Author: Press Room

Here is a fact cable companies would rather you not think about: a surprising number of live sports are still completely free to watch. Not a trial, not a temporary promo, and not a subscription you need to remember to cancel. It’s easy to see why people assume otherwise. Sports rights are one of the biggest battlegrounds in streaming, with companies spending billions to lock up NFL games, NBA playoffs, and MLB rights. All that noise makes it feel like access to live sports costs money by default. But broadcast TV never went away, free streaming apps have picked up…

VLC and the stock Windows players were built for a different era, and they show that the moment you throw something genuinely heavy at them. Instead, there are plenty of alternatives that don’t get enough attention. The most popular choices only sound good in theory, but you may like MPV more than VLC because it works better than you’d think. Related I ditched VLC and finally got high-quality HDR playback without any lag HDR finally works — no thanks to VLC. Get MPV, not VLC There’s no installer wizard and no media library Jorge Aguilar / MakeUseOf VLC was built…

I spent a long time thinking my TV was mediocre. Movies looked flat and cheap, as if I were watching behind-the-scenes footage. Action scenes looked off. The picture and colors were fine, but the motion always felt wrong. A friend finally identified the issue: motion smoothing. My Roku, which I use to access all sorts of programming, had it enabled by default, making everything look like amateur video. Turning it off took 30 seconds. I wish I had known sooner. Related Roku’s new home screen promises less clutter, but I’m not convinced Promotional content is still everywhere What motion smoothing…

I live in a household split between the Apple and Google ecosystems, and that should make casting and screen mirroring difficult. The reality is much different, as AirPlay and Google Cast are robust and widely supported by streaming apps, streaming boxes, and TVs. Chances are, a streamer or TV you already have in your home supports AirPlay, Google Cast, or both. Android users can mirror their screen on a TV or display using only Google Cast. The feature is built right into the Android 16 operating system, and no third-party apps are required. Instead of paying for a USB-C to…

Smart homes are becoming more and more popular, as people outfit their houses with sensors and systems that give them more control over lighting, temperature, security, and more. Most of it is pretty innocent, like putting a sensor in your mailbox that lets you know when a new letter arrives. But what will smart homes look like in 10 years? How much will AI be integrated? Will we have robot assistants? And if they do, will those robot assistants become homicidal and try to take your family hostage? Okay, it’s unlikely many people are thinking about that last one, but…

The MacBook Pro has long been one of the best laptops money can buy, but that hasn’t stopped the tech world from salivating over rumours of an upcoming touchscreen OLED Apple MacBook Ultra. Based on leaks and rumours courtesy of reports from the likes of Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Omdia, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, and a growing number of supply-chain news, here’s everything we know about the Apple MacBook Ultra so far. Oh, and a quick disclaimer: all the images in this feature are of the current MacBook Pro, given that the MacBook Ultra doesn’t technically officially exist yet… MacBook Ultra: price…

I’m a fan of LED masks. I’ve been using them for two years and feel my skin has improved so much – I very rarely get spots and my complexion is better than it was. At 44 years old with no botox, fillers etc., I feel the therapy is doing a good job of combating pesky wrinkles and promoting collagen production (but I do also take supplements for this). I was converted via the excellent Therabody TheraFace Mask, which even faded a scar I had under my eye, in just a few weeks. I’ve mainly used the Shark CryoGlow Mask…

For too long, I treated all music players pretty much the same. Whether I was listening through Spotify, Apple Music, or another desktop app like VLC, the software seemed like a minor detail compared to the headphones, speakers, or music format. I prioritized usability and familiarity, but I didn’t pay enough attention to what was happening behind the scenes. All that changed when I started producing my own music, and it became essential to hear exactly what my music sounded like during the mixing and mastering process. While researching tools that audiophiles use, one name kept appearing in forums, reviews,…

The biggest shows on Netflix are so big that you can probably name at least a few of them even if you’ve never watched them: stuff like Stranger Things, Squid Game, and Bridgerton. But there are other series that fly more under the radar. That includes 3 Body Problem, which just happens to be the smartest sci-fi show on Netflix right now. Netflix ran the first, intriguing season of 3 Body Problem back in 2024, which means fans have been waiting a while to see more. Now the show is barreling towards an ending and it feels like no one…

Poor Siri. While ChatGPT, Gemini, and seemingly every AI startup on the planet have spent the last few years showing off increasingly impressive tricks, Apple’s voice assistant has largely remained the same iPhone and iPad tool many of us have been using for the better part of a decade.  Sure, it could set timers, start playlists, send messages, and occasionally answer a question or two, but nobody was seriously putting Siri in the same conversation as modern AI assistants. That became a problem for Apple. And the answer, it turns out, wasn’t a mere feature patch. Instead, Apple has spent…