Hi Guys! Friday is here again. And as usual, the week was packed with lots of news and surprises. From the launch of Lagos new ride-hailing company to the new YouTube tax and Flutterwaves $170 million Series C funding, the whole tech community was abuzz.
Here is a quick roundup of some of the major stories around the globe you might have missed.
Netflix considers crackdown on password sharing
Netflix is considering a crackdown on password sharing with those outside your household.
The popular movie streaming platform has started testing a new prompt that pops up when a user attempts to use a Netflix account that belongs to someone outside their household.
“If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching,” the prompt says.
This is not the first time Netflix has addressed password sharing. The practice is already forbidden, but Netflix hasn’t enforced the rule in the past.
With the new test, Users will be directed to either verify the account with a text or email code or start their own free 30-day trial. According to the company the test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorised to do so.
The feature is currently being tested only on TVs.
Jack Dorsey’s First-Ever Tweet to Sell at Over $2.5 million
Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey is auctioning his first-ever tweet on Twitter on a website ‘Valuables by Cent’ that sells tweets as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Jack’s first-ever tweet “just setting up my twttr” which was made in March 2006 was listed for sale on Friday.
Currently, the highest bid for the tweet is $2.5 million and it came from Bridge Oracle CEO, Sina Estavi. It topped TRON Founder, Justin Sun’s $2 million bid.
The final buyer of the tweet will receive a certificate, digitally signed and verified by Jack Dorsey, as well as the metadata of the original tweet. The data will also include information such as the time the tweet was posted and its text contents.
YouTube to deduct taxes from Nigerian content creators
YouTube is set to start deducting taxes from creators outside of the United States on the earnings they generate from viewers in the US.
The company revealed this in an email to creators. YouTube also asked creators to submit their tax information in AdSense “to determine the correct amount of taxes to deduct”.
According to the mail, Google may be required to deduct up to 24 per cent of a creator’s total earnings if they do not submit their tax info.
“If your tax info isn’t provided by May 31st, 2021, Google may be required to deduct up to 24 per cent of your total earnings worldwide,” the email read.
The additional tax may come into effect from June 2021.
Apple to cut iPhone 12 mini production
Apple is reportedly making a huge 70% cut to the number of iPhone 12 units it was planning to produce. That’s such a significant drop that will see 20% fewer iPhone 12s made overall until June.
According to Pocket-lint, the new model may not have lived up to its billing on the sales front. Market analysis from Omedia reveals that it was the tenth best-selling phone in the world in 2020
This might be a problem as Apple’s expectations with the phone’s actual sales is high. The company has already cut production and may slam the brakes on future plans for smaller iPhones.
Google Maps will soon let you draw on a map to fix it
Google is updating its map editing experience to allow users to add missing roads and realign, rename or delete incorrect ones. It calls the experience “drawing,” but it’s closer to using the line tool in Microsoft Paint.
Currently, you can only drop a pin where the missing road should be and type in the road’s name to submit that information to Google. With the new tool, it will be easier to not only add missing roads but to make corrections such as fixing a road’s name or its direction.
After each submission, Google will vet your corrections to make sure they’re accurate. According to the company, it’ll take about seven days for each submission to be reviewed.
The updated tool will be “rolling out over the coming months in more than 80 countries.
You can check out other news that happened during the week here. Have a nice weekend!!
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