Top 5 Ways to get TV on your PC

I have a problem: I spend a lot of time in my room, staring at my computer monitor. Watching TV is difficult, as I don't even have a cable hookup in my dorm:

The obvious solution is to watch TV on my computer. Here are the five easiest ways to do that:


5) Bit Torrent 

90% of you use it already. The other 10% want to, but don't know how. Want to catch up on three seasons of your new favourite TV show? Download uTorrent, go to ThePirateBay, and search for it. It's simple enough that anybody can do it.

Pros: Free; simple; early access to movies and games

Cons: Usually illegal, slow speeds; angry Internet Service Providers (ISPs); not live, streaming TV


4) Illegal Streams

There are a number of sites that stream live channels for you. These streamers are normal people who upload a TV signal over their internet connection for your convenience. To generate some income, they often fill their pages with annoying ads.

One of the best sites for finding these streams is ATDHE, which offers popular channels like CNN, Fox, as well as live streams of weekly top TV shows. For live sports, I use MyP2P.eu, which has streams for all major sports leagues and games.

Pros: Free; live;

Cons: Unreliable (streams often go down, or lag); annoying ads; additional software to download (sometimes containing viruses)


3) Legal Streams

Sites like Hulu offer a wide range of shows and movies for free. Or, network sites, like NBC, Global, and CBS, will let you watch their shows after viewing some short advertisements. Regional restrictions prevent this method from becoming more widespread, as Canadians (like myself) generally do not have this option.

Pros: Free; live; watch it when you want it

Cons: Watching repetitive advertisements; geographic limitations; not live; limited programs


2) Legal sports streaming

Websites like ESPN and Yahoo! Sports (in the United States) will stream certain sports games online. In Canada, CBC.ca streams most of its content online (as we pay for it through our taxes), while TSN.ca will do the same for big games.

Pros: High-quality, live streaming; free; easy-to-use

Cons: Limited content; usually must watch it live; geographic limitations


1) Satellite Direct

I saved Satellite Direct for the top of this list because, quite simply, it’s the easiest way to watch TV on your PC.

I’ll try to avoid the sales pitch, as you may have already seen it on TV. It works like this: the customer downloads software that gives you access to around 500 channels. All you need is an internet connection.

Satellite Direct costs a one-time fee of $49. The way I look at it, $49 is less than what many people pay per month with their cable plan. Plus, the hassle of dealing with poor streams, torrents, and angry ISPs is completely avoided – that’s worth something to me. I can spend more time watching commercial free TV and less time clicking through shady sites trying to find a stream of Finding Nemo.

With Satellite Direct, anywhere you have internet, you have TV. It helped me survive my first year of college.  
If you’re interested in getting Satellite Direct for cheap, use my link. It’s the lowest possible price ($49 is the price with my discount).

Pros: Great selection; available in all countries; 24/7 access; cheap (low, one-time fee); no bandwidth limits, subscriptions, or monthly fees; no commercials; legal

Cons: Not free;

Get paid to write online articles

A lot of bloggers make money from Adsense. Unfortunately, as many of you know, it's not very much money.

Some of you may wonder how I make my online money, because most of it does not come from Adsense. I'll share one of these ways today.

One of the most entertaining ways to make money online (taking surveys is such a grind) is to simply write: there are billions of people out there who need a 200-word article per day for their website and are willing to pay for it. Essentially, if you passed high school, then you are more than skilled enough to make money from writing articles on the internet.

As a university student, I have more formal education in writing than many  people. However, writing is something that you can work at to improve your skills. In fact, most advertisers recommend dumbing your writing down to an elementary school level: the customer doesn't want to work hard when he or she is shopping for an item.

The important thing is to write clearly and concisely. Nobody likes to sort through BS to get to the point of the article. Remove your flowery writing and try to avoid long sentences.



ONLINE WRITING SERVICES

There are many legitimate online businesses that organize writers. If you want to go freelance, you can try Fiverr or Elance, but it can be difficult to get jobs if you don't have an established name.

Fortunately, there are some businesses which organize writers like you and me. The best service I've found is called RealWritingJobs.com, but they have limited space available. If you can get accepted, then you can make a decent amount of money. And yes, the work can be done at home, in your pajamas! The payouts are generous (anywhere from $25 to $30 per blog post).

Between my two part-time jobs and my full-time university schedule, I don't have very much time to write. Lately, I've managed to set aside one hour each night to write assignments from RealWritingJobs and it's clearly paying off financially.

I spent about 1.5 hours last night preparing an article. 2 cups of coffee later, I managed to squeeze out a well-written and informative article and was paid $52 for it (RealWritingJobs will pay up to $100, but you don't usually make that much).

Another incentive they have is to write a short story and get paid $500 (!) for it, so I've been kicking around some ideas for that.

If the writing gets tedious, just imagine saving up for a vacation
The part I like is that I can pick up assignments whenever I have some spare time.When school ends, and summer begins, I anticipate having a lot more free time to write!

Also keep in mind that I'm Canadian and do this, so they're not picky about where you're from. As long as you have PayPal and the motivation to write, you're good to go.

Always remember that quality is worth more than quantity. The admins will recognize this and you will be justly rewarded. I'll post pictures of my Paypal account in a later post.

There are other services out there that do a similar job, but I really recommend RealWritingJobs, as they won't try to screw you out of money, and I've always been paid on time. Anyways, good luck writing!

LINKS TO ONLINE WRITING JOBS
www.elance.com
www.fiverr.com
www.realwritingjobs.com




EDIT: I just checked the RealWritingJobs website, and they're offering access to their services for $5/month, which is insanely good. It says they've slashed prices down from $90, which isn't what I paid for it (I paid around $45 a few weeks ago but I made it back in a couple nights).

Anyways, definitely go for it if you've got some spare time! Adsense only gets you so far =P