HBO Now’s honeymoon with the Apple TV has come to a close, and now it’s hitting competitors’ boxes. In a press release, the cable juggernaut said its a la carte service would arrive on Android devices “soon” and on Amazon’s Fire tablets, media streamers, and phone a bit later. (A listing for the Android app has since gone live in the Google Play store.)
Google announced in May at its I/O developer conference that the subscription offering would hit Android devices “this summer,” but it wasn’t clear how quickly HBO Now’s support would broaden after a three-month exclusivity period on Apple and Cablevision hardware. The answer, it seems, is quite quickly.
HBO wants to fuel Now’s momentum. It’s pulled impressive numbers in iTunes, consistently ranking among the daily top-selling apps, and HBO Now was the highest-grossing app globally in May on iOS according to research firm App Annie. Some analysts estimate that the service has accrued close to a million sign-ups.
How well that success will translate to other platforms remains to be seen, but cord cutters on the fence have plenty of incentive. HBO, which is extending Now’s 30-day trial offer to Android and Amazon device users, launched volley of series to kick off the summer TV season — Dwayne Johnson’s Ballers (which the network just renewed), the second season of True Detective, and The Brink, to name a few. And just like HBO subscribers on cable, Now users get access to archival content, or more than 2,000 miniseries, films, and original shows (which, if you were wondering, includes Game of Thrones).
Save for an assurance of coming Chromecast support, HBO was mum on the service’s future expansion. Now that it’s free from the shackles of HBO’s early partners, though, it’s really only a matter of time before Now makes its way to Roku, game consoles, and other media streamers.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.