Have you noticed how rapidly online entertainment has become an integral part of our life? It seems that even old school types who were skeptical about the Internet are now getting the most out of it. The Internet opens up enormous opportunities for all of us — to study, work, shop and, of course, have fun.
Let’s look at the many popular online services for communication and entertainment. These include movie services, streaming platforms and anonymous video chats. We’re sure that each of you will find something for yourself.
Film services for cinephiles
When cinemas around the world began to close en masse due to the coronavirus, streaming sites became almost the only source of new films and TV series. The change has been so radical that we feel confident in saying the film industry will never be the same again. The future belongs to such sites.
Netflix
One of the top streaming services for watching movies and TV series, in 2020 alone, Netflix has amassed over 16 million new subscribers and has significantly expanded its global reach. Today, Netflix has the largest video library among all such services, new releases appear regularly, and you can watch them on almost any device — from smart TVs to mobile phones.
HBO
A similar situation can be found with HBO, which exploded in popularity thanks to the TV series “Game of Thrones”, and then was only strengthened by “Chernobyl”. By the end of 2020, the streaming service amassed a total of about 40 million subscribers, which is amazing considering the original hope was to gain this audience by 2023 or even later. HBO currently has over 60 million subscribers. And although the service’s media library is slightly narrower than Netflix, HBO offers many exclusives that are not available on other sites.
Prime Video
The official streaming service from Amazon allows you to watch movies, series and TV shows from different devices, download them for offline viewing and conveniently control traffic consumption when watching over metered connections.
Criterion (USA, Canada)
One of the main features of this service is a carefully curated selection of films. In addition, you can find detailed text reviews and essays on film masterpieces, which help to look at some of your favourite films in a completely new way. A great site if cinema is not just entertainment for you, but real art.
IMDb
IMDb is a very popular platform with ratings of films and series, teasers and trailers, as well as information on where you can legally watch the content you are interested in. Today the IMDb rating is one of the most trusted indicators of the quality of films.
Game services
Games were super popular even before the pandemic, and during the recent period of mass quarantine they became an excellent option for leisure time trapped at home. In addition, many popular sites allow you to play really cheaply as part of their programs.
Xbox Game Pass
Xbox console owners can subscribe to Xbox Game Pass and get immediate access to over 100 games. A bonus is that the subscription is valid for Windows PC owners too. More recently, the Xbox Game Pass started including EA Play — a cloud-based gaming service.
PlayStation Plus Collection
When the PlayStation 5 launched, Sony delighted buyers with an excellent bonus — free games for all PS Plus subscribers. Among them there were even top console exclusives — The Last of Us, God of War, Uncharted 4 and others. It’s also worth recalling that PS Plus subscribers can pick up several games each month for free.
GeForce NOW
A popular cloud gaming service that allows you to run modern games even on outdated computers, tablets or smartphones. However it’s worth mentioning that in addition to paying for access to GeForce NOW, you also need to pay for the cost of the game.
Video chat sites: Omegle and more
Omegle was the very first anonymous web chat site, launched back in 2009. At that time, it was possible to communicate only via text chat, but six months later, a video chat function appeared. Omegle is a classic chat roulette with a rather limited feature set. So if you’re looking for something more functional, we recommend that you consider some Omegle alternatives.
Chathub
This is a simple but very handy alternative to Omegle. Its main difference is a gender filter. You can immediately select who you are — a man, a woman or a couple. Based on this choice, the system will search for chat partners for you. Other advantages include a language filter and very fast connection speeds. Among the disadvantages is the lack of a mobile application (as with Omegle), but the mobile version of the site works quickly and reliably.
Shagle
Shagle is a popular alternative to Omegle with a gender filter and a search for partners by location. You can choose not only “Man”, “Woman” or “Couple”, but also “Transgender”. You can give virtual gifts to users you like as well, which provides a great opportunity to stand out and attract more attention.
Omegle Alternative
Probably the best Omegle alternative designed specifically for men, as OmegleAlternative connects them exclusively with girls. All the girls on the site confirm their identities when they join, which offers outstanding protection against fakes and bots. In this analogue of Omegle girls are tuned in to communicate, the application works very quickly, and the algorithm for choosing a partner does not make mistakes and connects you only with the opposite sex.
OmeTV
Quite a simple but useful alternative to Omegle, worthy of your attention. There are not many search filters for chat partners, but there are the most important ones — search by country and gender. There’s another exclusive feature — automatic translation of text messages into your selected language. Very handy if you want to chat with people who don’t speak your language.
Emeraldchat
One of the newest anonymous video chat services, which, in addition to the standard functions, has several very unusual ones. For example a karma rating, depending on which the system chooses chat partners for you and makes your profile a priority for connection (or not if your karma is low).
The Internet offers a wide variety of services that let you diversify your life. Choose the best of them!