The PS4 Afterglow Wireless Headset Giveaway

A former colleague shipped me his company’s highly regarded Playstation 4 Afterglow wireless headset to check out. Unfortunately, as an owner of the far superior Xbox One (heh heh), I’m unable to partake – and we decided to share the love. From the (after)glowing review on KSTP: PDP’s Afterglow wireless headset for the PS4 is awesome. I liked everything … Read more

Showtime Streaming To Output Surround Sound “Very Soon”

While I’ve been a fan of Showtime, often preferring their original content to HBO’s, my primary ding against the Showtime Anytime streaming service has been stereo sound. With the launch of Showtime’s new Internet streaming service this week, that does not require a cable subscription, I reached out to Showtime’s PR team. And the good new is that … Read more

Two Free Months of Hulu via Roku

roku-hulu-deal

This weekend, Hulu and Roku are offering two months of free streaming to new customers. Where “new” generally means new email address. Given the imminent arrival of Showtime on Hulu (for an additional fee), I figured I’d strike while the iron is hot. However, the signup process was something of a turn off. Hulu, Roku, or maybe both require a gender and birth year to complete the registration process and surely feed their advertising initiatives. Obviously those can be spoofed if one so chooses, but I played along. However, where they lost me is Roku, versus Hulu, requiring a credit card on file.

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Hulu To Bundle Showtime; Unsupported On TiVo

showtime-hulu

In addition to shortly launching a stand-alone service, akin to HBO NOW, Showtime has entered into an fascinating partnership with Hulu.

This July, Hulu brings you a new way to get SHOWTIME. Get up to 30 days free of SHOWTIME with a Hulu subscription and see what you’ve been missing! After your trial, you’ll get SHOWTIME for $8.99/month in addition to your $7.99/month Hulu subscription.

What makes this unique is a 20% Showtime streaming discount along with both on-demand and live content being accessed from within the Hulu interface. Beyond SHO’s willingness to give up some control, I wonder if this signals Hulu interest in Sling TV space — should we expect additional channel-like offerings?

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Charter Hopes To Succeed Where Comcast Has Failed

Traders work at the post where Time Warner Cable is traded on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange May 26, 2015.  REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Traders work at the post where Time Warner Cable is traded on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange May 26, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

(Reuters) – Charter Communications Inc <CHTR.O> formally argued for regulatory approval for its Time Warner Cable Inc <TWC.N> and Bright House Networks deals, saying consumers would benefit as Internet services would become cheaper and faster.

Charter said in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday that it would not block or suppress Internet traffic or prioritize content for a fee and that its broadband services would cost less than the current offerings of Time Warner (TWC) and Bright House.

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Amazon Echo: The Coolest Gadget I Don’t Need

amazon-echo

So the big news is that Amazon Echo is now available for all to purchase, with a July 14th ETA. And, instead of going mass market at $200 as originally presented, it arrives at an even more palatable $180 (having dropped the physical remote). Considering a decent Bluetooth speaker could run that much or more, the voice-controlled, multi-function Echo is really a fantabulous deal when you consider all it offers.

When originally introduced as an Amazon Prime exclusive in limited numbers for $99, I picked up two. Back then, it didn’t do a whole lot — it was largely a silo-ed experience that I mainly used as a voice-controlled alarm clock and iHeartRadio terminal. But the product team has been iterating at a furious pace, bringing native Pandora, Hue control (!), and Audible integration… with promises of more to come and a developer SDK.

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