Grounded Reason Podcast - Cord Cutting and Internet Issues

This episode covers how to watch baseball without cable, Sling TV DVR and a ton of cord cutting news.

How to watch MLB baseball without cable - https://www.groundedreason.com/how-to-watch-mlb-games-without-cable/

Cord Cutting is on the Rise - http://www.multichannel.com/news/content/cord-cutting-rise-tivo-study-finds/411378

I wanted to go over a disaster of an article that hit USA Today last week saying that cord cutting costs just as much as cable - http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/03/08/cutting-cord-could-cost-much-cable/98894132/

Ajit Pai dodged an important question when he was in front of congress last week - https://www.c-span.org/video/?423947-1/new-fcc-chair-ajit-pai-testifies-capitol-hill

A new Streaming Service hit the US from across the pond - https://www.britbox.com/

TiVo Maverik - http://zatznotfunny.com/2017-03/tivo-mavrik-breaks-cover/

Verizon new Internet Option - https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/03/verizon-offers-prepaid-fios-with-lower-speeds-and-slightly-lower-price/

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Be sure to visit https://www.groundedreason.com for more tech tips and subscribe to the podcast on your favorite player using the links below.

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Please rate and review the show in iTunes. If you want to send us questions or comments please use any of the methods below.

For more information on cutting the cord visit - https://www.groundedreason.com

Call and leave a question or comment for the show: (650) 825-5477 (TALK-GRP)

Grounded Reason Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/GroundedReason/

Email us at [email protected]

Today's episode discusses Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, and why every home user needs one. They can provide access to content on the internet, protect your privacy, and keep your information secure.

Topics discussed today are covered in this article: https://www.groundedreason.com/what-is-a-vpn-and-how-to-chose-the-best-one

To test your DNS for information leaks, use this tool:https://www.dnsleaktest.com/

To to for leaky IPV6 information, try this tool: http://test-ipv6.com/

Please Subscribe to The Show in iTunes, Stitcher, or your Podcast App.

Be sure to visit https://www.groundedreason.com for more tech tips and subscribe to the podcast on your favorite player using the links below.

Subscribe Free on iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/grounded-reason-podcast/id1140661229?mt=2

Subscribe Free on Android - http://subscribeonandroid.com/groundedreason.libsyn.com/rss

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Please rate and review the show in iTunes. If you want to send us questions or comments please use any of the methods below.

For more information on cutting the cord visit - https://www.groundedreason.com

Call and leave a question or comment for the show: (650) 825-5477 (TALK-GRP)

Grounded Reason Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/GroundedReason/

Email us at [email protected]

Today Dennis and Joel discuss the release of AT&T's new streaming service DirecTV Now. They also discuss Sling TV's plan for a cloud based DVR along with new premium channels on Amazon Prime and Netflix new long anticipated feature.

Links to topics;

DirecTV Now review: https://www.groundedreason.com/direct-now-cable-tv-over-internet/

Sling TV DVR beta signup: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/N2VGCR8

Amazon Prime: hhttp://amzn.to/2gZVYpH

Please Subscribe to The Show in iTunes, Stitcher, or your Podcast App.

Be sure to visit http://www.groundedreason.com/ for more tech tips and subscribe to the podcast on your favorite player using the links below.

Subscribe Free on iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/grounded-reason-podcast/id1140661229?mt=2

Subscribe Free on Android - http://subscribeonandroid.com/groundedreason.libsyn.com/rss

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Please rate and review the show in iTunes. If you want to send us questions or comments please use any of the methods below.

For more information on cutting the cord visit - https://www.groundedreason.com

Call and leave a question or comment for the show: (650) 825-5477 (TALK-GRP)

Grounded Reason Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/GroundedReason/

Email us at [email protected]

This is a midweek Bonus episode of the Grounded Reason podcast.

Today I interview Michael Kirk. Michael is an engineer that was having trouble paying down student loans for him and his wife. So, he decided to start applying the data driven principles he uses at work to make every day decisions in his home life. Michael shares his methods and techniques on his website http://efficiencyiseverything.com.

Please Subscribe to The Show in iTunes, Stitcher, or your Podcast App.

Be sure to visit http://www.groundedreason.com/ for more tech tips and subscribe to the podcast on your favorite player using the links below.

Subscribe Free on iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/grounded-reason-podcast/id1140661229?mt=2

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Please rate and review the show in iTunes. If you want to send us questions or comments please use any of the methods below.

For more information on cutting the cord visit - https://www.groundedreason.com

Call and leave a question or comment for the show: 650-TALK-GRP

Grounded Reason FaceBook Page

Email us at [email protected]

Tweet us @GroundedReason

I met Michael through the cord cutting community. He used his data driven approach when it came to his TV and Movie viewing and discovered cable TV is one of the worst ways to spend your money. While this may be obvious, there is plenty Michael and I discussed that wasn't so obvious. Check out the notes below for more information about what we discussed.

To give you an idea of how data can inform decisions let's use the game of Monopoly for example. Most people I play with try to get the monopoly for the most expensive properties they can and put hotels on them. However, once you look at the data, you find the real winning strategy.

Monopoly Data - http://www.tkcs-collins.com/truman/monopoly/monopoly.shtml

Now Michael didn't come to talk games. He's taken a data approach to life. Below is a list of some of the things we covered during the interview.

• How to eat better food efficiently and affordably
• Checklist your routine activities to save time
• How this approach applies to cutting the cord.
• Various tricks to get some time back from your day like cutting out commercials
• How it helps with Health Insurance, buying a Car
• You can even measure your fun for efficiency
• We also discuss how this would even work with kids.
• Check out the tools on Michaels Website efficiencyiseverything.com

Today Dennis and Joel discuss the Kodi Media Center. They cover what Kodi is, what it does, and how you can use Kodi to cut the cord. This episode covers all the nuances of Kodi and how it is vastly different from a streaming service, and isn't itself a streaming device.

Kodi is at it's core is media center software that can aggregate all your content through one interface. Dennis and Joel also go fairly deep into the subject of piracy and how it is hurting Kodi's image. Concerns are also discussed on how you could be pirating movies and TV and not even know it.

An official install of Kodi is 100% legal. It’s essentially an extremely robust media player. Kodi, by itself, comes with no video content. That is up to the user to supply. That is also where the legal grey area begins.

Here is the link on Grounded Reason Dennis mentions in the episode: What is Kodi and is it Legal?

To explore Kodi yourself, check out this fantastic quick start guide on Kodi's website.

If interested, you can check out this other guide on Kodi's website on how to use Kodi in a DIY DVR setup.

As promised: The Vox Article on the Neural Network that Watched Blade Runner

I also want to say that the bit at the end is completely an homage to our favorite podcast.