Speaker 1: Google has a new way to help you find where
Speaker 1: movies and TV shows are streaming free.
Speaker 2: I'm rich Dmarrow. This is Rich on Tech Daily.
Speaker 1: One of the side effects of all this cord cutting
Speaker 1: is that it is confusing. A lot of us are
Speaker 1: subscribed to a bunch of different streaming services, and sometimes
Speaker 1: you just don't know where to start when you want
Speaker 1: to watch something. We've got lots of them available, Netflix,
Speaker 1: Amazon Prime, all the individual apps from ABC, NBC, the
Speaker 1: assorted cable channels. It kind of makes finding something to
Speaker 1: watch kind of tricky, and sometimes I find myself just
Speaker 1: paralyzed in saying, you know what, I'm just not gonna
Speaker 1: watch anything, and I end up just looking at my phone.
Speaker 1: The one thing you don't want to do with all
Speaker 1: these subscriptions you're paying for is double pay for something
Speaker 1: that you're watching. So let's say you want to watch
Speaker 1: Wonder Woman, so you're rented on iTunes, but you don't
Speaker 1: realize it just started streaming.
Speaker 2: For free on HBO. Google is trying to help.
Speaker 1: They have a new feature inside their Google Play Store
Speaker 1: and the Google Play Movies and TV app. Basically, when
Speaker 1: you're browsing for things to watch and you select one.
Speaker 1: Not only are you going to see how much it
Speaker 1: would cost to rent or buy that movie from Google,
Speaker 1: but there's a new drop down box, and this lets
Speaker 1: you know if your movie or TV show is streaming
Speaker 1: on a service for free.
Speaker 2: How handy is that?
Speaker 1: So, for instance, if you search for a movie like
Speaker 1: Ride Along two, which I just did on my phone,
Speaker 1: it says you can rent it for three dollars buy
Speaker 1: it for ten dollars, But then there's a drop down
Speaker 1: box that says it's also streaming on max Goo, which
Speaker 1: is the app from Cinemax. Then from there, just one
Speaker 1: more tap and you can install the app if you
Speaker 1: don't have it, or you can just launch right into
Speaker 1: the show or movie if you have the app. Google
Speaker 1: says they have support for more than two dozen apps
Speaker 1: right now, including ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Hulu, HBO Now,
Speaker 1: HBO Go.
Speaker 2: I don't know why those two are separate.
Speaker 1: Showtime, Amazon Prime, Disney Now, HGTV, b ET, Comedy Central,
Speaker 1: and more. The one thing that's missing from that list
Speaker 1: right now is Netflix, but I don't think this is
Speaker 1: on purpose, because Netflix data is available through other apps,
Speaker 1: So I think it's just a matter of time before
Speaker 1: Netflix and Google cut a deal to have their info
Speaker 1: on there as well. Google's also adding some new ways
Speaker 1: to browse for stuff to watch. You can also add
Speaker 1: videos to a wish list, which is handy I find
Speaker 1: if you want to see when the movies you want
Speaker 1: to watch pop up on a service that you pay for,
Speaker 1: So a lot of times I will basically bookmark the
Speaker 1: movies I want to watch, but I'll just wait until
Speaker 1: they hit HBO Go.
Speaker 2: Or something like that.
Speaker 1: You can also get new recommendations by using the thumbs
Speaker 1: up and thumbs down to rate titles. Now you're probably
Speaker 1: thinking yourself, wait a second, I've already seen this in
Speaker 1: other places. Google is not the only one to do this,
Speaker 1: and you're right. Roku does something similar. They have something
Speaker 1: called Universal Search, which is really great. Searches across all
Speaker 1: their apps so you can see where things are streaming.
Speaker 1: Apple TV also does this, and on the iPhone, if
Speaker 1: you have the TV app or on iPad, you can
Speaker 1: search for things as well. Just keep in mind that
Speaker 1: none of these services are perfect. A lot of times
Speaker 1: you'll find the information as outdated, maybe it's incorrect, or
Speaker 1: it's incomplete. Sometimes some will be streaming somewhere, but Apple
Speaker 1: say it's not. So. For instance, I searched for Right
Speaker 1: Along Too, which was the same movie we searched in Google.
Speaker 2: I searched this in.
Speaker 1: Apple's TV app, and guess what, I only got the
Speaker 1: option to rent or buy from iTunes. So either Apple
Speaker 1: is not getting that information from Cinemax, or it's just
Speaker 1: not on their database, or who knows.
Speaker 2: Now. I search for Rio.
Speaker 1: Two on the TV app on Apple and it says
Speaker 1: it's streaming on FX now and Fox Now. So you're
Speaker 1: really just gonna have to kind of see which one
Speaker 1: of these services works best for you. If you're on
Speaker 1: an iPhone, you're probably gonna use the TV app, If
Speaker 1: you're on Android, you're probably gonna use Google. If you're
Speaker 1: on Roku, you're probably gonna use Roku's. One thing I
Speaker 1: have noticed, though, is a little quirk on Apple TV.
Speaker 1: If you're using that, you really want to always search
Speaker 1: with Siri, because that way it will tell you when
Speaker 1: things are on different streaming services.
Speaker 2: So Apple TV does a really nice job of this.
Speaker 1: It'll say, hey, do you want us to open this
Speaker 1: in you know, Netflix or Amazon or whatever, But you
Speaker 1: have to be searching with Siri. If you search using iTunes,
Speaker 1: your old, I'm gonna find movies that are on iTunes.
Speaker 2: So it's a little quirk, a little bit different, but
Speaker 2: you just have to be aware of it.
Speaker 1: Now. If you want a dedicated third party app for
Speaker 1: all of this, the one that I like is called
Speaker 1: just Watch, and it searches across pretty much all the
Speaker 1: major services including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Hbo, and more.
Speaker 2: There you have it.
Speaker 1: Never pay double for a movie or TV show ever. Again,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for listening. If you like this podcast,
Speaker 1: be sure to rate and review it in the Apple
Speaker 1: Podcasts app, and maybe tell a friend about it as well.
Speaker 1: I'm Rich Dimiro links to everything I mentioned here at
Speaker 1: richontech dot tv.
Speaker 2: I'll talk to you real soon.