No surprises here: Netflix is still on top
Bad news, everyone. Netflix is king, and we are but subjects condemned to a life of misery under its thumb. If it wasn’t already obvious, we’re still feeling the salty residuals of the streamer’s decision to abolish (free) password sharing, ultimately catapulting Netflix into the stratosphere. See, the streamer recently released its Q1 figures (via Variety), adding 9.33 million more feathers to an already-laden cap.
If you haven’t been keeping track, those nine million new subscribers put Netflix right under the 270-million-user mark, leaving Prime Video, Disney+ and, uh, the rest, in its dust. Hell, even Netflix wasn’t expecting a surge as large as this, predicting roughly 5 million or so fewer subscribers in the same period. Despite the rapid growth, it hasn’t changed the company’s mind on its decision to stop reporting subscriber numbers entirely from 2025.
There’s no exact metric to prove why Netflix gained as many subscribers as it did, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out. Netflix’s Q1 saw the release of the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender, 3 Body Problem, The Gentlemen, and another season of Love is Blind. We also have no doubts that the Son of Hades played his part.
Razer’s Kishi Ultra bridges the gap between mobile and PC (kinda)
Mobile gaming is, for lack of better words, so hot right now. And now Razer is making it a little bit hotter. At least in our eyes. Say hello to the Razer Kishi Ultra, a follow-up to the Razer Kishi 2 V2, encompassing just about everything you could ever want in a mobile phone controller. Seriously.
Not only will it handle any phone you can throw at it (Razer reckons the Galaxy S23 Series, Google Pixel 6, iPhone 15 Series, and “many other Android devices” will work) but it’ll also stretch to fit an iPad Mini or any other 8in Android tablet you’ve got lying around. Oh, and if mobile gaming is beneath you, it’ll even hook up your PC. Happy now?
No matter your platform of choice, the Kishi Ultra will feel glorious in hand. There’s enough RGB to bring about a disco revival, and most importantly, the inclusion of Razer’s Sensa HD haptics. Haptics aren’t usually a standout feature, but Razer believes this can grab any audio (even from a film) and match it up with the rumble in your hands. Unfortunately, Apple users won’t be trying out those haptics.
Razer has fixed a $150 price tag on the Kishi Ultra, with no word of a South African release yet. We’ll keep you updated on that front.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker when?
We’re beginning to get fed up with Nintendo. Sure, it dropped one of the best Zelda titles ever and then repeated that feat last year, but it still doesn’t account for the fact that the world is missing a playable Switch version of The Wind Waker title. That’s fine by us. Because Apple’s new rules about emulators, and, more specifically, Provenance, will pull us out of this darkness.
Provenance, for those of you who don’t know, is a multi-console emulator that’s currently working on pushing out an official app for the App Store. We don’t know when that will happen, leaving us plenty of time to figure out which of our old games we’ll be booting up first. We’ve already mentioned The Wind Waker, but Provenance is capable of so much more. It covers PlayStation, GameCube, Wii, Atari 2600, and Sega Genesis titles. Altered Beast, anyone?
Should Apple approve the app’s launch — something we don’t anticipate being an issue considering the launch of iGBA and subsequent launch of Delta — Provenance will be the first emulator on the App Store to offer Sega and Atari emulators.
Apple’s next big update is coming to the… calculator app?
In our opinion, it’s pretty difficult to mess up a calculator app. On the opposite end of the spectrum, however, we reckon improving upon one is just as hard. Apple is taking a crack at it anyway, with plans to turn the 2+2 simulator into a “note-taking, currency-converting hybrid app,” (via Engadget).
Why? Our guess is boredom after pushing out the Apple Vision Pro (which we had the chance to test) but there may be some real use hidden beyond the utterly satirical headline. Of course, we’re not talking about Apple ditching its number boxes for circular ones (which it is doing) or the fact that users can resize the calculator altogether.
Updates worthy of mention involve Notes integration, allowing for speedier jotting rather than jumping between two apps, or a new ‘history tape’ that does exactly what it sounds like — something Android devices have had for a while. And finally, it’s incorporating currency conversion right into the UI, removing it from the drop-down menu that was a necessary step before.
Try to contain all that excitement for the time being. According to reports, Apple is only targeting these changes for when iOS 18 and macOS15 are ready to be shown off to the world, likely at WWDC in June this year.