BY SLING TV
Freedom is crucial to happiness. We live our best lives when we feel like we’re untethered, that we can do what we want and what’s best for us without a ton of obstacles standing in the way.
And these days, contrary to what some curmudgeonly grandfather figures may believe, technology is giving us more freedom in our daily lives.
Here are a few apps and services that are helping.
If This Then That (IFTTT)
This super convenient app will free up some time and save you a lot of effort by using "recipes" to connect different apps and services in a way that makes them both more usual and generally more efficient — and it works with more than 300 apps and services.
It’s pretty easy to set up, too. All you have to do is define the "If this, then that" mechanism to make a recipe. For example, you can save your Instagram photos to Dropbox, have your Android phone automatically muted when you arrive at work, get notifications from ESPN with your favorite sports teams final scores, automatically Tweet your Facebook status updates and many, many more.
Freedom
What can be more freeing than an app that is literally called "Freedom?"
The Internet is, of course, a wonderful thing. Its uses are essentially infinite. But so are its distractions, and sometimes it’s best to disconnect for a while when you really need to be productive and get things done. Freedom eliminates these distractions by blocking the Internet, social media and apps on your iPhone, iPad and/or computer for a specified amount of time. So you can get done what you need to get done, and then reward yourself afterward with some cat videos or Instagram browsing.
Sling TV
Freedom from cable television is pretty liberating. Gone are the days when you’d have to pay a ridiculous amount of money specifically to be able to watch live TV. Now, there’s Sling TV, a service that enables you to watch popular channels both live and on-demand without a cable box, the often-terrible customer service and the other negatives that come with being tethered to a cable subscription. You can watch on your television, computer, tablet or smart phone or other streaming devices from anywhere with an Internet connection.
Sling TV starts at $20 per month and includes what are widely regarded as some of the most popular networks (ESPN, AMC, CNN, etc.). You can tailor the channels you have access to by snagging a more robust package or by adding extra channels based on your interests, such as comedy, sports or programming for kids, among other Extras.
The service has also recently expanded its lineup to include popular channels like FX, Comedy Central, BET, Nick Jr., Bravo and more with Sling Blue. Customers in select markets also have access to content from their local Fox, NBC and ABC feeds (as well as their local regional sports networks).
Sling TV also recently announced an exclusive deal for Apple TV fans. Right now new Sling TV customers can snag an Apple TV device for $89 (marked way down from its usual $149) when you prepay for three months of Sling TV.
Instapaper
Throughout the day, we’ll often come across something online or through social media that we want to stop and read and watch, but we might not have the time, or might not want to stop the momentum of what we’re accomplishing. However, we don’t want to close out of the content and try to remember to revisit it later on. That’s where Instapaper comes in. The app enables you to save whatever you find on the Internet so you can check it out at your leisure. It also syncs what you save to your computer, iPhone, iPad, Android and/or Kindle, so you can read anything from anywhere on pretty much any device you want.
Dark Sky
Local weather plays a pretty significant role in our daily lives. It dictates how we dress, what we do and where we do it — so knowing as much about current and impending whether frees you up to plan your life accordingly. While predicting the weather has never been a 100 percent reliable science, the Dark Sky app is about as close as it gets. It gives you hyper-local weather information and precise forecasts so you’ll know the exact minute when rain or other inclement weather will start and stop in your area. And freedom from getting caught outside in a torrential downpour is a wonderful thing.
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