Netflix is considering cheaper ad-supported plans that could be available in a year or two, according to co-CEO Reed Hastings. On Tuesday, Netflix reported its first subscriber loss in over a decade. More: - Netflix said it lost 200,000 subscribers in Q1 2022.
- The company lost ~600,000 subscribers in the U.S. but gained in Japan, India, and the Philippines.
- It forecasts a loss of 2 million subscribers in Q2.
- Hastings said he prefers the simplicity of a subscription model but is a "bigger fan of consumer choice."
- Ad-tolerant consumers may prefer options at a lower price point, he said, noting that it has worked for Hulu, Disney, and HBO.
- Ad-supported tiers could boost company profits as Netflix faces stiffer competition in the streaming market.
Zoom-out: - Netflix is also exploring ways to crack down on account sharing to boost profits.
- The company estimates that 100 million+ of its 222 million households worldwide share accounts.
- Last month, Netflix said it would begin testing ways to charge account holders who share their passwords outside their households.
- The tests will take place in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru this year before potentially rolling out to other markets.
ENGADGET 
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Delta has done initial testing of Starlink's internet technology on planes, the airline's CEO confirmed. It's the first major airline to publicly reveal testing of the satellite internet service for in-flight Wi-Fi. More: - Delta CEO Ed Bastian said it has conducted "exploratory tests" but declined to elaborate further.
- In 2018, he told the WSJ that he wanted free WifFi on all Delta flights, which has yet to occur.
- The Starlink service for planes must be certified for each type of aircraft, according to CEO Elon Musk.
- The unit has focused on Boeing 737 and Airbus SE’s A320 planes, "as those serve most number of people," Musk tweeted last year.
Zoom-out: - Musk's SpaceX, which operates Starlink, applied with the FCC last year for an antenna that's designed for planes, ships, and other moving vehicles.
- It later revealed plans to test a "mobile user terminal" on a plane for six months.
- SpaceX has so far launched 2,335 satellites into low-Earth orbit, with a long-term goal of 42,000 satellites for its mega-constellation.
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Crypto exchange Coinbase Global has launched its NFT marketplace in beta. Testers will be able to create online profiles, socialize, and buy and sell NFTs, according to a company blog post. More: - The platform is described as a mix between a social media community and competing NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea.
- Users can monitor their feeds, like and comment on NFTs, connect with other holders and sellers, and build followers.
- Coinbase said it will not impose transaction fees on NFT purchases for a limited time while the platform is in beta.
- It will initially roll out to a "small number" of testers in the U.S. and open up to more on a waiting list in the next five weeks before a general public release.
Zoom-out: - The launch comes about six months after Coinbase said it would open the waitlist for the NFT platform as it seeks to diversify its revenue streams.
- The publicly traded crypto exchange says it has 89 million users, $278B in assets, and $547B in quarterly volume trading.
- The value of the NFT market has surpassed $40B in the last year, up from only $338M in 2020.
THE BLOCK CRYPTO
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Just Eat Takeaway.com is exploring a potential sale of its U.S. arm Grubhub after buying it in 2021 for $7.3B. The online food-ordering company confirmed that it's “actively” exploring a partial or full sale of Grubhub as well as potential strategic partnerships. More: - Just Eat Takeaway.com is facing pressure from investors to divest Grubhub and boost valuation following a recent drop in online food ordering.
- Just East experienced a 5% decline in orders in North America, its largest market, in Q1 2022.
- Globally, its orders fell 1% to 264 million.
- The firm is now experiencing a higher-than-expected absolute churn level in the first half of this year, according to a trading statement, causing it to lower its earnings forecast.
- The drop was attributed to the fading pandemic, growing competition, and high inflation affecting consumer spending.
- Just Eat Takeaway.com first announced it was acquiring Chicago-based Grubhub for $7.3B in June 2020.
- The deal was finalized last year, making it the biggest food delivery service outside of China.
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Apple's iPhone 16 could be its first full-screen phone with under-display camera technology when it releases in 2024, predicts analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Apple could move its front camera and Face ID under the screen, removing both the notch and a hole-punch camera from the display. More: - The feature could be limited to higher-end devices like the iPhone 16 Pro.
- Kuo said that Image Signal Processor (ISP) and an algorithm would be "critical" to maintain the front camera's quality in low light conditions.
- He previously predicted that Apple would debut under-display Face ID rather than Touch ID with the iPhone 16.
- Meanwhile, Apple is expected to replace the notch in this year's higher-end iPhone 14 models with a pill-shaped cutout and a hole-punch camera.
- The iPhone 14 could feature an autofocus-enabled selfie camera and a wider aperture of f/1.9 compared to the iPhone 13’s f/2.2, according to Kuo.
THE VERGE
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The U.S. Department of Defense is lagging the commercial sector in tech innovation, and risks losing its technological edge to adversaries if it doesn't make structural changes, according to the Pentagon's founding chief architect officer, Preston Dunlap. Dunlap, who oversaw a $70B budget for R&D and acquisitions at the U.S. Space Force and U.S. Air Force, resigned this week. More: - In his resignation, Dunlap argued that the Pentagon trails the domestic commercial sector in areas like AI, cybersecurity, distributed computer processing, and data.
- He asserted that the DoD should pursue more partnerships with the private sector to boost innovation.
- During his three-year tenure as chief architect officer, Dunlap said he accomplished many "firsts" for the DoD by following the commercial approach of Elon Musk's aerospace company, SpaceX.
- He argued that "much more must be done" if the DoD plans to regrow its already-thinning technological edge.
Zoom-out: - Other experts have warned about the U.S. falling behind China and others in technology. The Pentagon's former chief software officer, Nicolas Chaillan, resigned last year, citing the DoD's alleged reluctance to prioritize AI and cybersecurity. The U.S. has "no competing fighting chance against China in 15 to 20 years," he said at the time.
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 |  | Beth is a writer and analyst at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily tech news. Since starting work at Inside, she has covered various topics including virtual reality, drones, and e-commerce. Prior to that she was a public policy and investigative reporter for The Arizona Republic, where she won a Pulitzer Prize nomination and First Amendment Award for reporting on the rising costs of pensions. Reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. |   | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is writing an illustrated book about climate change that will be published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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