Pi Hole testing, part 2

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had set up and was running Pi Hole, a DNS service that is often used to block ads. I also mentioned that I didn't want it to block ads, but rather, to block tracking of online activity.

I'm not doing anything that I would be ashamed for my kids to know about, but rather I don't like being tracked and the data being sold and used to target me for ads and emails.

During the initial setup, the default blacklist included information for ad services as well as trackers. I also used a Raspberry Pi device that was actually overkill for the job. I used a Pi 4 B with 8 GB RAM. That's more that is needed to do the job. However, a Raspberry Pi 2 that I had ordered arrived last week, and I set it up. I used Raspberry Pi OS Lite (formerly Raspian), which is a command line version of the OS. There is no desktop interface, and everything is command line. I added a USB connected Ethernet port and set a status IP address. I added Pi Hole service, and added the scripts. This was essentially my re-doing step one of the three step process on this project:

Blocking trackers is actually functionality that is built in to many Web browsers. However, I'm looking for a network wide solution to blocking trackers. That's where Pi Hole comes in.

It's a multiple stage process I'm going through. First, I want to see how easy it is to set up and run in general.

Next, I am researching how to block trackers on the network without impacting ad services....

Then, I want to confirm how well the process works on the network.

I'm at stage two, where I'm trying to block trackers without impacting ad services. I've turned off all of the ad blocking scripts. However, some ads are still blocked. That's because some ads also track your usage. Ads that don't track usage aren't getting blocked, but ads that do track usage do get blocked. This is more in line with what I've been looking to do. As I said, I don't mind ads. I do mind my online activity being tracked and sold.

It's been right at a week now that I turned off the ad blockers and are using only tracker and malicious Website blocking lists. That freed up 135,885 URLs (yes, I counted them). I'm feeling a lot better now knowing that I'm only blocking trackers and am letting regular ads through.

Actually, some of those are trackers and are in other lists, so I didn't actually free up 135,000 URLs, but I did free up a lot. If a Website or service has ads and the ads don't track my usage, then I'll see the ads, and I'm okay with that.

I understand why others use Pi Hole to block ads. And if you fall into that category, that's your decision, just as how I'm doing things is mine. My online experience and Streaming Life need to work as I want them to work for me, just as you should have yours work as you want.

Watching college football games this weekend: Week 1, Weekend 1

College football kicks off this weekend, and fans such as me have been waiting for this since January.

This season, if you've cut the cord, you'll be wanting to find ways to stream the games, or otherwise watch the games without cable. And ever since 2015, when Sling TV launched, it's been possible to watch nearly any major college football (Division 1-A/FBS) game as a streamer.

Week 1, weekend 1, is this weekend. If that sounds odd, it is. In the past, there have been references to "Week Zero" as the weekend before the official "Week One" that is when most of the teams start play. However, it seems that "Week Zero" isn't being used by everyone anymore. It was kind of stupid anyway, so I'm glad it's not being as widely used. However, now Week 1 covers two weekends.

Week 1 is games from Saturday, August 27th, through Monday, September 5. And yes, those 10 days cover two weekends. Week 1 has two weekends. So, I'm calling this Week 1, Weekend 1. Next week will be Week 1, Weekend 2. At least, that's what I'm calling it. I don't expect that to catch on. If you have a better idea, let's hear it.

All right, then.

There are only 11 games this weekend, none featuring ranked teams. Only 10 games will air. Sorry North Texas and Texas-El Paso; you'll have to go to the stadium, listen on radio (which is available online), or hope that one of the schools will carry it on their Website.

Of the games that you can watch, you have games being carried on ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS Sports Network, ESPN2, Fox, and Fox Sports 1. In future weekends, more networks will be carrying games, but this weekend, only these six are carrying the ten broadcast games.

So, how do you watch these networks?

ACC Network

• Sling Orange, with Sports Extra, $46/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Choice, $90/month.

Big Ten Network

• Sling Blue, with Sports Extra, $46/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Choice, $90/month.

CBS Sports Network

• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Ultimate, $105/month.

ESPN2

• Sling Orange, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

Fox

• Antenna, over the air, free.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

Fox Sports 1

• Sling Blue, with Sports Extra, $46/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

If you only want a few of these, one service may do the job. But, if you want to have them all, the cheapest way is ...

YouTube TV. This weekend, if you want to watch every game on your streaming device, the cheapest way to get all 10 games is YouTube TV, at $65/month.

Note that later in the year, possibly as early as next weekend, it may be that there are games that YouTube TV isn't carrying. Let's go ahead and look at the games from next Thursday and Friday.

Some of the Week 1, Weekend 2 games are played on Thursday and Friday. And some of those games are on networks we haven't covered. So, what are they and how do you watch them?

ESPNU

• Sling Orange, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.
• Fubo TV Elite, $80/month.

ESPN3

ESPN3 is usually included with a service that carries standard ESPN/ESPN2.

• Sling Orange, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

ESPN+

ESPN+ is a standalone sports programming service. It is not the same thing as regular ESPN that you get with cable or one of the live streaming services. Some content from ESPN, ESPN2, or other ESPN networks may be available on ESPN+, but often, it's content that is only available on ESPN+.

• ESPN+, $7/month.
• Disney Bundle, $14/month.

Pac 12 Network

• Sling Blue, with Sports Extra, $46/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• Fubo TV Pro, with Fubo Extra, $78/month.
• Fubo TV Elite, $80/month.

SEC Network

• Sling Orange, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Choice, $90/month.
• Fubo TV Ultimate, $100/month.

That changes things. YouTube TV doesn't carry Pac 12 Network, and ESPN+ is a standalone package. So, what is the cheapest way to watch all of the games from August 27-September 2?

Fubo TV Ultimate and ESPN+, totaling $107/month is the cheapest way to get all of these networks. The networks that run the price up so much are Pac 12 Network and CBS Sports Network. Those are not carried on as many services, and limit your choices greatly. If you could do without one or both of those, you could get all the remaining games for a better price. But, if you want it all, that's what it will cost you.

Regardless, this does show that it's possible to keep college football in your Streaming Life. Cutting cable doesn't mean cutting out college football. The money you save on cable can be used to subscribe to a streaming service with the games you want. The money you still have left over after that can be used for nachos! Or whatever your favorite game snack is.

Making an old smart TV better

Imagine this scenario. It will be easy for some of you.

You bought a new TV, maybe during a Black Friday sale, and you go it home and it was absolutely wonderful. You were able to stream content, and that whole world opened up to you.

Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Pluto TV, and so many other services were just a few button pushes away. Life, particularly your Streaming Life, was good.

That was then. Time has passed, and things are not quite as good.

Oh, the TV picture is great. You can't beat the colors, the sharpness of the image, and even the sound. But, there's ... something.

When you press a button, or launch an app, things aren't quite as snappy as they used to be. Maybe things have slowed down a notch. Maybe you're just more aware of how long things are taking to happen. Not long, but long enough to notice.

Things aren't quite as great as they used to be, for whatever reason. So, what do you do?

Do you wait for the next Black Friday sale and buy another TV? I mean, that one has a good picture and great sound. It seems like it would be a waste of money to not get more life out of that TV.

Well, if you've experienced this, or know someone who has, don't you buy a new TV. Or let them buy one. Unless of course you just want one. But be aware that you don't need one.

You can treat the TV like it's not a smart TV. Get a Roku device. Or a Fire TV device. Or an Apple TV device. Or a Google TV device. If your TV is otherwise good, but the streaming experience has seemed to have gone downhill, replace the streamer, but keep the TV.

Adding a streaming device to a smart TV is actually a good idea, if the circumstances are right.

One reason, as we've been saying, is that the streaming functionality is now sluggish. It's not as snappy as it once was. So a streaming connected to one of the HDMI ports on the TV now turns your smart TV into a new streaming capable setup, with your Roku (or Fire TV, Apple TV, or Google TV) device now handling the streaming.

What other reasons might there be? Well, for me, it's because I want the same experience on all the TVs. I have Roku and Fire TV devices on all of my TVs. Roku is my primary streamer of choice, but I will use the Fire TV device on occasion, and can do it on all my TVs.

If  you have a streamer on one of your older TVs, and your newer smart TV is showing some age, get the same brand streamer for the smart TV. You'll get better performance, and a consistent interface.

There are ways to put some new life into your old TV. Add  your streaming device of choice, and improve your Streaming Life.

A downside of an ad-supported Netflix subscription

It hasn't launched yet, and we don't know when it will launch, but Netflix will have an ad-supported tier.

Right now, Netflix has three streaming tiers, ranging from $10/month to $20/month. What you get on the three tiers today varies.

The $10 plan lets you watch a single stream at a time. No watching Netflix in the living room while someone else watches Netflix in a bedroom. Additionally, the content is at standard definition, not HD.

The $15 plan (actually $15.49) adds a second stream, meaning two at a time. And the streams will be HD.

The $20 plan adds another two streams, giving you four. The streams are available in UHD/4K.

All three plans let you download content to devices for offline viewing. The number of devices is equal to the number of simultaneous streams.

The coming of a new ad-supported tier brings some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that Netflix is reported to have promised no ads in children's programming, or in original movies, according to a report from Bloomberg.

Netflix has told partners it won’t run ads during original kids programs, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the company is still working out the details. In addition, some studios that have licensed Netflix the rights to kids programs won’t allow the company to run commercials in them. The company has decided original movies should stay ad-free, at least at first, the people said, which should allay the concerns of top filmmakers.

Netflix is still finalizing plans for its advertising-supported service, which means details and strategies could still change. The company aims to introduce the ad tier early next year. Netflix declined to comment on its plans beyond saying that it is still in the early stages of figuring out the advertising business.

No price for the ad-supported tier has been announced, so a really high price is not the bad news. The bad news is that unless something changes, you won't be able to download content with the ad-supported tier.

A developer found code in the Netflix app that already is laying the groundwork for an ad-supported tier. And it says no downloads on the ad-supported tier.

Text found in Netflix’s app reveals that the new plan will not allow content to be downloaded for offline viewing. This is not a surprising move given that many other streaming services only work online.

Downloads available on all plans except Netflix with ads.

Other text in the app implies that there will be a set up experience for users of the new Netflix with ads plan.

This isn't really surprising to me, or to others. But I expect some people will be disappointed with this decision.

When the ad-supported tier does launch, this will be welcome to many users, and may achieve the goal of retaining some users who might otherwise drop the service. Or it could backfire and cause some users to downgrade. Unless they make a lot of money on the ads. Either way, another option in your Streaming Life is a good thing.

NFL+ is as bad as we thought it would be

I've written before about NFL+. Twice, actually.

And, I said that it isn't actually for streamers.

Now that the NFL preseason is underway, that has certainly shown itself to be the case.

One online Website I visit regularly is Phillip Swann's TV Answer Man. Recently, he answered a question from one of his readers about not being able to watch his team (the Raiders) on NFL+. And Mr. Swann gave his reader (named Mike) the bad news.

For instance, Mike, since you live in Las Vegas, you couldn’t watch the Raiders-Dolphins game on NFL Plus last night because it was airing on one of your local channels (Fox 5 in Vegas). However, if the game was in regular season, and Fox 5 was airing it in Las Vegas, it would be available on NFL Plus.

He went on, explaining that during the regular season, even if the game was on NFL+, Mike wouldn't be able to watch it on his TV.

And if you think you’re confused now, wait until the regular season when you will only be allowed to watch the NFL Plus games on mobile devices. (The pre-season games are available on connected TV devices such as Roku.)

That's a confusing setup for pro football fans.

I'm happy the NFL is getting into streaming, with some content available, but it's not what football fans want. And I'm not sure when fans will get it, if ever.

Right now, it's hard to include a full NFL experience in your Streaming Life. But, maybe this first step will lead to bigger steps down the road.

Big Ten tops SEC

If you know me, you know that I'm a big fan of college football. And that I am an SEC fan as well. The school that my daughter attended is an SEC school, and I've been to some of their games since before she was born.

I'm talking about the University of Georgia, which is a team I've followed since childhood. I've also followed Georgia Tech, as my mother favored the Yellow Jackets over the Bulldogs in my childhood. And I've followed Georgia Southern, since football was restarted in the 1980s. But generally, people think of me as an SEC partisan, and I won't argue with that assessment at all.

I've enjoyed the domination the SEC has had in college football, winning 13 titles since 2000, and baseball, winning 9 titles since 2000.

The SEC was the first conference to hold a championship game, something every conference now does. It's almost as if the SEC runs college football. They don't, but they do carry some heavy influence. There are a lot of SEC haters out there.

Usually, you'll hear me singing the praises of the SEC. But today, I have to give props to the Big Ten. If you want to watch major college football without cable, and cheaply, the Big Ten is actually your best bet. Or will be after this season.

After the latest round of realignment, kicked off by last year's announcement that Oklahoma and Texas would leave the Big 12 for the SEC, some TV deals came up for renewal. The SEC is leaving CBS after this season, and going all in on ESPN. And the Big Ten takes advantage of that by signing a deal with CBS, Fox, and NBCUniversal.

The Big Ten on Thursday announced a new seven-year media rights deal with CBS, Fox and NBC that begins July 1, 2023, and runs through the 2029-30 season. The multiplatform agreement is believed to be the largest in the history of college athletics with industry sources putting the approximate value of the deal at a record $1.2 billion annually.

Spanning five linear networks, including the Big Ten Network and FS1, the deal positions the Big Ten with three premier windows to show college football games on broadcast television. Fox will air a featured "Big Noon" game on Saturdays at noon ET with CBS following at 3:30 p.m. and NBC wrapping up each week with "Big Ten Saturday Night" in primetime.

NBC will have games available on Peacock streaming service. CBS games will be available on Paramount+ as part of the live local CBS stream.

It'll still be easy to watch SEC games without cable. However, the cheapest streaming service that carries ESPN is Sling TV (Orange) which is $35/month. And, to add the SEC Network, it's another $11/month for the Sports Extra package.

The Big Ten is cheaper to watch, and is big time football. It's actually one of the better deals for having big time college football as a part of your Streaming Life.

Google to push increased onboard storage on Google TV devices

One of the things I absolutely do not like about Chromecast with Google TV is the limited onboard storage of the device.

I've ranted about this before. A couple of times, actually.

Here's the problem.

Chromecast with Google TV comes with 8 GB onboard storage. That's four times what you get on a Roku Ultra, by the way. But there's a catch. Google TV (also Android TV) devices can get full, and won't let you add more apps once the device is full. Or, more likely, if the app you're trying to add exceeds the amount of available storage. That's not good.

To deal with this, you have to remove an app. Maybe more than one, if the app you're wanting is really large. But you have to do it before you can add the new app.

Most streaming devices have this problem. Amazon's Fire TV devices can encounter this as well. Same with Apple TV devices. However, those devices, particularly the Apple TV devices, have a lot more storage. And that's what Google is wanting from their devices, according to NextTV:

Google met with manufacturing partners who use its TVOS products last month at a closed-door event, discussing ways to optimize their gadgets for the pending release of Android 13.

Google encouraged a number of new features, including integration of connected TV devices with fitness trackers, as well as support for Bluetooth 5.0.

The push for additional memory comes amid rancor in the tech press late last spring that Google's own Chromecast with Google TV device and its 8GB of random access memory isn't up to the task of handling Android 13.

"8GB of storage was not enough for a streaming stick in 2020, and it’s even worse a couple of years later," 9to5 Google lamented. "This is restrictive enough for security updates, but it also limits how often Google can address bugs and other quirks that may arise. Worse yet, it also prevents any form of major system update -- or at least makes it much more difficult."

Google can handle things with the next release of Chromecast devices. I assume they will, after urging other manufacturers to do that. And it would be good for Google and those other manufacturers to increase the onboard store.

But this brings up a question: why doesn't Roku have this problem? After all, they have the least amount of onboard storage.

Well, quite simply, Roku handles things for you. When the onboard storage is full, Roku will remove an app from your device, but leave it in the list of installed apps. The name and icon for the app is there, even though the app isn't actually on the device. There's nothing to indicate the app isn't on the device. When you go to launch that app, the system will download it -- you'll see a quick progress bar (circle, actually) that goes to 100% -- and the app will launch. Mere seconds is all it takes. It's almost seamless. If not for the 2 seconds or so that the download window appears, you wouldn't even know it.

So, Google, Amazon, and Apple make you remove apps when the device gets full. And Google is the one that does this the most. When you remove the app, it's no longer listed on the device, and you have to search for it and re-download it in order to launch it.

With Roku, it manages everything for you, and the app is still on your menu.

That's actually a better way of doing it, in my opinion. But, if Google does increase onboard storage, and gets other manufacturers to do the same, that will make the Streaming Life of many people so much better.