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Amazon Prime Price Hike: There's Still Time to Lock In Your Rate for Another Year
Amazon Prime Price Hike: There's Still Time to Lock In Your Rate for Another Year
Amazon announced big fourth-quarter profits along with some bad news for customers earlier this month: The online retail giant is raising its annual membership price again. An Amazon Prime membership will soon cost $139 for annual subscribers, up from $119, and monthly members are looking at an increase from $13 to $15 ($156 to $180 for 12 months). For new accounts, the price hike goes into effect on Feb. 18. But if you already have an account, the cost won't increase until Mar. 25.
This bump marks the first time Amazon has raised prices on Amazon Prime since 2018, when the cost went from $99 to $119 per year (from $11 to $13 monthly). The premium subscription service originally launched in 2005 at $79 per year.
As of December 2021, about 172 million people subscribe to Amazon Prime, according to a report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. The report notes that Amazon Prime has added 30 million new subscribers each of the past two years.
Even though the price is rising, there are ways to maximize your current subscription or get in on the old price before it's gone. Read on to learn all about the Amazon Prime price change and how you can save money.
How much is Amazon raising the price of Prime?
For the majority of people, the price of Amazon Prime will change from $119 per year to $139, or from $13 monthly to $15.
Prices will also increase for students and other low-income subscribers. Prime Student members will soon pay $7.50 per month, or $69 per year. For recipients of Electronic Benefit Transfer and other qualified forms of government assistance, the monthly price will increase from $6 to $7.
When will the price of Amazon Prime change?
The price changes will take effect Feb. 18 for new Amazon Prime accounts. For existing accounts, the increased price will kick in on the first renewal payment after March 25.
How can I save money before the price of Amazon Prime changes?
If you were considering an Amazon Prime subscription, now's the time to do it. Prices will change for new accounts on Feb. 18. If you pay for a yearly subscription before then, you'll lock in the $119 yearly rate until 2023.
Current Amazon Prime members should take a look at their Amazon accounts to see if they are monthly or yearly subscribers. If you're a monthly subscriber and switch to a yearly subscription, you'll also lock in the $119 rate until next year.
Can I buy a future Amazon Prime membership with a gift card now?
Savvy bargain shoppers have noted that Amazon's "gift of Prime" service can be an effective method of extending the current price rate. If you buy a gift subscription of Amazon Prime before the price change and activate it when your existing subscription expires, you'll get another year at the $119 rate. If you sign up for a yearly account before Feb. 18 and buy another yearly gift subscription at $119, you won't be paying the new $139 yearly rate until 2024 (though you will be paying $238 upfront).
Why is Amazon raising the price of Prime?
Despite better-than expected fourth-quarter earnings, Amazon gave several reasons for the price hike in its press release, including more big-budget shows on Prime Video like The Wheel of Time, Jack Reacher and the upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power as well as its decadelong exclusive license to NFL's Thursday Night Football. The company also touted expanded availability for same-day delivery to 90 metropolitan areas in the US, free shipping for more items and more deals on products.
What services does Amazon Prime offer?
Amazon Prime originally launched with unlimited free two-day shipping for a large number of its products, and that main service remains its most popular benefit. However, Amazon Prime has since expanded its offerings and now includes many other benefits.
Here are the biggest services Amazon Prime provides:
Free two-day, next-day or same-day shipping
Free grocery delivery via Amazon Fresh
Discounts at Whole Foods
Free streaming video via Prime Video
Free streaming music via Amazon Music
Free magazines and books via Prime Reading
Unlimited photo storage on Amazon Photos
Visit the Amazon Prime info page for a full list of the services included in an Amazon Prime membership.
Who are Amazon Prime's competitors?
Pricier Amazon Prime subscriptions could make competing services more attractive, but there aren't a whole lot of them. Walmart Plus, which currently costs $98 per year, offers expedited delivery and groceries, but the superstore chain's service doesn't have the extensive TV shows, movies, music and games included with Amazon Prime.
Both Target and Walmart have tried to compete with Amazon Prime Day, a massively popular and yearly two-day sale for Amazon Prime members. Target has launched its own Target Deal Days and emphasizes that no membership fees are required. Similarly, Walmart began its own Deals for Days promotion for three days in June 2021.
Competitors like NewEgg Premier and Google Express encountered difficulties competing with Amazon Prime. NewEgg launched Premier in 2014 but shut it down in December 2019. Google Express also launched in 2019, but it lasted less than a year.
When you think of streaming TV shows and movies, there's a good chance that Netflix is comes to mind first. Though competition from rivals like HBO Max and Disney Plus is fierce, it's still the best choice for streaming entertainment, period.
Netflix includes a wide variety of familiar network shows and more original series, films, documentaries and specials than any of its myriad competitors. Despite challenges with retaining subscribers and a price bump, the world's first major streaming service remains our favorite choice thanks to its huge library of constantly refreshed content and its easy accessibility across different devices. In 2021, Netflix won 44 Emmys, making history and racking up more than the next two media companies combined. If you're looking for something new to watch, Netflix should be your top choice.
Like
Strong recommendation engine
Easy to use across different devices
Offline downloads available
Extensive list of movies and shows
Massive selection of original programs
No commercials
Don't Like
Cost for premium plans is on the higher end
Can't watch shows as they air on other networks
Depending on the plan you choose, Netflix costs between $10 and $20 per month, which is at the higher end for a streaming service, as you can see in the chart below. Its recent price increase shook up the streaming world and moved Netflix closer to HBO Max in terms of cost. However, the pricier package lets you watch up to four screens at once, and create different user profiles, so in theory, you could split it among friends to lower the price. Thanks to its sheer variety and number of new things to watch, Netflix also gives you the most bang for your buck.
Streaming Services Compared
Netflix
Peacock
HBO Max
Disney Plus
Apple TV Plus
Amazon Prime Video
Hulu
Monthly price
Starts at $9.99
Basic free with ads, ad-free for $5
$9.99 for basic with ads, $14.99 for ad-free
$7.99
$4.99
$8.99 (or included with $140/year Prime membership)
Basic $6.99 with ads, ad-free Premium for $12.99, Live TV for $70
The Office, 30 Rock, Bel-Air, early access to Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon
Game of Thrones, Dune, Euphoria, DC titles
The Mandalorian, Loki, Encanto, Obi-Wan Kenobi
Ted Lasso, The Morning Show, CODA, Severance
Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Boys, Reacher, The Wheel of Time
Handmaid's Tale, Pen15, The Great, Bob's Burgers
Mobile downloads
Yes
Yes (Premium Plus plan)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
4K HDR available
Yes (on Premium plan)
No
Yes (limited titles)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Number of streams:
1 (2 for Standard, 4 on Premium)
3
3
4
6
2
2 (Unlimited with Live TV $9.99 add-on)
How Netflix started vs. how it's going
Between 2012-2013, Netflix premiered its first original TV shows, including Lilyhammer, House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black. Today, it has a catalog of more than 1,500 original TV shows and movies, including global hits like Stranger Things, Emmy winners such as Bridgerton, The Queen's Gambit and The Crown, as well as Oscar-nominated movies such as The Power of the Dog, Tick, Tick… Boom! and The Trial of the Chicago 7.
Though the company's been known for its commercial-free streaming experience since its inception, there are plans to introduce an ad-supported tier before 2022 ends. Additionally, Netflix aims to crackdown on password sharing by charging a fee for extra users on an account. The program is still in the pilot phase, but the days of crowdfunding your Netflix subscription may soon be over.
As of 2022, Netflix has more than 220 million paid subscribers across 190 countries, after seeing a major spike in users during the pandemic. A dent in its subscriber base caused numbers to drop by 200,000, but there are still reasons to keep the service, with the main draw being its content.
What shows and movies does Netflix have?
Netflix may have had the first-to-market advantage in the world of streaming services, but it's kept its momentum with its increasing number of original shows and movies -- many of which have won critical acclaim and major awards and nominations.
Compared to other streaming platforms, you can't beat Netflix's slate of original TV shows that are now considered among the best of the modern era of television, including those mentioned above plus many more, such as Squid Game, Ozark, Never Have I Ever, Money Heist and Cobra Kai.
Read more: Netflix: The 49 Absolute Best TV Shows to Watch
Outside of TV shows, Netflix's original programs include a wide range of comedies, dramas, foreign films and shows, documentary series, anime, stand-up comedy specials and reality dating and competition shows. Not all of them are runaway hits, but many of them are, and there's enough to explore interesting shows that may not have found a home on traditional network TV. And at a time when going to the movies is more fraught than it once was, Netflix offers a place to find new films: In 2022 alone, Netflix is set to release over 100 new movies, at least one per week. The selection spans across genres and geography, and includes K-dramas, animated features, and fantasy book adaptations.
Stranger Things is one of Netflix's powerhouse originals.
Netflix
Netflix typically adds shows a full season at a time, though not while a show is airing on network TV -- so if you don't have cable or another platform like Hulu, you'll have to wait to watch for a few months to watch seasons in full.
One complaint: Netflix content sometimes can come and go without warning. The only way to tell if something is leaving the service in the next 30 days is if you happen to tap on the details page for the given show or movie -- or search online for everything coming and going in a given month.
Another potential content issue to flag: In recent years Netflix has lost some of its most popular content (such as The Office, which moved to NBC's Peacock, Daredevil, which moved to Disney Plus and Friends, which moved to HBO Max) as other networks created their own streaming services. While it started as an online video store that was trying to offer every movie and TV series online, it may be slowly becoming more akin to the old HBO -- mostly featuring its own original programming, complemented with some things it licenses from other companies.
What's it like to use Netflix?
I first subscribed to Netflix back in the first streaming days of 2007, so using the platform feels like second nature at this point. Even if you're new to it, it's pretty user-friendly: Open the app and tap on your profile (if you have one set up), and you'll see a homepage. You'll see Popular on Netflix, Continue Watching, Trending Now, Top Picks for you and a number of (sometimes oddly specific) other categories based on shows you've watched before. Mine include Critically-acclaimed Witty TV Comedies and Suburban-dysfunction TV Comedies, for example.
Netflix's design encourages scrolling -- there are so many different categories to look through, and then shows and movies within those categories to continue scrolling into. You can create a watch list to help you cut down on this, but the vast, colorful library makes it easy to spend more time looking through options than actually watching a show, so be careful.
The Netflix app operates similarly across various devices. My home page on the web browser is nearly identical to that on my Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV Stick, both in content and layout. It's more condensed on the smaller iPhone and Android phone screens, but still follows the same format, and has a clear "Downloads" tab to find content to save to watch offline on your device.
Rows and rows of content on Netflix can keep you busy.
James Martin/CNET
One difference between devices is voice commands: You might find it more or less difficult to fire up a Netflix show from your device's home screen depending on which voice-capable device you're using.
For example, when you say, "Watch Stranger Things" on the Apple TV and the iOS app on iPhone, it will first have you click which specific show (Stranger Things or Beyond Stranger Things), and then will take you to an Apple TV page for the show, and there it will give you the option to open Netflix and start episode 1. On Amazon Fire TV Stick, you can say, "Watch Stranger Things," and it will open Netflix automatically if you're logged into the app. On the Roku 4K stick, if you say, "Watch Stranger Things," it will take you right to the first episode in the app. Those are more hardware-side concerns, but interesting to note.
Once you're in the Netflix app, though, voice commands work the same across devices: Go to the Search tab, hold the microphone button to dictate, and say the name of the show you're looking for.
When you select a show or movie to watch, you have the option to fast-forward, rewind, add subtitles and change your audio settings. If you have a Premium account and a big enough 4K TV, watching in Ultra HD makes for a very cinematic experience. The show or movie you choose will also show up in your "Continue watching" section at the top of your homepage for easier access.
How much does Netflix cost?
Netflix offers three pricing plans: Basic, Standard and Premium. Here is how the costs and features break down:
Netflix plans
Basic
Standard
Premium
Monthly price
$10
$15.50
$20
Number of screens you can watch on at the same time
1
2
4
Number of phones or tablets you can have downloads on
1
2
4
HD available
No
Yes
Yes
Ultra HD available
No
No
Yes
All plans include the ability to watch on any device, and the full, unlimited collection of movies and TV shows. All allow cancellation at any time. Netflix also offers a one-month free trial.
Netflix's Basic plan costs more than Prime Video ($9 per month), more than Hulu's ad-based plan ($7 per month) but less than its more comparable no-ads plan ($13 per month). If you're on a shared Netflix account with family, chances are it's a Premium one ($20 per month) -- if you're actually splitting it between four people, that's only $5 per month each, and a strong value for all of the original content available, including some in 4K Ultra HD. Plus: No commercials on any plan.
What features do you get on Netflix?
Outside of general streaming, if you have the Standard or Premium plan, you can create different profiles for different users, and find your own list of personalized recommendations.
Netflix's recommendation game is strong, from "Because you watched" carousels that have been improved by the new "two thumbs up" feature, to the option to remove content from your home page, to its "Play Something" shuffle feature for when you're unsure what to stream.
The platform also has a particularly appealing kid's section, with a solid catalog of content including CoComelon, Pokemon: Master Journeys and Trolls: The Beat Goes On! and a much more kid-friendly user interface – including the mystery box feature added earlier this year.
If you subscribe to the Premium plan, you can watch certain shows and movies in 4K Ultra HD on 4K TVs. You'll need a steady internet connection speed of at least 25 megabits per second, and streaming quality set to Auto or High.
Netflix has more 4K content than just about any other streaming service, and a lot of its 4K shows and movies are also available in HDR. High dynamic range provides an even bigger improvement in image quality than 4K according to CNET's tests, with better contrast and color, and the difference is especially apparent on large, higher-end televisions. Netflix supports the two major HDR formats, generic HDR (aka HDR-10) as well as Dolby Vision. If you have a device that handles Dolby Vision, Netflix will play content (if available) in that format by default.
You can search for a selection of 4K TV shows and movies on the service with the Premium plan.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Data usage varies by format, ranging from about 1GB per hour for the standard-definition video to up to 7GB per hour for the highest-quality 4K streams. Downloading and streaming take up a similar amount of data, according to Netflix. If you want to avoid having Netflix eat up all of your data, you can take certain steps laid out on Netflix's website to adjust your data usage settings.
All subscribers can download TV shows and movies on the Netflix app on mobile devices for offline viewing, though certain titles aren't available to download.
Read more: 9 Handy Netflix Tricks That Can Help Make Streaming Better
Should you get it?
Netflix remains my favorite streaming platform of the increasingly large bunch. It has a huge selection of movies and TV shows old and new, tons of high-quality original programs, and an easy-to-navigate interface.
Even though it no longer offers a free trial, it's worth trying Netflix for a month if you want something new to watch.
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Microsoft Windows 10 review: Microsoft gets it right
Microsoft Windows 10 review: Microsoft gets it right
When Microsoft unveiled Windows 10 in 2015, it delivered an elegant operating system that could -- for the first time -- fulfill the potential of each modern computing form factor. Equally proficient on a touchscreen tablet, laptop, or conventional desktop PC, Windows 10 resuscitated the operating system's best features while setting the stage for Microsoft's ongoing innovation streak that includes idiosyncratic products like the Surface Pro 4, Surface Book and, more recently, the Surface Studio -- a desktop PC for artists and designers in need of high-end horsepower and display -- and the Surface Dial, a touch-friendly dial designed to facilitate fine contextual controls.
Late 2016 update
The next generation of the popular Surface tablet, the rumored Surface Pro 5, is expected to appear in the spring of 2017 -- timing that may coincide with the rollout of the next version of Windows, a free update scheduled for the first half of 2017. Windows "Creators Update" will introduce 4K video game streaming and support "augmented reality," bringing 3D capabilities to legacy applications such as Paint and PowerPoint. It will support 3D rendering for Microsoft's HoloLens technology, which will be incorporated into forthcoming devices from Acer, Lenovo, Dell, HP and Asus. And it will enable a virtual touchpad that lets you control external monitors from tablets, without need for a mouse.
It's worth mentioning that Apple delivered its own operating system overhaul in September 2016. MacOS Sierra added some new features inspired by its own mobile operating system. And though Apple clearly wishes to continue the integration of Macs and iOS products, providing additional incentives to keep your hardware inside Apple's walled garden, it's not always a perfect fit. In fact, the new MacBooks announced in early October 2016, equipped only with USB-C ports, can't connect to the new iPhone 7 and its Lightning Connector, without an adapter.
Editors' note:The original Microsoft Windows 10 review, first published in July 2015, follows.
Windows 10 is the Goldilocks version of Microsoft's venerable PC operating system -- a "just right" compromise between the familiar dependability of Windows 7, and the forward-looking touchscreen vision of Windows 8.
This new Windows, available as a free upgrade for existing Windows 7 and Windows 8 noncorporate users, is built from the ground up to pursue Microsoft's vision of a unified OS that spans all devices without alienating any one platform. It's an attempt to safeguard Microsoft's crumbling software hegemony, assailed on all sides by Google and Apple. And it's a vision of the future as Microsoft sees it, where a single user experience spans every piece of technology we touch. Welcome to Windows as a service.
Yes, this new OS is chock-full of fresh features. To name just a few: a lean, fast Internet Explorer replacement called Edge; Microsoft's Siri-like voice-controlled virtual assistant, Cortana; and the ability to stream real-time games to your desktop from an Xbox One in another room. (And in case you're wondering: there is no "Windows 9" -- Microsoft skipped it, going straight from 8 to 10.)
Windows 10 bridges the gap between PC and tablet.Nate Ralph/CNET
But Windows 10 is also the end of a long, awkward road that began with the release of Windows 8 in 2012, when Microsoft tried to convince a world of keyboard and mouse wielders that touchscreens were the way to go -- or else. Ironically, in 2015, the PC hardware for that touchscreen future is now here -- everything from 2-in-1s such as the Lenovo Yoga line to convertible tablets with detachable keyboards, like Microsoft's own Surface. And Windows 10 smoothly lets users transition from "tablet" to "PC" mode on such devices like never before.
For the rest of the PC universe -- including those who still prefer good old-fashioned keyboard and mouse navigation -- Windows 10 is a welcome return to form. The Start menu, inexplicably yanked from 8, is back and working the way you expect it to. Those live tiles from the Windows 8 home screen still exist, but they've been attached to the Start menu, where they make a lot more sense. And the fiendishly hidden Charms bar has been morphed into the more straightforward (and easier to find) Action Center.
As always, there are some quibbles and gripes with the end product, but all-in-all -- after living with Windows 10 for months -- I can say it's a winner. It's flexible, adaptable and customizable. And it's been battle-tested by an army of beta testers for the better part of a year, making it one of the most robust operating system rollouts in recent memory.
A fresh Start
The Start menu is back; it's almost funny how relieving that is. That humble Start button has been a fixture on the lower left corner of the Windows desktop since the halcyon days of Windows 95, offering speedy access to apps and settings. Press it on Windows 10, and you'll see the latest step in a long conversation about the state of the PC industry.
I spend more time than I'd like to admit rearranging the Start Menu.Screenshot by Nate Ralph/CNET
The past sits on the left: a neat column with shortcuts to your most used apps. Press the "All Apps" button and you'll get an alphabetical list of all of the apps installed on your PC. There are folders in there too -- press them, and extra options will fly out, just like they always have.
The future -- or at least, the future as Microsoft envisions it -- sits on the right side of the Start menu. These are the colorful, animated live tiles that debuted in Windows 8, pulling double duty as app shortcuts and informative widgets. You can resize these live tiles, drag them about to arrange them into groups and pin as many apps as you'd like -- the entire Start menu can be shrunk or expanded to suit your liking. It's essentially a miniaturized version of the fullscreen Start menu we saw in Windows 8. Hate live tiles? Then unpin them to excise them from your computer, leaving you with the narrow column of frequently used apps we've known for so long.
One step back, two steps forward
The Start menu in Windows 10 is admission that Windows 8 maybe have been a bit too forward thinking. But Microsoft hasn't abandoned that vision of unifying all manner of devices under a single operating system: Continuum in Windows 10 is the latest attempt to bridge the gap between touch and non-touch devices, and this time it doesn't force us to relearn how to work with our PCs.
To start, there's no divide between the Windows 8-style "Modern" apps you get from the Windows app store, and those you install the old-fashioned way. Everything exists as a traditional windowed app, sharing space on the desktop. If you're on a two-in-one device like Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 , pop the keyboard off and Windows 10 will switch to tablet mode. The Start menu and your apps will stretch to take up the entire screen, and all of the miscellaneous apps and shortcuts on your taskbar will disappear, to give your finger fewer obstacles to hit.
Apps go fullscreen, and the taskbar gets a little less cluttered in tablet mode.Screenshot by Nate Ralph/CNET
Reattach the keyboard, and everything slots back into place. It's an instantaneous, seamless process (once you've shooed away the annoying confirmation window). It's also entirely optional: you can disable the feature and switch to tablet mode manually, or forget that this whole touch concept exists at all.
This is what Windows 8 always should've been: an operating system that bridges the divide between touch and non-touch, without alienating folks who fall into one camp or the other. Like it or not, the future belongs to devices with touchscreens. But Microsoft (finally) understands that we'll all get there at own pace, and Continuum makes the transition painless. And now that there are so many hybrid devices to choose from, making the switch to touch without abandoning the interface we know is more important than ever.
Learning new tricks
Microsoft hasn't stopped at making touch make sense on a Windows PC. With Windows 10, just about every facet of the OS has been tweaked and updated, and a few new features have been rolled in. In typical Microsoft fashion, there's a dizzying array of keyboard shortcuts and touch gestures for each of these features, giving you no fewer than three ways to access the things you're trying to get to. No need to memorize them all -- just use whatever suits you (or your device) best.
Virtual desktops
If I had to pick my favorite new feature, I'd go with virtual desktops. Click the new Task View button on the taskbar and you'll get a bird's-eye view of all of the apps you've got open. Drag one of those apps onto the "new desktop" button, and it'll be moved to its own independent workspace. I can keep one workspace focused on work, a separate desktop for gaming forums, yet another workspace for the new camera lenses I'm checking out; there's no limit to the amount of virtual desktops you can create, and each one is treated as its own little private island.
Virtual desktops help you spread your apps across several workspaces.Screenshot by Nate Ralph/CNET
Virtual desktops are far from a new development, and they've been available in past versions of Windows thanks to third-party apps. But it's nice to see Microsoft catching up here. The feature could still use some work: desktops are numbered, but if you create a lot of them it can be hard to keep track of where everything is. The "traditional" Win32 apps you might download and install from a website are happy to open a new instance on any desktop, while clicking the shortcut on an app from the Windows store will yank you back to whatever desktop you used it on last.
You can move apps across virtual desktops -- just drag them, or right-click to shunt them over -- but there's no way to reorder the virtual desktops themselves, which would be really useful for staying organized. I'd also like to be able to set a different wallpaper for every virtual desktop -- I can do both of those things in Apple's OSX operating system, and have always found it really handy.
Windows Snap
The Snap feature introduced in Windows 7 has gotten a bit of an upgrade, too. Drag an app to the left or right side of the screen, and it'll "snap" to fill that space. The new Snap Assist feature will then chime in, showing you little thumbnails of any other apps that are currently open -- click a thumbnail, and it'll fill up the remaining space. You can also snap an app into a corner of your display and fill your screen with up to four apps, divided equally across the screen -- this could prove useful for folks with massive monitors.
Action Center
The new Action Center replaces the "Charms" introduced in Windows 8, and is another nod to mobile operating systems. Click the Action center icon on the taskbar to bring up a panel that houses all of your app notifications, and offers quick access to a few important system settings, like toggling your Wi-Fi network or switching in and out of tablet mode -- you can choose the options that turn up here in the settings menu. If you're coming from Windows 7 and have no idea where to find some of the settings you're used to, there's a good chance you'll find them here.
Wi-Fi Sense
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Wi-Fi Sense. While technically not a new feature (it's part of Windows Phone 8.1) its presence in Windows 10 should've been a welcome addition: Wi-Fi Sense connects your devices to trusted Wi-Fi hotspots.
I love the idea. Automatically sharing Wi-Fi credentials with my friends would remove much of the hassle of most social gatherings, when people just want to jump on my Wi-Fi network. And -- this part is key -- Wi-Fi Sense doesn't share your actual password, so it theoretically eases a social transaction (the sharing of Wi-Fi connectivity) without necessarily compromising my network security.
Until Wi-Fi sense offers granular control over sharing, I'd avoid it.Screenshot by Nate Ralph/CNET
But the implementation is, in a word, daft. I do want to automatically share my network with a select group of friends who are visiting, and have them return the favor. I don't want to automatically share access with everyone in my Outlook address book, or on Skype, or the random assortment of folks I've added on Facebook over the years. Give me the ability to choose who I share access with, down to the individual, and I'll give it a shot. Until then, I'll be leaving Wi-Fi Sense off -- I recommend you do too.
Windows Hello and Windows Passport
Microsoft is also beefing up security with Windows Hello. The feature will use your Windows 10 devices' camera or a fingerprint scanner to turn your body into a password. Once you've authenticated yourself with Windows Hello, Windows Passport will then give you access to a number of third-party sites and products, without forcing you to log in all over again. This should make it a bit more convenient to log in to your devices, so you don't skimp on traditional measures, like having a robust password. The only catch is that Hello isn't widely supported on a lot of existing hardware: you'll need a device sporting Intel's RealSense camera, or a fingerprint scanner.
Chatting with Cortana
Microsoft's virtual assistant Cortana isn't exactly a new feature, as she's been on Windows Phone for just over a year. But the company's answer to Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa and Google Now has made the transition to the desktop with Windows 10, taking over the OS' search functionality, while also handling quite a few housekeeping duties. You can have Cortana trawl through your email and calendar, and keep you notified of any upcoming flights you're taking, or packages you're expecting. She can set reminders and track stocks, and you can even dictate email messages for her to send to your contacts. Cortana can also be set to listen for you to say "Hey, Cortana," and can be trained to recognize several different voices. If you want to learn more about Cortana, head over to my preview on Microsoft's virtual assistant .
Cortana will help you get things done.James Martin/CNET
I'm torn. I love Google Now's proactive stream of useful information, served to me whenever I need it. But my primary mobile device is an Android phone and not a Windows Phone, which keeps my interactions with Cortana sequestered to my desktop.
She's not especially useful here. Windows 10's Voice recognition is rather accurate, but if I have to send an email message and I'm at my desk, I'm just going to use my email client. She'll offer recommendations for places to eat or things to see, but that'd be a lot more useful when I'm out and about than at my desk. The same goes for reminders, which are decidedly less useful if I can't access them anywhere.
Cortana will be making her way to Android and iOS devices later this year, which should clear up most of these issues -- provided most of her functionality crosses platforms without issue. I'll still turn to Cortana for the occasional joke, but until it's available on a phone I use regularly, I'll be sticking to Google for Now.
Microsoft Edge rethinks the browser
Microsoft has added a brand-new browser into Windows 10, and it's called Microsoft Edge. Introducing a new browser in a world that already has Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Apple's Safari is a pretty bold move. Doubly so when your previous effort was Internet Explorer -- once a juggernaut in the space, now the Internet's favorite punchline.
Annotate webpages with Microsoft's Edge browser.James Martin/CNET
Edge is a fast, modern browser that offers quite a few commendable features. Cortana is integrated right into the browser, and she'll offer detailed information on things like the weather or flight statuses while you're typing into the browser's address bar. Navigate over to a bar or restaurant's website, and Cortana can pull up a little sidebar full of useful information, like reviews or directions. The webnote feature lets you scribble on webpages and share your annotations to OneNote or via email, and you can use the Reading view option to strip a website down to its bare essentials. Edge has also been built with tighter security from the start, to hopefully circumvent some of the headaches that erupted from Internet Explorer.
But there are no extensions to tame overzealous advertisements, or enhance websites like Reddit, or simply organized my tabs -- I've been thoroughly spoiled by Google Chrome. There's no way to sync tabs or bookmarks across devices, and you currently can't import bookmarks from other browsers. All those features will be available eventually, with support for extensions coming sometime before the end of the year -- like Windows 10, Edge is a constantly evolving work in progress. But it's going to take a lot for someone like me, wholly enmeshed in Google's ecosystem, to ditch Chrome for something new. Internet Explorer also isn't going anywhere: it'll remain a part of Windows for the foreseeable future, as legacy apps are dependent on it. Head over to my Microsoft Edge preview to learn more about Microsoft Edge .
Getting your game on
Windows 10 adds and tweaks a few things in the entertainment department. The Xbox Video and Xbox Music apps have been renamed to Movies & TV and Groove Music, respectively. Their function is identical: any music and video files on your device can be found here, but it mostly serves as a means to convince you to buy or rent content from Microsoft's stores. You've got plenty of streaming services to choose from, for music and video.
Xbox Live achievements for Solitaire? Brilliant.Screenshot by Nate Ralph/CNET
If you're a gamer, the Xbox app will prove far more interesting. It's a window into your Xbox Live feed, letting you see what your friends are up to and send them messages, browse recordings people have made, compare achievements, and all of the expected ways of interacting with the social network. But if you own an Xbox One, you can stream activity from your console to any device running Windows 10.
It's awesome. No, it's not a game changer, and certainly not a reason to run out and grab an Xbox One. But it's still awesome: if someone wants to use the television, I can just plug an Xbox One controller into one of my PCs and continue plugging away at the Xbox One version of The Witcher 3 . The quality of the experience is going to be dependent on your network, so I'd recommend making sure both your console and the PC you're streaming to are connect to your LAN. The console also can't be used by others when it's streaming so this won't enable cooperative gaming. But if you frequently find yourself sharing the TV and have a PC with Windows 10 on hand, it's a fun little addition that could come in handy.
Handy tools for shutterbugs
The new Photos app isn't going to replace something like Adobe Lightroom, but if you take a lot of photos and are looking for a simple tool to keep things organized, you'll do well here.
Use the Photos app to make quick, non-destructive edits to your pictures.Screenshot by Nate Ralph/CNET
The Photos app scans your devices and OneDrive account for photos, and automatically arranges them into albums. You can use the app as a way to keep track of your pictures, but it also offers some basic editing tools too. If you prefer a hands-off approach, Photos will automatically enhance all of the photos it finds, wrangling red eye and sorting out exposure levels -- it works on RAW files, too. But don't worry: the edits Photos makes are non-destructive, so you can undo any changes it makes, or prevent it from altering your photos altogether.
Windows, everywhere
Windows 10 has finally arrived, but this version of Windows is fundamentally different from any that have come before it. It will truly be an everywhere OS, a concept Microsoft will be pushing with Windows 10 Mobile , and Universal Apps. We've been here before: apps developed for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 could share much of their code, which was supposed to make it easy to create a single app that ran everywhere.
Microsoft's universal apps share an identical codebase: the Excel client on your desktop, for example, will be the exact same client as the one on your phone, with elements adjusted to make sense of the different display, and the lack of a keyboard or mouse. You can currently get a taste of this on the latest version of Windows 10 Mobile, and while I wouldn't recommend editing spreadsheets on your smartphone, it's possible.
Universal apps will lead to their own challenges, as developers will have to weigh creating rich, robust apps that can run on a mobile device, against developing apps that can make use of all of the power a full PC can bring to bear. Microsoft is already drafting a solution using Continuum. Microsoft has demonstrated Continuum for phones: plug a Windows Phone into a display, and the interface will one day morph to mimic the PC-based version of Windows. You'll see the desktop, desktop-versions of Windows Store apps, and get full mouse and keyboard support. There's no word on when Continuum for phones will be available, or what devices it'll run on, but it offers a tantalizing glimpse of what Microsoft has in store.
Getting ready for what's next
The Windows Update process will be key to getting everyone on board with Microsoft's vision of the future of Windows. It'll also prove to be one of the most contentious elements: if you're running the standard Home version of Windows 10, updates are automatic and can't be refused.
This is a great thing. Windows' Achilles' heel has long been its nigh-ubiquity, which makes it a prime target for malware and other digital nastiness. A computer that's kept up to date is a happy computer, as it will offer you the best chance of avoiding viruses and other unpleasant things.
You can delay updates, but you can't avoid them.Screenshot by Nate Ralph/CNET
This is also a terrible thing. Many of us have encountered software updates that don't quite work out, occasionally breaking more than they fix. One of the last updates to the Windows 10 preview has been triggering software crashes, a recurring reminder that things occasionally don't work out as intended.
Microsoft has plans in place to mitigate these snafus: those of us who've signed up for the Windows Insider program can opt to continue serving as beta testers in perpetuity, and we'll be receiving every update first, for better or worse. But an army of five million testers could go a long way toward making sure these compulsory updates go as smoothly as possible. Insiders will also be able to continue driving the future of Windows by sharing feedback on features and functionality in Windows as they are developed.
I still worry that something will eventually slip through the cracks, and that will be the forced update that sours everyone's mood on the whole process. But I still favor Microsoft's approach: better to deal with the occasional botched update than have the legion of vulnerable or compromised devices that currently exists.
Conclusion
In an ideal world, we'd just call Microsoft's latest operating system "Windows," and sweep version numbers and codenames under the rug. That "10" gives the impression that something comes next, when in reality Windows is transitioning from something you buy (begrudgingly) once every few years, to a living document that's constantly being updated, and tweaked. For many Windows users expecting a predictable upgrade cadence, this is going to be a difficult transition.
Windows 10 will mean the end of grand, sweeping changes, with a marked increase in the sort of minute, quality-of-life tweaks we've grown accustomed to on our smartphones and tablets. Cortana will learn new tricks, and the interface will become flexible enough to support entirely new kinds of devices, like Microsoft's HoloLens . Should Windows Phone survive, we'll eventually see the world Microsoft envisioned back at the launch of Windows 8, when every device was supposed to feel right at home.
All of that comes later. What we have, at present, is a fast, functional OS that that is equally at home on a beefy gaming rig as it is on a Surface tablet. It does everything you expect it to, and bakes in all of the improvements Windows 8 brought to bear. Both Cortana and Edge have a long road ahead of them before they'll supplant Google's vicelike grip on my digital life, but the novelty of dictating emails and requests to my PC is not lost on me. And then there's the price: free, for those upgrading from Windows 7 or Windows 8.
If you're running Windows 7 or Windows 8 you've little to lose, and quite a bit to gain, by making the jump to Windows 10. If you're still on Windows XP, you've probably got your reasons. But Windows 10 marks the first steps in a transition from operating system to ecosystem, a wild dream that gets a little less crazy every time I ask my PC a question, or pop the keyboard of my laptop to get some reading done. This is Microsoft's second attempt at bringing us the future, and this time they're getting it right.
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8K TV Explained, and Why You Definitely Don't Need to Buy One
8K TV Explained, and Why You Definitely Don't Need to Buy One
Believe it or not, 8K TVs are available right now. Yep, 8K, as in four times the resolution of Ultra HD 4K TVs. You can, if you really want to, buy models from Samsung, Sony, LG and TCL in a variety of sizes. As you'd expect from cutting-edge technology with over 30 million pixels, the prices are quite high. In most cases 8K TVs cost more than a high-end, and often higher-quality, 4K TV.
Should you consider an 8K TV? Are they the best TVs out there? In a word: No. In two words: Not yet. You're better off getting a high-quality 4K TV for far less money. It will look better with 99.9% of the content you put on it. That said, 8K is here, and it's not going away, so it's worth taking a closer look. You'll need to look very close, as those pixels are tiny.
Eventually 8K will be far more mainstream. It's possible 4K will go the way of all those lower resolutions, and be relegated to tech history. Does this mean your 4K TV is already obsolete? Should you wait to buy a new TV until 8K prices drop? Do you need an 8K TV for the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X? Read on for the answer to all these questions and more.
Read more: PS5 and Xbox Series X Can Game in 8K Resolution. Should You Care?
This shows the relative number of pixels in each of the major resolution formats. Not actual size of course; this is a chart not a visual representation (though it is to scale if you click on it). From largest to smallest: 8K (tangerine), 4K Cinema in 1.78:1 aspect ratio (black); Ultra HD (white); 2K Cinema in 1.78:1 aspect ratio (green); Full HD 1080p (red); 720p (blue). For more detail, pun intended, check out 4K vs. 8K vs. 1080p: TV resolutions explained.
Geoffrey Morrison/CNET
Is it worth buying an 8K TV?
Here's a quick summary of our current thinking regarding 8K TVs in early 2022.
Unless you have money to burn, don't even consider buying one right now.
From what we've seen, there's little, if any, image quality improvement over 4K TVs.
Any improvement we have seen required sitting very close to a very large screen.
To get the most out of any 8K TV, you need actual 8K content (and there basically isn't any).
Both new consoles promise 8K resolution, but that's potentially misleading.
In the next few years 8K TVs will get cheaper and perhaps actually be worth considering.
To reiterate, one of the biggest reasons 8K TVs are not as amazing as you might expect, besides their price, is that there simply aren't any 8K TV shows or movies to watch on them. And while the latest gaming consoles will eventually do 8K (maybe), 8K games today are basically nonexistent. The best you can get in most cases is 4K, so all those extra pixels of an 8K TV won't be used to their fullest potential.
Now that you've slid your wallet back into your pocket, sit back and soak in everything there is to know about 8K TVs today.
Read more: Remember When TVs Weighed 200 Pounds? A Look Back at TV Trends Over the Years
What is 8K, and is it better than a 4K TV?
A traditional HDTV from a few years ago is 1080p, which means it has 1,920 pixels horizontally and 1,080 vertically. Many digital cinema projectors -- the ones in movie theaters -- have a resolution of 2,048x1,080. Because it's common in Hollywood-speak to only refer to the horizontal resolution, they call that "2K," but it's basically the same as the HDTV 1080p you have at home.
Mathias Appel/HDMI Licensing
The term "4K" comes from the digital cinema side, too, with a horizontal resolution of 4,096, hence "4K." However, on the TV side, manufacturing efficiencies meant we got double the horizontal and vertical resolutions of 1080p HDTV, so 3,840x2,160 pixels. Everyone colloquially calls this "4K," though the technical term is Ultra HD. This has four times as many pixels as 1080p HD.
Which brings us to 8K. You guessed it: twice the horizontal and vertical resolution of 4K, for a whopping 7,680x4,320 and 33,177,600 total pixels. Not only is that four times the resolution of 4K, that's an incredible 16 times more pixels than 1080p. Or to put that differently, you could put 16 full-resolution 1080p videos on an 8K screen at the same time with no loss of quality. I'm not sure why you'd want to do this, but hey, why not?
Read more: 4K vs. 8K vs. 1080p: TV Resolutions Explained
TV and projector resolutions
Resolution name
Horizontal x vertical pixels
Total pixels
Other names
Found on
8K
7,680x4,320
33,177,600
8K Ultra HD, Ultra High Definition (UHD), Super Hi-Vision, UHD-2
High-end TVs
4K
3,840x2,160
8,294,400
Ultra High Definition (UHD)
Most modern TVs, some projectors
1080p
1,920x1,080
2,073,600
High Definition (HD)
Smaller, less expensive and older TVs, most projectors
720p
1,280x720
921,600
High Definition (HD)
Very small and older TVs
The Consumer Technology Association's 8K Ultra HD logo.
CTA
One thing to look for in new 8K TVs: It will feature the official logo and "spec" on new 8K TVs. This goes beyond raw pixel count to help you find TVs that perform to at least a certain standard. This is partly to avoid the mess from the early days of HD and 4K, where some of the first TVs couldn't accept a full HD or later, a 4K signal. The Consumer Technology Association lays out the following minimums a TV is required to have to wear the 8K Ultra HD logo:
At least 7,680 pixels horizontally and 4,320 vertically.
At least one HDMI input capable of accepting that resolution, at 50 or 60 fps (depending on region), with HDR.
The ability to upconvert lower resolution signals to 8K.
The ability to receive and display 10-bit content.
Can the human eye even see 8K?
Technically yes it can, but the difference will be very subtle at best.
As we've explained many times with 4K TVs, there's a point of diminishing returns when it comes to resolution. The human eye can see only so much detail, and extra pixels beyond what you can discern are basically wasted. To get anything out of higher resolutions and their proportionally tinier pixels, you need to sit closer, get a bigger TV, or both.
It's rare that anyone gets a large enough TV -- or sits close enough to one -- to justify the need for even 4K resolutions. 8K is excessive overkill... at least for a TV. If you're talking about massive theater-size screens like Samsung's Wall or Sony's Crystal LED, 8K would be amazing. But since 4K is hard to discern when comparing to a 1080p TV, 4K to 8K from 10 feet away will be pretty much impossible.
That said, because 8K TVs are currently the most expensive offerings from most companies, they often have features which help them produce stunning images that are completely divorced from resolution. So most 8K TVs, with the likely exception of the "cheap" models, will usually look great regardless of their pixel count.
Read more: Best 4K Projectors for 2022
TCL's 65-inch 8K 6-Series TV.
TCL
8K content: Can I actually watch anything in 8K?
Without 8K content, an 8K TV is just a 4K TV with a few thousand dollars stuck to it with duct tape. Samsung talks up fancy "AI" upscaling technology on its TVs, designed to improve the look of mere 4K and 1080p sources on an 8K screen. And other TV makers like Sony and LG have touted their own 8K special sauces. But to get the most out of all those 33 million-plus pixels, the incoming source needs to be 8K too.
There are three main aspects to getting any new format, like 8K, into your home:
1. Content recorded in the new format
2. Transmission of the new format (broadcast, streaming, etc.)
3. Playback of the new format
An 8K TV represents the last part of the system: playback. That's the easy part. Any TV manufacturer can design and produce a TV with any resolution it wants. It's just up to the company and its resources.
Creating content in the new resolution, meanwhile, is a lot tougher. While the number of 8K-capable cameras has dramatically increased in the last few years, they're still expensive to buy or rent. In most cases, these cameras are used to create 4K content instead. There are lots of reasons it's a great idea to capture in 8K. The end result, however, is 4K, because of the second part of the process (transmission).
Read more: How I Built My Dream 8K-Capable Video Editing PC
The Red Monstro 8K VV "Brain" has a 35.4-megapixel CMOS sensor, can record 8K video at 60 fps, has over 17 stops of dynamic range, and costs -- brace yourself -- $54,500.
Red
Ultra HD 4K transmission takes a lot of data. You need a really fast internet connection to stream it. Streaming 8K is a whole other level, well beyond what many have in their homes. With only a tiny percentage of their audience able to see it, mainstream streaming services are slow to adopt higher resolutions, with the increase in cost of storage, processing and more.
Which is all to say, don't expect 8K versions of your favorite streaming shows anytime soon. And without 8K content, the main benefit of an 8K TV is at least partially wasted.
Do I need 8K to play Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5 games?
Both Sony and Microsoft have announced that their next-generation gaming consoles, the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X, will both be capable of outputting 8K resolution via future updates. Sounds like a great excuse to buy an 8K TV, right? Not so fast.
First, and most important, you will not need an 8K TV to play games on these consoles. They will work just fine on most 1080p and nearly all 4K TVs. If you can connect a PS4 or Xbox One to your current TV, it will work with a PS5 or Xbox Series X.
Read more:Sony PS5 vs. Microsoft Xbox Series X: Game On
Secondly, games will need to be specifically written to take advantage of 8K, something that isn't going to be particularly common. The resolution you see on screen, even if your TV says it's 8K, might not be what resolution the console is rendering the game. It will likely be far more common for the console to build the game's visuals at a lower resolution, 1440p or 4K at best, and convert to 8K to send your TV. This is the same thing your TV does automatically.
Andrew Hoyle/CNET
A Sony spokesperson confirmed that this FAQ, published on the PlayStation blog in November 2020, was still the case: "PS5 is compatible with 8K displays at launch, and after a future system software update will be able to output resolutions up to 8K when content is available, with supported software." We're still waiting for that update.
"Xbox Series X is fully capable of 8K output. However, as there is no media content or games that currently support 8K resolution, we have not enabled the option within the system settings at this time. Xbox Series X was designed with the next 8 to 10 years of advancements in mind, and as we see signals from creators and 8K becomes a more widely adopted format, we will update console software to support it," a Microsoft spokesperson said.
Long story short, few games will look much different on an 8K TV than they will on a 4K TV. There is limited time and money when you develop a game (well, most games), and few developers will want to invest those limited resources on something only a handful of people will be able to enjoy. Far more likely are games rendered in 4K with higher frame rates, something else made possible by the latest version of HDMI and available on the new consoles.
Read more: 120Hz Gaming: Best TVs for PS5 and Xbox Series X
Where can I stream 8K? Do Netflix or YouTube support it?
Getting the 8K onto your new 8K TV is also a bit of a challenge. Ideally, the TV's internal apps for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and the rest will be 8K compatible. You'd think that'd be a given, but it wasn't in the early days of 4K. Further, there's no 8K content from any major streaming service available yet. The exceptions are YouTube, as you see in the video below, Vimeo and a new service called The Explorers exclusive to 8K Roku TVs. Eventually, ATSC 3.0, also known as Next Gen TV, might allow 8K to be broadcast over the air, but we're a long way from that.
How fast does your internet need to be to stream 8K?
8K also presents another issue for the early adopter: The bandwidth required is immense. Most 4K content streaming companies recommend you have an internet connection in the 20Mbps range. 8K, even with everything else the same, has four times as many pixels.
That doesn't equate exactly to a 4x increase in data or bandwidth, but, and this is just a ballpark guess, a connection requirement in the 40 to 50Mbps range wouldn't be unexpected. Maybe you, cutting-edge CNET reader, have that kind of speed, but most people do not.
A visual representation of how much more bandwidth the upcoming Ultra High Speed cables can handle.
HDMI Forum
What kind of HDMI cable do I need for 8K?
One thing we've already got is the physical connection thing sorted in case any 8K media streamers hit the market or they're needed for the PS5 and Xbox Series X. HDMI 2.1 is capable of 8K resolutions and more. But before you rush out and stock up on HDMI 2.1-compatible cables, keep in mind there will almost certainly be a new standard between now and the wide adoption of 8K. So those cables might be obsolete, despite their current forward-looking appearance.
All of the major 8K TV makers say that their sets have HDMI 2.1 inputs capable of handling the 48Mbps bandwidth required for the highest resolution and frame-rate combinations (8K and 60 frames per second and 4K at 120 fps). We also got a look at some new, higher-bandwidth HDMI cables.
To take advantage of higher 4K frame rates on the new consoles, presuming your TV can handle them, you might need new cables.
Read more: When is the Best Time to Buy a TV?
Is 8K TV a gimmick?
To put on my cynic hat, increasing resolution is one of the easiest ways to offer the appearance of higher performance. This is likely what TV makers are smoking, coming out with 8K TVs when there's essentially no content and no 8K infrastructure.
Given how easy it was to market 4K as "better looking than 1080p," TV makers are claiming the same thing with 8K. But resolution is just one aspect of overall picture quality, and not one of the most important ones. Improving other aspects, such as contrast ratios, overall brightness for HDR, more lifelike colors and so on, offer better image improvements but they are significantly harder to implement. This is especially true for LCD, which is a technology Samsung is still strongly flogging -- e.g. all of its QLED TVs are simply LCD TVs with quantum dots.
It's relatively easy to create a higher-resolution LCD panel, but improving the other aspects of performance for that tech is a greater challenge. Not "more" pixels but "better" pixels. This is why OLED is a thing, and why many companies are researching new technologies like true direct-view quantum dot displays, MicroLED, and mini-LED. Samsung is even coming out with an OLED-quantum dot hybrid that promises to combine the contrast ratio of OLED and the bright colors of quantum dot-based displays. These technologies, regardless of resolution, should look better than 8K TVs, which are currently only LCD-based.
Well, except for LG's OLED, which costs $20-$30,000 depending on size.
Direct-view quantum dot display.
Nanosys
Bottom line: Don't wait for 8K
If you're thinking about buying a new TV, does this mean you should hold off? If your current TV works, you should probably hold on to it regardless. New 8K TVs shouldn't be a factor, because as we mentioned above, early 8K TVs are expensive. We're also many, many years away from any sort of widespread 8K content. We arguably don't have widespread 4K content, and no one is talking about scrapping 4K to go directly to 8K.
The other aspect is a warning that will be seconded by countless 4K early adopters: There's no guarantee these early 8K TVs will end up being compatible with any future 8K standard. There are tens of thousands of 4K TVs that can't play any current 4K media content.
Lastly, even as prices drop, like they have with the $2,200 TCL 8K 6-series, you're almost certainly better off with a 4K TV for the same money. It offers better picture quality overall and only lacks the bragging rights that you have more pixels than your neighbor. But if that's your thing, go for it.
Update, March 14, 2022: This article was first published in 2018 and is regularly updated with new info.
As well as covering TV and other display tech, Geoff does photo tours of cool museums and locations around the world, including nuclear submarines, massive aircraft carriers, medieval castles, epic 10,000 mile road trips, and more. Check out Tech Treks for all his tours and adventures.
He wrote a bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines, along with a sequel. You can follow his adventures on Instagram and his YouTube channel.
