The Morning After: Will EA be the next gaming giant to sell itself?

Electronic Arts is actively courting buyers — or another company willing to merge with it, according to insider news site, Puck. The video game company reportedly held talks with several potential buyers or partners, including major players Disney, App…

Peloton teases its first connected rowing machine

Peloton is still busy expanding its connected fitness lineup despite its ongoing financial woes. The company has teased plans to introduce its first rowing machine, promising a mix of cardio and strength training. The company didn’t go into detail during its Homecoming 2022 event, but a sneak peek video (below) shows that it’s largely what you’d expect — a minimalist rower with a large screen to show classes and stats.

There was no mention of a release date or price for the rowing machine. Peloton previewed features for existing products, though. You can soon schedule workouts with friends through the app, Bike or Tread. Blind and low-vision users will get to navigate the Tread’s interface through the Google TalkBack screen reader. And you’ll finally have the option to track cycling, running and other workouts through the Peloton app. You won’t have to participate in a class just to have exercise count toward member challenges and streaks.

The expansion comes just days after Peloton revealed a massive $751.1 million loss in its latest quarter, not to mention dropping revenue. The company has been struggling to adapt to the pandemic recovery as people return to gyms and the office, and the combination of price cuts and the Guide camera hasn’t done much to turn things around. The rowing machine is a gamble in that regard, as Peloton is clearly hoping more aggressive investments now will pay off in the long term.

With that said, it may be a shrewd move. The smart rowing machine market is relatively small, with brands like Echelon and Hydrow leading the pack. Peloton might carve out a signification position in that market through name recognition and its well-known classes.

The Pixel Tablet is coming in 2023

Google’s last tablet was the ill-fated Pixel slate, a device that was widely criticized — so much so that in 2019, Google said it wouldn’t make tablets anymore. In classic fashion, though, the company is changing its tune. Today as part of its hardware presentation at Google I/O 2022, Google teased the Pixel Tablet, a premium Android-powered device that’s set to arrive sometime in 2023. 

As this product is months away from being released, Google is only giving us a scant few details right now. Rick Osterloh, Google’s SVP of devices and services, said that the Pixel Tablet is a “premium” device that will run on the company’s custom Tensor chips, just like the latest Pixel phones. What we haven’t heard is how much it’ll cost, how big the screen is or when it will be released. We can say that, based on the renders we saw, it looks a bit like someone just took the screen off a Nest Hub.

Naturally, the new tablet will run Google’s version of Android specifically built for larger screens, an initiative that’s been in the works for a while now. Historically, the big knock against Android tablets is that the software never feels like it’s built for the bigger screen, and that apps aren’t optimized to use this bigger view. Even with changes made to Android to support larger screens, it doesn’t necessarily mean developers will build their apps to take advantage of that space. 

But Osterloh told reporters in a briefing ahead of I/O that Google has clearly heard that users want a larger-screen Pixel experience to compliment their phones — so the company is at least seeing some level of consumer demand for such a device. Whether that leads into market adoption is another question entirely, as neither Chrome OS nor Android tablets ever caught on in a significant way. Samsung has had some success with its Galaxy Tab line and Amazon’s budget lineup of Fire tablets have both stuck around, but Apple’s iPad remains dominant. 

Given that this device won’t be out until sometime in 2023, it’s far too early to predict if Google has learned from its past mistakes in the tablet arena. But the company made a commitment at I/O to rebuild more than 20 of its apps for large-screen devices, and huge developers like Facebook, TikTok and Zoom are on board as well. If more third-party developers get on board by the time the Pixel Tablet arrives, it could have a shot at redefining what we think of when it comes to premium Android tablets.

Follow all of the news from Google I/O 2022 right here!

Netflix’s ad-supported plan and password sharing fees may arrive this year

Although Netflix had long said its service wouldn’t include ads, it revealed last month that it will actually roll out a cheaper, ad-supported plan. Co-CEO Reed Hastings said on an earnings call that plans for that tier would be firmed up “over the next year or two.” However, it seems the company is looking to offer the option even sooner. It reportedly suggested in an internal memo that an ad-supported version of the streaming service will emerge later this year.

Executives told staff in the note that they want to introduce an ad-supported plan in the last three months of 2022, according to The New York Times. What’s more, the note suggested the tier will be introduced around the same time as an extra fee for subscribers who share their passwords with people living at different addresses.

In the memo, Netflix is said to have noted that, outside of Apple TV+, every major streaming platform offers a lower-cost, ad-supported plan. Those include Hulu, HBO Max and Peacock. The company reportedly said that some of its competitors have still been able to “maintain strong brands” while showing commercials.

Meanwhile, Netflix recently said that more than 222 million households are paid subscribers. However, it claimed more than 100 million households are watching Netflix on someone else’s account without paying for access. On the earnings call, chief operating officer Greg Peters said that while the company is “not trying to shut down that sharing,” it is “going to ask you to pay a bit more to be able to share.” Netflix started testing an extra fee for account sharers in Peru, Chile and Costa Rica in March.

After years of impressive growth, Netflix suddenly has a big issue when it comes to subscriber numbers, which fell for the first time last quarter. It lost 200,000 members (largely due to shutting down its service in Russia) and it thinks it may lose as many as another two million this quarter. With its stock nosediving by over 50 percent in the last month, the company is hoping an ad-supported tier and extra charges for password sharing will help increase revenue.

‘Star Trek: Picard’ could only exist on a streaming service

The following contains mild spoilers for the finale episode of ‘Star Trek: Picard’ season two.Picard has always been an outlier in the Star Trek franchise. It’s not a show about a particular ship and its crew; the title indicates that at its heart, it’…