Streaming

Each and every month video provider Netflix issues a report on ISPs and makes no bones about who's good and who isn't. Honestly, the company has no choice -- its business rides on these speeds and it is not shy about reporting them.

September has been released, and there are some surprises and some not shocking disappointments. First, Verizon Fios flew to the top, averaging 3.17 MB per download. Not bad at all for the customers out there.

Wirelessly streaming content from a tablet or laptop to a TV is a really cool thing. I regularly use a Chromecast to watch and listen to media, but there is one problem -- it is limited in that it cannot function on its own. A device like the new Microsoft Wireless Display adapter may be a little more useful than a Chromecast, but ultimately, it cannot function on its own either.

It is for this reason that I prefer devices like Amazon's Fire TV and the Roku; they can operate without the need of a source device. Both media boxes are great, but today the latter is gaining new functionality. Roku announces that you can mirror the screen of both Windows and Android devices with Screen Mirroring Beta.

As someone who grew up in the '80s and '90s, I have seen pretty much every Adam Sandler movie. Besides loving his work on Saturday Night Live, I even remember him briefly being on the Cosby Show; one of the greatest sitcoms of all time. Sure, his movies can be stupid, and sometimes flat-out bad, but even his terrible films are funny. Critics universally panned his film Jack and Jill, but it is one of my favorites; Sandler dressed as a woman with fart-humor? I don't care who you are, that is funny right there.

As much as I love his films, I am not a fan of going to the movie theater to see them. I take seeing films seriously; even silly ones, and his films attract an immature crowd that interrupt the experience and ultimately ruin it. Movies are very expensive and I am not a fan of wasting money. Luckily, Netflix announces that it has signed a deal with Adam Sandler that will make it easy to avoid the theater; the streaming service will get 4 exclusive films. Yes, Netflix is partnering with one of Hollywood's biggest actors and cutting the movie theaters out of the equation; this may be an act of war.

Roku, the tiny set-top box, has been on a roll with new content lately. This time the company heads north for its latest score of new content, bringing Cineplex to its devices. The service will lend much new content to viewers in Canada.

If you aren't familiar, Cineplex is like many other streaming services. It allows customers to stream movies whenever they wish, much like Netflix or Amazon Prime.

When Apple acquired Beats Music earlier in the year, there were obvious fears that the service would shut down. While this type of rumor is often well-founded, it seems fears were misplaced on this occasion: Apple has no plans to shutter Beats Music. A company spokesperson made a statement to the Guardian making it clear that suggestions that the subscription music service is to close down are "not true". But could the brand end up being eaten by iTunes?

Beats Music has not been a runaway success. It has subscribers, but not all that many. With Apple's backing there is a chance that its popularity could increase, but it can be difficult to shake off the reputation of an old name -- Beats Music has singularly failed to reach the celebrated heights of Beats Electronic's headphones. Having spent $3 billion on Beats Music and Beats Electronic, it would be strange if Apple just gave up on a portion of its investment.

When I first learned about the HooToo it sounded, frankly, a bit nuts. Pitched as an "all-in-one device charger, AC adapter, personal cloud, travel router, Wi-Fi hotspot, and wireless bridge" I was instantly intrigued, but fearful that this was going to be a device that promised the world and delivered little. Was I setting my expectations too low? Before we look at things any further, it's probably worth spending a moment or two decoding what it actually is. One of its more basic functions is a rechargeable USB battery pack complete with two outputs. But there's more to the TripMate Elite. Much, much more.

The 3.2 x 3.2 x 1.0 inch (82 x 82 x 28mm) black box is home to a 6000mAH battery that's perfect for powering up a dead mobile or tablet on the move, but the 7oz (200g) package has plenty more tricks up its sleeve. As it's a portable battery pack, it's hardly surprising to find a couple of USB outputs, one kicking out 1A, the other 1/2.1A. Equally unsurprising -- but no less useful -- is the battery level checker on the adjacent side; tap the button and four blue LEDs let you know the charge level. But what's that next to the charge lights? Internet and LAN indicators? Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice.

Streaming media service Netflix is upping its game these days. Despite its woes with broadband providers, and the added expenses these have provided, the company continues to move forward on the innovation front. This time it’s the website getting an update.

The company has announced a new search experience, bringing what it hopes will be faster results and easier access to what you wish to watch.

Each month Netflix releases its "shame and blame" report, which covers the major US and Canadian ISP services. The streaming service is not kind, as it revealed problems on Comcast before giving in to demands to pay a fee to appease customers having issues.

The latest report has been issued and Comcast has risen in the ranking to a rather reasonable fourth place. However, the provider still lags behind rivals Cablevision, Cox and Suddenlink. But, it ranks above Verizon FiOS, Charter, AT&T and others. Verizon DSL finishes dead last, but that isn't a major surprise.

There are many video streaming services nowadays, such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Instant Video to name a few. Amazon is my favorite though, as it comes bundled with the awesome Prime membership which also offers music streaming, 2-day shipping and much more.

Sadly, Prime Instant Video has not been available on stock Android; you could only get it for the Kindle Fire tablets, Fire phone and Apple's iOS devices. Today however, Amazon announces that its streaming video service is now available for regular Android. Before you get too excited, please know there is a catch; it seems tablets are not yet supported -- weak!

Earlier this year I obtained both a Roku 3 and an Amazon Fire TV. I use both devices and find both work very well for any home theater enthusiast and media geek. But what separates the two products, aside from a name?

With extensive playing around with each product, I've discovered what does it for me. While the Roku 3 remote is simpler, and contains a headphone jack (handy for when family is asleep, and you don't want to disturb anyone) it doesn't really have a killer feature.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'll state the obvious. Broadband in the US is broken. In fact, it's a complete mess. Speeds lag behind multiple smaller nations and providers were granted monopolies in many cases, thanks to complaining about the expense of laying the copper. At best, most citizens have access to two carriers -- that's one more than many, including yours truly.

Competition doesn't exist, but the oft-maligned head of the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler, wishes to change that. While his net neutrality initiative has been met with staunch opposition, this latest move may win him a few fans.

My biggest hobby, other than tinkering with computers, is listening to music. As a young kid, I discovered my love for music by watching MTV in the 1980s. While I love all genres, I am truly a Hip-Hop fan. Say what youy want about rap music, but there is much knowledge in the lyrics. Sure, some of it is ignorant, but I have learned countless lessons from KRS-One, De La Soul and Common to name a few.

Unfortunately, the internet and piracy threatened the future of the music business. It was a perfect storm, as album prices were getting extremely high around the same time broadband connections became widely available. And so, people justified their theft by decrying the cost of CDs. While online music sales from places like iTunes were more reasonably priced, the damage was done -- album sales were forever doomed. Luckily, streaming services are here to save the day. Things like Beats Music and Google Play Music All Access offer unlimited music in exchange for paltry monthly fees; piracy simply is not worth the effort. As can be expected, these services are driving the final nail into the coffin of album sales...and that's a good thing.

While Windows Phone gets a lot of attention for what it doesn't have, the Microsoft mobile platform is slowly making progress. Now it is scoring a major win, and getting on par with rivals, as Spotify announces it will be going free for Windows Phones.

The new update means customers can now listen to their music without ponying up the monthly fee for a Premium account. The new free version is ad-supported, and customers can still choose to pay the monthly fee for Premium, and eliminate those ads -- and also get offline playlists, as well.

In the new online original content landscape, Amazon is not messing around, having announced several new comedy shows debuting this year. Now the streaming video service arm of the retailer is greenlighting new pilots of kids shows as well, though these aren't the first to hit Prime.

In all, five new pilots were announced, though this means little about which will survive, as Amazon allows the viewers to vote. The winners gain a full season production run. The losers simply go away after one episode.

Rdio, one of the top streaming music services, and SoundHound, an ace at recognizing what music you're listening to, are teaming up to bring better integration to customers. The two companies are announcing a new agreement that will bring them together in a unique way, allowing customers to utilize the two in tandem.

Beginning now, the latest SoundHound update will begin placing tagged songs into a playlist titled, appropriately enough, "Soundhound". This playlist will be accessible from within your Rdio account. The new service is named "Connect to Rdio".