Cord Cutters Beware! This has not been widely reported, but as of the middle of December 2020, the Spectrum TV app is no longer available in the ROKU app store. If you already have it on your ROKU device it should still keep working, but if you delete it or have a new device and try and load it, it cannot be found. If you have a working Spectrum TV app on your ROKU – Don’t Delete It! – because you won’t be able to reload it, at least for now. Hopefully ROKU and Spectrum will eventually work out a deal and this will get back to the way it was, because a lot of people like the ROKU devices and purchased them specifically to utilize the Spectrum TV app and not have to pay monthly for a Spectrum cable box.

Here is a link to the Spectrum statement on the situation: Spectrum Roku Update

I can’t really find a statement from ROKU on the situation, even though it seems like they rejected the contract renewal between the two companies.

It sounds like they will eventually work something out again, but in the meantime you can use an Apple TV 4K, 2012 or newer Samsung Smart TV, iOS/Android device, XBOX ONE or Kindle Fire.

Sadly, from what I am still seeing this many years later, most builders and remodelers still consider a television location to be a single RG-6 cable. Category cable such as Cat-5e, Cat-6, Cat-7, generally known as ethernet cable, is amazingly versatile, and not very expensive per foot. It can be used to extend a network, send audio, video, control, telephone and even power some devices. At the very least, please insist on having at least one category ethernet cable (typically Cat-5e or Cat-6 these days) be pulled to each television location. It is better to have two to each location and have them all pulled back to a centralized location. Additional single ethernet cables could/should be pulled for dedicated Wi-Fi extender locations, considering the direction Wi-Fi hardware and standards are heading.

Of course the best thing to do would be to hire an Audio Video & Networking Specialist to help you plan out your wiring needs, develop a system plan and work with your builder or remodeler to get the appropriate wires in the wall at the appropriate time. Even if they won’t allow a third party in to pull wires, an A/V specialist can still consult with them on your behalf. Don’t trust a builder that says “Don’t worry, I’ll handle it”, because without a plan/system in mind of what will satisfy your needs, it is nearly impossible for them to handle it appropriately unless they luck out. Getting ethernet wires in the wall now can actually save you lots of money in the future and give you much better overall home technology results.

To learn more or set up a consultation, contact Steve.

Photos and videos take up a lot of storage and are a good place to start when looking to clear out some space, but have you ever deleted photos and not seen your available space get larger? It is probably because once you select and delete a photo and/or video while in the Photos app – you then have to go to “Albums” and look for the “Recently Deleted” album. Once you are there hit “select” in the upper right. Then you can select “Delete All” in the lower left and then once you go back to Settings/General/Usage – under Storage you should see the “Available” number grow. This is kind of like emptying the trash in Photos. A longer-term solution might be to sync the phone/photos to a computer, then delete them from the phone.

Contact Tech Ease for more ways to free up space on iOS device. Happy Holidays!

To modify these settings to go Settings then to Notification Center and check out which apps are listed under the “INCLUDE” section. Turn off all of the alerts on the apps you no longer want to receive. For help with this, and other settings, give us Tech Ease a call.