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In our article series, we're digging into AfterDawn's news archive and looking what happened exactly 20 years ago. This article series also celebrates AfterDawn's 20th anniversary.

So, we're digging into our news archive and trying to figure out what was hot and what was not, back in August, 1999 when our site was only 2 months old. I'd like to remind you, our readers, that back then, AfterDawn was strictly focused on digital audio and video technologies and reporting events in those genres. More generic "all about tech" arrived to our site much later.

DVD releases were back then what the Netflix releases are now: Matrix as an example

Back in 1999, DVD players were The Tech that many households were planning to get for the "entire family's Christmas present" - i.e. the most sought-after tech that had hit the mainstream. Thus, new DVD movie releases were also big news back then, just like, say Netflix's next month's releases are now.

In the autumn of 1999, the most anticipated movie release among the tech enthusiasts was definitely The Matrix, which was about to be released on DVD format in September. Warner Home Videos, who owned the DVD rights, was hoping that Matrix would become the first movie ever to sell over one million DVDs. But, at around the same time, in in the end of August, another blockbuster made its way to DVD format, too: Titanic. Which one won the race? Well, ;Matrix did.

Disney held their annual D23 Expo in Anaheim this weekend announcing some very anticipated Star Wars trailers among other things.

They also provided D23 Expo attendees with a special offer for Disney+ subscription that wasn't available elsewhere. Expo attendants got 33% off from the the streaming services $69.99 yearly fee, if they paid three years in advance.

Now after the exposition has concluded Disney has expanded the availability to D23 members as well.

The good news is that D23 membership can be attained without any costs, as BGR notes. While there are tiers like the D23 Gold membership that costs $99 a year, you can get the Disney+ bargain with just the regular free D23 subscription (i.e. D23 General Membership).

Getting 33% off means you'll pay around $46 per year, or $138 for the full three year subscription. That's less than four dollars per month for a subscription that is surely going to offer quite a lot of Marvel, Disney and Star Wars content in the coming years.

Netflix has changed how their platform works in numerous ways throughout the years. Things like removing stars for thumbs up and down easily spring to mind, but they are far from the most important features on the service.

One could argue, the most important piece of software with Netflix is the suggestions engine that drives what content will be shown to each person at any given time. However, it is not perfect, not even close.

If you are anything like me, you are getting annoyed at getting constantly suggested same content, even things you've already seen. Well, to better suggest content you'd like, they are now testing real human curation to compliment algorithms.

A tweet has revealed a new trial Netflix is running, called Collections. These are, well, collections of shows and/or movies gathered together by human hands.

It includes categories like "Real & Riveting" and "Just for Laughs" with an ability to follow each Collection. The sleek UI allows you to get a quick look at the top three suggestions with a short description by clicking the Collection once, and twice to get an expanded view.

Currently the feature is under testing, and only available to a select few. There's no guarantee that it is going to land on everyone's devices, ever, but if you'd get the choice, would you like to use it?

Disney has released another Star Wars trailer at their D23 Expo in Anaheim, CA.

Just a few days ago we told you about the first trailer for the Star Wars series The Mandalorian, and no we've got fresh footage off of the last episode in the Star Wars saga.

The ninth episode is called The Rise of Skywalker, and according to the trailer it is going to be one of the more epic ones, as expected.

The first half of the trailer is pretty much just build up with footage from the previous episodes, but fortunately the latter half does reveal some new and interesting details about the upcoming movie.

We see the dynamic duo Rey and Finn, as well as their partner in crime pilot Poe Dameron. They are accompanied by who else than Chewbacca and C-3PO, who seems to turn to the dark side with a glimpse into his red eyes.

Lucasfilm has managed to reuse some footage of Carrie Fisher's Leia, and she'll appear in the movie as well.

As you would expect, there's action and space battles, but also an epic fight between Rey and Kylo Ren. What's even more cryptic or dramatic, though, is the ending of the trailer with Rey in a black hood with a Sith lightsaber not unlike the one wielded by Darth Maul.

Disney has released their first official trailer for the Lucasfilm show The Mandalorian. The Star Wars spinoff depicts the stories of the infamous bounty hunters from the planet Mandalore.

Most famous Mandalorian is of course Boba Fett, but The Mandalorian doesn't have a name. Not yet at least.

The series takes place a few years after the initial trilogy and follows "a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic".

You are to expect epic Star Wars scenery and gripping storytelling as well as lots of action, if the trailer is of any indication of the contents.

The show is starred by Pedro Pascal as the Mandalorian, Gina Carano, Nick Nolte, Giancarlo Esposito, among others. The show was created by Jon Favreau.

Premiere is set for November 12 on Disney+, and Disney+ only.

Spotify is by far the largest streaming music platform in the world. However, in the U.S. Apple has closed the gap, and according to some reports even passed Spotify.

Worldwide the battle isn't really even close, and, in fact, the gap has gotten wider in favor of Spotify since Apple Music launched. Nevertheless, the Swedish music powerhouse is feeling the pressure, for sure.

Perhaps one way this is materializing is the new policy Spotify just announced. The company is copying one from Apple's playbook, and is now offering three-month free period at the start of one's Premium subscription.

Not that it is an Apple only strategy, Spotify has previously offered all kinds of trial periods, and perhaps even a 90-day one for a period of time. However, from yesterday onward this is the de facto policy.

There are some exceptions, though, at least in the beginning. For now, the free three months only applies to default individual subscriptions as well as a student subscription.

Spotify did say, that they are bringing the same benefit to Duo and Family subscriptions soon.

Google's mobile operating system is more than a decade old, and throughout the years we've grown to know different versions by their sweet names.

Now 11 years after Android's premiere Google is changing gears. No longer will Android version be called by the name of a dessert starting with the corresponding letter.

Google has announced that Android 10 will be called, well, Android 10.

All the guessing for this years treat starting with the letter Q has been in vain, but there's a lot of reasons why it's a good change.

First of all, numbers are just simpler and easier to remember. Going through the letters I did remember all the versions but one – for some reason Lollipop evaded me – but there's no question that version numbers are just more convenient.

As boring as the numbers are, they are also easier to translate and you don't have to worry about issue with different languages and cultures. I'm sure – nay, I hope – froyo isn't a thing all around the globe.

Alongside the new version naming policy, Google announced the new logos for both Android 10 as well Android in general. Above you see the simplicity in the new naming scheme, and below you have the new face of Android.

Apple's latest extension of their ecosystem is something one couldn't have imagined a decade ago. The company's new credit card is the newest, hip iPhone only accessory.

After increasing their offering to health applications, Apple is ready to conquer your wallets too. The new Apple Card, developed in partnership with Goldman Sachs, is now available to everyone in the United States.

As long as you qualify, and own an iPhone.

You can apply for the card from the Apple Wallet app, and if successful and you opt for the physical card, you'll be shipped a titanium credit card in addition to the electronic version stored in the app.

Apple promises no fees, "not even hidden ones", except for the interest rates, which the company claims are among the lowest in the industry.

The card includes a cashback program, that offers 2% on all purchases and 3% on Apple Store purchases as well as qualified partners like Uber and Uber Eats.

Cashback, or Daily Cash as Apple calls it, goes straight to your Apple account and can be used just like normal balance.

Balance is of course monitored with the Wallet app, which offers detailed information about purchases.

A decade and a half after the third installment of the Matrix trilogy, a fourth in the series has been announced.

Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss - Neo and Trinity - will return for The Matrix 4 which is to begin production in early 2020. Lana Wachowski is set to direct the fourth film, written by Wachowski, Aleksandar Hemon, and David Mitchell.

"We could not be more excited to be re-entering 'The Matrix' with Lana," Warner Bros. Picture Group chairman Toby Emmerich said, reports Variety.

"Lana is a true visionary -- a singular and original creative filmmaker -- and we are thrilled that she is writing, directing and producing this new chapter in 'The Matrix' universe."

Wachowski noted that many of the ideas she explored with her sister Lilly when they wrote and directed the Matrix trilogy movies a couple of decades ago are more relevant now than they were then. This is undoubtedly true with artificial intelligence and even theories of simulated realities being in the mainstream.

European Union regulators are to investigate Facebook and its upcoming 'Libra' digital currency for potential anticompetitive behavior.

Bloomberg reported the story on Tuesday after seeing an official document that detailed a European Commission investigation into potential anti-competitive behavior related to Facebook's proposed Libra digital currency.

The concerns surround the exchange of information and the use of consumer data and who it is limited to, with an eye on the integration of Libra-based applications into WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

Libra is supported to launch globally in 2020.

This is only the latest in a slew of probes into Libra from authorities around the world, whose concerns range from the amassing and use of consumer data to the threat to the financial system that digital currencies pose.

Disney has finally revealed what devices will be supported once the new subscription service, Disney+, will launch in November. Service is set to launch with pretty aggressive pricing, set to be $6.99 per month or $69.99 per year, if paid annually.

At the launch, the list of supported platforms and devices is already pretty impressive, with just one notable exception there:

• Apple TV
• Android (phones and tablets)
• Android TV
• Chromecast
• Desktop web browsers, including Chrome
• iPad
• iPhone
• Playstation 4
• Roku devices
• Roku TV
• Xbox One

Most notable "not there" in the list is definitely the Amazon's Fire TV.

Launch countries and pricing

As said, the service will launch in November. On November 12th to be exact, in United States, Canada and Netherlands. List of all countries that will get the service in November are (but not necessarily on 12th of November):

• United States
• Canada ($8.99CAD/mo or $89.99CAD/year)
• Netherlands (€6.99/mo or €69.99/year)
• Australia ($8.99AUD/mo or $89.99AUD/year)
• New Zealand ($9.99NZD/mo or $99.99NZD/year)

As Netflix made it obvious, for Redbox and Blockbuster painfully so, that streaming is the new medium for TV and movies, every major player in both media as well as tech space started planning on their own platforms.

The same can be said for Spotify that is still the top dog even after Apple investing copious amounts of money to play catch-up.

One of the ones that should've had perhaps one of the strongest claims to the thrones, Google, has barely gotten their feet wet after years and years of trial and error.

Be it YouTube Red, Google Play Music, or even the newer iterations called YouTube Music Premium and YouTube Premium, none of them have really made a splash in the game.

Earlier this year Google announced that it is planning on bringing YouTube Originals to customers without a Premium subscription. Obviously this is due to the poor performance by their exclusive content.

Now, YouTube has indeed confirmed that this is happening soon. After September 24, all YouTube users will be able to view YouTube Originals without a paid subscription.

However, this doesn't mean that Premium subscribers no longer exist, and they still have a few advantages over the ones without the $12 a month service.

As the second half of the year is well on its way, we're closing in on some of the year's most important smartphone releases. Of course fall release is imminent for both new Pixels as well as iPhones.

The latter is likely going to be first, as traditionally Google waits until October to release their Pixel phones. Apple on the other hand is said to be ready in September.

Now we've got a little bit more confirmation about that fact too, and might even have an actual release date. According to AppleInsider, new hints have been found from iOS 13 beta versions to suggest that iPhone release is scheduled for September 10.

However, it's not entirely written on stone yet, and one option is that the iOS release is the date in question and iPhones would be released at an earlier or later date.

Last seven years Apple has released their new iPhones in early September, and this is probably not going to change.

However, what is going to change, according to a Korean publication The Elec, are iPhone displays. Rumors have it that Apple is getting the same build of Samsung's OLED panels as Galaxy S10 and Note10 this time around.

Foldable phones have been rumored for years upon years but finally last year we started seeing some concrete proof that they would be indeed released to the public sometime soon.

Both Samsung and Huawei gave us sneak peeks late last year of their Galaxy Fold and Mate X, and earlier this year they were promising release of their respective devices in the first half of the year.

Samsung's release was an utter failure with callbacks on review devices and massive problems with displays and the hinge system. The company had to re-evaluate how to stop debris from ruining the device.

Huawei saw the issues and decided to push back the initial June launch. Now in August neither of them are yet available. Samsung is promising theirs in September, and according to a new report by TechRadar, Huawei isn't ready yet either.

In fact, Huawei has delayed their Mate X release quite a bit. The company now is aiming for a November release.

It seems like they still don't want to be the first one to the market. Instead they are going to see what happens with the re-launch of Galaxy Fold and try to avoid same mistakes, again, in November.

Apple's MacBooks haven't quite been themselves recently. The iconic laptop has gone through a couple iterations that include bad keyboards and even faulty batteries.

The latter is obviously a bigger problem in terms of terminal damage to the laptop, and could even prove dangerous to its surroundings.

Apple has issued a recall to the specific MacBook Pro models that are dangerously unstable due to faulty batteries that might spontaneously combust, and now FAA has decided to take them more seriously too.

The Feredal Aviation Administration has banned the recalled MacBook Pro devices from its flights. Fire risk is obviously something FAA takes seriously, and they did the same thing couple years back with the infamous Galaxy Note7.

European Union Aviation Safety Agency has issued a similar warning earlier, although it only requires to switch the devices off and not be used during flights.

The MacBook Pro in question is a 15-inch version that was sold between September 2015 and February 2017. You can get more information about the recall program here.