Netflix Starts Password Share Crackdown; Apple Smart Display Plan; Samsung Teases Long, Rolling Screens; Plug & Play Meter Collar for Home EV Charging

The time a lot of people have been dreading has arrived. Netflix has stated to crack down on password sharing in the US now. TechCrunch.com reports that the streaming giant had originally planned to roll out the ‘paid sharing’ first quarter, but pushed the date back to summer after seeing cancellations in countries where they had already rolled out the fee. What does it mean for you? Well, under the new rules, subscribers will either have to kick relatives or friends off their Netflix account or pay $7.99 a month for an additional membership outside your main household. The company offers tools to make this transition easier, including a way for current subscribers to view which devices are signed into their account and remove those that shouldn’t have access, as well as tools to reset their password. For those sharing someone else’s Netflix account, they can make the transition to an account of their own through a “Transfer Profile” option that will help them to relocate their existing account information, including their viewing history and watchlist.

More on Apple’s iOS17 system. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple plans to turn locked iPhones into smart displays, They would show calendar appointments, weather, and notifications in a similar manner to smart home displays. The idea is to make the phones more useful when they are laying on a desk, or resting in a slanted wireless charger on a night stand. The view appears when the phone is locked and positioned horizontally…much like dedicated home displays from Google and Amazon. 

Samsung has showed off the ‘Rollable Flex,’ a new flexible screen that can be unrolled up to 5 times its length. The example they showed could unroll from about 2 inches to 10 inches. Theverge.com notes that the displays are relatively slim, too. The idea is to let one shrink a hard to carry large display into ‘a portable form factor. This display has another trick up its sleeve, too. It can read and recognize fingerprints anywhere on the screen. But perhaps more interesting is its ability to measure a person’s “heart rate, blood pressure and stress level” from fingers. The technology works by reading the OLED screen’s light as its reflection changes due to the “contraction and relaxation of the blood vessels inside the finger.” No word on when the screens from Samsung Display might make its way into Samsung smartphones or even iPhones, but it does give us a peek into what’s coming down the road a couple years or so. 

A company out of Philadelphia called ConnectDER just picked up $27 million in funding to help them market a pretty amazing gadget. Electrek.co reports it is a plug and play meter collar adapter that wraps around the round part of your electric meter…and gives instant access for EV chargers, solar, and battery storage…all without upgrading your electric panel for a pretty penny. The gadget is a single access point for so-called distributed energy resources. This will open up older homes and less expensive housing to allow for owners to buy electric cars and charge at home, or add solar panels, a converter, and battery backup for your house. ConnectDER says they are operating in 17 states already and that they have deployed some 15,000 of the collars so far. The collars are around $400…way less than getting an electric panel upgrade!

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.