Scott Pianowski examines several familiar faces in new places this season, and how those signings and trades impact fantasy baseball.
January 2025
MLB Offseason Review: How biggest moves will impact 2025 fantasy baseball landscape
Scott Pianowski examines several familiar faces in new places this season, and how those signings and trades impact fantasy baseball.
MLB Offseason Review: How biggest moves will impact 2025 fantasy baseball landscape
Scott Pianowski examines several familiar faces in new places this season, and how those signings and trades impact fantasy baseball.
T-Mobile Is Expanding Its Starlink Beta to iPhones
If you have T-Mobile, and either an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy device, you now have access to Starlink—potentially.
Here’s the scoop: Back in December, T-Mobile announced a partnership between itself and SpaceX to bring Starlink service to customers. Then, earlier this month, the company started accepting users into the beta, but only those with specific, recent Samsung devices.
However, that changed when Apple released iOS 18.3 this week. It seems the iPhone maker has been working with SpaceX and T-Mobile to roll out Starlink support to iPhones as well—though none of this was announced from Apple as part of the update.
T-Mobile isn’t letting all iPhones customers into the beta just yet. If you get in, you’ll receive a text message that reads: “You’re in the T-Mobile Starlink beta. You can now stay connected with texting via satellite from virtually anywhere. To start experiencing coverage beyond, please update to iOS 18.3.”
How to join the T-Mobile Starlink beta
If you’re interested in getting into T-Mobile’s Starlink beta, you first need a compatible device. On the Samsung front, that includes the Galaxy S24 5G, Galaxy S24 Plus 5G, Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G, Galaxy Z Fold 6 5G, and Galaxy Z Flip 6 5G. Any iPhone that can run iOS 18.3 is compatible.
From here, you’ll need to head to T-Mobile’s official Starlink page, and choose “Register now,” or scroll down to the registration section. You’ll need to enter your first and last name, email address, and phone number.
Don’t worry if you can’t get in yet: T-Mobile says it is expanding the plan soon, so expect more spots to open up imminently.
What’s the big deal with satellite connectivity?
Being able to connect your smartphone to satellites is, quite literally, a game changer. It means you no longer need to worry about losing cell service or being able from a wifi connection. As long as you have a somewhat clear view to the sky, you’re able to connect to the outside world.
To be clear, this feature only works when you do not have available cellular service. At this point, your phone can then connect to the nearest satellites. You will not have the option to manually connect to satellites when you have a network connection.
At this point in time, T-Mobile’s Starlink beta only works for texting. But, according to Elon Musk, the current Starlink technology should support medium resolution images, and music and podcast streaming. But even if T-Mobile only supports texting at this time, you can imagine what a lifeline that is. If you have no cell service, and would otherwise not be able to reach out to emergency services or essential contacts, you can connect to a Starlink satellite and send text messages to either (or both).
That said, this is not the first time iPhones have been able to connect to satellites. Apple has offered satellite connectivity since 2022, when it debuted “Emergency SOS via satellite” with the iPhone 14. The company expanded upon the feature with iOS 18: Before, you could only contact emergency services or roadside assistance via satellite, but since last year’s big update, you’ve been able to send messages to anyone.
For the past two and a half years, Apple has worked exclusively with Globalstar Inc. for satellite connectivity. Going forward, however, if you have an iPhone, and are enrolled in this T-Mobile beta, your phone will default to connecting to SpaceX’s satellites. From here, you’ll be able to manually connect to Apple’s exclusive satellite services if you wish. Interestingly, while Apple’s satellite feature makes you point your phone towards the sky to search for the closest satellite, Starlink’s service should connect automatically.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver raises possibility of league moving to 10-minute quarters
Silver floated the idea of 40-minute NBA games — but did not commit to it — in an interview on Wednesday.
Netflix Will Finally Let iPhone and iPad Users Download an Entire Season With Just One Tap
I’m at the age where I have a pre-written packing list for whenever I travel, and the very last item on the list, though certainly not the least, is entertainment. I almost see it as a reward for myself. When I’ve got all my clothes and medications packed away, I get to sit down with my iPad and download my favorite shows to watch on the plane. The problem is that, after awhile of manually downloading episode by episode, it stops being fun.
That’s where Netflix’s newest feature for iPhone and iPad comes into play. Now, after updating your app, the display pages for your favorite shows will show a “Download Season” button next to the share icon. Android users already had this button, but now Apple users can take advantage of it, too.
It looks like a downward-pointing arrow with two curved lines underneath it, and tapping it will immediately start downloading an entire season at once, complete with a progress indicator. In addition to saving you from multiple taps, this also lets you get up and go do something else while your show downloads, rather than having to wait for one episode to finish downloading before you start downloading the next.
It’s worth pointing out that while you technically already could download multiple episodes at once by simply tapping the download button next to each episode in quick succession, I’ve found that this tends to create errors. Luckily, I got no such errors while downloading season 2 of Squid Game using the new button, and it even seemed to download faster, probably due to the efficiency of sending Netflix’s servers one request as opposed to seven.
Netflix didn’t make any mention of what happens if downloading a whole season would put you over your download limit, but after testing, I found that you can still press the “Download Season” button, but it will only download as many episodes as you have remaining while refusing to download the rest.
Garmin Says They Have Fixed the ‘Blue Triangle of Death’
If your Garmin watch is showing a blue triangle, you’re not alone—Garmin has acknowledged that other users are experiencing this, and has published instructions for fixing it. The issue affects several models of watch, including Fenix, Epix, and Forerunner watches. As of January 29, they say the issue has been resolved (but your watch may still need a hard reset to make use of the fix.)
The company initially told me in an email: “Garmin is researching reports of devices displaying a blue triangle when starting a GPS activity. A reset by pressing and holding the power button may restore functionality. We will provide more information on a permanent fix when available.”
Garmin has since updated the message on their website to say: “We have resolved the underlying issue causing some devices to be stuck on the start up screen or a blue triangle. If you are still experiencing this, please visit support.garmin.com for steps to resolve the issue.” Click that link for instructions on how to restart your watch if it’s stuck on that blue triangle boot screen.
What is the problem?
Users have reported that their watch will go into a “boot loop,” where it keeps rebooting but never managing to fully start up. The watch displays a blue triangle, as shown in this Reddit post.
Epix, Fenix, Forerunner, Venu, and Vivoactive watches seem to be affected, according to comments in various Reddit posts. The page that Garmin linked with reset instructions also mentions Edge bike computers, and Instinct and Approach watches. Only some models are affected; for example, the Vivoactive 4 is mentioned on that support page, but the Vivoactive 5 is not.
The blue triangle issue may have been triggered by starting a GPS activity, which Garmin acknowledged in its initial statement, but the company has not confirmed whether this is the precise cause. Some users noticed it happened after logging a non-GPS activity, and one says it started when they scrolled over a “weather app/widget.”
Reddit users are speculating that the issue may have been caused by a faulty GPS file. According to this theory, it doesn’t matter when your watch was last updated, or whether you are in the beta program (which grants early access to new features). Rather, the corrupted file would be synced to your watch during normal use. That would explain why it started affecting so many people at once.
That said, I wasn’t able to reproduce this issue on a Vivoactive 5 or a Forerunner 265. On both, I started and finished a GPS “Walk” activity several times and the watch stayed functional. I also did a non-GPS strength activity on a Forerunner 265S. Perhaps I missed the window of time when the corrupted file was live; in any case, not all users experienced this issue.
How to fix the issue (maybe)
Garmin’s official advice is on this page. The fix varies by model, but to give an overview of what’s needed for each device:
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Fenix 8 and Lily 2: Power down the watch by holding in the power/light button, then turn it on again, and sync the watch to your phone or computer.
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Approach S70, Forerunner watches, Venu 3, Vivoactive 4, Vivoactive 5: Perform a factory reset.
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D2, Epix gen 2, Enduro gen 2, Fenix 7, Quatix 7, Tactix 7, Instinct 3: Connect the watch to a computer with a power/data cable and use Garmin Express to sync the watch.
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Edge cycling computers: Connect the device to a PC running Windows, and delete the CPE.bin file. If this doesn’t resolve the issue, do a master reset.
For detailed instructions on those steps, check this support page. Note that a factory reset will delete some data, like your Wallet setup and some of your Body Battery and step count data. Once you do that reset, you’ll need to reconnect your watch to your phone.
Redditors came up with an alternate solution while waiting for this one, recommending that users connect the watch to a PC with a data/charging cable, and deleting a specific file from the watch. Here is the Reddit comment describing this procedure, but note that Garmin only recommends this for Edge computers.
Caitlin Clark will not participate in NBA All-Star Weekend 3-point challenge
Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark will not participate in the NBA vs. WNBA 3-point challenge at next month’s NBA All-Star Game festivities, opting to make her 3-point contest debut at the WNBA’s All-Star Game in July. “Caitlin will not be at NBA All-Star,” her representatives at Excel Sports Management said in a statement to . “She wants her first 3-point contest to be at WNBA All-Star in Indianapolis this summer.” Clark’s participation would have come on the heels of a successful competition las
Bill Belichick wants the Super Bowl trophy named after Tom Brady: ‘He won 7 of them’
Tom Brady won a record seven Super Bowl rings throughout his career, almost all of which were alongside Bill Belichick in New England.
Three Ways I Use My Garment Steamer to Clean My Home
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Two years ago, I discovered that clean smarties around the Internet were using their handheld steamers to clean their homes and I thought that was brilliant, so I started doing it right away, too. Professional steam cleaners are awesome because they heat up so much that they can even disinfect surfaces—and while I’ve never been totally convinced my little garment steamer from Amazon is quite as powerful as all that, I’ve still found a lot of ways to use it around the house.
Here is the steamer I have, which retails for about $26 and comes with a brush you can stick on the front. I try to avoid using the brush when I’m cleaning, just so I don’t accidentally transfer any messy gunk onto my clothes when I use the steamer for its intended purpose, but in a pinch, it does come in handy.
I steam any stain of dubious origin
First up, if I find a stain anywhere and I don’t know exactly what it is, I steam it. Granted, you can steam any kind of stain, since the heat loosens it and the little bit of moisture helps draw it out, but I especially like this technique for messes that I can’t quite explain, since I feel better knowing my first line of attack against them is germ-killing heat.
Today, I moved a bunch of stuff near my sink and discovered some marks underneath it all. I couldn’t be sure what caused the streaks, but I could be sure that I was attacking them with heat and power. Besides its potential for germ-destroying, steam is fantastic for quickly loosening any stuck-on grime. I’ve used my steamer to get baked-on food off of oven racks, for instance. Of course, you can use oven cleaner or hot, soapy water, but that takes a lot longer. Blasting caked-on goo with steam loosens it fast and lets you move on to the soapy, more serious disinfecting quicker.
The steamer blasting through some streaks by my sink.
Credit: Lindsey Ellefson
Credit: Lindsey Ellefson
Just a few seconds into the steaming of the streaks by my sink, they disappeared. Of course, I went back in with cleaning solution after that, but I was feeling pretty smug by that point. They came right up and off without me having to do so much as scrub (plus I never had to touch anything gross).
I steam my dirty dishes
If you do your dishes right away, food doesn’t have time to get stuck on them. Blah, blah, I know. But sometimes I’m busy. Sometimes I’m lazy. What I’m saying is that food gets stuck on my dishes and I hate scrubbing it off with a sponge, but not enough to ever learn a lesson about washing them in a speedier fashion. This is where my steamer comes in. I don’t have a dishwasher because I live in a small apartment, so I can’t toss them in there and let the heat do its job. What I can do is blast those bad boys with the steamer for a second or two, which makes the task of cleaning them off so much faster than if I let them sit in hot water or, God forbid, just got to work scrubbing.
Stuck-on food besmirching my spoon before getting annihilated by the steamer.
Credit: Lindsey Ellefson
Credit: Lindsey Ellefson
I like making quick work of the dishes and, of course, that the heat tackles some germs even before I get at them with the dish soap. Today, there was a spoon in the sink that had a very stuck-on line of food in its bowl (likely from a cheap microwavable soup, I’m sorry to say) but the steamer dislodged it like it was nothing. I did try a little with my fingernail and a sponge before blasting it, just to see how bad it was, and neither made any impact—but the steamer sure did. From there, I soaped the whole thing up, dried it, and went on with my day.
I steam my mirrors, too
While on my steam-cleaning mission today, I did not need to clean my mirrors (humble brag) because I already did that recently. What I can’t provide in photographic evidence I’ll make up for in testimony: I love steaming my mirrors because it works so fast and leaves them streak-free. Windex is fine and all, but you have to really wipe to clear out those streaks. Steam is much easier to wipe off and leaves behind no chemicals. I also really like it because one of the main mirrors in my apartment is backlit and relies on electricity. I try to avoid getting it wet, to the extent possible, so the minimal amount of moisture provided by the steam machine is far preferable to the direct wetness of a spritz of window cleaner.
The steam quickly destroys water stains and other splotches, although I caution that you may need to go two or three rounds with hairspray that’s stuck to your glass. It takes me a few passes to break all the way through setting spray, hair spray, and other sticky chemicals the likes of which you use in front of the mirror. Other than that, this technique works great on shower glass, tile, ceramic, or any other smooth surface where you have water stains or other buildups. You don’t need chemicals or a bunch of tools as long as you have your steamer and a rag to wipe everything down with.