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Saying good-bye to cable television

[email protected] (Brian X Chen)
October 24, 2016

Consider what's faced by people who want to end their TV subscriptions — what's known as cutting the cable cord. There are multiple streaming services and bills to juggle. And there are numerous streaming gadgets to choose from.

cableSo to make moving away from cable cords easier, we teamed up with the Wirecutter, the product recommendations website, to compile the definitive guide to cord-cutting. The Wirecutter tested services, streaming devices and antennas to come up with cord-cutter bundles for different types of people in 2016: movie buffs, sports addicts, fans of premium TV shows, binge watchers and families with children.

For movie buffsFor movie buffs, plenty of cord-cutting options will make any transition painless. Netflix, Amazon and Hulu all have large film libraries for streaming — Amazon's alone holds 18,400 titles, though the selection regularly changes because of agreements with content providers.

Netflix's library has shrunk over time; the company is no longer trying to offer the glut of back-catalogue movies that every service seems to have. But Netflix has tried to compensate by focusing on movies it has exclusive licenses to, including those from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Lucas film.

Amazon focuses more on quantity, but without the exclusive titles the other services offer. Amazon, iTunes, the Google Play store and Vudu usually get digital versions of recent movies that can be purchased for $15 (Rs 1,001) to $20 (Rs 1,334), or rented for about $5 (Rs 333), even before they're available on disc.

For most people, Netflix will offer the best selection of new movies and original programming — and Google, Amazon or Apple will offer the best selection for rentals or purchases. n Best Service: Netflix plus a la carte rentals/purchases ($8 or Rs 533 to $12 or Rs 800/month)n Best Hardware: Roku Streaming Stick ($50 or Rs 3,336)n Most Affordable: Roku Streaming Stickn Also Works With: Apple TV ($149 or Rs 9,943), other Roku models

For sports addictsA subscription to either PlayStation Vue or Sling TV gets you ESPN and Fox Sports 1, depending on the package. And each system offers additional sports channels, depending on your interests.

You may also want to watch over-the-air broadcast channels, especially for NFL games. Most televisions have a built-in over-the-air tuner that brings in local major networks (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC) using your TV hardware and an inexpensive antenna, such as the Antennas Direct ClearStream Eclipse ($40 or 2,669).

n Best Service: PlayStation Vue ($30 or Rs 2,002 to $45 or Rs 3,003/month)n Best Hardware: Fire TV ($40 or 2,669 to $100 or Rs 6,673) or Google Chromecast ($35 or Rs 2,335)n Most Affordable: Google Chromecastn Also Works With: Apple TV ($149 or Rs 9,943), Roku ($50 or Rs 3,336)

Premium network showsNo problem. HBO, Showtime and Starz can all be viewed on a phone, tablet or streaming device with a direct subscription — no cable or satellite subscription or long-term contract required. That allows access to each network's original programming and the movies each is showing, and you can watch from anywhere.

n Best Hardware: Roku Streaming Stick ($50 or Rs 3,336)n Most Affordable: Roku Streaming Stick or Google Chromecast ($35 or Rs 2,335)n Also Works With: Apple TV ($149 or Rs 9,943), other Roku models

For TV binge watchersNetflix and Amazon Instant Video are your best bets to binge-watch television shows. Each offers award-winning original content, including “House of Cards,” “Orange Is the New Black,” “Master of None,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “Making a Murderer” on Netflix; and on Amazon, “Transparent,” “Mozart in the Jungle” and “The Man in the High Castle.”

All episodes are released online at once. Each service also carries recent TV series, like “Better Call Saul” and “Mr Robot,” shortly after the DVD release date. If you don't want to wait, you can usually purchase a “season pass” for current TV shows through iTunes, Amazon or Google Play at a cost of $20 or Rs 1,334 to $30 or Rs 2,002 per season usually. Google Play is generally the least expensive, offering savings of around 15 to 25 percent — and watch new episodes the day they're aired on TV. Hulu Plus focuses on current TV seasons, letting you watch them right after they air instead of when the season has ended. But it lacks many current popular shows.

n Best Service: Netflix ($8 or Rs 533 to $12 or Rs 800/month) or Amazon ($99 or Rs 6,606/year), or a la carte seasonsn Best Hardware: Roku Streaming Stick ($50 or Rs 3,336)n Most Affordable: Roku Streaming Stick

Also Works With: Fire TV ($40 or 2,669 to $100 or Rs 6,673), other Roku Models, Apple TV ($149 — Google and Amazon require an iOS or macOS device)

For children and familiesNetflix offers a wide selection of content, both educational and entertaining, along with original children's programming like the recent “Voltron” reboot. It also offers the option to create a children's profile that lets you limit viewing to particular ratings or age levels. In addition, Netflix has a new partnership with Disney that will make more Disney films available for streaming.

PBS Kids Now lets you stream recent episodes of PBS shows, and the selection is updated every week with the latest episodes of most shows. Amazon Instant Video also has children's content and its own custom children's programming, as well as FreeTime Unlimited, a selection of curated shows, apps and games for children for a monthly fee ($3 or Rs 200 for Amazon Prime members, $5 or Rs 333 for non members). However, FreeTime Unlimited is available only on Amazon's own hardware.

Sling TV also offers a children's package for those who want to stream Nick Jr., Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Cartoon Network and more.

n Best Service: Netflix ($8 or Rs 533 to $12 or Rs 800/month)n Best Hardware: Roku Streaming Stick ($50 or Rs 3,336)n Most Affordable: Roku Streaming Stick (except for FreeTime Unlimited), Amazon Fire TV ($40 or 2,669 to $100 or Rs 6,673)n Also Works With: Apple TV ($149 or Rs 9,943), other Roku models

Why it still isn't perfectThere are still downsides to cord-cutting. JD Power & Associates, a research firm that collects feedback on brands and products from consumers, said two factors made cord cutters less satisfied: customer care and value, according to J D Power.For customer care, cord cutters may run into problems more often than traditional TV subscribers, said Kirk Parsons, a senior director of telecommunications research at J D Power. The streaming content provider may be experiencing issues. Your Wi-Fi connection might be spotty, or your internet provider may be experiencing issues. It's tough to tell.

For value, cutting the cord isn't very cheap if you then subscribe to multiple services to gain access to a diverse set of content. For cable subscribers, paying one bill is less of a hassle than juggling multiple bills. And even after you subscribe to multiple streaming services, there is still some content that you may miss out on because it is available only via cable or satellite.

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News Network
May 7,2020

Toronto, May 7: Scientists have uncovered how bats can carry the MERS coronavirus without getting sick, shedding light on what triggers coronaviruses, including the one behind the COVID-19 pandemic, to jump to humans.

According to the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, coronaviruses like the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) virus, and the COVID19-causing SARS-CoV-2 virus, are thought to have originated in bats.

While these viruses can cause serious, and often fatal disease in people, bats seem unharmed, the researchers, including those from the University of Saskatchewan (USask) in Canada, said.

"The bats don't get rid of the virus and yet don't get sick. We wanted to understand why the MERS virus doesn't shut down the bat immune responses as it does in humans," said USask microbiologist Vikram Misra.

In the study, the scientists demonstrated that cells from an insect-eating brown bat can be persistently infected with MERS coronavirus for months, due to important adaptations from both the bat and the virus working together.

"Instead of killing bat cells as the virus does with human cells, the MERS coronavirus enters a long-term relationship with the host, maintained by the bat's unique 'super' immune system," said Misra, one of the study's co-authors.

"SARS-CoV-2 is thought to operate in the same way," he added.

Stresses on bats, such as wet markets, other diseases, and habitat loss, may have a role in coronavirus spilling over to other species, the study noted.

"When a bat experiences stress to their immune system, it disrupts this immune system-virus balance and allows the virus to multiply," Misra said.

The scientists, involved in the study, had earlier developed a potential treatment for MERS-CoV, and are currently working towards a vaccine against COVID-19.

While camels are the known intermediate hosts of MERS-CoV, they said bats are suspected to be the ancestral host.

There is no vaccine for either SARS-CoV-2 or MERS, the researchers noted.

Follow latest updates on the COVID-19 pandemic here

"We see that the MERS coronavirus can very quickly adapt itself to a particular niche, and although we do not completely understand what is going on, this demonstrates how coronaviruses are able to jump from species to species so effortlessly," said USask scientist Darryl Falzarano, who co-led the study.

According to Misra, coronaviruses rapidly adapt to the species they infect, but little is known on the molecular interactions of these viruses with their natural bat hosts.

An earlier study had shown that bat coronaviruses can persist in their natural bat host for at least four months of hibernation.

When exposed to the MERS virus, the researchers said, bat cells adapt, not by producing inflammation-causing proteins that are hallmarks of getting sick, but instead by maintaining a natural antiviral response.

On the contrary, they said this function shuts down in other species, including humans.

The MERS virus, the researchers said, also adapts to the bat host cells by very rapidly mutating one specific gene.

These adaptations, according to the study, result in the virus remaining long-term in the bat, but being rendered harmless until something like a disease, or other stressors, upsets this balance.

In future experiments, the scientists hope to understand how the bat-borne MERS virus adapts to infection and replication in human cells.

"This information may be critical for predicting the next bat virus that will cause a pandemic," Misra said.

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Agencies
June 10,2020

US dictionary Merriam-Webster will update the meaning of the word "racism" after being contacted by a Missouri black woman, who claimed the current definition fell short of including the systematic oppression of people of colour, according to media reports.

"A revision to the entry for racism is now being drafted to be added to the dictionary soon, and we are also planning to revise the entries of other words that are related to racism or have racial connotations," according to a statement of the 189-year-old dictionary shared by Kennedy Mitchum, a recent graduate of Drake University in Iowa, on her Facebook.

Mitchum, 22, emailed the dictionary last month, following the death of African American George Floyd in the custody of four Minneapolis police officers, Xinhua news agency reported.

"I kept having to tell them that definition is not representative of what is actually happening in the world," Mitchum told CNN. "The way that racism occurs in real life is not just prejudice, it's the systemic racism that is happening for a lot of black Americans."

Merriam-Webster's first definition of racism is "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race."

"It's not just disliking someone because of their race," Mitchum wrote in a Facebook post on Friday. "This current fight we are in is evidence of that, lives are at stake because of the systems of oppression that go hand-in-hand with racism."

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Agencies
July 9,2020

Twitter has hinted that it is planning a paid subscription platform that can be reused by other teams in the future.

The news that the micro-blogging platform is building a subscription platform with a team codenamed "Gryphon" resulted in Twitter stock rising over 8% on Wednesday.

Twitter revealed its plan via a job listing that seeks a full-stack senior software engineer in New York to join "Gryphon".

Interestingly, Twitter "edited" the job listing once the news broke, removing the part about "Gryphon" and any mention of their internal team or their subscription feature. The listing said the company is looking for an Android engineer to "work on a bevy of backend engineering teams to build components that allow for experimentation to deliver the best experience possible to all of our users".

Later, Twitter users noticed that the company restored the earlier job listing that mentioned the upcoming subscription platform and "Gryphon".

A spokesperson for Twitter told CNN on Wednesday that it's only a job posting, not a product announcement.

This is not the first time Twitter has thought of a paid product. 

In 2017, it sent out a survey to users and a preview of what a premium offering of its TweetDeck app might look like, including breaking news alerts and more analytics, according to The Verge.

"We're conducting this survey to assess the interest in a new, more enhanced version of Tweetdeck. We regularly conduct user research to gather feedback about people's Twitter experience and to better inform our product investment decisions, and we're exploring several ways to make TweetDeck even more valuable for professionals," a Twitter spokesperson had said at that time.

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