Nerd News

ChatGPT is hiring a dedicated product manager to build experiences for families, caregivers, and older adults, according to a job posting.

CISA said it "missed" an opportunity to get ahead of the security incident by not creating a response plan ahead of time.

Phia, the shopping startup founded by Bill Gates’ daughter, Phoebe, and her friend, Sophia Kianni, is under fire for a practice known as “cookie stuffing,” which helped the product receive commissions and credit for sales it did not actually generate, per a Bloomberg investigation. 

Meta told Dylan Byers, of Puck News, that it had nixed the feature after backlash from its user base.

⚡ Quick Take

• Current reports suggest that Disney+ is looking to create a free tier for the streaming service, following the success of things Tubi and the Roku Channel.

Once upon a time, in the “Long, Long Ago,” all television was free. I know, it seems like talking about medieval times. And now, in the year 2026, many of these streamers are starting to see the value in “free.” According to a recent report in Business Insider, the Walt Disney Company is discussing making some content accessible on Disney+ without a paywall. Disney’s product and tech chief, Adam Smith, spoke about enabling free-tier content during a streaming town hall recently. However, there is no timeline for this potential initiative from Disney+, at least not yet.

Disney+

Almost all the paid streamers have raised prices recently, right as wages have become stagnant for most people. And folks simply don’t have the money to spend on entertainment they once had. As a result, consumers are gravitating more and more toward free content on YouTube, along with ad-supported services like Tubi and The Roku Channel. While Disney+ will often drop full episodes for free on YouTube, like Wonder Man and X-Men ’97, they still have to use a different platform to get their content out for free. It makes sense to simply cut out the middleman and give viewers a free tier on the service itself.

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Every Streaming Cost Increase In 2026: TWO Price Hikes Already

So what kind of programming would become available on Disney+ without a paid subscription? We think you can look to some of their shows that are popular on the streamer, but not mega-popular. Shows that are getting good social media responses and critical feedback, but are struggling with retaining viewership. Think the second season of Daredevil: Born Again, for instance. Something like that would be a perfect candidate for a free Disney+ option. With D23 coming up soon, maybe they’ll have some kind of announcement about a free tier on Disney+. Currently, the Disney+ and Hulu bundle costs $12.99 a month with ads or $19.99 without ads at full price.

The post Disney+ Is Considering a Free Tier appeared first on Nerdist.

Schneider, who formerly served as the CEO of Automattic and is a partner at True Ventures, says he is "all in" on the unconventional social media platform.

Apple alleges the misconduct was directed by OpenAi's senior leadership, including a long-time former employee.

⚡ Quick Take

• The newest and most likely final trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day shows Tom Holland Spidey encountering the Hulk, the Punisher, ninjas, and more.

It’s been nearly five years since Tom Holland graced our movie screens as our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. But the long wait for his return is nearly over. Will Tom Holland’s return live up to five years of built-up anticipation? Judging from this newest (and final?) trailer, we’d say yes to that question. This new trailer for Destin Daniel Cretton’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day gives us all the good stuff we’ve been waiting for, including the return of Zendaya as MJ and Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds. You can watch the new trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day below:

So what have we gleaned from this trailer? For starters, we can confirm there’s a time jump taking place in real time. Both Ned and MJ mention graduating MIT, which makes this about four years from where No Way Home ended. We also see that Peter meets Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), who is back to being a college professor in his post-Avengers life. But at some point, the Hulk again will rise again. And we’ll get our first cinematic version of a Spidey/Green Goliath brawl. Peter seeks help from Jon Bernthal’s Punisher as well, suggesting these two know each other, teaming up already, during the time between films.

Sony Pictures/Marvel Studios

There’s also a mysterious threat that apparently, Spider-Man, whose body is mutating, is the only one to sense. Speaking of mutating, there’s a hooded figure throughout the trailer waving their hands around. Is this Sadie Sink? Possibly as future X-Man telepath/telekinetic Jean Grey? There is still a shortlist of characters she could play. But our money is currently on Sink playing the future host of the Phoenix Force. We’ve even got Spidey fighting Scorpion (Michael Mando), taking on ninjas, and delivering some classic Stan Lee quips. What more could you want?

You can check out even more of the fun in a brand new Spider-Man: Brand New Day teaser trailer.

New teaser for ‘SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY’.

In theaters on July 31. https://t.co/hjbxYGX7tV

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) July 10, 2026

Spider-Man: Brand New Day, starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, Mark Ruffalo, Jacob Batalon, and Sadie Sink, arrives in theaters on July 17.

Originally published on June 17, 2026.

The post SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY Trailer Gives Us Hulk and the Punisher appeared first on Nerdist.

Fizz has expanded its lawsuit against rival Sidechat, alleging that a Maveron VC shared its confidential information obtained during a fundraising meeting with the competing startup.

The AI chip boom just produced its biggest Wall Street moment yet. Now SK Hynix and Samsung are being asked to build US factories.

HyperTexting's new app aims to make the open web feel more like social media by turning websites, blogs, newsletters, and podcasts into a scrollable feed, while also making it easier to post to your own website.

China's state-owned space company recovered its first orbital rocket booster after launch.

The launch of free content would allow Disney+ to better compete with free services like YouTube and Tubi, which are capturing a growing share of consumers’ viewing time.

⚡ Quick Take

• A new report says Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount, and Netflix are among the bidders for the popular fan movie review site Letterboxd.

Hollywood’s many mega-mergers are inherently bad for audiences. Consolidation means less competition, less voices being heard, and less stories being told. But the next potential combining of companies could also mean less criticism. Unfortunately, a new report says Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount, and Netflix are among the bidders for the popular fan movie review site Letterboxd.

Letterboxd

According to news we first heard at Variety, Letterboxd is currently “shopping” itself to potential buyes. Among the interested parties in the social media site, which boats 30 million users globally, is (as Puck first reported) Netflix. Also in talks to buy the site are Paramount, Sony, and Reddit co-creator Alexis Ohanian.

At least three of them pose a pretty obvious problem. Letterboxd allows users to track and share their opinions on films. If any movie studio/streamer bought it they would ultimately own one of the internet’s best resources for movie lovers. It’s one of the best places to share your thoughts on cinema. Would a Netflix-owned Letterboxd allow negative reviews of its films? Would Sony prioritize positive reviews of its own releases over other studios? And would Paramount make it so you only got to read reviews of the roughly 80 gazillion movies it might soon own?

Would any of them allow the very funny reviews, some from very famous celebs, that make Letterboxd one of the web’s funniest places?

Charli XCX’s Letterboxd review of Moneyball

— Consequence (@consequence.bsky.social) 2024-12-28T02:28:03.719Z

Even if Letterboxd’s next owner didn’t do any of that and committed to keeping it as an independent warehouse for film buffs, how could users trust that? How could they believe a studio would buy a criticism site without assuming they had a selfish reason? (Beyond the obvious “they only use it to acquire precious data,” as though that’s not terrible for its own reasons.)

And that’s exactly why it would seem as though if a place like Netflix were to buy Letterboxd it would essentially destroy the very value the site now has. (Which might be relatively small for big budget studios, but isn’t exactly insignificant. In 2023, current majority owner Tiny bought 60% of Letterboxd at a valuation of $50 million.)

Mergers are bad for consumers, but this one could destroy everything people love about Letterboxd.

The post Netflix, Sony, Paramount Reportedly Want to Buy Letterboxd appeared first on Nerdist.

Dumb Co sells flip phones that sync to your smartphone, bridging the infinite connectivity of the iPhone and the unrealistic limitations of an early 2000s relic.

The new startup raised $300 million co-led by ARCH Venture Partners, Spark Capital, and Khosla Ventures.

Amid signs of slowing engagement, Netflix is reportedly considering launching "always-on" live channels, giving subscribers something to tune into 24/7.

The tech giant is in breach of the Digital Services Act by focusing on features like infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and the highly personalized recommendation algorithms, the European Commission said.

A third ransomware negotiator has been jailed for helping a notorious ransomware group to extort American victim companies into paying the hackers.

Open source AI is booming, according to Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue. The company has grown into something like a GitHub for AI in recent years, where AI builders can share and download open models and datasets, now used by roughly half the Fortune 500. Delangue has seen the same story play out again and again: companies start […]