NFL streaming, but not to streaming devices

Reports of the new NFL Plus streaming package don't seem to do much for streamers.

NFL fans (and I know there are lots of you out there) that are also streamers (and I know there are more and more of you out there) don't really gain anything from this announcement.

The service will allow fans to watch in-market games on mobile devices. It will not be available for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, or Android/Google TV.

This is different from NFL Sunday Ticket, as that's for out of market games, and is carried only on DirecTV, the satellite service. Sports Business Journal says he price is cheap, as $5/month.

Live games on mobile phones and tablets will be the content centerpiece of NFL Plus, which will sell for about $5 monthly, though a source cautioned the pricing structure may change. It will likely include other content as well; possibilities include radio, podcasts and miscellaneous team-created content.

The live mobile/tablet games will be limited to what fans could otherwise see in their local TV markets. Until this year, those games were distributed to tablets and laptops via Yahoo and on mobile phones through major carriers, deals that have since expired.

No TV streaming, which to me means that it's not for streamers.

Will this change? Yeah, probably. One day. In the future. Maybe I'll live long enough to see it. Or not. I'm not holding out any hope.

The NFL isn't a part of my Streaming Life, as I don't watch their games, but it is important to a number of sports fans. And more and more of those are streamers. It would be great if the NFL recognized that.

Memorial Day (2022)

I am oppressed with a sense of the impropriety of uttering works on this occasion. If silence is ever golden, it must be here beside the graves of fifteen thousand men, whose lives were more significant than speech, and whose death was a poem, the music of which can never be sung. With words we make promises, plight faith, praise virtue. Promises may not be kept; plighted faith may be broken; and vaunted virtue be only the cunning mask of vice. We do not know one promise these men made, one pledge they gave, one word they spoke; but we do know they summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue. For the noblest man that lives, there still remains a conflict. He must still withstand the assaults of time and fortune, must still be assailed with temptations, before which lofty natures have fallen; but with these the conflict ended, the victory was won, when death stamped on them the great seal of heroic character, and closed a record which years can never blot.

Excerpt from the first Memorial Day proclamation, May 30, 1968, by President James A. Garfield.

Linux is still on the radar, but no closer

I mentioned as recently as last weekend that my plans to spend time working with Linux have gone slowly. They've gone slower since then.

For one thing, I needed to focus on a new TV. And I ordered a new TV and am installing it this weekend. I didn't install it the day it arrived because another issue arose. An issue with either my phone or Google app on my phone caused me to no longer be able to control my network as I like. Additionally, smart control of lights, air conditioners, and such are not not working on all devices.

After a few attempts to resolve that had the opposite effect, I decided that since I needed to disconnect a lot of stuff to hook up the new TV, I would reconfigure my network. It's a nightmare of switches and cables as it has grown over the years with stuff being added and removed. So, by taking the old TV down, I've had access to everything. And this is a good time to re-do it all in a much nicer and more organized fashion. You can't do that while tinkering with setting up a Linux device.

I'm actually setting up two. One is already set up: a Raspberry Pi. The goal is for that to be a Plex Media Server. It's been set up and running basic Raspberry Pi OS (nee Raspbian) for a bit. I has installed Plex Media Server, but haven't added an expansion disk (will need over 10 TB) yet. Once I do that, I'll be able to copy the content over and try that as my server for a bit. Whether its feasible long term, I don't know. I know I'll need another computer to prepare content for moving into Plex, as the Raspberry Pi can't really handle that. So it's sitting by, just chugging along, 

I actually looked in on the Raspberry Pi this weekend. It's been running through a KVM switch with my other project devices. It's sitting there quietly, awaiting my doing something. And letting me about updates that are available. So I updated and left it sitting there, awaiting the day it gets my full attention.

But my new Linux project is actually converting an older Windows PC to run Linux, as well as converting a older MacBook Pro to run Linux. And no progress there, either. I had hoped to get the desktop set up, but the TV and network re-work takes precedence.

This weekend hasn't been the day to start my Linux desktop, even though I have the new SSD drive I'll set up as the boot device. It's just awaiting me actually doing it, as all the parts are in. But, as I said, it had to wait. My new TV and my Streaming Life take precedence for now.

Never read the comments, or trolling the trolls

The old adage in online blogging and social media is "never read the comments." That's because that's where the trolls and jackasses hang out. Not everyone there, to be sure, but it sure attracts them.

I don't have that problem. I do get the occasional spam comment, but the overall commenting process here doesn't lend itself to trolls. I mean, sure, some can drop by and be total jerks, but that really doesn't happen. I require authentication to comment, meaning a commenter must have a Google account, or some other authentication measure that Google accepts in order to comment.

Why does that make a difference?

What happened to all the Fox News app complaints?

As you may know -- and if you didn't, you do now -- I frequent the Roku Community Forum and will occasionally offer help to those with issues, user to user.

One app that always received a lot of complaints was the Fox News app. No, I'm not talking about some lefty complaining that it exists -- that has happened because awful people gonna awful -- but users of the app complaining that it didn't work. Mainly, it logged them out constantly and they had to log in again and again.

To be fair, I never used the app. I don't watch Fox News. I also don't watch MSNBC, ABC News, CNN, CBS News, or any of the other talking head services. I use other news sources and news aggregators, plus some subscription services, to stay abreast of things. Streaming talking head apps aren't how I do it, whether from the left or right.

But, the app has generated lots of complaints over the years, mostly because of it never working correctly. Sometimes, I wonder if it's someone not understanding how the app works. That's an offshoot of the people who think a Roku is a magic box that gets you all the TV ever for free. It's not. And the Fox News app isn't a full Fox News source, live and free 24/7. It's an app that will get you access to some content that you may have to pay for.

Anyway, since early April, the complaints have died down. I don't know why that would be the case, but if Fox did fix the issues with their app, or change the interface to make it easier to use, then great. And it's about time.

I still won't watch it. Nor the other talking head channels. My Steaming Life is good. I don't need excitable people in suits to mess with that.