Streaming

Wow, Spotify’s New Privacy Policy is Atrocious [Updated]

Update (10:46 am) 8/21/15: Spotify has clarified exactly how it’ll use its new privacy policy, and it’s not as bad as we initially thought. You need to give Spotify explicit permission to access your personal data. Read more about it here. https://gizmodo.com/spotify-clarifies-exactly-how-it-will-use-your-informat-1725609395 There’s a new privacy policy going into effect with the latest Spotify update,…

The Only Thing I’ll Miss About Cable Is My DVR

As far as watching TV goes, the experience provided by a traditional cable provider is shit. Slow hardware, clunky interfaces, unwanted bundled channels. Streaming services are slowly replacing all of this and thanks goodness for them. But there’s an aspect of the old way that I will sorely miss—the DVR and its magical commercial skipping…

How a Mail-Order Music Scam Taught Me to Steal

It’s hard to say exactly when I learned how to steal music. At first, I think it happened when I learned how to torrent. Then I recall my late nights with Napster. But if I really think hard about it, I remember middle school and Columbia House and that incredible eight CDs for a penny…

Hulu Doesn’t Want to Feed Your Binge-Watching Habit

Hulu sees the crumbs on your rumpled t-shirt, your bloodshot eyes, and your diminishing will to live—and it does not approve. Unlike Netflix, which drops whole seasons of new original shows at once, Hulu won’t be letting you binge watch its new original programming. The Mindy Project, Difficult People, Rocketjump: The Show, The Hotwives Of…

Pornhub Wants Us to Pay for Porn Now?

Finding free porn on the internet is not hard. Literally type “porn” intothe search engineof your choice and bada bing, bada boobs—you’ll get yourself some T&A&whatever other genitalia your freaky heart desires. Which is why Pornhub’s latest service—paid porn—is a bold move. Pornhub is launching a “Netflix-style” premium streaming service called Pornhub Premium for its…

I’m Playing Xbox On Windows 10, And You Can Too

Yesterday, my wife wanted to play some Kingdom Hearts. I was in the mood for Titanfall. We only have one TV. So I pulled out a Surface 3 tablet, plugged in an Xbox One controller, and started streaming the game from my Xbox to my portable PC. It’s a new Windows 10 feature. How well…

You Can Now Stream From Xbox One Using a Windows 10 PC or Tablet

With the launch of Windows 10 upon us, Microsoft is making good on its promise from earlier this year: Windows 10 users can now stream gameplay footage from Xbox One. Which is awesome, and it might finally convince me to buy a new Xbox. As we already learned, the game streaming function will only work…

Tech Exists to Provide Over-the-Air 4K TV (But You Can’t Have It Yet)

A new set of proof-of-concept tests reveals that it’s perfectly possible to beam 4K TV through the air, without the need for streaming video services. Imagine: 4K through your TV aerial. But, perhaps predictably, it’s going to be a little while before you can have it. Research by LG, GatesAir and Zenith shows that, using…

Comcast Has a New $15 Per Month Cable-Free TV Service Called Stream

Comcast has announced that it has a new at-home TV streaming service—called Stream—that Xfinity customers will be able to bolt on to their existing contracts for $15 a month. The service will apparently allow you to watch “about a dozen networks” — including HBO, Fox and NBC — on tablet, laptop, and smartphone. The package…

The Best Gadgets to Keep Your Kids Entertained Over the Summer Break

If the weather wasn’t enough to clue you in, you can’t ignore that it’s definitely summer now that the schools are closed and the kids are suddenly free from the clutches of teachers and homework. Sadly that leaves us with the problem of keeping them entertained over the next couple of months. School might suck,…

You Can Now Stream Showtime—Sans Cable—For $11 a Month

The era of à la carte TV may finally be here—ready or not. Today, you can officially stream Showtime over the internet, without a cable subscription, for $11 a month. You can get it through Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, iPod, on a Roku, via Hulu, or through Sony’s PlayStation Vue—another cord-cutting service. Is Showtime worth…

Prince is starting to remove his back catalog from music streaming services, with tracks disappearing from Spotifyand Rdio so far. They’re still available on Google Play, Deezer and Tidal—though it’s not clear how long that will last.

How To Get Apple Music For Windows PC

If you went looking for Apple Music yesterday on your Windows machine, you probably got a bit confused. Where was the download? Why couldn’t you find it in your iTunes? The answer is that you needed iTunes 12.2, which wasn’t available right away. Now, it is—for OS X, and for Windows PC. Just click on…

How to Listen to Apple’s Beats 1 Radio Station on Android, Right Now

Your friends that use iOS and OS X have been babbling about Apple Music and Beats 1, but you use an Android phone and are feeling left out. Well, now there’s a “very unofficial” way to listen along. While the official Apple Music app won’t arrive on Android until the fall, Twitter user Benji R…

Using Apple Music: Wait, Do I Like Alternative?!

When I installed iOS 8.4 on my phone today to try Apple Music, I couldn’t find the iTunes icon. Anywhere. What had happened? Was it a glitch? Then I realized I had hidden the iTunes app in a drawer of Apple apps I never use, alongside Tips and Mail. I found it eventually, but it…

Netflix Is About to Be Bigger Than ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox

Well, we saw this coming: The explosive, cord-cutting popularity of Netflix will finally torch the laurels of traditional broadcast television networks. Analysts predict that if Netflix were measured as a 24-hour station by Nielsen, it would have more viewers than ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox within the year. There is some fine print to that…

Amazon has announced that some of its Prime Instant Video shows will be screened in high dynamic range. It’ll start with original series and Samsung SUHD TVs, but moew shows and devices should be supported soon.

People like to watch other people streaming their video games. It’s kind of a thing. So YouTube is launching a new website and app dedicated specifically to that. It’ll compete with Twitch, of course, which is owned by Amazon. [YouTube]

Everything Apple Tried to Kill Today at WWDC 2015

Today at WWDC, Apple announced a slew of new features and products. Energy was high, Drake was in the building, but a lot of the big reveals looked a lot like the features and products of rivals…especially Google. Imitation is the sincerest form of trying to kill the competition? Here’s a quick rundown of some…

Today’s the Day You Can Pay for a Steam Machine

Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo will do their damnest to sell you on PlayStation, Xbox, and Wii. But maybe, you’ll have already spent your money on an alternative game console: a Steam Machine. Today, you can pre-order the fabled Steam Controller, the Steam Link streamer, and one of two different Linux-based gaming PCs. And—if you do…