YouTube TV Review: The New Cord-Cutting Bundle

YouTube TV is finally available to the vast majority of U.S. residents, and it was worth the wait.

The $40-per-month streaming bundle is only available in markets where YouTube TV can carry at least three live local broadcast channels, but that now covers about 85 percent of U.S. households. And in February, the YouTube TV app landed on Roku and Apple TV, joining existing apps for Android TV, Xbox One, Chromecast, Android, and iOS.

Even though YouTube TV is pricier than it used to be, it’s still an excellent value, covering many of the most popular news, sports, and entertainment channels on television. It’s also the best attempt yet at combining live, on-demand, and recorded TV into a comprehensible interface. For most people—save for the unfortunate 15 percent who still can’t get it—YouTube TV is the best all-around streaming TV bundle.

YouTube TV: What you get

YouTube TV is a one-size-fits-all service, with more than 50 channels for $40 per month. The lineup includes the major broadcast networks, ESPN channels, regional sports from Fox and Comcast, all three major cable news networks, and a slew of entertainment channels such as FX, AMC, SyFy, and Disney Junior. Access to YouTube Red originals are included at no extra charge, and you can add Showtime for $11 per month and Fox Soccer Plus for $15 per month. (See the bottom of this review for the full channel list.)

Like other streaming bundles, YouTube TV omits some networks to keep prices down. You won’t get any channels from Scripps Networks (HGTV, Food Network), Discovery Communications (Animal Planet, Science), or Viacom (Comedy Central, MTV), and the package doesn’t include the NFL Network. Google is also a bit less stringent about including local channels than it was at launch, when it offered live feeds from ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox in five markets. Now, some markets only include live local broadcasts from three of those channels—plus the CW in some cases—with on-demand video from the rest.

Each subscription entitles you to three simultaneous streams, and supports up to six profiles for anyone with a Google account, allowing family members to save their own favorite shows and DVR recordings (more on that shortly). YouTube TV also works with about 20 TV Everywhere apps, so you can log in and watch shows even on platforms that the service doesn’t support yet.

How YouTube TV DVR works

YouTube TV doesn’t charge extra for DVR, like Sling TV does, nor does it set storage limits like Sling TV, Hulu, and FuboTV do. Instead, recordings expire after nine months, which is more generous than the 28- and 30-day windows afforded by PlayStation Vue and Philo respectively. The service also supports partial recordings, and it lets you watch the recorded portion of a program while it’s still airing live. You can pause any live TV channel and rewind through what you’ve already watched as well.

YouTube TV replaces recordings with on-demand streams if the latter are available, and the on-demand versions don’t allow ad-skipping. In some cases, you can expect to sit through about a minute and 30 seconds of ads for each commercial break, which tends to line up with the breaks in the live telecast. An option to pay extra for longer than nine months of storage and full ad-skipping privileges would be appreciated.

Some DVR users might gripe about the lack of granular controls—you can’t make one-off recordings or avoid recording reruns—but having unlimited storage means you shouldn’t have to worry about recording management in the first place. The only thing that’s really missing is a way to filter unwatched recordings.

Here’s the full YouTube TV channel list as of February 19, 2018:

• ABC
• AMC
• BBC America
• BBC World News
• Big Ten Network
• Bravo
• Cartoon Network / Adult Swim
• CBS
• CBS Sports Network
• Cheddar
• CNBC
• CNN
• CW
• Disney Channel
• Disney Junior
• Disney XD
• E!
• ESPN
• ESPN-SEC Network
• ESPN2
• ESPNU
• Fox
• Fox Business
• Fox News
• Fox Sports regionals
• Freeform
• FS1
• FS2
• FX
• FXM
• FXX
• Golf Channel
• HLN
• IFC
• Local Now
• MSNBC
• Nat Geo Wild
• National Geographic
• NBC
• NBC Sports regionals
• NBCSN
• NESN Regional
• Olympic Channel
• Oxygen Network
• Sundance TV
• Syfy
• TBS
• Telemundo
• TNT
• TruTV
• Turner Classic Movies
• Universal Kids
• USA Network
• We TV
• Showtime ($11/mo extra)
• Fox Soccer Plus ($15/mo extra)

Watch Out For These New Tax Scams

They’re at it again... tax scammers scheming new ways to steal personal information and money.

In the first scenario, identity thieves file a fake tax return and have the refund deposited into your bank account. The thieves then contact you, often by phone, and — posing as the IRS or debt collectors for the IRS — demand you return the money to the IRS. But following the thieves’ instructions actually sends the money to them.

In another version, after you get that erroneous refund, you get an automated call, allegedly from the IRS, threatening you with criminal fraud charges, an arrest warrant, and “blacklisting” of your Social Security number. The caller gives you a case number and a telephone number to call to return the refund.

Don’t take the bait. If you or someone you know gets an unexpected tax refund, follow the guidance outlined by the IRS for how to return the funds to the agency. The steps for returning paper checks and direct deposits differ.

In a different scam, criminals are using imposter tax preparation sites and phone numbers to steal peoples’ personal information. Here's how this scam works: You go online to find a tax preparation service to prepare and e-file your tax return. But instead of landing on a legitimate site, you mis-click to a look-alike site created by scammers. The site looks real, and it’s set up to collect personal information that can be used to commit fraud, including identity theft.

Here are some great tips to fight tax identity theft:

• File your tax return early in the tax season, if you can.
• Use a secure internet connection if you file electronically, or mail your tax return directly from the post office.
• When using an online tax preparation service, look for the tax preparer identification number. The IRS requires all paid tax preparers to have one before filing any returns.
• To determine if a website is encrypted, look for https at the start of the web address (the “s” is for secure). Some websites use encryption only on the sign-in page, but if any part of your session isn’t encrypted, your entire account could be vulnerable. Look for https on every page you visit, not just when you sign in.
• Ask tax preparers about their data security policies, and how they protect your information.
• Respond to all mail from the IRS as soon as possible.
• If tax identity theft happens to you, visit IdentityTheft.gov to report it to the FTC, file an Identity Theft Affidavit with the IRS electronically, and get a personal recovery plan.

If you spot a scam, report it at ftc.gov/complaint. Your reports help the FTC and other law enforcement investigate scams and bring crooks to justice.

How to Block Popup Ads on Android

Popup ads are extremely frustrating on desktop, but they’re sometimes a problem on mobile devices, too. If you’re sick of popups ruining your experience on Android, we’ll explain how you can put a stop to them.

Popup ads generally come in three forms:

1. In your Android web browser.
2. Notification area ads.
3. Fullscreen ads in apps.

Stop Popups in Chrome

Since Chrome is the default Android browser and you probably use it often, it makes sense to disable popups there first. Tweaking a quick setting will completely disable popups. To change it, open Chrome and touch the three-dot Menu button. Select Settings. Then, navigate to Site settings.

In this menu, you’ll see a list of properties that affect how websites interact with your device. Tap the Popups entry and make sure the slider is set to Block sites from showing popups. That’s all there is to it.

Control Notification Area Ads

While not technically popups, notification ads are still a problem and just as annoying. If you see spam notifications up in your notification area, a quick flip of a switch can shut them down for good. These instructions will differ slightly depending on which version of Android you use.

Pull down from the top of your screen to open your notification area. Long-press on the notification in question. You should see the name of the app responsible for it.

Depending on what version of Android your device runs, you can tap a button here to jump to that app’s notification settings. On any recent version of Android, you can also visit Settings > Apps and tap an app’s name to open those settings.

In Android 7.0 Oreo, select the App notifications option to change specific notification preferences. On Android 6.0 Marshmallow, you’ll have to tap the Notifications entry and then select Block all to stop notifications. Android 5.0 Lollipop users can simply uncheck the Show notifications box.

Blocking Fullscreen Popups

If you see popups when you’re playing a certain game or using an app, chances are that the current app is the culprit. In those cases, you have to decide whether the app is still worth using despite the ads.

To stop popups ads inside an app, you can purchase the Pro or ad-free versions of the app. You’ll usually find these either as a separate download on Google Play or as an in-app purchase. Unfortunately, not every developer offers these.

Apps like system cleaners and wallpaper collections are often filled with ads and could be your problem. Check recent reviews for apps you’re not sure about and see if other users have complained of popups. Uninstall any problematic apps and see if the popups persist.

If this doesn’t fix the problem, the next step is checking which apps have the permission to appear over other apps. Visit Settings > Apps & notifications > Advanced > Special app access > Display over other apps. Here, you’ll see all installed apps that you’ve given permission to show up even when you’re not using them.

Look through the list here and see if anything looks suspect. Some apps have legitimate reason to draw over others. For example, your SMS app may have a Quick Reply box, or you might use a password manager that fills other apps. But if you see anything here that shouldn’t have the permission, tap it and set the Allow display over other apps to Off.

The Top Frauds of 2017

The numbers are in, the counts have been made, and today the FTC announced what we heard from you during 2017. Here are some highlights:

• This year’s top fraud is again Imposter Scams, with nearly 350,000 reports. Nearly 1 in 5 people who reported an imposter scam lost money – a whopping $328 million lost to someone pretending to be a loved one in trouble, a government official, tech support, or someone else who’s not who they say they are, but who wants your money.
   
• We heard from nearly 2.7 million people last year. There were fewer debt collection reports in 2017 (23% of all reports), but it’s still the top category by a wide margin, followed by identity theft (14%), which overtook imposter scams (13%) for the number two slot in 2017.
   
• For everyone who reported identity theft, credit card fraud tops the list, and continues to grow. Reports of tax fraud are down 46%, but it was still reported by nearly 63,000 people.
   
• Of the more than 1.1 million people who reported fraud, 21% told us they lost a total of more than $905 million. That’s an increase of $63 million from 2016.
   
• People reported that scammers mostly contacted them by phone, and they mostly paid for frauds – once again – by wire transfer. But check out the $74 million in losses on credit cards, which are charges that could potentially be disputed and recovered, if done in time.
   
• Median losses tell an interesting story: for all fraud reports in 2017, the median loss was $429. Compare that to a $500 median loss to imposters, a $720 median fraud loss to scams that come in by phone, a $1,710 median loss related to travel, vacations and timeshares. Among military consumers, median losses were higher than the general population -- $619.
   
• More younger people reported losing money to fraud than older people – but when people aged 70 and older had a loss, it was a much higher median loss than other groups.
   
• And, based on reports per 100,000 population, the top states for fraud reports were Florida, Georgia and Nevada. For identity theft, it’s Michigan, Florida and California.

Have you spotted any scams? If so, tell the FTC – and then come back this time next year to hear what happened during 2018.

Why You Should Avoid Hotel Wi-Fi Like The Plague

Everybody loves free Wi-Fi. It's an important factor for the connected traveler when they're choosing a hotel, and there are even websites dedicated to finding hotels with fast Wi-Fi and testing speeds. But there's a problem: it's inherently unsafe.

Hotel Wi-Fi is designed for easy and frictionless access. Devices are connecting to insecure, non-encrypted Wi-Fi networks. The bottom line is this: use hotel Wi-Fi and you may be open to scams, hacks, viruses and malicious software attacks.

What's wrong with Wi-Fi?

The very nature of Wi-Fi, with traffic from all mobile devices broadcast loudly over the airwaves, makes any public Wi-Fi network insecure. With a cheap Wi-Fi adapter and some free software anyone can listen in on all conversations your phone or laptop is having with the outside world.

In general terms hotels have not implemented a network with business class segmentation. Many hotels also do not restrict the sites that guests can view, which leaves them wide open for external people to access.

Public and hotel Wi-Fi doesn't use WPA. Any device that is connected to hotel Wi-Fi is effectively sending all data in clear-text, allowing a remote attacker to identify and extract information.

Why is hotel Wi-Fi considered especially risky?

The sophisticated security systems usually in place on corporate networks are not present on these kind of connections and it's easier for cybercriminals to execute Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) and Man-in-the-Browser (MitB) attacks due to the lowered security standard.

A 2015 report found a critical vulnerability in the ANTlabs InnGate product used by hotels, which affected 277 hotels across 29 countries. The vulnerability enabled attackers to monitor and tamper with data traffic from Wi-Fi connections and gain access to hotels' management systems.

Who's intercepting hotel Wi-Fi?

The criminal gang compromises hotel Wi-Fi networks and then waits for a victim to logon to the network, before tricking them into downloading and installing a backdoor, which in turn infects the device with spying software.

This is the 'Evil Twin' hack. Hackers set up a fake network to mirror the real, freely available one, users unwittingly connect to the fake network, and then a hacker can steal account names and passwords, redirect victims to malware sites, and intercept files.

Last year, the Darkhotel group of hackers surfaced with a new attack, aimed at exploiting hotel Wi-Fi to target business travelers staying at high-end hotels. While they have long used Trojans combined with targeted phishing attacks, their latest efforts have evolved to use the Inexsmar malware. They use multi-stage Trojans, and the group has also targeted political figures using these techniques.

Tools like the Snoopy drone and Mana can automate these attacks and target a large number of people simultaneously. They have the ability to profile your device and figure out where you live and work.

Unless your data is encrypted and sharing is turned off hackers are free to rifle through all of the data on your device or whatever is passing through your connection. The lesson is simple; assume all alien Wi-Fi networks are insecure.