My Streaming Life

The other day, I offered my suggestion for a movie to watch for Hallowe'en. I stand by my suggestion of Nosferatu . I included both a link to buy or rent the film, plus I embedded a YouTube video of it so you could watch as much as you wanted, or all of it, and decide if you wanted to get your own copy. And while I still suggest it as a movie to add to your collection, it may not be for everybody. There are plenty of other movies that others suggest. So, with today being actually Hallowe'en, I'm going to list a few, based on several different lists of top Hallowe'en movies. These are ones that are common to all the lists, or at least ones that I agree with. Note that I may not agree with them all. You got my suggestion the other day. I'm not saying I disagree with these, just that these are the ones that others suggest. All of these movies listed come from lists others have done. Some are in all the lists, some are only in one. But, they are all movies that someone...

Having used Windows and macOS computers for the last 30 years or so, I got used to using certain applications and utilities. In 2007, when I moved from Windows to macOS (called OS X at the time) I had to replace some utilities, but not all. For example, there were Mac versions of Microsoft Office, and it was easy enough to use that. There were some differences between the Mac version and the Windows version -- I continued to use Microsoft Windows at work -- but overall, they were very close. Of course, using Web browsers was not much of a big deal, as the browsers I used were on both operating systems. That was easy. Audio and video utilities were actually fairly easy, though not entirely smooth. I used the same utilities for the respective operating systems. Some differences, but not a lot. Some everyday utilities were different, though. For writing Web pages and such, there were different utilities I used. Sure, there were some that were available in both Windows and Mac, but the one...

College football season has reached Week Nine, and for the first time in a few weeks, there are no games between unbeaten teams. There are three games featuring matchups of ranked teams, all games between conference opponents. The Big 12, the SEC, and the Big Ten all have a conference game between two ranked teams. If you want to watch all of the games this season, you need access to most of the networks, which can get expensive. Of course, you might not want to be able to watch all the games. This weekend, only one game will not be on these networks. Here are the networks carrying games: ABC ACC Network Big 12 Big Ten CBS CBS Sports Network ESPN ESPN 2 ESPN 3 ESPN U SEC Network ESPN+ Fox Fox Sports 1 Longhorn Network (No games this week) NBC NFL Network Pac 12 Network Peacock (No games this week) Stadium Here is how to watch these networks listed: ABC Antenna, over the air, free. Vidgo Plus, $60/month. YouTub...

Quick! Tell me where you can watch Doctor Who. Okay, that's unfair. Mostly because there are so many different places where you can watch the iconic British TV show. Of course, part of the answer depends on which incarnation of the show you are talking about. The classic shows air on different networks, but the revival series (sometimes called NuWho) has aired live on BBC America for some time, while the rest of the NuWho episodes are on HBO Max. Starting in November 2023, Disney Plus is the new home of new episodes of Doctor Who. Ncuti Gatwa, who will star as the 15th Doctor following Tennant's second run, announced that the beloved sci-fi series would be moving to Disney+ during an appearance this morning on Live with Kelly and Ryan. Russell T Davies, who acted as showrunner for the series from 2005 to 2009, will return along with Tennant. "I love this show, and this is the best of both worlds—with the vision and joy of the BBC and Disney+ together we can launch the TARD...

The World Series starts tomorrow. Of course, with the expanded playoffs in Major League Baseball, only three games of what is called the October Classic will actually take place in October. The World Series will end in November. I won't spend a lot of time complaining about that, but I will spend a little. While I like the fact that more fans now have the opportunity to win a championship -- 12 of 30 teams were in the playoffs between the two leagues -- I do not like the World Series dragging on into November. I'm of the mindset that the World Series should be played in October. The entire World Series, not just some of the games. With that out of the way, streamers can watch the October/November Classic starting tomorrow. All four, five, six, or seven games will be carried on Fox. Fox Antenna, over the air, free. Vidgo Plus, $60/month. YouTube TV, $65/month. Fubo TV, $70/month. Hulu+Live TV, $70. DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month. That's prett...

Many times you'll find movie lists of the "best [insert holiday here] movies of all time." Usually, these are yearly lists and vary from year to year. This year, for some reason, I haven't seen many of these lists. Heck, I haven't seen any at all for Hallowe'en. (Yes, I use the traditional spelling for Hallowe'en.) I finally did a search for such a list, and the IMDB Top 100 Halloween Movies of All Time showed up. And I was disappointed with the results. Some of what was on the list made me go "seriously?" Some of what was not on the list made me go "Seriously??!!??" You see, I consider Nosferatu a great movie for Hallowe'en, or for any time you want to watch a well done creepy movie. That's not bad for a movie that's 100 years old. The film was released in its native Germany in March of 1922, so it's actually now closer to its 101st anniversary than its 100th. But this is the centennial of the film, and I think...

More price increases make the news. This time, it's Apple's service, Apple TV+, which is going up. While it's not a large amount that it's going up, it is a large percentage that it is going up. Previously, Apple TV+ was $5/month. It's now $7/month. You might think that a $2/month increase isn't that much, and it's not. $2/month is not really all that much. But, considering the total monthly cost was only $5, that makes it a 40% increase! That's quite the price hike, when you look at it like that. And, for Apple subscribers, it's more than Apple TV+ that's going up. Nearly all major subscriptions are increasing, according to 9to5 Mac : This translates to increases of $1 to $2 per service, with Apple One tiers going up about $3 at the same time. Here’s the full pricing breakdown for the United States: Apple Music Individual: $10.99 per month (from $9.99) Family: $16.99 per month (from $14.99) Individual Annual: $109 per year (from $99) Apple TV+ M...

With the focus here on streaming, it may seem out of place that I'm commenting on an increase in prices for a satellite service. No, I'm not going to turn that news into another reason to go with streaming rather than satellite or cable. I think there are plenty of reasons to stream over usage of those older, traditional services. And, yes, those older pay TV services do go up in price from time to time, but so do streaming services. So, a price increase in a satellite service isn't exactly a new reason to switch. Rather, I think it's a sign of things to come with streaming. The reason is that this price increase that was announced last week is for Dish Network. And that impacts streaming because Dish owns Sling TV. You may already know that Dish owns Sling, but not everyone knows that. Yes, traditional pay TV services are in the streaming business as well. Comcast, one of the largest cable TV services, owns Peacock TV, the streaming service. And of course satellite T...

A while back, I decided to test three different privacy phone setups. I later added a fourth to the mix, but have ruled that fourth one out. I left it out initially for a reason, then rethought things . After a bit, I came to realize that I was right to omit to initially. So, I'm down to three, right? No, I ruled out the first one I tried pretty quickly. The Pine 64 phone running Linux is a no-go. It's just not user friendly. Whether or not it's the hardware or the software, the net result is an experience similar to that of the BlackBerry 10. If you don't remember that, you are a fortunate soul indeed. It was awful. And the Linux phone experience has been awful. So this one is a no-go. I tried a Teracube 2e running /e/OS. I liked it. I tried a Google Pixel 4a running Lineage OS. I liked it. In fact, I've been using the Google Pixel running Lineage as my primary phone for a while. So much so that if I stopped carrying it, I'd feel wrong. Which means I've not...

College football season continues, with this week featuring a single game between ranked unbeaten teams. The ACC has the lone battle of the unbeatens this week. There are five games featuring matchups of ranked teams, all games between conference opponents. The Big 12 has two such matchups, while the ACC (the unbeatens), SEC, and Pac 12 each have conference games between two ranked teams. If you want to watch all of the games this season, you need access to most of the networks, which can get expensive. Of course, you might not want to be able to watch all the games. This weekend, only one game will not be on these networks. Here are the networks carrying games: ABC ACC Network Big Ten Big 12 Network (No games this week) CBS CBS Sports Network ESPN ESPN 2 ESPN 3 ESPN U SEC Network ESPN+ Fox Fox Sports 1 Longhorn Network (No games this week) NBC NFL Network Pac 12 Network Peacock Here is how to watch these networks: ABC ...

If, like me, you're a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000, you're probably also a fan of RiffTrax. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, well, MSTies such as me just shake our heads at how unfortunate you are to have missed out on this. If you're not familiar, there was a TV show back in the 1990s called Mystery Science Theater 3000. The premise is that mad scientists sent a janitor into space to watch bad movies in a scheme to take over the world. He built two robots as companions, and they watched the moves together, humorously commenting throughout the film. The whole thing was simply a reason to show bad movies and poke fun at them. And, MST3K did exactly that for ten full seasons on three different networks. Later, it was brought back by Netflix for two more seasons. And, currently, it's in its 13th season, with this one financed by a Kickstarter campaign. Yes, I contributed. After MST3K was canceled, the three main cast members that made fun of the movie...

The NBA season is underway. The first games were actually Tuesday night, with more games on tap last night. If you're an NBA fan, perhaps you got to see some games in which you were interested. But if you're a streamer, what did you do? Well, you could have watched some of the games as well. All games, except those affected by regional blackouts or games on national broadcasts, are available through NBA League Pass, which can be used on the major streaming devices. Other games will be available on networks that are part of streaming packages. ABC ESPN TNT NBA TV So, how can you watch those channels? ABC Antenna, over the air, free. Vidgo Plus, $60/month. YouTube TV, $65/month. Fubo TV, $70/month. Hulu+Live TV, $70. DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month. ESPN Sling Orange, $35/month. Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month. Vidgo Plus, $60/month. YouTube TV, $65/month. Fubo TV, $70/month. Hulu+Live TV, $70. DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month. TNT Sling Orange, $35/month. Sling Blue,...

It's been expected for some time, but Apple also did the unexpected, as they'll sometimes do. And the unexpected is very welcome. Apple introduced a new Apple TV lineup yesterday. All Apple TV devices are now 4K devices. That means the Apple TV device that has been around for a few years is no longer available. Or will be no longer available when they sell out the current stock. Heck, you can't even buy the 1080 version of it online anymore. All Apple TV devices are 64 GB or higher now. Gone are the 32 GB devices. Gone are the HD devices. The new lineup featured two versions of Apple TV : The new Apple TV 4K is available in two configurations: Apple TV 4K (Wi-Fi), which offers 64GB of storage; and Apple TV 4K (Wi-Fi + Ethernet), which offers support for Gigabit Ethernet for fast networking and streaming, Thread mesh networking protocol to connect even more smart home accessories, and twice the storage for apps and games (128GB). Customers can order the new Apple TV 4K with ...

The launch is two weeks away -- actually just over at 16 days away -- but we have a launch date and a price for the new lower priced Netflix ad-supported tier. Starting November 3, 2022, you'll be able to subscribe to Netflix for as low as $7/month. The current tier of ad-free plans remains. The current $10/month plan gets a slight boost in that the resolution will increase from 480 to 720, which is actually a good bump. It should be noticeable. There will be no changes to the $16/month or $20/month plans. Just the resolution increase for the $10/month plan, plus the newer $7/month plan. So, what do you get for $7/month? Well, it's essentially the $10/month plan (including the higher resolution), but with ads . Basic with Ads offers all the features people expect from Netflix’s Basic plan, with a few differences: What stays the same : A wide variety of great TV shows and movies; personalized viewing experience; available on a wide range of TV and mobile devices; change or ca...

I've talked about the streaming app Pub-D-Hub a time or two before. I don't bring it up a lot. Not many people do. But it is one of the apps I've used nearly as long as any other, except Hulu. While it's been free since it launched -- I'm not sure when it launched, but I've watched it for nearly 10 years -- I've been a paid subscriber for many years. The free service has enough to enjoy, so it's not necessary to subscribe, but there is additional content available to subscribers. Additionally, even if there was no additionally content, I appreciate the content that is offered, and don't mind showing some support. After all, it's less than $5/year to upgrade to a paid account. And yes, that's $5/year, not a month. In recent years, they increased their traditional lineup of on-demand public domain movies and TV shows, as well as commercials and short films, with live streaming channels. The selection isn't quite that of Pluto TV, Xumo, Tu...

Last month, I mentioned that I was satisfied with the job my Pi Hole installation was doing. And, a month later, I'm still quite satisfied. Even more so, since I added a VPN to the setup. Many people will use a VPN, either a free ad-supported one, or a paid one, to try to get around geolocation restrictions for streaming content. I use a VPN for other reasons. I'm using Open VPN to power everything, and am running the VPN on a Raspberry Pi (of course). In fact, it's the same Raspberry Pi I use to run Pi Hole. I can use it to connect devices to my home network. I'm not connecting to a service in another location. I'm connecting to my home network when I'm not at home. So why would I do that? Well, most of the time, I'm having my mobile device connected to my network via VPN in order to take advantage of my Pi Hole setup. That way, I can have tracker blocking anywhere. And, if I need to get to something on my network, I can. Now, admittedly, this rarely happe...

College football season continues, with this week again featuring three battles between ranked unbeaten teams. All three are conference matchups: one each in SEC, Big XII, and Big Ten. If you want to watch all of the games this season, you need access to most of the networks, which can get expensive. Of course, you might not want to be able to watch all the games. This weekend, only one game will not be on these networks. Here are the networks carrying games: ABC ACC Network Big Ten Big 12 Network (No games this week) CBS CBS Sports Network ESPN ESPN 2 ESPN 3 ESPN U SEC Network ESPN+ Fox Fox Sports 1 Longhorn Network (No games this week) NBC NFL Network Pac 12 Network Peacock Here is how to watch these networks: ABC Antenna, over the air, free. Vidgo Plus, $60/month. YouTube TV, $65/month. Fubo TV, $70/month. Hulu+Live TV, $70. DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month. ACC Network Sling Orange, with...

It's only going on for a short period of time, but for the next couple of days, Paramount+ is offering a deal on either plan that includes an Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite. Here are the details: If you visit the offer page , you have the option to get the Essentials plan (with ads, and no local CBS) or the Premium plan (no ads, with local CBS) for 1/2 price. Plus, you get an Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite. That means a year of Essentials for $25, or a year of Premium for $50. And a Fire TV Stick Lite. That's a pretty good deal. Now, I'm one that only subscribes to services on occasion. I don't normally do a year service. But this is a pretty darn good deal. During the year, I would subscribe to Paramount+ a couple of time, costing $20-$30 during the year, since I would choose the Premium plan (local CBS). That's close enough to think about it. I don't know if I will take the deal, as I don't watch it year round, but if you are someone that would subscribe five mont...

Roku announced a new lineup of devices called Roku Smart Home yesterday. I like the idea of it, but I don't like the execution. Allow me to explain. I have a few smart home devices at my home. I use smart switches to control overhead lights in several rooms. I use smart outlets to control other items. I don't have much more than that, but I do find them helpful. I mean, if I forget to turn off a light at night, I don't have to get back out of bed and wander around the house turning off lights I overlooked. When I got the devices, my focus was on devices that worked with both Google Assistant, Apple Home Kit, and Amazon Alexa. That should cover everything, right? Well, no, but more on that in a minute. When I got the devices, I wasn't sure which main system I would use: Alexa, Siri, or Google. But, as all the devices I bought worked with them all, I was good. It's not important which I finally settled on, because recently, I've begin making changes to that. As pa...

If you have or had cable/satellite wiring, and you want to put up an antenna, you have most of the battle already won. You see, the cable used by satellite or cable systems works just fine with a TV antenna. All you really have to do is connect the antenna to the existing cable running through your house, and you now have TV antenna available where the cable runs. There is one potential issue if you had cable TV. I had this issue, but it was easy enough to work around. If your cable company will still be your Internet Service Provider (ISP) then they will still need part of the cable for their signal, and you can't use that. Well, you can, but it can cause problems. You don't want that. In my situation, there was cable running to four TV outlets throughout the house. The cable company was the ISP, so they needed cable for their setup. Only one of those was needed for the Internet connection, meaning the other three were available for antenna signal. The cable guy had left all f...

Baseball playoffs are underway, with the Wild Card round completed, setting the stage for the Divisional Series in each league. In the National League, the two series are divisional matchups, with the Phillies and Braves facing off, and the Padres and Dodgers battling each other. On the Junior Circuit, Cleveland and the Yankees play, and the Mariners and Astros do battle. If you're a streamer, you have options on watching the games. There are three networks carrying the Divisional Series matchups: Fox Antenna, over the air, free. Vidgo Plus, $60/month. YouTube TV, $65/month. Fubo TV, $70/month. Hulu+Live TV, $70. DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month. Fox Sports 1 Sling Blue, with Sports Extra, $46/month. Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month. Vidgo Plus, $60/month. YouTube TV, $65/month. Fubo TV, $70/month. Hulu+Live TV, $70. DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month. TBS Sling Orange, $35/month. Sling Blue, $35/mon...

I don't currently subscribe to EPIX. I have, but I don't subscribe to pay streaming services for very long, usually just for a month, long enough to catch up on stuff, then cancel until some time later. Having said that, EPIX is a pretty good streaming service. It's not one I normally think about, and based on the subscriber base for the top ten pay streaming services, a lot of others are that way as well. And that's really not a good indication of the programming available. For EPIX, you can add that as part of a cable or satellite service. But there is a standalone service, EPIX NOW, that give you the same thing without cable/satellite. It's what streamers would use, so that means us. EPIX NOW is $6/month and one of the more reasonably priced services. It's less than 1/3 of the cost of the top tier Netflix service, and less than half the cost of the mid-tier Netflix. It's even less than the lowest Netflix tier. It's less than half the cost of HBO Max. ...

In 2007, when I replaced a computer that really needed to be replaced, the new laptop came with Windows Vista. I was not a happy camper. I put up with it for a while, and was tempted to "downgrade" to Windows XP, which I liked. I hated Vista. And so did many others. Let me take some time to tell you why I think Vista was so bad. Before Windows XP was released, Microsoft begin working on an OS code named "Longhorn." Note that all versions of Windows had code names prior to release, with Windows XP being "Whistler." Well, Longhorn was being developed before XP was ever officially released. The plan was a stop-gap OS release between Whistler (what became Windows XP) and Blackcomb (the planned next major release). As development progressed, many features intended for Blackcomb were incorporated into Longhorn. However, as Longhorn was not originally intended to have those features, this "scope creep" began to overwhelm the project. Blackcomb was event...

College football season continues, this week feature three battles between ranked unbeaten teams. All three are conference matchups: one each in SEC, Big XII, and Pac 12. If you want to watch all of the games this season, you need access to most of the networks, which can get expensive. Of course, you might not want to be able to watch all the games. This weekend, only one game will not be on these networks. Here are the networks carrying games: ABC ACC Network Big Ten Big 12 Network CBS CBS Sports Network ESPN ESPN 2 ESPN 3 ESPN U SEC Network ESPN+ Fox Fox Sports 1 Longhorn Network (No games this week) NBC NFL Network Pac 12 Network Peacock Here is how to watch these networks: ABC Antenna, over the air, free. Vidgo Plus, $60/month. YouTube TV, $65/month. Fubo TV, $70/month. Hulu+Live TV, $70. DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month. ACC Network Sling Orange, with Sports Extra, $46/month. Sling ...

If you're looking to cut the cord -- cable or satellite -- and are wondering how you're going to be able to watch all those channels with streaming, there are a bunch of questions you need to ask yourself first. And those questions may change the question you initially had. You see, as you think it through, you may come to realize a few things about your TV watching habits. Let me offer some examples. Your initial question may be "How will I ever watch all the channels I have if I drop cable/satellite?" But is that really a valid question? Do you already watch all of the channels you have? You probably don't. You probably have a few channels you like to watch, and the others are channels you either never watch at all, or watch only when you run across something there while channel surfing. You don't really watch all those channels. So, now the question becomes "How do I watch all the channels I watch today?" And that question may not be valid. It mig...