ICYMI: Amazon Squares Off Against Netflix (April 19, 2016)

Welcome back from the weekend! Here's the news to set you up for a week of productivity.

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The biggest story from yesterday: Good news for video-streaming customers: You're about to see a price war among assorted services. Less than a week after news about Netflix's 25% rate hike for streaming customers -- from $7.99/month to $9.99/month -- Amazon's announced that it is uncoupling its video streaming service from the standard Amazon Prime package and giving avid screen junkies a chance to watch its programming for only $8.99/month. 

It's worth noting that a regular Amazon Prime membership, which includes free two-day shipping on packages, among other perks, costs less per month -- $8.25/month for $99/year -- while a full year of streaming-video-only Amazon Prime service would run $107.88, a 9% increase in costs.

But Amazon's not rolling out the video-only service to sucker consumers into paying more for less; it's doing it to go after Netflix (which is already suffering from a shrinking content catalog as more content producers launch their own services or get lured to Hulu and Amazon) and to test the success of a month-to-month Prime Subscription model stateside. That model could woo consumers who are hesitant to commit right away to a $99 expenditure. The first question is whether Amazon's content-only subscribers are as loyal as Netflix's. The second is: How long until consumers decide they'd rather have an a la carte menu of streaming video services and cut the cable cord for good?

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And here's what we've been publishing:

Adjust Your Windows 10 Mobile Data Settings When Traveling Overseas — You can end up with a very big bill at the end of an overseas trip if your data settings are not correctly calibrated.

Windows 10 Mobile Development Runs Parallel Alongside Desktop Devices — Last week Microsoft delivered a robust Windows 10 Mobile build that delivered a significant number of Windows 10 Anniversary release features.

What you need to know about Android encryption — Apple’s ongoing battle with the FBI has dominated technology news headlines. This battle's also raised legitimate questions about how safe user data is. So what’s the situation on Android?

Amazon Joins the Video Streaming Service Arena — The Seattle based company has decided to offer two of their key services as monthly subscription services.

Emily Chappell Taking Microsoft Band Along for the Transcontinental Race — In a new promotion, Microsoft Band is tagging along for an ultra-distance cycling marathon.