The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week accused eBay’s electronic payments division PayPal of illegally signing its customers up for PayPal Credit, an online credit product, without their permission. By not offering users the option of their preferred payment method, PayPal engaged in deceptive advertising, claims the U.S. financial watchdog. According to Reuters, “Under a proposed order filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, which needs a judge’s approval to become final, PayPal would refund $15 million to consumers and pay a $10 million penalty to the government, the CFPB said.”

Roku announced this week that the subscription-based, ad-free Sesame Street Go service is now available via the company’s streaming players and integrated Roku TVs. The service launched last year on iOS and Android devices, Web browsers, and connected TVs via Google’s Chromecast. “Sesame Street Go, which features full-length ‘Sesame Street’ episodes, new and old, and shorter-form fare, runs $3.99 per month or $29.99 per year, and is offered in the Roku Channel Store in the Kids & Family category,” reports Multichannel News. According to the press release, users can filter “Sesame Street” content through learning areas including math, science, literacy and the arts.

Microsoft is reportedly working on a new mobile app called Flow, designed to work with Outlook, which offers rapid email exchange that closely resembles instant messaging. “Correspondence with Flow will likely look similar to exchanges on popular messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Apple’s iMessage, though it’s email that’s behind the system,” reports Digital Trends. According to the leaked product description, Flow will offer “fast, fluid, natural conversations: No subject lines, salutations, or signatures.” If message recipients do not have Flow, incoming messages will simply appear in their inbox as regular email messages.

Netflix plans to introduce a new online user interface beginning next month that is immersive and provides more information. “The interface, which was previously demonstrated at CES and Mobile World Congress, brings the design of Netflix’s website more in line with what users today see on mobile phones, tablets, on gaming consoles and on other streaming media players, like Roku,” reports TechCrunch. The new design reportedly replaces the slow scrolling carousels with “an updated look with larger thumbnails in each section which can be clicked on in order to expand a detail screen showing additional information about the title in question.”

Microsoft launched its over-the-air digital TV tuner and antenna option for the Xbox One game console this week. Customers in North America can now purchase the Hauppauge Digital TV Tuner to screen free, local, broadcast TV programming on their HDTVs via Xbox One devices. “Microsoft is selling the tuner bundled with a Mohu DTV antenna for $100,” according to Variety. “For those who already have an antenna, the Hauppauge tuner for Xbox One is available for $59.99 from Microsoft and Amazon.com.” The move marks another step by Microsoft toward transforming its game console into an entertainment hub for the home. The Xbox One already offers access to HBO Go, Hulu Plus, Netflix, Sling TV and more.

Tech companies including Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft joined Internet security experts and civil liberties organizations this week to draft a letter to President Obama warning that a “backdoor” for U.S. law enforcement could also serve as a backdoor for hackers and other governments. The Obama administration has been considering whether companies should only be allowed to use encryption that provides law enforcement with unscrambled access (or a “backdoor”). Critics are concerned about weakening encryption tech that protects Internet communications. Continue reading Tech Industry Urges President to Not Weaken Encryption Tech

As part of the growing backlash to Facebook’s Internet.org project, 65 advocacy organizations from 31 countries released a letter of protest this week to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook has partnered with wireless carriers and other organizations on the initiative that hopes to bring free Internet service to the developing world. However, the letter argues that the project “violates the principles of net neutrality, threatening freedom of expression, equality of opportunity, security, privacy, and innovation.” Continue reading Letter Released in Protest of Facebook’s Free Internet Project

Twentieth Century Fox plans to make all of its new movies available in Ultra HD with high dynamic range (HDR) for home entertainment purposes, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “High dynamic range — meaning a wider range between the whitest whites and blackest blacks in an image — is viewed by many Hollywood tech leaders as the key feature that will create a more noticeable picture advancement for viewers,” notes THR. The UHD Alliance is currently working on an interoperable HDR spec for home entertainment. SMPTE is also doing HDR standards work and the Blu-ray Disc Association recently announced its UHD Blu-ray spec with support for HDR.

Open source project Popcorn Time — considered by some to be the Netflix for pirated movies — has now spawned a simple new means of streaming movies to browsers. A site called Popcorn Time In Your Browser is offering an in-browser app that reportedly makes it easier to access pirated movie streams. According to TechCrunch, the app works similarly to the desktop version of Popcorn Time, “remotely streaming torrent files from YTS through Coinado.” By using the app, no torrent files are stored on the user’s machine. “Torrent streaming services like Popcorn Time have always existed in a legal gray area. On one hand, a viewer isn’t downloading the movie to his computer, yet is still watching something that clearly wasn’t paid for.”

Music streaming service Pandora announced this week that it has acquired Next Big Sound, a company that tracks how popular songs become online and via social networks. Next Big Sound has become a standard for measuring artist popularity through activity on Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube and other platforms. Terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed. However, in similar data-tracking deals, Spotify paid about $55 million for the Echo Nest last year and Apple paid a reported $50 million in January for Next Big Sound competitor Semetric. Continue reading Pandora Purchases Music Data-Tracking Firm Next Big Sound

RealNetworks, maker of the streaming RealPlayer, popular in the 1990s, is attempting a comeback with a new photo-sharing app centered on families. “The RealTimes app lets users stitch photos and videos into montages that are stored on RealNetworks’s cloud service,” explains The New York Times. “The app, which is compatible with iPhones, Android devices, PCs and some TV streaming devices, is free for those who want to create clips that are no longer than 30 seconds; for people who want to make longer videos and use more cloud storage, Real offers paid subscription plans.” RealTimes will compete with popular apps such as Instagram and Flickr.

In the face of declining ratings and a shift in ad dollars to digital platforms, television networks are expanding their data and analytics capabilities. On Monday, leading broadcast and cable TV companies announced the formation of the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB), a new trade organization that plans to promote research and data that highlights the impact of TV commercials to Madison Avenue. The VAB intends to provide marketers with insights and measurement tools that help gauge whether video ads drive consumer purchases. Continue reading Broadcast and Cable TV Join Forces to Form New Trade Group

According to Juniper Research, global subscriber numbers for streaming video services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video are expected to climb from 92.1 million in 2014 to 333.2 million by 2019. Juniper predicts that adoption will be driven by connected TVs, streaming devices like Google’s Chromecast and Amazon’s Fire TV Stick, as well as connected game consoles and set-top boxes. Newer streaming devices like affordable media sticks will continue to make watching OTT services easily accessible on living room screens. Continue reading Report Predicts Surge in Subscriber Numbers for OTT Services

Alibaba is facing a growing problem with counterfeit goods that has led to some top brands taking legal action. The Chinese e-commerce giant is debuting a solution in the form of unique tags similar to QR codes. The company is working with Israeli startup Visualead to introduce dotless visual codes, which can be used to scan products to prove their authenticity and then automatically destroyed so they cannot be used more than once. Customers will use Alibaba’s Taobao mobile app to scan the codes when they receive their orders. Continue reading Alibaba Tests Dotless Visual Codes to Fight Counterfeit Goods

Samsung is readying the termination of Samsung Wallet’s two-year run. “All of Samsung Wallet’s features will stop functioning by the end of June,” reports Tech Times. “The Samsung partner portal will be shuttered and the Samsung Wallet application programming interface will be unavailable.” As a replacement, the company is expected to introduce LoopPay this summer as the rebranded Samsung Pay. Samsung recently acquired payment service LoopPay for a reported $250 million. “As Apple pushes Apple Pay and Samsung preps Samsung Pay,” notes the article, “Google is cooking up a new API for Google Wallet. With that change, which will open the platform up to third parties, Google is gearing up Android Pay.”