It finally happened. My streaming services are all gone. I pay for YouTube Premium still — who would argue with ad-free videos and music streaming for $14 a month — but every other streaming platform has bit the dust, and that’s because I spent $90 on a lifetime membership to Plex Pass, which is 25% off its normal price of $120 for Cyber Monday.
I’ve been on a bit of a journey with Plex. It started a few months ago when I decided to finally build a Plex server with a mini PC and an external hard drive. Then, I finally upgraded that experience with a proper network-attached storage (NAS) just a few weeks ago. Now, I have the final piece of the puzzle in the form of a Plex Pass membership that I won’t need to pay for month after month.
I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. If somehow you aren’t familiar, Plex is a media server application that’s completely free. Download it on just about anything, and you can stream your media from any device with access to the app. I’ve used it, along with a large collection of physical media, to chip away at streaming services that, frankly, are filled with content I’m not even remotely interested in watching.
Plex is one of those rare services that’s truly free. You’re not getting some limited version of the app where it feels like you run into a paywall around every corner. Plex Pass, which is available either for a one-time lifetime fee or as an inexpensive $5 monthly membership, simply expands the already stellar free service.
Plex Pass has a lot of additional features, but there are a few that really make a difference for me. First, intro and credits skipping. I am a habitual anime watcher, and although I like to jam out to a good intro from time to-time I don’t have precious minutes to waste on the same credits sequence when I’m bingeing. You can skip the intro and credits of shows with Plex Pass.
Basically, every major streaming platform has this feature, but the version is Plex Pass is surprisingly robust. Particularly for anime, Crunchyroll has a terrible skipping feature. Half of the time, it doesn’t work, or it pops up well after the intro is done. I’ve never had that problem with Plex.
The other big feature is hardware transcoding. I mainly watch media off of my Plex server on my local network, but I have it configured so I can access my server when I’m away from home, as well. When streaming remotely like this, I need to transcode the video files, especially if I’m watching some chunky 4K Blu-ray rip of a movie.
Transcoding with software is pitifully slow, and usually leads to an endless barrage of buffering and sub-720p picturequality. With hardware transcoding, I can take advantage of the Intel Core i3-N305 CPU in my NAS, as well as its integrated graphics, to handle the transcoding. Even a relatively weak CPU like this can tear through video transcoding with multiple streams.
Those are the two highlights for me, but there are a few other features that I make good use of with Plex Pass. You can download your media, which is great if I’m going on a flight. Plex Pass also comes with HDR tone mapping for those high-quality Blu-ray rips, and support for multiple editions of the same content if you’re a mega nerd about movies like me.
I’m really just scratching the surface on features here. Plexamp, for example, is basically Spotify for your own personal music collection, complete with lyrics and downloads. You can even hook up a TV antenna to not only stream live TV, but to also use your server as a DVR.
I won’t lie, handling all of this is a lot more work than just swallowing whatever fee your streaming service of choice throws at you. But it’s also a lot of fun. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed configuring and tweaking my Plex server, and I’m excited to do even more now with Plex Pass. And as a bonus, I don’t have to pay close to $100 each month for services I barely even use.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.