixel line of phones.
This is good for everyone. As we hold onto phones longer, it is great to see a company like Samsung committing to more support. Samsung sells the most Android phones in the western world, and this means that the largest single customer base will receive updates for longer. This is also a good play by the company as I personally would now recommend Samsung over any other Android phone for an average user, and someone who wants to hold onto a phone for more than a couple years.
WhatsApp Attempts to Clarify New Privacy Policy
After WhatsApp backed off a privacy policy change earlier this year, the company is back at it again with a clearer message on exactly what is changing ahead of the new May 15 deadline. The company is clarifying that the only data that is being shared with the Facebook advertising platform is interactions users have with WhatsApp Business Accounts. The app now goes out of its way to say that person to person or group chats are not affected by these changes.
The company also says that users who do not accept the new policy by May 15 will no longer be able to use the platform.
I like this clarification, and it does really clear up what is actually going on. But it does make me wonder how such a blunder got out to the public in the first place.
Perseverance Rover landing footage
I have nothing to add here except to say if you haven’t already seen it, go watch the amazing video of the Perseverance rover landing on Mars. My jaw drops every time I watch it.