*By Christian Smith*
The streaming service Philo is testing a suite of new features to make watching TV more interactive, said the company's chief executive, Andrew McCollum.
"We do believe that we can make TV a much more social experience, and that's going to be a big innovation we can bring to the product," McCollum said Wednesday in an interview with Cheddar. "It's something that really no one is doing right now, and it has never really been done before, and we want to get it right."
McCollum wouldn't give many details about the new features, or when they would be released publicly, but he said the company's employees were testing the new features on an employees-only version of the platform.
"We're thinking about how exactly we want to roll it out. We generally prefer to do things in smaller pieces so that we can kind of see how people are using it," McCollum said.
Philo already offers a "deep link" feature that allows its users to share links to specific parts of a video, and a simplified sign-in process that only requires your phone number. McCollum said it takes about 10 seconds.
He was one of dozens of TV, cable, telecom, and tech executives participating at The Pay TV Show this week in Denver, where participants were discussing innovations and strategies in television.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/philo-plans-new-tech-innovations-for-streaming-service).
In the fight against climate change, much of the conversation revolves around reducing greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide or methane - and attempting to raise oxygen levels. But there's another gas - hydrogen - that could play a big role in the fight for the climate. Marco Alvera, CEO of Italian energy infrastructure company Snam and author of the book, 'The Hydrogen Revolution,' joined Cheddar Climate to explain the role hydrogen plays in helping achieve a net-zero future.
Vietnam's first global automaker is coming to the United States. VinFast unveiled the company's full EV lineup of five models at CES 2022. A reservation program for its first two electric vehicles, the VF 326 and the VF e35, officially opened on Wednesday, with the company set to announce the vehicle's retail prices in the U.S. and Vietnamese markets. VinFast is also one of the world's first automakers to apply blockchain technologies to the process of certifying reservations, payments, and eventually vehicle ownership. VinFast CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
AT&T and Verizon have agreed to delay activating their 5G services for two weeks after Airlines for America, a lobbying group that represents American, Delta, and other airlines, filed a petition last week with the FCC to stop the deployment of 5G in the U.S. over concerns that the network can interfere with certain systems on airplanes. President Biden spoke out about it, saying it would avoid further delays and cancellations of flights. Light Reading 5G and Mobile Strategies Director Mike Dano joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Liz Mann, EY Americas Cybersecurity Consulting Leader, joins Cheddar News to discuss the state of cybersecurity in 2022, ways to implement preventative cybersecurity practices, and what the next generation of authentication looks like.
CES, the world’s largest annual tech trade show kicked off in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Cheddar News speaks with Ian Sherr, editor at large for CNET, about this year’s biggest trends.
At a time when banks in countries like Australia and Spain are offering customers cryptocurrency assets for the first time, Josh Goodbody, COO of Qredo, believes we're going to see more financial institutions across the world unveil their crypto solutions this year after developing them behind the scenes last year. He joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
The new year has just gotten underway, but the clock is already ticking for the Democratic-led Congress to pass bills regulating big tech. Evan Greer, Director for Fight For the Future, joins Cheddar News to explain why Democratic lawmakers would want to push legislation now, and what a Republican takeover would mean for the industry.
