YouTube TV Is The Company's New $35 Per Month Pay-to-View Service

[Update: YouTube TV is Now Live! and is currently available in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, and Philadelphia] 

When YouTube reached the major milestone this week of surpassing a billion hours of daily content being watched it did so on the backbone of the company's all to familiar free video service. In order to reach the next major milestone however, the company is taking a totally different approach. One that takes aim at cable companies and other streaming giants alike!

At an event in Los Angeles the company debuted YouTube TV, a streaming service that combines live content from broadcast and cable television networks with content from several of your favorite YouTube creators.

Here’s what YouTube TV offers:

• Live TV streaming from ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN, regional sports networks and dozens of popular cable networks. YouTube TV gives you the best of live TV, from must-see broadcast shows like “Empire,” “The Voice,” “The Big Bang Theory” and “Scandal,” to the live sports you want. YouTube TV includes major sports networks like ESPN and regional sports networks like Fox Sports Networks and Comcast SportsNet, so you can watch your favorite NBA or MLB teams. We’ve also partnered with local TV stations, so you’ll also get sports and local news based on where you live. And YouTube TV offers dozens of additional cable channels, so you won’t miss out on the latest news from MSNBC or Fox News, popular shows and movies from USA or FX, kids programming from the Disney Channel or Sprout, or reality TV from E! or Bravo. You can also add Showtime, or Fox Soccer Plus to your networks for an additional charge. In total, YouTube TV gives you access to more than 40 networks, listed below.
• A cloud DVR, with no storage limits. With YouTube TV, you’ll be able to record live TV and never run out of storage. Your cloud DVR can record as many shows as you want, simultaneously, without using precious data or space on your phone and we’ll store each of your recordings for nine months.
• A service that works great on all your screens. You can watch YouTube TV on any screen—mobile, tablet or computer—and you can easily stream to your TV with a Google Chromecast or Chromecast built-in TV. YouTube TV works on both Android and iOS. And your cloud DVR goes with you, so you can stream your recordings on any device, whenever and wherever you want.
• YouTube Red Originals. With a YouTube TV membership, you can watch all of our YouTube Red Original series and movies right on the new YouTube TV app.
• Six accounts, one price. Every YouTube TV membership comes with six accounts, each with its own unique recommendations and personal DVR with no storage limits. You can watch up to three concurrent streams at a time.
• Half the cost of cable with zero commitments. A YouTube TV membership is only $35 a month and there are no commitments—you can cancel anytime.

YouTube TV will be available soon in the largest U.S. markets and will quickly expand to cover more cities across the country. At launch it will have over 40 networks available for streaming and will allow you to connect up to six separate accounts to share with friends and family. Visit tv.youtube.com and sign up to find out more about the service and when it will launch in your market.

Review: STM Radial 15" Laptop Messenger Bag

When it comes to laptop accessories nothing is more important than a great laptop bag. Not only does a great laptop bag make it easier to carrier your machine, but it offers better protection and organization. Something that geeks like me, that are accident prone and tend to forget everything, need the most!

When selecting any device, gadget or accessory I tend to go for function over form. I could carry around just about anything, no matter how it looks, as long as it does what I need when I need it. When it comes to laptop bags this means I need good protections for scratches, bumps and the occasional spill. It also means I need tons of space to carry along my add-ons. Things like my charger, mouse, tablet and phone (and chargers) additional battery packs and a few other odds and ends! The STM Radial shines in all these areas!

STM Radial Specifications

• Main material(s): 300d dobby with water resistant coating, lining: 200d poly
• Device space: 9.3 x 13.2 x 1.2 in, designed for 15" laptop with extras
• Capacity: 10L - more than 15 compartments
• weight: 1.98 lbs / 0.9 kg
• Cableready organization: proprietary cable routing system utilizes purpose built pockets, ports between sections, and integrated cable management to store, access, and charge your various devices while keeping your bag organized
• Sling Tech System - a padded sling suspends your devices from the bag's floor, and the bottom corners are wrapped in additional padding for the ultimate in digital gear protection

 

Keeping Things Organized

The STM Radial laptop bag is designed to comfortably fit up to a 15″ laptop with plenty of space for additional mobile devices. On the outside you'll notice there are good sized zipped pocket on the front, two side pockets (one zipped), and a handy drop in rear pouch for reading material. The main interior compartment is secured with two quick release buckles that can be cinched down to secure the contents inside. Here you'll find an additional assortment of small to medium pockets (I counted 12 in total, with one hidden) and the main laptop compartment that has a soft padded surface on all four sides to aide in protecting your laptop.

This wide array of compartments with several different sizes was one of the biggest benefits for me. I found a place for just about everything I could think of that I need to carry with me on my typical work day. I also managed to add a few none typical extras in there just in case! The easy access to the external pockets was perfect for traveling and travel documents while keeping everything else out of site.

Keeping Your Devices Charged

One of STM's more innovative features is their Cableready design. The side and front pockets of the STM Radial contain cable routing ports. These are designed to pass a USB or Apple lightning cable through into different sections of the bag. The side pocket is large enough to hold a mid-size portable charger or if you have a high capacity power bank, this can be stored in the front section. A third option I used was passing my headphone cables through so that I could listen to podcasts and music on my tablet while leaving it out of sight and out of harms way in my bag.

One thing I would warn you about is heat! If like me you have a couple of those pesky devices that generally run a little on the warm side when charging, you might want to avoid doing so in your bag!

Portability And Protection

The STM Radial messenger bag can be carried in a variety of ways to make your life easier. You can use the top handle to carry it like a normal bag, or more comfortably on the shoulders or across the body. The main strap features a removable shoulder pad with a non-slip inner surface and Quick cam retainers for easy adjustment. There is a good amount of length, unfortunately there is no option to add a long strap if need be. The back of the bag also has a luggage pass-through for securing the bag to the handle of your wheeled luggage, making it easy for travelers to carry-on.

The weather resistant outer material feels extremely durable and did a great job at beading and repelling small spills and rain when I tested it. The inside shell was nice and soft and seemed to offer enough protection from scratches, but I would have liked a little more padding for accidental drops. When jostling things around everything stayed in place quit well with nothing really slipping or falling out of its compartment.

Conclusion
Being a telecommuting geek that does a lot of work on the go I know first hand the importance of keeping things safe, secure and organized. For me the STM Radial Messenger Bag does just about everything you can ask from it and then some! It really gave me an all-in-one solution for storing everything I need for my day to day and travel needs. The price might be a bit on the higher end for some, but in my opinion is would be well worth it. I'm going to give the folks at STM two thumbs up on this one!

The STM Radial sales from $79.95-99.95 at several of your favorite retailers (including Amazon) and comes in three colors: Black, Steel and Moroccan Blue. If you want more details or more info on STM products check them out at https://www.stmgoods.com/ and on Twitter @STMGoods.

Cybersecurity and Antivirus Software Vendor Kaspersky Launches An OS, Because Why Not

When it comes to operating systems most people will only be able to give you a couple names. Typically those would be would Microsoft, Apple/macOS/iOS, Android and Linux (semantics aside here). Most people would likely be surprised that there are several well know players out there that are actively looking at ways to break into the operating system market. Some in fact have, and failed miserably.

That however isn't stopping one of the better known security and antivirus vendors out there from throwing their hat into the ring. Widely know cybersecurity and antivirus vendor Kaspersky has announced  this week the availability of KasperskyOS. What the company is calling a new "secure operating system" aimed at network devices, industrial control systems and the Internet of Things.

In a post on his official blog, Eugene Kaspersky (chief executive of the company) announced the new product and offered a quick overview of what how the operating system hopes to keep system more secure and what their end game is. For you geeks they have been kind enough to cut out the sales and marketing approach and give some hard details. For the rest I'll summarize what Kaspersky has to say about their new OS below!

The Future of Embedded and IoT Security: Kaspersky Operating System from Kaspersky Lab

First off KasperskyOS is meant to be highly flexible. Their goal is to have an open project that is specialized specifically for niche projects and products. So don't expect to see it on any of your machines anytime soon. They are shooting more for enterprise applications that anything else. However, according to the KasperskyOS whitepaper, supported architectures include: x86/x64 CPU's: Pentium II or higher, ARM CPU,: ARMv7 or higher, and Ethernet: Realtek RTL8139, Intel i82580.

Security is built from the ground up with a secure Default Deny system at the process level and is wrapped into a microkernel. In simple words, it’s a system that does what it’s instructed to and is unable to do anything else. Unlike most operating systems, where as user interaction can bypass security controls, KasperskyOS is extremely locked down. It divides objects into isolated entities which only allows for very limited interaction between packages creating a wall between the OS, applications and security levels.

To create a package that could be applied in several different areas of granular customization, Kaspersky has developed three basic products into one:

• An Operating System (KasperskyOS)
• A standalone secure hypervisor (KSH) for running virtual machines
• A system for secure interaction between OS components (KSS)

All three components work in tandem to try to build upon each other to create the secure environment. The systems are being called a "project offering" and not "a boxed solution with a cure-all for everyone." The company says their intent is to working closely and collaborate with vendors and developers to configure these systems based on their requirements to meet their individual security needs.

Get The Most Out Of Your Super Bowl LI Viewing Experience With These Apps

We are just a few short days away from Super Bowl Sunday and whether you are rooting for the the New England Patriots or the Atlanta Falcons, or just tuning into the game for the commercials (like of us geeks do) one thing is for sure. You want to get the most out of your Super Sunday! And these days to do so it seems as though you need to have more than one device handy.

Luckily there are several amazing apps out there that will help you tackle your Super Bowl LI viewing experience. Here are just a few that we highly recommend you download before the big game starts (at 3:30pm PST Sunday BTW).

FOX Sports GO

This year Super Bowl LI will be shown on FOX and the good news is that FOX has already said they will be live streaming the entire game to their in house streaming app, FOX Sports GO. The app will feature a more traditional live TV approach to streaming with local and national advertisements and not much else. The good news however is that the game will be available in its entirety on FOXSportsGo.com, using iOS, Android, Windows, and Amazon tablets or through connected devices, including Apple TV, Roku, Android TV, Chromecast, Amazon Fire and XBOX One.

FOXSportsGo Android | iOS | Other Platforms

NFL Mobile

NFL Mobile is the official go to source for anything NFL related. As the official NFL app it will be your direct source for news, video clips, and live streaming for NFL Network subscribers on Verizon or Bell. The app will allow you to set your favorite team for quick access to the latest news and analysis from the Stories and NFL Now sections. Tablet users can access NFL Network 24/7/365 and NFL RedZone if they're eligible subscribers of AT&T U-verse, Charter, Cox, DirecTV, Optimum, Verizon FiOS, DISH, and many more providers. If you're not a subscriber of any of those service providers, you can check into the NFL Now tab for breaking news and analysis.

NFL Mobile Android | iOS

Official New England Patriots/ Atlanta Falcons Mobile Apps

For you fans out there choosing sides this weekend there is nothing better than getting your favorite team's latest news and in=depth team specific analysis. For that your best option is always going straight to the source! Both teams have great apps that feature the latest news, media and in-depth game details, with their own subjective spins of course!. These apps will give you access to on-demand and LIVE video and audio broadcasts straight to your phone. You can check out photo galleries of the team and Cheerleaders, purchase gear from their respective pro shops and even connect with other fans!

New England Patriots Android | iOS
Atlanta Falcons Android | iOS

ESPN Mobile App

Even those of you that aren't hardcore sports geeks will know that ESPN is a fan favorite and is always a major player on game day! They offer just about anything the hardcore Patriots or Falcons fans — or you bandwagoners can ask for. With their app you get up-to-the-minute scores (from all sports not just the Super Bowl), complete news coverage, live streaming of coverage and commentary and loads of video highlights.

ESPN Mobile App Android | iOS
WatchESPN App Android | iOS

Add More Fun to Super Bowl Sunday

For you geeks out there that are looking to add a little more than just sports to your game time fun we haven't forgot about you. Here are a few apps we think are must have's for any Sunday Funday, including some of our favorite cooking and recipe apps and a few "just for fun" apps that will help make your Super Bowl Sunday that much more enjoyable!

• Clippit (Android | iOS) - this cool little app lets you create and share video clips and GIFs from live TV. Perfect for recording that awesome TD or your favorite Super Bowl LI half-time moment.
• Yummly (Android | iOS) - possible one of the best recipe apps out there, Yummly guides you through your dish selections based on your previous likes and any dietary restrictions you may have. 
• Allrecipes Dinner Spinner (Android | iOS,) - this cool little app uses a neat spinning system for helping users find just the kind of recipe they need.
• Weber app (Android | iOS) - one of my must have's for any BBQ geek out there. The Weber app offers recipes, multiple countdown timers , tips and tricks and more.
• EZ Football Pool (Android) - take the hassle out of creating football squares! This nifty little app does all the work and you can send the links out to your friends, even those without the app, so they can join the fun from home.
• Mixology (Android | iOS) - this app perfect for helping you find some cool new drink ideas, or for those learning to make cocktails at home for the first time!

Of course our list could not be complete without mentioning Uber and Lyft (and plugging out link of course). For those going out to celebrate the big game with friends and family or anyone having a house party, Lyft and Uber are essentials in my eyes! Not only are they among the safest and easiest ways to get around, they will keep you from getting a flag on your play with a DUI on your way home.