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Netflix testing out shuffle play button to offer random titles to users

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If you’re ever stared at the Netflix home screen, scrolling through blankly with no idea what to watch, the streaming service is testing out an idea where it will pick for you. TechCrunch reports that Netflix has added a “shuffle play” button on the home screen for some users where it picks a title from its vast library at random, but one that is based on its recommendation engine. The shuffle button is only available on television streaming devices like Roku, and even then not all accounts will have it, but it’s located on the lefthand menu below the Search and Home buttons.

If you’re in need of things to watch on Netflix (and other streaming services) we offer:

In other news, this year Netflix finally allowed users to disable the autoplay function which is helpful for when you’re binging a TV series and less wanted when you’re watching a movie. You can also now turn off the automatic previews you get when scrolling on the home screen. Both of those can be accessed via “Manage Profiles” and changing the settings will work across all devices your profile uses.

Netflix is also testing out allowing users to watch things at different speeds, a la podcasts, which is for people, we guess, who want to watch Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman but find the three-hour running time too much. It’s currently only an option on mobile for Android users and you can vary the speed in between 0.5x-speed to 1.5x.

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