PC Magazine September 2022

The world of streaming video has grown and morphed a huge amount since Netflix first led the charge in 2007, offering its streaming library of 1,000 titles free to its physical DVD subscribers. (Remember DVDs? And the mail?) Streaming seemed like a novelty back then, before our devices and internet speeds improved enough to limit or even eliminate buffering and other glitches. You likely heard (or even said) things like, “I’d never depend on streaming for live events,” or “I’d never watch streaming video on my phone.” And no one was ready to give up cable TV for the longest time. Well, that time is over. According to Cloudwards, 85% of households in the US have at least one video-streaming subscription. Comparitech reports that “traditional pay-TV providers lost around 6 million pay-TV…

KUDOS FOR NEIL J. RUBENKING I just read your review of SimpleLogin. Wow, what a thorough review! Thank you. Most online reviews just skim the surface and tend to discuss different features for different products, such that you’re left wondering what each product doesn’t do or how they compare. You didn’t do that, addressing differences throughout the review and providing comparative commentary along the way… I’ve added you to my resources for tech-product research.—Mike LeBaron BRAVO TO KIM KEY [Re. “How to Pass On Your Passwords After You Die”] Wow, I was going to just disagree outright, but [as] I dig into your article and other referenced articles, I am forced to start rethinking the issue of passing on password-access and accounts after death… I still feel more secure with hard copy files for…

AMD’s elite Ryzen Threadripper processors and their huge dies, derived from the company’s Epyc server chips, have distinguished themselves as the ultimate multi-core monsters. They are ideally suited for pro-grade content-creation and rendering—not the kind your occasional YouTuber needs but for the likes of Pixar and well-funded movie studios. They’re also great for crunching titanic data sets and spinning up modeling applications at full tilt. The Threadripper first hit the market years back as a marginally consumer component, with standalone motherboards and chips available for DIY-ers. The more recent Threadripper Pro, meanwhile, is the version for desktop workstations and is equipped with AMD’s Ryzen Pro remote-management and security features. This processor aims straight for Intel’s Xeon W-class and even dual Xeon workstations. Threadripper Pro is now in its second generation, dubbed the…

When The Jetsons premiered in 1962, show writers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera imagined what the future might look like in 100 years. They also created George Jetson, the “dad of the future,” to handle the trials and tribulations of the nuclear household of 2062, and they set his date of birth as July 31, 2022. In celebration of this beloved cartoon father’s birthday, we decided to take a look at the various gizmos and gadgets in the show to see how much of it might have inspired modern technologies we use today. It turns out there’s quite a lot. VIDEO CALLS Perhaps the most obvious bit of tech from The Jetsons to make its way to the modern age is the video call. Video calls took place regularly on the show, most…

BEST CHEAP GAMING LAPTOP While the baseline prices of gaming laptops have risen with supply-chain issues and soaring component costs, the standout budget gaming laptops still come in under $1,000. The 2022 Acer Nitro 5 delivers a solid feature set and steady mainstream gaming performance for just $899 in our test configuration, via a 12th Gen Intel CPU and a GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU. It won’t top any performance charts, but with a 144Hz display, decent battery life, and a good port selection, this laptop is a great value for bargain shoppers. BEST CHEAP ANDROID TABLET Amazon isn’t shy about making it clear that its affordable tablets are a good way to enjoy, ahem, Amazon content on the go. This lets the company offer a quality product for a relatively low price.…

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders reports that 15% (37.5 million) of Americans over the age of 18 have some hearing loss, and nearly 29 million US adults could benefit from hearing aids. Improving TV sound quality is one of the most-requested features among hearing aid users. To this end, Amazon recently launched Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids on the Fire TV Cube, which works with compatible Bluetooth hearing aids from Starkey. This makes the second-generation Fire TV Cube the first-ever streaming media player to support Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids (ASHA). Starkey is one of the largest hearing aid brands available today. We live in a streaming world now. Some holdouts clinging to broadcast television or Blu-ray discs still exist, but once everything goes the way of streaming,…