Bell extends Crave's free trial period from 7 days to 30 days

Succession / HBO

Bell Media's Crave streaming service is offering an extended trial period for new subscribers. The free trial period is up to 30 days instead of Crave's usual seven-day trial. The offer will be available until April 30. While Bell didn't mention COVID-19 specifically, the move seems to target the many potential subscribers who are currently at home because of the pandemic. The offer extends to the standard Crave subscription but also available for those who want to try packages that include Movies + HBO, Starz, and Super Écran, which is the new French-language option. It can be claimed through the Crave mobile app on Android and iOS or Crave.ca.

Standard subscription offers viewers access to Crave Originals like New Eden as well as other content like Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale and CBS' Star Trek: Picard. The Movies + HBO add-on offers popular HBO series' like Game of Thrones, Succession, and Westworld as well as recent films like Hobbs & Shaw and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which is arriving on the platform on March 27. Starz will give you access to shows like Spartacus.

Android Go gets a new Camera Go app

Android Go is getting a much-requested feature: a better camera app. As the platform reaches 100 million active users worldwide, Android announced that the new Camera Go app will be available starting with the new Nokia 1.3 phone, which launched in 28 countries.

The new Camera Go app brings a simplified interface along with the Google-developed portrait mode, which the company boasts is a first for the segment, especially since the feature can work on phones that cost around US$50 to $60 (around CA$72 to $86).

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Netflix has a US$100 million fund to provide support for its creators during COVID-19

Photo courtesy of Netflix

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many TV and movie productions have shut down. The necessary move affects services like Netflix, who need a steady stream of shows as well as the productions that rely on Netflix for their livelihoods. That's why the streaming service created a US$100 million fund for the workers in the creative field—from actors to set crews. The majority of the money will be given to the "hardest hit" staffers of its original shows. Around US$15 million of the fund will be given to third-party organizations and non-profits that are helping combat the pandemic (like SAG-AFTRA's COVID-19 Disaster Fund and the Actors Fund Emergency Assistance).

How Netflix plans to divide the amount changes "production by production." The company previously promised two weeks of pay promised to productions that stopped work last week. While it's great for the streaming service to help out, Netflix also needs this for their future. With smaller productions who possibly can't afford the work stoppage, this ensures that they will be able to continue working in the future.

Source: Engadget

Snapchat introduces its mental health-related feature earlier than expected due to COVID-19

Snap Inc. is hoping to somewhat help during this global COVID-19 pandemic by offering its Here For You feature earlier than its intended release. Announced earlier this year to mark Safer Internet Day, Snapchat's Here For You function is designed to direct users to mental health-related resources. In a company blog post released in February, it was supposed to roll out "in the coming months" to "show safety resources from local experts when Snapchatters search for certain topics, including those related to anxiety, depression, stress, grief, suicidal thoughts, and bullying." 

But with the toll that the novel coronavirus has taken on both our physical and mental health, Snap Inc. has opted to release the feature earlier than its intended April release date. So, Snapchat users who search for the terms "coronavirus" and "COVID-19" should surface important and verified information from partners like "the Ad Council, World Health Organization, the CDC, Crisis Text Line, NHS, and other partners who are creating content on anxiety specifically related to coronavirus." According to an email to Mashable, the feature is expected to roll out next week.