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Tech NewsStreaming Services

Hulu’s New $2 Plan for College Students Includes Its Watch Party Feature

If you happen to be in college at the moment, now’s the time to get yourself some Hulu. The streaming service on Monday announced a new subscription tier for college students that gives them the ad-supported version of Hulu for just $2—basically less than a cup of coffee these days! The steeply discounted college plan … Continued

Tech NewsCES

TCL’s Fan-Favorite 6-Series Is Going 8K in 2021

TCL is bringing multiple soundbars and new display technology to its home entertainment lineup this year. TCL announced this week its third generation of mini-LED backlighting with the new OD Zero mini-LED, so called for the zero millimeters between its LCD panel and mini-LED backlight layers. More exciting to fans of the 6-Series who may … Continued

Tech NewsCES

Panasonic’s New 2021 OLED Wants to Win Over Gamers, Just Like Everyone Else This Year

Panasonic is hoping to win over the gaming crowd with its flashy new flagship OLED. Grab a ticket, buddy. Panasonic says the new JZ2000 OLED, which will ship in 55-inch and 65-inch screen sizes, will have higher peak and average brightness levels, a juiced-up sound system with side- and up-firing speakers, as well as gamer-focused … Continued

Tech NewsStreaming Services

Quibi’s Decaying Library of Content Will Soon Be Free on Roku

Quibi’s content is officially heading to Roku. It feels like either a month or roughly 100 years since we found out that the short-lived streaming experiment from Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman crashed and burned roughly six short months after its rocky launch. But Quibi had managed to churn out a significant amount of original … Continued

Tech NewsCES

Sony’s 2021 TVs Are Gamer Ready, and Some Feature Nifty Ambient Light Sensors

Sony’s latest TVs are getting a big processor upgrade and a new native OS experience. The company this week announced its 2021 line of Bravia XR displays, which are powered by Sony’s new Cognitive Processor XR. Sony is extremely proud of the new chip, which handles both video and audio processing and upscaling to ideally … Continued

Tech News

Hell Yes, Give Me the Apple Watch Guided Walking Workouts

An iOS beta clue seems to point to a forthcoming walking workout feature from Apple. An iOS 14.4 beta feature shared by Khaos Tian on Twitter and confirmed by 9to5Mac this week describes a new outdoor Apple Watch option that downloads walking workouts to the watch when it’s connected to power or near a paired … Continued

Tech NewsCES

A Solar-Powered Remote and MicroLED TVs Are Bringing Samsung Into the Future

Big changes are coming to the Samsung home entertainment product lineup in 2021. The company recently announced that it was borrowing the technology used for its modular microLED display The Wall for new consumer-ready microLED TVs that don’t require professional installation. When Samsung initially broke the news last month, it had only announced a monstrous … Continued

ReviewsVPN

Discovery+ Needs to Be Part of Your Streaming Life, It’s That Good

Discovery’s new streaming service has finally arrived. The company’s official entrance into the streaming wars brought all of Discovery’s assets under a single roof, with everything from true crime to reality TV to nature documentaries. Discovery+ is home to tens of thousands of episodes from legacy broadcast channels like HGTV, the History Channel, A&E, Food … Continued

ReviewsTVs

I Will Be Forever Ruined by This Incredible 8K OLED—That Also Costs $20,000

How much is too much for an 8K TV? Plenty of TV makers have debuted 8K displays, but as of right now, 8K still remains out of reach for many consumers. Plus, with so many fantastic and relatively affordable 4K LED and OLED options available right now, the hefty price tags that often accompany premium … Continued

Tech NewsStreaming Services

Hulu With Live TV Snaps Up Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and More New Channels

Hulu’s live TV offering is getting more than a dozen new channels through a multi-year deal with ViacomCBS. The deal will bring Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, VH1, MTV, MTV2, MTV Classic, CMT, TV Land, BET, BET Her, Nick Jr., NickToons, and TeenNick to the service—though a ViacomCBS spokesperson told Gizmodo that it isn’t sharing … Continued

Tech NewsStreaming Services

How to Claim Your Free Year of Discovery+ Through Verizon

Verizon customers can snag up to 12 months of the brand new Discovery+ streaming service for free. Here’s how to get it. The new streaming service—home to content from HGTV, the History Channel, TLC, Discovery Channel, Food Netflix, A&E, and BBC’s natural history programming like Planet Earth and Blue Planet—officially launches today with more than … Continued

Earther

More Streaming Remotes Need to Be Battery-Free

Enough with the AAA batteries. Gizmodo reviewed a lot of streaming gadgets this year, budget and premium devices alike. When staring at a heap of dongles, streaming sticks, and set-top boxes, one thing becomes immediately clear: Way too many dang remotes rely on batteries, and way too many of those batteries end up being tossed … Continued

ReviewsFace-Offs

Best Budget 4K TV for Most People

There’s an argument to be made that shopping for a new TV near or around the beginning of the year, when companies are gearing up to tease the next year’s worth of displays at CES, is foolish. Sure, if you want the latest and greatest, you should probably hold out for whatever’s coming down the … Continued

Tech NewsNews

You’ll Soon Be Able to Check the Status of Your $600 Stimulus Check

The second round of stimulus checks began rolling out through direct deposit this week, and the Internal Revenue Service says its Get My Payment tool for checking the status of your payment should become available “in a few days.” The agency said in a release on Tuesday that the $600 stimulus checks for qualifying U.S. … Continued

Tech NewsNews

Pet Food Recalled After at Least 28 Dogs Die, FDA Says

More than two dozen dogs have died after ingesting specific lots of Sportmix pet food that contained potentially deadly levels of aflatoxin, the Food and Drug Administration said this week. Midwestern Pet Foods, the Indiana-based maker of Sportmix, has issued a voluntary recall of specific types of dog and cat food that were found to … Continued

Tech NewsStreaming Services

Sorry ESPN+ Users, Your Annual Subscription Just Got More Expensive

ESPN+ is the latest streaming service to get a price hike. The sports service currently costs $50 per year when subscribers opt for annual billing over monthly. But starting Jan. 8, that price will jump to $60 per year for new customers, the company confirmed to Gizmodo on Wednesday. The good news for existing subscribers … Continued

Tech NewsGadgets

The New Fire TV Finally Offers a Decent Streaming Experience

Fire TV has been due for an update for a minute—a very long minute. With its latest experience overhaul, Fire TV is finally delivering a user interface that stands up to those of rival streaming devices. When Chromecast with Google TV arrived on the scene this year, Google gave other $50 streaming devices a run … Continued

Tech NewsGadgets

Where’s the Apple TV Dongle?

A new Apple TV could be arriving in 2021, but how will it compete with so many powerful streaming devices when it retails for three times the cost? This year saw the release of several streaming sticks and dongles that cost around $50, many of which offer premium features like Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision, HDR10, … Continued

Tech NewsStreaming Services

Six Months After Launch and I Still Have a Bone to Pick With HBO Max

Quick question: What the heck is going on with HBO Max’s content discovery? Most major streaming services are constantly tinkering with their discovery features to help us find the latest and greatest on the platform, whether that be licensed content, originals, or trending titles. On Netflix, for example, the top of the page is generally … Continued

Tech NewsGadgets

Level Up Your Inner Nerd With Pokémon Blue Light Glasses

Jins today launched a new line of Pokémon-themed eyeglasses and blue light blockers. The collection, released in partnership with the Pokémon Company, will feature frames for both children and adults in a variety of designs and colors specific to fan-favorite Pokémon. Beginning this week, consumers will be able to choose from three “model” sets—the Flagship … Continued