HOW TO HACK NETFLIX AND HOW TO WATCH THE NFL ONLINE: In theory, it’s not possible to watch NFL games online in the United States. In practice, it is:
What’s a cord-cutting fan to do? For just a couple of dollars you could digitally pretend to be from somewhere overseas, which would give you access to every single NFL game, live and in high definition, through your Internet connection. And while doing so almost certainly violates the NFL’s terms of service, it might not be otherwise illegal.
That’s the promise of Canadian startup Adfreetime.com, one of a handful of providers to offer what’s called a DNS-switching service. Launched in May by 26-year-old Richard Probst, the website offers subscribers the ability to mask their browsers’ location by rerouting the embedded geographical identifier through a server somewhere else in the world. Turn on the region-unlocking service through a simple Web interface—Adfreetime has designed these as on/off buttons, like light switches—and it will appear as if a user in, say, Iowa is actually signing on from Ireland.
The origin story is interesting too:
Probst launched his startup out of frustration with Netflix, which offers a very different menu of movies and TV shows to subscribers in different areas. “We Canadians kind of get screwed on Netflix content. Americans have 10 times more than we have here,” he said. “Half of what we get is French crap that I can’t understand.” For $1.99 per month, Adfreetime allows users to access the Netflix streaming libraries in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Brazil, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, or Canada with a simple click. The differences are pronounced: British viewers can see the most recent episodes of Breaking Bad, which remain unavailable to American Netflix subscribers; the Swedish have access to such recent blockbuster fare as The Hobbit that is likewise not offered in the U.S.
I noticed the Netflix thing when I was in Nicaragua last winter: the movie selection was better, and Spanish subtitles were an option on a lot more films.
HOW TO RIP MUSIC FROM YOUTUBE: This is probably old hat to the technophiles among you, but it was news to me: there’s a site that will let you extract music from youtube videos. If you the sort of reader who like lots of pictures and helpful arrows to guide the way, then here you go.
LIFE-EXTENDING BIOTECHNOLOGIES: Get caught up with the latest science on John Mauldin’s website. Plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the future! Well, the long-term future, anyway.
OBAMACARE EXPLAINED: Until science figures out how to make us all perfectly healthy, this post from Dough Roller gives the best overview of Obamacare I’ve seen so far.
CHIPMUNK’S PLAN FOR FUTURE BETTER CRAFTED THAN THAT OF 8 OUT OF 10 AMERICANS: The Onion has the scoop:
Researchers stated that the striped 7-inch mammal displayed a degree of foresight and determination far exceeding that of the average U.S. citizen. In contrast to most Americans, the chipmunk was said to routinely work toward meaningful goals in an orderly and decisive manner without procrastinating for days on end, melodramatically sighing and complaining, or becoming immediately sidetracked by emails or online videos.
That one hit me a little too close to home.
thanks for the youtube music part!
Unfortunately adfreetime has no way to speak to a live person or chat. If you have an issue, you have to open a trouble ticket and wait for them to respond. They suspended my account because I had used too many IP addresses to validate and there was no way to talk to anyone to get it straightened out.
The service was easy to setup and use, but the customer service issue is a BIG problem for me.