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Netflix's rate of expansion and popularity in the US and beyond has been impressive the past few years. It has challenged cable channels like HBO but new analysis suggests that network channels are the next target.

FBR Capital analyst Barton Crockett said that according to the first quarter numbers Netflix is on par with ABC and NBC. The streaming giant which is not included in the Nielsen ratings would score an average of 2.6 with its three month 10 billion hours streamed, says Crockett.

Disney's ABC and Comcast's NBC are at same 2.6 but their ratings are declining unlike Netflix's viewership. Netflix recently announced it will be expanding to Spain and Portugal in October which will increase the impressive "40%-plus compound annual rate" Crockett told investors about.

Apple Music has signed deals with major independent label Beggars and indie digital rights organization Merlin.

The streaming music service that will launch at the end of this month has added over 20,000 independent labels and distributors with the new deals.

Merlin CEO Charles Caldas noted: "I am pleased to say that Apple has made a decision to pay for all usage of Apple Music under the free trials on a per-play basis, as well as to modify a number of other terms that members had been communicating directly with Apple about. With these changes, we are happy to support the deal."

Apple recently did an about-face following a tirade from top artist Taylor Swift and had decided to pay the record labels even during the three month free trial they are offering all consumers of the service. It certainly seems that the decision has led to the indies signing up.

Hulu has announced this week that they are partnering with Showtime to offer the company's new standalone streaming service at a discount as long as you are a Hulu monthly subscriber.

Hulu Plus costs $7.99 per month and Showtime will cost you just $8.99, an 18 percent discount off the $10.99 it will cost as a standalone product.

Showtime offers some popular original content like Homeland, Ray Donovan, Masters of Sex and older library hits like Dexter and Nurse Jackie, and subscribers will not be inundated with ads.

It is unclear when the partnership will officially start, but you can get more info right from the source here.

Thanks to another series of confusing blog posts from the software giant, Microsoft has had to backtrack again and explain who will get Windows 10 for free.

Last week, the company posted that Windows 10 testers (preview users) would also get a free upgrade to the full operating system when it drops on July 29th. It turns out the real policy is a bit more convoluted.

It is true that Windows 10 preview users will get a free copy, but your copy will only remain activated if you opt-in for all future preview updates. "Since we're continuing the Windows Insider Program you'll be able to continue receiving builds and those builds will continue to be activated under the terms of the Windows Insider Program," explained Microsoft's Gabe Aul.

If you decide to opt-out, then your genuine Windows 10 goes poof the next time it connects back to Microsoft for authentication.

Of course, genuine Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users get a free upgrade on release day, unless Microsoft decides to 'clarify' the rules for that in the coming weeks.

Reddit proudly posted long awaited user stats in advance of their 10 year anniversary, as the site continues to grow to new heights.

Here are the stats:

10 years, 0 months, 0 days
(ok, fine, technically it's 9 years, 11 months, 30 days, 22 hours, and 16 minutes at time of posting this at 10 am PDT)
(also 5,258,776 minutes, 87,646 hours, 3651 days, or 521 weeks)

16,063,942,290 upvotes
(and 2,563,574,752 downvotes)

1,715,454,785 comments
(.36% of which mention cats)

334,626,161 monthly page views per Reddit engineer
(also 7,637,686 unique monthly visitors per engineer, at 30 engineers--we're hiring more!)

190,227,552 posts
(36% self posts vs link)

36,136,190 user accounts
(26,222 of which include some variation of "pm me" or "don't pm me" requests)

$29,559,467.54 spent on 877,218 presents for RedditGifts exchanges
(in 201 gift exchanges)

1,867,184 months of Reddit Gold purchased
(804,952 of which you've gifted to someone)

853,824 subreddits created
(9,601 of which were active yesterday)

213,078 lines of code total
(1,081,873 lines of code added and 868,795 removed in 10,128 commits since Jan. 23, 2007, the second complete rewrite of Reddit)

iOS 9 beta users were greeted with a highly-requested feature when they updated to beta 2 yesterday.

It appears that Apple is testing a feature that will allow the operating system to delete applications when you do not have enough free space to update to the latest iOS and when the update is complete it will reinstall your app with all the data still intact.

Additionally, Apple is also including a feature called "app thinning" to iOS 9 "which allows developers to distribute only the necessary portions of their apps to users, and Swift libraries built-in so developers don't have to include them with every app," says 9to5M.

If the features make it to the final release of iOS 9, it will be to the relief of iOS fans who always have the harrowing task of deciding what pictures, games and apps they need to delete in order to make room for the updated operating system.

Uber is preparing to raise an additional $1 billion thanks to an investment from Chinese fund manager Hillhouse Capital Group.

If completed, Hillhouse will purchase bonds that then convert in shares at a discount to Uber's eventual IPO price.

The move is very similar to a deal completed by Goldman Sachs in January in which the investment bank invested $1.6 billion in exchange for convertible bonds.

Uber is the most highly capitalized private startup in the world, and when it does IPO it is expected to have a market value in excess of $40 billion, making it one of the largest tech companies on the planet, as well.

The ride-hailing app is now available in 300 cities and is aggressively expanding in places like China, where it has already committed $1 billion for 2015.

Source:
WSJ

Amazon's smart speaker, the Echo, is now available to all without an invite.

The etailer launched the device last November, and it was generally met with favorable reviews, but available only by invite meant the average consumer was not getting their hands on it.

As of yesterday, however, everyone can now buy the Echo directly from Amazon for $180, with an estimated shipping date of July 14th.

The Echo is more than just a speaker, as it is also a "personal assistant" that can answer questions for you about traffic, your favorite sports teams, and today's weather, among many other things. You can also use it to power a smart home, or ask it to add an item to your Amazon shopping list.

Your notifications are also sent to your Android smartphone via the Echo app, meaning you can take Echo with you.

As a speaker, it is cheaper than a Sonos Play 1 (although the Sonos offers better features for music), but with all the rest of its smart features, the Echo may warrant a purchase.

Check it out here: Amazon Echo

Google has announced this week the launch of an ad-supported version of Google Play Music that is free and will include free curated playlists.

The playlists are built using Songza technology, the popular streaming app acquired by Google last year.

Each station is crafted towards your mood or your activity, and if you aren't doing anything, Google has included a top 10 list to help you out. The top 10 (currently) are Brand New Music, Driving, Working Out, Boosting Your Energy, Having Friends Over, Having Fun at Work, Entering Beast Mode, Waking Up Happy, Unwinding and Bedtime.

Available now in the U.S., the free Google Play Music is available via the desktop/browser now and later this week for both Android and iOS.

The new free, ad-supported version of Google Play Music is launching first in the U.S. It's available on the web today, and is rolling out this week to Android and iOS.

While its console counterpart is flooded with great reviews, 'Batman: Arkham Knight' has seen a steady stream of negative reports for the PC version.

Users across stream, Reddit and other media have complained about lag, stuttering, frame rate fluctuations, bugs, crashes and even memory leaks.

AMD GPU card users seen to be having the most issues, but even Nvidia GTX 980 ($500 card) users have complained, showing the problems are widespread. Developer Rocksteady did note that "there are some known issues with the performance of Batman: Arkham Knight for PC owners using AMD graphics cards," and that it is "working closely with AMD to rectify these issues as quickly as possible."

Shockingly, some users reported FPS falling to 5 during gameplay using AMD cards. For the time being, it appears that Rocksteady is working on it, but it will be a bumpy ride for PC owners.

Dropbox has announced its updated Android app, version 3.0, which promises to be "better, faster and more usable."

The company has listed all the new updates and new features for the app via a new blog post:

The Popcorn Time team has revealed this week that they have seen over 1 million downloads for non-jailbroken iOS devices.

Popcorn Time, which allows you to stream pirated material and has an interface that makes everything easy to find (think Netflix), launched for iOS two months ago. The developers found a way to load the app to iOS devices through a special installer, thus avoiding Apple's stringent security.

The team was very proud of the milestone, writing: "Popcorn Time, so it seems, is the most downloaded mobile app outside the Google and Apple stores. And we take huge pride in this. This is us, this is what we've created and it's f***ing breaking records. But the silver lining of this whole thing, what's even bigger in our perspective, is the fact that Popcorn Time is the only app in the *world* that can be installed on non-jailbroken iOS devices outside [Apple's] app store."

That in of itself is quite a feat, as Apple makes it very hard to surpass the Apple App Store unless you are willing to take the plunge of jailbreaking your device.

It's also not just Americans downloading the app to their iPhones, as the Popcorn Time also revealed the top downloaders of the app by country. The Netherlands led the way with a full 19.14 percent of downloaders coming from the nation followed by the U.S. at 17.62 percent and Brazil at 7.21 percent.

Google has introduced 17 new watchfaces for Android Wear users, including character faces like Hello Kitty and Angry Birds.

Reads the release: "Ever wish you could change your look throughout the day? With Android Wear, fashion is equal parts physical and digital. Now, in addition to our growing collection of watches, you can also pick from 1500+ downloadable watch faces to match any outfit, mood, or occasion.

Today, we're showcasing 17 new watch faces from all over the globe--from the adorable characters of Angry Birds, Hello Kitty, and Moomin, to the elegant accessories of Cynthia Rowley, Lulu Frost, and Triwa, to eye-catching brands and artists like Bang & Olufsen, Muji, and Kevin Tong."

Check out the collection here: Google Play

Sony has surprisingly released an Android M Developer Preview for a dozen Xperia devices, a move that should delight fans that have grown used to waiting months if not years for the latest Google operating system on their phones and tablets.

The devices getting the M Dev Preview are the Xperia Z3, Xperia Z3 Compact, Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact, Xperia Z2, Xperia Z2 Tablet, Xperia Z1 Compact, Xperia Z1, Xperia Z Ultra, Xperia E3, Xperia M2, Xperia T2 Ultra and Xperia T3.

Sony also explains how to install the Developer Preview ROM, and you will need an unlocked bootloader.

It is pretty clear the preview is not made for everyday use or for the casual user, but developers will likely get to work as soon as possible.

According to Polish airline LOT, nearly 1400 passengers were grounded on Sunday after hackers attacked the airline's ground computer systems.

The systems took about five hours to get back online, meaning 10 flights were canceled and another 12 were delayed.

LOT provided hotel accommodations for anyone who was delayed overnight, and helped passengers to board flights throughout the night.

The airline did say that flight safety was never compromised and the Warsaw airport and other airlines were not affected. The company did have a warning, however, stating, "We're using state-of-the-art computer systems, so this could potentially be a threat to others in the industry."