Three-quarters of the world’s inhabitants, including those
living in Hawaii, will be exposed to deadly heat waves by the end of the
century unless greenhouse gases are not substantially reduced,
according to a study published today in Nature Climate Change.
And even if bold action is taken to curtail emissions,
nearly half of the world’s population still faces living with the
dangerous hot spells, with tropical regions feeling the worst of it, the
study said.
“We’re left with a choice between bad and terrible,” said lead author Camilo Mora, a University of Hawaii professor.
In Hawaii, according to Mora, the extreme heat might last
two or three months at a time, driving residents and tourists indoors in
search of air-conditioned relief — all the while straining island power
grids.
The episodes will be reminiscent of the oppressive heat and
humidity felt here a few days each year now, he said, and for about a
week during the strong El Nino summer two years ago.
*** and now let's go to the know-nothing comments...
plainly_the_elder
14 hours ago
More fake news by the climate death cultists intended to grease the rails of the government grant gravy train.
[etc.]
Monday, June 19, 2017
Saturday, June 17, 2017
Oceanic no more
A household name for more than 50 years in local cable TV has signed off.
As of today the dominant cable TV system operator in the state has been re-branded as Spectrum, replacing Oceanic, which had served kamaaina customers since the 1960s.
Spectrum is the result of Charter Communications Inc. acquiring Time Warner Cable in a roughly $60 billion deal in May 2016. Charter has been converting Time Warner Cable customers in 28 states to its own service under the Spectrum brand since September, and Hawaii is the last market to undergo the changeover.
As part of the switch, Hawaii customers have the option to keep their existing service packages but also now have new packages to choose from. The Oceanic name, however, wasn’t retained despite a long association in the islands, where a series of mainland companies acquired and maintained the brand.
Oceanic was born as an outgrowth of developing Mililani in the 1960s. At the time, over-the-air TV service wouldn’t reach or wouldn’t be received well in Central Oahu, so Mililani’s developer Castle &Cooke Inc. established its own service initially called Mililani Cablevision.
Castle &Cooke’s real estate development arm, Oceanic Properties, decided to expand the business, and in 1968 announced plans to offer what was then known as cable community antenna television, or CATV, between downtown neighborhoods and Waialae-Kahala. What evolved was Oceanic Cablevision, which acquired competitors and grew to serve most of the state under a succession of different owners and variations of the Oceanic name.
Among those past owners were American Television and Communications Corp., Warner Cable and most recently Time Warner.
Kit Beuret, Oceanic’s director of public affairs from 1982 to 2002, recalled that under Time Warner there was a push to ditch the Oceanic name and streamline operations. Beuret and others at the company here argued against the plan.
“You know how it is with kamaaina businesses,” he said. “We really wanted to hang on to that brand. It was one of the most recognizable brands in Hawaii.”
There are no plans to change existing Hawaii service packages, said company spokesman Dennis Johnson. “We want to make this as smooth a transition as possible,” he said. “Current customers do not need to do anything.”
Local programming will be unchanged, including high school and University of Hawaii sports coverage, he added. UH sports programming will henceforth be known as Spectrum Sports, but the high school sports programming known as OC16 will retain the reference to Oceanic Cable in its new name, Spectrum OC16.
As of today the dominant cable TV system operator in the state has been re-branded as Spectrum, replacing Oceanic, which had served kamaaina customers since the 1960s.
Spectrum is the result of Charter Communications Inc. acquiring Time Warner Cable in a roughly $60 billion deal in May 2016. Charter has been converting Time Warner Cable customers in 28 states to its own service under the Spectrum brand since September, and Hawaii is the last market to undergo the changeover.
As part of the switch, Hawaii customers have the option to keep their existing service packages but also now have new packages to choose from. The Oceanic name, however, wasn’t retained despite a long association in the islands, where a series of mainland companies acquired and maintained the brand.
Oceanic was born as an outgrowth of developing Mililani in the 1960s. At the time, over-the-air TV service wouldn’t reach or wouldn’t be received well in Central Oahu, so Mililani’s developer Castle &Cooke Inc. established its own service initially called Mililani Cablevision.
Castle &Cooke’s real estate development arm, Oceanic Properties, decided to expand the business, and in 1968 announced plans to offer what was then known as cable community antenna television, or CATV, between downtown neighborhoods and Waialae-Kahala. What evolved was Oceanic Cablevision, which acquired competitors and grew to serve most of the state under a succession of different owners and variations of the Oceanic name.
Among those past owners were American Television and Communications Corp., Warner Cable and most recently Time Warner.
Kit Beuret, Oceanic’s director of public affairs from 1982 to 2002, recalled that under Time Warner there was a push to ditch the Oceanic name and streamline operations. Beuret and others at the company here argued against the plan.
“You know how it is with kamaaina businesses,” he said. “We really wanted to hang on to that brand. It was one of the most recognizable brands in Hawaii.”
There are no plans to change existing Hawaii service packages, said company spokesman Dennis Johnson. “We want to make this as smooth a transition as possible,” he said. “Current customers do not need to do anything.”
Local programming will be unchanged, including high school and University of Hawaii sports coverage, he added. UH sports programming will henceforth be known as Spectrum Sports, but the high school sports programming known as OC16 will retain the reference to Oceanic Cable in its new name, Spectrum OC16.
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Netflix is bigger than cable
Netflix has, for the first time, surpassed cable in total subscribers according to Leichtman Research.
US cable companies have 48.61 million subscribers while Netflix has
just hit 50.85 million. The numbers don't count minor cable networks,
which could in themselves amount to 5% of total cable customers.
For many this won't be a surprise. Let's be honest, with Netflix having doubled its subscriber base - adding 27 million subs - over the last five years there was always going to come a time when it beat other services.
And the good news for cable is that this isn't having a massively detrimental effect on their numbers either. While cable subs are down by 4 million in the same five years that Netflix has seen huge growth, that's not a massive drop off. It's also worth bearing in mind that cable TV makes up only 50% of total TV viewership in pay TV. That said, Q1 2017 shows a net loss in subscriptions while Q1 2016 saw cable grow a little.
Satellite TV is doing okay, with around 38 million subscribers. Dish Network added 318,000 customers in Q1 with Direct TV stalling with gains that didn't outpace customer loses. Satellite is still growing faster than cable though.
Faster still though are the internet-delivered services like Sling TV and Direct TV now which have added 350,000 in Q1. These services now have 1.7 million customers between them, and it's likely that this segment will continue to see growth as customers move away from cable TV.
In total there are 93,319,187 subscribers to cable, satellite and internet streaming services in the US, which account for 95% of pay TV viewers. Netflix certainly isn't going to hit 100m US subscriptions anytime soon, and it's likely that it will hit a wall of some sort eventually. But if the service continues to improve and offer diverse programming it's likely that customers will feel as I do - that it's worth the modest monthly fee to have access to a library of great content.
For many this won't be a surprise. Let's be honest, with Netflix having doubled its subscriber base - adding 27 million subs - over the last five years there was always going to come a time when it beat other services.
And the good news for cable is that this isn't having a massively detrimental effect on their numbers either. While cable subs are down by 4 million in the same five years that Netflix has seen huge growth, that's not a massive drop off. It's also worth bearing in mind that cable TV makes up only 50% of total TV viewership in pay TV. That said, Q1 2017 shows a net loss in subscriptions while Q1 2016 saw cable grow a little.
Satellite TV is doing okay, with around 38 million subscribers. Dish Network added 318,000 customers in Q1 with Direct TV stalling with gains that didn't outpace customer loses. Satellite is still growing faster than cable though.
Faster still though are the internet-delivered services like Sling TV and Direct TV now which have added 350,000 in Q1. These services now have 1.7 million customers between them, and it's likely that this segment will continue to see growth as customers move away from cable TV.
In total there are 93,319,187 subscribers to cable, satellite and internet streaming services in the US, which account for 95% of pay TV viewers. Netflix certainly isn't going to hit 100m US subscriptions anytime soon, and it's likely that it will hit a wall of some sort eventually. But if the service continues to improve and offer diverse programming it's likely that customers will feel as I do - that it's worth the modest monthly fee to have access to a library of great content.
Saturday, June 10, 2017
the cheapo Fire tablet (what's missing?)
Sure the Fire tablet is a bargain at $50 (or sometimes even cheaper, it was like $33.33 on Black Friday). But there's no such thing as a free lunch. (Well, maybe there is, but in this case, no.)
So what's the downside of buying a Fire tablet vs. and ipad or Galaxy Tab? Well the first thing is that if you buy the cheapie version, there's an ad on the splash screen when the thing turns on. You have to flick it up to get rid of it. But the main thing is that it doesn't have all the apps.
I tried to install TBS on it today. Nope, not compatible with my tablet Amazon.com says, only with my Fire TVs.
I found that odd since I had TNT installed on my tablet. But when I tried to run it, it said there was an update available with no option to bypass the update. But then you try to install the update, it goes to the app store and the Watch TNT page. And guess what, not compatible with the Fire tablet either.
I'd say TBS and TNT are pretty big names for Amazon not to support.
Well, I guess it's possible to load Google Play on the Fire tablet, but I never tried it. But why bother when I can just use my ipad (other than the fact it's full of pictures and videos already)...
Then again, I guess I shouldn't complain. After all, I think I paid like only $40 for mine.
So what's the downside of buying a Fire tablet vs. and ipad or Galaxy Tab? Well the first thing is that if you buy the cheapie version, there's an ad on the splash screen when the thing turns on. You have to flick it up to get rid of it. But the main thing is that it doesn't have all the apps.
I tried to install TBS on it today. Nope, not compatible with my tablet Amazon.com says, only with my Fire TVs.
I found that odd since I had TNT installed on my tablet. But when I tried to run it, it said there was an update available with no option to bypass the update. But then you try to install the update, it goes to the app store and the Watch TNT page. And guess what, not compatible with the Fire tablet either.
I'd say TBS and TNT are pretty big names for Amazon not to support.
Well, I guess it's possible to load Google Play on the Fire tablet, but I never tried it. But why bother when I can just use my ipad (other than the fact it's full of pictures and videos already)...
Then again, I guess I shouldn't complain. After all, I think I paid like only $40 for mine.
Friday, June 09, 2017
more popular than cable
Internet video services are more popular than cable, according to a May study from Fluent LLC. that was reported by eMarketer. Fluent, a data and marketing company, found that 67% of U.S. internet users watch TV via a streaming service, a la Netflix Inc. (NFLX), Hulu and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), while 61% have cable subscriptions at home.
Millennials, age 18 to 34, used streaming services at a higher rate and Netflix was the most popular service among them. According to the study, 77% of millennials said they use streaming services vs. 57% who have cable at home -- there's some cross over of people subscribing to both. For people aged 35 and older it was a more even split, with 65% using streaming services and 62% subscribing to cable.
Of the streaming services, Netflix was the most popular, with 48% of all respondents saying they use the service. Amazon and Hulu -- a joint venture by Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), Walt Disney Co. (DIS), 21st Century Fox Inc. (FOX) and Time Warner Inc. (TWX), were tied with 16%, followed by Alphabet Inc.-owned (GOOGL) YouTube Red's 11% share and HBO being popular among 10% of survey respondents.
More than 34% of people said low cost was the main factor in opting for a streaming service and for millennials the convenience of watching whenever and wherever was important for 29% of them, while 21% of nonmillennials said the same. And original content, which has been of increasing importance for companies, was a deciding factor for 18% of all respondents. Only 7% were interested in syndicated content.
Millennials, age 18 to 34, used streaming services at a higher rate and Netflix was the most popular service among them. According to the study, 77% of millennials said they use streaming services vs. 57% who have cable at home -- there's some cross over of people subscribing to both. For people aged 35 and older it was a more even split, with 65% using streaming services and 62% subscribing to cable.
Of the streaming services, Netflix was the most popular, with 48% of all respondents saying they use the service. Amazon and Hulu -- a joint venture by Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), Walt Disney Co. (DIS), 21st Century Fox Inc. (FOX) and Time Warner Inc. (TWX), were tied with 16%, followed by Alphabet Inc.-owned (GOOGL) YouTube Red's 11% share and HBO being popular among 10% of survey respondents.
More than 34% of people said low cost was the main factor in opting for a streaming service and for millennials the convenience of watching whenever and wherever was important for 29% of them, while 21% of nonmillennials said the same. And original content, which has been of increasing importance for companies, was a deciding factor for 18% of all respondents. Only 7% were interested in syndicated content.
-- via etrade (TWX)
Sunday, May 28, 2017
cut the cord? maybe not yet
We interrupt your regularly scheduled edition of Schwab Sector Views to let you know about an exciting development in entertainment: Are you tired of having to subscribe to a patchwork of multiple services to see the programs you like? Are you tired of having to wait for shows to load and buffering problems? Are you tired of missing out on live sports and local news? What if I told you you could drop all that in favor of a service that bundles all of the channels you want, including live sports and local channels? It comes on instantly and allows you to seamlessly move between shows with the simple touch of a button... How lucky are we to live in a time like this?!
OK—a bit of sarcasm to make the point that despite all the talk you might hear about “cord cutting” and the changing media landscape, investors may want to think twice about dumping all the “old” media stocks from their portfolios. In fact, in some cases, much of the near-term bad news may be priced in already and could even provide some potential opportunities.
OK—a bit of sarcasm to make the point that despite all the talk you might hear about “cord cutting” and the changing media landscape, investors may want to think twice about dumping all the “old” media stocks from their portfolios. In fact, in some cases, much of the near-term bad news may be priced in already and could even provide some potential opportunities.
Friday, May 26, 2017
people still watch TV?
Surprise: an overwhelming majority of adults still watch TV on a TV despite cord-cutting and the prevalence of mobile broadband. 92 percent of those aged 18 and older according to a recent report from Nielsen, to be exact. "Sure, viewers have more options today, but when looking at platforms in a comparative fashion, it's clear that consumers choose the television as the primary vehicle for [programming]," Tom Ziangas of AMC Research said in a blog post. The study found that of the gross minutes counted last year, 509,196,299,668 minutes (82.1 percent) were spent watching shows and movies via a flatscreen itself, and an additional 63,637,309,003 minutes (10.3 percent) came from TV-connected devices like game consoles.
Among adults, watching videos on their computer, smartphone or tablet accounted for under eight percent of all viewing time. "What we found was that contrary to the popular narrative that smaller screens were talking away time from the TV glass, when we looked deeper we found that overall time spent viewing on the TV had the most minutes among every age or ethnic demographic we looked at," Nielsen's Peter Katsingris said.
So, people really like watching stuff on a screen that's too big to fit in their pocket or messenger bag despite having ready access to Netflix on the go. This potentially shows that even though cord-cutting has gone mainstream, a decent number of people either still have pay-TV subscriptions or use the smart apps built into their display versus a Roku device or a PlayStation.
Among adults, watching videos on their computer, smartphone or tablet accounted for under eight percent of all viewing time. "What we found was that contrary to the popular narrative that smaller screens were talking away time from the TV glass, when we looked deeper we found that overall time spent viewing on the TV had the most minutes among every age or ethnic demographic we looked at," Nielsen's Peter Katsingris said.
So, people really like watching stuff on a screen that's too big to fit in their pocket or messenger bag despite having ready access to Netflix on the go. This potentially shows that even though cord-cutting has gone mainstream, a decent number of people either still have pay-TV subscriptions or use the smart apps built into their display versus a Roku device or a PlayStation.
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV channel update
[5/23/17] Noticed that TNT and TBS have come to Roku. Two less reasons to stick to the Fire TV. Pretty much the only reason to stick with the Fire (for me) are the Hulu captions and the watched status bars. Hallmark and OWN have also come to Roku.
[2/13/17] A couple new channels I have added to my Roku.
Google Photos lets me display my Google photos as a slideshow and individually. It also has a screensaver, but photos come out tiny.
Hallmark Channel. This was on Fire TV previously and now it's on Roku. Don't see it yet in the Movies & TV category or the TV Everywhere category. Had to search for it to find it. Wait, there it is. Number 195 out of 721 in Movies & TV. I expect it to be moving up in the coming weeks.
Actually the content is rather skimpy with only two shows listed: Home & Family and When Calls The Heart. There's more movies though with 30 listed, though 5 of them are Kitten Bowl. There are two of the Good Witch Movies: Good Witch's Garden (2009) and Good Witch's Family (2011). Authentication required. Time Warner Spectrum supported, along with DirecTV and Hawaiian Telcom. But no PlayStation Vue or Sling. Checking Roku, I see The Good Witch (the first film in the series) is free on Popcorn Flix and OVGuide, among others. I'll try Family Flix (powered by OVGuide). Disappointingly the movie is 4:3 with no captions. Try Popcorn Flix. Same thing. Checking the DVD on Amazon, the movie is 1.33:1 (4:3) with no mention of subtitles.
[1/20/17] Oddly the lineup of TV shows on FreeForm on Fire TV is a little different than on Roku. It has 31 shows including The Mindy Project which is not on Roku. Roku has 34 shows including Baby Daddy, The Middle, Reba, Young & Hungry which are not on Fire TV. They both have the same 27 movies. Checking the Apple TV, it has the same shows as on Roku, but has only 25 of the 27 movies, missing Campus Confidential and The Spectacular Now.
Checking the website, they list 37 shows and the same 27 movies. They have all the shows available on Roku/Apple TV plus The Mindy Project. The other two are shows which are not yet available to watch: Famous In Love which is a new show coming in April and Happily Ever After: The Twins (stay tuned for a new season).
Here's the current list of TV shows: 10 Things I Hate About You, Baby Daddy, Becoming Us, Beyond, Bunheads, Cheer Squad, Dead of Summer, Famous In Love, Greek, Guilt, The Twins: Happily Ever After?, Jane by Design, Job or No Job, Last Man Standing, Lincoln Heights, Make It or Break It, Melissa & Joey, Monica The Medium, Next Step Realty NYC, Oh My Josh!, Open Road, Party Girl, Pretty Little Liars, Reba, Recovery Road, School of Doodle, Shadowhunters, Startup U, Stichers, Switched at Birth, The Fosters, The Middle, The Mindy Project, The Nine Lives of Chloe King, Time for Bed with Punam Patel, Twisted, Young & Hungry. They used to have Gilmore Girls, but it's not listed now.
[1/6/17] FreeForm has come to Fire TV. Like ABC, it doesn't support validation from Time Warner Cable, but does support Hawaiian Telcom and Playstation Vue. It works, but I prefer the Roku app. The Roku app has better captions (I think it uses the Roku captions) and rewinding shows is cumbersome on the Fire TV (if you can get it to work at all).
[12/10/16] Here's a chart from CNet (updated 12/7/16) showing what apps or "channels" are available on the Apple TV (old and new), Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast, Android TV
[11/20/16] Activating the ABC app on the Fire TV. For no great reason, since all the shows are also on Hulu (as far as I can see). I see DirecTV, Playstation Vue, Hawaiian Telcom, but no Time Warner Cable.
[11/16/16] OK, now I see season 5 of NCIS Los Angeles on the Fire TV USA Network app. Activating through Hawaiian Telcom again because when I activated it through TWC/Spectrum it had a blank square in the top right where the logo of the TV service appears.
[11/14/16] USA Network finally arrives on Fire TV. But when I tried to activate, I didn't see Time Warner Cable on the list. Hawaiian Telcom, Playstation Vue were supported.
Checking the Roku. Oddly NCIS: Los Angeles has only one episode available on the Fire TV (season one, episode one). But the Roku has the entire season five in addition to that episode. Asks me to log in. And strangely, the Roku authentication does show Time Warner Cable | Spectrum as one of the choices. (But here's a sneaky workaround.)
Maybe the app is still in beta, but it says "coming soon" on the icon on the menu.
Anyway, log out and try the workaround Roku login. It worked. But still only season 1, episode 1 for NCIS: Los Angeles. And NCIS too. I do see season 2 of Mr. Robot though.
And now I don't see the Coming Soon designation. Maybe it was left over from the preview app that I had installed earlier (and uninstalled).
[10/22/16] Here's a disadvantage with the Watch ESPN app on the Fire TV. I was looking to replay the UCF-UConn football game, but didn't see it on the app. I checked the web and the game was on. So I switched to the app on the Roku and the game was there. Don't ask me why.
[10/1/16] Did some more experimenting with The CW app on my Fire TV and Fire TV Stick. Looks like the problem occurs if CC (closed captions) are on. If CC is on, then the video gets stuck trying to load the commercial. But if you turn off CC, then the commercials play through fine. Luckily you can turn off CC while the commercials are stuck trying to load.
[9/30/16] The CW app is back for the Fire TV. Searching from the Amazon web page brings up two entries. One is dated Sep 29, 2016 and the other one is date Sep 30, 2016. The Sep 30, 2016 one is the one works with the Fire TV. The earlier one works only on the Fire tablet.
Tried installing from the web page and apparently the install failed. OK, go to the Fire TV. Don't see it in the apps section, but found it with a search. And it installed OK from there.
The interface looks more modern than the one on the Roku. Captions are OK, but not customizable as far as I can see. I wish I could make the background semi-transparent.
Playing Legends of Tomorrow. It played OK for several minutes than now has paused with a spinning circle. Maybe it's buffering or maybe it's stuck. Waiting a few minutes. Still spinning. In other words, it's stuck.
Let's try CW Seed then. Doesn't appear in search. Let's try from the Amazon web site. App last updated 6/11/16 and not compatible with Fire TV.
OK, let's try playing the video again. It resumes (just before) where it left off, but then got stuck again. Try another video. Stuck. Try The Flash. Stuck. It looks like it gets stuck when it's trying to play a commercial. So it's still buggy. I'll try again later.
[9/29/16] CW arrives on Fire TV. Apparently it will also give access to CW Seed. Let's take a look.
Hmm. Don't see it in the apps section. Doesn't come up in in search. Let's try add it with the link in the article. Sorry we couldn't find that page.
Log into Amazon. Search for CW. Comes up with CW and CW Seed. But I can only add it to my tablet not to my Fire TV. Maybe the article is premature.
Hmm. AFTV News is reporting it too. Looking at the comments, the app got pulled.
Search some more. I see that on iTunes that The CW app was updated today and "Apple TV: Yes".
And I see a story over three years old that stated that The CW was coming to Apple TV.
[9/27/16] Noticed that Xumo appeared on my Roku and I don't remember adding it on purpose. It reminds me a lot of The Scene and I thought The Scene had just undergone a name change. But apparently not.
Let's compare. Xumo features Fail Army, newsy, The Pet Connection, Buzz Feed, Sports Illustrated. The second row has recommendations: Funny or Die, Bloomberg Politics, People Are Awesome, Just For Laughs, Field & Stream.
There are 10 comedy channels, 8 sports channels, 10 news channels, 15 entertainment channels, 7 fashion channels, 10 lifestyle channels.
Let's compare The Scene. The Scene has 34 "brands". Among them are Wired, Buzz Feed, GQ, The Weather Channel, newsy, Vogue, Golf Digest, Vanity Fair, Variety, The Onion, Forbes, Glamour. The developer is Conde Nast which is a magazine publisher. Xumo's holding company is Viant. Viant was acquired by Time which is of course another magazine publisher.
So what about common channels like Buzz Feed and newsy? Newsy is owned by E.W. Scripps. Buzz Feed is apparently an independent company. So apparently they made separate deals to be carried on The Scene and on Xumo.
[9/27/16] CW arrived on Roku today. No cable subscription necessary! I guess they'll make their money on ads. This is almost like TV B.C. (before cable), where TV networks made their money on ads (and there were like three of them). OK, let me switch to my Roku from my Fire TV to check it out.
Checking it out, the interface looks viritually identical to CW Seed (except for the Latest section). I guess that makes sense. And, yep, all the shows are there: Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl. All have five episodes. Oddly they're not in synch. For example, Arrow has the first episode of last season, while The Flash has the 17th episode, etc.
Seems to be streaming OK and the captions look OK, maybe a little big. Changed the Roku captions size from default to small. Now maybe a little too small? Both are acceptable. Sometimes the captions go a bit off the screen (like they did on CBS All Access), but not too bad.
Thumbs up. This is a keeper.
[9/27/16] CW app coming soon to Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV. Don't know if it will come only to the fourth generation Apple TV, but it apparently will support AirPlay. No cable subscription needed?
[9/14/16] NFL channel finally updated for this season for Roku. Very slow initially when trying to access NFL Network/Redzone and NFL Now. I thought my Roku locked up.
Authentication required for NFL Network/Redzone. Don't see Time Warner Cable or Playstion Vue, much less Sling. But do see Hawaiian Telcom, DirecTV and DISH. [Yeah, NFL not listed on the Oceanic site.]
[9/13/16] Activating FreeForm on my Roku. Doesn't support Time Warner. Does support Hawaiian Telcom. Don't see DirecTV either. Do see PlayStation Vue, but not Sling. Since FreeForm used to be ABC Family and ABC owns Disney, I would assume it's the same for the Disney Channel.
OK, activating Disney XD. Again no Time Warner Cable, but I do see DirecTV along with Hawaiian Telcom. Also Playstation VUE, but no Sling.
[9/12/16] CNBC channel has been updated for Roku. There's no longer the portfolio list with associated clips. Instead you can watch complete shows (with verification) and clips. Unlike the Apple TV app, there's no live TV.
Featured shows at the top, then below it are the rows: Top Video, Latest Episodes, Make It: Dreamers and Game Changers (clips), The 2016 Presidential Election, In Case You Missed It, Binge with Carl Quintanilla, Cramer Remixed, Strange Success, All Shows.
The clips have no captions, but the complete shows do (though they lag the video).
I haven't been able to get the videos to play on the Roku HD. The menu comes up but when I press OK, nothing happens.
It's progress. But I'll miss the portfilio.
[8/20/16] Checking the Roku TV, I see five new channels available: Science Channel, ID (Investigation Discovery), TLC, Animal Planet, Discovery.
Let's try Animal Planet. I assume the process will be similar on all of these as the developer on all is Discovery Communications.
Looks like the whole lineup is there including live TV. Taking a look at Dr. Dee: Alaska Vet. The season 2 episodes are unlocked while the season 1 episodes require verification. Going to Insane Pools: Off the Deep End, all the episodes require you to sign in to watch. Same with My Cat From Hell.
OK, let's sign in. Need to activate from computer (or tablet or phone I guess). Time Warner Cable is supported. Also DirecTV and Hawaiian Telcom. Also PlayStation Vue, but not Sling TV.
The captions are pretty small. But it uses the Roku caption settings so you can change them. Changed the size to medium and it looks fine.
Well since Roku has three shows to a row, I'll add Discovery and Science. Had to select my provider, but didn't have to log in again. Still had to enter the activation code.
The video froze and the Roku locked up temporarily a couple of times. Don't know if it's a problem with the channel or the Roku TV.
[8/20/16] Browsing AFTV News, I see that TNT and TBS have come to Fire TV.
On the TBS app, I see 13 movies are available including 50 First Dates, Splash, Kindergarten Cop. As far as TV is concerned, there's 8 episodes of Conan, 10 episodes of 2 Broke Girls, 13 episodes of Big Bang Theory. Also Angie Tribeca (10 episodes - all of season 2), Family Guy (5 episodes), Friends (5 episodes), Full House (5 episodes), Seinfeld (5 episodes).
Requires activation. Activating it, I see TBS is also available on the Apple TV (I assume only on the new one). Time Warner Cable not supported. Hawaiian Telcom supported as well as DirecTV. Also see PlayStation Vue, but not Sling. I see they have decent customization of close captions. Hey Steve Wozniak was a guest on Conan. That was way back on March 7, 2016. Not quite the current episodes that you can catch on Nowhere TV on the Roku (at last look). But that's OK.
On the TNT app, I see 19 movies available including 2012, The Da Vinci Code, The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Green Mile, Grudge Match, S.W.A.T., The Shawshank Redemption, Olympus Has Fallen, Transporter 3, War of theWorlds. And TV shows such as the Last Ship (11 episodes), Rizzolli & Isles (3 episodes), The Librarians (5 episodes), Bones (10 episodes), Castle (6 episodes), Charmed (5 episodes), Grimm (5 episodes), Hawaii Five-0 [yes it's a zero] (5 episodes),
Didn't have to activate. I assume it took the activation from my TBS sign in. Checking Hulu, I see they have some of the TNT shows, but nothing from TBS (well they do have Family Guy and Seinfeld, but those are syndicated shows). And of course, Netflix has Friends. Wait a minute, Hulu has season 1 of Angie Tribeca. Never mind..
[8/20/16] See that Hallmark Channel Everywhere has come to the Fire TV. Apparently requires a cable subscription. It automatically logged me in (on the computer) using I don't know what account. Probably my Time Warner Cable account. Content is limited. There's 21 movies, Chesapeake Shores (which is a TV series that just premiered), and 10 episodes of Home & Family (which is their daily lifestyle show).
OK, now I see I gotta log in. They do support Time Warner Cable as well as Hawaiian Telcom and DirecTV. Don't see Playstation Vue or Sling though.
(Don't see an NFL app though, which I why started searching through the apps in the first place.)
[8/13/16] Hulu will no longer carry the CW lineup. But never fail, the CW app is coming to Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV (4 only?), Chromecast.
[8/12/16] And since I've been using the Fire TV more and more lately, I can tell you that the Fire TV now supports Fox Now, FXNow, CNN Go (still doesn't support Time Warner Cable), NBC Sports (since I've been watching the Olympics on it), Yahoo (but my internet too slow so the video constantly buffers).
So the Fire TV is getting there. It still doesn't have NatGeo and CNBC though. If it ever gets NatGeo, I'd have less temptation to switch back and forth to/from the Roku and Apple TV.
[8/11/16] Notice that Fox Sports Go is now available on the Roku (requires cable or satellite subscription). The date on the app (channel) is Aug 10, 2016. So the Roku joins the Fire TV. Coming "later this year" to the Apple TV 4.
[5/19/16] Updated chart with Starz (not available on my 3rd generation Apple TV, but now available on the fourth generation). Added Vudu which is available on Roku, but not Fire TV or Apple TV. Flixster which supported UltraViolet has now been dropped by Fire TV. There's no device that supports the three main formats. Apple TV supports only iTunes. Fire TV supports only Amazon Video. Roku supports Vudu and Amazon Video. Well I guess Amazon Video is the most universal as I can stream it to the Apple TV from my iPad.
[5/18/16] Noticed about a month ago, that CBS All Access was now available on my Fire TV. I believe it's because the OS got updated. Then when I checked my Fire TV Stick, I saw that it wasn't available but soon after it became available when the OS got updated on that device as well.
Sling TV is also on the Fire TV joining Roku. But not on Apple TV (but you can AirPlay it).
[3/14/16] Notice America: The Story of Us no longer on the History Channel website or app. Well it's on the website, but not the videos. Looking at the app, I no longer see Mankind Decoded on the list of shows, but it's still there when I do a search.
[3/13/16] History Vault Channel comes to Roku. $4.99 a month. This should mean less shows from The History Channel on Netflix and on the regular History Channel app. Shows like America: The Story of Us, Mankind: The Story of All of Us, The Men Who Built America. No longer on Netflix. The first two are still available on the History Channel app, some episodes for free, some episodes for subscribers.
[2/26/16] Checking if the Fox Now app on the Apple TV still supports my twc account. Logging in to twctv, apparently the only TV live channel I can get now is QVC. Turning to On Demand, I'm locked out of most of the shows. The only ones I see unlocked are from FOX (e.g. American Idol), so maybe it might work. Let's see. There's a lot of episodes available even to non-subscribers. But, for example, the first twelve episodes of Grandfathered are locked to non-subscribers. Try log in. Still logged in to twctv. Go to foxnow.com/activate. Hey it worked. Fox apparently is one of the few networks that support my basic account. I would guess ABC and NBC too. But ABC doesn't support Time Warner. And, browsing now, apparently you no longer need to log in to NBC to watch all the shows available? What about CBS? Looks like to watch anything on the Apple TV you have to be a subscriber. Now if Apple TV (or Roku) were to get a CW TV app, I could give up my Hulu subscription, since all the shows I regularly watch are from CW (The Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrw), ABC (The Middle, Goldbergs, Fresh Off The Boat), and CBS (Supergirl, Limitless). Actually I think I might be able to stream from the CW TV app on the iPad. But never installed that app yet. I think I might try that.
[1/5/16] Got a email from Roku that some new channels are available. Install USA Now. Requires authentication. Time Warner is supported. Also DirecTV, Hawaiian Telcom. No Sling TV.
Signed on. But got an error. Apparently not accepting my stripped down Oceanic account. OK, let's try Pat's signin. But how to do it? It kept detecting that I was signed on with my account. OK, sign on to usanetwork with Pat's account on the computer first. Then activate the Roku after that. OK that worked. Can now watch Mr. Robot.
How about HGTV? Hey there's Live TV. Need to sign in with your TV provider. I see Time Warner, DirecTV, Hawaiian Telcom. But don't see Sling TV even though they carry that channel live.
Select Time Warner Cable. Put in activation code. OK, it's working. I assume it took Pat's sign on, so I don't know if my sign on would work.
I'll assume it'll also work with the Food Network and Travel Channel since they were all mentioned in the same blog post. I guess I'll add the Travel Channel too then. Travel TV looks similar to HGTV in that it also supports Live TV. After entering the code. it prompted me to sign in. I entered my on signin and it worked. Watching Live TV. So I assume my signin also supports HGTV.
WTH, let's add the Food Network too. Yep, also supports Live TV. Put in the code. Must have assumed I was already logged in. Started to play. But then locked up. Try to get back to the home screen, but got a blank screen. Apparently the Roku locked up.
HGTV, Travel Channel, and Food Network also available on Fire TV. Supposedly available on the Apple TV too, but don't see them on mine. Maybe only on the new Apple TV. Yeah, "beginning with the 4th generation."
NatGeoTV asked me to log in again. My account is not authorized. Logout and re-activate. Darn it automatically logged me in with my sign in. Logout and re-activate. Clear cookies on Chrome from the past hour. Log in with Pat's account. OK, that worked.
[11/24/15] CBS All Access arrives on Amazon Fire TV. OK, they finally caught up to Roku and Apple TV. Noticed Watch ABC is also on Fire TV. Hmm. Don't see CBS All Access while browsing on the Fire TV. May have to add it via the web. Roku also recently added Watch ABC. NBC reportedly coming to Fire TV. Fox Now and FX Now "soon".
Searching... Haven't found CBS All Access yet, but noticed Drama Fever and MBC On Demand. So the Fire TV might not be a bad choice for my sister. The ad (by AdRise) on MBC On Demand is pausing. I guess because of my slow internet connection. Also taking a long time to buffer before playing the video. This is almost like iTunes on the Apple TV. Forget it. I'm not going to wait. Wait, it started. Then paused again. Agony. Forget it.
Did a voice search. Search for CBS and CBS app. Nope. Didn't come up.
OK, go to amazon.com. Search for CBS. Maybe this is it? Nope, compatibility with my device is x'd out. Well maybe I'll need to wait a day or two. Ah, reading the story... It runs only on Fire OS 5 which is not yet on the 1st-gen Fire TV.
[11/1/15] CBS All Access and NBC (and M2M) arrive on Apple TV. CBS All Access might make the Apple TV my favorite streamer. The main thing missing is Amazon Instant Video, but I can view that with AirPlay.
[10/4/15] NBC comes to Roku (cable subscription required for full access). CuriosityStream too ($5.99 monthly for HD). NFL channel finally updated for Roku.
[9/16/15] TV Everywhere is what Hawaiiantel calls their support for apps. And they do support a lot of them. I thought they didn't support FXX (or something), but I guess they do now. [8/31/16 - checking the app list, Hawaiian Telcom supports almost everything, but oddly one notable exception is Fox. Time Warner Cable has a lot more notable exceptions: like Disney, CNN, TNT, TBS. Playstation Vue supports almost everything too. Sling? Not many.]
[6/7/15] NatGeo TV has arrived on Apple TV. Requires activation for full episodes. Time Warner Cable, HawaiianTelcom, DirecTV supported.
[4/7/15] CBS Sports and USA Now has appeared on Apple TV. But don't excited. Unlike the iPad app, no live sports. And USA Now requires authentication. I'll check if Time Warner Cable is supported.
CBS Sports has long been on the Roku for years. No live sports here either. Mostly I go on to to watch Fantasy Football Today. The Apple app has more content than the Roku app. Features clips from shows too (like Jim Rome for example).
USA Now is also available for iOS, Android, Windows 8, XBox One. But not the Roku. Checking USA Network on my computer, it shows I'm signed in to Time Warner Cable, so I guess they're supported.
Funny when I tried it out on the Apple TV, the play button said sign in, but it never asked for me to sign in. Apparently it knew I was already logged on. Then I went to settings and logged in and it automatically logged me in. But then I logged off and now it asked me to authenticate. Featured shows are Dig, Suits, Chrisley Knows Best, Sirens, Burn Notice. I thought they might be on Hulu. OK, let's go to Hulu. Dig asks to connect to a participating provider. But not many are supported. Time Warner Cable, Hawaiian Telcom, DirectTV are all not supported. Suits? same thing. Chrisley? same thing. Sirens, Same thing. Burn Notice. Same thing and only two episodes. Season 1 of Sirens is on Netflix. And all of Burn Notice is on Netflix. Psych is also on Netflix. So the other series might be coming to Netflix next year.
OK, let's activate the Apple TV. Yeah Time Warner Cable is supported. USA Now is kind of like Hulu Plus as it features the newer episodes and not the entire series (except for Christley Knows Best which has the entire series which started in 2014).
[4/28/15] NBC Sports Live Extra added to Apple TV. Full access requires cable subscription. Time Warner Cable supported (as well as Hawaiian Telcom and DirecTV). Also on Roku.
I also see WatchABC in the Apple TV background. Hey, how come it's working now? Ah, I see this was updated in December to allow access to last week's shows without having to sign in with a provider.
Let's see try the recent episodes which require a sign in. Nope, doesn't support Time Warner Cable, but does support Hawaiian Telcom [and DirecTV]. But I guess it doesn't matter that much because all (or practically all) the shows are also available on Hulu Plus, including the recent episodes.
Let me check CNN Go again. I see that you can play some clips, but subscription is required for full access to shows like Mike Rowe's Somebody Gotta Do it. Once again Time Warner cable not supported. And once again Hawaiian Telcom (and DirecTV) is supported.
[4/25/15] Noticed Fox Sports Go on the Fire TV. Supports Time Warner Cable. Don't see this on Roku or Apple TV.
[3/27/15] Another new channel on Apple TV: CNNgo. Live feed and archived shows requires a TV subscription. Time Warner Cable not supported. (Supported are AT&T U-verse, Cox, DirecTV, Dish, Optimum, suddenlink, Verizon FIOS; also Hawaiian Telcom). That's disappointing. And after I arranged my channels and everything...
[3/25/15] Three channels added to Apple TV: Ted Talks, Tastemade, Young Hollywood. Probably won't watch any of them. Well maybe Ted Talks, though it's also available on youtube. (Ted has had a Roku channel for a while. Tastemade too. But not Young Hollywood yet.)
Another one not likely to come to Apple TV: Sling TV. As it would compete with their upcoming service.
[3/15/15] Via Cordkillers 61, CNet has an article with a table listing what "channels" are available/not available for the Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Google Nexus Player (how come Google gets two choices?).
Not listed is CNBC. The Apple TV app allows you to stream live as well as have On Demand access to past shows (cable subscription required). The Roku has a CNBC app, but it just plays clips and allows you to enter a portfolio of your stocks with live updating. Not available on the other streamers as far as I know.
AppleTV's YouTube app is also much more responsive than the comparable youtube app on the Roku (very sluggish on the Roku 2 and Roku HD, I don't have a Roku 3 anymore). And it's now been updated to support captions.
Their On app has interesting internet shows, while the On app for Roku has some (20) movies instead.
Probably the most nobable app missing from AppleTV is Amazon Instant Video.
What's currently on my Roku that's not on my Apple TV? NBC News app (no live TV). Livestream app where you can watch local news live. TIME, CNET, Nat Geo TV, Portico, Nowhere TV (where you can watch Conan and access TWIT for example). Plus some lesser watched channels like SnagFilms, TubiTV, Shout Factory, Rewind, Classic TV, Crunchyroll (actually AppleTV has an app, but you can only watch a few sample episodes for free), KDrama, DramaFever. Not to mention Plex (watch network TV shows on your TV for free), Flixster (not available for AppleTV contrary to the CNet article, probably confused it with Flickr), Vudu, Facebook, Pandora. Plus CBS Sports, Sports Illustrated, The Hawaii Channel, Roku Recommends.
What's on my Apple TV that's not on my Roku? The Weather Channel, ABC News, Sky News, A&E, fyi, 120 Sports, ACC Sports, Tennis Channel, Red Bull TV, Fusion, dailymotion, Vimeo, Podcasts, Radio, Lifetime, iCloud Photos, Apple Events (which pops up whenever Apple makes a major public presentation). (Some of these are available on Roku, but I don't have them on since I rarely watch these.)
So what do they have in common (that I have on both my AppleTV and my Roku)? Netflix, Hulu Plus, Crackle, FX Now, Fox Now, HBO Go, On (see above), Yahoo! (I thought they used to have movies on the AppleTV app, but I guess they took it off), WSJ Live, CBS News, Bloomberg TV, CNBC (sort of, see above), PBS, Smithsonian, History, Watch ESPN, MLB.TV, NBA, NFL Now, The Scene, Youtube.
I guess the Roku is more fun to play with (and waste time with) checking out some of the obscure channels available. But the vast majority of what I normally watch (namely Netflix, Hulu Plus, ESPN) is available on both. The major difference is CNBC which is a different experience on both.
I like the system captions on the Apple TV the best. The Roku captions are OK too, but I didn't particularly care for the Roku 3 captions for Netflix and Hulu Plus (see my Roku 3 entry somewhere below -- The Fire TV captions are similar to the Roku 3 in that they used the app captions rather than the system captions).
And what of my Amazon Fire TV? I still have it, but I rarely use it. It's in a cabinet at my mom's place.
[3/16/15] And what about cable TV? There's still some stuff I would watch (or at least have playing in the background) that's not on the streaming boxes. Like The Today Show (though the clips are available on the NBC News app), Regis and Kelly (now Kelly and Michael), Family Feud, Wheel of Fortune, NBA on TNT (I guess I could subscribe to Sling TV), NBA TV (I guess I could subscribe to League Pass), NFL (some games were on the iPad Fox Sports app). And UH Sports. A good antenna would take care of the first four and most of the NFL games. [Oh yeah, Lakers and Clippers basketball. I can watch on my iPad, but participating provider required to access.]
[4/22/15] Noticed there's no FX TV app on the Amazon Fire TV.
[8/14/15] NBC News launches on Fire TV on 6/17/15
Let's make my own chart (see also cnet's chart updated 4/6/16) [my spreadsheet]
App Roku AppleTV FireTV
Netflix + + +
Hulu Plus + + +
Crackle yes yes yes
youtube yes yes yes
HBO Go + + +
Showtime + + +
Starz + 4 +
Amazon Video + ap +
iTunes no + no
Vudu yes no no
Sling TV + no +
Watch ABC * * *
NBC * * *
CBS All Access + + +
Fox Now * * *
FXNow * * *
The CW yes ? ?
USA Now * * no
PBS yes yes yes
History * * *
NatGeo * * no
HGTV * 4 *
ESPN * * *
Fox Sports Go * no *
NBC Sports Live * * *
NFL * * no
Aol On yes yes yes
Yahoo Screen yes yes yes
CBS News yes yes yes
NBC News yes no yes
ABC News yes yes no
Fox News yes no yes
CNN Go * * *
Bloomberg yes yes yes
CNBC * * no
Fibbage no no yes
+ subscription/pay service
* full access with participating provider
ap - with AirPlay
4 - on 4th generation only
[2/13/17] A couple new channels I have added to my Roku.
Google Photos lets me display my Google photos as a slideshow and individually. It also has a screensaver, but photos come out tiny.
Hallmark Channel. This was on Fire TV previously and now it's on Roku. Don't see it yet in the Movies & TV category or the TV Everywhere category. Had to search for it to find it. Wait, there it is. Number 195 out of 721 in Movies & TV. I expect it to be moving up in the coming weeks.
Actually the content is rather skimpy with only two shows listed: Home & Family and When Calls The Heart. There's more movies though with 30 listed, though 5 of them are Kitten Bowl. There are two of the Good Witch Movies: Good Witch's Garden (2009) and Good Witch's Family (2011). Authentication required. Time Warner Spectrum supported, along with DirecTV and Hawaiian Telcom. But no PlayStation Vue or Sling. Checking Roku, I see The Good Witch (the first film in the series) is free on Popcorn Flix and OVGuide, among others. I'll try Family Flix (powered by OVGuide). Disappointingly the movie is 4:3 with no captions. Try Popcorn Flix. Same thing. Checking the DVD on Amazon, the movie is 1.33:1 (4:3) with no mention of subtitles.
[1/20/17] Oddly the lineup of TV shows on FreeForm on Fire TV is a little different than on Roku. It has 31 shows including The Mindy Project which is not on Roku. Roku has 34 shows including Baby Daddy, The Middle, Reba, Young & Hungry which are not on Fire TV. They both have the same 27 movies. Checking the Apple TV, it has the same shows as on Roku, but has only 25 of the 27 movies, missing Campus Confidential and The Spectacular Now.
Checking the website, they list 37 shows and the same 27 movies. They have all the shows available on Roku/Apple TV plus The Mindy Project. The other two are shows which are not yet available to watch: Famous In Love which is a new show coming in April and Happily Ever After: The Twins (stay tuned for a new season).
Here's the current list of TV shows: 10 Things I Hate About You, Baby Daddy, Becoming Us, Beyond, Bunheads, Cheer Squad, Dead of Summer, Famous In Love, Greek, Guilt, The Twins: Happily Ever After?, Jane by Design, Job or No Job, Last Man Standing, Lincoln Heights, Make It or Break It, Melissa & Joey, Monica The Medium, Next Step Realty NYC, Oh My Josh!, Open Road, Party Girl, Pretty Little Liars, Reba, Recovery Road, School of Doodle, Shadowhunters, Startup U, Stichers, Switched at Birth, The Fosters, The Middle, The Mindy Project, The Nine Lives of Chloe King, Time for Bed with Punam Patel, Twisted, Young & Hungry. They used to have Gilmore Girls, but it's not listed now.
[1/6/17] FreeForm has come to Fire TV. Like ABC, it doesn't support validation from Time Warner Cable, but does support Hawaiian Telcom and Playstation Vue. It works, but I prefer the Roku app. The Roku app has better captions (I think it uses the Roku captions) and rewinding shows is cumbersome on the Fire TV (if you can get it to work at all).
[12/10/16] Here's a chart from CNet (updated 12/7/16) showing what apps or "channels" are available on the Apple TV (old and new), Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast, Android TV
[11/20/16] Activating the ABC app on the Fire TV. For no great reason, since all the shows are also on Hulu (as far as I can see). I see DirecTV, Playstation Vue, Hawaiian Telcom, but no Time Warner Cable.
[11/16/16] OK, now I see season 5 of NCIS Los Angeles on the Fire TV USA Network app. Activating through Hawaiian Telcom again because when I activated it through TWC/Spectrum it had a blank square in the top right where the logo of the TV service appears.
[11/14/16] USA Network finally arrives on Fire TV. But when I tried to activate, I didn't see Time Warner Cable on the list. Hawaiian Telcom, Playstation Vue were supported.
Checking the Roku. Oddly NCIS: Los Angeles has only one episode available on the Fire TV (season one, episode one). But the Roku has the entire season five in addition to that episode. Asks me to log in. And strangely, the Roku authentication does show Time Warner Cable | Spectrum as one of the choices. (But here's a sneaky workaround.)
Maybe the app is still in beta, but it says "coming soon" on the icon on the menu.
Anyway, log out and try the workaround Roku login. It worked. But still only season 1, episode 1 for NCIS: Los Angeles. And NCIS too. I do see season 2 of Mr. Robot though.
And now I don't see the Coming Soon designation. Maybe it was left over from the preview app that I had installed earlier (and uninstalled).
[10/22/16] Here's a disadvantage with the Watch ESPN app on the Fire TV. I was looking to replay the UCF-UConn football game, but didn't see it on the app. I checked the web and the game was on. So I switched to the app on the Roku and the game was there. Don't ask me why.
[10/1/16] Did some more experimenting with The CW app on my Fire TV and Fire TV Stick. Looks like the problem occurs if CC (closed captions) are on. If CC is on, then the video gets stuck trying to load the commercial. But if you turn off CC, then the commercials play through fine. Luckily you can turn off CC while the commercials are stuck trying to load.
[9/30/16] The CW app is back for the Fire TV. Searching from the Amazon web page brings up two entries. One is dated Sep 29, 2016 and the other one is date Sep 30, 2016. The Sep 30, 2016 one is the one works with the Fire TV. The earlier one works only on the Fire tablet.
Tried installing from the web page and apparently the install failed. OK, go to the Fire TV. Don't see it in the apps section, but found it with a search. And it installed OK from there.
The interface looks more modern than the one on the Roku. Captions are OK, but not customizable as far as I can see. I wish I could make the background semi-transparent.
Playing Legends of Tomorrow. It played OK for several minutes than now has paused with a spinning circle. Maybe it's buffering or maybe it's stuck. Waiting a few minutes. Still spinning. In other words, it's stuck.
Let's try CW Seed then. Doesn't appear in search. Let's try from the Amazon web site. App last updated 6/11/16 and not compatible with Fire TV.
OK, let's try playing the video again. It resumes (just before) where it left off, but then got stuck again. Try another video. Stuck. Try The Flash. Stuck. It looks like it gets stuck when it's trying to play a commercial. So it's still buggy. I'll try again later.
[9/29/16] CW arrives on Fire TV. Apparently it will also give access to CW Seed. Let's take a look.
Hmm. Don't see it in the apps section. Doesn't come up in in search. Let's try add it with the link in the article. Sorry we couldn't find that page.
Log into Amazon. Search for CW. Comes up with CW and CW Seed. But I can only add it to my tablet not to my Fire TV. Maybe the article is premature.
Hmm. AFTV News is reporting it too. Looking at the comments, the app got pulled.
Searching further, I see that the CW Seed app is now available for Apple TV. But you have to download it from the app store. Well, that lets out the owners of an older generation Apple TV (like me). Looking at the site, the app is currently available for Amazon Fire (the tablet), Android, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Roku, Apple TV. No mention of Amazon Fire TV yet.
Search some more. I see that on iTunes that The CW app was updated today and "Apple TV: Yes".
And I see a story over three years old that stated that The CW was coming to Apple TV.
[9/27/16] Noticed that Xumo appeared on my Roku and I don't remember adding it on purpose. It reminds me a lot of The Scene and I thought The Scene had just undergone a name change. But apparently not.
Let's compare. Xumo features Fail Army, newsy, The Pet Connection, Buzz Feed, Sports Illustrated. The second row has recommendations: Funny or Die, Bloomberg Politics, People Are Awesome, Just For Laughs, Field & Stream.
There are 10 comedy channels, 8 sports channels, 10 news channels, 15 entertainment channels, 7 fashion channels, 10 lifestyle channels.
Let's compare The Scene. The Scene has 34 "brands". Among them are Wired, Buzz Feed, GQ, The Weather Channel, newsy, Vogue, Golf Digest, Vanity Fair, Variety, The Onion, Forbes, Glamour. The developer is Conde Nast which is a magazine publisher. Xumo's holding company is Viant. Viant was acquired by Time which is of course another magazine publisher.
So what about common channels like Buzz Feed and newsy? Newsy is owned by E.W. Scripps. Buzz Feed is apparently an independent company. So apparently they made separate deals to be carried on The Scene and on Xumo.
[9/27/16] CW arrived on Roku today. No cable subscription necessary! I guess they'll make their money on ads. This is almost like TV B.C. (before cable), where TV networks made their money on ads (and there were like three of them). OK, let me switch to my Roku from my Fire TV to check it out.
Checking it out, the interface looks viritually identical to CW Seed (except for the Latest section). I guess that makes sense. And, yep, all the shows are there: Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl. All have five episodes. Oddly they're not in synch. For example, Arrow has the first episode of last season, while The Flash has the 17th episode, etc.
Seems to be streaming OK and the captions look OK, maybe a little big. Changed the Roku captions size from default to small. Now maybe a little too small? Both are acceptable. Sometimes the captions go a bit off the screen (like they did on CBS All Access), but not too bad.
Thumbs up. This is a keeper.
[9/27/16] CW app coming soon to Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV. Don't know if it will come only to the fourth generation Apple TV, but it apparently will support AirPlay. No cable subscription needed?
[9/14/16] NFL channel finally updated for this season for Roku. Very slow initially when trying to access NFL Network/Redzone and NFL Now. I thought my Roku locked up.
Authentication required for NFL Network/Redzone. Don't see Time Warner Cable or Playstion Vue, much less Sling. But do see Hawaiian Telcom, DirecTV and DISH. [Yeah, NFL not listed on the Oceanic site.]
[9/13/16] Activating FreeForm on my Roku. Doesn't support Time Warner. Does support Hawaiian Telcom. Don't see DirecTV either. Do see PlayStation Vue, but not Sling. Since FreeForm used to be ABC Family and ABC owns Disney, I would assume it's the same for the Disney Channel.
OK, activating Disney XD. Again no Time Warner Cable, but I do see DirecTV along with Hawaiian Telcom. Also Playstation VUE, but no Sling.
[9/12/16] CNBC channel has been updated for Roku. There's no longer the portfolio list with associated clips. Instead you can watch complete shows (with verification) and clips. Unlike the Apple TV app, there's no live TV.
The clips have no captions, but the complete shows do (though they lag the video).
I haven't been able to get the videos to play on the Roku HD. The menu comes up but when I press OK, nothing happens.
It's progress. But I'll miss the portfilio.
[8/20/16] Checking the Roku TV, I see five new channels available: Science Channel, ID (Investigation Discovery), TLC, Animal Planet, Discovery.
Let's try Animal Planet. I assume the process will be similar on all of these as the developer on all is Discovery Communications.
Looks like the whole lineup is there including live TV. Taking a look at Dr. Dee: Alaska Vet. The season 2 episodes are unlocked while the season 1 episodes require verification. Going to Insane Pools: Off the Deep End, all the episodes require you to sign in to watch. Same with My Cat From Hell.
OK, let's sign in. Need to activate from computer (or tablet or phone I guess). Time Warner Cable is supported. Also DirecTV and Hawaiian Telcom. Also PlayStation Vue, but not Sling TV.
The captions are pretty small. But it uses the Roku caption settings so you can change them. Changed the size to medium and it looks fine.
Well since Roku has three shows to a row, I'll add Discovery and Science. Had to select my provider, but didn't have to log in again. Still had to enter the activation code.
The video froze and the Roku locked up temporarily a couple of times. Don't know if it's a problem with the channel or the Roku TV.
[8/20/16] Browsing AFTV News, I see that TNT and TBS have come to Fire TV.
On the TBS app, I see 13 movies are available including 50 First Dates, Splash, Kindergarten Cop. As far as TV is concerned, there's 8 episodes of Conan, 10 episodes of 2 Broke Girls, 13 episodes of Big Bang Theory. Also Angie Tribeca (10 episodes - all of season 2), Family Guy (5 episodes), Friends (5 episodes), Full House (5 episodes), Seinfeld (5 episodes).
Requires activation. Activating it, I see TBS is also available on the Apple TV (I assume only on the new one). Time Warner Cable not supported. Hawaiian Telcom supported as well as DirecTV. Also see PlayStation Vue, but not Sling. I see they have decent customization of close captions. Hey Steve Wozniak was a guest on Conan. That was way back on March 7, 2016. Not quite the current episodes that you can catch on Nowhere TV on the Roku (at last look). But that's OK.
On the TNT app, I see 19 movies available including 2012, The Da Vinci Code, The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Green Mile, Grudge Match, S.W.A.T., The Shawshank Redemption, Olympus Has Fallen, Transporter 3, War of theWorlds. And TV shows such as the Last Ship (11 episodes), Rizzolli & Isles (3 episodes), The Librarians (5 episodes), Bones (10 episodes), Castle (6 episodes), Charmed (5 episodes), Grimm (5 episodes), Hawaii Five-0 [yes it's a zero] (5 episodes),
Didn't have to activate. I assume it took the activation from my TBS sign in. Checking Hulu, I see they have some of the TNT shows, but nothing from TBS (well they do have Family Guy and Seinfeld, but those are syndicated shows). And of course, Netflix has Friends. Wait a minute, Hulu has season 1 of Angie Tribeca. Never mind..
[8/20/16] See that Hallmark Channel Everywhere has come to the Fire TV. Apparently requires a cable subscription. It automatically logged me in (on the computer) using I don't know what account. Probably my Time Warner Cable account. Content is limited. There's 21 movies, Chesapeake Shores (which is a TV series that just premiered), and 10 episodes of Home & Family (which is their daily lifestyle show).
OK, now I see I gotta log in. They do support Time Warner Cable as well as Hawaiian Telcom and DirecTV. Don't see Playstation Vue or Sling though.
(Don't see an NFL app though, which I why started searching through the apps in the first place.)
[8/13/16] Hulu will no longer carry the CW lineup. But never fail, the CW app is coming to Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV (4 only?), Chromecast.
[8/12/16] And since I've been using the Fire TV more and more lately, I can tell you that the Fire TV now supports Fox Now, FXNow, CNN Go (still doesn't support Time Warner Cable), NBC Sports (since I've been watching the Olympics on it), Yahoo (but my internet too slow so the video constantly buffers).
So the Fire TV is getting there. It still doesn't have NatGeo and CNBC though. If it ever gets NatGeo, I'd have less temptation to switch back and forth to/from the Roku and Apple TV.
[5/19/16] Updated chart with Starz (not available on my 3rd generation Apple TV, but now available on the fourth generation). Added Vudu which is available on Roku, but not Fire TV or Apple TV. Flixster which supported UltraViolet has now been dropped by Fire TV. There's no device that supports the three main formats. Apple TV supports only iTunes. Fire TV supports only Amazon Video. Roku supports Vudu and Amazon Video. Well I guess Amazon Video is the most universal as I can stream it to the Apple TV from my iPad.
[5/18/16] Noticed about a month ago, that CBS All Access was now available on my Fire TV. I believe it's because the OS got updated. Then when I checked my Fire TV Stick, I saw that it wasn't available but soon after it became available when the OS got updated on that device as well.
Sling TV is also on the Fire TV joining Roku. But not on Apple TV (but you can AirPlay it).
[3/14/16] Notice America: The Story of Us no longer on the History Channel website or app. Well it's on the website, but not the videos. Looking at the app, I no longer see Mankind Decoded on the list of shows, but it's still there when I do a search.
[3/13/16] History Vault Channel comes to Roku. $4.99 a month. This should mean less shows from The History Channel on Netflix and on the regular History Channel app. Shows like America: The Story of Us, Mankind: The Story of All of Us, The Men Who Built America. No longer on Netflix. The first two are still available on the History Channel app, some episodes for free, some episodes for subscribers.
[2/26/16] Checking if the Fox Now app on the Apple TV still supports my twc account. Logging in to twctv, apparently the only TV live channel I can get now is QVC. Turning to On Demand, I'm locked out of most of the shows. The only ones I see unlocked are from FOX (e.g. American Idol), so maybe it might work. Let's see. There's a lot of episodes available even to non-subscribers. But, for example, the first twelve episodes of Grandfathered are locked to non-subscribers. Try log in. Still logged in to twctv. Go to foxnow.com/activate. Hey it worked. Fox apparently is one of the few networks that support my basic account. I would guess ABC and NBC too. But ABC doesn't support Time Warner. And, browsing now, apparently you no longer need to log in to NBC to watch all the shows available? What about CBS? Looks like to watch anything on the Apple TV you have to be a subscriber. Now if Apple TV (or Roku) were to get a CW TV app, I could give up my Hulu subscription, since all the shows I regularly watch are from CW (The Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrw), ABC (The Middle, Goldbergs, Fresh Off The Boat), and CBS (Supergirl, Limitless). Actually I think I might be able to stream from the CW TV app on the iPad. But never installed that app yet. I think I might try that.
[1/5/16] Got a email from Roku that some new channels are available. Install USA Now. Requires authentication. Time Warner is supported. Also DirecTV, Hawaiian Telcom. No Sling TV.
Signed on. But got an error. Apparently not accepting my stripped down Oceanic account. OK, let's try Pat's signin. But how to do it? It kept detecting that I was signed on with my account. OK, sign on to usanetwork with Pat's account on the computer first. Then activate the Roku after that. OK that worked. Can now watch Mr. Robot.
How about HGTV? Hey there's Live TV. Need to sign in with your TV provider. I see Time Warner, DirecTV, Hawaiian Telcom. But don't see Sling TV even though they carry that channel live.
Select Time Warner Cable. Put in activation code. OK, it's working. I assume it took Pat's sign on, so I don't know if my sign on would work.
I'll assume it'll also work with the Food Network and Travel Channel since they were all mentioned in the same blog post. I guess I'll add the Travel Channel too then. Travel TV looks similar to HGTV in that it also supports Live TV. After entering the code. it prompted me to sign in. I entered my on signin and it worked. Watching Live TV. So I assume my signin also supports HGTV.
WTH, let's add the Food Network too. Yep, also supports Live TV. Put in the code. Must have assumed I was already logged in. Started to play. But then locked up. Try to get back to the home screen, but got a blank screen. Apparently the Roku locked up.
HGTV, Travel Channel, and Food Network also available on Fire TV. Supposedly available on the Apple TV too, but don't see them on mine. Maybe only on the new Apple TV. Yeah, "beginning with the 4th generation."
NatGeoTV asked me to log in again. My account is not authorized. Logout and re-activate. Darn it automatically logged me in with my sign in. Logout and re-activate. Clear cookies on Chrome from the past hour. Log in with Pat's account. OK, that worked.
[11/24/15] CBS All Access arrives on Amazon Fire TV. OK, they finally caught up to Roku and Apple TV. Noticed Watch ABC is also on Fire TV. Hmm. Don't see CBS All Access while browsing on the Fire TV. May have to add it via the web. Roku also recently added Watch ABC. NBC reportedly coming to Fire TV. Fox Now and FX Now "soon".
Searching... Haven't found CBS All Access yet, but noticed Drama Fever and MBC On Demand. So the Fire TV might not be a bad choice for my sister. The ad (by AdRise) on MBC On Demand is pausing. I guess because of my slow internet connection. Also taking a long time to buffer before playing the video. This is almost like iTunes on the Apple TV. Forget it. I'm not going to wait. Wait, it started. Then paused again. Agony. Forget it.
Did a voice search. Search for CBS and CBS app. Nope. Didn't come up.
OK, go to amazon.com. Search for CBS. Maybe this is it? Nope, compatibility with my device is x'd out. Well maybe I'll need to wait a day or two. Ah, reading the story... It runs only on Fire OS 5 which is not yet on the 1st-gen Fire TV.
[11/1/15] CBS All Access and NBC (and M2M) arrive on Apple TV. CBS All Access might make the Apple TV my favorite streamer. The main thing missing is Amazon Instant Video, but I can view that with AirPlay.
[10/4/15] NBC comes to Roku (cable subscription required for full access). CuriosityStream too ($5.99 monthly for HD). NFL channel finally updated for Roku.
[9/16/15] TV Everywhere is what Hawaiiantel calls their support for apps. And they do support a lot of them. I thought they didn't support FXX (or something), but I guess they do now. [8/31/16 - checking the app list, Hawaiian Telcom supports almost everything, but oddly one notable exception is Fox. Time Warner Cable has a lot more notable exceptions: like Disney, CNN, TNT, TBS. Playstation Vue supports almost everything too. Sling? Not many.]
[6/7/15] NatGeo TV has arrived on Apple TV. Requires activation for full episodes. Time Warner Cable, HawaiianTelcom, DirecTV supported.
[4/7/15] CBS Sports and USA Now has appeared on Apple TV. But don't excited. Unlike the iPad app, no live sports. And USA Now requires authentication. I'll check if Time Warner Cable is supported.
CBS Sports has long been on the Roku for years. No live sports here either. Mostly I go on to to watch Fantasy Football Today. The Apple app has more content than the Roku app. Features clips from shows too (like Jim Rome for example).
USA Now is also available for iOS, Android, Windows 8, XBox One. But not the Roku. Checking USA Network on my computer, it shows I'm signed in to Time Warner Cable, so I guess they're supported.
Funny when I tried it out on the Apple TV, the play button said sign in, but it never asked for me to sign in. Apparently it knew I was already logged on. Then I went to settings and logged in and it automatically logged me in. But then I logged off and now it asked me to authenticate. Featured shows are Dig, Suits, Chrisley Knows Best, Sirens, Burn Notice. I thought they might be on Hulu. OK, let's go to Hulu. Dig asks to connect to a participating provider. But not many are supported. Time Warner Cable, Hawaiian Telcom, DirectTV are all not supported. Suits? same thing. Chrisley? same thing. Sirens, Same thing. Burn Notice. Same thing and only two episodes. Season 1 of Sirens is on Netflix. And all of Burn Notice is on Netflix. Psych is also on Netflix. So the other series might be coming to Netflix next year.
OK, let's activate the Apple TV. Yeah Time Warner Cable is supported. USA Now is kind of like Hulu Plus as it features the newer episodes and not the entire series (except for Christley Knows Best which has the entire series which started in 2014).
[4/28/15] NBC Sports Live Extra added to Apple TV. Full access requires cable subscription. Time Warner Cable supported (as well as Hawaiian Telcom and DirecTV). Also on Roku.
I also see WatchABC in the Apple TV background. Hey, how come it's working now? Ah, I see this was updated in December to allow access to last week's shows without having to sign in with a provider.
Let's see try the recent episodes which require a sign in. Nope, doesn't support Time Warner Cable, but does support Hawaiian Telcom [and DirecTV]. But I guess it doesn't matter that much because all (or practically all) the shows are also available on Hulu Plus, including the recent episodes.
Let me check CNN Go again. I see that you can play some clips, but subscription is required for full access to shows like Mike Rowe's Somebody Gotta Do it. Once again Time Warner cable not supported. And once again Hawaiian Telcom (and DirecTV) is supported.
[4/25/15] Noticed Fox Sports Go on the Fire TV. Supports Time Warner Cable. Don't see this on Roku or Apple TV.
[3/27/15] Another new channel on Apple TV: CNNgo. Live feed and archived shows requires a TV subscription. Time Warner Cable not supported. (Supported are AT&T U-verse, Cox, DirecTV, Dish, Optimum, suddenlink, Verizon FIOS; also Hawaiian Telcom). That's disappointing. And after I arranged my channels and everything...
[3/25/15] Three channels added to Apple TV: Ted Talks, Tastemade, Young Hollywood. Probably won't watch any of them. Well maybe Ted Talks, though it's also available on youtube. (Ted has had a Roku channel for a while. Tastemade too. But not Young Hollywood yet.)
Another one not likely to come to Apple TV: Sling TV. As it would compete with their upcoming service.
[3/15/15] Via Cordkillers 61, CNet has an article with a table listing what "channels" are available/not available for the Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Google Nexus Player (how come Google gets two choices?).
Not listed is CNBC. The Apple TV app allows you to stream live as well as have On Demand access to past shows (cable subscription required). The Roku has a CNBC app, but it just plays clips and allows you to enter a portfolio of your stocks with live updating. Not available on the other streamers as far as I know.
AppleTV's YouTube app is also much more responsive than the comparable youtube app on the Roku (very sluggish on the Roku 2 and Roku HD, I don't have a Roku 3 anymore). And it's now been updated to support captions.
Their On app has interesting internet shows, while the On app for Roku has some (20) movies instead.
Probably the most nobable app missing from AppleTV is Amazon Instant Video.
What's currently on my Roku that's not on my Apple TV? NBC News app (no live TV). Livestream app where you can watch local news live. TIME, CNET, Nat Geo TV, Portico, Nowhere TV (where you can watch Conan and access TWIT for example). Plus some lesser watched channels like SnagFilms, TubiTV, Shout Factory, Rewind, Classic TV, Crunchyroll (actually AppleTV has an app, but you can only watch a few sample episodes for free), KDrama, DramaFever. Not to mention Plex (watch network TV shows on your TV for free), Flixster (not available for AppleTV contrary to the CNet article, probably confused it with Flickr), Vudu, Facebook, Pandora. Plus CBS Sports, Sports Illustrated, The Hawaii Channel, Roku Recommends.
What's on my Apple TV that's not on my Roku? The Weather Channel, ABC News, Sky News, A&E, fyi, 120 Sports, ACC Sports, Tennis Channel, Red Bull TV, Fusion, dailymotion, Vimeo, Podcasts, Radio, Lifetime, iCloud Photos, Apple Events (which pops up whenever Apple makes a major public presentation). (Some of these are available on Roku, but I don't have them on since I rarely watch these.)
So what do they have in common (that I have on both my AppleTV and my Roku)? Netflix, Hulu Plus, Crackle, FX Now, Fox Now, HBO Go, On (see above), Yahoo! (I thought they used to have movies on the AppleTV app, but I guess they took it off), WSJ Live, CBS News, Bloomberg TV, CNBC (sort of, see above), PBS, Smithsonian, History, Watch ESPN, MLB.TV, NBA, NFL Now, The Scene, Youtube.
I guess the Roku is more fun to play with (and waste time with) checking out some of the obscure channels available. But the vast majority of what I normally watch (namely Netflix, Hulu Plus, ESPN) is available on both. The major difference is CNBC which is a different experience on both.
I like the system captions on the Apple TV the best. The Roku captions are OK too, but I didn't particularly care for the Roku 3 captions for Netflix and Hulu Plus (see my Roku 3 entry somewhere below -- The Fire TV captions are similar to the Roku 3 in that they used the app captions rather than the system captions).
And what of my Amazon Fire TV? I still have it, but I rarely use it. It's in a cabinet at my mom's place.
[3/16/15] And what about cable TV? There's still some stuff I would watch (or at least have playing in the background) that's not on the streaming boxes. Like The Today Show (though the clips are available on the NBC News app), Regis and Kelly (now Kelly and Michael), Family Feud, Wheel of Fortune, NBA on TNT (I guess I could subscribe to Sling TV), NBA TV (I guess I could subscribe to League Pass), NFL (some games were on the iPad Fox Sports app). And UH Sports. A good antenna would take care of the first four and most of the NFL games. [Oh yeah, Lakers and Clippers basketball. I can watch on my iPad, but participating provider required to access.]
[4/22/15] Noticed there's no FX TV app on the Amazon Fire TV.
[8/14/15] NBC News launches on Fire TV on 6/17/15
Let's make my own chart (see also cnet's chart updated 4/6/16) [my spreadsheet]
App Roku AppleTV FireTV
Netflix + + +
Hulu Plus + + +
Crackle yes yes yes
youtube yes yes yes
HBO Go + + +
Showtime + + +
Starz + 4 +
Amazon Video + ap +
iTunes no + no
Vudu yes no no
Sling TV + no +
Watch ABC * * *
NBC * * *
CBS All Access + + +
Fox Now * * *
FXNow * * *
The CW yes ? ?
USA Now * * no
PBS yes yes yes
History * * *
NatGeo * * no
HGTV * 4 *
ESPN * * *
Fox Sports Go * no *
NBC Sports Live * * *
NFL * * no
Aol On yes yes yes
Yahoo Screen yes yes yes
CBS News yes yes yes
NBC News yes no yes
ABC News yes yes no
Fox News yes no yes
CNN Go * * *
Bloomberg yes yes yes
CNBC * * no
Fibbage no no yes
+ subscription/pay service
* full access with participating provider
ap - with AirPlay
4 - on 4th generation only
Saturday, May 13, 2017
global ransomware attack
Organizations around the world were digging out this weekend from what experts are calling one of the biggest cyberattacks ever.
Hospitals, major companies and government offices were hit by a virus that seeks to seize control of computers until the victims pay a ransom.
Experts said that even as the spread of the attacks apparently has been stymied, its full ramifications are not yet known because the virus may be lurking still on computers around the world.
Cybersecurity firm Avast said it had identified more than 75,000 ransomware attacks in 99 countries on Friday, making it one of the broadest and most damaging cyberattacks in history.
Avast said the majority of the attacks targeted Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan. But U.K. hospitals, Chinese universities and global firms like Fedex (FDX) also reported they had come under assault.
Security experts said the spread of the ransomware had been inadvertently stopped late Friday. The ransomware was designed to repeatedly contact an unregistered domain in its code. A 22-year-old security researcher in the U.K, who goes by MalwareTech, registered that domain to analyze the attack, but it turned out the ransomware needed it to remain unregistered to keep spreading.
"Thus by registering it we inadvertently stopped any subsequent infections," he told CNNTech.
***
LONDON >> A global “ransomware” attack, unprecedented in scale, had technicians scrambling to restore Britain’s crippled hospital network Saturday and secure the computers that run factories, banks, government agencies and transport systems in many other nations.
The worldwide cyberextortion attack is so unprecedented, in fact, that Microsoft quickly changed its policy, announcing security fixes available for free for the older Windows systems still used by millions of individuals and smaller businesses.
After an emergency government meeting Saturday in London, Britain’s home secretary said one in five of 248 National Health Service groups had been hit. The onslaught forced hospitals to cancel or delay treatments for thousands of patients, even some with serious aliments like cancer.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd said 48 NHS trusts were affected and all but six were now back to normal. The U.K.’s National Cyber Security Center said it is “working round the clock” to restore vital health services.
Security officials in Britain urged organizations to protect themselves by updating their security software fixes, running anti-virus software and backing up data elsewhere.
Who perpetrated this wave of attacks remains unknown. Two security firms — Kaspersky Lab and Avast — said they identified the malicious software in more than 70 countries. Both said Russia was hit hardest.
“This is obviously by far the worst ransomware outbreak we’ve seen in, I think, forever,” said Lawrence Abrams, a New York-based malware expert who runs BleepingComputer.com.
Hospitals, major companies and government offices were hit by a virus that seeks to seize control of computers until the victims pay a ransom.
Experts said that even as the spread of the attacks apparently has been stymied, its full ramifications are not yet known because the virus may be lurking still on computers around the world.
Cybersecurity firm Avast said it had identified more than 75,000 ransomware attacks in 99 countries on Friday, making it one of the broadest and most damaging cyberattacks in history.
Avast said the majority of the attacks targeted Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan. But U.K. hospitals, Chinese universities and global firms like Fedex (FDX) also reported they had come under assault.
Security experts said the spread of the ransomware had been inadvertently stopped late Friday. The ransomware was designed to repeatedly contact an unregistered domain in its code. A 22-year-old security researcher in the U.K, who goes by MalwareTech, registered that domain to analyze the attack, but it turned out the ransomware needed it to remain unregistered to keep spreading.
"Thus by registering it we inadvertently stopped any subsequent infections," he told CNNTech.
***
LONDON >> A global “ransomware” attack, unprecedented in scale, had technicians scrambling to restore Britain’s crippled hospital network Saturday and secure the computers that run factories, banks, government agencies and transport systems in many other nations.
The worldwide cyberextortion attack is so unprecedented, in fact, that Microsoft quickly changed its policy, announcing security fixes available for free for the older Windows systems still used by millions of individuals and smaller businesses.
After an emergency government meeting Saturday in London, Britain’s home secretary said one in five of 248 National Health Service groups had been hit. The onslaught forced hospitals to cancel or delay treatments for thousands of patients, even some with serious aliments like cancer.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd said 48 NHS trusts were affected and all but six were now back to normal. The U.K.’s National Cyber Security Center said it is “working round the clock” to restore vital health services.
Security officials in Britain urged organizations to protect themselves by updating their security software fixes, running anti-virus software and backing up data elsewhere.
Who perpetrated this wave of attacks remains unknown. Two security firms — Kaspersky Lab and Avast — said they identified the malicious software in more than 70 countries. Both said Russia was hit hardest.
“This is obviously by far the worst ransomware outbreak we’ve seen in, I think, forever,” said Lawrence Abrams, a New York-based malware expert who runs BleepingComputer.com.
Wednesday, May 03, 2017
Hulu Live TV
Like others before it, Hulu has gotten into the live-streaming TV business with its new service, Hulu Live TV.
Starting at $39.99 a month, customers can get live content from ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and around 50 other channels. Included in the price is Hulu's current on-demand service, which offers viewers limited commercials. In the package is also a cloud DVR of up to 50 hours of storage, two simultaneous streams and the ability to watch on multiple devices, including Apple TV, iPhone and iPad, Google Chromecast and several others.
Hulu said support for additional devices, including Roku, Samsung smart TVs and Amazon Fire TV, would be "coming soon."
There are higher-priced offerings which include no commercials, the ability to have greater DVR capacity and more than two streams going at once.
(Click here for a full list of channels on the package.)
YOUTUBE TV LAUNCHES FOR $35 A MONTH, BUT WHAT ARE YOU GETTING FOR IT?
The combination of a subscription service, akin to Netflix, as well as an over-the-top skinny bundle which includes channels like CNN, Fox News, TBS, HGTV and more separates itself from Netflix as well as other skinny bundles, such as DirecTV Now or Sling TV.
“By bringing together thousands of live, on-demand and library shows and movies -- and serving them up in a uniquely personalized way – Hulu can now be a viewer’s primary source of television," said Hulu's CEO Mike Hopkins in a statement. "It’s a natural extension of our business, and an exciting new chapter for Hulu.”
***
Checking the website to see availability for my area, I see they are offering NBC Sports Bay Area, NBC Sports California, Fox Prime Ticket, Fox San Diego, Fox Sports West. But no NBA TV or NFL Network. CBS, Fox, NBC are available on Demand. Don't see ABC (yet). No CW.
They do have HGTV, but not DYI. They do have National Geographic and Nat Geo Wild, but no Animal Planet. I think I would still go with Playstation Vue for $35 which has CBS Live. But then regular Hulu is included "free" with this service, so it's close.
Starting at $39.99 a month, customers can get live content from ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and around 50 other channels. Included in the price is Hulu's current on-demand service, which offers viewers limited commercials. In the package is also a cloud DVR of up to 50 hours of storage, two simultaneous streams and the ability to watch on multiple devices, including Apple TV, iPhone and iPad, Google Chromecast and several others.
Hulu said support for additional devices, including Roku, Samsung smart TVs and Amazon Fire TV, would be "coming soon."
There are higher-priced offerings which include no commercials, the ability to have greater DVR capacity and more than two streams going at once.
(Click here for a full list of channels on the package.)
YOUTUBE TV LAUNCHES FOR $35 A MONTH, BUT WHAT ARE YOU GETTING FOR IT?
The combination of a subscription service, akin to Netflix, as well as an over-the-top skinny bundle which includes channels like CNN, Fox News, TBS, HGTV and more separates itself from Netflix as well as other skinny bundles, such as DirecTV Now or Sling TV.
“By bringing together thousands of live, on-demand and library shows and movies -- and serving them up in a uniquely personalized way – Hulu can now be a viewer’s primary source of television," said Hulu's CEO Mike Hopkins in a statement. "It’s a natural extension of our business, and an exciting new chapter for Hulu.”
***
Checking the website to see availability for my area, I see they are offering NBC Sports Bay Area, NBC Sports California, Fox Prime Ticket, Fox San Diego, Fox Sports West. But no NBA TV or NFL Network. CBS, Fox, NBC are available on Demand. Don't see ABC (yet). No CW.
They do have HGTV, but not DYI. They do have National Geographic and Nat Geo Wild, but no Animal Planet. I think I would still go with Playstation Vue for $35 which has CBS Live. But then regular Hulu is included "free" with this service, so it's close.
Saturday, March 25, 2017
recording ClearQAM
[7/14/10] After an unsuccessful attempt with Windows Media Player years ago, I still haven't given up hope of using a computer as a DVR (instead of paying a monthly fee to use Oceanic's service).
Should I do this, one piece of software I might look at is GB-PVR [via frwr_news].
GB-PVR is a mature, robust, full-featured Personal Video Recorder (PVR) or Media Center which runs on Microsoft Windows. It's main function is scheduling tv recording and watching live tv, but it can also playback a wide variety of media types across music, videos and photos. The application is made even more useful with a wide range of plugins available, providing features like weather, music jukeboxes, netflix etc.
GB-PVR supports the latest technologies, including ATSC/ClearQAM/DVB-C/DVB-T/DVB-S capture devices, high definition MPEG2 and H.264 television channels, media extenders (Popcorn Hour, Hauppauge MediaMVP etc), multidec support, multi-record (recording multiple digital channels with one tuner), etc.
*** [3/25/17]
article [written 9/8/10] explaining the difference between NTSC, ATSC, QAM, ClearQAM
Here's one product that can tune and record ClearQAM: Hauppage HVR-950Q (stick).
And it looks like SiliconDust HDHomerun Connect and HDHomerun Extend can also receive ClearQAM. Looks pretty easy to set up. But I wonder if it works with Roku? Not directly.
This article describes how to use HDHRFling to allow the Roku to show videos captured on the HDHomerun. They also explain how to use a Roku with a Tablo which is much simpler. But unfortunately the Tablo doesn't support QAM. Ah, here's another option. The article goes on to state that you can use a Fire TV with the HDHomerun (!)
Another option is to use Wallop.
Should I do this, one piece of software I might look at is GB-PVR [via frwr_news].
GB-PVR is a mature, robust, full-featured Personal Video Recorder (PVR) or Media Center which runs on Microsoft Windows. It's main function is scheduling tv recording and watching live tv, but it can also playback a wide variety of media types across music, videos and photos. The application is made even more useful with a wide range of plugins available, providing features like weather, music jukeboxes, netflix etc.
GB-PVR supports the latest technologies, including ATSC/ClearQAM/DVB-C/DVB-T/DVB-S capture devices, high definition MPEG2 and H.264 television channels, media extenders (Popcorn Hour, Hauppauge MediaMVP etc), multidec support, multi-record (recording multiple digital channels with one tuner), etc.
*** [3/25/17]
article [written 9/8/10] explaining the difference between NTSC, ATSC, QAM, ClearQAM
Here's one product that can tune and record ClearQAM: Hauppage HVR-950Q (stick).
And it looks like SiliconDust HDHomerun Connect and HDHomerun Extend can also receive ClearQAM. Looks pretty easy to set up. But I wonder if it works with Roku? Not directly.
This article describes how to use HDHRFling to allow the Roku to show videos captured on the HDHomerun. They also explain how to use a Roku with a Tablo which is much simpler. But unfortunately the Tablo doesn't support QAM. Ah, here's another option. The article goes on to state that you can use a Fire TV with the HDHomerun (!)
Another option is to use Wallop.
Friday, March 10, 2017
Gleevec
Everyone hopes and wishes for that last-minute cancer breakthrough that will save doomed patients. It almost never actually happens. With Gleevec, it did.
The once-a-day pill turned chronic myelogenous leukemia, or CML, from a certain death sentence into a manageable disease. Now data shows it's helped 83 percent of patients live 10 years or longer, even with side-effects that include a characteristic rash, nausea and fatigue.
And some may be able to stop taking the pills altogether, even though they are not cured, the original team of researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine Thursday.
"It's the first targeted personalized medicine that had ever been used. It was also the most successful," said Dr. Richard Silver, a hematologist and oncologist at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center who helped first test the drug in patients.
"This has been the thrill of my life," Silver told NBC News.
Before Gleevec hit the market, CML patients had three options: treatment with toxic chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, or just dying. Even with treatment, patients rarely lived longer than three years. "It was really a death warrant," Silver said.
Gleevec worked so well and so quickly that the trial testing the drug against the older chemo regimen was stopped so everyone could get the pill. Food and Drug Administration approval was swift and now the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society estimates 36,000 to 100,000 Americans are CML survivors.
Monday, January 09, 2017
the new Fire TV stick
[1/9/17] Took home the Fire Stick 2 last night. First paired the voice remote to my Fire TV, then decided to plug in the Stick.
Mistake. The stick didn't find the remote since I paired it with the Fire TV (I assume that was the problem). And since I had set the stick to factory default at Aiea, it didn't find my network. So I couldn't control the stick the app on my tablet.
What to do? Look at the instructions. Said to take out the batteries from the remote, then put it back. I did that and after several seconds the remote was recognized. (I think I might have had to press down home button too.)
Browsing around. Still no Starz app. But Bloomberg live worked (the live feed hasn't been working on my Fire TV, jumping back to the menu).
Then I got a notice to do an update. After that, I got the new interface which still hasn't reached my Fire TV.
I suppose it's an improvement, but since it's new, I'm still used to the old one. There's not that much that it does that the old one doesn't. Mainly it looks a little more modern with bigger fonts. One thing that I do like is that you are able to arrange your apps (like a Roku or Apple TV). I wish it were able to also arrange your video library (it's currently in chronological order), but maybe that's coming in the next release.
[12/18/16] I guess Black Fridays work for Amazon because I found myself buying the new Fire TV stick even though I wasn't really using the old stick that much (I mostly use my first gen Fire TV).
It looks pretty much like the old Fire TV Stick, but is a little larger.
I booted it up hoping it would find my old remote, but it didn't. Then I put in batteries in the new remote and it found both.
First off, I noticed the new remote feels a little stiffer. It takes a bit more of a harder touch to move the cursor keys and press the OK button (or whatever they're officially called). But it still might be an improvement. I think I went through three remotes with my original Fire TV. The first had trouble connecting or losing connection (probably chronicled below somewhere). The current one had trouble with the right cursor. You had to press it hard sometimes to get it to register. And now that the kids have been using, it barely works at all.
The remote I've been using is the one that came with the Fire TV Stick that I bought last year [that's actually the main reason I bought the Fire TV stick -- for the remote]. I like it. It has a good feel, but it's not a voice remote like the one that comes with the new Stick.
The next thing I noticed is that you can't adjust the screen from the device if your TV picture is too big. Maybe they might fix it in the future.
The above was from on 12/1/16, but I didn't really bother to write it up since they were minor issues.
Then I noticed last night (12/17/16) when hooking it up at the Aiea house. For some reason, I couldn't find Starz to install. Even when you go to the amazon website, I didn't see the option to send it to my new Fire TV Stick, only to my Fire TV, (original) Fire TV stick, and Fire tablet.
After a period of frustration, I find that Starz is not compatible with the new Fire TV stick. Quite odd. We'll see how long they take to get it on the new stick.
Mistake. The stick didn't find the remote since I paired it with the Fire TV (I assume that was the problem). And since I had set the stick to factory default at Aiea, it didn't find my network. So I couldn't control the stick the app on my tablet.
What to do? Look at the instructions. Said to take out the batteries from the remote, then put it back. I did that and after several seconds the remote was recognized. (I think I might have had to press down home button too.)
Browsing around. Still no Starz app. But Bloomberg live worked (the live feed hasn't been working on my Fire TV, jumping back to the menu).
Then I got a notice to do an update. After that, I got the new interface which still hasn't reached my Fire TV.
I suppose it's an improvement, but since it's new, I'm still used to the old one. There's not that much that it does that the old one doesn't. Mainly it looks a little more modern with bigger fonts. One thing that I do like is that you are able to arrange your apps (like a Roku or Apple TV). I wish it were able to also arrange your video library (it's currently in chronological order), but maybe that's coming in the next release.
[12/18/16] I guess Black Fridays work for Amazon because I found myself buying the new Fire TV stick even though I wasn't really using the old stick that much (I mostly use my first gen Fire TV).
It looks pretty much like the old Fire TV Stick, but is a little larger.
I booted it up hoping it would find my old remote, but it didn't. Then I put in batteries in the new remote and it found both.
First off, I noticed the new remote feels a little stiffer. It takes a bit more of a harder touch to move the cursor keys and press the OK button (or whatever they're officially called). But it still might be an improvement. I think I went through three remotes with my original Fire TV. The first had trouble connecting or losing connection (probably chronicled below somewhere). The current one had trouble with the right cursor. You had to press it hard sometimes to get it to register. And now that the kids have been using, it barely works at all.
The remote I've been using is the one that came with the Fire TV Stick that I bought last year [that's actually the main reason I bought the Fire TV stick -- for the remote]. I like it. It has a good feel, but it's not a voice remote like the one that comes with the new Stick.
The next thing I noticed is that you can't adjust the screen from the device if your TV picture is too big. Maybe they might fix it in the future.
The above was from on 12/1/16, but I didn't really bother to write it up since they were minor issues.
Then I noticed last night (12/17/16) when hooking it up at the Aiea house. For some reason, I couldn't find Starz to install. Even when you go to the amazon website, I didn't see the option to send it to my new Fire TV Stick, only to my Fire TV, (original) Fire TV stick, and Fire tablet.
After a period of frustration, I find that Starz is not compatible with the new Fire TV stick. Quite odd. We'll see how long they take to get it on the new stick.
Friday, January 06, 2017
it's a scam
“I said: ‘Your name is not Adam. What does your grandmother call you?’ He said, ‘Babu.’”
Babu was Jayesh Dubey, a skinny 19-year-old with hair gelled into vertical bristles, a little like a chimney brush. He told her that he was working in a seven-story building and that everyone there was engaged in the same activity: impersonating Internal Revenue Service officials and threatening Americans, demanding immediate payment to cover back taxes.
If they reached a person who was sufficiently terrified or gullible — this was known in the business as a “sale” — they would instruct that person to buy thousands of dollars’ worth of iTunes cards to avoid prosecution, they said; the most rattled among them complied. The victim would then send the codes from the iTunes cards to the swindlers, giving them access to the money on the card.
As it happened, the United States government had been tracking this India-based scheme since 2013, a period during which Americans, many of them recent immigrants, have lost $100 million to it.
Babu was Jayesh Dubey, a skinny 19-year-old with hair gelled into vertical bristles, a little like a chimney brush. He told her that he was working in a seven-story building and that everyone there was engaged in the same activity: impersonating Internal Revenue Service officials and threatening Americans, demanding immediate payment to cover back taxes.
If they reached a person who was sufficiently terrified or gullible — this was known in the business as a “sale” — they would instruct that person to buy thousands of dollars’ worth of iTunes cards to avoid prosecution, they said; the most rattled among them complied. The victim would then send the codes from the iTunes cards to the swindlers, giving them access to the money on the card.
As it happened, the United States government had been tracking this India-based scheme since 2013, a period during which Americans, many of them recent immigrants, have lost $100 million to it.
Monday, December 26, 2016
Arnold on climate change
I see your questions.
Each and every time I post on my Facebook page or tweet about my crusade for a clean energy future, I see them.
There are always a few of you, asking why we should care about the temperature rising, or questioning the science of climate change.
I want you to know that I hear you. Even those of you who say renewable energy is a conspiracy. Even those who say climate change is a hoax. Even those of you who use four letter words.
I've heard all of your questions, and now I have three questions for you.
Each and every time I post on my Facebook page or tweet about my crusade for a clean energy future, I see them.
There are always a few of you, asking why we should care about the temperature rising, or questioning the science of climate change.
I want you to know that I hear you. Even those of you who say renewable energy is a conspiracy. Even those who say climate change is a hoax. Even those of you who use four letter words.
I've heard all of your questions, and now I have three questions for you.
Friday, December 16, 2016
Fakebook
Facebook is taking new measures to curb the spread of fake news on its
huge and influential social network, focusing on the "worst of the
worst" offenders and partnering with outside fact-checkers to sort
honest news reports from made-up stories that play to people's passions
and preconceived notions.
Fake news stories touch on a broad range of subjects, from unproven cancer cures to celebrity hoaxes and backyard Bigfoot sightings. But fake political stories have drawn attention because of the possibility that they influenced public perceptions and could have swayed the U.S. presidential election.
To start, Facebook is making it easier for users to report fake news when they see it, which they can now do in two steps, not three. If enough people report a story as fake, Facebook will pass it to third-party fact-checking organizations that are part of the nonprofit Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network.
The fact-checking organizations Facebook is currently working with are ABC News, The Associated Press, FactCheck.org, Politifact and Snopes. Facebook says this group is likely to expand.
Stories that flunk the fact check won't be removed from Facebook. But they'll be publicly flagged as "disputed" by third-party fact-checkers, which will force them to appear lower down in people's news feed. Users can click on a link to learn why. And if people decide they want to share the story anyway, they can — but they'll get another warning that it has been disputed.
By partnering with respected outside organizations and flagging, rather than removing, these disputed stories, Facebook is sidestepping some of the biggest concerns experts had raised about it exercising its considerable power in this areas. For instance, some worried that Facebook might act as a censor — and not a skillful one, either, being an engineer-led company with little experience making complex media ethics decisions.
Fake news stories touch on a broad range of subjects, from unproven cancer cures to celebrity hoaxes and backyard Bigfoot sightings. But fake political stories have drawn attention because of the possibility that they influenced public perceptions and could have swayed the U.S. presidential election.
To start, Facebook is making it easier for users to report fake news when they see it, which they can now do in two steps, not three. If enough people report a story as fake, Facebook will pass it to third-party fact-checking organizations that are part of the nonprofit Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network.
The fact-checking organizations Facebook is currently working with are ABC News, The Associated Press, FactCheck.org, Politifact and Snopes. Facebook says this group is likely to expand.
Stories that flunk the fact check won't be removed from Facebook. But they'll be publicly flagged as "disputed" by third-party fact-checkers, which will force them to appear lower down in people's news feed. Users can click on a link to learn why. And if people decide they want to share the story anyway, they can — but they'll get another warning that it has been disputed.
By partnering with respected outside organizations and flagging, rather than removing, these disputed stories, Facebook is sidestepping some of the biggest concerns experts had raised about it exercising its considerable power in this areas. For instance, some worried that Facebook might act as a censor — and not a skillful one, either, being an engineer-led company with little experience making complex media ethics decisions.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
should you buy refurbished electronics?
If you’re looking to save money on electronics, it is smart to consider a device that has been used—or at least opened—in exchange for a significant discount. Many manufacturers and retailers offer refurbished laptops, smartphones, and other electronics that have been returned, then repaired until they’re just like new, and finally put back on sale for less than list price.
Only a small number of refurbs—about 5 percent, according to a 2011 surveyby technology consulting firm Accenture—are defective. Some haven't even been touched by the original owner; they might have been returned because a delivery guy nicked the box during shipping.
In other cases, when there is a true defect, a retailer such as Best Buy sends the item to an authorized repair center or the manufacturer for inspection, repair, and repackaging. And, of course, repricing.
For a consumer, the savings can be substantial. At Best Buy, for example, you can purchase a refurbished Xbox One console for $180, a substantial discount on the original price of $299.
Kyle Wiens, CEO of tech repair site iFixit, thinks buying refurbished can be smart, even if you don't care about getting a deal. “Every computer I've ever bought has been a refurb,” he says.
He explains that refurbished electronics get a once-over from a technician, which doesn't happen with most new products, so they might be more reliable. Refurbs are also environmentally friendly—it's far less wasteful to repair and repackage an existing product than to manufacture a new one. “People have this fixation with new, and I don’t understand it,” Wiens says. “It’s a good buy. It’s better for everybody.”
Monday, December 12, 2016
Disney shuts down VidAngel
Walt Disney Co. won a court order shutting down a Utah-based video-streaming business that lets subscribers pay $1 to watch Hollywood movies stripped of nudity, violence and profanity.
A federal judge on Monday granted Disney’s request to halt VidAngel Inc.’s services while a lawsuit continues over whether the company’s business model is, as Disney alleges, an “end run” around copyright protections.
U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte Jr. in Los Angeles said in his order granting a preliminary injunction that Disney and two other movie studios have shown they’re likely to win on the merits of their claims and that they will be irreparably harmed if VidAngel is allowed to continue infringing their rights while the lawsuit is being decided.
“Hollywood studios have followed a repeated pattern in their decades-long campaign to put movie filtering services out of business by seeking a shut-down decision in trial court,” VidAngel Chief Executive Officer Neal Harmon said in an e-mailed statement. “We will aggressively pursue an appeal and take this case to a higher level where we have always believed we will ultimately prevail.”
Disney claims VidAngel operates as an unlicensed video-on-demand service. The company buys DVD and Blue-ray disc copies of newly released titles which it purports to sell to its customers, according to Disney. But instead of shipping the physical discs, VidAngel “rips” one disc to create a master-copy that can be filtered according to a customer’s preferences and streamed to their home, according to Disney. The customer can then “sell” the movie back after watching it.
This system allowed VidAngel to offer the latest Star Wars movie for $1 a day before it was available from licensed video-on-demand services, Disney said in its complaint filed June 9 along with Warner Bros Entertainment Inc. and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. VidAngel subscribers can watch movies with only minimal filtering if they choose to, the studios claim.
“VidAngel flaunts its interference with exclusive windows as a competitive advantage over authorized services by expressly promoting titles that are available on VidAngel but ‘NOT on Netflix,’" Disney said. "VidAngel’s unrestrained conduct thus threatens the legitimate online distribution market."
VidAngel contends its business model is legal under the Family Movie Act, a 2005 law that authorizes for-profit companies to stream lawfully obtained movies for home viewing with objectionable content filtered out. Disney and the other major studios opposed this law that was directly intended to prevent studios from using litigation to block parental filtering they disliked, according to VidAngel.
Wednesday, December 07, 2016
testing internet speed
[2/10/17] A comment in this article, mentions testmy.net which is purportedly more accurrate than speedtest.net.
I'm testing on the Steven's Vista's laptop with FireFox while CNBC is playing live on my ipad. testmy.net tests download speed as 2.4, 2.5, 2.1. Speedtest.net got 2.65, 2.58, 2.58. That's pretty slow. Usually I get around 4.
OK, let's pause the CNBC video feed. testmy.net now gets 2.3, 1.5, 2.2. This time I ran the download and upload test. So just as bad or worse. Back to speedtest.net. 3.25, 3.09, 3.16. So speedtest a little faster. Which might be expected since speedtest is testing to a Oahu server, while testmy.net is using a server in Texas (Dallas is the one I notice now).
It could be that my internet is just slow today. I've been noticing lately that my landline phone has some noise on it. Let me unplug the modem and plug it back in. The phone line seems clear when I pick up and listen to the phone now (though I'm not talking to anyone).
OK, retest. No connection. What? Unplug and replug in. Try again.
Speedtest now gets: 3.63, 4.21, 4.17. That's more like it. testmy.net gets: 4.3, 4.1, 4.1. OK, I'm happy.
OK, now play CNBC live. testmy.net got: 0.7, 2.1, 0.2. And in the meantime, the CNBC video got stuck trying to load. Not happy.
Maybe it's temporary. I'll try again later.
OK, now playing Legends of Tomorrow on the CW app instead.
testmy.net got: 3.3, 3.3, 2.9. Pause Legends of Tomorrow. 3.2, 4, 3.6. speedtest: 4.09, 4.18, 4.11. That's about as good as I get on speedtest. Don't know why testmy.net is slower. Try again.2.9, 4.1, 4.0.
Resume Legends of Tomorrow. 4.1, 3.2, 4.0.
I dunno. Whatever. Good enough for my streaming.
[12/7/16] I've been using speedtest.net and Speakeasy to test my internet speed. But last night when I did a search for speed test, I see that google now has their own speed test. Not only does it test download and upload speed, it tests latency as well.
On my home dsl, I'm getting 3.84 mbps, 0.40 mbps, 174 ms; 4.10, 0.40, 358; 3.73, 0.38, 195 from a server in the San Francisco Bay area. (I'm supposed to be getting "up to" 7 mbps.)
There's also pingtest.net from the speedtest.net folks. It measures the quality of your connection giving measures of packet loss, ping, jitter. It uses flash and java, so I run it on firefox rather than chrome. I'm getting 3%, 34 ms, 4 ms / 8%, 34 ms, 3 ms / 3%, 38 ms, 9 ms. So the results vary (except for ping) when running tests back to back.
[7/12/08] I found out from Lori that the price for hawaiiantel DSL dropped for new customers and I called to see if I could get that price (and did!) Also noted that they are offering 3 Mbps speed for the low-end customers and I was getting sub 1.5. I called tech support they (re)set it up for me. I'm now up to 2.64 Mbps on the hawaiiantel speedtest!
[4/7/07 frwr-news] Another one is Speakeasy Speed Test which enables testing from a number of servers around the country (requires Macromedia Flash)
[4/4/07 frwr-news] Here's a test from the UK
[8/15/05] I have been using the McAfee speedometer for a while. I used to get like 1.2 or 1.3 mbps on my DSL, but lately I've been getting more like 500 kbps (for the times it works after my DSL went flakey).
While in the process of troubleshooting my DSL problems, the verizon tech told me to try two other sites. InfoSpeed and Midco. They both seem to give around 1.1 to 1.2 mbps (for the times when my DSL was working today) which is about what McAfee was giving me. Hey I'd even take 500 Kbps if they can keep my DSL working.
I'm testing on the Steven's Vista's laptop with FireFox while CNBC is playing live on my ipad. testmy.net tests download speed as 2.4, 2.5, 2.1. Speedtest.net got 2.65, 2.58, 2.58. That's pretty slow. Usually I get around 4.
OK, let's pause the CNBC video feed. testmy.net now gets 2.3, 1.5, 2.2. This time I ran the download and upload test. So just as bad or worse. Back to speedtest.net. 3.25, 3.09, 3.16. So speedtest a little faster. Which might be expected since speedtest is testing to a Oahu server, while testmy.net is using a server in Texas (Dallas is the one I notice now).
It could be that my internet is just slow today. I've been noticing lately that my landline phone has some noise on it. Let me unplug the modem and plug it back in. The phone line seems clear when I pick up and listen to the phone now (though I'm not talking to anyone).
OK, retest. No connection. What? Unplug and replug in. Try again.
Speedtest now gets: 3.63, 4.21, 4.17. That's more like it. testmy.net gets: 4.3, 4.1, 4.1. OK, I'm happy.
OK, now play CNBC live. testmy.net got: 0.7, 2.1, 0.2. And in the meantime, the CNBC video got stuck trying to load. Not happy.
Maybe it's temporary. I'll try again later.
OK, now playing Legends of Tomorrow on the CW app instead.
testmy.net got: 3.3, 3.3, 2.9. Pause Legends of Tomorrow. 3.2, 4, 3.6. speedtest: 4.09, 4.18, 4.11. That's about as good as I get on speedtest. Don't know why testmy.net is slower. Try again.2.9, 4.1, 4.0.
Resume Legends of Tomorrow. 4.1, 3.2, 4.0.
I dunno. Whatever. Good enough for my streaming.
[12/7/16] I've been using speedtest.net and Speakeasy to test my internet speed. But last night when I did a search for speed test, I see that google now has their own speed test. Not only does it test download and upload speed, it tests latency as well.
On my home dsl, I'm getting 3.84 mbps, 0.40 mbps, 174 ms; 4.10, 0.40, 358; 3.73, 0.38, 195 from a server in the San Francisco Bay area. (I'm supposed to be getting "up to" 7 mbps.)
There's also pingtest.net from the speedtest.net folks. It measures the quality of your connection giving measures of packet loss, ping, jitter. It uses flash and java, so I run it on firefox rather than chrome. I'm getting 3%, 34 ms, 4 ms / 8%, 34 ms, 3 ms / 3%, 38 ms, 9 ms. So the results vary (except for ping) when running tests back to back.
[7/12/08] I found out from Lori that the price for hawaiiantel DSL dropped for new customers and I called to see if I could get that price (and did!) Also noted that they are offering 3 Mbps speed for the low-end customers and I was getting sub 1.5. I called tech support they (re)set it up for me. I'm now up to 2.64 Mbps on the hawaiiantel speedtest!
[4/7/07 frwr-news] Another one is Speakeasy Speed Test which enables testing from a number of servers around the country (requires Macromedia Flash)
[4/4/07 frwr-news] Here's a test from the UK
[8/15/05] I have been using the McAfee speedometer for a while. I used to get like 1.2 or 1.3 mbps on my DSL, but lately I've been getting more like 500 kbps (for the times it works after my DSL went flakey).
While in the process of troubleshooting my DSL problems, the verizon tech told me to try two other sites. InfoSpeed and Midco. They both seem to give around 1.1 to 1.2 mbps (for the times when my DSL was working today) which is about what McAfee was giving me. Hey I'd even take 500 Kbps if they can keep my DSL working.
Monday, December 05, 2016
no bag boys?
Amazon.com on Monday said that it will open a bricks-and-mortar grocery store called Amazon Go,
an ambitious bid by the once-online-only retailer to gobble up more of
Americans’ shopping dollars by taking the fight more directly to
traditional supermarkets and big-box stores.
The store will be powered by a web of technology that allows customers to fill their shopping bags and walk out without going through a checkout process, a concept that has long been discussed in the retail industry but that has not been implemented at major U.S. stores. The idea is that it will shave time off the shopping experience. (Jeffrey P. Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, owns The Washington Post.)
Here’s how Amazon Go will work: Customers download an app and then swipe their smartphones as they walk through the store’s entrance. Then they start picking up groceries. In a process that the company does not describe except to say that it involves computer vision, machine learning and artificial intelligence, every item the shoppers tuck into their bags or carts is tracked on the phone. If an item is put back on the shelf, it’s deleted. As shoppers exit, their bill is calculated, a digital receipt appears on their phones, and their Amazon account is charged.
The store will be powered by a web of technology that allows customers to fill their shopping bags and walk out without going through a checkout process, a concept that has long been discussed in the retail industry but that has not been implemented at major U.S. stores. The idea is that it will shave time off the shopping experience. (Jeffrey P. Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, owns The Washington Post.)
Here’s how Amazon Go will work: Customers download an app and then swipe their smartphones as they walk through the store’s entrance. Then they start picking up groceries. In a process that the company does not describe except to say that it involves computer vision, machine learning and artificial intelligence, every item the shoppers tuck into their bags or carts is tracked on the phone. If an item is put back on the shelf, it’s deleted. As shoppers exit, their bill is calculated, a digital receipt appears on their phones, and their Amazon account is charged.
Saturday, December 03, 2016
Siri not talking?
I enabled Alexa on my Fire Tablet. (I guess. I entered the app and followed the prompts.) But how to use it? Ah, you have to press down the home button.
Hey, let me try Siri on my ipad. Haven't really used it all this time. How do you activate it? Ah, you have to press down the home button.
But Siri wasn't speaking to me. Only displaying text. I didn't see any easy answers by googling. But I finally figured it out. It's the settings in voice feedback.
Go to settings. General. Siri. Voice Feedback. Set it to Always On. It had been on Hands-Free Only.
(Actually, it was the number 1 answer here.)
Hey, let me try Siri on my ipad. Haven't really used it all this time. How do you activate it? Ah, you have to press down the home button.
But Siri wasn't speaking to me. Only displaying text. I didn't see any easy answers by googling. But I finally figured it out. It's the settings in voice feedback.
Go to settings. General. Siri. Voice Feedback. Set it to Always On. It had been on Hands-Free Only.
(Actually, it was the number 1 answer here.)
streaming the NFL
[12/1/16] CBS ALL Access adds NFL games, except on phone. So you can now watch all NFL games on streaming devices (including tablets but not phones), but you will need a subscription to CBS Access (assuming you live in an area where they telecast your local station live) as well as a subscription to cable or satellite (or Sling TV or Playstation Vue or DirecTV Live if you happen to live in an area where they carry live local channels. Playstation Vue also carries CBS (live only, but not On Demand) as well as Fox and NBC in a few areas. So in these areas, you wouldn't even need CBS All Access).
Or, of course, you can try an antenna for the CBS, Fox, and NBC games to watch on your TV.
[9/25/16] Interesting. Switched to my Apple TV and I see the Sunday game on their NBC Sports app. Checking the website, now I see the game. Checking my iPad, it's now on there too. I guess they just were slow putting it up.
Now trying out NFL Redzone on the Apple TV. Pretty neat. They switch from game to game when there's something interesting to watch (like when a team gets into the red zone). I wonder if they will carry the Sunday Night game? I wouldn't think so. Stay tuned.
Nope. No coverage of the Sunday Night (afternoon where I am), but they end the telecast with every touchdown made on the day. Pretty cool. OK, time to tune in to NBC.
[9/24/16] Don't see this Sunday's NFL game on the NBC Sports app. Not on my Fire TV, Roku, iPad, or even on the website. Maybe they don't carry anymore. I guess Fox and ESPN must have paid the NFL extra, because they carry it but not CBS and now apparently not NBC.
[9/12/16] CBS to stream NFL games this season. But you have be a Comcast Optimum subscriber. I checked the CBS Sports website and tried to log in to watch the CBS Sports Network live. There were three options available: Cox, Frontier, Optimum. So I assume those will be the three options to watch the NFL games on CBS.
Disappointly still not available for CBS All Access. Apparently discussions fell through.
Besides CBS, you can watch every other NFL game live on a streaming device (Roku, Apple TV, or Amazon Fire TV) -- if you have a cable subscription (Time Warner Cable or HawaiianTelcom anyway).
[But if you have cable subscription, why watch on a streaming device? Well for one thing, you might not have a cable box hooked up to every TV in your house. And of course, if you're watching on your phone or tablet, you can watch anywhere you have internet access.]
The Fox Sports app (not available on Apple TV 3) will show the Fox games (Sunday afternoon games).
The NBC Sports app (available on all three devices) will carry Sunday Night Football and some of the Thursday Night games.
WatchESPN (all devices) will cover Monday Night Football.
The NFL app (currently available only on Apple TV, Roku channel disappointingly not yet updated for this season, not available on Fire TV) will carry the Thursday Night games on the NFL Network (I assume).
***
So which device to use? In the pre-season, I was using the Apple TV to watch the NFL Network. Plus the CBS Sports app on the Apple TV has better fantasy football coverage than the app on the other devices (for some odd reason). However now that the season has started, I'm switching between devices since my Apple TV (3rd generation) doesn't have Fox Sports. I might switch to the Roku more when the NFL app gets updated for this season.
***
One more option. NFL Sunday Ticket. [not available in my area because I am able to get DirectTV.]
Or, of course, you can try an antenna for the CBS, Fox, and NBC games to watch on your TV.
[9/25/16] Interesting. Switched to my Apple TV and I see the Sunday game on their NBC Sports app. Checking the website, now I see the game. Checking my iPad, it's now on there too. I guess they just were slow putting it up.
Now trying out NFL Redzone on the Apple TV. Pretty neat. They switch from game to game when there's something interesting to watch (like when a team gets into the red zone). I wonder if they will carry the Sunday Night game? I wouldn't think so. Stay tuned.
Nope. No coverage of the Sunday Night (afternoon where I am), but they end the telecast with every touchdown made on the day. Pretty cool. OK, time to tune in to NBC.
[9/24/16] Don't see this Sunday's NFL game on the NBC Sports app. Not on my Fire TV, Roku, iPad, or even on the website. Maybe they don't carry anymore. I guess Fox and ESPN must have paid the NFL extra, because they carry it but not CBS and now apparently not NBC.
[9/12/16] CBS to stream NFL games this season. But you have be a Comcast Optimum subscriber. I checked the CBS Sports website and tried to log in to watch the CBS Sports Network live. There were three options available: Cox, Frontier, Optimum. So I assume those will be the three options to watch the NFL games on CBS.
Disappointly still not available for CBS All Access. Apparently discussions fell through.
Besides CBS, you can watch every other NFL game live on a streaming device (Roku, Apple TV, or Amazon Fire TV) -- if you have a cable subscription (Time Warner Cable or HawaiianTelcom anyway).
[But if you have cable subscription, why watch on a streaming device? Well for one thing, you might not have a cable box hooked up to every TV in your house. And of course, if you're watching on your phone or tablet, you can watch anywhere you have internet access.]
The Fox Sports app (not available on Apple TV 3) will show the Fox games (Sunday afternoon games).
The NBC Sports app (available on all three devices) will carry Sunday Night Football and some of the Thursday Night games.
The NFL app (currently available only on Apple TV, Roku channel disappointingly not yet updated for this season, not available on Fire TV) will carry the Thursday Night games on the NFL Network (I assume).
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So which device to use? In the pre-season, I was using the Apple TV to watch the NFL Network. Plus the CBS Sports app on the Apple TV has better fantasy football coverage than the app on the other devices (for some odd reason). However now that the season has started, I'm switching between devices since my Apple TV (3rd generation) doesn't have Fox Sports. I might switch to the Roku more when the NFL app gets updated for this season.
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One more option. NFL Sunday Ticket. [not available in my area because I am able to get DirectTV.]
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