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Tell me your magiks


Lace Mindu
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The older I get, the more tech stuff sails over my head. I only have so many brain cells left and they need to be concerned with the really importants stuff such as where I put my car keys last and what am I doing in the basement, I know I came down here for a reason.

 

Also, on what floor of the work parking structure did I park today. True story: In another parking structure next to another job, I once reported my car stolen because it wasn't in the spot I KNEW I had parked in that morning. Yep, that spot was actually where I had parked it the day before, car was safe and sound right where I had left it that morning.

 

So you see, I have no room to learn new stuff.

 

So tell me about this magic TV stuff I see around this year. Like the $39 device Amazon is trying to sell me, the Kindle TV thingie or the magical Apple TV. What do they do? Please explain it like you would to a 5 year old, as all my older, less agile brain cells got wiped out in the last tequila binge.

 

I have a Kindle FIre and I have Amazon Prime (but not netflix), so it seems like I could get the Kindle thing to work (maybe) if it did something I wanted. Commercials mention free movies, you know. Or is it a ripoff? Or should I get something else? I have to say that I don't watch a whole lot of non-sports TV and so far On-Demand has done fine, except now and then I'd like to watch a movie and not pay them $6 for it, especially when it's an old one. Also, we have Verizon so I can supposedly stream TV/movies to my device, but of course that takes extra brain cells and is usually a last resort for me.

 

Wondering if this is the same or easier route to better TV/Movie selection?

 

 

 

 

 

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Apple devices are homes to little monsters that like to play pretend and entertain us. But if you ever get my phone wet again the little monsters will grow, break out of the phone and eat your mother. After which they will beat you until your legs fall off then they will pick up your legs and beat you with them. Now stop crying, it's not like I hit you, gawd.

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Amazon's streaming stick let's you send whatever is on your computer monitor to your TV.

 

Kindle TV and Apple TV are streaming content devices. You connect them to the internet and to your TV. Kindle goes to Amazon streaming, Apple to iTunes, allowing you to buy TV shows, usually the day after they air, for $2-4. Basically, if like me, you don't watch much in the way of live sports or news, you could get rid of cable and just pay for the shows you watch instead of the hundreds of channels you never do. I pay about half as I used to for cable, and I watch a lot of TV shows. Both of them also get Netflix. They both have some free content, but it isn't always great. If you have Amazon prime, it has a pretty decent library of stuff you can watch for free, though a lot of it is available via Netflix, which while not free, is dirt cheap.

 

Since you already have Amazon Prime, the Kindle TV would work well for you to ditch cable.

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Price-wise my choice is to go with Chromecast. Or a Roku box because it comes with a remote where Chromecast does not. However since you have Prime with Amazon the Fire Stick makes more sense. Basically you buy this thing and it goes in a kind of USB slot in the back of your smart television. Many modern flat panels you get now already have this thing but older televisions like the big box style hooked to a signal digital converter or a cable box won't. You may have to check to see if your is HDMI capable. So once you get it to your house from Amazon, Amazon will link your Amazon Prime account to it before shipping. You just plug it in to your television and it must be able to plug into a wall outlet as it needs a power supply and does not get power from your television set and then set up the internet connection to it using the remote provided. You can then stream things through apps or the internet or through your Prime Account from movies to music to games. You can take it out and put in any teevee or whatnot around your house so it is not tied to just one room. Cable and satellite services should take notice. I mean I haven't had cable since 1995 because of the advent of the internet. Paying for teevee in a way is for chumps. But then I do have a Netflix account (which you can use on your teevee through the Fire Stick as you'll just install a Netflix app and play through your Netflix stream subscription). Hulu is the same. Install the Hulu app. Pay for their plus service and you can stream through your Fire Stick. Some of these services/apps are redundant. I get my free shows from the actually channels website as many stream the day after.

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Yeah, but the Cubs sucked so much the past couple years that nobody watches them anymore. What with our new billionaire owner f-ing up the stadium left and right by bringing in flashing advertisements in every corner and hiking the ticket (and beer) prices sky high -- but not investing in anyone who knew how to play the game -- everyone boycotted except tourists. $140 per seat for "premium games" and opening day to SIT ON A BENCH in the OUTFIELD BLEACHERS. To watch the suckiest of sucky teams, and trust me, the Cubs fans know suck. How bad is it? WGN gave up trying to get viewers to watch the Cubs and will no longer show the Cubs next year. They gave up the rights. I think another local channel picked them up, but they won't be on the WGN superstation any more. End of an era.

 

Meanwhile, Wrigley is a pile of rubble with a new "Jumbotron" on the way (the horror!) but amazingly, the Cubs got the message and have gone out and picked up every free agent they could to try to field a team next year. Like, a real team. That plays baseball and stuff. I'll believe that when I see it, of course. With the Cub's luck, they'll all get injured in Spring training and we'll be drafting tourists from the bleachers to pitch. Either way, I won't know the names of any of the entirely new team, so it'll be like watching the Yankees (or whoever) play in Wrigley. So it'll be a while until I watch baseball, as well.

 

I have my new love, Premier League English Soccer, and my new Barclay's Fantasy Soccer League to manage, so I'm good except for high summer, when I'd rather be gardening anyway. :)

 

But that's also why our cable bill is sky high, we pay for the extra sports package. And HBO for Game of Thrones. That's sort of like a sport. A very deadly one, heh.

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