In a week that has seen a rapid acceleration of moves being made across the league to acquire the remaining free agent relievers, the Chicago Cubs have reportedly made their long awaited move to address the bullpen.
January 2024
How to Stream the Super Bowl Without Cable
Super Bowl LVIII kicks off on Sunday, Feb. 11 at 6:30 p.m. ET. This year, the game is being broadcast by CBS with more than 10 hours of coverage. Even if you don’t have cable, there are a few ways, both paid and free, that you can watch all the action live from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Sign up for a live TV streaming service
There are a handful of streaming services with live TV that include CBS (Sling TV is a notable exception). Before signing up, check the channel listings for your zip code to confirm CBS is available in your local market.
-
DirectTV Stream: $85 per month for the Entertainment plan, no free trial
-
FuboTV: $80 per month for the Pro plan, 7-day free trial for new customers
-
Hulu + Live TV: $77 per month, no free trial (includes ads on Hulu)
-
YouTube TV: Currently $63 per month with promo, 30-day free trial for new users
When signing up for a free trial, make sure you know when you’ll be billed for a paid subscription and cancel before your trial expires. The game will be available in 4K for FuboTV and YouTube TV subscribers (included in the free trials but at an additional fee with paid plans). The Spanish-language broadcast is being hosted by Univision, which is also available on most live TV streaming services.
Recommended products
Looking for a new streaming device? Consider one of these products.
Sign up for a Paramount+ trial
CBS is part of the Paramount+ package, and Super Bowl coverage will stream live for subscribers on all service tiers. The Essentials plan costs just $6 per month, and new users can sign up for a 7-day free trial. If you are taking advantage of the trial, you’ll want to sign up right before Feb. 11 and set a reminder to cancel if you don’t want to be charged for a paid plan. The Paramount+ stream will only be available in 1080p.
Watch over the air
Another free (ish) way to get the game is with over-the-air (OTA) TV. Of course, this requires you to invest in a digital TV antenna and have a place to put it that gets good reception. You should check the FCC’s reception map to see what signals are available in your area and try your antenna out before game day. Your mileage may vary, so if you want a stress-free watch experience, this probably isn’t the best option.
Other ways to watch the Super Bowl
You can also watch the game via the CBS Sports app or website if you already pay for CBS with a cable or satellite package or one of the live TV streaming services listed above. The game will also stream through the NFL+ mobile app—a subscription costs $7 per month.
Biden To Award Chip Subsidies Soon. Intel, Taiwan Semi Expected To Take A Big Dip.
Five Ways Home Sellers Can Screw You Over After the Closing
Buying a house is rarely a fast, simple transaction. There’s a lot of money tied up for everyone involved, a lot of research and negotiation, and a lot of time—especially if you take the proper steps to protect yourself. When you finally find your dream home, you have it inspected, you make a good offer, and you hire a lawyer to ensure everything goes smoothly.
Closing on the house should be the end of all the stress and the beginning of the fun part—moving in and making the place yours. But if you’re not careful, move-in day could be a source of even more stress if the seller has played a dirty trick or two on you. Even if your home inspection went without a hitch and you had a great team of real estate and legal professionals on your side, home sellers sometimes try a few schemes to enhance their end of the deal.
Swapping appliances
Imagine this: You tour a potential new home, and you fall in love with the kitchen. It’s renovated beautifully, with gorgeous cabinetry and modern, new appliances.
Then you walk in after closing on the sale, and the appliances have all been replaced with cheap or used versions that are far from what you saw during the open house and subsequent visits. The seller has absconded with the pricey new stuff and left you with a broken-down kitchen. Or, just as bad, you discover that despite being new and high-quality, one or more of the appliances is broken or malfunctioning.
The law is a bit murky here; some experts will tell you that anything attached to the house, like an oven, is automatically part of the house, while others will tell you that appliances are considered possessions that aren’t automatically included in the sale.
To prevent this sort of situation, note whether the appliances are part of the home’s appraised value—if so, you have a strong case to force the seller to return them or compensate you. Make sure the appliances are specifically mentioned in the sale contract. Finally, insist on a final walk-through before closing—and take photos of everything for later comparison.
Dumbing down
Another dirty trick home seller play involves “smart” infrastructure like thermostats or door locks. These devices connect via the home network and offer rich functionality that can be controlled via smartphone apps.
If those “smart” features were part of your decision to buy this particular house, make sure you spell out in the contract that they stay put. Home sellers sometimes remove those pricey thermostats and other smart tech, replacing them with the dumb originals they removed when they upgraded. If you haven’t specified that they stay with the house, you may not have any way to get them back, even if you counted them as part of the value of the house when you made your offer.
Changing light fixtures
One common aspect of a home that people often assume will transfer to them when they buy it is the light fixtures—and even the bulbs. If you love the lighting that the current homeowners have installed, take photos and ask your real estate agent to make sure they’re explicitly mentioned in the contract. Otherwise you might not even notice that the fixtures have been swapped until it’s too late.
And check on those light bulbs, especially if the house has dynamic bulbs like Philips Hue. Those bulbs can cost as much as $50 each, so if the home is large and has a lot of lighting features you could be looking at a significant expense if the sellers swap those bulbs with cheaper versions—or simply remove the bulbs and leave you in the dark.
Leaving a mess
Moving house is a chaotic experience at the best of times. If the home you’re buying is occupied, consider asking the seller to stipulate in the contract the condition of the home you’ll be taking possession of. Otherwise, you might open the front door to find garbage left behind, scratched floors or walls from moving furniture, or even personal effects left behind the sellers might assume you’re willing to hold onto and return to them at some point.
Even if the home is unoccupied when you’re buying it, you should document the condition of the home when you do your final walk-through just in case the sellers decide to do anything that could leave behind a mess or cause damage to the property. If you do encounter a mess, there’s not much you can do unless it was contractually specified that the house be in a certain condition when you moved in, aside from contacting the previous owner and asking them to either clean it up or pay to have it done.
Hiding problems
Finally, remember that even the best home inspector may not catch everything. Home inspections are relatively brief and superficial, and are designed to catch obvious problems—which means an unscrupulous home seller can try to hide issues that are less obvious. Water damage in a ceiling? A patch-and-paint job a few days prior to an inspection can hide it—until you move in and the first heavy rain falls. Alternately, a home seller might employ cheap, temporary fixes to things, like clamps or rubber patches on damaged pipes or wood hardening agents on dry rot.
Although it’s illegal to hide what are known as “material defects” in a house up for sale, these sorts of tricks are harder to defend against because you typically can’t open up walls or crawl into every nook and cranny of a home to observe its infrastructure. What you can do is be aware of the common ways homeowners hide or obscure problems in the house and keep your eyes peeled for telltale signs like furniture in odd places, fresh paint (especially if it’s in just one small area), or the heavy use of air fresheners, which might be a sign of mold or other smelly problems in the house.
When you buy an expensive asset like a house, you have every right to expect it to be in the same condition as when you viewed it. Keep these dirty tricks in mind when you’re writing an offer on a new home, take lots of photos—and don’t hesitate to put everything in writing, no matter how obvious it might seem.
Stripling unveils new ‘Deathball’ pitch added to his arsenal
Ross Stripling unveils his new “Deathball” pitch ahead of the 2024 MLB season.
A Parenting Coach Is More Useful Than People Think
George and Amal Clooney. Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel. Emily Blunt and John Krasinski. What do these celebrity parents have in common? They’ve all used parenting coaches to assist them in raising their children.
The concept of parents and caregivers seeking professional guidance to enhance their parenting skills has seen a significant rise in acceptance and popularity over the last two decades. This trend is prevalent in celebrity circles and among parents who aspire to lay a strong foundation of success for their family and have the means to pursue it.
“We think we should have it all figured out, but sometimes getting a little outside perspective can make all the difference,” says Chelsea Kunde, a professional coach and founder of Building Blocks Family, located in Scottsdale, Ariz.
While parenting coaches may be a popular choice among celebrities, they might be able to positively impact your family, too.
What does a parenting coach do?
Kunde works with a child’s parent(s) or caregivers to help them succeed in one or all of her three specialty areas: potty training, sleep, and discipline.
“My whole philosophy is that I want to work with families to create a home life that feels productive, happy, and like it’s working well,” Kunde says.”That might look different for every family. I always say, ‘What works in my house might not work in yours.'”
Another way Kunde helps parents is to enable them to get on the same page so their children see that they’re working together. Most parents have the same overarching goals, so Kunde works to break things down to help parents find that common ground.
“You’re certainly not going to agree on every little aspect all the time,” she says. “That’s just normal. I do feel like it’s common for everybody, even if you have a super solid partnership. It’s going to present as a challenge at some point in child-rearing.”
A parent herself, Kunde knows that raising children can be very vulnerable, and it’s hard to ask for help, so she tries to put what she does in perspective for potential clients.
“If my car were making a weird noise, I would get help for that,” she says. “It doesn’t mean that I have a horrible car. We might need some tweaking and extra help and support, and that’s a good thing. Getting a little outside perspective can make all the difference.”
If you think hiring a parenting coach will be like an episode of the reality show Supernanny, Kunde, who also has a Master’s degree in marriage and family therapy, can tell you it doesn’t quite work that way.
“I think it’s important to have goals with the families that you’re working with that meet their needs,” she says.
These goals are established in a consultation to develop trust and see where parents struggle. Each plan differs based on the information Kunde gathered about the family during their meeting and could include calls, texts, and emails as needed.
“Typical consultations are about two hours in length,” she says. “It’s really collaborative. Some families add on and continue to work with me and have more one-on-one coaching. Some families say they need the two hours and are off and running on their own.”
What should you look for in a parenting coach?
Kunde says parents looking for a coach should find one that aligns with their philosophy. You can look at testimonials on their website or check out their social media feeds to get a read of what services they offer, where their perspective is, and if they’d be a good fit for your family.
Kunde will often talk with parents for a few minutes to assess the situation and explain her services, and if it doesn’t look like she’ll be a good fit for them, she will tell them and offer the family a referral.
“It’s just like picking a doctor or purchasing a house,” she says. “I really do feel like it comes down to making sure you’re compatible.”
What if you can’t afford a coach?
Parenting advice has come a long way since the days of Dr. Spock, and resources are more accessible now than they were back then. Coaches like Kunde offer group consultations, in-person classes, and plenty of content on social media and websites. Many coaches now provide an online option, as well, to get more bang for your buck.
“Sometimes you just need a little tip here or a little trick there,” she says. “It’s always helpful to know that you’re able to access people that way.”
You Can Get This Goplus Rowing Machine on Sale for $190 Right Now
You can get this Goplus Magnetic Folding Rowing Machine on sale for $189.99 right now (reg. $399). It’s a basic rower that comes an LCD display that shows total count, calories, count per min, scan, and time, and it has 8 levels of adjustable tension. The rowing machine weights 49lbs and has a weight capacity of 220lbs.
You can get this Goplus Magnetic Folding Rowing Machine on sale for $189.99 right now (reg. $399), though prices can change at any time.
FA Cup: Non-league Maidstone United stuns Ipswich Town to advance to fifth round for first time in club’s history
The FA Cup produced another memorable moment on Saturday.
You Can Create Your Own AI Art in Microsoft Paint
It’s increasingly hard to get away from generative artificial intelligence at the moment, with the tech finding its way into many of the apps and devices we use regularly. Even Microsoft Paint is getting an AI upgrade.
The image editing tool, which has been a fixture in Windows since the very first version of the operating system in 1985, now includes a feature called Cocreator that is capable of generating AI images from just a few text prompts.
If you’ve been keen to dabble in AI art production, you can now use Paint to do so. Just make sure you’ve updated both Windows 11 and Paint (via the Library tab in the Microsoft Store app) to the latest versions to make sure Cocreator appears.
Getting started with Microsoft Cocreator
You’ve got several styles to choose from.
Credit: Lifehacker
Credit: Lifehacker
Load up Paint on your Windows 11 machine, and you’ll find the Cocreator option on the right side of the top toolbar. This is still a preview version of the tool, so expect one or two bugs along the way. It’s powered by the DALL-E image generator—the same tech you can find in Microsoft’s other AI offerings (like Bing’s AI art generator).
The first time you load up Cocreator, you’ll have to click through a brief introduction before you can get started. The idea is the same as with most other AI image tools: You describe what the picture should show, like a path leading through a stormy wood, and you get a few image choices in return.
You can describe the type of picture you want—such as photo or something more abstract—in the text prompt, but Cocreator also offers a style drop-down menu underneath you can use to pick a particular style. Your options are Charcoal, Ink Sketch, Watercolor, Oil Painting, Digital Art, Photorealistic, Anime, and Pixel Art, so you’ve got a lot of options to play around with.
When you’re happy with your prompt and style pick, click Create. After a few moments, you’ll get three different variations to choose between: Click on any image to open it in Paint to edit it, or click the three dots on the thumbnail and choose Save image to save it to disk.
Like the AI art generation tools Microsoft makes available elsewhere in its products, each picture will cost you a credit—you’re given 50 to get started with, and (as far as we can tell from reports from other users on the web) a limited but regular allocation after that. Microsoft doesn’t officially say how many credits you get, but it’s most likely a fluid system that’s used to manage demand.
Doing more with your images
You can generate pictures of just about anything you like.
Credit: Lifehacker
Credit: Lifehacker
There aren’t a huge number of options to play around with when it comes to Cocreator in Paint: It’s not possible to change the dimensions or the aspect ratio of your images, for instance, so you have to settle for the default 1,024 x 1,024 squares that the tool outputs (though you can later stretch or crop these, of course).
As with other similar image generators, more detail in your prompt often helps generate better images. If you want a particular object in the picture, the image to have a particular vibe, or to use a particular color scheme, then say so—most of the time, Paint will understand what you mean, and produce something suitable.
Bear in mind your original prompt stays in place on screen even after you’ve clicked the Create button, so you can make adjustments to it based on the results you’re seeing. However, it lacks the precision necessary to get something that’s exactly to your requirements. Human beings are still required for that.
Remember, too, that Paint is still Paint, and you still have its image editing capabilities to take advantage of. The Pencil and Fill options on the toolbar are perhaps the most useful when it comes to editing something that Cocreator has generated. Use the color picker to the side and the Brushes drop-down to change how your scribblings look on screen.
Microsoft Paint also now supports layers, which you’re able to access through the icon to the far right of the top toolbar. Different AI images can be positioned on different layers—just select them from the sidebar on the right—giving you more ways to combine different artworks together. You can, for example, use the Eraser tool to remove part of a layer and reveal what’s on the layer underneath.
Commentary: Angels are mired in free-agent purgatory. Why haven’t they signed any top players?
Outside of bolstering their bullpen, the Angels have been quiet so far when it comes free-agent additions. Why haven’t they signed any top players in free agency?