10 Things in Tech: Netflix password crackdown
Happy St. Patrick's Day. Netflix is testing a crackdown on password-sharing, and we broke down how much Facebook is paying hundreds of its employees.
Let's get to the good stuff.
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1. Netflix is about to crack down on password-sharing. The streaming service will soon launch a test aimed at keeping users from sharing their passwords with people outside their household, Variety first reported.
- Sharing passwords — a time-honored tradition in subscription streaming — is already forbidden, but Netflix has done little to enforce the rule in the past.
- Last year, the company tested a prompt on viewers using accounts owned by people outside their households. It read, "If you don't live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching."
- Now, in a test launching in three countries, Netflix will have primary account holders pay an extra fee for any users outside their household. The company will later evaluate whether to bring it to other markets as well.
In other news:
Tom Williams/Getty Images
2. Brace yourself: Delays may affect your Amazon orders. The head of a trade group said China's recent COVID-19 lockdown could impact Amazon and Walmart orders, though an Amazon spokesperson said they do not expect "a significant disruption." Get the rundown here.
3. Glossier founder Emily Weiss' tech dreams derailed the millennial beauty brand. Seventeen former employees say beneath the company's success was a sometimes chaotic and unstable work environment, helmed by a founder whose obsession with transforming the beauty brand into a tech company sparked internal tensions. What happened at Glossier.
4. A Google exec apologized to staff after tweeting about the merits of buying and selling people. "The connections to slave trading that should have been obvious to me simply weren't," Urs Hölzle wrote in an apologetic memo — but not before Googlers created a bunch of memes ridiculing the tweet. See some of their memes here.
5. VCs named 19 rising-star crypto venture capitalists. The VCs — who were nominated by other venture capitalists — are backing crypto startups that promise to reshape finance, entertainment, and work. With roles at firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Blockchain Capital, these VCs are spearheading the industry.
6. Insider's correspondent experienced Meta's controversial VR exhibit — and found it wasn't what people thought. Titled "Surviving 9/11: 27 Hours Under the Rubble," the exhibit has been accused of profiting off 9/11 and turning the event into a video game. While this writer didn't find it tasteless, it did make his stomach churn. See what it was like.
7. How much is Facebook paying its workers? We examined a year's worth of salary data to figure out how much the tech giant is paying its engineers, product managers, researchers, and hundreds of other employees — most of whom are making at least six figures. Here's how much Facebook workers make.
8. Elon Musk changed his name to "Elona" on Twitter. The Tesla CEO's name change comes after Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov referred to him as "gentle Elona" in a tweet. See the latest beef between Musk and Vladimir Putin's allies.
Odds and ends:
BMW
9. Meet BMW's sporty new electric sedan, the i4 M50. Aside from its whizzy electric driving, the i4 looks and acts like a traditional, gas-powered BMW 4 Series — but has a few subtle differences from its predecessor. Why it's a great choice for first-time EV buyers.
10. Chipotle is testing Chippy, a robot that makes tortilla chips. The new tortilla chip-making robot intentionally makes imperfect chips so they taste like they were made by a human (because who doesn't love finding a chip with a little extra salt?). Check out Chippy the tortilla chip robot.
What we're watching today:
- The latest Samsung Galaxy A Event takes place today at 10 a.m. ET. Watch it here.
- FedEx and others are reporting earnings today. Keep up with earnings here.
- NASA is rolling out its Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft today.
- Finalists for the Video Game Hall of Fame are being announced.
Keep updated with the latest tech news throughout your day by checking out The Refresh from Insider, a dynamic audio news brief from the Insider newsroom. Listen here.
Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email jerb@insider.com or tweet @jordanparkererb.) Edited by Michael Cogley in London.
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