Technologies

Verizon’s Plus Play Arrives in Beta With Offer of Free Year of Netflix Premium

Verizon wants to draw people to its new subscription manager by offering free access to Netflix’s top plan if you buy another subscription.

In March Verizon announced Plus Play, a central location to manage all your streaming services and subscriptions. The company promised a full launch by the end of the year, and while it hasn’t fully reached that goal, Verizon is finally opening up the service in beta to its mobile and 5G and 4G LTE home internet customers.

To get people to try its free subscription management platform, the carrier is dangling a «limited time» offer of one year of Netflix Premium for free if you also sign up for «a 12-month or seasonal subscription» to one of its other partners. Initial eligible options include the NFL’s NFL Plus, the NBA’s League Pass, AMC Plus, Super Duolingo, Calm and Peloton.

Verizon says it will have 20 partners for the beta launch — including Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, HBO Max, Discovery Plus and The Athletic — with an undisclosed «many more» partners coming in the first quarter of 2023.

Netflix Premium normally runs $20 a month ($240 for the year) and includes 4K streaming and the ability to watch on four devices at once. While you can’t sign up for a monthly subscription to a different service and then get this deal, there are a few «seasonal» options that make it pretty compelling.

A seasonal subscription to NFL Plus Premium, which lets you stream local and national NFL games on a phone or tablet, runs a one-time $25 for the rest of this season. Under Verizon’s promotion, spending that $25 and signing up for NFL Plus through Plus Play will also get you Netflix Premium for free for a year.

It is worth noting that the carrier also has a seasonal offer for the regular NFL Plus at $13, but despite it having that seasonal language only the $25 Premium version will apply for the Netflix offer (a similar situation exists for the NBA’s League Pass).

If you’re already on Netflix, you can bring over your subscription and move to Premium through Plus Play. However, Verizon doesn’t appear to offer Netflix’s other tiers, and it isn’t immediately clear if you’ll be able to downgrade from Premium through Plus Play after the free year offer expires. Verizon’s website has steps on how to migrate a Netflix account.

If you have HBO Max, you can move your existing subscriptions to the platform, though you can’t move most other services. according to Verizon’s FAQ. If you want to take advantage of most of Verizon’s Plus Play offers, you’ll likely need to cancel your current subscriptions and then make new accounts.

What you can and can’t do with Verizon Plus Play

Plus Play is intended to be a hub where Verizon users can sign up, manage and cancel a host of streaming services and subscriptions. The Play Plus website will also be where the carrier offers deals or trials to get you to sign up for new services. While the platform will recommend shows to watch or things to do, it won’t be a place for you to watch shows or view content. Instead. it will direct you to that service’s app or website.

Verizon previously told CNET that it wouldn’t be able to see which shows you’re watching or content you’re interacting with. Instead, it will make the recommendations «based on information about you we’ve acquired independently of what you are watching on a particular service,» Frank Boulben, chief revenue officer of Verizon’s consumer group, said in March.

If you leave Verizon’s wireless or home internet services you won’t necessarily lose access to Plus Play, though it isn’t immediately clear if you’ll still be able to adjust your plans or sign up for new services. CNET has reached out to Verizon for more information and will update if it responds.

Verizon won’t add these subscriptions to your monthly wireless or home internet bill, but will instead charge them to a credit or debit card you have on your account.

Unlike with a wireless bill, the carrier won’t charge you an extra fee to pay for a Plus Play service with a regular credit card. But it will give you 2% back on Plus Play subscriptions if you pay with its Verizon-branded credit card.

Verizon is limiting the beta access, but it plans to expand the Plus Play offering to its Fios users in the future. It hasn’t specified when that might happen, however. It also hasn’t announced when the service will be available to its prepaid wireless users.

Technologies

Facebook Brings Back Local Job Listings: How to Apply

One of Facebook’s most practical features from 2022 is being revived by Meta.

On the hunt for work? A Local Jobs search is being rolled out by Meta to make it easier for people in the US to discover and apply for nearby work directly on Facebook. The feature is inside Facebook Marketplace, Groups and Pages, Meta said last week, letting employers post openings and job seekers filter roles by distance, category or employment type.

You can apply or message employers directly through Facebook Messenger, while employers can publish job listings with just a few taps — similar to how you would post items for sale on Marketplace.

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Facebook offered a Jobs feature before discontinuing it in 2022, pushing business hiring toward its other platforms. Its return suggests Meta is attempting to expand Facebook’s usefulness beyond social networking and to position it once again as a hub for community-driven opportunities.

«We’ve always been about connecting with people, whether through shared interests or key life events,» the press release states. «Now, if you’re looking for entry-level, trade and service industry employment in your community, Facebook can help you connect with local people and small businesses who are hiring.»

How to get started with Local Jobs on Facebook

According to Meta, Local Jobs will appear as a dedicated section in Facebook Marketplace starting this week. If you’re 18 or older, you can:

Tap the Marketplace tab on the Facebook app or website.
Select Jobs to browse available positions nearby.
Use filters for job type, category and distance.
Tap Apply or message the employer directly via Messenger.

Businesses and page admins can post jobs by creating a new listing in Marketplace or from their Facebook Page. Listings can include job details, pay range, and scheduling information and will appear in local searches automatically.

The Local Jobs feature is rolling out across the US now, with Meta saying it plans to expand it in the months ahead.

Technologies

Tesla Has a New Range of Affordable Electric Cars: How Much They Cost

The new, stripped-back versions of the Model Y and Model 3 have a more affordable starting price.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 22 #598

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 22, No. 598.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one — I definitely have at least two of these in my house. Some of the answers are a bit tough to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Catch all.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: A mess of items.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

BATE, LICE, SLUM, CAPE, HOLE, CARE, BARE, THEN, SLAM, SAMBA, BACK

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

TAPE, COIN, PENCIL, BATTERY, SHOELACE, THUMBTACK

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is JUNKDRAWER. To find it, look for the J that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind down, over and then up.

Quick tips for Strands

#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an «S» or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.

#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.

#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.