When it comes to streaming live TV in the U.S., viewers have a number of options to choose from. Sling TV and Fubo are two of them. While they aren’t the most popular options in terms of total number of subscribers, they’re still well worth considering.

Fubo delivers a more traditional experience. You pick a plan, pay your fees, and get access to channels ready for your eyes. Although with four tiers of plans, it can be slightly trickier to ensure you’re getting the channels that you really want. Sling TV goes a different route with two different basic plans, plus a variety of add-ons to curate your watching. It starts out as a very affordable option, but it’s also easy to see that monthly bill grow.

Whichever one has your eye, they still work essentially the same way. Pick a service that has the channels you want, at a price you’re willing to pay.

Thankfully, Sling TV and Fubo are available on pretty much any modern connected device. So let’s dive in.

Plans and price

Channels

On paper, Fubo has more channels than Sling TV. A lot more. But sit down and look at it, and you’ll find that a lot of them are more of the sort that you’d find on a free ad-supported streaming service.

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Here’s how things look as of Autumn 2024:

Fubo channels

Again, these channels can change at any time. Currently, Fubo has:

ABC, ABC News Live, ABC Localish, AXS TV Now, ACL Cornhole, Always Funny, Accuweather, Africa News English, ACCN ESPN, Alien Nation, At Home Family Handyman, beIN SPORTS 4, beIN SPORTS 5, beIN SPORTS 6, beIN SPORTS 7, beIN SPORTS 8, beIN SPORTS en Espanol, Bravo, Big Network, Bloomberg television, Bleav Football, Bounce, Boxing TV, Billiard TV, Bare Knuckle Fighting, BET, Big Ten Network, Bloomberg Originals, BET Jams, BET Soul, BET Her, Buzzr, Baywatch, Cheddar News, CNBC World, CL Sports, Court Sports Network, Circle Country, Classic TV, Cheaters, Chess TV, Crime and Punishment, Curiosity Now, CBS Sports Network,  2, CLEO TV, Curiosity, Comedy Dynamics, Court TV, Court TV Legendary Trials, Craftsy TV, CMT, Comedy Central, CBS News 24/7, Comet, CNBC, Charge,

Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Jr, Dabl, Dove Channel, Dark Matter TV, Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan, Documentary Plus, Euro News, ESPN U, ESPN News, ESports Television, EarthX TV, E!, ESPN, ESPN 2, Estrella TV, FS1 4k, FS2, Fox News, Freeform, FX, FXX, Fox Business, Fox Weather, Fox LiveNow, Fox Sports, Fox Soul, FailArmy, Free Movies, Family Time, Fubo Radio 1, Fubo Radio 2, Fubo Radio 3, Fubo Radio 4, Fubo Radio 6, Fubo Radio 7, Fubo Radio 8, Fubo Radio 9, Fubo Radio 10,  Forensic Files, FloRacing, FeTV, Filmrise Unsolved Mysteries, FMC, Fubo Movies, Fubo Sports, Fubo Sports 2, Fubo Sports 3, Fubo Sports 4, Fubo Sports 5, Fubo Sports 6, Fubo Sports 7, Fubo Sports 9,  Fight Network, Fuel TV, FXM, Family Feud, Game Plus Network, Great American Faith & Living, Great American Adventures, Gusto TV, Great American Family, Grit, Glory, Game Show Central, Galavision, Get TV,

Hallmark, Hallmark Mystery, Hallmark Family, Horse & Country, Hello Inspo, i24 News, InWonder, InTravel, InFast, Ion Mystery, Ion, Ion Plus, JTV,  Justice Central TV, Judge Nosy, Kitchen Nightmares, LSN, Law & Crime, Locked On Sports Los Angeles, Live Tennis, Locked On Sports Today, LX TV, Local Now, Lego, MLB Network, MLB Strike Zone, MTV2, MTV U, MTV Live, MTV Classic, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Mysteria, Marquee, MASN, MASN, MSNBC, Maximum Effort Channel, Man Cave Movies, MTV, NBC Sports Philadelphia, NBC Sports 4k,  NBC Golf, NFL Network, NBC News Now, National Geographic, NitroCircus TV, NewsMax, NewsMax2, News12 New York, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, NBC Universo, News Nation, NFL RedZone, NBA TV, NHL Network, Next Level Sports & Entertainment, NickToons, NickMusic, Nat Geo Wild, Nosey, Non-Stop 90s,

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Outside TV, Oxygen True Crime, Origin Sports, Power Sports World, Professional Football League, PBTV, Powder, Paramount, Pop TV, Pickle TV, Poker GO, People are Awesome, QVC, QVC’s Big Dish Channel, OZ TV, RealMadrid TV, Revry News, ROI, Racing America, Revry, Retro Crush, Rig TV, SyFy, Sport Stak, Scripp News, Speed Vision, Start.tv, Swerve Combat, Salem News, Shop LC, Speed Sport, Surfer, Smithsonian Channel, Stadium, SEC ESPN Network, Sports Grid, Strongman Champions League, Sony Movie Channel, Shout TV, Sensical Makers, Supermarket Sweep, Sensical Gaming, Sensical Jr,

TasteMade Food & More, TasteMade Travel, The First, The Pet Collective, The Design Network, The Bob Ross Channel, Tastemade home, Team Liquid, The Boat Show, True Crime, Telemundo, TV Land, The Weather Channel, TBD, The Jami Oliver Channel, The Nest, TUDN, TUDNXtra 1, TUDNXtra 10, TUDNXtra 11, TUDNXtra 2, TUDNXtra 3, TUDNXtra 4, TUDNXtra 5, TUDNXtra 6, TUDNXtra 7, TUDNXtra 8, TUDNXtra 9, The Washington Post Television, TYT, Tennis Channel, TNA Wrestling, Teen Nick, True Crime Now, USA, Univision, Universal Kids, Unimas, Unbeaten, VH1, WSN, Willow, Weather Spy, Whoa That Was Wild, Western, WPT, World’s Wildest Police Videos, XOXO & Zona Futbol.

Sling TV channels

Channels that are exclusive to Sling Orange: Disney Channel, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPN4K, FreeForm, and Motor Trend.

Channels that are exclusive to Sling Blue: Bravo, Discovery Channel, E!, FS1, FS1 4K, FX, Fox News, HLN, MSNBC, NFL Network, National Geographic, SYFY, TLC, USA, and TruTV.

The following channels are available on either track: A&E, AMC, AXS TV, BBC America, BET, Bloomberg, Charge!, CNN, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, Comet, Food Network, Fuse, HGTV, History Channel, IFC, Investigation Discovery, Lifetime, Local Now, MGM+ Drive-In, Nick Jr., QVC, Sling Scapes, Sling Scapes 2, TBS, TNT, Travel Channel, and Vice.

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Local channels

Both Fubo and Sling TV have local channels. You’ll want to double-check that you actually get them where you live, though. Fubo has all the main ones — ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC. Sling, on the other hand, only has CBS, Fox, and NBC in a limited number of markets. And it doesn’t have CBS at all.

However, Sling TV will push something called AirTV, which is basically a branded over-the-air antenna and tuner. You’ll hook it up and scan for channels, and everything appears in the Sling TV live guide.

Fubo definitely wins here for the sake of simplicity.

Add-ons

Sling TV and Fubo each have a good number of add-ons (not counting the Extras that will bring Sling’s channel listings closer to par). And each has premiums like Showtime, STARZ, and NBA League Pass.

Fubo will also let you buy extra recording storage — $1 a month will get you unlimited DVR storage. Sling TV comes with 50 hours for free. If you need more than that, another $5 a month will get you 200 hours.

Fubo also lets you buy the ability to stream on up to 10 devices at once (and two on the road) for $10 a month. It calls that option “unlimited screens” for some reason. The “Family Share” add-on lets you share your account with up to three people at once, away from your home network, for $6 a month.

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Total subscribers

Electronic Arts‘ EA Sports and Adobe have teamed up to transform the Team Builder mode of EA Sports College Football 25.

EA’s new football game has been a hit relaunch for EA after many years of hiatus. Adobe Express, the easy-to-use make-anything app, will be used in the Team Builder mode of EA Sports College Football 25.

The collaboration brings Adobe Express to over one million users in Team Builder and will dynamically elevate the user experience by providing innovative tools for team customization, allowing players to express their creativity in new and exciting ways.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Adobe Express to bring its functionality to Team Builder, empowering our users to showcase their creativity. This integration brings additional customization options and takes the design experience to the next level of innovation. We can’t wait to see how players personalize their teams in exciting new ways,” said Jeff Skelton, head of technology partnerships at EA, in a statement.

Customizing gear for players

Adobe Express brings together the best of Adobe’s industry-leading creative tools, responsible AI and a massive library of professional-grade assets into an app that’s quick and easy for everyone to use.

Today, millions of solopreneurs, small businesses, marketers and business users turn to Adobe Express to promote and grow their ideas, passions and businesses. Adobe Express also brings easy content creation to where millions more people work with integrations into popular productivity platforms like Google Drive, ChatGPT and Slack.

The new partnership between EA Sports and Adobe Express will give College Football 25 players the ability to make their teams stand out on the field and on social media with custom logo, helmet, jersey and home-field designs that reflect their personal style and passions.

With Adobe Express in Team Builder, players can now access pro-grade assets and choose from more than 500,000 royalty-free Adobe Stock photos, 290,000 icons, 44,000 designs, including shapes, illustrations, brushes, textures, frames and more – all for no extra cost.

Players can bring their own photos or images into Adobe Express to create new designs. They can generate designs with responsible AI. Players simply type in what they want to see and Adobe Express instantly generates designs they can choose from. Adobe Express features powered by Firefly – Adobe’s generative AI model – are designed to be commercially safe so players can post their creations online and on social with confidence.

And they can share it on social. With Adobe Express, it’s simple for players to showcase their in-game designs with friends and fans on their favorite social media platforms.

“College Football 25 players bring a passion and pride to their teams and with Adobe Express in EA Sports’ Team Builder mode, it’s now easy for players to translate that passion into a team look and personality that’s uniquely theirs and they can showcase to the world,” said Aubrey Cattell, vice president of Creative Cloud Developer Platform and partner ecosystem at Adobe, in a statement. “We’re thrilled to put Adobe’s world-class creative tools ‘in the game’ for such a highly engaged audience.”

TCL has confirmed which smartphones will get the Android 15 OS update. After Google, Motorola, and Vivo, TCL has announced the Android 15 roadmap for quite a few of its devices.

Which TCL smartphones will receive the Android 15 OS update?

TCL isn’t a company that is particularly known to offer Android OS updates quickly. The company typically sells mid-range Android smartphones at attractive prices. However, the company does not offer major OS updates as swiftly as other Android smartphone makers.

Google recently rolled out the first stable version of Android 15 to its Pixel smartphones and tablets. Following Google’s footsteps, a few reputed and global smartphone manufacturers too have announced Android 15 OS update for some of their devices.

TCL too reportedly released a list, which includes 10 devices that will get Android 15. It includes TCL 50 5G, TCL 50 NXTPAPER 5G, TCL 50 Pro NXTPAPER 5G, TCL 50 SE, TCL 50 XL 5G, TCL 505, TCL Tab 8 Gen 2 and LTE, TCL Tab 10, NXTPAPER 5G, TCL Tab 11 Gen 2 and LTE, and TCL Tab 11 FE.

It is interesting to note that some of the TCL devices that will get the Android 15 OS update have been released in the last 12 to 14 months. Moreover, TCL hasn’t confirmed any timeline for the rollout.

TCL revising its update policy for smartphones

Traditionally, TCL has preferred to sell new phones with the latest Android OS update pre-installed. Moreover, it usually releases a single major Android OS update to its devices.

TCL’s track record for releasing software releases for its smartphones has been rather poor. The company has noticeably dragged its feet during the Android 13 and Android 14 updates.

TCL seems to be trying to change gears. In other words, TCL is revising its update policy. Some TCL smartphones, especially those belonging to the TCL 50 series, will receive two major OS upgrades.

Simply put, the TCL 50 series smartphones should get Android 16 update. The company has further indicated that these devices will also get five years of security updates.

For years, Finix has been slowly chipping away at Stripe – which handles payments for millions of businesses. But after previously helping companies set up internal payment systems of their own, the startup officially became a payment processor in 2023, just like Stripe. Now Finix is gearing up for its biggest push against the fintech giant yet.

In an interview with TechCrunch, CEO and founder Richie Serna says becoming a payment processor was “hugely transformational” for the business, and a main driver of its $75 million fundraise, which it announced on Thursday.

Serna says Finix has quadrupled its revenue in the last year, though he declined to share its true number of merchants. However, he told TechCrunch in 2022 that Finix was supporting more than 12,000 merchants and says Finix closed more deals in 2024 than in the company’s entire history — so Finix could have more than 24,000 merchants today.

That’s still a long way off from the customer base of Stripe, who Finix directly competes with — at least if you ask Sequoia Capital. The venture firm led Finix’s $35 million Series B round in 2020, only to walk away from the investment weeks later after determining a conflict of interest with Stripe, which it also backed. Finix got to keep the money but lost Sequoia as a backer.

Four years later, Serna says that moment helped put Finix on the map, and hasn’t had a lasting effect on the business. In fact, Serna says fintech companies like Stripe, Finix, and Adyen all have lots of room to grow in the payments space.

“One thing that we kind of try to correct, in terms of the narrative, is this idea that Stripe owns the entire market. We live in Silicon Valley. Everybody sort of believes that,” said Serna. “And so Stripe only actually owns 6% of the US market, and less than 2% worldwide. So payments is still relatively fragmented, and probably about 91% of payments today still goes through systems that were built back in the ’80s and the ’90s,” he noted.

So why would someone choose Finix over Stripe, and how are they different?

When Serna founded Finix, he didn’t see it as a payments business, but instead as a “payments infrastructure” company. Now that’s changing.

In some ways, these companies are more similar today than when Sequoia abandoned its investment in Finix for being too competitive with Stripe. Both process payments for businesses, require little to no coding to get set up, and operate in Canada and the United States.

However, Serna says Finix is specifically building products for businesses with both in-store and online footprints that don’t have the developers to build out those experiences. He says there are tens of millions of these companies in America. To this end, Finix offers more options for physical payments, integrating with several different payment devices.

Serna also says Finix offers more visibility into its pricing. Stripe takes a clean, but obscure, 2.9% cut of every transaction, plus a 30-cent fee. Finix, on the other hand, uses a cost-plus model, breaking down everything it’s charging a customer for and showing their markup.

With the new investment, Finix says it’s focused on growing its team beyond the 130 employees it has today and expanding into more countries around the world. Ideally the startup is hoping to take a bigger bite out of America’s payments system.

The $75 million round was led by Acrew Capital and co-led by Leap Global and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Other investors in the round include Citi Ventures, Tribeca Venture Partners, Homebrew, Insight Partners, Inspired Capital, and Cap Table Coalition. Finix has now raised $208 million in total funding to date with this Series C, which comes more than two years since the startup secured a $30 million tranche. Finix would not disclose its current valuation to TechCrunch but says this was an up round.

Google could preview its own take on Rabbit’s large action model concept as soon as December, reports The Information. “Project Jarvis,” as it’s reportedly codenamed, would carry tasks out for users, including “gathering research, purchasing a product, or booking a flight,” according to three people the outlet spoke with who have direct knowledge of the project.

Powered by a future version of Google’s Gemini, Jarvis reportedly only works with a web browser (it’s tuned specifically for Chrome). The tool is aimed at helping people “automate everyday, web-based tasks” by taking and interpreting screenshots and then clicking buttons or entering text, The Information writes. In its current state, it apparently takes “a few seconds” between actions.

The Information cautions that Google’s plan to show Jarvis off in December is subject to change. The company is reportedly considering releasing it to some small number of testers to find and help the company work out bugs.

Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.

What should you do once you’ve finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I’ve also got daily Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.