Twitter is building a subscription product as a way to ease its dependence on advertising — a plan the social network has considered for years, and one that has taken on a heightened priority given the pandemic and pressure from activist investors to accelerate growth. From a report: The majority of Twitter’s revenue comes from targeted advertising, which serves up promoted…
Tag: subscription service
Amazon’s Alexa Can Now Act On Its Own ‘Hunches’
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Amazon is enabling a new feature today that allows Alexa to proactively complete tasks around the house, such as turning off lights, based on your habits and frequent requests. Alexa has been able to sense these habits and ask about them since 2018 — the company calls them “hunches” — but before…
‘We Messed Up’. Microsoft Rescinds Xbox Live Gold Price Hike
“We messed up today,” the Xbox Live Gold team wrote late Friday night, “and you were right to let us know.” Their blog post’s new title? “No Changes to Xbox Live Gold Pricing, Free-to-Play Games to be Unlocked.” Forbes reports: It has been a very strange few days for Microsoft and Xbox fans. On Friday, Microsoft announced that for effectively no…
Google Photos Revives Its Prints Subscription Service
Google Photos is reviving its photo printing subscription service and introducing same-day prints. The company earlier this year had briefly tested a new program that used A.I. to suggest the month’s 10 best photos, which were then shipped to your home automatically. But Google ended the test on June 30. From a report: During the trial, Google had offered users a…
Xbox Game Streaming Will Land on iOS in 2021 Using Web Workaround
Project xCloud, the Microsoft game-streaming service that comes packed as a bonus in certain Xbox Game Pass subscription plans, may finally have a path to working on Apple’s range of iOS devices — well after a public row between the tech giants that put the possibility into question. From a report: The news comes from a report by Business Insider, which…
DC Universe Streaming Service Will Become Universe Infinite Comics Platform
DC Universe, which started out as a streaming service for original DC superhero content, will in January become DC Universe Infinite, a supersized subscription service for DC Comics. CNET reports: The service launches on Jan. 21 for $7.99 per month, or $74.99 for a year-long subscription. DC says that subscribers will be able to read 24,000 comic book titles at launch,…
Is Microsoft Planning To Phase Out Xbox Live Gold?
Yesterday, a Microsoft rep confirmed that the option to purchase 12 months of Xbox Live Gold has been removed from the Microsoft Store. That’s exactly a week ahead of the July 23 games presentation, where Microsoft could be announcing a plan to phase out the subscription service altogether with the launch of Xbox Series X. Inverse reports: “At this time Xbox…
Walmart’s Amazon Prime Competitor Will Launch This Month
Amazon may have a 15-year head start, but Walmart is close to finally unveiling its own membership program that it hopes will eventually become an alternative to Amazon Prime. From a report: Walmart plans to launch a new subscription service later this month called Walmart+ that will cost $98 a year. It will include perks like same-day delivery of groceries and…