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YouTube Premium gets a price hike in the US
Amazon Prime and Netflix raised their prices last month. It was only a matter of time before other streaming services followed their example. This time, it is YouTube’s turn. While YouTube Premium got a price hike in many countries in 2024, the prices had remained the same in the US since 2023. That changed this week, as YouTube Premium prices were increased across all four tiers.
YouTube Premium Lite saw a $1 increase in its price, as it jumped from $7.99 per month to $8.99. It’s worth mentioning that the Lite subscription does not remove all ads, and does not include YouTube Music. The individual plan, which offers a completely ad-free experience, now costs $15.99 per month, after a $2 price hike, i.e. it was available for $13.99 prior to this change. YouTube’s Family Plan has gone up by $4, from $22.99 per month to $26.99. And the Annual Plan has also been hiked, by $20, it was previously available for $139.99, but now costs $159.99 per year. Reports indicate that the new prices are already in effect for new subscribers, while active subscribers will see the change from June 7, 2026.
YouTube continues to rake in money via its advertising business, and has deployed an aggressive anti-ad blocking campaign in a bid to attract new subscribers. But price hikes such as these could dissuade users from subscribing. Netflix was recently ordered by an Italian court to issue refunds to its users, because its price-hike clauses were unlawful.
WhatsApp will soon let you set a username
WhatsApp Messenger is prepping a feature that has been requested by users for a long time. It will allow users to set a username for their account. This is quite useful, as it will allow you to share your username with others, without sharing your phone number. Usernames in WhatsApp will be compatible with Android, iOS, Windows and Web. It has some interesting requirements, the usernames can be anywhere between 3 to 23 characters in length. But, the names cannot begin with www, or end with a domain such as .com. This is in order to prevent malicious actors from masquerading as an official website. Usernames in WhatsApp will require at least one letter. They can only contain letters, numbers, period and underscores. No other special characters will be allowed.
The username feature is still in beta, and it is believed that it will be rolled out to a small set of users in the coming months. Once it passes the tests, WhatsApp will likely enable the feature for more users.
Amazon Luna no longer lets you buy games from third-party stores
Amazon has been making some major changes to its gaming division since last October. Now, it has announced that Luna will no longer let users purchase games from third-party game stores. For those unaware, Luna, which was previously called Amazon Cloud Gaming, allowed users to stream games from storefronts such as GOG, EA, Ubisoft, Jackbox Games subscriptions, as part of the Bring Your Own Library feature. It was useful for gamers who didn’t have a gaming PC or console, you could just stream games on a web browser on a laptop, phone, tablet, etc. This is what’s changing.
On April 10, 2026, Luna stopped offering the option to buy games, accessing third-party game stores and subscriptions. A support page on Amazon states that Luna will also be shutting down the Bring Your Own Library service. Games that you already own will not be streamable on the platform from June 10, 2026. However, games that you purchased can still be accessed from their respective storefronts, e.g. the EA app, GOG and Ubisoft Connect. Users will be able to download the game save data for 90 days post the shut down, but Amazon says that it cannot guarantee that the save data from Luna will work on other gaming services.
Cyberpunk 2077 brings various improvements for PlayStation 5 Pro
CD PROJEKT RED has released a free update for Cyberpunk 2077, for the Sony PlayStation 5 Pro. The new version comes with several enhancements such as support for PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR). This AI-powered upscaling technology helps improve the performance of the game, by rendering the graphics at a lower resolution and upscales it. BVH8 (8-way Bounding Volume Hierarchy) is now available in Cyberpunk 2077 for PS5 Pro, to improve the performance and efficiency of ray-traced lighting, shadows, and reflections. The update also includes VRS (Variable Rate Shading) algorithm for optimized shading.
Users can choose between 3 graphics modes: Ray Tracing Mode, Performance Mode, and Ray Tracing Pro Mode. The first is the default option, while delivering a stable 60fps with ray-traced reflections on vehicle paint and transparent objects, and all shadows rendered using ray tracing. Performance Mode also targets 60 fps on regular displays, and up to 90 fps on VRR-enabled displays. Ray Tracing Pro Mode offers better graphics such as ray-traced skylight, emissive lighting and ambient occlusion, at 40 FPS on displays with high frame rates (HFR), and 30 fps on non-HFR displays.
Microsoft allows testers to access experimental features in Windows 11 more easily
Over the past few years, Microsoft has been using a technology called Controlled Feature Rollout (CFR), to gradually roll out new features in Windows 11. This allows it to test the quality of features before it is released to a wider audience. Many users were disappointed with the approach, since it meant a long wait, which kind of questioned what the whole point of being a Windows Insider was, when you don’t have access to the latest features. But, users who are eager to try the features have ways to enable such experimental options with the help of third-party tools like ViveTool. The process involves finding a feature flag and enabling it manually via a terminal.
Microsoft has been making a lot of changes to improve the Windows 11 experience. And as a part of this endeavor, it is simplifying the way how users can access experimental features in the OS. Insiders who have enrolled in the Beta channel will be able to enable or disable experimental features from the Features flags page in the Settings app. This won’t include bug fixes and the like, but the new approach will be welcomed among testers.