Don’t believe me? Think about it: Abba. Ikea. Dynamite. GPS. Green-living communities. Lord of the Rings-inspired metal music. Statuesque blond ski instructors.

And Spotify.

Way back in 2008, a software development company in Sweden kicked back and thought about how great it would be to offer DRM-free, streaming music to the masses. Granted, lots of people have had this thought. I’m sure you’ve all spent some time on websites like Pandora, last.fm, and maybe even Grooveshark. But you probably don’t have an iTunes-like desktop client that will do what those sites will do. That’s what Spotify is all about.

Spotify lets you pick and choose what music you want to hear from their seemingly bottomless catalog, track by track, album by album, or artist by artist. It will also automatically import any existing audio files on your computer into its directory, so can play those songs along with stuff from Spotify. You can drag things directly into your play queue or create custom playlists. The stuff you make is saved to your account, so you can access the same playlists and history from any computer. You can also link your Spotify account to your Facebook, so you can share playlists with your friends and subscribe to their playlists in turn. Lists are also provided from time to time by the Spotify staff, and other commercial interests like Rolling Stone magazine and various record labels.

All for free.

That’s right. Free. You’ll get an ad or two for every 15 minutes of playback, but even those are easily muted with free apps like Blockify (Windows) or Smutefy (Mac), or you can shell out for an unlimited or premium membership ($5-10 a month) that will get rid of the ads. It will also allow you to stream that same music to your smartphone or mobile device, play music even when offline, and more.

And up until last month, Spotify was only available in a few select countries in Europe. But now, it’s our turn. Spotify has finally come to the US. And I highly recommend you give it a shot as a means of welcome. It’s still on an invite-only basis right now, but it only takes a day or two for your invite to arrive. You can sign up for one here. And once you’re all set, check out their automated playlist site suggestions to get yourself started with some great lists, or use Spotiseek to create some of your own using artist seeds like you would on Pandora or iTunes Genius.

And if you come up with any good ones, let us know! We’re looking for summer party music!

I was hoping to come to this post with an easily quantifiable impression of Google’s latest endeavor, a quick “yay!” or “nay” that I could pass along to you, our loyal readers, to give you some idea of what you could expect from the newest entry into the world of social networking. There are, unfortunately, a few things that made achieving said impression basically impossible. But, in a way, I think most of those things will also contribute to Google+’s chances at success and longevity.

First off, it took a bit of doing to finally wrangle an “invite.” Rather than opening up the service to any and everyone right off the bat, Google opted to allow small numbers in at a time, which helps them control the user experience. End users often turn up smaller bugs, that Google can then fix before the whole world sees them. That way Google+ is a more solid and polished service by the time it’s open to the whole public. It’s also a cool way to ensure that end users get to dictate how the service will evolve. By observing the first adopters, Google can modify and update the service to add the features that its user base really wants. But it does mean that I’ve only been playing around with the service for a week or so, and also that the list of my friends who have also joined up is still rather short.

Which leads us to the second issue I’ve had: there simply aren’t enough users for me to get a good feel for how the service will fit into my usage, or how it compares with other networking services like Facebook. Google+ allows you to sort your contacts into “Circles,” a similar concept to the very underused “groups” feature on Facebook. Since the Circles are presented from the get-go, it is easy to get on board with the suggestion that you segregate your friends, family, and acquaintances into groups for sharing. In theory, it’s a cool feature. You can choose to share the photos of your latest reunion with your family, and that last crazy weekend out with your friends… and neither with your work colleagues. But since my Circles at the moment are still populated mostly by people who haven’t connected to Google+, I’m not getting enough feedback on those shares to ascertain how they’re really working. To be fair, you can choose to email your posts to those folks in your Circles who aren’t using Google+, but unless you’re sharing something of major interest or import, it seems like friendspam waiting to happen. That is to say, I haven’t tried that out yet.

The third sticky wicket I encountered are the caveats of privacy. While Facebook has been embroiled in a lot of discourse on its ever-changing and self-serving privacy policies, Google+ has been held up as its opposition. But in truth, I’m not sure that label is quite accurate. There are certain parts of your profile that can only be shared with the whole web. Most of them are optional to fill out, but one—your name—isn’t. And if you decide to change it to be a little more careful with your identity, it will change across all Google services you use (how your name appears in outgoing email if you use Gmail, for example). Any photos you share are owned by Google. And there is, of course, the continuing idea of putting all your eggs in one basket, and giving Google even more control over your internet life.

All these reservations aside, Google+ does have a lot of promise. The idea of having selective sharing as a fully integrated part of your social network is an awesome tool for etiquette’s sake, and the option of sharing with non-members via email makes the idea of “sharing” much more inclusive than on other networks. The integrated video chat, or “Hangout,” serves up great quality with a ton of browser compatibility.

Like a new pair of shoes, I think Google+ will improve after its first rash of end users have “worn it in” a little, have shaped its identity with their use and given some direction to all these assorted features. So while I can’t give a definitive good or bad vote yet, I’m interested to see where it’s going.

For some extra tips and reading in the meanwhile, check out these articles from BuzzFeed & Technobombs.

Thanks to Technorati for the image

On June 6, Apple announced the latest incarnation of its OS X operating system: 10.7, more commonly known as Lion. Also announced were the imminent release of iOS 5 for Apple’s mobile devices and, hand-in-hand with that, the iCloud.

Folks who’ve been handy with Apple’s products for a few years now might recognize the source of this “new” service as MobileMe (née .Mac), the yearly membership with an email address, online storage, and push syncing for your mobile devices.

But iCloud is more than just a name change. Apple is revamping the service to expand its offerings and its reach. MobileMe used to cost $99 a year to subscribe. iCloud will be free to anyone using iOS 5, that is to say, anyone with an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch capable of running the new software when it comes out this fall.

And as Apple says, for free, you get a lot. iCloud, like MobileMe, will continue to push-sync your contacts, calendars, and email, but it will also do the same with your photos, documents, and purchased content like apps, music, and books. It even uses that syncing feature to back up your device’s content and settings, so that plugging in to your computer to sync becomes nigh a thing of the past. New devices that ship with iOS 5 can even be activated through iCloud if you already have a membership. Apple is slowly but surely removing the computer from the equation.

But the thing I’m most excited for is the music. You can push new purchased music to your device directly, or access your purchase history and re-download songs you’ve already bought. And, for a yearly fee of $25, you can “match” up to 25,000 songs you didn’t purchase from the iTunes store (so, stuff you either ripped from your CD collection or, ahem, acquired) with iTunes Plus-quality content and download it to your devices whenever you want. Simply put, iTunes says, “oh, I see you have this song in your library, but you didn’t buy it from me. Oh well, it’s your song. Here, have my version if you want to listen to it. It’s encoded at 256K, so it’s probably loads better than that 128K version you pirated or the 192K version you ripped five years ago.”  You know what I say to that? “Gee, thanks iTunes!”

But even with this stable full of awesome new features, a little caution is warranted. As much as Apple declared its MobileMe service “just works,” there are plenty of users out there (me included) who can tell you it sometimes doesn’t. If you don’t understand how push syncing works, you can often end up with duplicate and even triplicate contacts or calendar events. And Apple’s servers, like all servers, do sometimes go down. There can be cons to relying too heavily on someone else’s storage space for all your stuff. And will those remote backups be more useful for troubleshooting, or will they, like the computer backups, be basically useless if you’re trying to remedy a software bug? And I don’t even want to think about the poor souls who share one big iTunes library, and thus whose devices are filled with content purchased by a handful of different AppleID accounts.

So the moral of the story? iCloud could be as revolutionary and awesome as Apple wants you to think it will be, or it could be a big old mess. I’m pretty sure it will wind up somewhere in the middle.

Probably leaning a little more toward awesome.

Thanks to Apple for the image!

If you have a mobile device running Google’s Android software, the time has come to rejoice. The internet giant recently launched the online version of their app store, Android Market.

While you could always access the market from your Android device to download tons of free and paid applications, you can now check out the same selection from your computer’s internet browser. Having the mobile store to browse on the go is certainly a great convenience, but there’s something to be said for shopping for apps with more screen real estate at hand.  Considering every app’s page has screenshots, reviews, thumbnails of other apps by the same developer, and sometimes even videos of the app in action, it can be a lot to absorb on the 3.5-4″ display most touch-based smartphones sport.

The online market makes it easier to view all the information on an app’s page at once, so you may find your stamina for browsing greatly increased. But the best part? Once you’ve logged in to the market, you can install any app you like directly from the site—without connecting your device to your computer.  Android Market will automatically stream the content from server to smartphone, making the download process just as easy as if you were using the mobile market.

But don’t take our word for it. Go forth and download!

Thanks to Android Community for the image

Your Windows system may come with software to tell you all about your hardware or play video, and nearly everyone has a PDF reader program on their computers these days. But we’ve selected this handful of programs because they truly go above and beyond—either by improving upon the standard performance of other “utilities,” or by outright changing the game in how you interact with your computer.  We hope that you’ll find at least a couple of them (if not all!) useful in your everyday computing.

System Information for Windows – download

SIW is a portable freeware program you can use to obtain, among other things, a complete software and hardware inventory of your computer system.  It will detail all the components of your machine, from brand to speed to size, and every program you have installed, whether good or bad.  It’s also got some handy tools for recovering lost passwords and optimizing your network connections. It will even export the data it collects to easy-to-share formats like CSV and Excel. If you have multiple computers, or tend to inherit machines with suspect pedigrees, you might get a lot of use from this nifty utility.

Speccy - download

Speccy is another system inventory tool, but unlike SIW, it focuses on a more concise presentation of your hardware specifications.  The interface is a little more user-friendly and easy to read, and it will also export to other text-based formats like CSV or HTML for sharing or taking to-go. Unless you really want the software and license inventory that comes along with SIW, Speccy is the softer, nicer inventory software for the slightly less technically inclined among us.

SequoiaView – download

Even if your middle school Biology days are far behind you, you’ll probably remember that the cross-section of a cut tree shows rings of varying widths that correlate to years of the tree’s life.  SequoiaView does something similar for your computer’s hard drive.  It scans all the files and folders in your system and then arranges them in a color-coded and scaled graphical representation, so you can see exactly how much space your collection of funny LolCats images takes up.

Recuva - download

Don’t lie, it’s happened to you. You get to your computer to open up that super-important file that you were working on before you decided to clean up your desktop in a fit of good intentions, and—oh no. It’s gone. You’ve deleted the super-important file, and now life as you know it is effectively over.  Of course it’s happened to you. It’s happened to me three times already today. Luckily, I use Recuva. It’s a nifty little program that will search the depths of your directory for those files that “accidentally” got erased. You can use it on your computer’s hard drive, but also on any external drives, cameras, memory cards, or even your iPod. It’s also got a “secure erase” feature to make sure the files you really and truly want to delete will get gone for good.

DriverEasy – download

Anyone who’s used a Windows system with new hardware before knows what a pain it can be.  Even so-called “plug and play” accessories require a minute or two of setup to begin working, and the worst ones might never work at all if you don’t have the proper device drivers or know where to get them. Enter Driver Easy. This program will scan your system to get a gander at all your hardware peripherals, search the web for the most up-to-date or applicable drivers, and present them for your convenience. What could be better? Your stuff will work better with the most current software and bug fixes, and you won’t have to worry about a thing!

VLC – download

VLC is the do-it-all video player. This fabulous open-source software runs without ads or junk, and will play pretty much anything you can throw at it without the need to download endless codecs. It’s famously virus-safe, fast, and powerful.  You can say goodbye to skipping video, or opening six different programs for all  your different media filetypes.

Foxit Reader - download

While Adobe might have developed the PDF filetype, most people these days will agree that their program for reading these useful files is bloated, buggy, and not very functional (unless, of course, you shell out the big bucks for Acrobat Pro).  That’s where Foxit Reader comes in.  It’s a lightweight PDF reader that starts and loads in a flash, but not before making sure the file you’re trying to open isn’t carrying some extra baggage in the form of unwanted malware. It will print without crashing Print Spooler, and opens multiple documents in handy tabs to keep your desktop clear. It’s compatible with interactive forms, and allows you to comment, bookmark, and even validate digital signatures on your PDF documents.

Sumatra PDF - download

Sumatra is another alternative to Acrobat that deserves a recommendation. I admit its desktop view before you open a file is maybe more yellow than anything ever should be. But viewing actual files is an elegant and minimalist experience. Sumatra is a great option for big multi-page files, since its presentation view just fades into the background and lets you focus on the content without distraction. While it does not have as many security or comment features as Foxit, you can view and print your documents speedily and with no crashes.

FileHippo Update Checker - download

If you run a lot of third-party software on your computer, you’re either constantly annoyed by alerts to update, or are running significantly out-of-date versions of most of those programs.  If you’d rather download and install those third-party updates in one fell swoop, then FileHippo’s Update Checker is the program for you. It will scan your installed software in a flash (as little as a second or two!) and contact the FileHippo website to check for any available updates. It then presents them to you in an easy-to-access list, and you can pick and choose the updates you want to run. Quick, simple, and ever so convenient.

Thanks to Income Insiders for the image. And yeah, we know it’s a MacBook Pro. But it looked cool.

The internet is everywhere. Literally. It’s in coffee shops, city parks, and likely every room in your home. If you have a smartphone, you’ve even got it in your pocket. It’s probably safe to say that you, like all the rest of us, take this constant connectivity for granted. But this ubiquitous access aside, you might not be getting the best browsing experience. Here are a few recommendations to help you remedy that!

Google Chrome (Windows, Mac, & Linux)

This browser is our top pick for a reason—it really does have it all. It’s super fast, easy to use, and has tons of features like tabbed browsing and thumbnailed site images to help you get what you need from the ‘Net. It’s got a neat mode called Incognito that allows you to open a browsing window free of your regular cookies and autofill information whose history won’t be saved, which is both secure and handy if someone else wants to check their email on your computer. It also opens each Incognito window in isolation, without affecting or requiring you close your other open windows. But the real feather in its cap is its stability: Chrome runs each open window as its own process thread, which means if the massive Flash game you’re playing in one window crashes, it won’t take any other windows down with it (like that important email you’re drafting). Other perks include synchronizable bookmarks, built-in reader view, and bundled Flash (so you don’t have to deal with those annoying Adobe update panes). The downsides? While Google has opened up the season for extensions, the options are still a bit less expansive than the competition. And you are, of course, giving a larger share of your internet presence (and info) to Google.

Mozilla Firefox (Windows, Mac, & Linux)

Firefox is the original alternative: a fast, open-source solution with more downloadable tools and add-ons than you can shake a stick at.  It has the full complement of convenience features like tabbed browsing, space for bookmarks on the toolbar, built-in reader view and customizable search bar, and synchronizable bookmarks. While it also has a private browsing feature, enabling it will force all other windows to close. And though it is easier to update than, say, Internet Explorer, it prompts you to update when you open the program and forces a restart (whereas Chrome downloads updates as you browse and applies them after you close). The biggest pain? It’s kind of a memory hog and can really slow things down if you browse for long periods without restarting the program or your computer.

Apple Safari (Windows & Mac)

Apple has quite a reputation for the sleek look of their interfaces, and their internet browser is no different. You can browse your site history and bookmarks with big, colorful Cover Flow thumbnails, use the reader view to strip ads and extraneous formatting from articles on the web, and even enjoy super-sharp text thanks to the font-smoothing on every page.  And while the aesthetic components of Safari are (of course) on lockdown, the rendering aspect is, like Firefox, open source. That means geeks of all colors can submit bug fixes and improvements as they find them, which helps build a more stable platform. The problems? Most of the really good, innovative stuff is reserved for Mac owners (check out Apple’s site to see how Safari interacts with Mail, Address Book, iPhoto, and the Dashboard). And remember how Steve Jobs hates Flash? Yeah. Though lots of non-Apple technologies can be accessed through “extensions,” some of them (cough, FLASH!) really slow the browser down. Also, the automatic update window is irritating in the PC environment. In OS X, you get all your system updates at once, so it’s no big deal. In Windows, it’s yet another popup demanding your attention.  And who wants that?

Opera (Windows, Mac, & Linux)

In a word? FAST.  Opera is blazing fast. Opera will load even the heaviest of pages, like CNN.com or Yahoo!, in the blink of an eye.  This super-speed is thanks to the fact that Opera multithreads every download, which is the technological equivalent of creating a widemouth bottle. Unfortunately, thanks to an ill-conceived attempt at creating a for-pay browser in its early days, Opera doesn’t have nearly the user base of Firefox or Chrome; so a lot of sites don’t bother to check for compatibility with it. There are also no add-ons or extensions available, so what you see is what you get.  Though we confess, those side-anchored tabs are pretty cool.

Internet Explorer (Windows only)

There is really nothing to recommend this browser.  If you’re still using it, please stop reading this article immediately and go download either Firefox or Chrome. Internet Explorer is full of security holes, slow as molasses, and its version of the new browsing standards (tabs, bookmarks on the toolbar) are clunky and unintuitive.  Internet Explorer is like a gaudy tie or a tacky sweater—you got it as a gift and you have to keep it, because there are those rare instances where you absolutely have to bring it out into the light. Like when Aunt Mildred’s visiting from out of town. Or you’re trying to fill in an “interactive” form on a shoddy government website. There are some times when, we confess, you will need Internet Explorer. But for all those other times, have something better at the ready.

For a more humorous (albeit more cynical) take on the five browsers we higlighted, check out CollegeHumor.com

Thanks to InternetBrowserSoftware.net for the image

In spite of all the wonderful things computers have added to modern life, they’ve given us some pretty rotten things too: sentient AI along the lines of HAL and SkyNet, diminished capacity for social interaction, FarmVille. But of all these modern inconveniences, repetitive strain injuries have to be the most prevalent, persistent, and downright annoying. From headaches to hand cramps, there are myriad ailments you can blame on your PC.

Including sleeping poorly.

Ever since computers stopped using interfaces made up of neon green fixed-width type on an empty black screen, the light emitted by your PC’s display was meant to mimic daylight. Specifically, the color temperature of most displays is set to around 6000K by default.  And if you leave your display’s brightness setting at the higher end of its range, it means your eyes are getting bombarded with an awful lot of photons.  Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to stare into the sun?

And burning holes into your retinas aside, staring long and hard at your computer screen after dark can actually affect your circadian rhythms—the biological clockwork that tells you when it’s time to eat, time to wake up, and time to sleep.  Since your body interprets the cooler temperature light coming from your display as sunlight, it thinks computer time equals party time, even if it’s actually nighttime and you want to retire shortly after that last round of Spider Solitaire.

So what’s a self-respecting technophile to do? Luckily, the kind folks who designed F.lux made it just for you.

F.lux is a simple, free application (for Mac, Windows, and Linux) designed to run in the background on your computer and create a gradually changing color overlay for your display to affect the temperature of the light it emits. It’s tailored to your geographic location and the kind of indoor lighting you already have to make its changes in time with the sun’s movements and to create overlays that look like the artificial lighting you already have. You can make the transitions a quick 20-second flip, or an hour-long fade. There’s even an option to disable the whole program for an hour at a time when you need to do color-sensitive work like photo editing or graphic design.

While F.lux doesn’t affect your display’s brightness settings, the less intense contrast from the overlays helps reduce eye strain in addition to helping your body clock remember what time it is.  It’s a sneaky utility.  You will barely notice it’s there, but take stock a week or so after installing it.  If you’re anything like me, you’ll notice you haven’t had nearly as many headaches as usual and your eyes don’t feel like they’re made of sand after hours in front of the computer.

And hey, maybe you’ll even sleep better!

Thanks to IRPC on Flickr for the image!

So last week we served up some sites and programs you could use to watch television programming on your computer or mobile device.  While some people have certainly embraced the glory of streaming internet television, some people still prefer getting their fix from the 60″ flatscreen holding court in their living room. But what if you could get all that lovely internet TV on your actual TV?  Without the pesky bother of paying for cable?  Well, look no farther.  Here are a handful of options you can use to accomplish just that feat.

Just connect them!

Lots of newer televisions and computers come with the inputs for proper connection built right in: VGA, DVI, S-Video, HDMI… with a paltry $30 investment in a nice long cable, you can connect your computer directly to your television and treat it like an extra-large display. Newer operating systems (Tiger through Snow Leopard for Mac, and Windows 7 for PC) even have custom interfaces like Front Row and Media Center for watching videos. Some even support the use of remote control devices.  If your hardware is new enough, this might be the cheapest and simplest option. A tip: take photos of the ports on your television and computer, take them in to your local electronics store, and make sure you walk out with the proper adapters for your system. And keep in mind, that may have to include audio cables.

Game Systems

If you enjoy video games as well as videos, you might have a streaming option available to you already. Most of the newest major gaming consoles have some option for streaming video through their internet connection to your television.  The Nintendo Wii has a Netflix “channel,” so you can enjoy all the titles available to Watch Instantly. The Sony PlayStation 3 also has the Netflix option, with other portals to MLB.tv, Hulu+, and additional Sony content. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has Netflix, ESPN3, and Zune content portals, and will soon feature Hulu+ as well.  You should note, however, that in addition to the cost of the console, Xbox requires you to pay for a yearly Xbox Live membership in order to access any of its online features.  And of course, Netflix and Hulu+ are only available to users who have paid for a membership.  While using your gaming console (either with an online account for video streaming or the system’s built-in browser on a site like YouTube) to watch video can be easy, it’s not particularly cost-effective unless you already own the system or will use it just as much for gaming as watching.

Magic Boxes

If you’re not much of a gamer, but connecting your TV directly to your computer is impractical, one of the “magic box” systems might be perfect for you. The two most popular are the Roku player and AppleTV. The boxes are separate components, like a cable box or DVD player, that you connect to your TV and an internet source (both have the option to connect via ethernet or wirelessly.  They stream content from either your PC or the internet through a series of “channels.” AppleTV, of course, gives you full access to the downloads and rentals available on the iTunes Store, as well as YouTube.  Roku has access to Hulu+ and Amazon Connect. Both boxes support Netflix Watch instantly.  The AppleTV has MLB.tv, while Roku has the UFC and NHL.  Both boxes have NBA GameTime. Just like the gaming consoles, subscription fees apply for all streaming content, but since these boxes are single purpose, the hardware is cheaper (AppleTV is $99, Roku runs $60-$100).

Boxee

As the name implies, Boxee could technically qualify as a “magic box,” since you can buy the system from them directly on their website for $199.  However, anyone with a spare computer and a little technical know-how can make their own Boxee. The software, which actually does the heavy lifting in a Boxee system, is free. What it provides is a streamlined, easy-to-use interface for navigating different “channels” of content, from Netflix to YouTube to your computer’s hard drive. It has an excellent search function that lets you search for specific content across all channels, and even a Watch Later feature that lets you save programming to a list so you don’t have to search for it again. Boxee is also the most social of the streaming options, since it links your activity to your login and lets you share it with friends in the form of recommendations. If you have a spare computer that will successfully connect (à la the first section) to your television and feel comfortable following the instructions on their website, creating your own Boxee is the least expensive way to get a great user interface for watching internet TV on your TV.  If you choose the DIY-route, you’re only paying for cables and content subscriptions and rentals.

So those are the methods we’ve come across to watch streaming online content on your TV.  What have you guys been using to do the job?

Image courtesy of netflix.com

Chances are you have, at some point in your relationship with the internet, watched some kind of video online.  Chances are that some of you (about 20%, if statistics are to be trusted) have used the worldwide web to watch full TV shows, or even movies.  You might have even paid for it!

While internet content isn’t likely to kill cable TV anytime soon, it is becoming a more prevalent and user-friendly way to get your recommended dose of your favorite programming.  We’ve taken the liberty of listing a few content providers/aggregates here, with a few pros and cons, to help you make the most of your internet television experience.

Hulu – www.hulu.com

Hulu is certainly a step up from watching shows in ten minute increments on YouTube, and lets you do it without copyright violation!  It’s an ad-supported service that presents recent episodes of popular TV shows and even full-length movies. The downside is that they only have a handful of episodes per show, and that the videos “expire” at a pretty speedy clip.  They’ve also introduced Hulu+, a paid version of the site, that will let you play video on mobile devices like smartphones and iPads as well as computers.  Hulu+ also has all episodes in the current season for every show in the catalogue, and allows you access to the “Criterion Collection,” a roster of classic and hard-to-find films curated by the folks at Hulu.  Hulu+ runs $7.99 per month, and is also ad-supported.  If you’re more of a binge TV-watcher, and you like the flexibility of watching on portable devices, it’s a pretty good investment.

Netflix Watch Instantly – www.netflix.com

Netflix started with a simple premise: DVD rentals by mail for a flat monthly rate.  Their popularity boomed, and their business has expanded.  They’re even going to start providing original content sometime in  late 2012.  One of the most popular parts of the service is Watch Instantly, which lets you stream video (ad-free) to your computer.  Unlimited streaming is available by itself for $7.99 a month, but is also part of every other “unlimited” plan that includes DVDs (there is a limited plan that includes up to two hours of streaming per month).  There is no additional charge to stream to a mobile Netflix-ready device.  The downside is that Netflix doesn’t have an agreement to stream the current season of active TV shows, so you’re relegated to movies and past seasons of your favorite programming.  Until 2012, that is.

LiveStation – www.livestation.com

LiveStation is a desktop client you can download for Mac or PC, that will stream both radio and news channels.  Their offerings are largely international, but it’s a wonderful free option for folks who prefer to get their news from BBC World Service, Al Jazeera, or RFI.  It’s also got NASA TV and UN TV, which is basically CSPAN for the United Nations.  The video and audio quality is good, and ads are minimal.

AllUC – www.alluc.org

In the interest of full disclosure, please note that while AllUC is an awesome site that can direct you to anything you’d ever want to watch, it’s not copyright-friendly.  It’s an aggregate site, which means it doesn’t host all the videos you can access there, but rather links to their original sources.  Therefore, the quality of some video will not be pristine, and some of it may be subtitled in Polish.  But if you can’t find that long-lost episode of Gundam Wing or Greg the Bunny, this is the place for you.

Other Options

You could also go straight to the source.  Most major networks and big-deal channels (like Fox, SyFy, and MTV) will stream full episodes of their roster.  Like Hulu, their offerings may be limited to the most recent episodes, and will often be rife with ads for other programs.  Some networks will have options for mobile viewing, and some won’t. But give it a year or two, and watch the offerings and ways to watch grow.

It seems the toughest thing to find streaming online is sports.  Most sites are sport-specific, and their quality can be pretty poor depending on where the event is taking place (as anyone who tried streaming the World Cup last year can tell you).  But if paying for a couple drinks and sitting in a crowded bar for a few hours isn’t your preferred way to get your sports fix, we can recommend ESPN3 for their variety and quality.  Though some pro games are subject to blackout, it’s probably the most consistent way to watch major (and minor) sporting events online.

So that about does it for our recommendations.  What services and sites do you guys use to get your TV fix on your computer?

And stay tuned next week when we talk about how to watch TV on the internet on your TV!

And it’s also time for spring cleaning!  Happily, the Lower East Side Ecology Center is making the disposal of your broken and outdated electronics really easy for you–they’re hosting a baker’s dozen of e-waste recycling events through May 22 at various locations in all five boroughs.  And since New York state just passed a law making it illegal to throw away these old electronics starting in 2015, recycling your e-waste is a good habit to get into.

Here are a few tips to consider when preparing your electronics for recycling:

• Make sure you wipe any hard drives. And that means zeroing them out. Instructions for Mac are here.  For Windows machines, Gizmodo has written a very thorough set of instructions.  We personally really like Darik’s Boot and Nuke, which will work on any brand of hard drive. You can also contact your favorite IT professional so they can do it for you (wink wink, nudge nudge).
• Bring hardware only. Old household batteries, CDs, DVDs, zip drives, VHS and cassette tapes have to go somewhere else.  Check out the NYC Department of Sanitation or GreenDisk for details.
• Electronics yes, appliances no. Keep those old refrigerators, air conditioners, and microwaves at home.

Also give some thought to how you’re going to get it there:  ZipCar members who show their card to the info table at the event get a $15 driving credit. If you’re not a member yet but thought about getting a new account to use a ZipCar to transport your stuff, you can use the promo code “EWASTE” for a $25 discount on the application and $60 of free driving.

If you’ve got some old e-junk lying around, you really should take advantage of this event. You get a clutter-free home or office, some extra mileage you can use on a fun springtime outing, and that beautiful and elusive feeling of self-satisfaction that can only come from doing something good for the environment.  What’s not to love?

LES Ecology Center via Makezine