Playstation Vue Alternative

Good Alternatives solutions now that Playstation Vue is gone

Starting February 1st, Playstation has discontinued using the Playstion Vue Live TV service. In a recent blog post, John Kodera, Deputy President, SIE said the following:

This is the first Live TV Streaming Service to be canceled. Which leads to viewers that have cut the cord to scramble to find an alternative solution to replace the service.

Comparitech Has a Solution

In November 2019, Mark Gill, wrote an article that provides practical alternative solutions to PlayStation Vue. It's well written and has an unbiased look at all of the available solutions.

https://comparite.ch/playstation-vue-alternatives

Five Key Take-a-Ways

• The article goes over 12-alternatives - yes really there's that many viable alternatives available!
• There is no "go-to" solution. As none of the alternatives offer the exact same channel line up as Playstation Vue. You'll have to figure out what stations are important to your needs.
• You get screen shots of each service.
• THe article talks about VPN solutions to get around geographic restrictions. There's different VPN solutions for each alternative solution.
• The article doesn't end with the solution to buy. It's up to you, the reader, to find the one that works best for you.

Great Read

THe nice thing about the article

I highly recommend reading this as a lot of work was done in putting together the report and it is very well researched.

Great Popcorn

Finding the best popcorn in the Boston area

Many people know that I love popcorn. Good popcorn is hard to find.

This weekend I had the opportunity to try popcorn at 2-venues: AMC Theater in Framingham and Roller Kingdom in Hudson, Massachusetts.

AMC Theater in Framingham

We went to the dine-in section and saw the 8 pm showing of "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker." It was a sold-out showing - which was a surprise for a movie that has been out for a month.

I ordered the large bucket of popcorn moments before the movie started. By chance, the people next to me ordered 2 large buckets. This means that they would probably have to make a fresh batch of popcorn. (Given the late hour and demand.)

The popcorn was good. It was nice and warm too, which is a nice surprise. It wasn't warm like it was under a heat lamp, no it was warm because it was freshly cooked. I liked the popcorn - and it was hard not to eat it all as I wanted to save some for my daughter.

The popcorn didn't come with any butter/flavoring which might have made it better.

Total cost: $9.50 - a lot of money for popcorn.

Roller Kingdom

Ok, I get it. Not everybody goes to a roller-skating rink to eat popcorn. They are there to have fun on the rink and do whatever it takes to not fall down.

The popcorn is really good here. They cook it just long enough so that it's nice and crispy. In addition, they add the right amount of salt. You get a nice popcorn crunch in every bite.

Total Cost $2 for a box or $4 for a bowl (The bowl is worth it!) The bowl is about 1/2 the amount of popcorn in an AMC Popcorn tub.

I would recommend going to the Roller Kingdom than going to AMC - if you want good popcorn.

Your Google Search is Your Blog Topic ideas

How to Come up With Blog Ideas

For Bloggers, it can be tricky to come up with quality content. What should you write about today? What information would appeal to the largest possible audience.

There are plenty of websites that can give you ideas on what to post. 189 Blog Topic Ideas is one of many.

Google Can Help

One source of content is to look at your personal Google Searches. Look for various queries around a topic.

I have found that it takes a couple of Google searches to really find the solution to my question. Well, what if you wrote a blog post around the main topic with references to your other queries. This way your Blog post would show up when other people are searching for similar topics.

Getting Your Google Search Queries

Your Google Search History is kept in your personal "Google My Activity" section of your account.

• Go to Google My Activity
• Search for a topic that you search for in the past, for example, Golf Shot
• Then scroll down to see the various search terms that you used.
• You can filter by Product: Search. To only find the items that you were searching for.

Scotch Heavy Duty Shipping Package Tape

Scotch Heavy Duty Shipping Package Tape pricing in December

Here's the Scotch Tape follow up from my October post.

My task was to see how the Scotch prices were ten days before Christmas - usually when the busy personal package shipping starts. The theory is that it would be more expensive than most times of the year.

Current Price

I checked Amazon for the same Scotch Heavy Duty Shipping Package Tape that I posted back in October and the price is now $9.42. Which means the price is now $.72 more than in October.

Camel Camel Camel

According to Camel Camel Camel, a popular Amazon price tracking site, the lowest price that the "Scotch Heavy Duty Shipping Package Tape" ever got was in September when it got to $8.30.

The most expensive time to buy the tape is the last week of August - when some people are heading off to college. At that time the price skyrockets to $16.62.

Not Cheaper on eBay

I checked eBay and it looks to be a lot more expensive. You'll be paying $10.98 to $13.40 for the same pack of Shipping Package Tape.

Phantom Phone Calls

Why are some people getting these calls

Do you have a 800 number?

Chances are you gotten some strange phone calls. Such as running water or someone in a crowd. Here are a couple of samples of calls that were left in my voicemail.

These may sound like someone "butt-dialed" your number, but in fact, there's a bit of history behind these calls. If you listen carefully they are actually looped 30-seconds clips.

Reply-All Podcast

The folks over Reply-All did some investigation into these calls and discovered some very interesting information about these calls and why someone is making them.

Check out this /reply-all/ podcast: #140 The Case of the Phantom Calls. They do a great job in covering these phantom calls

Outlet Safety Caps

Protect your outdoor plugs

It's that time of the year, when people are putting up Christmas lights outside. It's time to make your house the shining star of the neighborhood.

Local stores garden area are now filled with all sorts of outdoor holiday options.

It's time to put up the lights.

Don't let the rain go in the open plugs.

Protect your Outlets

One of the worst things that can happen to outdoor lights is when rainwater gets in the plugs.

We protect our plugs with Outlet Plug Covers.

These are designed to protect exposed outlets from children, but they also work well for keeping the open outlets from rain and snow.

They last very well in the icy cold conditions. They are cheap - You can get a 32-pack on Amazon.

Where to Find them

You won't find them in the holiday lights section. They are usually located in the electric section or in the Child safety isle.

Get It!

Definitely worth the investment to protect the exposed plug from mother nature.

Hulu Price Increase

Hulu is still cheaper than Cable

This week Hulu announced a price increase for all customers. This is a big deal since a previous increase only impacted new customers.

What this Means

Hulu will increase the price of its Hulu with Live TV service by 20 percent on December 18th, setting the new subscription rate at $54.99 a month, up from $44.99.

Both new and existing customers will be affected by the increase. New subscribers as of December 18th will be served the $55-a-month price tag while existing subscribers will see the changes in their following bill cycle.

Why a Hulu is Still a Good Always Investment

1. Still Cheaper than Cable - Ya, Comcast is still way more expensive. If your cutting cable, you won't miss most of your live shows!
2. DVR Capabilities is great - Thanks to Hulu, I am catching up to watching classic Adam-12 shows. Simply search for the shows you like and add them to your favorite. Hulu will record the shows and let you watch them on your own time.
3. Lots of Good Live Options. - You can see a lot more Live TV than using a stand-alone antenna. (Sorry NESN is still not on the network - yet!) Plus with DVR you won't miss local news shows if your not at home - very convenient for those times when I want to know more about a local story and working late.

Still Going Strong for US!

We have been using Hulu since February 2018. We have been very satisfied with using Hulu. We have the "Enhanced Cloud DVR" which gives us 200 hours of DVR time and Stream recordings to unlimited devices.

Stream recordings work great when working out. I can set the shows that I want to see and don't have to worry about the limited selection at the gym. (Most Gyms offer Free WiFi)

Thought to live by

Some words of wisdom from Dr. Howard Conley

I found this piece of advice in my Evernote notebook. I am not exactly sure where I found it - I couldn't find another site online that had this.

The title of this story is "Thought to live by "

And then he shared some ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

• Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.
• Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
• Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
• Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
• If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague
• If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
• It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
• Never buy a car you can't push.
• Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
• Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.
• The second mouse gets the cheese.
• When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
• Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
• You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.
• Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
• We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.
• A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Scotch Shipping Tape

Good time to buy Scotch Shipping Tape

In December 2018, I blogged about remembering things to buy before the Christmas season started. (Check out the Blog post)

One of the items was to buy some packaging tape in October - while it's cheap. According to the blog post, the Scotch Heavy Duty Shipping Package Tape was $9.09. Today that same tape is $8.70.

Stock up on Scotch Shipping Tape over on Amazon.com.

Not a Huge Savings - But Still

Not a huge saving, but who knows what the price will be in a few months when demand will be high.

I checked over at Target and they have Target brand Shipping Tape single packs for $2.99.

Meanwhile, over at Walmart, it's $2.97 for a single pack.

Camel Camel Camel

The CamelCamelCamel is a great Amazon.com price tracker. According to the tracking page, the most expensive time to buy Scotch Heavy Duty Shipping Packaging Tape, 2 x 800 was at the end of July when it reached $16.62!

The $9.09 price point is one of the lowest price points. Seems the cheapest was on September 25th.

Checking it again in December 15

I'll check the prices in December to see how much they have gone up. This year the busiest shipping day of the year will be December 16. It will be interesting to see how the prices change since then.

Massachusetts Medical Leave Act

Massachusetts Residents will take a pay cut

Beginning in January of 2021 most workers in Massachusetts will be eligible to get up to 12 weeks of paid family leave and up to 20 weeks of paid medical leave.

To get this to work a new payroll tax will be applied to all workers in Massachusetts, it's the Massachusetts Paid Family Leave (PFMLA). This is helping contribute to the Massachusetts Paid Family Leave Fund - which is what people will tap into when they need to take a leave of absence.

How Much will be Contributed to the Fund

Employers may deduct up to 40 percent of the total medical leave contribution from a covered individual???s wages and 100 percent of the total family leave contribution.

The contribution rate was 0.63 percent on the first $132,900 of an individual???s annual earnings (the maximum taxable earnings as established by the Social Security Administration). This means that if you make $100,000 you'll be contributing $6,300 annually.

Learn More

You can learn more about the Massachusetts Paid Family Leave Act from the official website.

Need more information? Read the Official Law:2018 Act - Chapter 121.