Cordkillers 250 - 4 More K's Than Normal (w/ Mulango Akpo-Esambe)
iTunes on Samsung, Golden Globes hardware, and The Punisher returns! All this and more on Cordkillers! With special guest Mulango Akpo-Esambe
CordKillers: Ep. 4 More K's Than Normal
Recorded: January 7 2019
Guest: Mulango Akpo-Esambe
Intro Video
Future Man Season 2 Trailer
Primary Target
Samsung's 2019 smart TVs will support iTunes and AirPlay 2
- Samsung announced it will offer iTunes Movies and TV shows and support Airplay 2 on its 2019 TV sets starting this spring. It will also come to 2018 Samsung TVs through a firmware update. The iTunes app will support Samsung's Universal Guide, search features and Bixby though Apple told The Verge that Samsung will not be able track usage inside the iTunes app. iTunes will be available in more than 100 countries and airplay in 190 countries.
Netflix delivers a blow to Apple’s services story by ending in-app subscriptions
- Netflix has decided no longer to offer in-app subscriptions in its iOS devices. App makers have to share 30% of app revenue with Apple or 15% for subscription revenue after a minimum period of time. That's an estimated $120 million in revenue Apple will lose per year. Netflix previously ended in-app subscriptions in the Google Play store.
How to Watch
'Roma' Golden Globe win is the highlight on a big night for Netflix
- Netflix at the Golden Globes
- Alfonso Cuarón best director for Roma
- Roma also won best Foreign Language film
- The Kominsky Method best TV series (musical or comedy)
- Richard Madden won Best actor (drama) for Bodyguard.
- Amazon
- Rachel Brosnahan won best actress (musical / comedy TV series) for the second year in a row for Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
- Ben Whishaw best supporting actor limited series for A Very English Scandal
What to Watch
The Punisher' season two arrives on Netflix January 18th, Cancellation announcement expected January 25th or so?
Stranger Things Season 3 Releases July 4, 2019
Netflix gives a behind-the-scenes look at the making of ‘Bandersnatch’ in a new video
Eyes On
Brian: Aquaman, Bumblebee, Dirk Gently, Counterpart
Tom: Bandersnatch, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Mulango: Bandersnatch, Football - NFL, God Friended Me, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Watchmen, Sunderland til I die
On the Lookout: Games Done Quick
Front Lines
Tablo's newest over-the-air DVR automatically skips ads
-The new Tablo Quad DVR can do what previous Tablo's have done, record and stream up to four live TV channels from an antenna but it also adds a machine learning powered system that can automatically skip commercials during playback. You'll have to pay $5 a month or $150 lifetime to get the guide service that includes the skip feature. The Tablo Quad comes out at the end of Q1 for $200.
Charter launches its zero sign-on Spectrum app for Apple TV
- Spectrum launched its zero-sign on app for Apple TV. Spectrum subscribers connected to their Spectrum Internet account will automatically be signed in to Spectrum service. The app works with the 4th-gen Apple TV or Apple TV 4K.
Roku to launch subscription video channels business
- Roku announced it will offer premium video channel add-ons to its free Roku Channel. Offerings will include Showtime, Starz and Noggin. The Roku channel streamign service and any add-ons you buy will also be available on the Roku mobile app as well. Roku said the number of active accounts on its service grew 40% in 2018 to more than 27 million. Total streaming hours grew 61 percent to 24 billion hours. Roku also announced Westinghouse is joining the manufacturers like TCL and others. that license Roku for their TVs. TCL and Roku also announced a partnership to make an 8K TV together.
Sling TV rolls out improved UI features on Apple TV
- Sling TV updated its Apple TV app to include better information previews when using the guide, easier access to channel filter categories and more information and images in the series information view. The My Channels and Continue Watching ribbons will have an edit button and the recordings ribbon will let you view all recordings with one tap. These features will come to other Sling TV apps in the future as well.
Hackers hijack thousands of Chromecasts to warn of latest security bug
- A bug in Chromecast discovered by security researcher Bishop Fix in 2014 lets an attacker reset any Chromecast it can access to default mode, thus allowing the attacker to control it. Some hackers have used that bug in combination with UPnP to access thousands of Chromecasts and display a warning that they are insecure. Turning off UPnP would prevent this remote method but would still leave Chromecasts vulnerable to anyone within range of the device itself.
FandangoNow will exclusively carry IMAX Enhanced films through 2019
- FandangoNow will be the exclusive digital store for Imax Enhanced films through 2019. Imax enhanced is a 4K HDR technology similar to Dolby Vision, which Fandango Now does not offer.
Dispatches from the Front
Is there a spoiler-free resource that lets you know if a show has an ending or not? It's easy to find out if a show has been canceled, but I'm having trouble finding a site that just lets you know if a show has a decent ending. Nothing worse than getting to the end of a series only to be left with a cliffhanger.
-Chad
Hi is Tom going to update the A Brief Guide to Cord Cutting: Watch TV on the Internet without paying for cable book on amazon thanks
-Anthony
Hey CK crew,
Listening to the Killies earlier this week made me think about my own personal entertainment changes in 2018. This year my content viewing has plummeted, and I’ve mostly moved to only watching shows that appear on Netflix, VRV, or Amazon prime. If it’s not there, I just don’t care anymore. I also noticed in 2018 that my consumption of podcasts went from 5-10 to over 40 that I am subscribed to. I listen to podcasts while working, at the gym, and in my down time when playing video games. I was curious if any of you had seen similar, or interesting consumption changes over the year as well.
Best,
- Alex M
Hey Tom, Brian, et al-
I'm just writing seeking some absolution; I moved into a new place last month, and have needing to get internet set up. After being jerked around for the better part of the month by Cabletown, I gave up and went with AT&T. I've previously been a fan of their service, but now I'm not so sure: i just signed a two year contract (which I hate) to pay more money than I'm comfortable with for more services than I really want, but my alternatives have been slim-to-none. I think the worst part is that I'm paying for 155 channels, and the two or three that I care about aren't even included in the package.
All this to say that old-world cable has definitely found it's way into the digital frontier, and so long as there's limited provider options, I guess this is a thing that we still have to deal with.
-Ryan
Thought you might find this interesting: Was at a local city's public financial forum a few weeks back when going over their budget they mentioned a shortfall in the projected income from their communications tax. The financial officer stated that more people were cutting the cord than they'd expected when the budget was planned. Yes, she used 'cutting the cord' in her description! Imagine, cord cutting is wide spread enough to have a financial impact on local municipalities now.
-Bill
Do you guys think streaming services will start implementing reactivation fees, since a lot of people get a service too see a certain series and when that series season is over they most likely cancel and don't bother to reactivate till the next season?
Also i have a Samsung UHD tv besides the 4k in its native apps i still use a roku when watching none 4k content. Rokus seem to still work better than smart tvs in my opinion.
- Mel
So I think you guys can forward this to the hive mind for the best answers. My nephew is taking cord killing to the next level. He and his wife are looking to taking jobs in Antarctica! I think I am pointing him to a Samsung TAB S4 which supports both 512 MicroSD and USB-C SSDs. How does he legally get movies and TV for a year in a legal digital format that will not want to do a license check? Help me Obi Wan(s).
-Steve
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