The Streaming Trend

With the recent news on Disney+ and Apple's announcement of Apple TV+, I hear more and more people saying they're tired of the "streaming revolution" because it's ending up to be more expensive than cable. YouTube TV, Hulu, Netflix, and Crunchyroll are seeing subscription fee increases while regular cable TV with on-demand remains the same. YouTube TV is most notable, as it is now moving up to $50 a month. At that point, just stick with cable. You'll have basically the same service, except without the reliance on the internet. And you'll still be able to connect your cable subscription to all your favorite on demand apps for internet streaming. I think people are going to see this streaming bubble pop very soon and will take one of two routes. Either stick with cable or just cut the cable and switch to YouTube. I almost exclusively watch YouTube and most people my age I know feel the same way. I'm sick of keeping track of how many times I pay a service $9.99 each month and seeing it add up to a colossal amount. And with that, I think it's easy to see why I give a sigh with the magnitude of a major underwater seismic event when I see Apple announce three subscription services in one day. Of course, the only big difference with Disney+ is that Disney owns a third of the film industry with beloved properties that span multiple generations. I think it will be interesting how all of this plays out in the next year or two.

Netflix No Longer Supports AirPlay

Netflix has stated in a support document that AirPlay is no longer supported due to a technical limitation. When speculation of Netflix doing this in retaliation of Apple TV+ arose, a Netflix spokesperson stated that it was due to AirPlay rolling out to third-party TVs. Because they couldn't tell the difference between being AirPlayed to an Apple TV versus a smart TV, they disabled it. This is likely to restrict unauthorized recording on a third-party device that does not protect content from being screen captured. Netflix won't even allow users to take screenshots during playback. That being said, it could be for both this and a slight jab at Apple TV+ as well.

Stranger Things

The Netflix original series, Stranger Things, has a surprisingly Apple-orientated history behind it. For starters, the poster for the series had its sketch done with an iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil [Source: Mashable]. Kyle Lambert, the artist, finds the technological combination to be very natural to draw on. In addition, the Stranger Things soundtrack will debut exclusively on Apple Music [Source: Consequence of Sound].

Netflix Network Speed Test App

Netflix relies on having their user base to be able to access content in a fast and convenient manner. That said, it's surprising to see that they are now making websites and apps for speed testing. The FAST Speed Test app is very minimalist, but it gets the job done. It'll give a reading of your internet speed. The test is based on Netflix services, like downloading a video file. FAST Speed Test is available for free from the Apple App Store [Direct Link].

Netflix Offline Viewing

The popular streaming service Netflix seems to have plans to add offline viewing by the end of the year according to LightReading. In addition to this, Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix, said he would keep an "open mind" for offline viewing. Offline viewing would be a big push for Netflix, effectively eliminating one of the few barriers to watching videos. This would be especially useful to those with smaller data plans.