Fandango Buys Vudu; Netflix Android ‘Screen Lock’; Electric Co’s Look to AI; iPad Pro Delay

Movie ticketing company Fandango has agreed to buy Walmart’s on-demand video streaming service, Vudu, for an undisclosed sum. Techcrunch.com says the video service reaches more than 100 million living room devices across the U.S., including smart TVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles and other over-the-top streaming devices, as well as Windows 10 and Mac computers, and iOS and Android mobile devices. To date, the Vudu app on mobile has been installed more than 14.5 million times. As a part of the agreement, Vudu will continue to power Walmart’s digital movie and TV store on Walmart.com.

It can be frustrating-to put it lightly- to accidentally tap a button and mess up playback when watching Netflix on your phone. Now, Netflix is rolling out a new feature for Android devices that tries to prevent that. This new feature, which 9to5Google spotted, lets Android users avoid accidental touches when using the Netflix mobile app. A “screen lock” option will now appear at the bottom of your screen after you start watching a TV show or movie. Enabling screen lock will stop the button prompts, helping to prevent you from stopping playback or accidentally enabling subtitles.

With the shelter in place due to the coronavirus, the shift has strained the utilities supplying power to the nation’s electrical grid. According to venturebeat.com, U.S. electricity use on March 27, 2020 was 3% lower than the prior year, a loss of about three years of sales growth. The rise in household electricity demand won’t offset reduced business electricity demand, because residential demand is just 40% of the total. Some utilities are now employing AI to ensure that operations aren’t interrupted in the coming months, thereby preventing blackouts and brownouts.

Last week, analyst Jeff Pu told investors that the rumored high-end ‌iPad Pro‌ may be delayed until early next year due to the device’s “complex panel design.” Macrumors.com reports that Apple originally planned to launch the device in the fall, but has given up on meeting this roadmap because of the outbreak. Back in December, before the global health crisis took hold, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple was developing up to six Mini-LED products, including a 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌. The iPad Pro with LIDAR that just launched looks like it will be the standard bearer for the rest of this year.