After a hot streak during the pandemic, the biggest streamers are suffering from a domestic pull back. Netflix actually lost 433,000 subscribers in the US and Canada during its second quarter, while Disney is reportedly struggling, too. But, overseas is another story. Thanks to cheap mobile-only plans that cater to local viewing habits, streaming services are making gains in places like Asia. Netflix, which has a low-end tier in India that costs $2.67, nabbed just over a million subscribers in Asia-Pacific in its latest quarter. Now, Disney is looking to build on its mammoth success in India with its own mobile streaming plan that costs $6.70 per year.

Having rebranded its local service to Disney+ Hotstar last Spring, the company is introducing three tiers in total. Aside from mobile, which lets you watch on one mobile device in HD, there's Super for $12.08 per year (two devices including mobile, the web and more in HD) and Premium for $20.14 per year (four devices in 4K). The three plans will come into effect on September 1st, Disney announced at a virtual event, according to NDTV.

Though it's the opposite of the single monthly and yearly plan Disney+ offers in the US and elsewhere, the shakeup makes sense for India. Going mobile-only sees the company following a tried and tested model aimed at the large chunk of the local population that use mobiles to connect to the internet. The launch also comes just weeks ahead of Disney's latest earnings report on August 12th, where all eyes will be on Disney+ subscriber numbers. 

Amazon's latest Echo Buds have dropped to below $100 for the first time since Prime Day. Best Buy is offering the active noise-canceling earbuds for $80, down from their normal price of $120. The Alexa-powered buds were already affordable, but the latest deal should help sway the neutrals. Especially considering that they were only released in April.

Buy Amazon Echo Buds at Best Buy - $80

Amazon improved its Echo Buds in all the right places with the second-gen model. With the right tweaks in the Alexa app, you can boost the audio, and take full advantage of the big bass, courtesy of that new 5.7mm high-performance driver. Amazon's digital assistant can also complete a range of tasks, from firing up music and podcasts to setting reminders and even fetching transit info for some US cities.

The overhaul also extends to the design. Both the earbuds and the charging case are 20 percent and 40 percent smaller, respectively. At this price, however, you can expect some cutbacks. One of the few areas that remains the same is the battery life, which offers five hours overall and two hours from just a 15-minute charge. The only other shortcoming is that the buds don't always block out noisy backgrounds on calls. But, with a little in-app customization, you can crank up your voice to help overcome that.

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The emergence of virtual productions like those popularized by Disney's The Mandalorian have given display giants a new niche for their massive screens. Sony, which boasts a movie production arm, is already using its modular crystal LEDs to provide backgrounds for shoots. Now, Samsung is getting in on the act through a new partnership with Korea's CJ ENM, the entertainment group best known for the Oscar-winning social satire Parasite. 

The pact will see Samsung provide its massive MicroLED TVs, known as The Wall, to the studio's virtual production facility when it opens in Paju, Gyeonggi Province later this year. CJ ENM previously struck a deal with Fortnite maker Epic Games to use its Unreal Engine game engine — which also provided the digital backdrops for The Mandalorian — for future projects. 

Virtual productions are gaining traction in global filmmaking. The technique involves the use of LED stages, game engines and VR to create and control computer-generated backdrops. Currently, the massive investment has limited the tools to blockbuster shoots, but industry insiders believe that could change as people realize the savings they bring on crew travel and physical sets and infrastructure. As a result, virtual production is expected to become the norm in filmmaking within five years, according to an industry report by the Göteborg Film Festival. 

Samsung says its latest screens will deliver improved visuals thanks to their support for HDR 10+ and optimized frame rates such as 23.976Hz, 29.97Hz and 59.94Hz. The company will install an oval-shaped main display at CJ ENM's new complex with a diameter of 20 metres and a height of seven metres or more. Samsung says its massive screen measures over 1,000 inches and supports up to 16K high-resolution content.

But, the Korean company hasn't embraced virtual production quite like Sony. The Japanese conglomerate previously paid $250 million to acquire a minority stake in Epic Games. It also bought virtual production software maker Nurulize in 2019 and integrated it into Sony Innovation Studios, the state-of-the-art facility located on the Sony Pictures Studios lot.

LG may be through with smartphones, but it's still making gear you can use with your mobile. The Korean company has unveiled its new range of LG Tone Free wireless earbuds, and this time the germ-killing UV tech isn't the highlight. Of the three newcomers, the high-end FP9 model has a charging case that plugs into a headphone jack to work as a Bluetooth dongle. The feature could be handy during flights and in other wired environments. 

The trio, including the mid-range FP8 and low-end FP9, also come with active noise-canceling and two new spatial audio upgrades. That means you should hear musical elements as if they're positioned in different spaces in a 3D soundstage. The results are supposed to be more "lifelike," according to LG, but we'll have to test them before offering a verdict. 

LG

In fact, spatial audio is becoming a more common feature in general. It recently arrived on Apple Music and has long been available through Sony's 360 Reality Audio format. While Verizon claims that its spatial audio format, Adaptive Sound, doesn't even require specific headphones, earbuds or speakers.

The big departure in the Tone Free's design is the shorter stem, which LG reduced by 4.4 millimeters. All three also pack a trio of microphones and a new voice calling feature, dubbed Whispering Mode, that lets you hold the right earbud close to your mouth as a dedicated mic. 

UV auto-cleaning is back, too, but limited to the FP8 and FP9. It can get rid of 99.9 percent of germs in five minutes when the buds are placed inside the case, which features wireless charging on the FP8. Both the mid- and high-end earbuds also pack more battery life than the low-end- FP5: 10 hours of playback time compared to 8 hours between charges, and 24 hours with the case compared to 22 hours. 

LG says the LG Tone Free FP series will be available starting this month in colors including charcoal black and pearl white, with the FP8 and FP9 also offered in haze gold. We've reached out for pricing info and will update this article accordingly.

We've seen helmets and AI that can spot brain tumors, but a new hard hat can actually treat them, too. As part of the latest neurological breakthrough, researchers used a helmet that generates a magnetic field to shrink a deadly tumor by a third. The 53-year-old patient who underwent the treatment ultimately passed away due to an unrelated injury. But, an autopsy of his brain showed that the procedure had removed 31 percent of the tumor mass in a short time. The test marked the first noninvasive therapy for a deadly form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma.

The helmet features three rotating magnets connected to a microprocessor-based electronic controller operated by a rechargeable battery. As part of the therapy, the patient wore the device for five weeks at a clinic and then at home with the help of his wife. The resulting magnetic field therapy created by the helmet was administered for two hours initially and then ramped up to a maximum of six hours per day. During the period, the patient's tumor mass and volume shrunk by nearly a third, with shrinkage appearing to correlate with the treatment dose.

The inventors of the device — which received FDA approval for compassionate use treatment — claim it could one day help treat brain cancer without radiation or chemotherapy. “Our results...open a new world of non-invasive and nontoxic therapy...with many exciting possibilities for the future,” said David S. Baskin, corresponding author and director of the Kenneth R. Peak Center for Brain and Pituitary Tumor Treatment in the Department of Neurosurgery at Houston Methodist Neurological Institute. Details of the procedure have been published in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Oncology.

Google has gone all-out on today's doodle to mark the start of the Tokyo Olympics. Select the modified logo and you can play 'Doodle Champion Island Games,' an anime-infused title featuring sports mini-games. Google says it's the largest interactive doodle it's ever made. 

You control Lucky the cat in a pixel-art landscape dotted with Japanese landmarks. Once you join one of several color-coded teams, you can take part in mini-games including table tennis and skateboarding. The controls are relatively straightforward, relying on various combinations of the arrow keys and spacebar. We won gold in the table tennis and pulled off kick-flips and fakies while skateboarding with ease. The doodle will stick around for the coming weeks, adding new games along the way.

The cut scenes are pretty lush, too. According to Google, the interactive doodle was made in collaboration with STUDIO4°C, the Tokyo-based animation house behind feature films like Tekkonkinkreet. It also worked on action-adventure puzzle game Catherine. You can find out more about Doodle Champion Island Games in the behind-the-scenes video below.

You no longer have to spend upwards of $200 on a quality pair of active noise-canceling (ANC) headphones. If you don't mind settling for a slightly older model, we highly recommend the Sony WH-1000XM3. Weeks after they dropped to $190, the wireless headphones are down another $20 at Best Buy to a new low of $170.

Buy Sony WH-1000XM3 at Best Buy - $170

We gave the XM3 a review score of 94 in September 2018 due to their excellent sound and comfort. Inside is a dedicated noise-canceling chip, the QN1, which does the heavy-lifting in terms of blocking background noise and boosting audio. For those unaccustomed to ANC, you may even notice new sounds on the tracks you love. Audiophiles will also take to the customization offered through Sony's app that lets you fine-tune audio.

We'd be remiss if we didn't mention the XM3's successors, the XM4. The newer headphones feature two major additions: Auto-pause and seamless multi-device listening. Hardly a deal-breaker when you consider they currently cost $348. 

The XM3's design is also a crowdpleaser. The over-ear headphones come in black with bronze accents on the Sony logo and USB-C port. In our tests, we found the plush cushioning around the pads and headband to be significantly more comfortable than some of the alternatives. You can also fold them up when you're not using them, making them great for travel. The XM3 offer around 30 hours of battery life, more than enough for regular commuters. A well-powered USB-C connection also provides five hours of charge after just 10 minutes.

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Having conquered phone displays, Corning is bringing Gorilla Glass to handset cameras. The company's DX and DX+ range of damage-resistant glass will next be available for mobile camera lens covers, starting with Samsung devices. Alongside the added protection, Corning claims its tech can improve the optical performance of smartphone cameras. 

According to the company, DX glass essentially results in less light being reflected by the camera cover lens. Currently, even with the use of an anti-reflective coating, around 92 percent of transmitted light enters a smartphone camera. Corning says that with DX/DX+ on the outside a camera lens can capture 98 percent of light, helping to reduce optical issues like ghosting. These reflections are usually caused by a bright light source during daylight or in low-light conditions. Lens hoods and coatings applied to lens surfaces can help to suppress ghosting, also known as ghost reflections. 

Some smartphone makers are already working with specialist suppliers to address the problem. Both Sony and Vivo use a Zeiss coating to boost light transmission while reducing flares, ghosting and reflections on their high-end phones.

But, Corning also offers the added benefit of durability and has strong ties with the biggest smartphone makers in the field. The company says its DX glass is scratch resistant and that DX+ approaches the resistance of Sapphire, which is used in high-end watches thanks to its Grade 9 on the Mohs scale — a system for rating the hardness of various minerals. It could even allow you to finally ditch that smartphone case.

Gorilla Glass is now featured on 8 billion devices by more than 45 major brands, according to Corning. While Gorilla Glass DX is also available on more than 30 million wearables. Recognizing its integral role as a supplier, Apple poured $450 million into the company as part of two separate investments in 2017 and 2019.

The cost to protect high-profile tech execs is spiralling even as lockdowns have grounded travel to a halt. A new analysis of the security expenses racked up by Silicon Valley giants shows they collectively spent $46 million to safeguard their top brass last year. Of that figure, $23.4 million alone was spent on Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg's personal security, up from $20.4 million in 2019, according to the report by Protocol. 

The company attributed the increase to new COVID-19 protocols and additional protection during the election. Included in the figure was a pre-tax allowance of $10 million and an additional $13.4 million for the Facebook founder's personal security. As a result, Zuckerberg far eclipsed others on the list including the world's richest person, Jeff Bezos, who paid $1.6 million in personal security costs. Signalling just how cautious Facebook is, the company's COO Sheryl Sandberg was in second place with security worth $7.6 million in 2020.

The results reflect the growing stature of the tech elite, who have grown more recognizable alongside the ballooning market caps of their companies, which provide globally popular services. Fame has inevitably brought with it unwarranted attention. 

Facebook, which has been accused of everything from polarizing public discourse to enabling the spread of vaccine misinformation, has a right to be defensive. The company has previously noted in SEC filings that Zuckerberg is "synonymous" with the "negative sentiment" around it. In April, Facebook noted that its yearly assessments “identified specific threats to Mr. Zuckerberg." Other tech leaders have also borne the brunt of their notoriety. In 2020, it was revealed that Bezos' phone had been hacked via WhatsApp two years prior, potentially by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The security expenses list includes 11 individuals in total. In third place is Google's Sundar Pichai ($5.4 million in protection costs), followed by Lyft co-founder and president John Zimmer ($2.06 million), Oracle's Larry Ellison ($1.71 million), Snap's Evan Spiegel ($1.67 million), Bezos, Salesforce boss Marc Benioff ($1.31 million), Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi ($849,000), Lyft CEO Logan Green ($599,000) and Apple's Tim Cook ($470,000).

With face coverings still the norm, tech companies want you to up your mask game. Last year, LG unveiled the PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier featuring three fans and a pair of HEPA-style filters. Ten months later, it's finally revealed an initial release date for the device, an improved version of which arrives in Thailand in August. There's still no word on the price, however.

The latest iteration features a smaller, lighter motor and a built-in mic, speaker and voice amplifier. LG says its "VoiceOn" tech automatically recognizes when you're talking and boosts the sound so others can hear you through the mask. Unfortunately, it can't make you sound like Darth Vader.

LG has also bumped up the battery from 820mAh to 1,000 mAh, though the stated 8 hour running time is still the same. It's also touting a two hour recharge time using the included USB cable. The wearable purifier should roll out to more regions upon receiving approval from regulators, the company said. 

For now, LG is promoting the mask with the help of the Thai Olympics team, who wore it en route to the summer games in Tokyo. Clearly, the Korean company is pitching it as a go-to for those who train outdoors. But, LG's device has its rivals: We've previously seen tech-infused masks from Razer and, um, Will.i.Am.