Technological World for November 2, consumer tech: Netflix offers profile transfer and cheaper subscription plan, getting charged to use colours

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Netflix rolls out some changes to its plan and features, Pantone begins charging to use colours.

Netflix rolls out ad-supported plan

Netflix has, as expected, added a new, cheaper plan for Canadian subscribers.

Basic with Ads, which is available now, costs just $5.99 a month.

Advertisements will be shown before, during, and after programs, and will be 15- or 30-seconds long and Netflix said they will average four to five minutes of ads per hour.

There are restrictions that might get people to think carefully before going to the lower cost tier. Video quality tops out at 720p and Basic with Ads subscribers cannot download videos to later watch offline.

And not all TV shows and movies will be available, due to how Netflix licensed those titles.

You can now transfer your Netflix profile

Having a cheaper subscription option is a way Netflix is trying to keep growing its business. Cracking down on shared subscriptions is another.

The introduction of a profile transfer feature feels like one way that Netflix is getting people ready for that crackdown.

With this service, you can now transfer an entire profile off an account, moving the viewing history and watch list, settings, saved games, and more.

And when you transfer your profile, Netflix conveniently creates a new membership for that profile.

It’s so easy!

Pantone plans on charging people for colours

Pantone is a colour-matching system that enables accuracy in design and manufacturing.

If you want to print a t-shirt with a specific shade of forest green, for example, you can ask it to be printed with Pantone 362C and be exactly sure what green you’re going to get.

For graphic designers and printmakers who use Adobe software, being able to use Pantone colours in Illustrator or Indesign or Photoshop has been invaluable.

Soon, though, if you open up a file that uses Pantone colours, they will display in black.

Adobe used to pay a blanket license for users of its software to use the Pantone colour-matching system, but for one reason or another, they’re not doing that now.

So Pantone is charging people directly instead. $21 USD a month.

Cory Doctorow has a full explainer.

Artist (“curator, activitst”) Stuart Semple is having none of this, so he created a plugin that you can use, for free, that maps your colours so you know what Pantone colour to reference without needing to license Pantone’s chart.

Semple’s website, Culture Hustle, has other things for artists, including acrylic inks like Black 3.0: the world’s blackest black paint, White 2.0: the world’s brightest white paint, and Pinkest Pink.

Those inks were created in response to the exclusive arrangement that artist Anish Kapoor has to use Vantablack. Semple is angry enough at the exclusionary arrogance of Kapoor that the products at Culture Hustle are not available to Kapoor.

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