However, with the massive disparity in annual monthly income across the world, the price we pay for a monthly Netflix subscription does not fall at a fixed amount. Now, new research from Comparitech has crunched the numbers to find whether you are getting good value for money from your subscription.

Its methodology involved finding the total Netflix catalogue for the 78 countries where it is available and then dividing the basic subscription cost per title per month. Then, it evaluated the standard cost per month in each country and how this shapes up against others based on current currency exchange rates.

The average cost per title in different countries. Image: Comparitech

Denmark gets a raw deal

Irish readers might be slightly peeved to find out that the country is among the 10 most expensive places to get Netflix in the world, coming in fifth place, paying 8.8pc more than the average global Netflix user. The price of €7.99 per month is based on the cost of the cheapest Netflix subscription package, compared with the current standard package that comes in at €10.99 per month.

In terms of library size, Irish users have access to 5,023 titles at the time of writing – compared with the US, which has 5,839 – meaning we pay approximately €0.0015 per title.

But spare a thought for Denmark, where not only does it have a significantly smaller library of 3,305 titles, but is also ranked as the most expensive place to get the service globally. A monthly subscription there costs the equivalent of $11.94, with the cheapest plan making it 36.6pc more expensive than the global average. Just below it in the costly ranking are Switzerland, Norway and Sweden.

Iranian Netflix users are not getting their value for money compared with other nations as they have to pay the equivalent of $7.99 a month for only 2,301 titles.

Canadian account holders, meanwhile, are by far getting the best deal with more than 5,500 titles, but paying 10pc less than those in the UK, US and Australia. Denmark pays 100pc more per title than Canadian customers, while the average customer worldwide pays 57pc more than Canadians.

Netflix login screen on a laptop. Image: kamachi/Depositphotos

The post Which countries get the most value for money out of Netflix? appeared first on Silicon Republic.

But, somewhat strangely, absolutely no football will be played during the competition as each of the teams will be competing in the video game League of Legends.

The multiplayer online battle game is a permanent and dominant fixture in many e-sports tournaments, and will now see teams compete on behalf of League of Ireland football teams.

The Three Ireland EStars League is due to start in March 2018 in the 3Arena, and is open to anyone over the age of 13.

Entrants into the tournament choose which League of Ireland team they want to support and then successful entrants form a team where they will compete to share a prize of €20,000.

The event’s organisers also promise to make it a big deal for a generation that obsesses more and more about YouTube personalities than Hollywood stars, with a series of guest performances from the video-streaming service’s own celebrities.

We’re proud to be part of the first EVER amateur gaming tournament in Ireland, @IrelandsEStars https://t.co/gsETUBrOXW
Register now for your chance to grab a spot on our team Bohemian FC https://t.co/pB8eomzaUE #3EStars #newbreedofchampion

— Bohemian FC ? (@bfcdublin) December 12, 2017

“The Three Ireland’s EStars League provides a platform where competitors can test their mettle, and the final at the 3Arena will provide Ireland’s newest breed of e-sport champions the platform and opportunity to shine,” said the tournament’s managing director, Mags Byrne.

This is not the first major e-sports tournament to open to applications from Ireland, as Siliconrepublic.com discussed the Celtic eSports League with its founder, Trevor Keane, in January.

The Celtic eSports League, which has received the blessing of EA Sports, links top gamers of the football video game FIFA with professional clubs from Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales for a 14-round league.

E-sports has evolved into a multimillion-dollar business, where gamers – or those just interested in gaming – are tuning in to their devices to watch their favourite gamers battle it out in lucrative tournaments around the world.

According to a PwC report entitled The Burgeoning Evolution of E-sports: From the Fringes to Front and Centre, e-sports generated revenues of $463m in 2016.

The post League of Ireland teams establish major national e-sports tournament appeared first on Silicon Republic.

For example, if you have an autumn style board, soon you’ll be able to organise Pins into sections for shoes, coats, shirts and more.

‘This means you can save all of your ideas to a single board, organise them into sections and easily find them later’
^{– EVAN SHARP}

The decision comes as Pinterest has reached the 200m-user milestone, up 40pc on last year.

Something to pin your hopes on

Image: Pinterest

“We’ve just started testing one of the features you’ve wanted most: boards within boards,” said Evan Sharp, Pinterest co-founder and chief product officer.

“Soon you’ll be able to add sections to your boards, making it easy to organise Pins the way you want to. This means you can save all of your ideas to a single board, organise them into sections and easily find them later.”

Pinterest also recently introduced pinch to zoom, another top feature request. Earlier this year, Pinterest launched Promoted Pins in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

Pinterest is a social media platform that lets users ‘pin’ items of interest, from art to home décor, fashion, food, furniture, technology and more.

The company was started in 2009 by Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp, modelled on the idea of a scrapbook for things that you love and are influenced by.

In new figures to coincide with the 200m-user milestone, Pinterest revealed that 50pc of users, as well as 75pc of new sign-ups, are outside the US.

The social media player also said that male sign-ups are growing three times faster than female sign-ups. Male monthly sign-ups have grown more than 50pc year on year. But still, the majority of Pinterest users are women, with 70pc membership versus 30pc men.

In terms of Pinterest’s growth locally in Ireland, the company said that monthly active users grew by nearly 30pc over the past year.

It said that around 245,000 ideas are saved on Pinterest in Ireland each day and the number of monthly searches here has increased by 30pc.

The post Just what Pinterest users were pining for: boards within boards appeared first on Silicon Republic.

The new logo comes with an updated font and a more vibrant red colour, placing an emphasis on the play button.

‘Fast-forward to today, and YouTube lets you watch any combination of SD, HD, 4K, 360, 3D and live video on nearly every device with an internet connection’
^{– NEAL MOHAN}

It’s the biggest change to the YouTube logo since its debut 12 years ago in 2005, when the company was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. Google acquired YouTube in 2006 for $1.65bn and the latter still pretty much reigns as the second-largest search engine on the planet.

In recent months, YouTube redesigned its desktop site with a cleaner look and a nifty new ‘dark theme’, ideal for night-time viewing.

The desktop redesign introduced last May is now default instead of an opt-in beta.

As well as leveraging Google’s design language, Material Design, the new desktop experience is the result of YouTube being built on top of the open source JavaScript library Polymer, which will make it easier for YouTube to add new features.

The new design – which has more white spaces and room for video thumbnails – articulates the evolution of YouTube over the past 12 years.

Reeling in the years

GIF: YouTube

“When YouTube launched 12 years ago, it was a single website that supported one video format, 320 by 240 at 4:3 aspect ratio,” said Neal Mohan, chief product officer at YouTube.

“Fast-forward to today, and YouTube lets you watch any combination of SD, HD, 4K, 360, 3D and live video on nearly every device with an internet connection; from desktops to phones, tablets to TVs, game consoles and even VR headsets.”

The video-sharing giant said that the updated logo and icon are rolling out across desktop and mobile today (30 August) before arriving on other apps and services.

YouTube’s mobile evolution

On the mobile app, navigation tabs have been moved to the bottom to make it easier for users to manage their YouTube experience with their thumbs.

YouTube has also introduced new Library and Account tabs to facilitate better discovery. New features include various playback controls, with gestures.

Mohan explained: “Earlier this year, we introduced a gesture that allows you to double tap on the left or right side of a video to fast-forward or rewind 10 seconds. Give it a try! We already see billions of double taps per day. And I wanted to give you a sneak peek at another gesture I am really excited about. In the coming months, we’ll experiment with a feature that lets you jump between videos with a simple swipe of your hand – just swipe left to watch a previous video or swipe right to watch the next one.”

YouTube has also been experimenting with new ways to display videos.

Mohan said the YouTube player will soon seamlessly change shape to match the video format you are watching, be it vertical, square or horizontal.

The post It feels cinematic: YouTube rolls out a major redesign across mobile and desktop appeared first on Silicon Republic.

In the US alone, there are an estimated 65m regular podcast listeners, with a reasonable majority (64pc) of these listening on a phone or tablet on the move.

Millions more in Europe and beyond have their commuter-friendly podcasts of choice, with everything – from sport and politics, to fashion and crime – in abundance.

This September, the first ever Dublin Podcast Festival will see some of the leading figures in the industry descend on the Irish capital.

For example, S-Town – from the creators of the wildly successful Serial and This American Life – and My Dad Wrote A Porno will be two of the stand-out inclusions.

S-Town is hosted by Brian Reed, with its March 2017 release seeing the podcast quickly downloaded tens of millions of times. Reed will be in Dublin to talk about creating the podcast.

Meanwhile, My Dad Wrote A Porno is a long-running podcast from Jamie Morton, who found out that his father had, indeed, written an erotic novel.

The weekly British podcast features Morton reading a new chapter of a series of erotic fiction novels, titled Belinda Blinked, written by his Northern Irish father under the pen name Rocky Flintstone.

Morton, along with sidekicks James Cooper and Alice Levine, will also be in Dublin to discuss their work.

Last year, Siliconrepublic.com looked into how podcasts are created, and what it takes to make them successful.

Everything from artistic approaches to the frequency of delivery were included, which matches up to how most content is successfully distributed online nowadays.

This is all a far cry from as recently as 2005 when the word ‘podcast’ was named the Oxford English Dictionaries Word of the Year.

“What makes podcasts so enjoyable is not only their ease of access but also the vast quantities of podcasts available to download for free,” said the organisers of the Dublin Podcast Festival.

“Whether you want to learn about wine, hear some comedy or get lost in a fictional story, there is a podcast for you.”

An Irishman Abroad will make an appearance at the festival, through its host Jarlath Regan, while The Alison Spittle Show, The Guardian Podcast Masterclass and musician Scroobius Pip will be among the others on show.

The post S-Town and My Dad Wrote a Porno on way to Dublin for podcast fest appeared first on Silicon Republic.

In recent years with the rise in smartphone technology and social networks, people have the power to alert others but also let loved ones know they are safe in the event of a crisis, such as a natural disaster or a terrorist attack.

Actionable information is crucial and technology, when put to use alongside trained responders and volunteers on the ground, can play a vital role in providing information to help keep people safe and loved ones informed.

Google said it has worked closely with organisations and agencies on the front lines of relief efforts, including the Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration and many others.

Stay safe in a crisis

“During a crisis, you may see an SOS Alert at the top of search results when searching for the incident or location,” explained Yossi Matias, VP of engineering at Google.

“You’ll see maps, top stories and – when available – authoritative local information such as emergency phone numbers, websites, and translations of useful phrases. Depending on how close you are to the affected area, you may also get a notification on your mobile device that directs you to this information.”

If you are outside of the affected area, searches for relevant terms such as the name of the event or location will also show an SOS alert with an overview of the situation.

On mobile, Google Maps can show SOS alerts with a specific icon on the map and a tappable card with more information about the crisis.

The map will also show real-time updates such as road closures and traffic and transit updates.

“Radio and television were once the only channels to quickly provide information in an emergency, but the internet and mobile phones have become increasingly important,” said Robert Glenn, director at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

In addition to SOS Alerts and other crisis response features – including Google Person Finder, Google Crisis Map and Google Public Alerts – Google’s philanthropic arm, Google.org, provides grants and volunteers for communities impacted by crises.

“We hope you never need to use crisis response features. But, if you do, they’re designed to help keep you and those you love safe and informed,” wrote Matias.

The post Google adds SOS alert capabilities to Search and Maps appeared first on Silicon Republic.

The special experience was created by Google to mark the 48th anniversary of when Apollo 11 became the first manned space mission to land on the moon on 20 July 1969.

Google Maps’ Street View of the ISS will provide a 360-degree tour of all 15 modules and two visiting docking vehicles: Elon Musk’s SpaceX Dragon and Orbital Cygnus.

This will be the first Street View collection with annotations, highlighting things such as: where the astronauts work out to stay physically fit, what kind of food they eat, and where they do scientific experiments.

A fine view of Earth. Image: Google Maps

From the Planets page of Google Maps, you’ll be able to click on the image of the ISS and be taken right to the amazing imagery.

Google worked with NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas and Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama to brainstorm and design the first ever gravity-free Street View collection, using cameras and equipment already on the ISS in a simulated setting.

Thomas Pesquet, astronaut at the European Space Agency, used DSLR cameras to capture the shots, then Google stitched the still photos together to create panoramic imagery of all 15 modules in the ISS, publishing them to Google Maps and Street View.

Street View started out as Larry Page’s far-fetched idea to create a 360-degree map of the world, and it has come a long way, with Google recently celebrating 10 years of beautiful imagery.

Now people can scale mountains, dive into the depths of the ocean, scout out ramen spots and walk through museums in far corners of the world.

One giant leap

Apollo 11 Command/Service Module Columbia in lunar orbit, photographed from the Lunar Module Eagle. Image: NASA

On 16 July 1969, the Apollo 11 mission was launched by a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The spacecraft was crewed by commander Neil Armstrong, command module pilot Michael Collins and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin.

On 19 July, Apollo 11 passed behind the moon and fired its service propulsion engine to enter lunar orbit.

The spacecraft orbited its landing site over the Sea of Tranquility 30 times before lunar module Eagle separated from command module Columbia and pirouetted towards the moon on 20 July.

The Eagle in lunar orbit after separating from Columbia. Image: NASA

6,000ft above the surface of the moon, unexpected alarms distracted the crew of Eagle because the software was overloaded with more tasks than it could handle.

Ironically, according to Margaret Hamilton, director of Apollo flight computer programming at MIT, if the warning hadn’t occurred, forcing the computer on Eagle to take recovery action, the landing may not have been a success.

At 8.18pm UTC on Sunday 20 July, with just 25 seconds of fuel left, Armstrong uttered the immortal words: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

The next day, Armstrong uttered a few more immortal words when he stepped onto the moon’s surface: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Neil Armstrong sets foot on the moon. Image: NASA

Apollo 11 resources

If you want to explore some more awesome Apollo 11-related experiences, check out these amazing 16 rarely seen photos.

You can also check out the Apollo 11 take-off, filmed at 500 frames per second, here.

And don’t forget, Irish tech firm Immersive VR Education has created an amazing VR experience that captures the journey from the perspective of the astronauts.

The post Google Maps brings Street View to the International Space Station appeared first on Silicon Republic.

The new capability launches today (19 July) in the US within the Google app on iOS and Android. It will roll out internationally over the coming weeks.

‘With these updates to the feed, it’s easier than ever to stay in the know about exactly the things you care about, and see more content to inform, inspire and entertain you’
^{– SHASHI THAKUR}

Google engineering VP Shashi Thakur said that the idea of the feed is to help users navigate the cacophony of noise online, from social media to news apps and conversations with friends.

“People have long turned to Google to get answers, learn about the world and dig deeper on topics they’re passionate about. Today, we are announcing a new feed experience in the Google app, making it easier than ever to discover, explore and stay connected to what matters to you – even when you don’t have a query in mind.”

Your own personal smart feed

GIF: Google

Thakur said that Google has advanced its machine learning algorithms to better anticipate what’s interesting and important to users.

“You’ll see cards with things like sports highlights, top news, engaging videos, new music, stories to read, and more. And now, your feed will not only be based on your interactions with Google, but also factor in what’s trending in your area and around the world. The more you use Google, the better your feed will be,” he explained.

The news feed will enable users to follow topics right from search results by hitting a ‘follow’ button, leading to further updates and stories. It will also include ‘Fact Check’ and ‘Related Story’ features connected to specific items to help users get a more holistic understanding about the topics they follow in their feed.

“With these updates to the feed, it’s easier than ever to stay in the know about exactly the things you care about, and see more content to inform, inspire and entertain you,” Thakur said.

“You’ll spend less time and energy trying to keep up with your interests, and more time enjoying and cultivating them. Whether you’re a pet-loving, Nietzsche-reading, sports fanatic; a hip-hop head and burgeoning brewmaster; or anything in between, your feed should fit your fancy.”

The post Google takes on Facebook with new algorithmic news feed appeared first on Silicon Republic.

That, according to veteran writer Rhianna Pratchett, is something you learn to accept when you dive headfirst into the world of video gaming.

In January of this year, Pratchett stood down as the lead writer of the rebooted Tomb Raider series after four years, having overseen Lara Croft’s transition from a gaming icon mostly famous for her looks, to a fully fledged character and inspiration for other women characters in video games.

It proved to be a successful few years for Pratchett as, during that time, Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider were nominated for a number of major awards.

Surely the highlight, at least from a personal perspective, was the latter being named the winner of the Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing award at the 2016 Writers Guild of America Awards.

Just the other day, Pratchett was awarded an honorary doctorate from Teesside University for her contribution to gaming.

Tomb Raider like working on a new title

Speaking with Siliconrepublic.com, Pratchett said she was delighted to take on the job of writing Croft for a new generation, saying it was “fertile country” for a writer.

“It was a little like having a new [game] in some ways because there was a reimagining of Lara but, at the same time, keeping a lot of the traits we associate with her, like bravery, tenacity, resourcefulness and intelligence,” she said.

Croft is the third major woman character Pratchett has written for and personally, it offered her the chance to redeem the icon from what she saw as the heavily gendered, male-oriented creation during her first iteration in the 1990s and early 2000s.

A scene from ‘Rise of the Tomb Raider’, where Rhianna Pratchett was a lead writer. Image: Crystal Dynamics

“It was a great challenge to take on and I was grateful to Crystal Dynamics for giving me that opportunity … as you can imagine, lots of people have lots of different opinions about Lara!”

The decade or so between the games also marked a key moment in the video game industry as it went from a niche market, to one that rivals Hollywood blockbusters in terms of revenue.

But what about writing for video games in general?

Can’t be too precious about your script

As alluded to earlier, building a story for a video game is not a simple process. When a writer is brought in to construct a story for a film, the process is usually pretty structured, starting with a pitch and ending with a final draft.

This is definitely not the case when it comes to writing for video games.

“With games, it’s like writing a movie script while shooting the movie at the same time,” Pratchett admitted.

“You could be losing levels, characters and things like that, so you need a flexible script and you have to be a very flexible writer, too, and not get too precious if it’s cut.”

This happened to her a few times during the writing process for Tomb Raider, with characters suddenly getting killed off that were not intended to, resulting in a number of rewrites.

That said, writing for a video game is much more than creating interesting characters, she explained, rather, it is about building the world around them in a way that takes a lot of time and effort, which many players may not spot at first.

“It’s about a lot of invisible stuff behind the scene, building the scene of the world and conveying narratives in other ways than words such as through sounds or music,” she said.

“Humans are storytelling creatures. We look for stories everywhere so even if it’s not obviously present, we’ll still be looking to understand the world [through video games].”

‘Inside’, a game cited by Pratchett as an example of narrative that doesn’t require the lead character to speak. Image: Playdead games

Much more than just writing a character

The example she gave was that of the BAFTA award-winning game Inside created by Playdead Games, which has no dialogue but tells a story through background details, mechanics and its overall theme.

In a market increasingly filled with major multiplayer titles such as Call of Duty and Overwatch, Pratchett believes that storytelling in video games will remain a key part of development in the years to come.

“I don’t think we’ll ever see the death of the single-player game. I think there’s a lot of players out there that enjoy them a lot and anyway, multiplayer games do not mean that there is a lack of narrative.”

This same changing narrative has been seen not only in the worlds created on screen, but in gaming companies that have only really embraced writing in the past 15 years.

Changing industry

When Pratchett began her entry into the gaming industry as a journalist in 1998, she said that writers were few and far between, so much so that many were never allowed to speak to the press.

“Writing was done by whoever had the time and inclination to do it, and it was probably why narrative in gaming was not highly regarded in the past, aside from narrative-driven genres like role-playing games.”

This has obviously changed quite a bit, with writers now just as revered in some cases as their lead designers, Pratchett being an obvious example. In addition, huge teams of writers and assistants are now becoming an essential part of many leading titles.

Still more work to do

But, while the teams may have grown, can the same be said for the amount of diversity within them, given that the average gamer is as likely to be a woman as a man?

As one of its leading lights, Pratchett has seen first-hand how the industry has gotten “kicked in the pants a lot” over its less-than-ideal attitude towards inclusion in the past, taking a “good, hard look at itself”as a result.

“That’s producing some interesting things, and developers are interested in creating more diverse teams [of writers], and are seeing how beneficial that can be while trying to reach out to more women and people of colour to come on board.”

She admits that this is by no means a total win at this early stage, as, despite meeting more and more women in the gaming industry, she can find it hard to tell sometimes as to whether that is just because she travels a lot in these circles.

“The industry has put a big tick under ‘yes’ [for inclusion], but they are still trying to figure out how to reach out to more diverse people,” she said.

“It’s similar to narrative, in that we’ve decided it is good to have more of it and now we’ve decided it is good to have more diversity, it’s just a matter of finding the best way to do it.”

Rhianna Pratchett will be speaking at Inspirefest, Silicon Republic’s international event connecting sci-tech professionals passionate about the future of STEM. Book now to join us from 6 to 8 July in Dublin.

The post Rhianna Pratchett: ‘It’s like writing a movie script while shooting it at the same time’ appeared first on Silicon Republic.

The function would allow users to flag tweets that contain misleading, false or harmful information.

While Facebook has received most of the flak for fake news generated before, during and after the US elections, Twitter knows that it too is often used as a vehicle for such activity.

Twitter is also aware that as well as the emergence of a market for fake accounts, extremists are using the site as a recruiting platform.

The use of Twitter by trolls to threaten women and minorities is also a problem that the social media site is keen to wipe out.

Policy of truth

According to the The Washington Post, citing sources at Twitter, the new button would appear in a tiny tab in a drop-down menu alongside tweets.

The Pew Research Center said that two-thirds of American adults admit to confusion about basic facts and events because of fake news.

Third-party firm Twitter Audit found that 41pc of Trump’s followers were bots or fake accounts compared to 34pc of Hillary Clinton’s.

However, Twitter’s plans are moving slowly as there are concerns that people with varying views and biases could game the system and manipulate it by flagging genuine stories as fake news if they are contrary to their opinions or viewpoints.

Meanwhile, Facebook has rolled out a system that allows users to ‘dispute’ certain news items and, if enough users contest the story, then independent fact-checkers row in.

Google is also encouraging the public to help spot pages that are misleading or offensive.

Updated, 9.21am, 30 June 2017: This article was updated to amend Twitter Audit figures. 

The post Twitter plans ‘fake news’ button, but fears it could be gamed appeared first on Silicon Republic.