Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Thursday, so it means it's time for tech talk.
I could do it with my mouth if you'd like.
It's time for tech talk. Mark Saltzman joins us. Mark,
of course, is the host of the techt Out podcast Machines.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Are Getting Smarter. This is tech talk. There you go
to you my sky net are Hey, is it someone's
birthday today? It is? Hey, happy twenty ninth dear.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Oh, thank you Mark, you remembered.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yes, of course.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Hey, we've we all spend probably way too much money
on streaming services because we lose track of which accounts
we have and which ones we signed up for, or
we signed up for the free and then didn't cancel
when they started charging us. How do we how do
we trim back some of our streaming costs?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Right? Well, ironically, cord cutters were looking to save money
a couple of years ago by canceling their cable and
signing up for streaming services. But now it can cost
you more for streaming services. There's so many, and you
know that they keep going up in price or they
want more money to get rid of ads. So yeah,
I wrote an article on five things you can do
(01:20):
to lower your costs with streaming services. Some are kind
of no brainers, others might be a little hack if
you will. The first thing is to consider a lower tier.
For example, Netflix Premium is as much as twenty five
dollars now, and that lets you watch in four K
quality and on multiple devices and all that kind of stuff.
But for seven ninety nine, so less than a third
(01:43):
of that, you can go with what's called the standard
with ads plan if you really don't mind ads here
and there. They're shorter and less frequent than cable TV ads,
but there's ads nonetheless, But for under eight bucks a month,
you may opt for that, and that's most of the
same content as well, including games if you like those
(02:03):
Netflix games, which are getting kind of popular. So yeah,
just consider a lower tier or a service that charges less. Generally,
Apple TV, which I think has really high quality content,
may not have the selection of a Netflix or Amazon
Prime Video, but really good quality. That's like under ten
bucks a month, and that's with no ads, so you know,
(02:24):
maybe be a bit selective. The second thing is to
take advantage of any promos or bundles that you may
hear about with your mobile carrier. I know T Mobile
offers some discounts on services like Apple TV, Door Dash
I think with their Dash pass plan, which is like
an annual thing, they'llt a for Hbo Max for you,
(02:44):
which is good. So just do your homework. Just go
online and look for any deals or ask the company
like your bank, your mobile phone provider if they offer
any discounts or freebs with streaming services. Chances are they do.
There's some really good ones out there. Another one is
so generally, if you really like a service, when you
(03:05):
pay annually, you do save compared to paying monthly. But
why not pay by month binge what you want to watch, Like,
make a list and binge that and then cancel it
after a month or even okay, even if it's two months,
it's still going to be less than a year. If
you're finding that you're not watching anything on I don't know,
(03:26):
Disney Plus, for example, then maybe it's time to cut
that as well and just go month by month. And
on that note, another tip is to split the service
with your good friends, like maybe you will subscribe to
Netflix and your best stee will go with Apple TV
and just go to each other's home. You know, sharing
is scaring and just binge things together on somebody else's account.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yes, you're watching more watching the same stuff anyway.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yeah, yeah, right, it's fun. There's ways you can do
it remotely, but I think it's more fun to just
you know, cut along a couch with a bowl of
popcorn and take advantage of each other's service. You both
don't need it, if you if you think about it, right,
if you're willing to share with a good friend or
a partner that doesn't live with it.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Gary, this is this is why I keep trying to.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
You guys should do it.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Hancel my subscriptions, and then we can watch TV together
all afternoon, every.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Afternoon, because that's that's exactly what you want to do
after spending all day together.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
It's an all night.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Together, right, Okay. The last tip is as the no brainer,
which is consider free services like Pluto TV to be
You're not going to get like the best the latest
Hollywood blockbusters or the TV shows that everybody's buzzing about
at the office water cooler, but there's a lot of
good content. Pluto TV has not just on demand shows
(04:49):
and movies, but live channels with an on screen guide.
There's even like for for those of my age, unlike Shannon.
They're even like there's classic TV channels like the Three's
Company Channel, right like it's it's great, like these retro
shows the Mass Channel and it just plays live TV
one episode after another with ads, but freeze free. So
(05:12):
those are a few suggestions.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Yeah, that was the one complaint I have.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
We have Hulu, I believe, with commercials, and as I'm
trying to make my way through the Bear, this season
of The Bear got to stop every five or ten
minutes and listen. I know kids these days don't know
what commercials are, but that's what commercials are, and you
gotta you know, you mute it or whatever. You can't
fast forward it. It's just it's one of the annoyances
(05:37):
that I thought we were pasted in this world of technology.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
It is annoying. There is a no ads option that
costs more. Same with me. I was watching, so I
to me, a no brainer is Amazon Prime, which is
the service that gives you free shipping on millions of items,
you know, all the things that you get for Amazon Prime.
But with Amazon Prime Video, they started adding ads again.
So now they're like, well, if you pay an extra
three bucks a month, we'll remove the ads. But I
(06:00):
still find they are less frequent but annoying nonetheless because
you are paying for that streaming service. But yeah, there
are options for no ads. But you just got to
cough up a bit more.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Well what are you going to do to celebrate our
Independence Day?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Well, we had ours July versus Canada Day, so we
already did that earlier. I'm just going to enjoy a
much quieter inbox because most of my work is us facing.
If you will, Oh, I wanted to just give a
quick shout out Gary. You may remember last week you
allowed me to plug a contest for my tech it
(06:37):
Out Podcasters episode four hundred. The winner, by the way,
is a KFI fan. Oh great. It was a randomly
named out of one hundred and forty three entries. Her
name is Janelle Bautista and she's in is it Tustin,
Orange County? Tustin? Is that my saying it right? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
She was randomly chosen by I use this website calculator
net It's got a random number generator. She won this
Asus laptop for being just for listening to the show.
But she did give you guys a plug in her
I think it was an Instagram tag. People just had
to use the hashtag tech it out. So congratsitude Janelle.
(07:17):
She's listening right now.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Oh that's awesome, and thanks for giving that away.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
It was July first, eighteen sixty seven that Canada became
a country. It was in eighteen sixty seven that four
of Great Britain's North American colonies joined together as a
new country. Mark, how do you celebrate Canada Day?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
It's similar to you guys. We have fireworks and you know,
cookouts or barbecues. We just it was kind of low
key for us this year. We went to a friend's
place for a swim in a hot tub and just
a couple of drinks and yeah, just grilling up some food.
So it's similar, yeah, similar to what you guys do.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
You didn't go to Ottawa to go to Parliament Hill.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I did not. I did not go to Ottawa with
Ryan Reynolds and Mike Myers and uh yeah, I have
some poutine if you know what that is. Yeah, you
know what it's. Yeah, fries with the cheese curds and gravy.
Uh No, we did not go to Ottawa. But it's
only a three four hour drive from where I live actually,
(08:20):
so not so far well.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Thanks Happy Canada, Happy late Canada.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Today, Thank you, and happy fourth in July to you
and your listeners.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Mark, thank you, It was always Mark Saltzman. Make sure
you follow Mark on Twitter or x M a r C.
Underscore Saltsman. Mark Saltzman great for checking out podcast, of course,
and the great tech tips that he throws up on there.
It's Thursday, so it means it's time for tech talk.
I could do it with my mouth if you'd like.
It's time for tech talk. Mark Saltzman joins us. Mark,
of course, is the host of the techt Out podcast Machines.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Are Getting Smarter. This is tech talk. There you go
to you my sky net are Hey, is it someone's
birthday today? It is? Hey, happy twenty ninth dear.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Oh, thank you Mark, you remembered.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yes, of course.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Hey, we've we all spend probably way too much money
on streaming services because we lose track of which accounts
we have and which ones we signed up for, or
we signed up for the free and then didn't cancel
when they started charging us. How do we how do
we trim back some of our streaming costs?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Right? Well, ironically, cord cutters were looking to save money
a couple of years ago by canceling their cable and
signing up for streaming services. But now it can cost
you more for streaming services. There's so many, and you
know that they keep going up in price or they
want more money to get rid of ads. So yeah,
I wrote an article on five things you can do
(01:20):
to lower your costs with streaming services. Some are kind
of no brainers, others might be a little hack if
you will. The first thing is to consider a lower tier.
For example, Netflix Premium is as much as twenty five
dollars now, and that lets you watch in four K
quality and on multiple devices and all that kind of stuff.
But for seven ninety nine, so less than a third
(01:43):
of that, you can go with what's called the standard
with ads plan if you really don't mind ads here
and there. They're shorter and less frequent than cable TV ads,
but there's ads nonetheless, But for under eight bucks a month,
you may opt for that, and that's most of the
same content as well, including games if you like those
(02:03):
Netflix games, which are getting kind of popular. So yeah,
just consider a lower tier or a service that charges less. Generally,
Apple TV, which I think has really high quality content,
may not have the selection of a Netflix or Amazon
Prime Video, but really good quality. That's like under ten
bucks a month, and that's with no ads, so you know,
(02:24):
maybe be a bit selective. The second thing is to
take advantage of any promos or bundles that you may
hear about with your mobile carrier. I know T Mobile
offers some discounts on services like Apple TV, Door Dash
I think with their Dash pass plan, which is like
an annual thing, they'llt a for Hbo Max for you,
(02:44):
which is good. So just do your homework. Just go
online and look for any deals or ask the company
like your bank, your mobile phone provider if they offer
any discounts or freebs with streaming services. Chances are they do.
There's some really good ones out there. Another one is
so generally, if you really like a service, when you
(03:05):
pay annually, you do save compared to paying monthly. But
why not pay by month binge what you want to watch, Like,
make a list and binge that and then cancel it
after a month or even okay, even if it's two months,
it's still going to be less than a year. If
you're finding that you're not watching anything on I don't know,
(03:26):
Disney Plus, for example, then maybe it's time to cut
that as well and just go month by month. And
on that note, another tip is to split the service
with your good friends, like maybe you will subscribe to
Netflix and your best stee will go with Apple TV
and just go to each other's home. You know, sharing
is scaring and just binge things together on somebody else's account.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yes, you're watching more watching the same stuff anyway.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yeah, yeah, right, it's fun. There's ways you can do
it remotely, but I think it's more fun to just
you know, cut along a couch with a bowl of
popcorn and take advantage of each other's service. You both
don't need it, if you if you think about it, right,
if you're willing to share with a good friend or
a partner that doesn't live with it.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Gary, this is this is why I keep trying to.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
You guys should do it.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Hancel my subscriptions, and then we can watch TV together
all afternoon, every.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Afternoon, because that's that's exactly what you want to do
after spending all day together.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
It's an all night.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Together, right, Okay. The last tip is as the no brainer,
which is consider free services like Pluto TV to be
You're not going to get like the best the latest
Hollywood blockbusters or the TV shows that everybody's buzzing about
at the office water cooler, but there's a lot of
good content. Pluto TV has not just on demand shows
(04:49):
and movies, but live channels with an on screen guide.
There's even like for for those of my age, unlike Shannon.
They're even like there's classic TV channels like the Three's
Company Channel, right like it's it's great, like these retro
shows the Mass Channel and it just plays live TV
one episode after another with ads, but freeze free. So
(05:12):
those are a few suggestions.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Yeah, that was the one complaint I have.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
We have Hulu, I believe, with commercials, and as I'm
trying to make my way through the Bear, this season
of The Bear got to stop every five or ten
minutes and listen. I know kids these days don't know
what commercials are, but that's what commercials are, and you
gotta you know, you mute it or whatever. You can't
fast forward it. It's just it's one of the annoyances
(05:37):
that I thought we were pasted in this world of technology.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
It is annoying. There is a no ads option that
costs more. Same with me. I was watching, so I
to me, a no brainer is Amazon Prime, which is
the service that gives you free shipping on millions of items,
you know, all the things that you get for Amazon Prime.
But with Amazon Prime Video, they started adding ads again.
So now they're like, well, if you pay an extra
three bucks a month, we'll remove the ads. But I
(06:00):
still find they are less frequent but annoying nonetheless because
you are paying for that streaming service. But yeah, there
are options for no ads. But you just got to
cough up a bit more.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Well what are you going to do to celebrate our
Independence Day?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Well, we had ours July versus Canada Day, so we
already did that earlier. I'm just going to enjoy a
much quieter inbox because most of my work is us facing.
If you will, Oh, I wanted to just give a
quick shout out Gary. You may remember last week you
allowed me to plug a contest for my tech it
(06:37):
Out Podcasters episode four hundred. The winner, by the way,
is a KFI fan. Oh great. It was a randomly
named out of one hundred and forty three entries. Her
name is Janelle Bautista and she's in is it Tustin,
Orange County? Tustin? Is that my saying it right? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
She was randomly chosen by I use this website calculator
net It's got a random number generator. She won this
Asus laptop for being just for listening to the show.
But she did give you guys a plug in her
I think it was an Instagram tag. People just had
to use the hashtag tech it out. So congratsitude Janelle.
(07:17):
She's listening right now.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Oh that's awesome, and thanks for giving that away.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
It was July first, eighteen sixty seven that Canada became
a country. It was in eighteen sixty seven that four
of Great Britain's North American colonies joined together as a
new country. Mark, how do you celebrate Canada Day?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
It's similar to you guys. We have fireworks and you know,
cookouts or barbecues. We just it was kind of low
key for us this year. We went to a friend's
place for a swim in a hot tub and just
a couple of drinks and yeah, just grilling up some food.
So it's similar, yeah, similar to what you guys do.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
You didn't go to Ottawa to go to Parliament Hill.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I did not. I did not go to Ottawa with
Ryan Reynolds and Mike Myers and uh yeah, I have
some poutine if you know what that is. Yeah, you
know what it's. Yeah, fries with the cheese curds and gravy.
Uh No, we did not go to Ottawa. But it's
only a three four hour drive from where I live actually,
(08:20):
so not so far well.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Thanks Happy Canada, Happy late Canada.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Today, Thank you, and happy fourth in July to you
and your listeners.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Mark, thank you, It was always Mark Saltzman. Make sure
you follow Mark on Twitter or x M a r C.
Underscore Saltsman. Mark Saltzman great for checking out podcast, of course,
and the great tech tips that he throws up on there.
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