News written by Petteri Pyyny

One of the world's most well-known movie-focused websites, Letterboxd, is reportedly looking for a new owner.

Letterboxd is especially known as a gathering place for true movie fans, a kind of social media for movies - and for the extensive, in-depth movie reviews created by its users.

The site was originally founded in 2011, but its founders sold a majority stake in the service in 2023 to a Canadian investment company.

Now, the said investment company thus wants to convert its investment into cash.

According to Variety's information, the company is reportedly negotiating with several movie studios about the sale of the service. At least Sony Pictures and Paramount have been mentioned as buyer candidates.

In addition, The Puck reports that Netflix would also be interested in buying the service.

In all mentioned cases, a kind of conflict of interest arises for Letterboxd's administrators: would the site's new host want the service to better highlight the parent company's films - or will the service be allowed to continue independently.

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Korean giant Samsung has apparently put some of its users in front of a rather unpleasant choice.

According to information obtained by the How-to-Geek website, a new checkbox has appeared for some users of Samsung's health and wellness application, Samsung Health.

This view asks users to agree that Samsung may use the user's health data for training its AI model.

What makes the choice particularly problematic is that refusal is not really possible: if the option is not accepted, Samsung Health will stop synchronizing data with the user's Samsung account, meaning the collected data will simply be completely destroyed.

The company would likely use user data to develop smart, AI-based health applications, i.e., solutions somewhat similar to Garmin's subscription-based Connect+ or Google's new subscription-based Google Health Premium.

But the mandatory surrender of health data for AI use, without a real possibility to refuse the choice, sounds like it smells like it might violate several laws in the European Union - even if the data were completely anonymized. Elsewhere in the world, the practice is likely legal - albeit one that causes a lot of bad blood among users.

The enormous cultural significance of video games only began to be fully understood sometime in the early 2010s, even though the monetary value of video games has long since surpassed art forms considered 'traditional culture,' such as music and movies.

But preserving, archiving, and curating games for future generations has become almost impossible in the last twenty years, states one of the largest foundations saving video games for posterity, Video Game History Foundation.

Many players perceive the problem to be that games are no longer sold as physical copies - and recently, for example, Sony announced it would completely cease the production of physical PlayStation game discs.

But the problem is actually more complex.

According to the foundation's statement, the biggest problem is that almost all games nowadays require a connection to the game publisher's servers. Often, the game doesn't even work without an internet connection, but even more common is that updates are released for the game over the network, which are required for the game to function.

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American telecommunications and media giant Comcast, through its already owned subsidiary Sky, is acquiring Britain's oldest TV channel, ITV.

Reuters information states that Sky will pay £1.6 billion pounds (apprx. €1.9 billion euros / $2.3 billion) for ITV's television channels and streaming services.

Founded in 1955, ITV, originally Independent Television, has long been Britain's largest commercial TV channel. The company holds a nationwide license for three TV channels in the UK, and also has channels visible exclusively on cable and satellite networks in Britain.

Thanks to the deal, Sky, which originally started as satellite channels, will gain more viewers in Britain, especially in households that are not satellite or cable television viewers.

According to BBC information, ITV's program production unit, ITV Studios, is not part of the deal and will continue as an independent company.

ITV's channels will continue to be available for free viewing until at least 2034, as the terms of ITV's current TV broadcasting license will remain valid even after the acquisition.

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Nintendo has announced that it will completely cease sales of the original Nintendo Switch and all its versions in Europe.

The reason for the changes is European Union legislation coming into force in 2027, which requires that the battery of the device can be easily replaced in several product categories. This directive extending the lifespan of products was already approved in 2023, meaning a transition period of approximately four years has been given.

The legislation comes into force in spring 2027, but it does not apply to, for example, waterproof products - meaning virtually all modern mobile phones and, for instance, electric toothbrushes are excluded from the law.

But since the Nintendo Switch is not waterproof, Nintendo would have had to release a new version of the Switch specifically for Europe to be able to sell it even after spring 2027.

The original Switch went on sale in Europe in 2017, so Nintendo evidently concluded that it was no longer worth making a new version of a decade-old game console solely for Europe.

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Netflix has significantly changed its terms of use regarding family member profiles.

Until now, Netflix has been accessed using the login credentials of the account administrator who pays the monthly fee, and then simply selecting which profile to use.

So, a family has had one account, under which each family member might have their own profile.

But now Netflix has changed its policy so that each profile must also be linked to its own, separate email address. However, this requirement does not apply to accounts marked as children's accounts, which are also age-restricted in terms of content.

After the change, if a family member wants to watch Netflix with their own profile, they must log in using their own email address. For example, on a four-person family's living room TV, each of the four family members must log in with their email address to their own profile to access it at all.

The change will come into effect gradually, but the first family member accounts have already required an email address to be linked to them starting June 15.

Online, it is speculated that with more strictly identified user profiles, Netflix can create more precise advertising profiles of its users.

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All over the world there is a buzz about how data centers are constantly popping up more and more.

But is there really demand for all the computing power being built into data centers?

Well, it seems that there is. At least based on the fact that Financial Times reports (paywall) that Google has significantly restricted one of its biggest paying customers from using AI, because Google simply didn't have enough AI computing capacity available.

The big customer here is Meta, i.e., the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.

Meta uses Google's Gemini AI models specifically in internal product development, and not so much for the operation of user-facing elements. In addition to product development, Meta is reported to use Gemini, among other things, as an aid for Facebook moderation and as a tool for detecting social media scam attempts.

Meta also has its own AI models, under the llama brand, but Google's Gemini has proven to be a more functional tool in many of Meta's AI use cases.

Due to the usage restrictions set by Google, several of Meta's projects are already reported to have been delayed from their planned schedules.

Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced that the production of physical game discs for all new games released on PlayStation consoles will cease in January 2028.

After this date, new games will be released only in digital form on the PlayStation Store and by retailers in digital formats.

Sony's Senior Director of Content Communications, Sid Shuman, justifies the decision in a statement by citing changed consumer habits and stating that the general demand for digital media has clearly surpassed physical discs. By making this transition, the company aims to adapt to how the majority of the community now wants to acquire and play their games.

The change does not affect games that have been released or will be released in disc format before the announced deadline.

When physical discs are removed from the selection at the beginning of 2028, players will be permanently forced into a digital ecosystem where the lifecycle of a purchased game is even less at the player's discretion, as game publishers can remove their titles from PlayStation store, even for players that have purchased the game.

The Bureau of Industry and Security, under the U.S. Department of Commerce (The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security), has banned the sale of new car models from Polestar in the United States.

The ban applies to 2027 models and newer Polestar models, meaning it does not apply to the company's current, already introduced car models.

The ban is justified by the Connected Vehicle rule, which prohibits the sale of cars whose information systems or driving systems are in some way connected to countries designated as hostile by the United States, such as China or Russia.

Polestar is a car brand wholly owned by Chinese Geely, which was born as a sister brand to Volvo, also owned by Geely, into the electric car business in 2010 (before that, the Polestar brand has a long history alongside Volvo).

What is confusing about the decision is that cars sold under the Volvo brand can still be sold in the United States in the future. Restrictions on cars connected to China were already created during Biden's presidency and were originally designed to come into force starting from 2027.

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Microsoft is between a rock and a hard place. The company has already officially discontinued the regular support period for the hugely popular Windows 10 operating system.

But when the transition to Windows 11 seemed to falter in 2025, the company promised even regular users a workaround: Windows 10's support period could be extended until October 2026 if one committed to Microsoft's terms for additional support.

Now that October 2026 deadline is already looming in the near future and Windows 10's share of all Windows users is still at 26 percent.

From the users' perspective, the transition to Windows 11 is complicated by the fact that Windows 11 is the first Windows in decades to significantly tighten the operating system's hardware requirements. A large portion of Windows 10 computers therefore cannot be updated to Windows 11 without workarounds, even if the user wanted to update the operating system.

At the same time, the prices of computer components have started to rise dramatically, which is mainly due to the tremendous growth of artificial intelligence. This means people also cannot afford to buy new computers.

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Finland's landline network will be permanently discontinued on June 30, 2026, when a major operator, Elisa shuts down its landline network.

Already earlier other major operators, Telia (back in 2019) and DNA (at the beginning of 2026) did the same.

In Finland, telephone subscriptions were introduced already in the 1880s, meaning the landline network accumulated about 140 years of history in the country.

The golden age of landline phones proved to be the first half of the 1990s, during the time just before mobile phones became more widely used - and at a time when BBS services using modems were experiencing their golden age.

After the mid-1990s, the popularity of landline phones has steadily declined. First, the change was seen in young people moving out on their own no longer acquiring landline subscriptions for their homes, and later, older generations also began to give them up as mobile phones replaced landlines.

According to Elisa, at the turn of the year, it had only a few thousand landline customers left, and new subscriptions have not been sold for years.

The American music streaming service Tidal has tightened its rules regarding AI-generated music.

The service will completely stop paying royalties for songs that have been made entirely with artificial intelligence.

AI-generated songs can still be added to Tidal and will not be removed, but their creators will no longer be paid.

However, it is good to note that only 100% AI-generated songs fall into this category. This means that even with a small human contribution, songs will continue to be eligible for royalties from Tidal.

At the same time, completely 100% AI-generated songs will henceforth be clearly marked with an AI label on Tidal. The identification is based on recognition algorithms, so music creators will likely have the opportunity to appeal songs incorrectly marked as AI-generated.

Moving forward, Tidal hopes that as its algorithm develops, it could implement a similar practice for songs that are estimated to be "significantly" AI-generated.

The practice is stricter than that of the French service Deezer, which actively removes AI-generated songs from its recommendation lists and search results.

Not even Microsoft is immune to the shockingly rapid increase in memory prices plaguing the tech world.

The company announced today that it will significantly raise the prices of Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S gaming consoles from the beginning of August. At the same time, the 2 terabyte model will be completely removed from the Xbox lineup, and consumers are being encouraged to acquire Xboxes either refurbished or on installment.

In the United States, prices will rise as follows:

• Xbox Series S 512 GB | $499 (previously $399)
• Xbox Series S 1 TB | $599 (previously $449)
• Xbox Series X Digital 1 TB | $749 (previously $599)
• Xbox Series X 1 TB | $799 (previously $649)

For Europe, Microsoft has not confirmed exact prices, but a similar pattern likely applies here too, meaning that models with half a terabyte of storage will likely increase by one hundred euros, and models with one terabyte of storage will increase by 150 euros.

The company, however, reminds in its statement that even with the new, higher price, Xbox Series S is still the most affordable way to play certain top games.

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Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) has released a new version 1.6 of the Matter standard. The new update has already been made available to device manufacturers and platform developers, and this time it focuses on improving the user experience, installation, and interoperability between different systems for existing devices, rather than new device groups.

The biggest and most practical innovation concerns device commissioning, which introduces new NFC-based pairing. Until now, adding devices has often required scanning QR codes and utilizing a Bluetooth connection, but in the future, a Matter device can be set up simply by tapping it with a smartphone.

Thanks to two-way NFC communication, a device can be integrated into a smart home even before it is powered on. In practice, this means that, for example, a smart bulb can be paired before it is placed in a ceiling fixture, or a wall switch before the power is turned on.

Another significant improvement relates to sharing devices between different ecosystems. The new Joint Fabric technology expands the previous Multi-Admin functionality by allowing multiple different controllers to manage one shared Matter network through a centralized data repository.

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Valve has decided to completely discontinue the sale of physical Steam gift cards.

Physical Steam gift cards have been a convenient way for older relatives to delight the family's teenagers on birthdays and other special occasions.

Going forward, all Steam gift cards will be digital, meaning they will be purchased directly through the Steam online store and received only as a digital code.

Unfortunately, the background to this is financial crime, as gift cards are globally one of the easiest ways to launder money. Their resale value is quite high compared to the purchase price, and they could be bought anonymously - making them perfect if money from dubious sources needed to be converted into "clean" money. For those interested in the topic, we recommend an excellent Bits About Money article (and the entire blog, for that matter).

Gift cards are also widely used in scams, where a victim is tricked into buying gift cards and sharing the codes found on them with the scammer. In such cases, money is not transferred in any traceable form; instead, the scammer can sell the codes on online marketplaces and obtain "clean" money that cannot be linked to the scam.

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