Technologies

Streaming Guide February 2023: 4 Services You Should Definitely Keep

The return of You and Party Down mean Netflix and Starz are keepers this month.

TV lineups tend to be a bit a dry at this time of year, but February is Super Bowl time and there’s still plenty to watch on streaming. But beware, changes are rolling in for some of your favorite services, including a $1 price hike for HBO Max’s ad-free plan and extra fees if you’re sharing your Netflix account. Despite those price hikes, you’ll want to keep those services if you’re planning to keep up with The Last of Us and You season 4, which are streaming this month.

Onward. You can stream Super Bowl 57 on a live platform such as Sling TV, Hulu with Live TV or YouTube TV. But if you’re wondering how you can cut corners elsewhere in your streaming budget, we’ve got you covered. Rotating — or churning — your services is the way to do it.

How? You subscribe for a specific time frame, cancel, choose a different service, then resubscribe, keeping your favorite streaming services in a rotation. Choose one or two must-have platforms for the year and treat additional platforms like occasional add-ons. This allows you to save money when Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max and others don’t have the movies and shows you want to watch at a given time. Just remember to shut off auto-renewal for your monthly subscriptions. If you share accounts with someone outside your household, this strategy may not be ideal, but if you can work it out with your streaming mates, go for it.

Here are my suggestions for which streamers to keep or cancel for February based on new TV shows and movies arriving on each platform. Your tastes may be different, but if nothing else, I encourage you to at least consider the concept of rotating your memberships to save money.

Definitely keep Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu and Starz

Netflix: Joe Goldberg’s antics on You aren’t the only attraction on Netflix this month. There’s a documentary about a rich dog, more Outer Banks, anime and reality TV. Here’s a list of noteworthy new releases:

Detective Conan: The Culprit Hanzawa (Feb. 1)
Gunther’s Millions — documentary about a dog with a hefty inheritance (Feb. 1)
Freeridge — an On My Block spinoff (Feb. 2)
Bill Russell: Legend (Feb. 8)
My Dad the Bounty Hunter animated series (Feb. 9)
Love to Hate You — K-drama (Feb. 10)
You season 4, part 1 (Feb. 10)
Your Place or Mine starring Ashton Kutcher and Reese Witherspoon (Feb. 10)
Perfect Match features an all-star lineup of Netflix dating show contestants (Feb. 14, 21 and 28)
African Queens documentary series (Feb. 15)
Aggretsuko season 5 (Feb. 16)
Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal (Feb. 22)
Outer Banks season 3 (Feb. 23)
Formula 1: Drive to Survive season 5 (Feb. 24)
We Have a Ghost (Feb. 24)

HBO Max: Keep watching The Last of Us and tune in for the Max exclusive, Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine’s Day Special on Feb. 9. Also new this month: Empire of Light (Feb. 7), All that Breathes documentary (Feb. 7), Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm (Feb. 8), Puppy Bowl XIX (Feb. 12) and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (Feb. 19).

Hulu: Your network favorites are still airing current seasons, but these are new arrivals in February: A Million Little Things final season premiere (Feb. 9), ABC’s Not Dead Yet (Feb. 9), final season of Wu-Tang: An American Saga (Feb. 15), The Masked Singer season 9 (Feb. 16), American Idol season 21 (Feb. 20) and Snowfall season 6 (Feb. 23).

See at Hulu

Starz: After ending more than a decade ago, Party Down returns for a season 3 debut on Feb. 24. BMF is still airing too. Shop around for Starz deals to pay less for your subscription for the next few months.

Prime Video: You should cancel Prime Video if you only have a standalone subscription and you’re not interested in Carnival Row season 2. Otherwise, check out the fairy drama on Feb. 17 along with Harlem season 2 (Feb. 3) or The Consultant starring Christoph Waltz (Feb. 24).

Disney Plus: Again on the keep-cancel cusp this month, Disney Plus may be tempting for the short term if you love Black Panther or if you have kids. You can keep streaming Star Wars: The Bad Batch, but here are the new selections for February: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Feb. 1), The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder season 2 (Feb. 1), Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (Feb. 15) and BTS star J-Hope’s In the Box arrives Feb. 17.

You can drop these streaming services this month

Apple TV Plus: There’s not much to stream here. We now know Ted Lasso isn’t coming until spring, but if you want, you can stream Hello Tomorrow! or Dear Edward on Feb. 3 on Apple TV Plus. We’ll also note that subscribers who are soccer fans can begin signing up for MLS Season Pass beginning Feb. 1 and receive a discounted rate.

Paramount Plus: Football season is over, so you may not want to dish out the money for Paramount Plus this month. But here’s what’s new: 65th Grammy Awards (Feb. 5), rom-com movie At Midnight debuts on Feb. 10, Star Trek: Picard season 3 (Feb. 16) and The Wolf Pack TV series starring Sarah Michelle Gellar airs through February until March 16. Drop the service if you these titles don’t interest you.

Peacock: If you’re a fan of Bel-Air, keep Peacock because season 2 debuts on Feb. 23. This is also where you can watch SyFy’s The Ark (Feb. 2) and The Real Housewives of New Jersey (Feb. 9). Cancel if you’re not interested in these releases, or in the awfully good Poker Face.

Save more money with patience

Waiting until most or all of the episodes of your favorite series arrive on a platform is a smart move to make if you don’t get FOMO. Instead of paying for a service for two or three months to cover a show’s six- to 10-week run, you can catch up on everything by subscribing for one month. And then repeat the cycle again.

For example, there are 10 episodes of Star Trek: Picard this season on Paramount Plus. The show airs into April, so all 10 episodes will available to stream at that time. Though it premieres in February and runs through April, why pay for three months when you can wait to watch it in full at any time in April? The same system can apply to all 10 episodes of Hulu’s Wu-Tang: An American Saga or Peacock’s Poker Face.

Consider how much you’re paying per month for each streaming service, and do the math. Netflix costs $7 to $20, Disney Plus is anywhere from $2 to $11 depending on bundles, HBO Max costs $10 or $16, Hulu starts at $8 and Starz runs $9. The others have a base rate of $5 a month. Should you decide to churn, set yourself a calendar reminder to alert you when it’s time to resubscribe or cancel. We’ll see you in March for another streaming rundown.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Tuesday, Oct. 14

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Oct. 14.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s Mini Crossword has an odd vertical shape, with an extra Across clue, and only four Down clues. The clues are not terribly difficult, but one or two could be tricky. Read on if you need the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Smokes, informally
Answer: CIGS

5A clue: «Don’t have ___, man!» (Bart Simpson catchphrase)
Answer: ACOW

6A clue: What the vehicle in «lane one» of this crossword is winning?
Answer: RACE

7A clue: Pitt of Hollywood
Answer: BRAD

8A clue: «Yeah, whatever»
Answer: SURE

9A clue: Rd. crossers
Answer: STS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Things to «load» before a marathon
Answer: CARBS

2D clue: Mythical figure who inspired the idiom «fly too close to the sun»
Answer: ICARUS

3D clue: Zoomer around a small track
Answer: GOCART

4D clue: Neighbors of Norwegians
Answer: SWEDES

Technologies

Watch SpaceX’s Starship Flight Test 11

Technologies

New California Law Wants Companion Chatbots to Tell Kids to Take Breaks

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the new requirements on AI companions into law on Monday.

AI companion chatbots will have to remind users in California that they’re not human under a new law signed Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The law, SB 243, also requires companion chatbot companies to maintain protocols for identifying and addressing cases in which users express suicidal ideation or self-harm. For users under 18, chatbots will have to provide a notification at least every three hours that reminds users to take a break and that the bot is not human.

It’s one of several bills Newsom has signed in recent weeks dealing with social media, artificial intelligence and other consumer technology issues. Another bill signed Monday, AB 56, requires warning labels on social media platforms, similar to those required for tobacco products. Last week, Newsom signed measures requiring internet browsers to make it easy for people to tell websites they don’t want them to sell their data and banning loud advertisements on streaming platforms.

AI companion chatbots have drawn particular scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators in recent months. The Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into several companies in response to complaints by consumer groups and parents that the bots were harming children’s mental health. OpenAI introduced new parental controls and other guardrails in its popular ChatGPT platform after the company was sued by parents who allege ChatGPT contributed to their teen son’s suicide.

«We’ve seen some truly horrific and tragic examples of young people harmed by unregulated tech, and we won’t stand by while companies continue without necessary limits and accountability,» Newsom said in a statement.

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One AI companion developer, Replika, told CNET that it already has protocols to detect self-harm as required by the new law, and that it is working with regulators and others to comply with requirements and protect consumers.

«As one of the pioneers in AI companionship, we recognize our profound responsibility to lead on safety,» Replika’s Minju Song said in an emailed statement. Song said Replika uses content-filtering systems, community guidelines and safety systems that refer users to crisis resources when needed.

A Character.ai spokesperson said the company «welcomes working with regulators and lawmakers as they develop regulations and legislation for this emerging space, and will comply with laws, including SB 243.» OpenAI spokesperson Jamie Radice called the bill a «meaningful move forward» for AI safety. «By setting clear guardrails, California is helping shape a more responsible approach to AI development and deployment across the country,» Radice said in an email.

One bill Newsom has yet to sign, AB 1064, would go further by prohibiting developers from making companion chatbots available to children unless the AI companion is «not foreseeably capable of» encouraging harmful activities or engaging in sexually explicit interactions, among other things.