Author: Press Room

I ignored my smart TV’s interface and plugged in a  streaming stick — I should have done it years ago

Most people assume a slow TV is just a slow TV, and that buying a better one is the only fix for the yearly slow down. The reality is more frustrating than that. The hardware inside your smart TV was already underpowered the day it shipped, and the operating system has been quietly making things worse ever since. Everything behind that panel is an afterthought, but there’s a thirty-dollar fix that does what a brand-new television can’t guarantee. Related 6 Reasons I Skipped a Smart TV and Bought a Streaming Stick Instead It took me a while to come around,…

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Netflix cancelled its best crime show before most people found it

Netflix may be one of the best streaming services out there, but it has drawbacks. For one thing, it’s infamous for canceling beloved series, a hazard when you produce so much content. Business realities being what they are, it’s too much to expect Netflix to keep producing new seasons of every series that isn’t performing well enough to justify their cost, but sometimes they give the axe to popular, critically lauded TV shows you’d figure were worth continuing. One of the best examples is Mindhunter, a sterling crime series that takes full advantage of our obsession with serial killers, presented…

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I ditched VLC and finally got high-quality HDR playback without any lag

VLC is clearly the best media player out there, with tons of features and support for 100s of media formats. So when I got my 4K HDR monitor, I naturally tried to play the few 4K HDR movies in my collection, and it was, honestly, meh. The colors looked washed out, the HDR tone mapping was all over the place, and there were noticeable micro-stutters. I’d already dialed in the HDR settings on Windows 11, so I knew my display wasn’t the problem. My attempts at tweaking VLC’s settings were futile. So I went looking for an alternative and found…

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This beloved classic is leaving Netflix, and the binge window is closing fast

In the streaming wars, one of the biggest weapons is exclusivity. If you want to watch Game of Thrones, you have to subscribe to HBO Max. If you want to watch Stranger Things, you have to watch Netflix, and so on. That said, because Netflix is far and away the most popular streaming service around, some studios allow their exclusive shows to appear on it, figuring that the extra eyeballs will be worth it. For instance, Breaking Bad may be the most iconic series that AMC ever produced, and yet the show is available to watch on Netflix, because not…

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A touchscreen MacBook Ultra would be a bigger risk for Apple than you might think

Every WWDC, Apple shows what’s next for your Apple gear. And then geeks immediately try to unearth secrets from the code. This year, the iPhone Fold isn’t one of them. Apple couldn’t have hinted more strongly that the iPhone Fold/Ultra/Bend-o-phone is imminent during its iOS app resizing reveal. And that’s before you get to the leaks, which have become so frequent they barely qualify as leaks anymore. Instead, attention has shifted to the hallowed touchscreen MacBook Ultra. As ever, a truckload of salt is required. Touchscreen Mac rumours have rattled around for years. But devs spotted code in macOS 27 that might suggest one is on the way:…

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I don’t get why anyone would pay for YouTube Premium when this cheaper subscription exists

YouTube is the best source of free videos on the planet, but it’s not really free. You pay for YouTube by looking at advertisements, whether they take the form of sponsored search results, banner ads, or pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll video ads. You probably already know this, because YouTube ads have become significantly more intrusive over the years. Almost every video has unskippable ads. Although YouTube Premium is the subscription designed to help you avoid them, I decided that paying $15.99 per month for YouTube was worse than watching frequent ads. Years passed as I continued to ignore YouTube Premium,…

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The best sci-fi show of the past decade isn’t on Netflix, HBO, or Disney+

We’re going through a golden age of sci-fi on TV, especially on Apple TV+, which feels like it’s run by the biggest dorks on the planet. They can’t stop debuting new sci-fi shows over there. Severance and Pluribus have both become cult hits, the bizarre sci-fi detective show Sugar is about to come back for its second season, and there are even sci-fi comedies like Murderbot turning heads. But none of them would be here if wasn’t for Apple’s first big sci-fi swing, a sprawling epic with feet planted firmly in the earth and eyes on the stars. The best…

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The Ferrari Luce and six other luxury EVs worth knowing about (and not a Tesla in sight)

The luxury EV market has become one of the most surprising and exciting areas in motoring. And while Tesla may have kickstarted the electric car revolution, the traditional automotive establishment has been busy building some of the most extraordinary electric cars ever made. This year feels like a tipping point, with Ferrari unveiling its first ever electric car, designed with Sir Jony Ive and Marc Newson, Rolls-Royce has refined its flagship electric super-coupé into something even more special, and Lucid is embarrassing hypercars with a saloon that hits 62mph in two seconds and still does over 400 miles on a…

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Apple CarPlay Ultra compatibility list: every car that has, and is getting, Apple’s next-gen UI

Apple CarPlay Ultra has been a long time coming. Announced years before it actually landed in a production car, it finally made its debut in 2025 – exclusively in Aston Martin vehicles. Frustratingly, that exclusivity still stands as of June 2026, but the commitment from other brands is growing, and if you’re shopping for a new car with an eye on the infotainment experience, this is an important list. Here’s everything you need to know… What is CarPlay Ultra, exactly? Think of it as CarPlay, but turned up to eleven. The original CarPlay was already transformative – it replaced your…

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Your 4K Blu-ray disc has HDR — but not all HDR is the same

When comparing DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD Blu-ray, the specification that stands out is the formats’ supported resolution. DVDs have a resolution of 480p in North America, which is firmly in the Standard Definition (SD) category. Blu-ray discs bump the resolution up to 1080p, while 4K UHD Blu-ray discs expectedly offer 4K, or 2160p, video. However, picture quality isn’t the only reason to invest in a 4K UHD Blu-ray media library. There are other perks, like lossless Dolby Atmos or HDR support. High Dynamic Range (HDR) provides a combination of 10-bit color, higher peak brightness ratings, and deeper black levels…

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