streaming

Documentaries are hot right now. Whether you're watching President Obama narrate Our Great National Parks with your kids, baking in the schadenfreude of Bad Vegan , or learning about culture and history through movies like What Happened …

This year, we want to stream the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but of course, we happened to have cut our cable cord years ago. Instead, we rely on several streaming services — mainly Netflix, the free HBOMax subscription that came with our phone …

In a typical Oscars year , I'm pretty much an expert on the (ahem) animated film category , but when it comes to the best picture or documentary feature film categories, I've maybe seen one or two movies. But 2020 was anything but typica…

Anyone else confused about the HBO offerings? There's HBO Go, HBO Max, HBO Now, HBO Later (Okay, I just made that one up, but you get the idea). But the good news is that HBO has finally taken the hint from confused consumers and start c…

Anyone else missing trips to your local movie theater? I know I am, which is why I've been researching the best home projectors for backyard movie nights, which seem to be the closest we're going to get to sitting in a theater anytime so…

Oh hi there, fellow anxious, friends. How are you holding up? It's been quite a stressful week, and I don't see it letting up anytime soon, so I'm doing my best to give my brain a little break, and one way that I do that is binge-watchin…

What you do after the kids are in bed on Valentine's Day -- that's your business. What you do while the kids are still up and wanting to hang out with you though? Well, we can help with that. As the resident cinephile, I've put together …

My husband already had the new Disney+ streaming service locked and loaded on our Roku TV yesterday morning. And even though there were a few glitches with it on mobile, we had no problems perusing the many offerings and watching a coupl…

If you haven't heard, Disney is launching a paid streaming service in November that everyone is talking about and well, based on the Disney+ launch show line-up we're seeing, we're not surprised about the hype. We just got a peek at ever…

If there's ever a time when we deserve some extra hours parked in front of a screen, it's the week after Christmas when we are all coming down from the excitement of the holidays. And if you are a Roku customer, make sure you check out R…

We have a few Thanksgiving traditions in our family: mom's pumpkin pie, a turkey that's never quite ready when we expect it to be, and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on TV. Because Lucy, Linus and the rest of the gang are just a sentimenta…

Thanks to comedian Chelsea Peretti, Netflix is about to get a whole lot of movie and TV requests. She recently discovered a link on the Netflix site that allows you to submit your suggestions for what you'd like to see offered. Related: …

With so many of us mourning the passing of Stephen Hawking, and celebrating his many contributions to the world of science, it leaves a lot of our kids asking who he was, what he did, and what he believed -- and some of us adults are int…

The PyeongChang Winter Olympics are here, hooray, which for us means staying up way too late to watch which athletes will take home the gold. So much for sleep these next few weeks. If you're wondering how to stay tuned in to all the act…

We know lots of families, like us, who have ditched cable and completely switched over to a streaming devices, like a Roku or Roku TV . So, when we got an email from our friends at Roku sharing their most searched TV shows, films, and ce…

You know the frustration of sitting down for family movie night, searching Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, but not finding the show you've been so excited to watch, right? Well, we thought we'd share some other sites that stream great movie…

The mixtape will just not go away, and that's just fine by me. In this case, the beloved cassette of the days of yore now comes in form of a new MP3 player called the Mixxtape , courtesy of wildly popular Kickstarter campaign that blew a…

Your Valentine's Day just got a whole lot more romantic thanks to the official news that Prince is now available on Spotify and Apple Music. Whoo! That's right, all of his albums can be streamed all day, and... all night. Ahem. Start off…

This is a sponsored message from DISH HopperGO Ever wish you could take all of your favorite shows on the go, without having to download them all to your mobile device? And watch them without the worry that you won't have access to WiFi?…

Being a total Prime junkie who likes getting the most out of my membership (hello, free shipping + Transparent !) I was excited to learn that now Prime members will get exclusive access to free streaming PBS Kids series . Then I realized…

With the warm weather here, I'm spending much more time outside with my family, whether it's just eating dinner outside or having a few friends over for an impromptu gathering. And to spruce my little outdoor space up a bit, I think I mi…

I love family movie nights, especially on those rare occasions when it takes less than 15 minutes for the kids to agree on what we're going to watch. So when I heard about a new wireless projector called CINEMOOD that lets you bring fami…

It's pretty rare that I watch a new release or an Oscar-nominated movie in any kind of timely manner, but today's launch of a new service called FandangoNOW may make the impossible possible. We primarily know Fandango for movie listings …

I'd been considering cutting the cable cord for about a year before I actually took the plunge. My kids and I rarely ever watch cable, and pretty much never use the landline (I don't think I ever actually learned that phone number!), so …

Ah, remember the days that you'd run to Blockbuster Video Christmas eve to find there was like one copy of Silent Night, Deadly Nigh t left and that was pretty much it? No more! We asked our staff and our Facebook fans for their favorite…

The annual Apple announcement always marks the passage of yet another year for those of us in tech -- and is also a reminder of the new, shiny iOS features that my current iPhone now lacks. Each September, we come to expect a flurry of n…

Even though our kids will be getting lots of STEM in school these days (at least, we hope so), we love the idea of encouraging their love of learning about science, math, and related subjects outside the classroom too. YouTube can actual…

For well over a decade, people have been talking -- or more like yelling -- about being hamstrung by cable companies. Some had-it-up-to-here folks have started cutting the cable cord and looking for more manageable, customized ways of wa…

It's been awhile since we first mentioned Common Sense Media on Cool Mom Picks back in 2009. Since I check it so often, like to remind myself whether there are any pikes through the head in Hunger Games , or whether The Bad News Bear s i…

My kids are already saying they're bored during the afternoon when it's too hot to play outside too long. So yeah, they may be getting more screen time than usual, but I've been trying to justify it by finding some educational YouTube ch…

I will never have the 26. 2 sticker on my car, because let's be honest here, the only marathon I'll ever be training for is right on my television. That is why I need this hilarious shirt in my life. I always find myself cracking up at p…

Trying to manage my three kids' time spent and content viewed on all of the various devices we have in this house is one of the most thankless, naggy job out there. They don't fully understand why I say "no" to the newest app, or why You…

Plenty of coolness was rolled out at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference this week, and we're here to share the intel with you that we think parents will care about most. And yeah, non parents too. The biggest news is that Apple iOS …

We're huge Spotify fans in my home and on the go (in case you were still wondering whether moms actually know how to use Spotify ), and now with the big New Spotify announcement yesterday, I've suddenly got a few more reasons to love thi…

As an avowed Roku devotee -- a word that's hardly strong enough considering I've convinced most of my relatives to invest in one -- I was excited to check out the new Roku 3 that just came out this spring. Let's just say, they had me at …

I finally sat down and took a good hard look at my cable bill and...whoa. When I consider that there are probably only 4-5 cable channels I really watch, aside from premiums HBO and Showtime; I do pretty much all my watching on Netflix ,…

Before I had kids, I mostly visited YouTube to watch random music videos and the occasional hair tutorial. Now, in addition to curling iron how-tos, I find myself searching for family-friendly shows and videos to hold my son's attention …

I'm not even kidding that when I heard the the word Meerkat being tossed around for the past couple of weeks, I thought to myself, Is that Meerkat Manor show back on TV again? But then, when the Periscope live streaming app for Twitter l…

If you're like me and watch Netflix on your computer or use it to browse easily and add titles to your queue, then you will want to add the new God Mode bookmarklet to your browser right now. This makes it so you can actually see all the…

If there's one thing that will throw off my whole zen vibe, it's seeing that "you're out of memory" alert pop up on my tech devices when I try to download an app or take a video. I almost want to turn to my gadget and say: You're the sma…

I cannot tell you how excited I am about the new YouTube Kids app that just launched today. Over the years, we're continually asked how to find great videos for kids on YouTube by parents, and while we've shared various safer YouTube app…

It's very #firstworldproblems, true, but it's a tad annoying to click away from your work and log into a new app in order to see what's happening with your streaming music. The genius Skip Tunes , makes sure this little inconvenience is …

As our resident Sonos evangelist - although not the only one around here - I'm always excited when they launch something new, because their product releases tend to come slowly but thoughtfully. And today (as in, right now this very seco…

Unfortunately this site is no longer around. Bummer. The extensive selection on Netflix is both a blessing and a curse--so many titles I've never heard of, but that also means I have no idea if they'll be right for my family or even some…

The stats are sobering: Women only account for 26 percent of the STEM jobs in the U.S. So there's been a recent, nationwide nudge to get our girls and young women interested and engaged in science, technology, engineering and math, as we…

Remember when we told you that there would be more to come on the Samsung Milk Music app ? Well, this is the more, and it's pretty darn good. Milk Music essentially combines all the good things about online music streaming services into …

Well it didn't take long at all for Roku to come out with their very own Roku Streaming Stick to compete with the Google Chromecast which is creeping its way into carry-ons of entertainment-starved travelers everywhere. As an avowed Roku…

If you're like me, your movie-going days all but disappeared when you had kids. As a nursing mom, I found it nearly impossible to get away for a few hours without feeling like I was going to explode (TMI?) so we started watching our TV a…

In the past week, two different friends have told me that they're ending their cable TV service and switching to streaming services or online media for their entertainment needs. And when cool online entertainment options pop up, like Pl…

Considering how popular streaming devices are these days with Apple TV, Chromecast , and the Roku , it came as no surprise when we heard Amazon would be launching their own streaming service , which they finally did today with Amazon Fir…

Most parents, especially those with toddlers, look at traditional night table alarm clocks and laugh. Alarms? We don't need no stinkin' alarms . No, we typically rely on our tiny humans, with their high energy and low tolerance for "slee…

I love my Roku 3 . Love. I've tried Apple TV and like it just fine. But hey, I'm all for more choices for streaming video content, and if Amazon comes out with a TV box as predicted, then I hope it's as good or better than anything else …

As if the post-holidays blahs weren’t bad enough, now we have to contend with this Polar Vortex business too? (Not a word out of you, SoCal and Miami readers.) School cancellations have all but depleted most of our shallow buckets of ide…

If you're forgoing the fancy dinner tonight and staying in for Valentine's Day like us, I rounded up 7 of my top romantic movies that are ready for streaming via Amazon Instant Video, on your various gadgets. ( Roku , anyone?) Because as…

Every year I try to make a Halloween playlist for my own kids and for trick or treaters who visit our door, but this year, two of my favorite online music services, Spotify and Rdio , have done it for me. And the best part, they're free!…

Back in 2009, when Roku was just a Netflix streaming device, it was pretty forward-thinking. Still, it became obsolete fast as tech often does; the video quality wasn't fabulous, and over the next few years, streaming movies could be acc…

Following the heels of Twitter's new music service launch last month, Google has also entered the streaming music fray with a music service of its own. Dubbed Google Play Music All Access (don't really roll right off the tongue, we know)…

Gamers everywhere have been eagerly anticipating today's big Xbox announcement from Microsoft - especially because it has been almost eight years since the original Xbox 360 console was launched, and close to three since the introduction…

The Walkman seems like a lifetime ago, especially now that any kind of music is available at our fingertips through all kinds of music services, plenty of them free. And hey, we don't even need to switch cassettes or push clunky fast for…

Before kids, we looked forward to spending our Christmas holidays catching up on every Oscar-contender in the theater. Now though? We're more likely to stay home and watch the Christmas classics, or sharing our own childhood favorites wi…

We're thrilled to be working with our newest sponsor, Plantronics , whose highly rated Bluetooth Headset, the Voyager Legend, helps conversations come together. Plus we get to give one away! With the holiday season officially here, we al…

With an impending long road trip that the kids are already whining about, I'm in the process of loading up the digital entertainment options on my iPad. My primary source has always been iTunes, but with the launch of the new Amazon Inst…

I was buying printer ink the other day on Amazon and even though my purchase came to $16.99, I found other non-essentials to throw into my cart just so I could raise my total to $25 and get the free shipping. Sound familiar? I contemplat…

After hearing so many people rave about Downton Abbey, I finally had to check it out for myself. As it turns out, it's available on Netflix now, which has totally rejuvenated my excitement at having a subscription, the way Jackass 3 has …

The other night, I was flipping through the channels and stumbled upon the very end of one of my absolute holiday movie faves, It's a Wonderful Life . (You too?) While I'm sure it will be on again soon, many times, I'd like to be able to…

I've been following the changes to Netflix service with an eagle eye, from their price increase to their change in providers (no Starz? What?), so when they announced earlier today that more changes were on the way, I wanted to share the…

There are many instances when I find myself in the car waiting for something -- for a practice to end, for a napping kid to wake up -- and have idle time. It's in these moments that I forgo checking email on my iPhone and opt instead for…

Now that Netflix has gone and raised their rates by 60% (oh joy!), I'm going to venture a guess that some of you are now open to other movie streaming and download alternatives. Which makes this a good opportunity to point you to some of…

When I heard about the launch of Spotify in the US today, I wasn't sure it was for me; I'm pretty comfortable with all things tech, though I'm still admittedly old school when it comes to my music I prefer CD's to MP3's, and haven't jump…

With my husband being a pilot, we do our fair share of traveling. However with four kids, you can bet we're heavily reliant on technology to make the trip as smooth as possible. So when I got wind of a revolutionary change that's coming …

No matter how many cool new educational apps and videos we find for kids (and there are tons we love), Sesame Street will forever be one of our favorites. So we're thrilled to hear about their new Sesame GO video on demand service that l…

Don't you love when you discover a really cool video online that's not made with kids in mind at all, but you know your kids will love it anyway? You share it with them, and they get that look in their eyes (even if it's just for a momen…