IT General

TL;DR: Skip the endless searching — BitMar collects all the free streaming content already out there and puts it in one place for a one-time payment of just $14.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: BitMar BitMar Streaming Content-Finder: Lifetime Subscription $14.99
$150 Save $135.01 Get Deal

Everyone’s got their go-to paid streaming apps, but here’s a not-so-secret truth: there’s a ton of free content floating around online — if you’re willing to dig for it. Movies, music, shows, even live channels are out there for the taking. The problem? Tracking it all down is about as fun as untangling holiday lights. That’s why BitMar was created.

Think of BitMar as your personal streaming librarian. It pulls together millions of free, on-demand movies, shows, channels, videos, and songs from across the web and organizes them into one easy-to-navigate platform. No sketchy links, no bouncing between tabs, no wasted time. Just content, ready when you are.

SEE ALSO: Score a streaming upgrade with the Fire TV Cube — now $40 off at Amazon

The tech it runs on matters, too. BitMar uses AI filtering (built on Bing’s search engine tech, but optimized for streaming) to weed out the noise and surface the good stuff. That means you’re likely to find more free shows than Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ combined, plus more songs than Spotify and Apple Music put together — all without extra subscriptions.

And the best part? This isn’t a monthly charge. Right now, you can get lifetime access for just $14.99 with code BITMAR5. That’s it. Pay once, and you’ll always have a smarter way to discover free streaming content across your devices.

If you’re tired of endless searching but love the idea of free entertainment, this is the kind of hidden gem you’ll be glad you found.

Get lifetime BitMar access for the one-time payment of just $14.99 (reg. $150) with code BITMAR5 .

StackSocial prices subject to change.

PDF is an incredibly popular file format for sharing documents, used by individuals and organizations alike. This means that every so often, we find ourselves in situations where we need access to a PDF converter or editor.

The "bezels" of a monitor or TV are the frame around the part of the screen that shows a visible image. Over the years the desire for thinner and thinner bezels has reached a sometimes unreasonable level, and the push to eliminate them altogether hasn't abated.

Before Hamlet, there was Hamnet. He was the young son of William Shakespeare who died in his youth, inspiring the playwright to spin the timeless tragedy of a doomed Danish prince. Hamnet explores that true story through a mystical and matriarchal lens of Maggie O'Farrell's heralded novel of the same name, adapted by the Academy Award–winning director of Nomadland, Chloé Zhao, and her Academy-nominated actors, Paul Mescal (Aftersun) and Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter). 

This period drama seems primed to be a contender this award season. But Oscar buzz tends to mold the expectations of dramas — especially those even loosely biographical — into one box: star-stuffed theatrics festooned with tears, a soaring emotional score, and pretty scenes of pain, perfect for an award ceremony sizzle reel. To expect such a thing from Zhao, Mescal, and Buckley would be to ignore what's brought them acclaim to begin with. 

This trio has separately won praise for their nuanced expressions of joy and pain, from Buckley's star-making as an aspiring singer in Wild Rose to Zhao's bittersweet character drama Nomadland to Mescal's heart-wrenching turn as a lost love in All of Us Strangers. In Hamnet, their powers combined make for a drama that is more than a sentimental tearjerker poised for Oscar accolades; it is an earthy and poetic raw tale of love and loss. 

Hamnet focuses on the story of Shakespeare's witchy wife, Agnes.  Jessie Buckley stars as Agnes in "Hamnet." Credit: Agata Grzybowska/Focus Features

Rather than an earnest recreation of the real-life marriage of William Shakespeare and Anne "Agnes" Hathaway, Hamnet follows O'Farrell's interpretation, which imagines Agnes (Buckley) as a woman in touch with the woods and prone to premonitions of the future. 

In the film, Agnes scoffs at gossip that she is a witch. But her woodsy appeal — which includes wearing brash red robes and having a pet hawk — attracts the passionate and bookish son of a local glove-maker. Playing Will and Agnes from their youth into adulthood, Mescal and Buckley easily capture the lusty impulsiveness of young love. Their arms entangle with a violent intensity as they claw private moments from the mundane routines demanded of their families. 

Unlike in his yet-to-be-written comedies, marriage is not a happily-ever-after for the pair — as tragedy will follow. Still, marriage is a newfound freedom as they redefine what their married life looks like. For the Shakespeares, that means Will going off to London to write plays and express his soul in tales of star-crossed lovers and fortune-telling witches. For Agnes, that means raising their three children: Susanna and twins Judith and Hamnet. But a vision of her own deathbed makes Agnes certain that one of her children will die before her. 

Jacobi Jupe is a rare find as Hamnet.  Jacobi Jupe stars as Hamnet, Bodhi Rae Breathnach as Susanna and Olivia Lynes as Judith in director Chloé Zhao’s "Hamnet," a Focus Features release. Credit: Agata Grzybowska/Focus Features

Whether you know the history of Shakespeare's home life, are a fan of O'Farrell's novel, or can just read the room, it's clear early on that Agnes is off with her expectation that the child to die will be her youngest, Judith. This gives an enhanced tension to every moment that she experiences with her bright, adventurous, and caring boy, Hamnet, because we know their time together is short, and she has no clue. 

Such a setup would be ripe for agony regardless. But young Jacobi Jupe is stupendous as the 11-year-old Hamnet. Under Zhao's direction, he avoids the pitfalls all too common to child actors in family dramas. He is neither precocious nor ethereal. He galumphs about with his sisters, chuckling in play, swapping clothes for a child-like prank in which the twins trade identities. Before his mother, he dreams of being on the stage, where he gets to sword fight to the cheers of an audience. Jupe frolics with a mix of clumsiness and earnestness that reads simply as authenticity. So when the plague hits the Shakespeare home, and Judith specifically, it's natural that this sweet boy would curl into his twin sister's cot to comfort her.

When Hamnet speaks in a whisper of an ominous "him" that's watching the twins, things get eerie — suggesting he has the same gift for premonition as his mum. But even here, Jupe avoids cliché, in this case that of the haunted house child, wide-eyed in terror. Instead, he is a boy who is scared, but accustomed to playing the hero, and so soldiers on to help his sister with one more switcheroo. And because he feels so real, the pain of his end will take your breath away. 

Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal are riveting in Hamnet.  Jessie Buckley stars as Agnes and Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare in director Chloé Zhao’s "Hamnet." Credit: Agata Grzybowska/Focus Features

In early scenes of courting, they sizzle, each utilizing their well-reputed onscreen intensity. As the Shakespeare marriage gets complicated by distance and grief, they become explosions, destined to collide. But beautiful work is done in scenes without each other. Buckley, who is unquestionably the lead in the film, harnesses the focus seen in Wild Rose and the ferality of Men for a distinct portrait of grief. 

Her rage and resentment are both irrational and understandable. While she is in the home where her boy was lost, her husband is off in London. She can't see that he doesn't escape the loss of Hamnet, but is, in fact, consumed by it. Hamlet begins to take shape as Will's means of making sense of his own guilt and mourning. 

The "to be or not to be" speech becomes Mescal's greatest challenge to date. Not only because it's the iconic speech by which the greats are judged, but also because he's not playing Hamlet within it, but the man who wrote that speech to make sense of his own helplessness in the face of mortality. It's a layered and profound moment of pain and pondering, unfurling a labyrinth of dark feelings and darker thoughts. And yet, it's not even Mescal's best scene. 

That comes before Will knows Hamnet is dead. Rushing home because he's heard his little Judith is at death's door, Will barrels into the family home to see the girl alive and well. They hug, and he bursts with smiles and relief. But then he sees the little form covered in a white sheet, posed before the fire. 

Paul Mescal stars as William Shakespeare in "Hamnet." Credit: Agata Grzybowska/Focus Features

"Where is he?" Will says, and in that simple question, Mescal channels a mix of dread, hope, and fear that could bring down the Globe theatre. It's not booming. That's not Zhao's way. It's delivered strong but raw, quavering. It is what pain sounds like when stripped of Hollywood shine. It's too human for an Oscar reel. It's too heartbreaking. 

And all of this leads to a climax that takes Agnes and Will's pain to the stage, that of the Globe, to be specific. There Hamnet becomes Hamlet, in a prolonged and nerve-shredding sequence that is fueled by the couple's loss and their divide. No matter how many times you've seen Hamlet, this section hits different because it becomes about the pain that inspired the Dane. 

Props to Noah Jupe, who plays the onstage Hamlet, simultaneously channeling an actor striving to impress an audience and the dreamy wish of a mourning mother all at once. In a shrewd move from Zhao, she cast the older brother to play Hamlet to the younger's Hamnet, and the vague familial appearance makes this climax all the more haunting. Noah offers a pitch-perfect echo of his brother Jacobi’s performance with flourishes of maturity and theater-worthy showmanship.

Still, I have one qualm with Hamnet. 

Jessie Buckley stars as Agnes in director Chloé Zhao’s "Hamnet," a Focus Features release. Credit: Agata Grzybowska/Focus Features

While I can see Zhao's vision and admire her restraint, I must confess I wished for a bit more cinema. I'm not asking for the emoting common in biopics aiming for Oscar glory — which this film is not strictly, on either point. Instead, I wish Zhao had embraced the visual storytelling of Agnes' premonitions as she did with the earthiness of Will's environment. 

As Agnes' visions are not just key to the plot but also to the core to her motivations, I wish Zhao had let us see them with her. Hamnet is rooted in Agnes' perspective, yet the screenplay by Zhao and novelist O'Farrell only has dialogue describing these visions of a deathbed with two guests, a landscape of trees, and a dark, infinite cave. By not using this visual medium to show us what Agnes sees, the filmmakers keep Agnes a bit at a distance. 

By contrast, Will's view of things gets a visual component through the climactic production of Hamlet. So, in a way, we are given more access to his inner world than Agnes'. And while the film is moving, I sometimes felt like I was watching Agnes' experience instead of feeling it with her — like I was on the outside looking in. Where with Mescal's Will, the play is the thing…that shows the heartache of the scribe. 

Still, Hamnet is a bold rebellion, and I respect that. Not only does Zhao reject the temptations of glossy Hollywood biopics, but also the regal romance or cerebral theatricality of a barrage of Oscar-adored Shakespeare adaptations, from a handful of intense Hamlets to The Tragedy of Macbeth to the winsome Shakespeare in Love. Her Shakespeare and company are more feral, bringing this historic tragedy fresh blood and true grit. 

For these big swings, Hamnet could be an unconventional but strong Oscar contender. But whether you're invested in awards season or just seeking a powerful drama from actors at the top of their form, be sure to bring tissues. Hamnet could leave you tear-soaked and in tatters. 

Hamnet was reviewed out of its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film will open in theaters Dec.12. 

If you’re anything like me, then you’ve likely looked at your Mac’s storage reporting tool to see what’s taking up space on your computer, only to be thwarted by the mysterious System Data taking up insane amounts of storage.

You may not have noticed if you're a little younger, but computers these days are just so quiet—not that I really have a complaint about that. Silent computers are better for concentration or to enjoy your media better, but not too long ago a typical home computer sounded like a mainframe from an old movie.

A beloved sports car icon is set to leave showrooms in 2025, marking the end of an era for enthusiasts who cherish its balance of performance and analog driving thrills. Its departure signals a shift as the brand embraces electrification and a new generation of vehicles.

In the late 90s, our household computer mouse broke. Now, that might not sound like a big deal, but there was no such thing as a cheap mouse. No $5 Amazon special to tide us over. So I simply had to learn to use our computer with no mouse at all.

When headphone jacks started to disappear from phones a decade ago, I wasn’t happy about it. But time went on, and now I hardly register that my phone lacks this once essential port. I’m now completely ambivalent whenever I do get my hands on a phone that still has it. What happened?

TL;DR: Live stream the 2025 US Open for free on 9Now. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

This has been a pretty special season for tennis. Fans have been treated to some absolutely epic Grand Slams, with some of the best players in the world reaching new heights. Anyone worried about the loss of the Big Three should be comforted by the emergence of some genuine stars over the last year or so.

And it just keeps getting better for dedicated fans of the sport, because it's possible to follow the Grand Slams without spending anything. If you want to watch the 2025 US Open for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

What is the US Open?

The US Open Tennis Championships (or US Open) is a hardcourt tennis tournament held annually in Queens, New York. The US Open is the fourth and final Grand Slam tournament of the year, after the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon.

The defending singles champions are Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka.

When is the 2025 US Open?

The 2025 US Open is the 145th edition of the tournament. This year's event takes place from Aug. 24 to Sept. 7 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

How to watch the 2025 US Open for free

The 2025 US Open is available to live stream for free on 9Now.

9Now is geo-restricted to Australia, but anyone from around the world can access this site with a VPN. These handy tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to secure servers in Australia, meaning you can unblock 9Now from anywhere in the world.

Access free live streams of the 2025 US Open by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in Australia

4. Visit 9Now

5. Watch the 2025 US Open for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but leading VPNs do tend to offer free-trial periods or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can gain access to free live streams without committing with your cash. This is obviously not a long-term solution, but it does give you time to watch the 2025 US Open before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for the US Open?

ExpressVPN is the best service for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including Australia

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure

• Fast connection speeds

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for $12.95 (with money-back guarantee).

Live stream the 2025 US Open for free from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

TL;DR: Live stream Alcaraz vs. Sinner in the 2025 US Open final for free on 9Now. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

The last match of the 2025 US Open looks set to be an absolute classic. Alcaraz and Sinner are going to do battle for the Grand Slam crown in front of a raucous support at Flushing Meadows. It's a repeat of the French Open and Wimbledon finals, with fans excited to see how the latest edition of this incredible rivalry plays out.

If you want to watch Alcaraz vs. Sinner in the 2025 US Open final for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

How to watch Alcaraz vs. Sinner for free

Alcaraz vs. Sinner in the 2025 US Open final is available to live stream for free on 9Now.

9Now is geo-restricted to Australia, but anyone from around the world can access this site with a VPN. These handy tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to secure servers in Australia, meaning you can unblock 9Now from anywhere in the world.

Access free live streams of the 2025 US Open by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in Australia

4. Visit 9Now

5. Watch the 2025 US Open for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but leading VPNs do tend to offer free-trial periods or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can gain access to free live streams without committing with your cash. This is obviously not a long-term solution, but it does give you time to watch the 2025 US Open before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for 9Now?

ExpressVPN is the best service for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including Australia

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure

• Fast connection speeds

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for $12.95 (with money-back guarantee).

Live stream Alcaraz vs. Sinner in the 2025 US Open final for free with ExpressVPN.

For Android enthusiasts, rooting and custom ROMs were once the ultimate draw. They made Android exciting and turned every phone into a project worth tinkering with. But the modding scene's golden age has long passed, and that's probably a good thing.

I often hear people say that they like the idea of a book-style foldable, but they can't imagine what they would actually do with one. I use one every day, and here are tasks I do on my foldable that feel far more practical, or simply just better, than on my previous phones.

Warner Bros. Discovery is suing Midjourney for copyright infringement, joining Disney and Universal in the battle over AI's impact on film and TV.

"Midjourney thinks it is above the law. It sells a commercial subscription service, powered by artificial intelligence technology, that was developed using illegal copies of Warner Bros. Discovery’s copyrighted works," the complaint reads.

The suit claims that Midjourney is built on theft by "brazenly" dispensing Warner Bros. Discovery’s intellectual property. One example? Bugs Bunny, according to the complaint filed on Thursday in California federal court, and The Hollywood Reporter. Other examples include Superman, Batman, the Flash, Wonder Woman, Scooby-Doo, and the Powerpuff Girls, according to the Associated Press.

"The heart of what we do is develop stories and characters to entertain our audiences, bringing to life the vision and passion of our creative partners,” a Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. "Midjourney is blatantly and purposefully infringing copyrighted works, and we filed this suit to protect our content, our partners, and our investments."

According to the Associated Press, the lawsuit argues that Midjourney creates "consumer confusion regarding what is lawful and what is not lawful by misleading its subscribers to believe that Midjourney’s massive copying and the countless infringing images and videos generated by its Service are somehow authorized by Warner Bros. Discovery."

Warner Bros. Discovery is seeking $150,000 per infringed work.

This is just one of many lawsuits against artificial intelligence — Anthropic settled a copyright lawsuit for $15 billion earlier this month, and Disney and Comcast’s Universal's June complaint alleges that Midjourney is a "bottomless pit of plagiarism."

If you're anything like me, your streaming watchlist is filled with old shows you've been putting off, new movies you know nothing about, and a bunch of other series you don't remember adding. With all these programs to fill your watchlist, it's probably looking very cluttered by now.

If you're an active Threads user, you've probably seen a ton of new changes over the past few days: a newly increased 10,000-character limit, a text attachment feature, and now, as Threads said in a post on its site, the company is "making it easier to thread on Threads."

Basically, it wasn't always easy to post a multi-post Thread on the app — or to tell when someone else was doing that. Threads like these are a really helpful tool for people live-posting through an event, doing a live-watching of a show, or posting a multi-part story. Now, Threads is testing a change that "makes it easier to see a series of connected posts by adding a label that shows a post’s position in the thread." For instance, a post might say "1/4" if it is the first of four posts in a Thread.

SEE ALSO: Who is actually using Threads? View on Threads

Threads is also showing threads in your profile a bit differently by allowing users to see the "first and second posts in a thread, followed by an indicator of the number of additional posts you’ve added." And when someone clicks into your thread, they'll see all of your responses in one place, with the intention of making it easier to keep track of the conversation.

"To share a multi-part thread, start by writing your first post in the composer. Then, tap “Add to thread” to keep building. Repeat as many times as you need to tell your story in a series of connected posts," Threads explained.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, a movie surprises you with something unexpected. Sometimes it’s the defying of a trope or a shocking death that turns the narrative on its head. Sometimes, however, the film shifts entirely into a different sub-genre, like a monster movie.

Nintendo's consoles have faced off against many rivals over the years, and in each encounter, they have almost always come out on top. Atari spiraled downwards after crashing the video game industry, Sega failed to follow up on the success of the Genesis, and even Microsoft isn't the system-seller it used to be.

Plenty of us have downloaded apps with all the best intentions, only to end up using just one small feature. Sometimes their real value isn't inside the app itself, but in the small, dynamic windows they put right on your home screen. Enter the humble widget.

Virtual private networks (VPNs) are great tools to keep safe online and access sites you otherwise can't, but most come with a price tag. However, there are a number of trustworthy VPN services that offer free VPN plans you can take advantage of.