| Cult of Mac

TV shows are coming soon to Snapchat

By

Snapchat is taking TV serious.
Snapchat is taking TV serious.
Photo: Snap

Snap Inc apparently wants in on the hottest new trend among tech companies: TV shows.

Following the lead of Amazon and Twitter, Snapchat reportedly plans to start showing vertical short films in its app. Only instead of doing all the work on its own, the company is inking deals with some of the biggest names in media.

YouTube TV arrives to shake up streaming world

By

YouTube TV is only available in 5 cities for now.
YouTube TV is only available in 5 cities for now.
Photo: YouTube

YouTube’s new tv streaming service for cord-cutters has finally arrived for customers in five major US markets.

The new service, dubbed YouTube TV, gives subscribers access to dozens of channels that normally would require a cable subscription, putting it in direct competition with the likes of Hulu, Sling TV, DirecTV Now and Playstation Vue.

YouTube is launching a TV streaming service for $35 a month

By

YouTube wants to takeover your TV.
YouTube wants to takeover your TV.
Photo: YouTube

Cord cutters just got another option for getting their TV fix over the internet.

Google-owned YouTube revealed today that is launching a new streaming TV service that will offer customers a bundle of channels from broadcast and cable networks for $35. But it might not come with all the channels you want.

Hulu is killing free streaming

By

Hulu1
Watching The Handsmade Tale just got cheaper.
Photo: Hulu

Getting your weekly fix of new TV shows from Hulu is about to get more expensive, as the streaming video service plans to phase out its free tier that was supported with ad revenue.

After letting users watch thousands of episodes for free since it launched nine years ago, Hulu has partnered with Yahoo to offer up its content for a new service called Yahoo View, an ad-supported service that will give viewers the ability to watch the five most recent episodes of shows from ABC, NBC and Fox.

Apple’s hardline negotiating tactics stalled TV expansion

By

apple tv and siri remote
An Apple TV streaming service will probably never come.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The tough negotiating tactics made famous by former Apple CEO Steve Jobs are starting to hurt the company in the era of Tim Cook, according to a new report that reveals the company’s planned TV service failed to launch as a result.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior VP of internet software and services, supposedly angered TV industry execs more than any other Apple employee during the negotiations with companies such as Disney and Time Warner.

Here’s how Steve Jobs answered a question about government snooping in 1981

By

Apple-at-40-What-Steve-Jobs-Said-About-Computers-in-1981
Check out the hipster beard on Steve!
Photo: ABC

Apple turns 40 today and, while a lot has changed since the company’s early days, it seems that questions about government snooping have not.

ABC News today released footage from a vintage interview in which a very young Steve Jobs debates computers on a 1981 episode of Nightline.

In addition to trotting out his “bicycle for the mind” metaphor, Jobs also talks about how best to stop the government from snooping on your computer, a topic that seems very timely in the aftermath of Apple’s battle with the FBI.

Check out the Steve Jobs interview below.

The Muppets get their own Office-style sitcom

By

Modern jokes with modern pigs. Photo: Disney/ABC Studios
Modern jokes with modern pigs. Photo: Disney/ABC Studios

What can he say? Kermit is attracted to pigs.

In the one-camera mockumentary style made popular by both versions of The Office, The Muppets are poised to take over ABC this year as they star in their first TV series since their original show back in the mid-1970s.

Take a look at this hilarious, witty trailer for the upcoming show, complete with an absent-minded Miss Piggy and a world-weary yet optimistic Kermit the Frog along with a cast of familiar and new characters.

The trailer pokes fun at the new format of the show along with the Muppets themselves–it’s worth a watch.