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Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Living news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • Etsy, other e-commerce companies feel squeeze of SVB collapse

    Etsy, other e-commerce companies feel squeeze of SVB collapse

    Etsy on Monday resumed payments to merchants with Silicon Valley Bank accounts after the e-commerce platform paused their payouts over the weekend following the U.S. government shutdown of the bank last week.

    Approximately 0.5% of Etsy’s active sellers -or around 2,700 merchants- had their payments delayed on Friday related to SVB’s collapse, according to Etsy.

    “We are working to pay these sellers today, and we’ve already started processing payments via another payment partner this morning,” an Etsy spokesperson told Reuters on Monday.

    The payments Etsy sellers received is unrelated to the Federal Reserve’s Sunday announcement, which ensured that SVB’s customers would have access to their funds on Monday.

    Shopify SHOP.TO, which provides websites and apps to stores, also halted payments to online sellers with Silicon Valley Bank accounts, telling merchants they must switch accounts to receive funds, according to the company’s website.

    Etsy and Shopify each work with 5.4 million and 1.75 million online merchants respectively worldwide, mostly small-to-medium size businesses.

    Some Etsy sellers decided to put their stores on vacation mode, pausing customer purchases in an effort to minimize their financial losses while others say they have received their payments on schedule.

    Moshe Steinberg, 31, said that he received a payment from Etsy on Monday morning, but is still waiting for it to clear with his bank.

    “It was a nail biting situation until I checked my bank account this morning,” the 3D-printed seller from Central Ohio said, adding that Etsy is currently his only source of income.

    Etsy merchant Elizabeth Thompson, 57, said she has received little guidance from the company on what transpired.

    “I just don’t understand why they can’t be a little more transparent about what’s going on. It’s not like it’s their fault,” she added.

    Etsy said it communicated with any seller who was impacted on Friday directly via email and posted an update in their forums on Saturday.

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  • Cooking gas prices drop in Vietnam as global demand eases

    Cooking gas prices drop in Vietnam as global demand eases

    Cooking gas prices have fallen by VND16,000 (68 cents) to VND461,000 for a 12-kg cylinder in Ho Chi Minh City and other southern localities as global prices declined.

    Saigon Petro Co. announced the cut Wednesday after global suppliers lowered average prices by $60 to $730 per ton for March.

    The price of a 12-kg cylinder had shot up by VND62,000 in February when fuel demand spiked in many Northeast Asian and European countries due to cold weather, causing global prices to rise, the company said.

    This month, with warmer weather, gas demand for and prices are down.

    In April 2022 the price of a cylinder exceeded VND500,000 for the first time.

    Retail prices track global developments since domestic supply only meets 60% of demand.

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  • Bill to ban TikTok in the U.S. takes its first steps toward the White House

    Bill to ban TikTok in the U.S. takes its first steps toward the White House

    on Tuesday Republicans on the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee took short-form video app TikTok closer to its final tick in the U.S. Concerned about reports that TikTok collects personal data from its U.S. subscribers, and might even collect keystrokes from those using TikTok’s  in-app browser, legislation that would result in the ban of TikTok on all U.S. mobile devices has advanced.
    The legislation would give President Joe Biden the authority to ban the popular app in the U.S. Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said, “Everybody knows what TikTok is. It’s too dangerous to be on our phones as members of Congress.I think, it’s too dangerous to be on our children’s phones. That’s the whole point of this bill.” The U.S. in December banned TikTok from government-owned phones.
    McCaul’s DATA Act (H.R. 1153) advanced out of committee by a vote of 24 to 16. Voting on the proposed bill was split along party lines with the 24 votes in favor of moving the legislation along coming from all of the Republicans on the committee while the 16 dissenting votes came from all of the Democrats on the committee. McCaul said that he hoped the voting isn’t the start of a breakdown in bipartisanship when it comes to Chinese technology.
    In 2021, TikTok hit one billion monthly users, and last August, a survey revealed that 67% of teens in the states use TikTok and 16% use it constantly. Insider Intelligence says that TikTok owns 2.3% of the digital ad market behind heavyweights like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Alibaba. The company is owned by Chinese firm Byte Dance, and while it denies any ties with Beijing’s spying operations, like other Chinese companies it must agree to comply with all requests from the country’s intelligence agency.
    In a statement, TikTok says, “A U.S. ban on TikTok is a ban on the export of American culture and values to the billion-plus people who use our service worldwide. We’re disappointed to see this rushed piece of legislation move forward, despite its considerable negative impact on the free speech rights of millions of Americans who use and love TikTok.”
    The bill has a long road ahead of it. If it gets voted out of the Republican-controlled House, it would still need to be voted on in the Democrat-controlled Senate which could be a problem. And should the bill pass the Senate, it would then require the president to sign the bill, or he could veto it. If Biden does the latter, the veto can be overturned with a two-thirds
    vote from members of the House and Senate.
    A few years ago, when Donald Trump was president, a deal was reportedly in place that would have seen Oracle and Walmart buy the app’s U.S. operations from TikTok owner ByteDance. But the deal never got done and Trump turned his attention toward more pressing matters such as the upcoming presidential election. But Needham analyst Laura Martin says that this time a deal could be finalized.
    While the platform could be weakened, “it wouldn’t just disappear and get shut down,” Martin said. She also said that “Implications are great for anybody that has been losing market share to TikTok.” Martin picked Snapchat, Facebook, and YouTube as platforms that would be big winners if TikTok gets banned in the U.S.
    Another analyst, JMP’s Andrew Boone, said that if TikTok is banned in the states, Facebook would be a big winner because of the money that parent company Meta has been throwing at Facebook’s TikTok rival Reels. Boone also noted that “If TikTok were to go away, I think that there would be a lot more consumption of Instagram Reels.” The analyst also says that Snapchat’s Spotlight and YouTube Shorts would both benefit from the disappearance of TikTok.
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  • Philippines’ baby food market to shrink by 4.5% annually until 2028

    Philippines’ baby food market to shrink by 4.5% annually until 2028

    The baby food market in the Philippines is expected to decline by 4.5% on average annually to reach $826.7m by 2028 as the government pushes for public access to contraceptives and family planning that resulted in childbirth rates.

    In a report, GlobalData said the rising inflation will also contribute to constraining spending on baby food products.

    “Demographic changes taking place with respect to the baby population and live birth rates, and the government’s measures to restrict the number of births coupled with an increase in the number of working women will contribute to a decline in the Philippines’ baby food market,” said Shraddha Shelke, consumer analyst at GlobalData.

    Within the sector, baby milk was the largest category in terms of value and volume in 2022, with a GlobalData survey showing 47% of 369 respondents saying they spent a very or quite high among on baby milk in the fourth quarter of the year. Around 43% also said they spent a high amount on baby food.

    Per capita expenditure on baby food in the country increased to $267.1 in 2022 from $204.1 in 2017 due to a high inclination for high-quality products, exceeding the regional level of $177.3 and $167.2 globally.

    But as the economy rebounds, following the high inflationary pressures, consumer spending is seen to recover in value sales and reach $271.2 by 2027.

    “The Philippine baby food market’s growth is tied to the economic fortunes of the country. The rising disposable income of Filipino families with babies will stimulate sales of premium and organic baby food products,” the analyst said.

    “To build a stable consumer base in the country amid changing demographic conditions, manufacturers should focus on offering affordable premium baby food products with value-added benefits,” Shraddha added.

  • Netflix will be blocked without local office

    Netflix will be blocked without local office

    An official said that providers of cross-border over-the-top (OTT) television services such as Netflix and iQiYi will be blocked and sanctioned if they do not establish legal entities in Vietnam.

    “If a cross-border OTT television service provider does not have a legal entity in Vietnam, the Ministry of Information and Communications will coordinate with telecommunications enterprises to block access to it,” Nguyen Ha Yen, deputy general director of the ministry’s Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information, said at a conference on the issue Monday.

    He noted that five cross-border OTT television service providers are operating in Vietnam, including two from the U.S. and three from China.

    According to a new policy on communications media management that came into effect at the beginning of the year, pay television service providers operating in Vietnam must have a representative office in the country that falls under the management of Vietnamese authorities.

    According to the ministry, the policy is to ensure fairness between international and domestic enterprises in the pay television service market.

    “The world’s OTT giants attract a large amount of advertising but do not comply with Vietnamese regulations. That’s not fair to domestic OTT businesses,” said Tran Van Uy, chairman of the Vietnam Pay Television Association.

    Uy said that if OTT television services are not managed, there is a risk their content could upset a variety of cultural, political and legal norms.

    Many films that are not allowed to be shown via Vietnamese OTT services due to violations of certain regulations are still broadcast by Netflix, he noted.

    “There should be sanctions on both hardware devices and applications. Many TV sets sold in Vietnam have Netflix built into their operating systems, so people can use the service simply by pressing a single button on the remote,” he said.

    Huynh Long Thuy, general director of VieON Corporation, the owner of the Vietnamese OTT app VieON, said that over the past five years, cross-border OTT service providers have directly charged users in Vietnam, and have many times shown content that distorts Vietnamese history and infringes on the country’s sovereignty.

    The streaming services did not remove the content until Vietnamese authorities asked them to do so. If Vietnamese OTT services provide such content, they will be punished immediately, Thuy said.

    According to ministry statistics, revenues from OTT television services in Vietnam stood at VND1.55 trillion (US$65.68 million) in 2022, up 27.2% over 2017.

    The number of OTT television subscribers reached 5.5 million, an increase of 26.2% compared to 2017.

    Vietnam currently has 22 local and foreign pay television service providers, including Netflix, iFlix from Malaysia, and WeTV from China.

    Netflix is expected to open an office in Vietnam late this year.

  • Spotify upgrades one important feature in the latest update

    Spotify upgrades one important feature in the latest update

    One of the biggest music streaming services, Spotify, has just announced a small yet meaningful update to its app. Typically, we don’t report on updates that involve minor changes like turning a Heart icon into a Plus, but Spotify’s update does more than add visual changes.

    Earlier today, Spotify officialized a brand-new change that benefits all its users. The app’s iconic Heart button will be replaced with a Plus button that does more than just marking the songs you want to save.

    Basically, Spotify is unifying the Heart and “Add to playlist” icons into a single symbol: the Plus (+) button. This means that when you use the Plus (+) button, you will be able to save and choose the destination of any song, playlist, or podcast with a single tap.

    Going forward, in order to save a song or podcast episode, Spotify users must tap the Plus (+) button positioned to the right of the song or episode title in the Now Playing view. After the song or podcast has been added to Liked Songs or Your Episodes, the Plus (+) button will become a green check. Moreover, you can even change the destination of your saved content by simply tapping the green check.

    Another option at your disposal makes it possible to add an entire album to Your Library. Simply click the Plus (+) button to add your favorite album, playlist, or audiobook to Your Library. Once you see the green check, it means that it’s been successfully added.

    Obviously, the reason behind the new change is a simple, more unified user experience. Having a more streamlined way to save favorite music and podcasts means a lot these days when any extra action makes us lose focus.

    Unsurprisingly, this is exactly what Spotify found in its user research. On top of that, the same research found that saving songs and podcasts makes us more likely to listen to them again, which is pretty interesting.

    According to Spotify, the new changes to the Heart icon will begin to roll out to all users globally on iOS and Android starting today and will become available to all users in the coming weeks.

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  • Google TV adds new landing pages to simplify navigation

    Google TV adds new landing pages to simplify navigation

    Google announced today via a blog post a set of new improvements coming to the Google TV platform that will add four new landing pages in the United States to make it simpler for viewers to access their preferred forms of entertainment without having to switch between different applications. These updates were considered after recent research has found that the average household subscribes to more than five different entertainment apps.

    These new landing pages, which can be found directly below the row of apps on the “For you” tab, will give you quick access to the best entertainment in the categories of Movies, Shows, Families, and Spanish-language content, without requiring you to navigate from app to app, and make it easier to discover new things. Below are the details:

    The Family page is the new place to go for entertainment that is suitable for families, with content ranging from old favorites to recent releases. It is not difficult to find something suitable for the entire family to watch together if it has a PG or lower content rating. And there’s no need to worry, because even when your children watch their own shows on their own television, they’ll still have access to the kid’s profile where they can watch all of their favorites.

    The Español page is the new home for the best Spanish-language entertainment, including telenovelas, live TV, movies, and shows. You will also have access to well-known apps in Spanish, such as Pantaya and FlixLatino, in addition to a library of dubbed and subtitled movies and television shows. Google is striving to make it much simpler for you to watch the entertainment that you enjoy, regardless of whether you are a native speaker of Spanish, live in a bilingual household, or are simply someone who enjoys content that is presented in Spanish.

    The Movies page allows you to search through thousands of films based on their title, genre, or subject matter, all on one simple page. You will also receive personalized recommendations for films that you might enjoy, in addition to information on recently released films and films that are currently popular.

    It has never been simpler to watch back-to-back episodes of your favorite show, whether it’s “The White Lotus” or “Yellowstone.” You can get new releases from all of your subscriptions in one convenient location by visiting the Shows page, where you can also view popular shows and explore personalized topics. In addition, when one show is over, you will be given suggestions for other shows that you might like to watch afterward.

    Google also states that several improvements are being made to the navigation system, one of which is moving the profile switcher to the top left corner so that you can switch between profiles in a seamless manner. The search bar will also be relocated to the far right of the screen, and a new button for quick settings will be added. These updates will begin rolling out today globally on Chromecast with Google TV and other Google TV devices, such as those manufactured by Hisense, Philips, Sony, and TCL.

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  • Netflix lowers subscription prices in nearly three dozen countries

    Netflix lowers subscription prices in nearly three dozen countries

    We now have the full list of countries where Netflix has decided to lower subscription prices has just been published courtesy to Ampere Analysis: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Botswana, British Indian Ocean Territory, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Christmas Island, Comoros, Congo – Brazzaville, Congo – Kinshasa, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Palestinian Territories, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Romania, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé & Príncipe, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, St. Barthélemy, St. Helena, St. Lucia, St. Martin, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Wallis & Futuna, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

    Netflix is expected to lose some subscribers due to crackdown on password sharing this year. Although it lost a few million subscribers in the first quarters of 2022, the streaming service gained nearly 8 million subscribers in Q4 2022, a number that exceeded its initial losses.

    In an attempt to avoid potential losses in customer numbers, Netflix announced plans to reduce subscription costs in over 30 countries.

    Unfortunately, Netflix didn’t provide the complete list of countries where subscription prices will be lowered, but we some of the locations where these changes will be introduced. For example, Middle East countries like Yemen, Jordan, Libya, and Iran will benefit from major discounts.

    The same goes for at least three countries in Easter Europe, such as Bulgaria, Croatia, and Slovenia. As far as Latin America goes, we know of three countries where Netflix plans to cut subscription prices: Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Last but not least, customers in several countries from Africa and Asia will be getting cheaper Netflix subscriptions, including Kenya, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand.

    While Netflix confirmed that it’s updating the pricing of its plans in certain countries but didn’t offer specific details regarding prices. As mentioned earlier, price reductions will differ based on location, so you’ll probably have to check with your local Netflix branch for more details.

    This is a major decision that somewhat contradicts Netflix’s most recent statements that announced plans to raise prices rather than lowering them. It’s important to mention though that these changes will only be introduced in some countries where prices were already too high.

    As competition from other streaming services becomes fiercer, Netflix is taking steps to make sure customers remain loyal to its products no matter where they live.

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  • YouTube Music will soon officially support podcasts but not replace the Google Podcasts app

    YouTube Music will soon officially support podcasts but not replace the Google Podcasts app

    As part of a larger push for podcasting across the platform as a whole, YouTube has today made the official announcement that podcasts will soon be distributed through YouTube Music. This comes after several months of buildup and speculation on whether podcasts would become part of the YouTube experience as a whole, or just the Music app.

    The official announcement took place today at the “Hot Pod Summit” in Brooklyn as part of On Air Fest, and it was made by YouTube’s Podcast Lead, Kai Chuk. However, no specific date was given as to when this was taken place, and was announced as coming “in the near future.”

    The news reached the masses via a tweet by Arielle Nissenblatt of SquadCast.fm, and included some preliminary information as to how the feature would work, including that YouTube Music would stream podcasts even when the user’s screen is locked. Additionally, Alban Brooke of Buzzsprout tweeted additional information regarding the announcement, which included the fact that the podcast experience on YouTube Music will be audio-first and will aim for “unifying the audio and video experience,” allowing users to begin listening to a podcast on one device before continuing it on another.

    Google confirmed all the above and clarified that YouTube Music will only support podcasts in the United States for the time being. Furthermore, Google added that creators will be able to upload their audio podcasts via RSS “later this year.”

    We will soon start to bring both audio and video-first podcasts to YouTube Music for users in the US, making podcasts more discoverable and accessible, with more regions to come. This will help make the podcasts that users already love on YouTube, available in all the places they want to listen.

    We’re also rolling out podcast creation in YouTube Studio, making it easier for Creators to set their videos as podcasts. Podcast playlists will be eligible for current and upcoming podcast features on YouTube, such as eligibility for youtube.com/podcasts, podcast badging, and inclusion in the YouTube Music app.

    The announcement went on to state that YouTube will make suggestions for podcasts to users based on the types of content that user typically listens to and that YouTube Channels may in the future have a tab specifically designated for podcasts. Additionally, YouTube clarified that the music rights for podcasts will be the same as those for videos.

    For now it appears that the standalone Google Podcasts app will not be immediately discontinued as a direct result of YouTube Music’s decision to include podcasts, which is good news considering that we don’t have an exact date of when the service will launch on YouTube Music. Furthermore, it would probably best for there to be a transition period to move users over and a tool to ensure that their existing subscriptions are migrated.

  • Vietnam to have 16 more railway lines by 2030

    Vietnam to have 16 more railway lines by 2030

    Vietnam’s railway network planning expects to have 16 new national lines with a total length of about 4,802km by 2030.

    According to the Ministry of Transport, the planning for 2021-2030 will also upgrade seven existing lines, whose total length amounts to 2,440km.

    By 2050, the number of new rail lines will be 25, which together are 6,354km long.

    The completely upgraded and expanded network following the planning will connect strategic economic areas and corridors, urban centres, international sea ports, border gates, and airports nationwide, said a leader of the ministry.

    Rail transport boasts several advantages. It requires less land areas, leaves little impact on the environment, and carries a large amount of goods and passengers. It is also fast, safe, and low cost.

    However, the railway investment budget is enormous, while the State budget resources are limited. Due to the low financial efficiency of railway investment, it is difficult for the sector to attract capital from society.

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  • Spotify launches new feature powered by AI to enhance music curation

    Spotify launches new feature powered by AI to enhance music curation

    As more companies adopt AI (artificial intelligence), many services are getting new features that are now fully automated and less curated by the human touch. Spotify’s new AI DJ is meant to bring personalization to a new level.

    In an announcement earlier today, the music streaming service explains that its new feature is a personalized AI guide that “knows you and your music taste so well that it can choose what to play for you.” It might sound frightening at first glance, but it’s exactly what many customers are looking for when using Spotify on a daily basis.

    Granted, the new DJ feature powered by AI is only rolling out in beta, it promises to provide customers with a curated lineup of music, as well as commentary around the tracks and artists that it thinks the user likes “in a realistic voice:”

    Among the many capabilities of the AI DJ, Spotify mentions the ability to sort through the latest music. It can also look back at some of the old favorites and serve more songs that the user might not have listened to for a long time.

    The AI DJ assesses your actions all the time and after each review, it tries to deliver a stream of songs picked specifically for you. More importantly, it refreshes the lineup based on feedback regularly.

    If you don’t like a song picked by the DJ, you can tap the dedicated button and it will skip to a new track. As with all these AI-powered features, the more you use the DJ, the faster it learns what you like, so the better your recommendations will be in the end.

    The new DJ feature is available via the Music Feed on Home in the Spotify mobile app for iOS and Android devices. Simply tap Play on the DJ card and the app will do the rest. You’ll be getting music and short commentary on the songs and artists specifically picked for you. Don’t forget that you can skip a song by tapping the DJ button at the bottom right of the screen.

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  • Gasoline prices drop

    Gasoline prices drop

    Gasoline prices dropped Tuesday after two hikes, while diesel fell to this year’s new low. RON95 gasoline was sold at VND23,440 ($0.99) per liter starting 3 p.m., down 1.35% from a week ago.

    Biofuel E5 RON92’s price went down 1.23% to VND22,540. Diesel dropped 3.2% to VND28,860, its second decline in a row.

    The Ministry of Industry and Trade and Ministry of Finance, which are in charge of adjusting retail fuel prices, said that average diesel prices in the last 10 days plunged 5% globally, while gasoline prices only dipped marginally.

    They added that the costs of delivering fuel from foreign sources to Vietnam and refineries to ports were factored into retail prices Tuesday.

    Many retailers had recently demanded that the government should fix a minimum commission of 5-6% of the retail price of petroleum products so that they do not have to sell at a loss.

    But the Ministry of Planning and Investment opposed this when recently asked for its opinion on a bill on fuel management of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

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  • Gasoline prices up, oil down

    Gasoline prices up, oil down

    Gasoline prices unexpectedly rose Monday by VND540-620 (US$2.3-2.6 cents) per liter, while oil products dropped by VND300-980 per liter.

    This is the fifth time retail fuel prices have been adjusted in only six weeks this year.

    The price of the Vietnam’s number one selling gasoline RON 95-III went up by VND620 to VND23,760 per liter, and the cost of E5 RON 92 increased by VND540 to VND22,860.

    Meanwhile, the diesel price fell by VND960 to VND21,560, kerosene dropped by VND980 to VND21,590 dong per liter, and mazut oil decreased VND300 to VND13,630.

    The price hikes announced by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Finance surprised businesses because it went against the previous forecast.

    However, the two ministries said their fuel price management plan would help curb inflation and stabilize the market.

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  • Netflix’s crackdown on password-sharing extends to more countries

    Netflix’s crackdown on password-sharing extends to more countries

    After announcing its plan to prevent its customers from sharing their accounts with friends and family, Netflix started to trial new changes to password sharing in several countries from Latin America, including Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic.

    Earlier this week, Netflix announced that the changes to account sharing revealed last year will be rolled out in more countries. Detailed at the beginning of this month, these changes are now introduced in four countries before being rolled out globally in March.

    Starting today, changes to account sharing are rolling out in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain. If you live in any of these countries and share your account with one or more people, you’ll have to pay extra. But first, customers in these four countries will be asked to set their primary location, allowing them and anyone who lives in the household to use the Netflix account.

    Next, Netflix customers who’d like to provide access to their account to someone else will be able to do so from the Manage Access and Devices page. Another important change involves the ability to transfer a profile to a new account, which is paid for, thus keeping personalized recommendations, viewing history, My List, and saved games.

    Don’t worry, even after setting your primary location, you will still be able to watch Netflix on your personal device or log into a new TV when you’re not at home.

    The most important part of these changes is the option to buy an extra member. To continue to share your account with others, you will have to pay for each extra member who uses your account. Netflix customers subscribed to either Standard or Premium plan and live in one of the four countries mentioned can add an extra member sub account for up to two people they don’t live with.

    Each sub account comes with a profile, personalized recommendations, login and password of their own. As far as the price goes, a sub account costs CAD$7.99 a month in Canada, NZD$7.99 in New Zealand, 3.99€ in Portugal, and 5.99€ in Spain.

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  • Tinder introduces safety features to make the online dating experience more comfortable

    Tinder introduces safety features to make the online dating experience more comfortable

    The developers of the popular dating platform Tinder are looking to equip users with more tools for safety. And with Valentine’s Day fast approaching — which is also your kind reminder to check out our Valentine’s Day deals guide — is it any wonder at all?

    But, come on — how can an app that matches strangers provide more safety? Well, through an Incognito Mode, of course. While it may seem counterintuitive at first, it makes sense, as when turned on, only the users you’ve liked can view your profile.

    That may limit your reach, per say, however it also sounds like adding a higher success rate into the mix, as you’ll have a larger say in who gets to mingle with you. But that’s not all: you can outright block users straight from your feed, if you are certain in your abilities to judge a book by its cover photo.

    There is more too! Users will get the option to long press a message in order to send a report to Tinder staff regarding the user in question. The company hopes this will help them moderate their community in a way thath punishes inappropriate behavior.

    The app also received minor tweaks to its “Are You Sure” and “Does This Bother You” features, which basically nudge users into being more considerate when talking to one another. And it seems to be working, as ever since the latter was introduced, the company has been receiving 46% more user reports. Yay?

    In case you are becoming stressed about your dating habits, you can always turn to the official Tinder dating online guide, which has been drafted up in an attempt to end sexual harassment. Definite yay! The update is rolling out for the Tinder app right now, so if you haven’t checked recently, it may be high time to do so.

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