Technologies

Why You Shouldn’t Cancel Netflix This November (But Hulu Can Probably Go)

Which streaming services to keep and which to cancel for the month of November, based on fluctuating prices and what’s new to watch.

OK, we know, we know: This is the month Netflix launches its ad-based subscription for $7. But you only get one stream with that, and prices on the other plans are not changing. With that said, it’s a service you want to rock with this November for sure, especially with House of the Dragon, Rings of Power and She-Hulk already wrapped.

Every month you may wonder if you should cancel a streaming service to cut costs. And each month, I give advice on which ones to drop or keep during these difficult financial times. So, I’d like to offer one strategy: Churn like ice cream.

What does that mean? Subscribe for a term, cancel, switch to a different service, then resubscribe, keeping your favorites in a rotation. You can even pick one or two must-haves for the year and treat other streaming platforms like seasonal add-ons.The upside is that you get to save money when Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max and others don’t have the content you want to watch at a given time. Just remember to shut off autorenewal for your monthly subscriptions. Rotating may not be an option if you’re sharing your accounts with people outside your household, but if you can work out a system with your streaming posse, go for it.

Here are my recommendations on the streaming rotation you should have for November, primarily based on new TV shows and movies coming to each platform. Your tastes may differ, but if nothing else I urge you to at least consider the concept of rotating for savings. It’s easier than you might think.

Don’t let go of these streaming services in November

Netflix: Netflix has lots to offer this month. Animated flick The Bad Guys arrives on Nov. 1, but there are new releases galore. On Nov. 3, Blockbuster Season 1 arrives with Randall Park headlining the cast, and The Dragon Prince Season 4 drops as well. Enola Holmes 2, Manifest Season 4 part 1 and K-drama The Fabulous all land on Nov. 4. Then watch The Crown Season 5 starting Nov. 9 and Lindsay Lohan’s holiday movie Falling for Christmas on Nov. 10. Warrior Nun Season 2 also hits on Nov. 10.

Florence Pugh stars in The Wonder beginning Nov. 16, and the third and final season of Dead to Me debuts on Nov. 17. The ball keeps rolling with Elite Season 6 and Jason Momoa’s new film, Slumberland, on Nov. 18. Cap it off on Nov. 23 with Tim Burton’s Wednesday to see the Addams Family’s favorite daughter head to Nevermore Academy. Then follow up with Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery starring Daniel Craig as Detective Benoit Blanc.

HBO Max: HBO Max is worth keeping if you’re a fan of The White Lotus. Season 2 has seven episodes that will air into December. Other notable releases this month include Titans Season 4 (Nov. 3) with Joseph Morgan from The Originals/Vampire Diaries debuting as Brother Blood. A Christmas Story Christmas — the sequel to the 1983 movie — premieres on Nov. 17, as well as season 2 of The Sex Lives of College Girls. On Nov. 1, all the Harry Potter movies and a collection of Star Trek films come to the streamer.

Disney Plus: Binge what you can on Disney Plus, especially if you plan to cancel in December when the ad-free plan shoots up to $11 per month. This month, Andor wraps its 12-episode run on Nov. 23, so you can binge the whole show after that date. Here’s what’s new: The Santa Clauses TV series (Nov. 16), Enchanted sequel Disenchanted finally drops Nov. 18, and an unmissable Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special arrives Nov. 25. Director James Gunn stated that the holiday film will serve as a prequel of sorts for the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. After you watch it, you may want to check out The Hip Hop Nutcracker starring Run DMC’s Rev. Run.

Dancing With the Stars airs its live finale on Disney Plus on Nov. 21. And Willow, the sequel series to the 1988 fantasy movie, premieres on Nov. 30 with Warwick Davis reprising his role. The show will consist of eight episodes.

Prime Video: If you already get this service through your Prime membership, you may as well keep it. My Policeman starring Harry Styles will be free to stream for Prime members on Nov. 4. Catch Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty Vol. 4 fashion show on Nov. 9. The English with Emily Blunt and Mammals starring James Corden are two new Prime Video series that premiere on Nov. 11.

You can cancel these services this month

Hulu: Cancel Hulu if you’re not into anime or network TV — or finishing up The Handmaid’s Tale, which ends season 5 on Nov. 9. As for new titles, God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty about Jerry Falwell arrives on Nov. 1. The dubbed version of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War premieres Nov. 4, and Welcome to Chippendales lands on Nov. 22. You can keep watching Chainsaw Man, Hulu’s new roster of holiday movies or broadcast shows from Fox, ABC, etc. if you like.

Starz: Raising Kanan and The Serpent Queen have ended their seasons. BMF won’t return until January 2023. Cancel Starz for now.

Paramount Plus: If you want to watch Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, it’ll be on this platform. New animated series, Transformers: EarthSpark debuts on Nov. 11. Other than that, Sylvester Stallone’s Tulsa King series — from Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan — debuts Nov. 13 but it will also air right after Yellowstone on regular TV. Cancel unless you want to watch these shows or NFL football.

Peacock: Speaking of Yellowstone, if you were hoping to stream the season 5 premiere on Nov. 13 or right after, sorry to disappoint you. The show won’t be available on Peacock anytime soon. However, you can still watch sports like Sunday Night Football here.

Apple TV Plus: There are few new releases here, including the film Causeway with Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry and The Mosquito Coast Season 2, both arriving on Nov. 4. Mythic Quest Season 3 debuts Nov. 11. Because Mythic Quest and The Mosquito Coast have 10 episodes each, you can choose to binge both series next year when the entire seasons are available.

Save more money by being patient

If you’re not someone who routinely gets FOMO, then a smart method is to wait until the bulk or all episodes of your favorite series land on a platform. That way, rather than pay for a service for two or three months to cover the 6- to 10-week run of a show, you can catch up on everything by subscribing for one month. And then repeat the cycle again.

As an example, there are eight episodes of Willow this season on Disney Plus. The finale airs in January, so season 1 episodes will be available to stream at that time. Though it premieres on Nov. 30 and runs into 2023, why pay for all three months when you can wait to watch it in full anytime in January or February?

Think about how much you’re paying per month for each streaming service you have, and do the math. Netflix is $10 to $20, Disney Plus is anywhere from $3 to $8 depending on bundles, HBO Max costs $10 or $15, Hulu starts at $8 and Starz runs $9. The others have a base rate of $5 per month, and again, ad-free Disney Plus jumps to $11 starting in December. Should you decide to churn, set yourself a calendar reminder to alert you when it’s time to re-subscribe or cancel. We’ll see you next month for another streaming breakdown.

Technologies

Google’s Pixel 10A Is Coming to Japan With an Exclusive Blue Edition and Special Wallpaper

This model comes with creatively designed stickers and a special look for Pixel’s 10th anniversary.

Don’t be blue: Google is releasing an Isai blue edition of the Pixel 10A to celebrate the Android phone line’s 10th anniversary, setting it apart with its own sticker set, specialized wallpaper and custom icons. But it’ll only be available in Japan.

Announced Tuesday on the Google Japan blog, the Isai blue Pixel 10A has a dark blue look and includes bonus decorations designed in collaboration with Japan’s Heralbony art company. These include an exclusive bumper case and stickers for customization.

This edition of the Pixel 10A will arrive in Japan on May 20, following the April 14 release of the Pixel 10A in its original colors of lavender, berry, fog and obsidian. The Isai blue model costs 94,900 yen, which roughly translates to $595, and includes 256GB of storage.

This makes it slightly less expensive than the US model’s 256GB edition, but it comes with a number of fun extras at no additional cost.

Google’s creation of a country-specific model for Japan may also reflect strong sales in that market. In 2023, the IDC analytics firm (via 9to5Google) reported that the Pixel 7 series accounted for 10.7% of the country’s market share, a 527% increase from 2022.

Technologies

Can’t Wait for New Emoji? Here’s How to Create Your Own on iPhone

Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhones can create custom emoji in a few easy steps.

Apple brought new emoji to all iPhones when the company released iOS 26.4 on March 24. The new emoji include «🫍» orca, «🫪» distorted face and «🫈» hairy creature — or as we might normally call it, Sasquatch. According to Emojipedia, there are 3,953 emoji with more on the way, including a pickle. But there’s no emoji for a dog wearing pajamas, a plate with burgers and fries and many other things. But if you have Genmoji on your iPhone you can create these emoji and many more.

Apple released iOS 18.2 in 2024 and the company introduced its own emoji generator, called Genmoji, to Apple Intelligence-capable iPhones at that time. The Unicode Standard, a universal character encoding standard, is responsible for creating new emoji, and approved emoji are added to all devices once a year. With Genmoji, you don’t have to wait for new emoji to appear on your iPhone each year. You can just create them as you need them.

Read on to learn how to use Genmoji on iPhone to create your own custom emoji. Just note that only iPhones with Apple Intelligence, like the iPhone 17 lineup, can use Genmoji at this time.

Note: The new emoji may not display correctly for Apple users whose devices aren’t on a 26.4 software version.

How to make custom emoji

1. Open Messages and go into a chat.
2. Tap the plus (+) button next to your text box.
3. Tap Genmoji.

You can then type a description of an emoji into the text box near the bottom of your screen and tap the check mark on your keyboard to enter that description into Genmoji. You can also tap different suggestions and themes that are right above the text box. And with iOS 26 or later, you can also combine and use emoji to create others rather than describing a new emoji or using suggestions.

Your iPhone will generate a series of new emoji for you to pick from according to your description, and you can swipe through these new emoji. When you find the one you want, tap Add in the top right corner of your screen and the new emoji will be available to use as an emoji, tapback or a sticker. Now you don’t have to wait for the Unicode Standard to propose, create and bring new emoji to devices.

For more iOS news, here’s what to know about iOS 26.4 and iOS 26.3. You can also check out our iOS 26 cheat sheet for other tips and tricks.

Technologies

Save Over 20% on This Handy 10,000-mAh Anker Nano Power Bank

Keep your devices charged on the go with this Anker Nano power bank, now down to just $46.

We’ve just spotted the Anker Nano 45-watt portable power bank for just $46 at Amazon right now. This saves you $14 — a 23% discount on its list price. Though it’s $6 more than the lowest-ever price we saw during Black Friday, it’s still a solid discount when you take the rising cost of tech accessories into account. It also matches the lowest price we’ve seen in 2026. It comes in four colors: black, green, pink and white. They’re all on sale for the same price.

This Anker Nano portable charger weighs approximately 8.2 ounces and measures a compact 3.21×1.99×1.42 inches. Despite its small size, it has a retractable cable and supports fast charging in compatible Apple, Samsung, Google Pixel and other smartphones. It also has a large 10,000-mAh capacity and a smart display so you always know how much juice is left in your power bank.

The Nano can charge an iPhone 17 to up to 50% battery in an estimated 20 minutes, and is powerful enough to charge tablets and laptops. Need to charge your devices while charging your power bank? You can do so safely thanks to pass-through charging so you’ll never have to go without battery life.

We’ve also compiled a list of the best power banks for iPhones and for Android, in case this deal isn’t quite a fit for you.

Why this deal matters

If you travel, have a long commute time or are otherwise always on the go, a portable charger can help you keep your devices fully powered. This 45-watt Anker Nano power bank is compact, includes a loop that lets you keep track of it easily and has a built-in cable so you don’t have to keep up with extra cords. Amazon’s $14 discount makes this a solid deal for anyone looking for a compact power bank.