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Looking for streaming deals? Try hitting the cancel button

Looking for streaming deals? Try hitting the cancel button

Anyone who’s ever tried to cancel a cable subscription knows what comes next: a plea from the customer service rep for you to stay, typically sweetened by a steep discount. The last-ditch deals dangled by cable providers, gyms, and other subscription services are straight out of the customer-retention playbook, and the ploy is followed by the big video streamers too, from Disney+ and Paramount+ to Peacock and HBO Max. Earlier this month, Peacock subscribers on Reddit were buzzing about one of these so-called “save offers.” In this case, Peacock offered a subscriber on the ad-free Premium Plus tier a six-month, 73 percent discount on the ad-supported Premium plan (or $2.99 a month rather than the usual $10.99/month) to stick around rather than cancel. Other big streamers have offered similar discounts over the past year , including HBO Max (which was offering six months of its ad-supported Standard plan to departing subscribers for half-off) and Disney+ (which said it would slice half off its Duo Basic plan to ex-subscribers willing to come back). Paramount+ is also known for its last-minute “please don’t cancel” deals, although it may be getting stingier in the months ahead . One streamer that isn’t known for save offers is Netflix. I’ve cancelled (and subsequently re-subscribed to) Netflix a few times over the past couple of years, and not once have I been offered a discount to stay. That doesn’t mean Netflix hasn’t ever dangled a “don’t leave” discount, but if they have, I’ve yet to see one. Still, it never hurts to try, which leads to one of my tips for snagging a sweet save offer… There’s no downside to cancelling your streaming subscription When you start the cancellation process, you may get dire warnings from the streaming about all the shows you’re going to miss and all the personalization settings you’re about to lose. The truth is that the threats are mostly empty ones. For starters, you’ll generally keep access to your streaming account for the remainder of the billing cycle, so you won’t be cut off from your account right away. (The exception is a free trial, which will usually end immediately once you cancel.) And if you un-cancel before your subscription actually ends, you’ll be welcomed back as if you never left. Finally, if you let your subscription expire but decided to re-subscribe at a later date, your wish lists, recommendation algos, and “continue watching” history will likely still be there, right where you left off; Netflix, for example, will retain your data for a full 24 months. If you don’t get a save offer right away, just wait So, what if you go through the cancellation process and the streamer doesn’t give you a “don’t leave” offer? Just be patient. Occasionally, the streamer you just bailed on will email you a save offer with days of your cancellation. The Disney+ offer I cited above, for example, was received via email by subscribers who’d already ditched their accounts. Save offers for one subscriber may be different for another Not everyone will get the same save offer. Take the Peacock “please stay!” discount that’s getting attention this week; some users are saying they were offered six months of Peacock Premium for just $2.99 a month (versus the regular $10.99/month), while others got a much more modest discount of $7.99/month. Also, some Peacock users said the discounts disappeared when they refreshed their browsers, or when they backed out of the cancellation process and then tried cancelling again. So if you do see a save offer that looks enticing, you might want to grab it right then before it disappears later.

Google Chrome wants to surf the web for you

Google Chrome wants to surf the web for you

Google says that it’s bringing a major change to Chrome users today: a mainstream agentic AI that will “autobrowse” the web for you, performing tasks that you assign it. Chrome’s also getting a sidebar — and yes, with Gemini AI. Autobrowsing capabilities will arrive today for Chrome users who subscribe to either Google AI Pro ($19.99 per month) or Google AI Ultra ($249.99 per month), while the Chrome sidebar will roll out today for all Chrome users. The move comes a day after Google announced the Google AI Plus plan for $7.99 per month, which will not have access to the autobrowse features. Essentially, Google sees the autobrowsing as the evolution of its autofill capabilities, which aren’t unique to Chrome. Autofill stores details like your credit card and applies them when necessary, such as to complete a purchase. Autobrowsing simply takes a task and goes out and completes it to the best of Chrome’s ability, leaving the final step — a confirmation of purchase — for you to approve. Agentic browsing is nothing new; Microsoft showed off an agentic shopping demonstration a year ago, as well as Copilot Mode for Edge last summer. OpenAI has done something similar with the Atlas agentic browser , and others have followed suit. Nevertheless, Statcounter reports that Chrome has about 65 percent of the desktop browser market share for North America, far and away the most dominant browser. Mainstreaming agentic actions, even for a paid subscription, is a significant move. Google You’ll access auto browse the same way that you’ll interact with Google’s Gemini AI: as a browser sidebar, accessible by clicking the small Gemini icon at the top of the browser. That will open up the sidebar and a text box, and allow you to ask Gemini to start filling out tasks. Google said that auto browse tasks can include filling out PDFs, renewing drivers’ licenses, but also researching trips and other tasks, including scheduling and booking reservations. However, executives said information “that’s happening on the right-hand side is not shared back with the site.” Google said that the new Gemini sidebar will tap what it’s referred to as “ personal intelligence ,” remembering past conversations and information you’ve shared with it, which is now included in AI Mode. If you’ve allowed Google access to apps like Gmail, this information will be used, too. Google An interesting addition will be support for Nano Banana, Google’s image rendering algorithm. Nano Banana will be accessible by Chrome, so that it will be able to pull in and edit an image that you have in your browser — not just one that you own. Google executives couldn’t say whether there would be any copyright protections in place, or whether users would simply be able to tell the algorithm to edit the image. Yes, autobrowsing is reserved for paying subscribers — for now. But it will likely move down to cheaper tiers over time, if it proves successful. Google

Apple’s Creator Studio bundle is finally available and it sounds like a great deal

Apple’s Creator Studio bundle is finally available and it sounds like a great deal

Apple’s Creator Studio bundle is now live, offering six pro creative apps under one subscription as Apple targets video editors, musicians, and digital creators looking for serious tools as an affordable alternative to Adobe’s Creative Cloud. The post Apple’s Creator Studio bundle is finally available and it sounds like a great deal appeared first on Digital Trends .

Fake Moltbot AI Coding Assistant on VS Code Marketplace Drops Malware

Fake Moltbot AI Coding Assistant on VS Code Marketplace Drops Malware

Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a new malicious Microsoft Visual Studio Code (VS Code) extension for Moltbot (formerly Clawdbot) on the official Extension Marketplace that claims to be a free artificial intelligence (AI) coding assistant, but stealthily drops a malicious payload on compromised hosts. The extension, named "ClawdBot Agent - AI Coding Assistant" ("clawdbot.clawdbot-agent")

Following UK CMA's proposals, Google says it is exploring controls to let websites opt out of AI Overviews and AI Mode (Barry Schwartz/Search Engine Roundtable)

Following UK CMA's proposals, Google says it is exploring controls to let websites opt out of AI Overviews and AI Mode (Barry Schwartz/Search Engine Roundtable)

Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Roundtable : Following UK CMA's proposals, Google says it is exploring controls to let websites opt out of AI Overviews and AI Mode —  Google just announced it is looking into ways to allow websites to specifically opt out of Google using its content in the Search generative AI features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode.

The UK CMA proposes measures to let publishers opt out of content scraping for Google's AI Overviews and AI training without losing visibility in search results (Robert Booth/The Guardian)

The UK CMA proposes measures to let publishers opt out of content scraping for Google's AI Overviews and AI training without losing visibility in search results (Robert Booth/The Guardian)

Robert Booth / The Guardian : The UK CMA proposes measures to let publishers opt out of content scraping for Google's AI Overviews and AI training without losing visibility in search results —  News organisations hope proposals will increase leverage to get paid if content is used in AI summaries