The start of a new year of streaming brims with anticipation for all the great things you’ll watch. You could get hooked on an underrated show, binge the return of a favorite or stream a new Oscar Best Picture winner from your couch. Envisioning upcoming entertainment is better when you don’t factor in how the price to watch it could change — and already is.
2026 has already brought increases to services you might use to stream shows, movies, music and live TV, such as Paramount Plus, Spotify and Sling. Streamflation or not, you probably aren’t going to take a total break from streaming this year, so we’re tracking every price rise from 2025 onward. If you hit your spending limit, you can cancel, rotate services or scout for discounts.
With the increase, which is in effect for new customers and starts March 4 for existing customers, Crunchyroll’s ad-free plans now cost $10 per month for Fan, $14 for Mega Fan and $18 for Ultimate Fan — a $2 increase across plans.
Amazon Music (February 2026)
Amazon Music Unlimited Individual plans recently rose to $13 per month (or $12 per month for Prime members — both $1 bumps). Family plans increased by $2 to $22 per month. Prices went into effect Feb. 3 for new customers, and current subscribers will pay more on or after March 5. Amazon Music Unlimited also adjusted prices in 2025.
Paramount Plus (January 2026)
If you missed Paramount Plus’ mid-January price increase, it might be because the details emerged two months earlier, in November 2025. When the hike did arrive, it brought ad-supported Essential from $8 per month or $60 per year to $9 per month or $90 per year. Paramount Plus‘ ad-free version, Premium, rose from $13 per month to $14 and $120 per year to $140.
Spotify (January 2026)
Spotify added to the price hike pile with its announcement on Jan. 15. The updates included a $1 bump to the Premium Individual plan, effective right away for newbies, and in February for existing subscribers. The prices increased for Individual to $13 per month, Premium Duo to $19, Premium Family to $22 and Premium Student to $7.
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Sling TV (January 2026)
Live TV streaming service Sling changed rates on its Blue packages in some regions. It’s increased in markets where at least one local ABC, Fox or NBC station is available. Blue now costs $9 extra (up from $5) if you have all three locals, and $4 extra (up from no charge) if you have one or two. While newcomers saw the change in January, existing customers won’t be affected until their billing date on or after Feb. 20.
2025 Streaming Price Hikes
HBO Max (October 2025)
HBO Max raised prices on Oct. 21, right around the launches of new series It: Welcome to Derry and I Love LA. The ad-supported basic tier rose by $1 to $11 per month, and the ad-free Standard tier increased by $1.50 to $18.50 per month. The ad-free Premium tier jumped $2 to $23 per month.
The hike affected new customers immediately and existing customers on their first billing cycle on or after Nov. 20. Disney streaming increases took effect the same day, hiking the price of HBO Max, Hulu and Disney Plus bundles.
HBO Max streaming prices Oct. 2025
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Previous price (monthly)
New price (monthly)
Previous price (annual)
New price (annual)
HBO Max Basic With Ads
$10
$11
$100
$110
HBO Max Standard
$17
$18.50
$170
$185
HBO Max Premium
$21
$23
$210
$230
Disney Plus, Hulu, ESPN Select, Hulu Plus Live TV (October 2025)
The most monster hike of 2025 probably belonged to Disney. Its increases extended to standalone Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Select plans, as well as bundle plans and Hulu Plus Live TV plans. Notably, ad-free Hulu and the ad-free Disney Plus and Hulu bundle didn’t see a hike. The changes went into effect on the same day as HBO Max’s increase — Oct. 21 — applying to existing customers on or after that date.
Disney streaming prices Oct. 2025
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Previous price (with ads)
New price (with ads)
Previous price (ad-free)
New price (ad-free)
Disney Plus
$10
$12
$16
$19
Hulu
$10
$12
$19
no change
ESPN Select
$12
$13
—
—
Disney Plus, Hulu bundle
$11
$13
$20
no change
Disney Plus, Hulu, ESPN Select bundle
$17
$20
$27
$30
Disney Plus, Hulu, HBO Max
$17
$20
$30
$33
Hulu Plus Live TV (with Disney Plus, ESPN Select)
$83
$90
$96
$100
Hulu Plus Live TV only
$82
$89
—
—
DirecTV (October 2025)
Price increases may have affected DirecTV customers’ bills on or after Oct. 5, according to a support page that instructs customers to sign in to learn more. A DirecTV representative told CNET that the company was communicating the update directly to customers and did not have a breakdown to share.
Philo (September 2025)
On Sept. 30, the budget live TV streamer Philo increased the price of its Core plan and added access to ad-supported HBO Max and Discovery Plus. Its subscription price rose by $5 to $33, with existing Core customers paying more on or after Oct. 30.
Apple TV (August 2025)
Before its rebrand to Apple TV, the streamer formerly known as Apple TV Plus got a $3 hike on Aug. 21. The ad-free service now costs $13 per month.
Peacock (July 2025)
The ad-supported and ad-free versions of Peacock rose $3 in July, bringing Premium to $11 per month and Premium Plus to $17 per month. Peacock also began testing a new $8-per-month Select tier with current seasons of NBC and Bravo shows. Annual plans increased by $30, and changes took hold for current customers on or after Aug. 22.
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Netflix (January 2025)
It’s been more than a year since Netflix last raised prices. The popular streaming service updated the price of its ad-based plan in 2025 for the first time since its 2022 launch — increasing it by $1 to $8 per month. The streamer also increased its ad-free Standard plan by $2.50 to $18 per month, and upped its ad-free Premium plan by $2 to $25 per month.
Netflix streaming prices Jan. 2025
Previous price (monthly)
New price (monthly)
Netflix Standard With Ads
$7
$8
Netflix Standard
$15.50
$18
Netflix Premium
$23
$25
Streaming Price Decreases
Fubo (January 2026)
A much less common occurrence in the streaming world, Fubo initiated some price cuts amid its carriage dispute with NBCUniversal. Fubo reduced its Pro and Elite monthly subscriptions by $11 to $74 and $84, respectively, with existing customers paying less on or after Jan. 1. Here’s more on the dispute and loss of NBCUniversal channels from Fubo.
There are a number of high-quality tire brands on the market, but it’s hard to find one more consistently rated for its quality than Michelin. It came out on top in SlashGear’s own ranking of every major tire brand, and Consumer Reports (CR) places it at the top of its list as well. Across Michelin’s entire selection of tires, you see high marks for just about everything you could put a tire through, from braking on dry ground to handling on ice. It’s very rare to see CR rate something about one of these tires as below average.
With Consumer Reports, there are two sides to what data it provides. There are its in-house experts testing these tires, but then there’s also the opinions of actual drivers that CR surveys. These are folks who drive with these Michelin tires day-to-day, and they can sometimes come to a different conclusion than the experts as to which tires are best. Out of the eight Michelin tires rated by CR, the one with the highest owner satisfaction score is the Michelin LTX A/T2. These are all-terrain tires designed for trucks. What makes this high satisfaction score so interesting is that these tires actually have the lowest overall score from CR experts. They found its wet braking and noise generation to be below average, while dry and ice braking, ride comfort, and handling to be no more than average. Regardless of these tests, CR owners gave the Michelin LTX A/T2 tires a near-perfect satisfaction score, so perhaps CR’s tests don’t fully capture the real world experience with these tires.
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The experts’ top Michelin tire
DiPres/Shutterstock
Although the Consumer Reports experts do not hold the same high opinion of the Michelin LTX A/T2 tires as the owners surveyed, they’re not too far apart when it comes to owners’ second-highest satisfaction rating. That would be the Michelin Pilot 4s tires. These tires are categorized as ultra high performance summer tires and are made for sports cars that you’d obviously want to drive quite fast. Out of all the tires tested, these are the ones with the highest overall score from the CR experts, and it’s actually a significant first place finish among Michelin tires. Being number one for the experts and number two for the owners shows a level of consensus you just don’t get with the LTX A/T2 model.
The thing about Consumer Reports’ findings on the owner satisfaction of Michelin tires is that they are universally high. The previously mentioned ones are ranked one and two, but the remaining six Michelin tires tested all tie for third place, demonstrating a remarkable level of consistency across the brand’s offerings. For a broader perspective, every single Michelin tire tested has the highest CR owner satisfaction rating for whatever category it is in compared to every other brand. There is one exception with the Michelin X-Ice Snow tires, but it still ranks second among all winter/snow tires. For owners surveyed by CR, there is not a single Michelin tire they’re not incredibly pleased with. If you don’t have a truck suitable for the Michelin LTX A/T2 tires, owners don’t think you’re settling for less with a different Michelin tire better suited to your vehicle.
Artemis 2 astronauts are using Microsoft Surface Pro computers on board the Orion spacecraft. (GeekWire Illustration)
Bound for the Moon, astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis 2 Orion spacecraft experienced a challenge familiar to many of us back here on terra firma: Microsoft Outlook.
Commander Reid Wiseman radioed Mission Control on the crew’s first day in space to report that he had two instances of Outlook running on his computer — a Microsoft Surface Pro — and neither seemed to be working.
Like any good IT support team, Houston said it would jump in remotely and take a look. About an hour later, ground controllers reported they had resolved the issue and gotten Outlook open, though it would display as offline, which they said was expected.
The moment, captured on NASA’s livestream, quickly went viral. A Bluesky user clipped the exchange, writing, “I’m so sorry we’ve sent these souls to the moon and they’re using outlook?”
Outlook is part of the commercial off-the-shelf software NASA provides astronauts for scheduling, personal communications and other routine tasks. The spacecraft’s primary flight systems run on separate, radiation-hardened hardware.
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The Outlook glitch wasn’t the crew’s only mundane challenge. Shortly after launch, the toilet fan jammed, though ground teams managed to fix that, too.
We contacted Microsoft for comment and a rep said they’d let us know if the company had anything to say. At least we know the message went through.
TikTok points to capacity constraints and slow infrastructure development as the deciding factors in shelving its planned second data centre, but leaves door open to future opportunities.
The need for greater capacity, and the infrastructure development environment – these were the two key factors behind TikTok shelving a planned second data centre in Dublin, a company spokesperson told SiliconRepublic.com today (2 April) while confirming the reported decision.
Instead, the ByteDance-owned company will focus its European data storage expansion in some of its other locations – in particular, sites in Norway and one in Finland.
TikTok said that when looking at its various sites across Europe, it considered where could best meet its growing capacity demands as regards infrastructure and the speed of development, and that the Nordic countries were a better fit for those considerations.
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The company said Ireland remained one of its biggest and most important strategic sites in Europe and, should future opportunities arise that did meet its capacity needs in particular, it would remain open to exploring them.
The spokesperson emphasised that the existing data centre operation in Ireland, which came online in 2023, remains fully operational as an important part of its Project Clover, and that TikTok is still very much committed to Ireland.
Project Clover is the Chinese-owned platform’s initiative designed to update its data security practices across Europe, so as not to fall foul of strict European data privacy regulations.
TikTok had originally planned to lease data centre space at Echelon’s campus in Clondalkin, Dublin, as part of a three-site strategy. However, as Irish newspaper the Business Post was first to report earlier this week, plans for the second Irish data centre have been shelved.
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Circuit boards are found in almost every electronic device that consumers use today. When you open your phone, computer, or a basic remote control, green is the first thing you notice. That famous green hue, however, does not come from the board material itself; it is due to a special coating known as solder mask, which covers the copper traces and gives them a green tint.
The solder mask is an essential tool for any board. After etching the copper paths onto the fiberglass basis, they apply a thin layer of polymer. The mask serves two important functions: it protects the copper from oxidation and moisture, which could cause harm, and it prevents solder from bridging between close connections while you’re assembling the item, which can result in short circuits. Without the mask, fragile circuitry could easily be damaged by regular handling or exposure to the environment.
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Green became the go-to color all those years ago, when reliable solder masks first started rolling off the assembly line. The early ones used a combination of certain resins and hardeners that gave out a green tone, and it just so happened that there was an abundance of the green material available at the suppliers. So that became the industry norm. Over time, the industry has developed its entire process around this uniform green colour.
The human eye can tolerate green fairly well, especially when individuals stare at boards for hours on end under strong lighting. Green offers a fantastic contrast against the glossy copper pads and the white letters on top, reducing eye fatigue caused by staring at them for an extended period of time, since other hues have been found to be less durable. Automatic optical inspection equipment also operate better with green boards because their cameras and software have been tuned to work best with that color over time.
The cost of changing colors is also not high enough to make a significant difference. The green mask material requires less pigments in some formulations, making the production process easier because they don’t have to complicate the imaging and development procedures. The tighter design requirements associated with the conventional green color also provide them with more accurate control when exposed to ultraviolet radiation. [Source]
The researchers said that both the RTX 3060 and RTX 6000 cards are vulnerable. Changing BIOS defaults to enable IOMMU closes the vulnerability, they said. Short for input-output memory management unit, IOMMU maps device-visible virtual addresses to physical addresses on the host memory. It can be used to make certain parts of memory off-limits.
“In the context of our attack, an IOMMU can simply restrict the GPU from accessing sensitive memory locations on the host,” Kwong explained. “IOMMU is, however, disabled by default in the BIOS to maximize compatibility and because enabling the IOMMU comes with a performance penalty due to the overhead of the address translations.”
A separate mitigation is to enable Error Correcting Codes (ECC) on the GPU, something Nvidia allows to be done using a command line. Like IOMMU, enabling ECC incurs some performance overhead because it reduces the overall amount of available workable memory. Further, some Rowhammer attacks can overcome ECC mitigations.
GPU users should understand that the only cards known to be vulnerable to Rowhammer are the RTX 3060 and RTX 6000 from the Ampere generation, which were introduced in 2020. It wouldn’t be surprising if newer generations of graphics cards from Nvidia and others are susceptible to the same types of attacks, but because the pace of academic research typically lags far behind the faster speed of product rollouts, there’s no way now to know.
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Top-tier cloud platforms typically provide security levels that go well beyond those available by default on hobbyist and consumer machines. Another thing to remember: There are no known instances of Rowhammer attacks ever being actively used in the wild.
The true value of the research is to put GPU makers and users alike on notice that Rowhammer attacks on these platforms have the potential to upend security in serious ways. More information about GDDRHammer and GeForge is available here.
A new leak suggests that the hinge of the iPhone Fold will use “chip-level polymer printing 3D technology” and the iPhone 18 upgrades will be limited to color changes.
The iPhone Fold will allegedly feature a 3D-printed hinge.
With Apple’s first foldable expected to debut in late 2026, we’re now seeing more and more claims about its hardware. Following multiple rumors suggesting Liquid Metal would be used for the hinge of the iPhone Fold, another tipster has provided a new tidbit about the component. To be more specific, a translated post from leaker Fixed Focus Digital on Weibo said that Apple is putting considerable effort into its foldable iPhone. This reportedly “involves chip-level high-molecular 3D printing technology, with further developments in the hinge design still to be revealed.” Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
IBM and Arm are teaming up to let Arm-based software run on IBM Z mainframes. Network World reports: The two companies plan to work on three things: building virtualization tools so Arm software can run on IBM platforms; making sure Arm applications meet the security and data residency rules that regulated industries must follow; and creating common technology layers so enterprises have more software options across both platforms, IBM said in a statement.
IBM has not said whether the virtualization work will happen at the hypervisor level, through its existing PR/SM partitioning technology, or via containers — a question enterprise architects will need answered before they can assess the collaboration’s practical value. IBM described the effort as serving enterprises that run regulated workloads and cannot simply move them to the cloud, the statement said. IBM mainframe customers have largely missed out on the efficiency and price-performance gains Arm has already delivered in the cloud. “Arm says close to half of all compute shipped to top hyperscalers in 2025 runs on Arm chips, with AWS, Google, and Microsoft deploying their own Arm silicon through Graviton, Axion, and Cobalt, respectively,” reports Network World.
That gap is precisely what IBM and Arm’s collaboration intends to address. “This is a mainframe adjacency play,” says Rachita Rao, senior analyst at Everest Group. “The intent is to extend IBM Z and LinuxONE environments by enabling Arm-compatible workloads to run closer to systems of record. While hyperscalers use Arm to lower their own internal power costs and pass savings to cloud-native tenants, IBM is targeting the sovereign and air-gapped market.”
HP EliteBook 6 G2q delivers up to 85 TOPS for local AI tasks
Always-connected 5G experiences require specific hardware and preinstalled eSIM modules
Service works only on compatible commercial PCs running Windows 11
HP has unveiled the EliteBook 6 G2q, an ultraslim AI PC that relies on Snapdragon X2 Elite or X2 Plus processors to deliver up to 85 TOPS of NPU performance for local AI tasks.
This lightweight laptop, up to 15% thinner than its predecessor, claims to offer always-connected experiences through HP Go 5G service.
This service is advertised as offering unlimited 5G data by automatically switching between carriers for optimal coverage.
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Connectivity through HP Go 5G
However, reading through the fine print, some major restrictions and throttles undermine the promise of truly unlimited, seamless 5G broadband.
One key limitation is that HP Go 5G requires specific hardware, including an embedded WWAN 5G module and a preinstalled eSIM.
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Unfortunately, it only works on compatible commercial PCs running Windows 11 and is activated through zero-touch deployment via HP’s management console.
Another restriction is that access is limited to the United States, which prevents users from relying on the device for continuous connectivity while traveling internationally.
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For this reason, international users must return to the United States at least once every 90 days to maintain roaming eligibility.
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The service itself is structured around tiered plans, with Lite offering domestic unlimited data, Premier adding 1GB for international use monthly, and Premier Plus promising unlimited global access.
All of these plans are prepaid and non-refundable, requiring 3-, 6-, or 12-month commitments purchased directly through HP sales representatives, which reduces flexibility for many users.
A further limitation appears in the data speeds, which throttle progressively after 5GB per month, eventually slowing to 100Kbps after 100GB.
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Tethering and hotspot usage are also explicitly prohibited under all plans, restricting users from sharing the connection with additional devices or coworkers.
Taken together, these conditions reveal that the so-called WiFi-killing broadband carries notable constraints that can complicate practical usage.
HP embeds Wolf Pro Security Next Gen Antivirus directly into the EliteBook 6 G2q to protect against modern threats.
The device also includes HP TPM Guard, which defends BitLocker-encrypted data from physical attacks and unauthorized access.
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Additional protections come from the Wolf Connect cellular card, improving asset tracking and data management across multiple endpoints.
These security measures extend across HP’s commercial portfolio, offering consistent defense for AI workloads deployed at the edge.
The HP EliteBook 6 G2q will be available starting in July 2026 on HP.com, with pricing announced closer to launch.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Amazon will start charging sellers who use its shipping services a 3.5% “fuel and logistics” surcharge later this month, joining the ranks of shipping companies raising prices as the war in Iran pushes oil prices higher. The fees take effect on April 17 for customers of the company’s Fulfillment by Amazon service — which is used by many of the independent sellers who list their products on Amazon’s retail sites — in the US and Canada. Items shipped by Amazon on behalf of merchants who sell on their own sites or at other retailers will carry the surcharge beginning May 2. “Elevated costs in fuel and logistics have increased the cost of operating across the industry,” Ashley Vanicek, an Amazon spokesperson, said on Thursday. “We have absorbed these increases so far, but similar to other major carriers, when costs remain elevated we implement temporary surcharges to partially recover these costs.”
Vanicek notes that the fee will apply to the sum Amazon charges to ship an item, not the product’s sale price.
Soma Energy’s co-founders, from left: CEO Ath Caramanolis, Chief Technology Officer Mario Souto and Chief AI Scientist Henrique Hoeltgebaum. (Soma Energy Photos)
Soma Energy, a startup founded by former Amazon energy managers, emerged from stealth Thursday with $7 million in funding.
The Vancouver, B.C.-based company has built an AI platform serving power producers and data centers, helping both optimize their energy assets in real time to save money and extend their available power. The technology coordinates resources including wind, solar and batteries and the management of energy demands such as data center workloads.
CEO Ath Caramanolis said you can visualize an electrical system as a complex network of roads and highways on which electrons — instead of cars and trucks — are traveling.
“Our software is sort of a control plane that helps provide the self-driving for electrons on these highway systems,” Caramanolis said in a GeekWire interview.
More efficient routing of electron traffic can bring more power to bear for the grid’s competing needs.
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“There is low hanging fruit everywhere, and the opportunities for large energy users like data centers to better utilize the grid exist all across North America,” Caramanolis said.
Industries, utilities and elected officials worldwide are racing to expand energy supply as data centers and electrification of transportation, heating and other sectors drive surging demand. Data centers alone are expected to more than double their power draw — from 82 gigawatts in 2025 to 219 by 2029 — with most of that growth fueled by AI, according to McKinsey.
Amazon hired Caramanolis in 2018 to create the energy optimization team at AWS, which managed about 10 gigawatts of renewable energy across its global network of data centers. Seattle City Light, by comparison, has a generation capacity of about 2 gigawatts.
Caramanolis then recruited Mario Souto, Soma Energy’s co-founder and chief technology officer, to build the machine learning platform AWS used to optimize its renewable portfolio. The startup’s third co-founder, Chief AI Scientist Henrique Hoeltgebaum, is an expert in AI-driven forecasting and anomaly detection for energy systems.
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Soma Energy launched in February 2024 and has 18 employees. The startup has deployed 2 gigawatts of assets in the U.S. with customers including several independent power producers and five data center companies — among them H5 Data Centers, whose sites include a large facility in downtown Seattle.
“By coordinating existing resources, we were able to access capacity significantly sooner than expected, accelerating our time to power and removing a critical constraint on expansion,” said Josh Simms, CEO of H5 Data Centers, in a statement.
The seed round was led by Category Ventures, with participation from Haystack, Panache Ventures, RRE Ventures, TO.VC, Uncork Capital and Walter Kortschak. The investment will allow the team to hire new employees in engineering and commercial roles and expand its reach across North America.
“Having managed hyperscale power systems firsthand, the founders built Soma Energy as if they were the customer themselves,” said Villi Iltchev, partner at Category Ventures.
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