Netflix Takes a Stand: No More Password Sharing Outside Your Household

Netflix is on a mission to tackle the notorious crime of password sharing! So, no more freeloaders piggybacking on your subscription. But don’t worry, people within the same household can still share a Netflix account and use it on various devices when traveling.

But hey, if you're willing to pay a little extra, Netflix still lets you add someone from outside your household to your account. That's right, for the low, low price of $8 a month in the US, you can share the joy of binge-watching with your bestie who lives across the city.

In a clever move, Netflix has also introduced an ad-supported option. It's like they're saying, "Hey if you can't freeload anymore, how about we cut you a deal with some entertaining ads?" It’s all part of their plan to make more money as they face signs of market saturation.

Rapid Rundown

• 🔒 Netflix cracks down on password sharing globally, limiting accounts to one household.

• 💰 Introduces ad-supported tier as an alternative and means to attract freeloaders.

Google introduces new AI tools for marketers to create ads

Google is unleashing some futuristic wizardry to help those fancy marketers create ads that'll make your head spin. Advertisers can use generative AI to create ads on Google’s search engine and even use text from their product landing pages.

Google’s tools can generate slogans and product descriptions that are relevant to customer search queries. Plus, with the new Product Studio, merchants can find product images using generative AI and even improve the quality of their images. Jerry Dischler, a Google VP, said this is just the beginning of something really exciting.

To prevent this AI thing just amplifying the circus of misinformation online, Google has rules in place to keep those sneaky advertisers from bamboozling us with false promises. The AI tools come with built-in guardrails to keep things in check. Ads created using generative AI will be subject to the same controls as any other ad. So sit back, relax, and let the AI do the work!

Rapid Rundown

• 🔥 Google introduces AI tools for marketers: generative ads, AI-powered chat products, and image enhancements.

• 💡 Concerns about misinformation, but Google assures responsible use with built-in guardrails.

Alphabet and Uber Join Forces for Self-Driving Taxi

You’ll never guess who’s playing nice now: Uber and Waymo. Yep, Alphabet’s autonomous driving division and the ride-hailing giant have decided to team up. Now you can hail one of Waymo’s self-driving taxis right through the Uber app in Phoenix, Arizona.

Who would have thought? Especially considering these two companies had some major drama in the past. Waymo even accused a former Google engineer whose startup was bought by Uber of stealing trade secrets. But they settled in 2018 and now it looks like they’re BFFs. Uber even sold off its self-driving division in 2020 but never totally gave up on the dream.

They even made a deal with Waymo to integrate its truck brokerage platform into Waymo’s autonomous trucking business. And now with this partnership, it looks like they’re really trying to make autonomous driving happen. In December, they even started offering autonomous taxi rides through a partnership with Motional. And get this: a Waymo spokesperson said their Uber rides will be totally driverless. No one is behind the wheel at all! They’re even going to use Waymo’s vehicles for Uber Eats deliveries.

Rapid Rundown

• 🚗 Uber and Waymo(Alphabet) team up to offer self-driving taxis through Uber’s app in Phoenix, Arizona.

• 🤝 The partnership reflects a strategy for commercializing autonomous driving and reconciling past conflicts.

Tools & Apps

SmartCue -- Create conversion-optimized product showcases in minutes

Marketing Mega-Prompts -- 40 ChatGPT prompts to deliver real results

Zeda.io 2.0 -- AI-powered product discovery for customer-focused teams

ToDesktop Builder -- Web app to desktop app in minutes

DragGAN -- Interactive point-based manipulation of images

Articles & Resources

The Search Tax -- Amazon earned over $30 billion in ad revenue, influencing product attention hierarchy.

DevEx: What Actually Drives Productivity — A study into the benefits of focusing on "DevEx" or "developer experience", amounting to a developer-centric approach to measuring and improving productivity.

Plain Text Accounting — A resource for those interested in doing bookkeeping and accounting with plain text files and scriptable, command-line-friendly software, such as Ledger, hledger, or Beancount.

Absurd Trolley Problems -- Neal Agarwal presents the concept that every problem is a trolley problem.