News

Disney, YouTube Red drop PewDiePie over anti-Semitic videos

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Disney and YouTube Red have cut ties with YouTuber Felix Kjellberg, more commonly known as PewDiePie, after he posted multiple anti-Semitic videos on his channel.

The Wall Street Journal reports it found nine videos on PewDiePie’s channel that had anti-Semitic comments and/or Nazi imagery. These include a video of two men holding up a sign that said “Death to All Jews” as well as a video featuring a man dressed as Jesus saying, “Hitler did nothing wrong,” among others.

The videos prompted Disney, through Maker Studios, to sever business ties with the YouTuber who owns the most subscribed YouTube channel. His subscriber count currently stands at over 58 million. Disney earlier bought Maker Studios for $675 million. It’s the multichannel network that is partnered with PewDiePie.

A Maker Studios spokeswoman told Forbes.com: “Although Felix has created a following by being provocative and irreverent, he clearly went too far in this case and the resulting videos are inappropriate. Maker Studios has made the decision to end our affiliation with him going forward.”

Following the backlash, YouTube has also cancelled Season 2 of PewDiePie’s show on YouTube Red. It had also pulled ads from the questioned videos. However, it has yet to remove the videos on the platform on the grounds of its rules that they will ban any video that “promotes or condones violence against individuals or groups based on race or ethnic origin (or) religion.”

PewDiePie reacted to the news through Tumblr clarifying that he is “in no way supporting any kind of hateful attitudes.”

He started off by saying that the videos were made to point out “how crazy the modern world is, specifically some of the services available online. I picked something that seemed absurd to me — that people on Fiverr would say anything for 5 dollars.”

He went on to say that his content is for entertainment and not political commentary, and that this is something his audience clearly understood. He added that he understands the jokes were ultimately offensive and again insisted his stand on the matter saying, “to anyone unsure on my standpoint regarding hate-based groups: No, I don’t support these people in any way.”

PewDiePie rose to YouTube fame through his videos that featured him playing video games while adding crude commentary. He has since gained millions of subscribers and reportedly made $15 million in 2016 through YouTube ads, his YouTube Red series, as well as other merchandise sales.

[irp posts=”3822″ name=”YouTubers react to the Samsung Galaxy Note 7″]

Gaming

Most of the world’s PlayStations will be officially useless by 2028

PlayStation’s disastrous no-disc policy is now a lot worse than you thought.

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PlayStation 5 DualSense

Last week, we lamented the loss of the PlayStation disc. As we described, the loss isn’t just a major blow to nostalgia for aging gamers, but it also puts a huge question mark on game ownership. Well, there’s another wrinkle that the world is slowly realizing. By deleting physical discs, PlayStation has effectively blockaded their entire service from countries without an official online store.

If you haven’t heard, PlayStation is ceasing the production of physical discs for new games starting 2028. The console will become an all-digital platform. Now, we can blather on and on about how this sucks for ownership, but all gamers will still have access to games online at the very least. Right?

Wrong.

Not every country has an official PlayStation Store or the ability to create a PSN account. In fact, a staggering amount don’t; 121 countries (or 62 percent of the entire world) don’t have official access to the online storefront.

If you live in any of these countries, you’re likely familiar with some unofficial solutions: that is, setting your country elsewhere where the store exists. But, because it’s an unofficial solution, doing this is technically against PlayStation’s policies and can result in bans.

That being said, as noted by users on Reddit, this means that, on a very technical and legal level, these 121 countries will no longer be able to buy physical or digital games starting 2028. Because of a clarified policy, you can still play older games, but if you want to play the latest Call of Duty or NBA 2K, you are out of luck.

There’s no official list of affected countries, other than those collated by others manually. But if you’ve never been able to set your own country on the PlayStation Network, you’re a part of it.

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News

FIFA World Cup: Lenovo’s Referee View received positively by fans

Unique first-person perspective brings action closer to viewers

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Lenovo has revealed that technological advancements at the FIFA World Cup 2026 has made viewers “feel closer” to the action than ever before.

Surveying fans across Australia, Canada, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States, Lenovo bared that 87% say technology is improving the viewing experience.

Close-to-action camera perspectives have also help 84% of surveyed viewers, making them feel they’re right on the pitch.

Of course, Lenovo AI has introduced Referee View throughout the World Cup. This AI-powered technology gives viewers a first-person POV of the match from a referee’s perspective.

Lenovo Referee View has been featured on an average of three times per match across the tournament in over 220 countries and territories worldwide, according to preliminary FIFA data.

Through a lightweight camera mounted on the match official, the technology gives a first-person POV of the match.

And while raw footage is fast-moving and sometimes unstable, Lenovo’s AI-powered video analytics platform automatically transforms the clips into smooth, broadcast-quality video in real-time.

Other findings from Lenovo’s research include:

  • 76% of viewers have seen or heard about Referee View
  • 91% say the close-to-action Referee View POV is appealing
  • 88% say smooth and stable footage is an important part of viewing sports footage
  • 98% say clear picture quality has been important when watching the FIFA World Cup 2026
  • 91% are interested in seeing more technology that creates immersive or close-to-action sports experiences
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Apps

Netflix suddenly resurrects 30-day free trials

It’s available only in some countries.

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Over the weekend, a report emerged about Disney+ allegedly considering a new tier offered to users for absolutely free. Apparently, Disney isn’t the only one. Netflix is now resurrecting its free trial program in select countries.

Back in the day, it was easy to get into Netflix. With a 30-day free trial, you can watch the shows you’ve always wanted to catch. If you liked what you saw, you can pay the monthly fee to access the entire library without constraints. Eventually, the platform got rid of this system to favor a cheaper ad-supported tier.

Perhaps not seeing the benefits of ad-supported tiers, Netflix has suddenly resurrected its free trial program. Spotted online (via Android Authority), some countries, including Brazil and India, are experimenting with the program again. New users can get 30 days of free Netflix access.

Because only regular users are spotting this (rather than an official announcement), we don’t have a list of where the free trials are available.

Still, it’s an interesting move. Cable isn’t a thing anymore so “cutting the cable” isn’t a popular phrase anymore, but people are definitely cancelling subscriptions over rising prices. Some even rely on short clips from YouTube to catch up with their shows. Having a free trial opens up more possibilities for users, but it remains to be seen whether it’s enough for users to return to Netflix.

SEE ALSO: Netflix expands its cheaper ad-supported tier to Southeast Asia

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