Netflix prices are about to go up for early subscribers, be warned

Movie and show streaming service Netflix has announced that it will be putting up its prices soon, for early adopters in the UK.

Until recently Netflix subscribers who signed up early were given a pay freeze on their subscription price. That freeze, as laid out by Netflix already, will end in May.

Some customers in the UK may still be currently paying the original £5.99 per month entry-level price for the HD package. That will be bumped up to £7.49.

The exact date is unclear but May is when it begins. This may vary across accounts so yours could be different. To check when your pricing changes go into Your Account page and check under the Plan Details section to find your date.

If the £7.49 price for the standard HD plan, streaming on up to two screens at once, is too much for you then you can cancel your membership, or try another of the three pricing options.

The Netflix Premium plan, which includes 4K streaming on up to fours screens at once, is priced at £8.99 per month while the basic package, which doesn’t feature HD and only works on one screen at a time, is £5.99 per month.

READ: Which is the best movie streaming service in the UK?

BBC iPlayer Kids is here to make viewing safer and simpler

The BBC has announced its new iPlayer Kids app aimed specifically at delivering CBeebies and CBBC shows directly to children.

The app, available on iOS, Android and Kindle Fire, will have access to over 10,000 episodes to stream or download to watch later.

The iPlayer Kids app will offer up to four profiles so a single device can be shared while offering specialised content to each child. By selecting an age in the profile, and a character to go with the child’s login, age specific content can be aimed at pre-school or over-fives specifically. This will filter out search content so it suits the user that is signed in.

Programmes can be downloaded over Wi-Fi to be watched away from the home. Shows will be available to stream or download for up to 30 days each.

The BBC assures parents that the app is both ad and in-app purchase free. It also locks children within the app so they are unable to access any BBC links or Settings.

Alice Webb, director of BBC Children’s, says: “The BBC iPlayer Kids app meets the needs we know are absolute deal breakers for kids and parents. We’re offering, choice and control, wrapped up in a child-friendly design and the largest range of home-grown UK content on a platform parents can trust.”

The BBC iPlayer Kids app is available for download now via Apple, Google and Amazon.

READ: BBC iPlayer Kids is here to let the littles ones own their app

Is Jon Snow dead? Siri thinks it has the answer

Is Jon Snow dead? That’s the question so many Game of Thrones fans have on their mind even though Kit Harrington’s character was stabbed about 25 times at the end of Season 5.

The cast were bombarded by press asking the question during the Hollywood premiere of season 6 over the weekend. And even US president Barack Obama harangued one of them to find out. But none of them need have bothered, it seems Apple’s Siri has its answer.

Ask Siri if Jon Snow is dead and it will reply with a number of great suggestions:

• “Well, you know what they say to Death… Not today! But why would tomorrow be any better? Anyway, I’m not exactly sure.”
• “Dead is dead’. Or is it ‘What’s dead may never die’? No, wait, ‘Death is so terribly final’? I give up.”
• “I don’t know. I just hope someone is setting up doggie daycare for Ghost.”

READ: Game of Thrones season 6: When is it on and how can I watch it?

Jon Snow, played by Kit Harrington, wasn’t at the premier on Sunday in Hollywood, but has been seen on set during filming, fuelling rumours that the Nightwatchman will come back from the dead.

One theory suggests that the Melisandre, the Red Woman and priest, will bring Jon Snow back to life, having just arrived at the Wall in the final moments of the season 5 finale.

And for those wondering whether winter is coming, Siri has two GoT flavoured answers for you too:

• “Does a Lannister always pay his debts?”
• Or, strangely, just “Hordor”.

It’s not the first time Apple has fun with Siri. There are dozens of ways to get a giggle out of Siri. Read our 63 ways to get a giggle out of Siri feature to find more.

HTC 10 preview: Welcome back to the premier league

If there’s any smartphone manufacturer that deserves a second chance it’s HTC. We can credit HTC for much of what we love about smartphones today. It popularised Android, it pushed premium metal design and build quality focused on user experience.

HTC forged an exciting segment of the market, adding innovation, and was then cannibalised by it. HTC’s road leading up to the HTC 10 over the past 10 years is long, twisted, and well documented.

But with a new champion smartphone, HTC is looking to regain form. You know what? HTC might just have nailed it with the HTC 10. We’ve spent some time with the new handset and these are our first impressions. A full HTC 10 review will follow shortly.

HTC 10 design

We don’t want to be too retrospective in this first look at the new HTC 10, but it’s impossible not to mention the devices that lead up to this new handset. Importantly it drops the One name, taking the simplicity of HTC 10, giving the feeling that this is something of a restart for HTC.

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In doing so, HTC also drops the fussiness of the One M9 design. There are no finicky details that don’t matter, so the HTC 10 is closer to the M8 body design and that’s a good thing. It’s characterised by the deep chamfer on the rear, beadblasted rear and polished sides.

There’s definitely a family feel to this handset and you can see that it’s related to the HTC One metal phones that came before it, but it feels fresh. It comes in three serious colours – carbon, silver and gold – and the carbon grey here is definitely our favourite. There’s a solidity to the feel and a brutal seriousness to the look that makes this a handset that’s difficult to ignore.

When we reviewed the HTC One A9, we said it looked and felt like a precursor to the HTC 10 and we were absolutely right. It was. But where the A9 bears a resemblance to the iPhone 6S thanks to it’s shape, the HTC 10 retains the curve to the back that previous flagships have offered.

The finish is very good. With metal becoming the norm in high-end smartphones, HTC is smacking down pretenders and showing its experience: hold the HTC 10 against the Huawei P9 or the LG G5, and HTC is undeniably the higher quality device.

Part of the simplification in the design comes from a new approach to the front of the handset. The front is now a single sheet of Gorilla Glass that fills the face. This leads to a much cleaner design, dropping the big BoomSound speaker grilles. In this case 2.5D glass meets metal for a wonderfully clean result.

The HTC 10 measures 145.9 x 71.9 x 9mm at the thickest, but due to the curve and the edge chamfers, the narrowest point at the edge is only 3mm thick. The handset weighs 161g, so it is weighty, but there’s a reassuring solidity to that weight.

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HTC 10 BoomSound Hi-Fi edition

One of the obvious design changes means that BoomSound as it was known and loved is no longer on the HTC 10. But don’t panic: the audio story surrounding the HTC 10 is mighty impressive, perhaps more so for losing the big front-facing speakers.

BoomSound still exists, but things have changed, with the base speaker becoming a bass speaker and the top ear speaker becoming a tweeter. Each has a separate amplifier and HTC says this rivals the performance in terms of volume and clarity that BoomSound previously offered. Our first impressions are that this is true, it’s still a great audio performer.

But that’s only a small part of the story, as HTC is changing gears on the headphone experience. Firstly, the HTC 10 offers a 24-bit DAC, aiming to upconvert your music for better quality, but it also offers a more powerful headphone amp, meaning it will drive higher quality headphones too. 

The HTC 10 is Hi-Res certified and it comes with Hi-Res headphones in the box as standard. Rather than having to pay extra, you’re getting premium headphones from the get go. Again, we’ve not had the chance to test the performance fully.

If audio is something you’re interested in, then you might appreciate the Hi-Res capture that HTC 10 also offers. Now you can have video capture with stereo Hi-Res audio too. 

Not only that, but HTC has added support for AirPlay. That’s right, that wireless connection that’s been exclusive to Apple is now on supported by the HTC 10, meaning you’ll be able to send your music to loads of speakers. You can also natively connect to DLNA, Chromecast and plenty of other wireless protocols.

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HTC 10 hardware and specs

HTC’s message is very much along the lines that the hardware is almost immaterial. The message for the HTC 10 is that optimisation and experience makes this a better handset than its rivals. That said, HTC 10 competes with any handset out there.

It’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad-core chipset, a chipset that we know is hugely powerful from its use in other devices. This is backed by 4GB RAM, so already we’re looking at a fast and powerful phone. HTC says that it has been working on optimisation all across this device to make it the fastest and most responsive handset around.

We can’t gauge that performance definitively from the time that we’ve spent with the handset prior to launch, but it certainly feels slick and fast. 

There’s 32GB of storage, with microSD to expand this, and full support for Android Marshmallow’s adoptable storage feature. This feature will let you use an external storage card as seamlessly integrated internal storage. We applaud its support by HTC, it’s a great feature and something that Samsung, LG and others have avoided. 

Charging comes via USB Type-C on the bottom of the handset and there’s a 3000mAh battery within. HTC is making some great promises with the HTC 10, saying it will offer 2 days of life from a single charge, thanks to the optimisation that HTC has carried out. 

Not only that, but the charger is smart. It comes with a Quick Charge 3.0 charger that will power up your phone, with HTC saying you’ll get a day of use, or 50 per cent charge, from 30 minutes plugged in.

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HTC 10 display

In the HTC 10, HTC makes the move that many have been calling for, stepping up to a 5.2-inch Quad HD display. That means you have a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels for 564ppi, making this one of the sharpest displays out there.

This is a Super LCD 5 panel and HTC says that a lot of work has been done to make this display as responsive to the touch as possible. That’s something we’ve really not had the chance to test fully, but first impressions are of a slick display. 

However, HTC is facing some serious wow factor from its rivals Samsung, with the Galaxy S7 offering a very good display. Putting the two side-by-side, our immediate impression is that Samsung perhaps retains that advantage, with increased brightness and better viewing angles.

However, this is based on a quick comparison and is far from a final impression. We’re going to be spending a lot more time with this handset in lots of different conditions to gauge its performance.

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HTC 10 software: A new Sense

Software has always been a strength for HTC. From the HTC Hero up to the modern day, HTC Sense has been one of the best Android skins available. With native Android becoming more sophisticated with every iteration, the HTC 10 marks a major departure in software for HTC. 

It was a move that the One A9 started and we commented on it at the time, as layers of Sense were stripped away, duplicated apps and bloat removed, with a focus on offering a clean and fast experience that embraces Android rather than trying to hide it ( like Samsung, LG and Huawei do).

The message for the HTC 10 is that this is being accelerated. This is perhaps the most Androidy HTC phone since the Nexus One, with HTC opting to use native Android apps where it once developed its own. 

This is such a huge move that Sense no longer has a version number: this is Android with HTC Sense and where we might have once expected to see Sense 8, HTC isn’t thinking in those terms.

But that doesn’t mean that the HTC 10 lacks distinction and personality – far from it. HTC isn’t doing a Motorola and offering a stock experience. You still have the HTC Sense launcher with BlinkFeed, you still have Themes and options to customise your phone, including a completely freeform layout controller where you can literally put things anywhere you want, lose the labels and use stickers for icons instead.

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But you won’t find HTC heavily changing the settings menu, or the volume controls, or adding a whole collection of its own apps. The message here is that HTC will only change things were it can offer a better experience. 

This time around, the big app removed is Gallery. HTC will no longer be shipping its own Gallery app on phones as Google’s Photos is now the default app. That’s quite a change, but HTC says it has worked with Google to optimise the experience, so Photos will support raw capture from the camera, as well as legacy formats HTC has used in the past, which wasn’t the case previously.

Optimisation is very much what this story is about, as HTC says that it is working many levels deep to give you optimisations that other manufacturers won’t, with the aims of giving you better power, performance and battery life. 

One of the few additions to help with that is called Boost+. This is an optimisation that will manage memory bloat and battery wastage. HTC said it would rather produce its own app for its own system than leave it to the mercy of third-party apps.

We’ve not had the time to fully explore the software offerings, or test the HTC 10 over a prolonged period, but we like what HTC is doing. We liked it on the A9 and we like it on the HTC 10. Less is more, embracing Android makes for a better experience and the HTC 10 benefits from that.

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HTC 10 camera

While all of the above sets out the HTC 10 as a world class superphone, it will likely be judged in one area, the camera. This is where HTC has stumbled on previous devices in the face of some very good competition.

The HTC 10 drops the gimmicks for a solid position on the spec sheet, offering a 12-megapixel camera with optical image stabilisation. HTC is still calling this an UltraPixel camera, but bear in mind that “UltraPixel” is a marketing term, just as “Retina display” is for Apple.

In this case, the HTC 10 features a Sony sensor with 1.55µm pixels, f/1.8 aperture. It’s supported by laser autofocus and has been built to be fast.

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This is a completely new camera for HTC, but sadly we haven’t had a chance to full test it. Our first impressions are that it’s fast and that the new app is nice and clear, and we spotted convenience features like auto-HDR, long missing from HTC’s cameras.

You have the full manual controls available, as well as raw capture.

But the camera excitement doesn’t stop with the rear camera. The front camera brings with it optical image stabilisation too, so those low light selfies will look better. There’s a 5-megapixel camera with 1.34µm pixels, f/1.8 aperture and it’s autofocus too.

Our first impressions are good and we have the feeling that HTC has thrown off the ghosts of cameras past with the HTC 10, but we’ve got a lot of testing ahead of us to reach a definitive verdict on the camera experience, which we will be bringing to you very soon.

First Impressions

The HTC 10 comes out swinging, with HTC looking to assert itself once again. The simplified design is serious and undeniably high quality, but the 10 goes so much further than just good looks. 

The software pulls it closer to Android, just hanging on to those things that HTC does really well, while there’s innovation packed in to all corners. The hardware competes with just about any smartphone out there, but HTC claims optimisations will see it surpass the performance of its rivals. 

There’s plenty more for us to see and plenty more to test. Ultimately, things like the camera performance are going to be critical.

But as it stands, just as we were ready to hand the 2016 smartphone crown to Samsung, HTC has launched a phone that’s hugely exciting, a phone that might bring it back to the top of the pack.

The HTC 10 will be available from April 2016 and pricing is still to be confirmed. We will be bringing you a full and final review shortly.

HTC 10: BoomSound is dead. Long live BoomSound Hi-Fi edition

One of the features that defined the HTC One family was BoomSound. Introduced on the HTC One M7, BoomSound remained one of the strongest features of HTC handsets, offering the best external speakers, bar none, for three generations of phones.

With the HTC 10, those iconic BoomSound speakers are gone, leading to a face that’s markedly different to the past three flagships. But all is not lost, because BoomSound has evolved into something new, called BoomSound Hi-Fi edition and it’s still very much the BoomSound you know and love.

First of all, HTC has changed the arrangement of how the external speakers are handled. There’s a speaker on the bottom and the ear speaker. That base speaker, appropriately handles bass and the ear speaker is set-up as a tweeter.

The idea here is to retain that fidelity that BoomSound offered before. Each speaker has its own amplifier, aiming to give clarity to each channel, that’s often lost in smartphones with a single external speaker. It’s loud, it’s clear, and it still has that BoomSound thrill from what we’ve heard so far listening to music and some video content. 

It might change the character of BoomSound slightly however. Previously it was really good for stereo separation in video and games, but that might not be the strongest aspect to BoomSound’s skills. However, we’ve listened briefly to music at high volume and found it stay distortion free, which is definitely better than many rivals.

But moving deeper, BoomSound Hi-Fi edition is about giving you the best sound quality through your headphones. The HTC 10 is Hi-Res certified, supporting your higher-definition audio that Sony has been known for championing through its Xperia handsets.

In the HTC 10 it has been designed as an end-to-end solution, with professionally tuned audio circuitry. It will capture 24-bit audio, it will upscale to 24-bit, with a high-quality DAC, as well as featuring a more powerful headphone amp, that will drive higher-quality, more demanding, headphones. 

However, the greatest part of this new BoomSound Hi-Fi edition handset may be the headphones that come in the box. Where many manufacturers give you headphones that are average, HTC is bundling a Hi-Res certified in-ear headset in the box.

To make sure you have the best setup for your headphones, there’s also a Personal Audio Profile feature. This will let you tune the audio output to your ears, so you’re getting the best out of your connected headphones. It’s a feature that’s also offered by Samsung on its Galaxy handsets, and it’s well worth doing.

So the message is this: BoomSound as you know it is gone, but the idea of BoomSound hasn’t been abandoned, and the HTC 10 packs an audio punch. We’ll be reviewing the new HTC 10 very soon, so check back for the full results of HTC’s BoomSound shakedown.

READ: HTC 10: Welcome back to the premier league

Ice, Ice, Baby: Ice View is the new HTC Dot View

Alright stop, collaborate and listen, HTC’s back with a brand new invention.

The HTC Dot View cover has always been one of our favourite cases. It is the sort of funky fresh design that characterises HTC, a cover that lets the display shine through, creating fun 8-bit style visuals.

Well there’s a new case in town for the HTC 10 and it’s called Ice View.

The HTC Ice View cover is more like an opaque folio case providing plenty of protection for the rear of your phone, with a cover that folds over the display. It lacks those dots of the Dot View cover, but instead will let display content glow through it; it’s like Dot View, but much finer. 

You still get many of the same effects, except these don’t look like Bitmap Brothers games. You’ll be able to get a great deco retro clock, notifications of your choosing, as well as being able to see and return calls without opening the case. 

There’s also a quick launcher for the camera. Swipe down twice and the camera will launch, letting you take photos without opening the case. 

Because you can see the display through it, you’ll be able to quickly compose and capture your shot, without worrying about opening it up and having the screen cover flapping around. 

The HTC Ice View cover will be available for the HTC 10 smartphone. There’s no word on price or availability just yet. Word to your mother.

Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 gets a luxurious Type Cover

Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 is having to do battle with a slew of tablet-hybrid competition that includes Apple’s smaller iPad Pro and the Samsung Galaxy TabPro S. It’s a little early for an all-new Surface, so instead Microsoft has come out with a new, luxurious keyboard accessory. The company calls it the Signature Type Cover, and it’s made a from a high-end fabric called Alcantara, which feels a little like suede. You’ll have to pay a little extra for those premium looks, however, as it runs $159.99 in the Microsoft Store — 30 bucks more than the regular Type Cover.

In a teaser video, Microsoft gives a relentless pitch about the keyboard’s fashion and design credentials. Rachael Bell, a color and materials designer for Microsoft Devices, says: “There’s an intersection there between technology, textiles, fashion and design. It’s the most premium experience we’ve ever been able to bring to a device.” That’s all well and good, provided the keyboard is also nice to type on. Any improvements over the standard Type Cover would be a welcome bonus for Surface fans.

Via: The Verge

Source: Signature Type Cover

BBC launches iPlayer Kids app

Is it just us, or are TV providers starting to forget who pays the bills ’round here? The younger, inexplicably energetic members of the household seem to be getting all the attention of late. Barely a few weeks have passed since Sky debuted its Kids tablet app, and now the BBC is launching iPlayer Kids. Available to download today on tablets and smartphones, the name basically says it all: it’s iPlayer, built specifically for sprogs.

There’s nothing wrong with “grown-up” iPlayer, of course. CBBC and CBeebies programming has always been fully featured within that app, but children’s content is by far the most popular on-demand genre in iPlayer. And so the BBC went about crafting a simpler UI that highlights this content exclusively, and ignores all the other, potentially age-inappropriate shows scattered throughout classic iPlayer.

When children first load up the app, they’re asked to enter their name, age and choose a funky little cartoon monster to represent them — you can have a profile for each miniature member of the family. Age is the important field here, since it dictates both what kinds of shows are recommended on the homescreen, and also whether CBBC content is accessible at all (any child under five will only see stuff from CBeebies). From there, kids should be able to find something to watch pretty sharpish.

There are only four sections to the app (it’s supposed to be simple, remember), with the homescreen suggesting age-appropriate content, and the “Shows” tab letting little ones browse the CBBC and CBeebies catalogues in alphabetical order (they can also search for their favourites). Like normal iPlayer, shows can be downloaded and watched within the 30-day window after they’ve aired. Downloads have their own tab, and the final “Me” section is purely for changing profile details or switching profiles altogether.

Accessibility features are shown prominently on the player screen — subtitles, audio descriptions and sign language, where available — and that’s all there is to it. You may have clocked, however, we haven’t mentioned any kind of time-limiting feature. Well, that’s because there isn’t one, so parents might want to confiscate devices before bedtime. When the BBC first mentioned it was developing a kids’ version of iPlayer, it was part of a bigger digital plan.

BBC iPlayer Kids is the first milestone in this, and the broadcaster is planning to do more than just entertain. Improving access to educational content is one of the objectives of the initiative, and that could manifest as another, more informative section within the new app at some point in the future.

Source: BBC, Google Play, iTunes

Inflatable space stations could orbit the Earth by 2020

The latest SpaceX launch ferried not just supplies for the ISS, but also an inflatable module designed to add a small living room on the space station. That module was made by Bigelow Aerospace, which has just announced that it teamed up with United Launch Alliance to send its much, much bigger inflatable stations called B330 to Low Earth Orbit. One B330 can add a 330-cubic-meter (or 12,000-cubic-foot) living space to the ISS — that’s 30 percent of its total size, whereas the model that piggybacked on Falcon 9 can only expand the station by five percent.

In order to fit inside an Atlas V rocket, a B330 will be folded when it takes off from Earth. Even then, the Atlas V is the only rocket with a big enough payload compartment to accommodate one. That likely played a huge part in Bigelow’s decision to strike a deal with ULA.

Besides expanding the ISS, several B330s can be linked together to form an independent space station, as well. The companies can then rent them out to private corporations and institutions that want to perform non-government scientific research in microgravity. They also think that some companies like Disney could turn them into exciting and (quite literally) out of this world tourist destinations.

If NASA agrees to test the B330 on the ISS like it agreed to test out its smaller predecessor for the next two years, then it will be financing the first module’s launch. Either way, the duo aims to send the first of the two inflatable habitats they’re planning to space sometime in 2020.

Source: Bigelow Aerospace, B330

Arizona State University wins 2016’s ‘Heroes of the Dorm’

Arizona State University’s “Real Dream Team” won’t have to pay for tuition for the rest of the time they’re enrolled. How’s that? Over the weekend these runners up from last year’s premiere Heroes of the Dorm competition beat out rivals from UConn and the University of Texas at Arlington in Heroes of the Storm, where top prize is gratis education. Before you start wondering if they can repeat this, maybe give the guys a break and let ’em bask in the victory of not only free college, but of their eSports exploits being broadcast in primetime on ESPN 2.

Source: Business Wire