I pay Netflix $200+ a year. I can’t even see the account settings

I pay Netflix $200+ a year. I can’t even see the account settings

I help family members with account management. (Kind of the unofficial side job of all of us tech-minded folk.) I know I’m not alone. Netflix, however, seems to think it must be completely unusual. Last month, I stopped being able to see settings for an account I pay for. Pay for. Not use. I don’t think I’ve watched anything on that account since maybe early 2025, and that was already rare. This, of course, is a side effect of Netflix’s rabid crackdown on users logging into accounts when not at home. Who travels to other homes or even whole other cities , amirite? But the stupid part (and I don’t use that adjective lightly) is that Netflix isn’t just blocking access to its content. Content-blocking makes sense, given how the company keeps making its own series and also wants to buy a whole other company right now. But no, Netflix decided to go the full distance and even block access to account settings if you log in from a location outside of your usual home. Can’t change the password, or in my case, update the billing information. I get that Netflix likely assumes that I would have access to the registered email address, and be able to put in the temporary code for access. Nope. I put the other person’s email address down so that if they ever need to reset the password, they don’t have to wait on me for the process to happen. So over the holiday, what I assumed would be a two-minute billing update turned into a much longer task. I had the choice of calling the account owner to get a temporary access code (…which kind of goes against the reason why I take care of the account…) or actually haul my butt over to the person’s house. Fortunately, I live in the same geographic region. Everyone else cares about Netflix’s series. Not me. I just want to pay for the dang service and then ignore it. Ben Patterson/Foundry I may now have to rethink my approach, so that I can get access to codes in a pinch if I need, while also still allowing password resets to be accessible to the account owner. (Yes, they do know about password managers , but this is just in case.) But seriously, Netflix. What the %*(#. I could stomach this better if it was at least couched as You’ve never logged in from this location and we’ve blocked it because it seems suspicious . But nah. (Also, speaking of, why no 2FA still?) This location block may be partially related to the holiday period—a quick check just now seems to let me access the whole shebang again. But I don’t trust this couldn’t happen again, and of course when I would most want quick access. (I’m mostly likely to have to shuffle things around or help with accounts during holiday periods. That’s when people have time off to watch the most things!) But you know what also happens during the holiday periods, especially Black Friday? Deals on other streaming services. A few of which I took advantage of. Maybe I should stop letting an $18-per-month subscription continue uninterrupted when I have to deal with this nonsense—and there are cheaper and equally interesting alternatives available.

Trump administration imposes a 25 percent tariff on high-end chips

Trump administration imposes a 25 percent tariff on high-end chips

President Trump has signed a proclamation imposing a 25 percent tariff on “certain advanced computing chips,” the White House has announced. As The New York Times notes, the administration previously threatened much bigger and broader tariffs for chips. Trump even said that he was going to impose a 100 percent tariff on companies unless they invest on semiconductor manufacturing in the United States. The new tariff will only affect advanced chips imported into the US and are meant to be re-exported to other countries to sell. In its announcement, the White House specifically named AMD MI325X and NVIDIA H200 as two products that will be affected by the tariff. The president recently approved H200 for export to China, saying that it isn’t NVIDIA’s most advanced AI chip anyway and that the company now has newer and more powerful products, such as its Blackwell semiconductors. “[W]e're going to be making 25 percent on the sale of those chips, basically,” Trump said. Semiconductors imported into the US for use in products to be sold in America or for use in data centers in the country, will not be affected by the new tariff. “This tariff will not apply to chips that are imported to support the buildout of the US technology supply chain and the strengthening of domestic manufacturing capacity for derivatives of semiconductors,” the White House wrote. But that could still change: The administration said that it may still impose broader tariffs on semiconductor imports and the products that use them in the near future. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/trump-administration-imposes-a-25-percent-tariff-on-high-end-chips-140000138.html?src=rss

Setapp Mobile EU app store, CleanMyMac Business both close down for good

Setapp Mobile EU app store, CleanMyMac Business both close down for good

MacPaw's has blamed Apple for the failure of its third-party iOS App Store in the EU, and at the same time, the company's mobile device management service is shutting down too. Setapp Mobile is closing down MacPaw's Setapp, which is continuing, is a single subscription for a suite of major Mac apps, but the company attempted to launch an EU-only iOS version in 2024 . That was expressly to take advantage of how the European Union has forced Apple to allow rival stores on iOS . Now in a statement on its support pages , MacPaw says that this Setapp Mobile service is being shut down on February 16, 2026. It's "due to still-evolving and complex business term." Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Save 37% on this 14-port Anker docking station for a tidy desk

Save 37% on this 14-port Anker docking station for a tidy desk

Tired of messy cables cluttering up your desk space? This simple solution will fix that. This 14-in-1 Anker Prime docking station keeps all your devices connected and clutter-free, and it’s only going to cost you $170 (37 perfect off of its $269 MSRP). View at Amazon The docking station offers 14 ways to charge gadgets, transfer data, and connect multiple displays. It includes two 10Gbps USB-C ports, two 100W USB-C ports, five USB-A ports, an audio jack, an Ethernet port, two HDMI ports, and an upstream USB-C port. All in all, you can add two extra displays to your setup, making multitasking more efficient. Plus, those high-power USB-C ports provide a quick way to move files around. The 10Gbps transfer speeds will cut down the time spent waiting for large files to transfer. This combination of power, data transfer speed, and display support makes the Anker Prime station perfect for streamlining your workspace. Get yours for $170 before the deal ends. Get the Anker docking station with 160W output and 10Gbps data transfer Buy now at Amazon

Save 37% on this 14-port Anker docking station for a tidy desk

Save 37% on this 14-port Anker docking station for a tidy desk

Tired of messy cables cluttering up your desk space? This simple solution will fix that. This 14-in-1 Anker Prime docking station keeps all your devices connected and clutter-free, and it’s only going to cost you $170 (37 perfect off of its $269 MSRP). View at Amazon The docking station offers 14 ways to charge gadgets, transfer data, and connect multiple displays. It includes two 10Gbps USB-C ports, two 100W USB-C ports, five USB-A ports, an audio jack, an Ethernet port, two HDMI ports, and an upstream USB-C port. All in all, you can add two extra displays to your setup, making multitasking more efficient. Plus, those high-power USB-C ports provide a quick way to move files around. The 10Gbps transfer speeds will cut down the time spent waiting for large files to transfer. This combination of power, data transfer speed, and display support makes the Anker Prime station perfect for streamlining your workspace. Get yours for $170 before the deal ends. Get the Anker docking station with 160W output and 10Gbps data transfer Buy now at Amazon

Researchers discover WhisperPair, a set of vulnerabilities in Google's Fast Pair protocol affecting 17 audio device models from 10 brands; Google has patched (Wired)

Researchers discover WhisperPair, a set of vulnerabilities in Google's Fast Pair protocol affecting 17 audio device models from 10 brands; Google has patched (Wired)

Wired : Researchers discover WhisperPair, a set of vulnerabilities in Google's Fast Pair protocol affecting 17 audio device models from 10 brands; Google has patched —  Flaws in how 17 models of headphones and speakers use Google's one-tap Fast Pair Bluetooth protocol have left devices open to eavesdroppers and stalkers.