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Netflix, Bell Media reduce video quality to lower internet bandwidth use – CBC.ca

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Netflix is lowering video quality for its subscribers in Canada as it attempts to reduce soaring demands on internet bandwidth in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The streaming giant says it introduced changes on Thursday that are designed to slash its data traffic by 25 per cent, as internet service providers deal with a surge in user activity.

The lower bandwidth streams of Netflix programs should still deliver the usual quality of each plan, the company said, whether it’s ultra-high definition 4K, high-definition or standard definition.

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“We believe that this will provide significant relief to congested networks and will be deploying it in Canada for the next 30 days,” said Ken Florance, vice-president of content delivery, in a statement on Thursday.

The move comes as telecom companies are seeing a rise in bandwidth usage while Canadians self-isolate at home and use video-streaming services more frequently than usual.

Bell Media said it’s planning its own traffic measures for its Crave streaming service, which offers programming from HBO and Showtime. The telecommunication company’s quality reductions may downgrade higher-definition streams even more than Netflix.

“Crave does plan to temporarily reduce the quality of streams on certain devices,” the company said in a statement late Thursday.

The Crave 1080p and 4K streams will be reduced to 720p on Android mobile devices, Chromecast and Apple products, including its Apple TV devices, it noted.

Netflix quality reduction in place worldwide

Netflix previously introduced bandwidth measures in other parts of the world over the past two weeks. Similar reductions in video quality were made in Europe, India, Australia, New Zealand and some Latin American countries.

In a blog post last week, Florance explained that Netflix has many different levels of streaming quality for each title within each resolution tier. With the changes, Netflix is simply removing the highest bandwidth streams, which lowers the bitrate per second on the streams, he said.

“If you are particularly tuned into video quality, you may notice a very slight decrease in quality within each resolution. But you will still get the video quality you paid for,” Florance wrote at the time.

“We are living through a global crisis, and we all have a responsibility to help where we can,” he added.

Other streaming companies have made changes in certain regions to limit bandwidth.

YouTube announced similar moves to ease the pressures on internet traffic earlier this week, while Disney Plus and Amazon’s Prime Video have enacted bandwidth measures in Europe.

A representative for Disney says the streaming service isn’t planning to do the same in Canada at this time, while representatives for Amazon did not immediately provide comment.

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Taylor Swift's new album apparently leaks, causing social media chaos – CBC News

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The hype for Taylor Swift’s new album went into overdrive as it appeared to leak online two days ahead of its Friday release.

Swifties started sharing tracks on X that they claimed were from the singer’s upcoming album, The Tortured Poets Department, saying they came from a Google Drive link containing all 17 songs.

Some fans were upset by the leak and said they would wait until Friday to listen while others started frantically posting fake links on X to bury the “real” tracks.

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“Raise your hand if ur an ACTUAL Taylor Swift fan and aren’t listening to leaks,” one user wrote.

Several media outlets reported that X briefly blocked the search term “Taylor Swift leak” on Wednesday.

CBC has reached out to Swift’s publicist for comment.

Swift announced the release, her 11th studio album and the first with all new songs since 2022’s Midnights, at the Grammy Awards ceremony in February.

Fans have been speculating about the lyrical themes that would appear on The Tortured Poets Department, based in part on a physical “library installation” that opened Tuesday in Los Angeles, curated with items that drop hints and references to the inspirations behind the album.

Swift’s 2022 album Midnights, which featured the hit Anti-Hero, also leaked online ahead of its scheduled release date, and went on to win the Grammy for album of the year. Swift’s previous albums 1989, Reputation and Lover also leaked ahead of their official releases. 

The singer is in the midst of her billion-dollar-grossing Eras tour, which is moving through the U.S. and is scheduled to conclude in Vancouver in December. 

Swift was added to Forbes magazine’s annual new billionaires list earlier this month, with Forbes saying she was the first musician to become a billionaire based solely on her songs and performances. 

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DJT Stock Jumps. The Truth Social Owner Is Showing Stockholders How to Block Short Sellers. – Barron's

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DJT Stock Jumps. The Truth Social Owner Is Showing Stockholders How to Block Short Sellers.  Barron’s

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Taylor Swift's new album allegedly 'leaked' on social media and it's causing a frenzy – CTV News

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Social media can be a divisive place, but even more so when it comes to Taylor Swift.

A Google Drive link allegedly containing 17 tracks that are purportedly from Swift’s eagerly awaited “The Tortured Poets Department” album has been making the rounds on the internet in the past day and people are equal parts mad, sad and happy about it.

CNN has reached out to Swift’s representative for comment.

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The actual album is slated to drop at midnight Friday, but the claimed leak is both being hailed and nailed by Swift’s supporters.

One person shared a drawing of a young woman asleep in a sparkly bed with sparkly blankets on X, writing, “How I slept last night knowing I’m going to hear TTPD for the very first time tonight cause I haven’t listened to any leaks.”

Yet another person posted a video of two models walking and wrote, “Me and my bestie on our way to listen to #TSTTPD leaks.”

On Thursday, “Taylor Swift leaks” was a prevented search phrase on X.

The general consensus among those who have decided to be “leak free” appears to be that they are the true Swifties – as her hard core fan base is known – because they don’t believe the singer would have sanctioned such a “leak.”

Swift herself has gone to great lengths to prevent unintended early releases in the past.

“I have a lot of maybe, maybe-not-irrational fears of security invasion, wiretaps, people eavesdropping,” Swift said of her music during an 2014 appearance on” Jimmy Kimmel Live.” She added that her “1989” album only existed on her phone, “covered in cat stickers and the volume buttons don’t work very well because there’s candy stuck in there,” for nearly two years.

“The Tortured Poets Department” is Swift’s 11th album and comes after she became the first woman and only solo artist to win the Grammy for album of the year three times.

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