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What is a smart home and do you want one? Parts 1-3, September 1-15, 2022

Full Text, Times Gazette / tony / 2022-09-01 / #fullcolumns

What is a smart home and do you want one? Parts 1-3, September 1-15, 2022

What is a smart home and do you want one? Part 1

What is a smart home and do you want one? Part 2

What is a smart home and do you want one? Part 3

What is a smart home and do you want one? Part 1

Sepember 1, 2022

Last week I talked about masked/anonymous/disposable email services. Well, DuckDuckGo just recently opened up their masked email beta to everyone so you can easily create as many anonymous/disposable email addresses as you want or need. It’s an email forwarding service that strips out “trackers” among other things, making the email you receive more secure and protective of your privacy. I’m using it and I encourage everyone else to do so as well. Read more at https://go.ttot.link/DuckDuckGo. The last paragraph of the article tells you how to sign up. When you generate a new address, it’s YOURS and you can start using it immediately so copy it and paste it wherever you need it. If you generate it from the email generation page (https://go.ttot.link/DuckGenerator) it will remain visible on that page until you generate a new one. Now, on to this week’s topic.

What is a “smart home?” There are many definitions with varying levels of technical sophistication. I prefer to keep it simple: a smart home is any place that includes some level of automation. So, by my definition, if you have a furnace in your home with a thermostat that automatically fires your furnace when the temperature goes below a certain level, you have a smart home! Simplistic, I know, but I prefer that to an overly involved definition.

What are some other things you can do to add automation to your home and why would you want to? Remember The Clapper (https://go.ttot.link/TheClapper)? Yes, it’s still available – see your favorite retailer. Well, technology has upgraded things and now you can get a “smart outlet” and a “smart light bulb” both of which can connect with your virtual assistant (e.g. Siri, Alexa, Google) so you can control them with your voice, via their app, or via a “smart home controller” app.

OK, I threw a lot at you in that last paragraph. Let me break it down a bit more. First, smart lights. There are many on the market. All of them that I’m aware of are LEDs which means they consume much less power than the older incandescent bulbs and last MUCH longer. An LED that’s a 100-watt equivalent will use only 10-25 watts. Now stay with me here because I’ve got to give you some technical terms that are used with LEDs so you can buy with knowledge and understanding.

Since LEDs use much less power than standard light bulbs, they tend to be rated in “lumens” (which is a measure of light output) rather than watts. Most sources will quote that a 100-watt incandescent bulb produces between 1500 and 1600 lumens but real world measurements show that, on average, they produce a little under 1400 lumens. I seem to get about as much illumination out of a 75-watt equivalent LED that supposedly produces only 1100-1125 lumens. What does this mean to you? Don’t be afraid to try a 75-watt LED. They’re easier to find and a bit cheaper.

Next is color. Some of the LEDs produce light of a fixed color. You may be used to seeing terms like “daylight” or “warm white.” These terms are actually shorthand for “color temperature” (https://go.ttot.link/ColorTemp) measured in degrees Kelvin. Warm white corresponds roughly to 2700K, daylight to 5000K. The article I linked to shows correspondence between color temperature and environment. Some smart LEDs light up at a given temperature while others allow you to change the temperature and even the color (red, blue, green, etc).

Last thing, I promise. Base. A standard light bulb socket is known as an E26 base. There are other bases and other shapes but if you’re looking to replace a standard light bulb in the lamp on your end table, an E26 base is what you need.

Now that you have that info, what do I use and recommend? I have several LIFX bulbs like https://go.ttot.link/LIFXAmazon. Yes, they’re kinda pricey but they work, out of the box, with all the smart assistants and their app works well for setup and such. They allow you to fully adjust the color output, choosing a color (red, green, etc) or a temperature (2700K for warm white, etc). I tend to stay away from the colors and just go with white color temperatures. I change the temperature as the day goes on starting with a bright white of about 4500K in the morning to wake me up and ending with a warm white of about 2700K at night to watch TV. And if we’re watching something that is fairly dark on the TV, I can turn down the brightness of the LED. All of which I can do with the LIFX app or via my smart assistant using a command like “set color temp to 2700K” or, even better, using a custom command I’ve set up in my assistant like “set dark TV” or “set morning light.”

Other choices? I encourage you to pay attention to the lumen output of any LED. If you want to replace a 60-watt incandescent then 800 lumens is fine but if you’re replacing a 75 or 100 watt bulb, I recommend at least an 100 lumen smart light. Sengled makes a 1500 lumen (100 watt equivalent) multicolor bulb that connects directly to WiFi in a 4 pack that[s currently $50 – https://go.ttot.link/Sengled1500.

More common are smart LED bulbs that need a hub – they connect with the hub and the hub connects to your WiFi. Ikea has an 100 lumen smart bulb that can change color temperature but not color for $13 – https://go.ttot.link/Ikea1100 and the gateway (https://go.ttot.link/IkeaGateway) is $40 (which can control up to 64 LED bulbs). Once installed, it works with Siri, Alexa, and Google Home. Philips Hue and GE also make gateway-controlled smart LEDs.

Next week I’ll talk about smart plugs and outlets. I have more smart outlets than I do smart LED bulbs because they’re cheaper and offer more flexibility. I can plug in just about anything that only needs to be turned on or off and control it from any of my smart assistants.

That’s it for this week. Note that my intent with these columns is to spark your curiosity, give you enough information to get started, and arm you with the necessary keywords (or buzzwords) so you’ll understand the basics and are equipped to search for more detailed information.

Email me with questions, comments, suggestions, requests for future columns, whatever at [email protected] and don’t forget that I maintain links to the original columns with live, clickable links to all the references at https://go.ttot.link/TGColumns+Links or https://go.ttot.link/TGC+L – it should be updated shortly after this column appears online. My links tell me that I’m getting some international readers – France, Belgium, and Germany among other countries. If you’re an international reader, drop me a quick note and say HI!

What is a smart home and do you want one? Part 2

September 8, 2022

Going back a few weeks to my column on free and paid TV/movie streaming services, CNet recently published a list of the channels each of the major services carry. Handy if you’re looking for a certain channel. It’s at https://go.ttot.link/CNetChannels.

Last week we talked about smart LED lights and I hope you’re better equipped to read about and make your own decisions about color, light output and brand. If you’re on the fence, try one out and if you don’t like it, return it! My smart lights have become almost indispensable I have them tied in to Google Assistant routines so I can turn them on and off with voice commands plus when I leave and return home they also turn off and on automatically (check out Google Assistant’s help for how to accomplish this last little trick). It’s nice to come home to a lit house.

This week we’ll talk about smart outlets – something else that I really can’t imagine being without. I have a charging station with several USB outlets that is plugged into one of my smart outlets and I have it automatically turn on every day at 4 PM and turn off at 10 PM. when I leave the house it, along with a number of other outlets and lights, automatically turn off so I don’t have to wonder if I remembered to turn them off. The smart outlets I have plug in to a regular outlet but you can get smart outlets that replace a regular outlet if you like. You use the outlet’s app or, in some cases, your preferred assistant (Google, Siri, Amazon) to set them up. Some even report how much power they use.

Different smart outlets have different ways of connecting. Some use WiFi, some use Bluetooth, others use techniques that require the use of a hub or controller and you’ll see terms like Zigbee and Z-wave and Matter. Here is a good discussion of the various options https://go.ttot.link/ZigbeeVs. The short answer is if you’re only going to have a few devices then WiFi is probably fine but if you get more than a few, they’ll compete with all your other devices for WiFi bandwidth, in which case a hub and Zigbee or one of the other connectivity methods might be worth considering. When you’re shopping, pay attention to these terms! Often the product description will also tell you if they work directly with Google or Amazon or Siri.

I’ve had smart outlets for quite a few years and have a mixture of brands with various features. All of them integrate with both Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Home. When I first started there weren’t many (any?) WiFi smart outlets so I got a hub from SmartThings (https://go.ttot.link/SmartThings) which allowed me to connect and control Zigbee and Z-wave devices, ultimately also interfacing with Google and Amazon’s assistants. I continue to use and prefer SmartThings and generally try to buy products that work with SmartThings.

Where can you find smart outlets? Search Best Buy (use this link to easily search https://go.ttot.link/BestBuyOutlets), Amazon (via this link https://go.ttot.link/AmazonOutlets), and Lowe’s (https://go.ttot.link/LowesOutlets). There are power strips and even outlets safe for outdoor use (Christmas lights, anyone?). If you’re ambitious and enjoy that kind of work, you can even replace some regular outlets in your home with smart ones. But make sure that any you buy are either UL or CE approved (most are but it never hurts to check). Do I have a favorite? Well, no, I don’t. Every one I’ve bought has performed as expected. Some have quit working and some have had support dropped but, over the course of 10 years, I expect that to happen. The outlets are inexpensive enough that I just buy another and swap it in. I care about the power use of a few of the smart outlets I own. Outlets that report power use are more difficult to replace because they’re less common and are more expensive. One that I use regularly is no longer available but there’s a newer model https://go.ttot.link/NeoOutlet. It monitors and reports energy usage BUT it’s a Z-wave device so you must have a hub. The outlet has its own timer facilities so you can schedule on and off times using its app – without the hub or smart assistant.

I’ve mentioned hubs but haven’t really gotten into any details about them. What are they and why would you want one? Hubs are the connection point for certain smart devices (smart LED bulbs, smart switches, moisture sensors, motion detectors, open/close sensors, etc). Hubs talk one or more standards (e.g. Zigbee, Z-wave, Bluetooth, WiFi) and connect with and control the devices that connect to it. Amazon’s newest Echo devices include the capability to directly connect with and control Zigbee devices (https://go.ttot.link/EchoZigbee) and then connects them all to your WiFi network. Apple has HomeKit which supports a whole different standard called Thread (which Google also supports with their Nest hub devices). NBC News gave a good synopsis and rundown of what they consider the best smart home hubs (https://go.ttot.link/BestHubs). Personally, I’m quite happy with my SmartThings (now Aeotec) hub. It works with Google Assistant, Amazon Echo, and another service, IFTTT (which stands for If This Then That) – which gives you the ability to tie together multiple disparate services…but that’s a topic for another column!

Next week I’ll talk about some other smart home devices that you might be interested in. I pretty much stick with outlets and lights but there’s no reason for you to restrict yourself if you’re interested in more automation.

Email me with questions, comments, suggestions, requests for future columns, whatever at [email protected] and don’t forget that I maintain links to the original columns with live, clickable links to all the references at https://go.ttot.link/TGColumns+Links or https://go.ttot.link/TGC+L – it should be updated shortly after this column appears online. My links tell me that I’m getting some international readers. Regardless of where you’re from, drop me a quick note and say HI!

What is a smart home and do you want one? Part 3

September 15, 2022

Last week we talked about smart outlets and smart hubs.This week we’ll briefly look at some other smart devices that are available.

One smart device I recently acquired is a Nest Learning Thermostat (https://go.ttot.link/NestLearning). Yes, it’s been out a while but none of the thermostats were out-of-the-box compatible with my Courier HVAC. I recently replaced a central air unit and the installer threw in the Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd Generation) and, I have to say, I LOVE it! I can control the temperature from any of my smart speakers but the real winner is that

I can detect and change the temperature from ANY of my devices that has the Google Home app installed
It “learns” my scheduling preferences. How? I just set the temperature throughout the day and over the course of a week or two, it figures out what the schedule should be based on those changes, Now, I’ve had setback thermostats for YEARS and I’d always guess at when I’d like this or that temperature and on which days. Now, I see that I really only change the set temperature twice a day. It can “sense” when no one is home and automatically change to an “Eco” mode which suspends your regular schedule and sets a warmer or colder threshold temperature (depending on whether you’re heating or cooling). The thermometer wakes up when you walk near it which is one way it senses your presence. The other way is to allow your phone to be a presence sensor through the Google Home app. You set your home location and the Home app can tell when you’ve left. You can link everyone’s phone to the Home app so it knows when no one is at home. This, by the way, is how I automate things like turning off lights and power strips when I leave.

One thing that you may be thinking – my thermostat is nowhere near where I spend the majority of my time! Well, you can purchase a remote sensor for the Google Nest Thermostat. Place it in the room where you spend most of your time and your Nest can make heating and cooling decisions based on the temperature reading for that sensor. You have multiple rooms? No worries You can buy several and place them where they’re needed (good summary and review at https://go.ttot.link/NestSensor).

My HVAC installer heartily recommended the Google Nest Learning Thermostat but there are many more available. CNet recently gave their opinion as to the “best” smart thermostats of 2022 at https://go.ttot.link/CnetThermostats and includes a link to their review of the other smart thermostat that had my interest – the Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium (review at https://go.ttot.link/CNetEcobee). One thing to note: the Ecobee includes a remote sensor which is an extra purchase for the Google Nest. But, as I said earlier, I’m pretty happy with my Nest.

I also have tilt sensors installed on my garage doors. They interact with my SmartThings hub and let me know when my garage door opens and closes with the current open/close state recorded. I no longer have to wonder whether I remembered to close the garage door when I left! There are many on the market. For reference, here’s a link to one so you can read more about them https://go.ttot.link/TiltSensor.

You can sometimes use an open/close sensor such as https://go.ttot.link/OpenCloseSensor. The one I linked to can also sense vibration and tilt so it’s a good multipurpose sensor, albeit a bit expensive and requires a hub.

Motion detection sensors like https://go.ttot.link/MotionSensor can be used to trigger other smart home devices like switching lights on or off.

Another popular smart home addition are smart locks. They replace or add on to any lock you want to make “smart” (for example, your front door) and give you the ability to lock and unlock it remotely. Some allow you to set temporary access or assign separate codes to different family members. Consumer Reports discusses smart locks and gives their recommendations at https://go.ttot.link/2022SmartLocks. No, I don’t own one of these simply because we don’t use the front door that often. Instead we use the door to the garage and I have a tilt sensor on my garage doors.

Speaking of garages, there are smart garage door openers! Tom’s Guide has an introduction to them and their picks for 2022 at https://go.ttot.link/SmartGarageOpeners. The Chamberlain MyQ consistently gets high marks (review at https://go.ttot.link/MyQReview) but, as with the addition of any smart device to your home, check to make sure your existing equipment meets the requirements specified by the manufacturer.

If you have an irrigation or watering system at your home to water your lawn and garden, there are smart irrigation controllers that control your various valves and can adjust based on weather conditions such as rain or excessive heat. Consumer Reports gives their recommendations and an overview of how they work at https://go.ttot.link/CRSmartSprinklers.

Remote Infrared and RF controllers can help consolidate your various remote controllers (TV, radio, etc.) I have a Logitech Harmony (discontinued but still supported and available for purchase at various site like Amazon https://go.ttot.link/LogitechHarmony) which consolidates the remotes for my TV, audio video receiver, nVidia Sheld TV, TiVo box, and Xfinity X1 cable box. Through their app I can control each device independently or as an “activity” (e.g. turn on the receiver, switch input to TiVo, turn on TV, switch it to HDMI input 3), change channels, change volume, etc. plus I can do much of this by voice (“Hey, Google, turn on the Shield TV”). If you want to go with one that’s still made, check out SofaBaton (https://go.ttot.link/SofaBaton) and Amazon’s Fire TV Cube (overview and review at https://go.ttot.link/FireTVCube)

Next week I’ll discuss laptops – Windows, Macs, and Chromebooks. I have a preference but they each have their strengths and weaknesses which I’ll try to outline and discuss to give you an idea of which might be best for you.

Email me with questions, comments, suggestions, requests for future columns, whatever at [email protected] and don’t forget that I maintain links to the original columns with live, clickable links to all the references at https://go.ttot.link/TGColumns+Links or https://go.ttot.link/TGC+L – it should be updated shortly after this column appears online. My links tell me that I’m getting some international readers. Regardless of where you’re from, drop me a quick note and say HI!

What is a smart home and do you want one? Parts 1-3, September 1-15, 2022 Read More »

How to stay relatively safe online Column from August 25, 2022

Full Text, Times Gazette / tony / 2022-08-25 / #fullcolumns

How to stay relatively safe online

August 22, 2022

On the subject of free broadcast OTA (Over-The-Air) TV, Nextgen TV (also known as ATSC 3.0) has been rolling out nationally. It enhances the quality of digital OTA broadcasts by adding 4K broadcasts, HDR (High Dynamic Range) which allows for a wider range of colors, deeper blacks and whiter whites. See https://go.ttot.link/NextGenTV for a more complete explanation of ATSC 3.0

Staying safe online is something just about all of us worry about. And if some of us aren’t concerned, we should be! I know people who’ve lost their bank accounts and one friend even had his social security account hijacked. Following some simple rules could have prevented all of this.

Rule #1 – be suspicious. You just heard from an old friend who you haven’t heard from in ages? Maybe it wasn’t them! Contact them via another method and confirm that they sent you a message. Yes, even responding to a message from a scammer can set you up to be scammed. If your friend says they didn’t contact you, just ignore the other message. Do not engage. Why? Often scammers are not working alone. By responding or engaging they KNOW you’re there and word will spread, inviting other scammers to contact you.

Rule #2 – be suspicious of polls and questionnaires on social media. They may be fun but they inform scammers of your past or your present or your future plans and give them ammunition to engage in social engineering attacks. A good place to read about it is https://go.ttot.link/SocialEngineering but I’ll briefly go into some of the more important aspects. Social engineering is a way for hackers and scammers to find out things about you that could help them break into accounts or entice you to give them more information about you – information that could be used to figure out passwords or fool businesses into thinking the scammer is you. See a questionnaire that asks your favorite teacher in grade school, your first pet’s name, or your best friend in high school? Stay far away from it! Answers to those questions could be the basis for a password or the answer to a challenge you’ve set up at your bank.

Rule #3 – NEVER click on a link in an email or text unless you’ve verified it came from a trustworthy source. Just because it looks like your bank sent it doesn’t mean they did. Call them if necessary – and DON’T use the phone number from the email! Use the number you have for them or the one from their website that you went to independently of the text/email. If you get an email that says you owe money for something, ignore it if you can’t verify its authenticity some other way. Almost every day I get spam that says I owe or will be charged for a service with a link to contest the charge. If I don’t recognize the company or service I ignore them. And if I recognize the company or service I use alternate methods to confirm, like independently going to their website, logging in and checking there. I also have alerts set up for ALL of my credit and bank accounts. Any time there is a charge to one of my credit cards or a deduction from one of my bank accounts I get a text or an email. And, being suspicious, I don’t click on any links in the text or email. Instead, if i question the charge I either open the app associated with the account or independently go to the web site for that account.

Rule #4 – use a masked or disposable email address whenever possible. How does this help? If you get an email from “your bank” but it’s going to a masked email address that you don’t use for your bank, you can bet it’s a scam or attempted hack. What are masked/disposable/anonymous email addresses and how do you get them? There are many services, both free and paid, that provide this service. https://go.ttot.link/MaskingServices gives a good description of some of the various services. If you use GMail as your email provider, you already have the ability to create as many email addresses as you want! If your GMail address is “[email protected]” you can create a new email address that will still deliver to “[email protected]” by adding a plus sign followed by just about anything and put it before the “@gmail.com.” When you sign up for a LinkedIn account, for instance, you could give them an email address of “[email protected]” and any email to that address will be delivered to “[email protected].” You’ll be able to see the full email so you’ll know it was sen to your LinkedIn address. And if it comes from any place other than LinkedIn you’ll know it was either stolen or LinkedIn sold it. https://go.ttot.link/GMail gives a good description of the whole thing including the ability to use “@googlemail.com.”

Rule #5 – be mindful when and where you post. If you’re going out of town, think about what you’re telling the world if you post that before you return. You may have the proper privacy controls in place on our chosen service but that doesn’t mean a friend couldn’t inadvertently leak that info. Unsavory folks could take that as an opportunity to break in and steal from you. While it may not be as much fun, try to hold off on posting pictures and descriptions until you return. And while we’re discussing posts, make sure any pictures you post don’t reveal anything you want to keep hidden. All smartphones that I’m aware of record GPS location, phone type and model (among other things) in your pictures and videos. Be aware which services strip that information from the picture or video and which do not. If ANYONE gets a picture with that information in it, they’ll know where it was taken. Sure, your friends probably already know where you live but should everyone? You can turn off your phone’s ability to save your GPS location but, personally, I like having that available when I go through my old photos. Fortunately, most social sites already remove that information from photos and videos you upload (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter but not TikTok). If in doubt do a quick search on the name of the service and “GPS data.” And don’t forget that those pictures you send to friends by email or text have that information in them. Inadvertent leaks happen!

Next week? Contact me and let me know what YOU would like me to discuss. Email [email protected] or via any of the social media sites where we have a connection.

Email me with questions, comments, suggestions, requests for future columns, whatever at [email protected] and don’t forget that I maintain links to the original columns with live, clickable links to all the references at https://go.ttot.link/TGColumns+Links or https://go.ttot.link/TGC+L – it should be updated shortly after this column appears online. My links tell me that I’m getting some international readers – France, Belgium, and Germany in particular. If you’re an international reader, drop me a quick note and say HI!

How to stay relatively safe online Column from August 25, 2022 Read More »

Cutting the paid TV cord Parts 1-4, July 7 – August 14, 2022

Full Text, Times Gazette / tony / 2022-07-07 / #fullcolumns

Cutting the paid TV cord Parts 1-4, July 7 – August 14, 2022

Cutting the paid TV cord Part 1

Cutting the paid TV cord Part 2

Cutting the paid TV cord Part 3

Cutting the paid TV cord Part 4

Cutting the paid TV cord Part 1

July 7, 2022

This is gonna be a long one so I’m breaking it into multiple columns because there are LOTS of ways to “cut the cord” (i.e. drop your satellite/cable provider). There are free services (IPTV is just one of many alternatives), paid services, and there are still the old over-the-air (OTA, i.e. use an antenna) alternatives. And, with all of these alternatives, there are ways to record shows. We’ll try to get into ALL that but it will take a while and a fair bit of reading on your part.

First, I want to go back to last week’s column and maybe clarify a few things. My apologies for being so late getting my column’s links onto my website. The folks that I pay to “host” my website (i.e. they provide the computers and storage and Internet access from one of their installations) went down HARD for about 5 days which means I didn’t have access to my site to enter all the info. I’ll be changing providers in the near future so, hopefully, that won’t happen again.

Next, I have some favorite Bluetooth headphones/headsets/earbuds. I have quite a few because, well, it’s like a hobby for me. And the ones I have I tend to use for a specific purpose. My favorites for TV

https://go.ttot.link/TVOpenEar1
https://go.ttot.link/TVOpenEar2
https://go.ttot.link/TVOpenEar3 and
https://go.ttot.link/TVHeadphones

I prefer any of the first three because I can still hear what’s going on around me but often use the 4th simply because of latency (yes, it can be an issue even with headphones made for low latency).

When it comes to headsets for telephone/Zoom/Skype/Facetime/etc I prefer https://go.ttot.link/Plantronics5200 but it’s kinda pricey. Nearly as good but a bit more fragile and a LOT less expensive is https://go.ttot.link/5200WorkAlike.

For music I rotate among the various quality headsets I have but my current favorite in earbuds is https://go.ttot.link/AnkerLiberty3. They’re sorta expensive but they go on sale often.

Resuming cutting the cord – there are a number of ways to watch what you want.TV stations have moved to a digital transmission format which travels farther and is of better quality than the old over-the-air (OTA) transmissions. I’ll discuss that a bit next week but this week I’m going to discuss free streaming movie and TV services.

Undoubtedly you’ve heard of most of the big subscription-based streaming movie and TV services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Paramount+, Hulu, Sling TV, YouTube TV. But did you know there are a LOT of free streaming services? They typically don’t provide the ability to record any programs – you either watch live or watch one of their on demand movies or shows but if a program is playing or is gonna play and they DON’T have that particular item available on demand, you’re out of luck if you can’t watch it live.

One of my favorite free services is Plex TV (https://go.ttot.link/PlexTV). There’s a lot to see there so be prepared to explore. Among others, they have The Hallmark Channel, an NBC News channel, Bloomberg Television, Reuters, Today All Day, and a TON of local channels from all over the country plus movies both on demand and movie channels that shows movies on a schedule (Hallmark tends to be one of those). And they have one of my favorite channels – AXS TV. It’s a channel about music that shows concerts, interviews (Dan Rather interviewing Crosby, Stills, and Nash is excellent!), shows, and movies about music and artists.

Another one of my favorites is Pluto TV (https://go.ttot.link/PlutoTV). It has quite a few live TV channels including news from CBS, CNN, and Sky News. Also, Sports, Music, Classic TV (Dick Van Dyke, Happy Days, etc) PLUS On Demand movies and TV shows. If you create a free account you can pick your favorite channels and they’ll be easily available.

While live Pluto TV seems to concentrate on CBS stations, Tubi TV (https://go.ttot.link/TubiTV) presents Fox and ABC in their live TV section. For live sports they have Fox, NFL and MLB plus a few others. If you’re a sports fan, you might want to check them out, And, of course, they have a selection of movies and older TV series along with some original content.

Those are 3 of my favorites. All have apps or you can use their website and if you explore them fully you’ll be busy for quite a while. But there are many many others which you can find by searching for “free TV streaming”. One article that is a good starting place is https://go.ttot.link/CNetFreeTV – I also referenced that article in my IPTV column back in May.

You’re all probably aware of some of the paid streaming services but did you know that some also have a free tier? They’re ad supported so you’ll have to sit through ads every so often but they can be a great free alternative since they are all legitimate, established streaming services. Some are mentioned in the above-linked article and I’ll mention a few here, too.

Sling TV has a free, ad-supported service at https://go.ttot.link/SlingTVFree with live news from, among other sources, ABC and CBS, plus QVC, AFV (America’s Funniest Videos), Bon Apetit. Again, lots to choose from. And, yes, they have an app or you can watch on their website (and you can cast from the app – remember Chromecast?)

Freevee (https://go.ttot.link/Freevee) is a free streaming service from Amazon (it used to be known as IMDB TV prior to Amazon buying them). Being from Amazon, you’d think you could escape the commercials with an Amazon Prime account…but you can’t – ads pop up every so often and you can’t skip them. Freevee’s shows are all on demand – no program guide. You select what you want to watch and watch it. The selection is a bit limited as there are some movies/shows that are free if you have Amazon Prime (but you still have to watch ads), otherwise you have to purchase them. But the free selections aren’t bad. Old TV series like Bewitched and All in the Family and newer ones like Chicago Fire. The newer ones tend to only give you one episode for free so be aware of that before you get involved with a show.

Peacock (https://go.ttot.link/PeacockTV) is another paid service that has a free tier. It’s NBC so they have NBC shows/channels like Saturday Night Live and Dateline, plus channels for classic TV (e.g. Columbo), and even a Hell’s Kitchen channel. Many of the channels are also available on demand but, again, be aware that some may only give you one or a few episodes for free.

Can you replace your paid cable or satellite service with totally free services? I’ll give a qualified ‘yes” but you’ll have to work at it and likely have to wait if you want to see many of the currently broadcast shows.

Next week I’ll continue “cutting the cord” – options for replacing your cable provider with one or more free or paid services. There are a LOT of options including installing an HDTV antenna to pick up over-the-air (OTA) broadcasts from your local TV stations. I’ll discuss that next week.

Cutting the paid TV cord Part 2

July 14, 2022

Last week I only covered a few of the many many free TV streaming services. If you have a Samsung TV, smartphone, or tablet you can download Samsung TV Plus (https://go.ttot.link/TVPlusDownload) or you can watch on the web at https://go.ttot.link/TVPlus. It has over 100 channels – the list for US customers is at https://go.ttot.link/TVPlusChannels and it includes CBS and ABC news, Bloomberg TV, HSN, QVC, and Hell’s Kitchen.

Crackle TV at https://go.ttot.link/CrackleTV is another free streaming service. It has older TV series like Alf and Barney Miller and some British series like Sherlock (with Benedict Cumberbatch) and older as well as lesser known (to me at least) movies.

Roku, the streaming device maker, even has a free channel you can watch on the web at https://go.ttot.link/FreeRokuChannel. Like these other free services, you’re not gonna get the latest and greatest content but they have a decent selection of the older stuff for free.

This week I’m writing about probably the least expensive ways to watch not only your local channels but quite a selection of other channels. How? With an ANTENNA! I’M SERIOUS! Stop laughing! Since June 13, 2009, TV stations have been required to switch to digital broadcasts. And if your TV was made in 2006 or later, you can probably pick up those digital broadcasts right there on your TV. Digital has the benefit of not degrading quality as you get further from the broadcast tower – if you can receive the signal it should be just as good for you as for someone living much closer to the tower. You may need to invest in an antenna and, often, an indoor antenna is all that’s required but if you want to get fancy and maybe pick up more stations you can install an outdoor antenna.

Why do I say you can get a selection of channels besides your usual local stations? Digital broadcasts require less of their allotted frequencies so many stations use that extra space to broadcast additional channels on from 1 to 18 “virtual channels” or “subchannels.” So, in addition to WKRC from Cincinnati, you will also get The CW https://go.ttot.link/TheCW, Antenna TV https://go.ttot.link/AntennaTV, and Comet TV https://go.ttot.link/CometTV as they’re all broadcast by WKRC on subchannels. They’re typically shown as – or .>subchannel>. WKRC is channel 12, the CW is 12-2, Antenna TV is 64-2 (WKRC provides some services to WSTR which is on channel 64 which might explain why Antenna TV shows up there).

What stations can you pick up? There are several sites where you can enter your address and it will tell you what you can likely receive, often along with a signal strength and antenna recommendation. AntennaWeb at https://go.ttot.link/AntennaWeb can do it as can OTADTV at https://go.ttot.link/OTADTVTowers. Just enter your street address and the site will do all the work for you and even include a map! Note that TV stations list as their address the location of their studio, not the location of the tower they use to broadcast their signal. Here in the San Francisco bay area, the towers for some stations in San Francisco and Oakland are actually on top of a small mountain well outside of San Francisco and Oakland so don’t dismiss broadcast TV just because you think you’re too far from the station! Use one of the websites I’ve listed and see what it says.

Your TV can’t pick up digital signals? No worries! You can get a digital tuner that plugs in to your TV for not a lot of money. Magnavox makes one for just under $70 at https://go.ttot.link/DigitalConverter but there are many that cost half that – just search for “digital TV converter.” Some even have recording capabilities so you can record your favorite show and watch it later. If you don’t want to plug it into your TV you can get adapters for your PC (https://go.ttot.link/TVTunerForWindows) and even YOUR ANDROID PHONE (see https://go.ttot.link/AndroidTVTuner). I’ve just ordered the Android item and will try to give a brief rundown on its usefulness next week. For fun, here’s a review of that phone accessory https://go.ttot.link/AndroidTunerReview. Also, AARP has a decent article on digital TV including some antenna recommendations. See https://go.ttot.link/AARPGuide.

If you’re really interested in getting rid of cable/paid TV and you don’t mind dealing with nerds, I suggest you give https://go.ttot.link/RedditCordcutters a look. Reddit is a good place to follow lots of topics including tech. I follow quite a few “subreddits” which is what they call the areas devoted to specific topics like “cordcutters.” Of course it’s an online community and, like all online communities, they have their share of disruptive individuals, commonly called trolls, but each subreddit has people who have volunteered to act as moderators and eject the trolls.

Going back to the question I asked at the end of last week’s column, can you replace your paid cable or satellite service with totally free services? Being able to pick up your local broadcast channels for free certainly helps! I still give it a qualified “yes” but with broadcast digital it becomes easier, don’t you think?

Next week I’ll again continue “cutting the paid TV cord” and discuss some well known and even some not so well known paid services.

Email me with questions, comments, suggestions, requests for future columns, whatever at [email protected] and don’t forget that I maintain links to the original columns with live, clickable links to all the references at https://go.ttot.link/TGColumns+Links or https://go.ttot.link/TGC+L – it should be updated shortly after this column appears online. My links tell me that I’m getting some international readers – France, Belgium, and Germany in particular. If you’re an international reader, drop me a quick note and say HI!

Cutting the paid TV cord Part 3

July 28, 2022

First, let me apologize for not producing a column last week. My current web site hosting provider was not performing to my expectations. My site was unreachable a lot of the time or just very very slow to respond. Since my site is where I keep the live or clickable links referenced in my columns, it meant that you needed to type in the short link and, to my mind, that was unacceptable. So I undertook a move to a new hosting provider. Normally that’s not a bit deal but for some reason it’s taking much longer than expected. Rather than delay my column another week, I’ve decided to go ahead with this week’s column and hope my old provider remains up and stable.

Let’s review what we’ve covered so far in cutting the paid TV cord. While I didn’t relate it specifically to cutting the paid TV cord, IPTV in the first column certainly applies. The next column discussed how to watch those channels on your TV as opposed to your computer/phone/tablet. The column on June 9 listed a few options for streaming video to other devices (Amazon Echo and Google Displays). The July 7 column is where we really started digging in to cutting the paid TV cord, discussing totally free services and a few services that are paid services with free tiers (often with reduced content or advertising or both) along with ways to listen without bothering your partner. The July 14 column addressed Over-The-Air (OTA) TV – broadcast TV that can be picked up with an antenna. And it’s not just your local channels! Many stations also broadcast other content alongside their primary station.

In this column we’ll explore some PAID (gasp!) services. Why? Well, honestly, I feel that some of these services provide good value for money. Many have the ability to record shows for later viewing, even setting up recurring recordings so you don’t have to remember to record Jeopardy!

There are paid services that specialize in live content. They often provide you local broadcast channels along with other channels that are typically considered cable only (i.e. not broadcast over the air but delivered by your cable provider). A few examples are ESPN and its associated networks, The Food Network, Nickelodeon, and The Weather Channel.

There are paid services that tend to specialize in movies and older broadcast TV. Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are two examples. They have some original content and some offer TV series from other countries (which I often find very interesting!).

Then there are services that are owned by ‘stations” or “channels” like HBO. They tend to feature movies that are only available on that service (Game of Thrones on HBO Max, for instance). Some other examples are Peacock TV (NBC), Disney+ (Disney).

So, what should you sign up for? Of course, it’s up to you but I recommend evaluating your favorite TV and movies and going with a selection of services that covers your interests. If you’re a fan of Marvel and Star Wars then consider Disney+. If you’re a sports fan maybe consider a service that includes ESPN. And always remember you can cancel and restart services so you’re not locked into a whole year of a service because you only like one or two shows.

OK, let’s dig in to a few services. One that’s popular is Sling TV (https://go.ttot.link/SlingTV). It has 3 “packages,” 2 which include a few different channels (ESPN, for example) and a third package that includes ALL the channels. And all packages come with 50 hours of DVR storage so you can record your favorites to watch later. It does NOT include local broadcast channels except (some markets include Fox and NBC) so you’ll need an antenna or some other method to watch your local news shows. If you want to add Showtime, it’ll cost you an additional $10/month. And, as I said earlier, they have a totally free tier so you can sample their quality. For a good review and rundown of Sling’s services, check out https://go.ttot.link/SlingReview. That article has links to good reviews of some other services, too.

Another popular, but more expensive service is YouTube (review at https://go.ttot.link/YoutubeTVReview). At $65/month with unlimited DVR it’s probably what I would choose with Sling a strong second but they don’t have AXS TV (https://www.axs.tv/), a channel that broadcasts concerts and music-related shows which i watch a LOT so if I went with YouTube TV I’d have to find a way to add that channel using yet another service.

The last one I’m going to cover this week is Hulu with Live TV (good review at https://go.ttot.link/HuluLiveTVReview). At nearly $70/month it’s more expensive than YouTube TV but comes with Disney+ and ESPN Plus BUT it includes commercials ($5/month removes them). 200 hours of DVR storage is included and the recorded shows won’t disappear for 9 months.

Are these all of the cable replacement options available? Heavens no! They’re 3 of the most popular. There are plenty more and I encourage you to revisit that first link in this column (https://go.ttot.link/SlingReview) and read some of the other reviews and comparisons.

Next week I’ll again continue “cutting the paid TV cord” and discuss a few non-live services like Netflix and HBO Max and talk about how to keep all these shows from all these different services straight.

Email me with questions, comments, suggestions, requests for future columns, whatever at [email protected] and don’t forget that I maintain links to the original columns with live, clickable links to all the references at https://go.ttot.link/TGColumns+Links or https://go.ttot.link/TGC+L – it should be updated shortly after this column appears online. My links tell me that I’m getting some international readers – France, Belgium, and Germany in particular. If you’re an international reader, drop me a quick note and say HI!

Cutting the paid TV cord Part 4

August 18, 2022

I want to thank you all for bearing with me while i changed hosting providers. It took a LOT longer than anticipated but, hopefully, downtime is a thing of the past.

Recently I was away from home for a week so I took that opportunity to actually USE many of the services I’ve written about in the past few weeks. All functioned as expected, including the free ones, but I found that trying to keep track of where to watch the networks and shows I wanted was … difficult at best. No single free service provided access to everything I wanted to watch. And I could find no app nor website that brought together all the program guides from all the free services into a single searchable program guide. I have not cut the paid TV cord myself and that is the main reason I haven’t. If you’re a very casual TV viewer who watches news, PBS, old movies and maybe one or two old series you might be able to get by but, for many of us, TV is something we rely on for entertainment. There ARE services that help keep track of movies and series across broadcast and subscription services, including the iconic TV Guide (yes, it exists as an app now). In general you tell the app how you receive TV (over-the-air or one of the paid TV options like Dish or our cable provider) and which streaming services you use. The app “knows” which channels are available and allows you a limited amount of customization (delete, rearrange, and favorite channels) and presents the program guide, typically in channel order listing shows by the hour or half hour. For the “on demand” services like Netflix which don’t have fixed program schedules, the apps tend to show you the most popular titles. You can set up a “watchlist” and if a program is broadcast at a particular time you can often set up to be notified before it starts.

This is all fine if you have a broadcast provider (e.g. OTA or cable) but if you use a streaming service like Pluto TV (from the July 7 column https://go.ttot.link/PlutoTV) which streams certain shows at certain times you’re out of luck. The ONLY place that I could find to see the program guide and schedule was in the Pluto TV app. If you’re satisfied with using just one service it’s not a problem but if you use 2 or more you’ll need to find a way to keep track on your own of what is on which service and channel. That is what I dealt with during my time away from home and it was incredibly frustrating.

Moving on to my intended topics for the week which are 1) on demand services (e.g. Netflix, HBO Max, Apple TV+) and 2) how to keep track of what’s on which service.

It can be really difficult to decide which on demand service to subscribe to. I’ve found movies and series that interest me on just about every service. My favorites? Apple TV+, Paramount+, and Disney+. They’re my favorites because I can almost always find a series or movie I want to see. Disney+ has Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar/Disney. Paramount+ has blockbuster movies plus the new Star Trek series as well as new CBS content; And as far as I’m concerned, Apple TV+ has some of the best original content available anywhere (For All Mankind, Ted Lasso, The Morning Show, Foundation).

Apple TV+ costs $4.99/month which you can cancel anytime. Here’s a good rundown of the service https://go.ttot.link/AppleTV

Paramount+ has two plans – $4.99 per month with ads or $9.99 per month commercial free. You get a discount for a yearly subscription but if you’re really looking to save money you’ll likely want to subscribe and cancel as shows come and go. Here’s a good rundown of the service – https://go.ttot.link/ParamountPlus.

Disney+ announced a rate hike beginning in December of this year. With ads becomes $7.99 per month and ad free becomes $10.99. I still think it’s worth it because I’m a Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars fan. And they have “bundles” – you can add Hulu or ESPN+ for a discount over subscribing to them individually. Yes, there are discounts for a yearly subscription if you’re interested but, again, if you really want to save money you’ll subscribe and cancel. Here’s a good review https://go.ttot.link/DisneyPlus.

Now that you’ve signed up or are planning to sign up for several on demand services, how do you keep track of what’s available on which service? And when you hear about a new series or movie, how can you remember to watch it? Yes, there are apps! Google TV (https://go.ttot.link/GetGoogleTV), as an app, can keep track of movies and series you are interested in with a “watchlist.” I find its interface to be too cluttered with graphics for me but it’s a good, free app that’s available for Android and iOS.

I have two that I use regularly – they each have their strengths and weaknesses and both have apps for Android and iOS. TV Time (https://go.ttot.link/TVTime) has a good, clean interface with a calendar so you can easily see when a new episode will be available and you can mark individual episodes as seen. It has a number of “social” features which allow you to see what friends are watching but, honestly, I don’t use those features. You search for shows and movies, put them on your watchlist and can keep track of what you’ve seen and what you still want to see.

The other one I use is actually an online database with multiple apps that make use of it.The site is Trakt TV. It’s free but if you pay $30 per year you get VIP benefits (https://go.ttot.link/TraktVIP) which may or may not interest you. I’ve signed up for VIP and am quite happy with it., You can use their website or use one (or several) of their many apps (https://go.ttot.link/TraktApps) that use their database. I use TV Show Tracker (iOS https://go.ttot.link/TrackeriOS Android https://go.ttot.link/TrackerAndroid). I find it easier to navigate and feel it has a cleaner, less cluttered interface. The nice thing about using a central database is that you can move from app to app and still have all of your shows, watched and otherwise, available.

That about does it for cutting the paid TV cord. If I’ve missed something or you have questions or requests, please let me know.

Next week I’ll start discussing ways to keep yourself safe online. Did you know that the pictures you publish can contain precise location information?

Email me with questions, comments, suggestions, requests for future columns, whatever at [email protected] and don’t forget that I maintain links to the original columns with live, clickable links to all the references at https://go.ttot.link/TGColumns+Links or https://go.ttot.link/TGC+L – it should be updated shortly after this column appears online. My links tell me that I’m getting some international readers – France, Belgium, and Germany in particular. If you’re an international reader, drop me a quick note and say HI!

Cutting the paid TV cord Parts 1-4, July 7 – August 14, 2022 Read More »

Assistive Listening Devices? Whaaaaaa???? June 30, 2022

Full Text, Times Gazette / tony / 2022-06-30 / #fullcolumns

Assistive Listening Devices? Whaaaaaa????

June 30, 2022

Last week I tried to give an overview and introduce you to terms used with headphones and earbuds. This week I’m going to discuss 2 special cases – 1) headsets for telephone use and 2) assistive listening devices.

First, headsets and headphones to use for telephone calls. Why this topic? I’ve seen far too many good headphones declare they work really well for phone calls. In certain circumstances that may be true but unless they have a boom microphone or at least have something that protrudes toward your mouth they probably pick up a lot of the sound around you (worst case) or deaden those sounds and also occasionally deaden your voice so the person on the other end of the line can’t understand you (best case). Examples? With a boom microphone, this wireless headset (https://go.ttot.link/WirelessBoomMic) or this wired headset (https://go.ttot.link/WiredBoomMic). No boom like this wireless headset (https://go.ttot.link/WirelessNoBoom), Sure, there are some very pricey headsets that don’t have a boom or a protrusion toward your mouth that perform really well but those are few and far between and often hard to find. Do you absolutely need to have a headset specifically for phone calls? Of course not but if you make more than a few calls a week (and that includes doing web conferences, Facetime, Duo calls or anything else like it) I would strongly suggest considering it. There is one surprising exception to the boom rule – those old earbuds that used to come with your phone? The ones that plugged in to your phone? They had a microphone on the cable and if you aimed the mic at your mouth they did a decent job of picking up your voice and pretty much nothing else. You might see folks being interviewed on TV with them.

What are “assistive listening devices?” Unsurprisingly, they are devices that help you hear better. They are NOT hearing aids – hearing aids are registered with, approved, and regulated by the FDA and tend to cost thousands of dollars. Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) can cost anywhere from tens of dollars to several hundred. PSAPs (Personal Sound Amplification Products) are a type of ALD do just that – amplify sound, often enhancing or reducing certain frequencies based on an (often) user administered hearing test. Some higher-end headphones have hearing tests built in to their associated app to do some equalization specific to the user.

Why would you want or use an ALD or PSAP? Well, there are several use cases. For one, I have a mild hearing loss and I usually need the TV to be a bit louder than is comfortable for some people. So, I often use a headset like this (https://go.ttot.link/TVHeadphones). It plugs in to the TV sound output and transmits the sound to the headphones over FM. There is no lag (or latency, remember?) so the sound is synchronized with their lips. Unfortunately, these are on-ear headphones so it makes it difficult to hear that I’m being spoken to. Other alternatives for TV listening are low latency transmitters and open ear headphones (look for a transmitter that supports aptX-LL for Low Latency and make sure your headphones also support aptX-LL) but be aware that there may be lip sync issues even with low latency Bluetooth. And if you have a newer TV, it might even have Bluetooth built-in so you don’t need a transmitter. But if you do need one, here are two, one with a display so you can select the Bluetooth device with which it will connect (https://go.ttot.link/TransmitterWithDisplay) and one without if you’re just going to use one headset all the time (https://go.ttot.link/TransmitterNoDisplay).

Another example (another personal one), I can’t hear higher frequencies very well. Sure, I could use an equalizer to raise the volume of some higher frequencies, but, among many other things, it’s hit-or-miss depending on whether the equalizer handles the frequencies I need adjusted and how well the equalizer handles the adjustments. A good PSAP will not only measure your hearing but also faithfully apply the adjustments. Bluetooth PSAPs can often apply those adjustments to not only the music you listen to but also to your phone calls. Some have a transparency mode which brings outside sound in through the device and applies the adjustments to that sound as well. And some even have provisions to provide directionality (focus on sounds directly in front of you, for instance) and even adjust for different environments (crowds, outdoor, indoor, etc).

Being the nerd that I am, I have many different headsets for many different applications. I have several open ear headsets that do aptX-LL quite well and I often switch between them to watch TV. Two examples I’m particularly fond of are https://go.ttot.link/TVOpenEar1 and https://go.ttot.link/TVOpenEar2. But the one that I rely on for TV as well as general purpose use (including listening to high quality music) is https://go.ttot.link/BeHearAccess. It does all the things I’ve written about, including a good hearing test. It can s l o w speech on a phone call, can change its attributes depending on your environment (crowd, outdoor, indoor, etc), and can help those of us with ringing in the ears (tinnitus). It even has a Telecoil receiver – something that isn’t all that common here in the USA but is more common in Europe. I haven’t discussed Telecoil before because it’s so uncommon but, for completeness, I’ll just say that some venues (churches, theaters, for instance) run a wired loop around the inside of the building and will transmit sound through the wire. A Telecoil receiver can pick that up and relay it to your ears.

I have not given an exhaustive discussion of special cases like phone headsets and PSAPs but hopefully I have given you enough information and terminology that you can seek out additional help if you’re interested.

Next week I’ll talk about “cutting the cord” – options for replacing your cable provider with one or more free or paid services. There are a LOT of options (we’ve already discussed one – IPTV – so I won’t go over that again) so it might span several columns.

Assistive Listening Devices? Whaaaaaa???? June 30, 2022 Read More »

Headphones, headsets, earbuds, oh my! June 23, 2022

Full Text, Times Gazette / tony / 2022-06-23 / #fullcolumns

Headphones, headsets, earbuds, oh my!

June 23, 2022

You want to be able to listen to your audiobook/podcast/music privately, without bothering anyone else? Get a set of headphones. Easy, right? Well, yeah, it can be if you buy the first thing you see but if you start looking around you’ll likely find a bewildering array of types and terms and options. Wired, wireless, over ear, in ear, what? And different uses sometimes require different specifications. If you want to have your TV sound play through your headphones you want their mouths to be in sync with the sound you’re hearing. If you have a high quality recording you probably want to hear all the nuance in the track.

So let’s get some definitions out of the way. Headphones can be put into several different types of classifications, There are “over ear”, “on ear”, “in ear”, “open ear”, and “bone conduction”. Then there are codecs and latency. Then there are special uses, like that TV thing I mentioned.

Over ear go OVER your ears, covering them completely with cups that rest against your head. They tend to mute the sound around you by virtue of the fact that they seal around your ears. They can be wired or wireless and they can have a microphone so you can use them on a phone call, for instance. A wired over ear is https://go.ttot.link/WiredOverEar

“On ear” rest ON your ears. They don’t surround your ears the way over ear do. They tend to mute the sound around you but not nearly as well as over ear. They can be wired or wireless and can have a microphone. An example of a wired on ear is https://go.ttot.link/WiredOnEar

In ear, often called earbuds, have a protrusion that goes into your ear and they generally, but not always, provide a seal so that you are, as with over ear, isolated from sounds around you. They can be wired or wireless and can have a microphone. An example is https://go.ttot.link/WiredInEar

These three types tend to give the best sound with good bass, mainly because they project more of less directly into your ear canal.

Bone conduction headphones sit against the bones in front of your ears and vibrate. The vibrations are carried to the part of your inner ear that is responsible for interpreting the vibrations as sound. I know some people that swear by these but I have never been happy with them – the vibrations tickle! Nonetheless, I tell you about them so you’ll have a more or less complete picture. A example is https://go.ttot.link/BoneConduction

Personally, unless I’m really listening to some high quality tracks (FLAC, remember?) I prefer open ear. These tend to sit OUTSIDE of your ears, the speakers pointing at your ears. I like them because I’m not cut off from my surroundings yet I can still hear my music. They tend to not provide the best fidelity but are passable, in my opinion, for casual listening. They can be wired or wireless and can have a microphone. An example is https://go.ttot.link/WirelessOpenEar

Today wireless in headphones means Bluetooth. What is that? In short a transmitter sends sound over the air to a receiver. You’ll often see a number associated with Bluetooth, like 4 or 5 or 5.1 or 5.2. That’s the version – Bluetooth has been around a long time and has undergone quite a few updates. 5.2 is the newest. The transmitter and receiver can use different versions – they all work with each other. An older version just won’t be able to do some of the things that a newer version offers. Like what? Well, Bluetooth 5.0 made some changes to Bluetooth LE (Low Energy, introduced in Bluetooth 4) that allows headphones to connect and use Bluetooth LE. True to its name, Bluetooth LE requires less power so your headphones battery will last longer. Don’t have a Bluetooth 5 headphone? No big deal! It will still connect and work but will use more battery than an LE capable headphone.

You may also read about Bluetooth “profiles”. In general you don’t need to worry about them. The basic profiles that allow you to make and receive phone calls, listen to music and start, stop, skip tracks and change volume are present in every Bluetooth headphone I’ve seen.

You will also likely see references to a CODEC or CODECs. A codec is how the sound is encoded before its sent to your headphones. Some codecs are high quality that can provide near perfect reproduction of the sound but all codecs reproduce pretty well – only with high quality headphones and high quality source material would you likely be able to detect a difference in quality.

You may also see a reference to “latency” which is the delay between the time the sound is sent to your receiver (headphone) and the time you actually hear the sound (don’t ask why, that’s beyond the scope of this column). Why would you care about latency? If you want to watch a video (e.g. YouTube, Netflix) if the latency is high you’ll notice a difference between lip movement and what you hear. Some codecs (e.g. aptX-LL for Low Latency) are optimized to provide low latency but pretty much any codec can provide low latency if implemented with latency in mind. And most headphones nowadays keep their latency low enough to not be a problem but if you think you’ll want to use your headphones to watch videos, pay attention to what is said in product descriptions and comments. This problem does not exist with wired headphones so if you don’t mind being tethered to your phone/tablet, you can sidestep the whole issue.

OK, got all that? Deep breath, we’re almost done…

One other thing to briefly talk about is noise cancellation. Many people (and manufacturers) make a big deal about this. ANC is Active Noise Cancellation as opposed to PNC or Passive Noise Cancellation. Headphones with ANC analyze the outside sounds and try to generate sound waves that cancel out those sounds, leaving the sound it’s receiving from your phone/whatever as the only thing you hear. It’s never perfect and I generally don’t care for it because of its imperfection. It requires power so it will decrease your available time on battery. Passive Noise Cancellation deadens outside sounds by virtue of the seal the headphones/earbuds make with your ears so requires no additional power.

By now you’re either very confused or are getting a handle on the various elements that can be taken into account when it comes to selecting headphones/earbuds.

Next week I’ll talk about special cases – for example, assistive listening devices for those of us who need a little help hearing and understanding conversations (I had my hearing tested and according to the audiologist, my hearing isn’t bad enough to need a hearing aid but it can use a little help). I’ll also talk about headsets that are better for phone calls and why they’re better.

Headphones, headsets, earbuds, oh my! June 23, 2022 Read More »

Music services, streaming and buying June 16, 2022

Full Text, Times Gazette / tony / 2022-06-16 / #fullcolumns

Music services, streaming and buying

June 16, 2022

There are a number of different styles of streaming services. Some, like Jango, are totally free with limited customization and feature “stations” that are directed toward a particular artist or genre or mood (e.g. “Rock BBQ”). Others like Spotify have a free tier with limits (limited skips, ads, etc) and a subscription model which removes most or all of the limitations. Now, remember, these services provide a digital stream and the quality of the sound can vary greatly depending on a number of factors. Two that affect the sound a lot are “bitrate” and “lossiness” (see https://go.ttot.link/BitRate for more detail). There’s a lot of technical discussion I could go into but suffice it to say, in general, the higher the bitrate, the better the sound quality and “lossless” is better than “lossy”. Many services provide streams that should be as good as CDs (aka “CD quality sound”) but some provide much higher quality (e.g. Qobuz, Tidal, some Amazon Music tracks, and some Apple Music tracks). Is there a discernible difference? It’s subjective and depends on your hearing and the equipment you use to listen. Qobuz and Tidal charge more for higher quality streams. Over the years I have subscribed to most of the streaming platforms. Currently I subscribe to Spotify and Youtube Music, the latter the result of an early subscription to Google Play Music which was discontinued and my subscription was grandfathered into subscriptions to both Youtube Premium and Youtube Music.

A subscription to a good streaming music service is a good way to build up your music collection. But be aware that you don’t OWN any of the music! When your subscription ends, for the most part your collection disappears so, if you decide to build a music collection with a subscription service, consider it to be a long-term commitment. That said, there IS a subscription service that lets you copy playlists between services and I subscribe to that, too (Soundiiz – https://go.ttot.link/Soundiiz) currently $36/year. With it, I sync my Spotify and YouTube Music playlists. It’s not perfect – it misidentifies some tracks and there are tracks that one service has that another doesn’t, but it’s pretty good., And it supports all the major services as well as any minor ones.

What if you want to OWN the music? There are many places where you can buy vinyl and there’s nothing like a physical record. But they require care and, well, it’s difficult to play your vinyl in your car. I prefer to purchase digital versions and generally buy the highest quality (i.e. lossless high bitrate) but there are many options for buying regular, CD quality digital music. Amazon and Apple are two such places. This format is known as MP3 because that’s the format in which the digital music is provided (see https://go.ttot.link/MP3 for more detail).

Sure, I’ve bought quite a few MP3s. Is it worth it to pay extra for higher quality? Again, as I said above, it’s subjective. I’m very selective when it comes to buying high quality music because it can often be much more expensive than a lower quality format (for instance, Heart’s album “Dreamboat Annie” costs around $20 in the highest quality format versus about $12 on vinyl and MP3) . And I tend to listen to them with higher quality equipment – yes, I believe I can tell the difference.

When I buy high quality, I buy FLAC (see https://go.ttot.link/FLAC for more info and a comparison with MP3). It’s a lossless, high bitrate format and the music is often taken from the original master recordings. I believe I can hear things that I’ve not heard from other formats, including vinyl, and I attribute it to the source (original master tracks)…if I listen to an equivalent MP3 on the same equipment, those things are missing (the song “Cars Hiss By My Window” from The Doors album “L A Woman” and the song “Parachute Woman” by the Rolling Stones on their album “Beggars Banquet” come to mind). I buy from HDTracks.com and ProStudioMasters.com and have several high quality FLAC albums.

What should you do? You have to decide for yourself what you want. If you want to own the music and enjoy a high quality listening experience, I recommend buying ONE FLAC track and comparing it against an equivalent MP3. Get one you really enjoy and are very familiar with. Otherwise, try out several free services and also use the free trials the paid services offer. As I said, I subscribe to Spotify and Youtube Music and I am quite happy with them, especially since I also have a subscription to Soundiiz. Those services and the few internet radio streams keep me quite satisfied, musically.

Oh, I almost forgot! What do you do if you hear some music and you don’t know or can’t recall the title or artist? I use Shazam and it’s available on both Apple and Android. A big plus in my opinion is that it will add identified tracks to a Spotify playlist called My Shazam Tracks if you have a paid Spotify subscription. There are other music identification services but I find Shazam to be the most reliable and accurate. I have a LOT of tracks in My Shazam Tracks playlist because I use it so often. Hear a tune in a movie or TV show that sounds interesting? Fire up Shazam!

Next week I’ll talk about headphones, headsets, and earbuds. Wired and wireless. On ear, over hear, in ear, open ear – these are all terms I’ll address to arm you with the terms you can use to navigate that market. And, on the heels of this column, I’ll talk about sound quality – what good is a high quality stream/purchase if your headphones can’t reproduce it?

Music services, streaming and buying June 16, 2022 Read More »

WHAT? I can stream WITHOUT my phone/tablet/computer?!?!? June 9, 2022

Full Text, Times Gazette / tony / 2022-06-09 / #fullcolumns

WHAT? I can stream WITHOUT my phone/tablet/computer?!?!?

June 9, 2022

Why yes you can! But before I get to that, last week I promised to list some of my favorite streamable radio stations. They’re listed below along with a link to each one’s stream. As usual, I will include their URLs in my blog post over at https://go.ttot.link/TGColumns+Links

KOZT – my favorite and one that I listen to pretty much all day, every day. They play a lot of the music I listened to on WEBN (Spooky Tooth, Moby Grape, Paul Butterfield Blues Band) and some I’d never heard as well as good contemporary artists. I try to keep a listing of the songs they’ve played at https://go.ttot.link/KOZTPlayed). Their stream is https://go.ttot.link/KOZT

The Album Station – I think they’re an Internet-only station. Their website is musicheads.us https://go.ttot.link/TheAlbumStation

KVHS – “The Voice of the Valley” in Concord, CA. – A high school radio station that plays 60s-80s music https://go.ttot.link/KVHS

KRSH – Napa, CA. More contemporary, adult album oriented rock https://go.ttot.link/KRSH

WKZE – in Red Hook, NY. Pretty eclectic, local radio https://go.ttot.link/WKZE

How do you stream music/videos WITHOUT a phone/tablet/computer? With a “smart speaker”! There are lots to choose from but the two main suppliers of the “smarts” (the programming that makes the speakers “smart”) are Amazon (they make Echo devices) and Google (they make Nest devices). (OK, there’s a THIRD – Apple with Siri but I have no experience with that so you’re on your own there.)

You don’t have to buy Amazon branded or Google branded devices to get their “smarts” – there are many companies that make compatible devices (Lenovo, Bose, Sonos, to name a few); some even have displays so you can play music AND watch videos; some are soundbars that hook to your TV. I have several Google devices and several Amazon devices. I prefer the Google ones but it’s really a matter of personal preference. You can see Amazon’s Echo devices at https://go.ttot.link/Echo – there are a lot! Google only sells 2 speakers, the Nest Mini and the Nest Audio (https://go.ttot.link/GoogleSpeakers) and 2 displays, the Nest Hub and the Nest Hub Max (https://go.ttot.link/GoogleDisplays) but there are many available from other manufacturers (see https://go.ttot.link/BestGoogleSpeakers for a list with strengths and weaknesses of each). Both companies and their resellers regularly cut prices so keep an eye on your favorite electronics store for a sale.

OK, so you’ve picked up your first smart speaker. How do you make this magic happen? Once it’s installed you just talk to it! You say “OK Google, play KOZT the Coast” and it should start playing KOZT’s radio stream (if you’re an Amazon person, say “Alexa” instead of “OK, Google”). If you have a device with a display and want to watch your favorite Netflix show, just say “[device] play [show] from Netflix”. You can pause them, stop them, fast forward (not radio streams, though, cuz you’re getting the live stream, unlike Netflix).

In older times, some homes had whole house intercoms and some had radios that you could play through all the intercom speakers. You can do similar with smart speakers! If you have multiple speakers throughout your house you can put them into named groups and play your selections through the whole group. I have quite a few smart speakers and have put many of them into several groups. For instance, I have 2 speakers in my office in a group called “Office group” (creative, eh?). I have another group of speakers that are in rooms I frequent and I have them in a group called “My Usual Group”. The Office Group speakers are part of My Usual Group so if I play something on My Usual Group it also plays on My Office Group. Quite a flexible setup! And when you no longer want to listen, you can just tell your speaker to stop. Sure, there are apps – Amazon has an Alexa app and Google has a Home app. You use the app to set up the speaker initially, define speaker groups, control volume (which you can also do by voice), and a whole host of other things. But, largely, once you have your speaker(s)/display(s) set up, you can forget about the app.

And that’s not all these speakers can do – they’re “smart” after all! With your voice you can set alarms, add items to a shopping list, have it remember things for you (“Hey Google, remember that I put those receipts in the desk in the front hall” then, later “Hey, Google, where are the receipts?”), set reminders (“Hey, Google, remind me that our anniversary is on May 15th”), turn on and off smart lights/outlets (if you have them), and even turn on and off certain TVs – the list is quite long and differs a bit between the Echo (aka Alexa) and Google. The companies both say the commands are intuitive but I often confound the speakers with my requests so I find it helpful to have a reference or cheat sheet. Here’s a list of Echo commands – https://go.ttot.link/AlexaCommands – and here’s the same for Google – https://go.ttot.link/GoogleCommands. While we’re at it, you should know that you can install Amazon’s Alexa app and use many of those commands on your phone/tablet. If you have an Android device, Google Assistant is already installed and you can do similar things with it.

Are you worried about your speakers listening to you? Sure, many people are concerned about their privacy in these situations. Well, first I’d ask if you have a cell phone cuz if you do, chances are it’s listening to you a LOT more than your smart speakers. But that doesn’t address privacy. Both Amazon and Google have provisions for you to delete their recordings. I’ll let you do your own search for that and if you have trouble finding how, write to me and I’ll try to help. And I’ll try to take up personal privacy in a future column.

What’s on tap for next week? I’ll discuss various music services – sites where you can buy and own music (physical media like vinyl and digital downloads), streaming services (both free and paid subscriptions), as well as the various levels of quality they provide. Spotify, Amazon Music, Jango, Pandora, Tidal, Qobuz for streaming; ProStudioMasters, HDtracks for purchase to name just a few. And I can’t forget music identification services like Shazam!

WHAT? I can stream WITHOUT my phone/tablet/computer?!?!? June 9, 2022 Read More »

What else can we stream? How about radio? June 2, 2022

Full Text, Times Gazette / tony / 2022-06-02 / #fullcolumns

What else can we stream? How about radio?

June 2, 2022

Sure, I have subscriptions to services like Spotify but I prefer a knowledgeable DJ to talk to me about the artist or the music. So, mostly I listen to radio. I live in an area surrounded by hills that block most radio stations. Not that that’s a big deal cuz the radio around here nowadays is pretty…let’s just say I’m not terribly happy with what’s available. Realize that I was raised on WEBN and The Jelly Pudding Show with Michael Xanadu. I still remember he bookended the show with Steve Miller’s Song for Our Ancestors (with that fog horn) and a piece from Procol Harum which, as I recall, was Repent Walpurgis (I could be wrong about which Procol Harum song it was…write and let me know if you recall it better than I).

Living in the San Francisco bay area now, there are loads of old radio references and stories, particularly KSAN which was the west coast’s version of WEBN. But all that good radio has mostly died out in the area. So, I stream radio stations from around the country that remind me of the eclectic mix that WEBN played. Mostly they are terrestrial radio stations (i.e. radio stations that actually broadcast on the FM dial) but there are FAR more that just broadcast over the Internet.

If you have a local radio station you enjoy, chances are they have an Internet stream. Go to the station’s website and look for Listen Now or Live and most likely there’s a stream hiding behind that word. Click on that link and the station should start playing in your browser and if that browser is on your phone you can listen to them anywhere, not just on your radio! That’s all well and good if you want to always go to their website to listen. But that can be a bit cumbersome, not to mention that if you have several stations you like, you’ve got to keep them all available in your browser. Some (most?) radio stations have their own app so you’re not tied to a browser. But, again, if you like several stations you’ve got to install several station’s apps. What to do? Get yourself a radio streaming app that can manage multiple stations/streams! Note that some streaming apps will only let you select from a list of stations they provide while others will let you add your own streams. Here are a few Android apps:

Audials Play – will let you select from a catalog of streams and add your own (https://go.ttot.link/Audials),
RadioDroid 2 – will only let you add from their catalog from radio-browser.info (https://go.ttot.link/RadioDroid),
TuneIn – will only let you add from their catalog (https://go.ttot.link/TuneIn) but note there’s a Pro version, as well
XiiaLive – will let you add from their catalog as well as search for songs or artists and can add your own streams (https://go.ttot.link/XiiaLive although I prefer the Pro version which is https://go.ttot.link/XiiaLivePro).
Of course there are far more out there, these are just a few that I use.
Now you’ve got a radio stream player, how do you find a good stream? A number of the “streamers” also have a catalog of stations (all of the apps I listed do) but if you’re as picky as I am, there’s a good chance you won’t be satisfied with what they present to you so you’ll go on a hunt to find your perfect station’s (or stations’) stream(s).

Let’s take an aside for a moment. I’ve been referencing “streams.” What are streams? They’re just web addresses (technically they’re called URLs – they’re what you type into your browser’s address bar when you want to visit a website like timesgazette.com). They’re not unlike the web addresses (i.e. URLs) I introduced in the IPTV column. The full URL likely starts with http:// or https:// although for convenience, you can leave that part out but, trust me, it’s there. If you enter the URL for the “stream” into an app or browser that’s capable of decoding the stream, you’ll get music!

OK, back to the previous question: how do you find a stream? Personally, I go to the web page at radio-browser.info (yes, that’s a web site). Type that into your browser and have a good look at the page; it’ll give you an idea of the service that site provides. If you go to radio-browser.info/tags you’ll see a list of genres (rock, pop, news, etc). Scroll through that list and, if you see a genre you think you might like, click on it and you’ll get a list of stations with a lot of information about each station like its name and a list of “tags” associated with it. Click on the name of the station and you’ll see the Details page. There you should see its URL! Plug that into your streaming app and you’re set. Note that some of those URLs are for the streaming equivalent of a playlist. Often ending in “m3u” or “pls” it’s a list of URLs in a particular format. Why? If there’s an interruption to the stream from one of the URLs, the streaming app will move on to the next URL in the list and continue playing, providing a mostly uninterrupted stream of music. Many browsers won’t play those playlists but will, instead, download them. That’s why I say plug them in to your streaming app.

I mentioned “tags”. What are tags? They’re words that describe the station. Like “oldies” or “eclectic” or “album oriented rock”. You can search the stations using the search box in the upper right of any of those pages but, unfortunately, it uses a rather arcane search language. So, to help, here’s a search I often use which includes English language stations, eclectic, and adult album alternative: https://go.ttot.link/TonysSearch

Hopefully you’ve found a few stations you like and you’ve put them into your new favorite Internet radio streaming app. How do you get that stream to play on your TV? Many of the radio streaming apps will let you cast the radio stream to a Chromecast so you cast it, just like we talked about last week! I use RadioDroid 2 almost exclusively because the cast icon is prominently displayed in the app AND it uses radio-browser.info as its source for your searches.

What are some of the stations in my list? I’ll take that up in next week’s column along with some information about some devices that will allow you to stream your Internet radio WITHOUT (!) having to use your phone/tablet/computer.

What else can we stream? How about radio? June 2, 2022 Read More »

So, how do I watch this stuff on my TV? May 26, 2022

Full Text, Times Gazette / tony / 2022-05-26 / #fullcolumns

So, how do I watch this stuff on my TV?

May 26, 2022

OK, Tony, I can watch WGN on my phone or tablet but I want to watch it on my TV. How do I do that?

I’ll get to that in a minute but I have a few maintenance things I should address. You can email me at [email protected] (capitalization is optional – I did it to make it easier to read and remember). Next, I’m keeping a set of clickable links (or live links – i.e. links you can click on) to my columns at https://go.ttot.link/TGColumns+Links – I hope that’s not too long for you to type. If it is you can use https://go.ttot.link/TGC+L instead (they both take you to the same place). I tried to make them short and yet representative of that to which they refer. Last, I came across an article at CNet.com that discusses free streaming services – aggregators of channels if you will – which give you access to multiple shows and movies and so on. IPTV is great if you only want to watch a few channels. If you want more (like a program guide) you’ll need to subscribe to a service and there are a LOT of services out there, some of which are a bit shady. I can’t recommend any right now. That’s not to say there aren’t any legit ones, just that I haven’t investigated enough of them to make a recommendation. The CNet article is at https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/best-free-tv-streaming-services (short link https://go.ttot.link/CNetFreeTV but it’ll be available at https://go.ttot.link/TGColumns+Links later).

So, how do I play these shows on my TV? There are several different ways. I use a Chromecast. What is it? A small device that plugs into a free HDMI port on your TV (or monitor). You then “cast” videos or music or pictures to it from your phone or tablet or computer. The article at https://www.radiotimes.com/technology/google-chromecast/ does a better job of introducing it and describing how to set it up and use it so I’ll refer you there (short link https://go.ttot.link/WhatIsAChromecast) but note that it’s a British site so prices are in pounds. You can buy a Chromecast here in the States at Best Buy, Target, Walmart, pretty much any store that sells electronics.

There are a few different versions of Chromecast; further the Chromecast capability can be incorporated into other devices like TVs (if you have a fairly new TV it may have Chromecast built in). The basic Chromecast is a passive device, meaning you have to have your content playing on another device (phone, tablet, computer) and direct that device to send (“cast”) the content to the Chromecast,. This is all covered in the first RadioTimes article I linked to earlier. You control speed (and stop, pause, start) from the device that’s doing the casting. It may sound complicated and I suppose it is somewhat complex but stick with it and you’ll get the hang of it.

I own several Chromecasts in various forms. Of course I have the basic Chromecast but I also own the Chromecast with Google TV (see https://www.radiotimes.com/technology/tech-reviews/chromecast-with-google-tv-review/ or short link https://go.ttot.link/ChromecastGoogleTV). This device provides additional features and functions over the base Chromecast, like the ability to download and run Android apps. I’ve installed Netflix, Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video, and a few others. With the included remote control I can use the apps to watch movies and TV without having to “cast” them from my phone. I have this plugged in to the monitor on my desk. Another device I own is a Shield TV from NVidia. It’s really an Android gaming console that also has the same capabilities as the Chromecast with Google TV – it’s plugged into my TV (no, I don’t use it for gaming).

So, how do I watch this stuff on my TV? May 26, 2022 Read More »

IPTV? Yes, television over the Internet! May 16, 2022

Full Text, Times Gazette / tony / 2022-05-16 / #fullcolumns

IPTV? Yes, television over the Internet!

May 16, 2022

To make it easier on you who are reading this on paper or just prefer to type in the URLs yourself, for each LONG URL I’ll also provide a shorter but descriptive URL that should be easier to type. Also, these columns are not generally intended to be a complete tutorial. Rather, I hope to give you enough information to spark your interest and curiosity, give you a few sites to point you in the right direction, and give you some of the terms you’ll need to get started.

IPTV (i.e. Internet Protocol TeleVision) dates back to the mid-90s.Yeah! And it’s still going today. All those “free” channels you can get on SelectTV and similar providers? Well, you can get them yourself, without anything other than an Internet connection and a video player. It’s a lot like streaming music or your favorite radio station. Does your local TV station have a “live” section where you can stream their current program? That’s likely done with IPTV.

WABC in New York City? Hit up https://content.uplynk.com/channel/ext/72750b711f704e4a94b5cfe6dc99f5e1/wabc_24x7_news.m3u8 (or http://bit.do/IPTV-WABC if you’re typing) and watch it, live and free.

WGN in Chicago? http://trn03.tulix.tv/teleup-mBm5MQ50rA/playlist.m3u8 is where it’s at or http://bit.do/IPTV-WGN if you’re typing.

CNN International UK? https://cnn-cnninternational-1-gb.samsung.wurl.com/manifest/playlist.m3u8 or http://bit.do/IPTV-CNN-UK if typing.

And that’s not all – movies, weather, shopping (QVC, HSN). And, yes, there are program guides, too, so you can find out what’s on, when.

How do you watch these channels? Well, if you only have a few you could use a video player like VLC from https://www.videolan.org/– it can keep track of the ones you like but if you want to explore and watch channels from all over the nation it the world, apps like those mentioned in https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/free-iptv-apps-android/ (or http://bit.do/IPTV-android-apps if typing) and https://tweaklibrary.com/best-iptv-apps-for-android-and-ios can get you going (or http://bit.do/IPTV-android-ios-apps if typing). If you’re watching on a phone or a tablet but want to watch it on your TV, you can use a Chromecast! Aren’t familiar with Chromecast? We’ll get into it in a future column.

IPTV? Yes, television over the Internet! May 16, 2022 Read More »