This week on TechHive: Turn an old Android phone into a Chromecast remote

Google’s Chromecast streaming dongles are supposed to do away with dedicated remote controls. Instead of making you thumb through menus with a creaky plastic remote, Chromecast lets you launch videos with whatever phone, tablet, or laptop you have on hand.

Still, it’s nice to have a dedicated remote that you can leave on the coffee table for when other devices are occupied or out of reach. Since I’ve recently been trying figure out some uses for my old phones and tablets, I decided to repurpose an old HTC One Android phone as a full-time Chromecast remote. For details on how to do this yourself, read the full column on TechHive.

Weekly Rewind

YouTube TV review: Now that I can get YouTube TV here in Cincinnati, we’ve published our review over at TechHive. This would be my favorite streaming bundle yet, if not for two things: The only way to watch on TV is via Chromecast, and it doesn’t support 60 frames per second video.

Those issues aside, YouTube TV is a great value, and its interface is the most comprehensible fusion of live, on-demand, and recorded TV that I’ve seen yet. If you’re in one of the markets where YouTube TV is available—that’s about half the country currently—it’s worth checking out.

FuboTV gets NFL Network: One of my knocks against FuboTV is that it’s light on football for a sports-centric streaming bundle. But that’s no longer the case with the addition of NFL Network and (with the $9 per month Sports Plus add-on) NFL Redzone. Fubo also recently added CBS to its base $35 per month package, so all your NFL needs are covered with the exception of Monday Night Football on ESPN.

Fubo’s streaming TV apps are still in rough beta form, but its mobile apps are better and support Chromecast. For NFL Network and Redzone, your other options are Sling TV ($35 per month Sling Orange and Sports Extra) and PlayStation Vue ($55 per month for Core and Sports Pack).

More Catch-Up

Roku launches a free movie channel (with ads)
Signs of a new Fire TV box emerge
Seed, a nifty free streaming app from CW, is on Fire TV now
So is Plex’s Live TV service, which also added web browser support.

Save More Money

We seldom see deals on Amazon’s Fire TV Stick, but right now it’s on sale for $35, which is $5 off the regular price. The Fire TV Stick is a fine streaming solution for Prime subscribers, has killer voice search features, and plays somewhat nicely with Amazon’s Echo connected speakers.

Thanks for reading!

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Until next week,
Jared