Amazon Prime Day is Looming; Future iPhones May Have Easily Replaceable Battery; Twitch Requiring New Labels for Gambling, Sexual Themes; Patreon Launches Free Membership Tier

Amazon has announced the date for Prime Day 2023…it’s July 11th through the 12th. Zdnet.com reports that in last year’s Prime Day, customers bought some 300 million items at a savings of over $1.7 billion. The bargains will start right after midnight on July 11th, and there will be new deals every 30 minutes over the two day event. Except 2022, Prime Day has been a once-a-year event. There is no word on whether this was a one time thing, or if the online giant may try to do more than one Prime Day event again this year. 

The European Union continues to lead when it comes to consumer protection. A new regulation passed overwhelmingly by the EU Parliament requires smartphone makers to equip phones with easily replaceable batteries. According to mashable.com, don’t expect to see this happen immediately. The EU is giving manufacturers 3-1/2 years to begin complying. The regulation appears to also apply to laptops. Phone makers may whine about not being able to make them waterproof or dustproof, but since laptops have never been water resistant….let alone waterproof, no excuses. Remember being able to pop the bottom off and plug in a new battery? That may happen again…ending the no-deposit, no-return era on very expensive laptops and phones that can be used for several years after the life of a normal battery. 

Twitch is changing the way it flags mature content. TechCrunch.com says they will be replacing the existing toggle for ‘more granular’ topic-specific labels. The new set of content labels that require streamers to signal when their channels will contain sexual themes, graphic violence, “drugs, intoxication, or excessive tobacco use,” gambling or “significant” profanity or vulgarity. Those new labels roll out today to all Twitch users. The new labels are dynamic and can be added and removed throughout a stream as needed, so if only a short segment of a five-hour livestream contains sexually themed content, that label can be toggled on and then off again for that portion of the stream. Twitch says there will be a grace period while streamers learn the new labels, so won’t be locking accounts for failures to apply them for 30 days. 

Patreon is lowering their paywall, allowing fans to subscribe to their favorite creators for free. It’s an interesting turn for a platform that has billed itself as a creator-first platform where fans can financially support the writing, audio, and video they love directly, and the people making content can earn real money. Theverge.com notes that a free subscription option — which exists on other platforms like Substack — could help creators cast a wider net for their audience and bring in people who are interested in the content but not yet ready (or able) to pay. Besides adding the free tier to try to get more followers in the door, creators can now sell one-off digital products like videos, podcasts, or downloadable files. Patreon will take a 5% cut of those. Creators who offer the free subscription can turn on paid membership later, too. Patreon will take an 8% cut of those, just like they do with their Pro Plan. Creators can join the waitlist for the new features starting today, with new users getting access weekly. Full availability will be rolled out by the end of the year. 

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