Technologies

These Devices Make It Easy to Stream TV With a VPN

You can stream videos safely and securely with any of these devices.

Using a virtual private network to stream videos on your standard or smart TV sounds complicated and burdened by technical know-how. Never fear — there are a few devices that make using a VPN on your TV as easy as using your favorite phone app.

There are a few reasons why you might want to use a VPN to stream shows and movies on your TV. It will help keep your viewing habits private, and it will give you access to more streaming content from different parts of the world.

If either of those reasons sound enticing to you, then we have three devices that easily let you stream your favorite shows while using a VPN. And if you aren’t sure which VPN is right for you, check out our picks for the best VPNs.

Amazon/CNET

Amazon Fire TV Sticks

Cheapest way to stream with a VPN

Amazon Fire TV Sticks can be as cheap as $30, are easy to set up on your TV, and are one of the simplest ways to stream TV with a third-party VPN app.

Once you’ve plugged your Fire Stick into your TV and followed the on-screen setup, you can download apps for some of CNET’s best VPNs for Fire Sticks, like Surfshark, NordVPN and ExpressVPN. If you don’t subscribe to any of those VPN services, no worries. Each offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try each one risk-free until you find the right one for you.

Here’s how to download a VPN app onto your Fire Stick.

1. Open your Fire Stick on your TV.
2. Open the app.
3. Open Search.
4. Type in the name of the VPN you want to download.
5. Click Get.

After you’ve downloaded a VPN app onto your Fire Stick, go back to your home screen to open the app and log into your account. Then, you can connect to a VPN server in the country or region where you want to unlock specific content, or you can connect to a local VPN server for better private streaming speeds. After connecting to a VPN server, you’re all set to securely watch shows and movies in privacy.

$32 at Amazon

You’re receiving price alerts for Amazon Fire TV Sticks

Amazon

Amazon Fire TVs

Best if you want to replace your TV

Amazon Fire TVs come built-in with all the same capabilities of a Fire Stick, meaning you get all the same features without having to use a precious HDMI slot. Even the Fire TV’s interface is the same as the Fire Stick. To use a VPN through a Fire TV, follow the same steps as above to download a third-party VPN app, log into your account, connect to the VPN server you want to use and start streaming TV.

However, Fire TVs can cost between $370 and $1,100. So buying a Fire TV to stream shows and movies through a VPN is like buying a new car because you want a new paint job. If your TV works and it can use a Fire Stick, save yourself the money and buy a Fire Stick. But if you’re in the market for a new TV, and you want to use a VPN to stream content, consider a Fire TV to upgrade your streaming experience.

$470 at Amazon

You’re receiving price alerts for Amazon Fire TVs

ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN’s Aircove router

Provides whole-home VPN protection

ExpressVPN’s Aircove router costs less than $200, and it allows you to run all your internet traffic through a VPN, not just your TV. The router has built-in VPN protection, a range of 1,600 square feet, and it allows unlimited simultaneous connections. These unlimited connections can be organized in up to five different groups, too, so if you live with four other people, each person in your house can be connected to a different server location at the same time.

However, you need an ExpressVPN account to use the router’s VPN capabilities. That means you’ll have to switch to ExpressVPN if you have an account with another VPN service. You’ll also need to use your laptop or smartphone in order to set up your router. That makes setup on the Aircove slightly more complicated than Fire Stick and Fire TV, which you can simply plug in and follow the on-screen instructions.

But once you’ve finished the Aircove’s initial setup, you’ve thrown a blanket of protection over all the internet traffic that runs through the router, which makes it a good option for people looking to run other devices at home through a VPN.

Coming Soon: Apple TV

Apple also announced in the follow-up to its WWDC keynote that TVOS 17 will support third-party VPN apps, like Surfshark, NordVPN and ExpressVPN, when it comes out this fall. That means you’ll be able to download VPN apps onto your Apple TV, and you should be able to use them in the same way you’d use them on your Fire Stick.

For more on VPNs, check out CNET’s best overall VPN services of 2023, the best VPN for your smart TV and how to set up a VPN on your smart TV.

Watch this: Top 5 Reasons to Use a VPN

02:42

Technologies

Tesla Has a New Range of Affordable Electric Cars: How Much They Cost

The new, stripped-back versions of the Model Y and Model 3 have a more affordable starting price.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 22 #598

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 22, No. 598.

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

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one — I definitely have at least two of these in my house. Some of the answers are a bit tough to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Catch all.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: A mess of items.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

BATE, LICE, SLUM, CAPE, HOLE, CARE, BARE, THEN, SLAM, SAMBA, BACK

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

TAPE, COIN, PENCIL, BATTERY, SHOELACE, THUMBTACK

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is JUNKDRAWER. To find it, look for the J that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind down, over and then up.

Quick tips for Strands

#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an «S» or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.

#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.

#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Oct. 22, #1586

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Oct. 22, No. 1,586.

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

Today’s Wordle puzzle features some letters I don’t often guess, but it’s not terribly difficult. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has one repeated letter.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has one vowel.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with S.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with T.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to an action displaying spectacular skill and daring.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is STUNT.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Oct. 21, No. 1,585 was DETOX.

Recent Wordle answers

Oct. 17, No. 1,581: GROSS
Oct. 18, No. 1,582: HAVEN
Oct. 19, No. 1,583: IDEAL
Oct. 20, No. 1,584: LIMBO

Quick tips for Wordle

#1: Check our list ranking the popularity of all the letters in the alphabet and choose your starter words accordingly. (TRAIN, STERN and AUDIO are good.)

#2: Don’t forget that letters can be used more than once.

#3: Many words are similar. You don’t want to use up multiple guesses that don’t advance your cause. So if the puzzle is STA_E, don’t guess STARE, STATE and STALE. Guess something that uses that R, T and L, like TWIRL.