Netflix is only becoming more powerful
Tired of Netflix consistently cancelling your favourite series, putting out mediocre movies or, worse yet, releasing a Squid Games reality show? Well, that’s too bad. Netflix spent 2023’s Q4 doing all that and more and found that it didn’t feel the sting of a subscriber loss. In fact, it reported around 13.1-million new faces in that time — a record for the company’s fourth-quarter stats. That obviously means a jump in revenue too, with the streamer performing above Wall Street’s projections. That brings the live-action-loving-adaptors up to 260.28-million subscribers overall, clinging to the lead it’s held on to all these years.
As easy as it is to dunk on Netflix, it has stepped up its game in the past few months. It’s been keeping up with some odd live events, rectifying the issues that plagued the company’s Love is Blind finale nearly a year ago. But the real winner for the streamer has nothing to do with streaming at all. It’s gaming.
Sure, Netflix’s catalogue of games wasn’t exactly welcomed with open arms when it launched, but it’s plugged away at the service and finally has something to show for it. The streamer reported that gaming engagement had “tripled” in the last year — with the recent addition of Grand Theft Auto doing most of the grunt work. It called the “most successful launch to date in terms of installs and engagement, with some consumers clearly signing up simply to play these games.”
And what with the (very) recent acquisition of WWE’s broadcasting rights, we can’t see Netflix not reporting another round of growth in a year’s time.
Chrome’s getting AI. Yay.
There’s no outrunning AI. As much as you try, it’ll find you. Eventually. That wasn’t meant to come across as some warning of a SkyNet-level threat that’ll hunt down and find you. We’re talking about Google’s recent announcement of three new experimental AI features for Chrome that’ll be landing sooner rather than later. In the US, at least. Google has said that other countries will follow but didn’t offer up any specifics.
So? What’s new? The new Tab Organizer, for one, is exactly what it sounds like. Chrome will make use of AI to automatically detect and suggest the creation of tab groups based on what’s open — eliminating any need to do so manually. It’ll even suggest names and emojis to help keep the groups separate if you decide to use the feature. To do so, right-clicking on a tab and hitting “Organize Similar Tabs” or hitting the drop-down arrow next to your tabs should do the trick.
Chrome can also artificially spruce up the place with AI-created themes with minimal effort on your part. It’s the same text-to-image model stuck inside the Pixel 8 Pro’s Generative AI Wallpaper for the lucky few who have the phone in South Africa. All it’ll need from you is a mood, vibe, colour, style and subject when clicking on Customize Chrome > Change theme > Create with AI.
And finally, Google’s “Help me write” tool is getting some much-needed love. Google describes its use case as wanting a little help when wording a review, whipping up an RSVP for a party, or drafting a formal inquiry for something like an apartment rental. That’s only launching in next month’s Chrome release, and again, will be limited to the US before making its way to other countries eventually.
Goodbye Wii U and 3DS — one of you will be missed
If you, like us, had forgotten about Nintendo’s planned shutdown of all online services for the Wii U and 3DS taking place in early April, we’re sorry for bringing back those painful memories. Still, it’s necessary. There’s important work to be done before the official shutdown date, which Nintendo has scheduled for 8 April 2024 at 4PM PT — or 2AM SAST on Tuesday, 9 April.
That important work involves converting any credit you might have saved on either console and porting it over to your Nintendo Switch before 11 March 2024 10PM PT — or 12 March 8AM for South Africans. You’ll need to get hold of those console’s Nintendo Network IDs and link that wallet with a Nintendo Account for the funds to be officially transferred over.
Hell, if you don’t have a Switch yet, there’s no harm in whipping up a Nintendo Account to port them over to. If the rumours of a Switch 2 being more of an “iteration” and less of a revolution are true, the likelihood that the next console will merge the accounts together and the funds will be usable on a new Switch is high.
It’s worth mentioning that any games and DLC you already own for either console won’t be disappearing — just their online play capabilities and leaderboards.
No more load shedding for Clarens… where do we sign up?
Clarens — that little arty town in the Free State your Mum loves — is now officially a “smart town” according to Eskom, meaning it won’t be subject to the power utility’s favourite past-time, load shedding. It’s a decision that has nothing to do with favouritism, but rather because Clarens’ residents are now “equipped to manage their own load through load curtailment.”
It helps that the town is already a couple of steps ahead of the rest, working with smart metering, EV charging stations and a “well-diverse spread of small-scale embedded generators (SSEGs)” — meaning that Eskom was more inclined to help the town out of the rolling blackout hell-hole.
‘Load curtailment’ isn’t a new idea. It’s a concept that Eskom claims its larger municipalities and customers countrywide have been putting into effect for at least a year. The basic premise is that those municipalities and customers manage their load when things start looking rough for Eskom’s power supply, and adjust as needed. In the case of Clarens, it’ll be employing ‘group curtailment’ which “requires the collaborative efforts of the entire community to reduce load when requested.”
For instance, when load shedding is in Stages 1-4, Clarens’ residents will be forced to reduce their power usage by around 10-20%. The release doesn’t mention what happens when Stage 5 or higher hits, though we suspect normal load shedding would be reinstated.
It’s a fascinating idea that, if successful, could be slowly implemented throughout the country ending the madness once and for all. Sort of.
