Category: Uncategorized

I didn’t expect to lose an hour staring out of strangers’ windows online, but here we are. One moment I was at my desk, drowning in the usual chaos of tabs, and the next I was gazing at a misty mountain framed by a Swiss balcony. A single click later, I found myself in São Paulo, where rain streaked the glass and cars splashed down narrow streets. I clicked again, and I was peeking out of a high-rise in New York, watching the skyline glow as the sun slipped behind the towers.

This, in a nutshell, is WindowSwap, a website that lets you “open a new window somewhere in the world.” Trust me, it’s every bit as captivating as I found Live TV Wall, which lets you stream live channels from around the globe.

WindowSwap is a pandemic project that refused to stay indoors

The world’s most peaceful rabbit hole

WindowSwap really lives up to its name: it invites you to peer through strangers’ windows around the globe from your own screen. The site was launched in mid-2020 by Singapore-based couple Sonali Ranjit and Vaishnav Balasubramaniam as a kind of pandemic antidote to cabin fever. Their idea was straightforward: if we couldn’t fly across oceans, maybe we could at least borrow each other’s views. It stood apart from the usual apps and websites people turned to for relief during those long lockdown months.

What began as a modest lockdown side project soon grew into a global community. According to a One Show case note, as of 2021, the site had accumulated more than 12,000 submissions from over 110 countries, over 5 million unique visitors, and 20+ million total views.

Opening the window

A simple interface with surprising depth

Getting started with WindowSwap is refreshingly simple. When you visit the website, you land on a page with one centered button that reads, “Open a new window somewhere in the world.” When you click it, the screen fades into a real video: a window frame fills the view, with plants on the sill, curtains slightly parted, maybe a quiet street or garden beyond. You hear ambient sounds (whether it be birds, passing cars, distant chatter, etc.), and for about ten minutes, you’re somewhere else entirely.

A small label in the top-right corner of the screen shows the location as well as the time the video was captured, often within the last few months. In the upper-left corner, you’ll see whose window you’re peering through (in the case of the first image in the gallery above, "Zubby’s Window"), adding a personal touch to each view. In the lower-right corner, you’ll find a handful of intuitive controls: a loop button to replay your current window endlessly, a fullscreen button to immerse yourself completely, and a volume control to adjust or mute the ambient audio. These let you customize your window-watching experience without cluttering the interface.

It’s important to note that these are pre-recorded videos, not live streams. The window views are randomly selected, so you might occasionally see a window you’ve already viewed. You can keep clicking "Open a window somewhere in the world" as much as you like to flip through streams randomly. Each click transports you to a new corner of the globe—from bustling Tokyo streets to tranquil Norwegian fjords—making it endlessly easy to lose yourself in the hypnotic rhythm of window-hopping across continents.

Everything about WindowSwap feels thoughtfully designed

You can unlock even more windows if you really fall in love with it

WindowSwap doesn’t do much, but everything it does feels intentional. The project’s founders chose not to make the clips live feeds. Every video is submitted by someone, reviewed manually for privacy and quality, and then curated into the platform’s growing library. That review process means you’ll never accidentally stumble into something invasive or inappropriate. You are sure to enjoy just the quiet rhythms of daily life across the globe.

You can also send in your own window. All that’s required is for you to sign up, then upload a horizontal ten-minute video that includes the window frame, recorded in good light with clear natural sound. You submit it with your name and location, and after moderation, it becomes part of the growing archive.

If you end up hooked (and you probably will), there’s an “All-Access” membership that costs $5 a month or $50 a year. This premium tier unlocks several enhanced features: a back button to revisit the previous window you just viewed, the ability to filter windows by type (such as snowy windows), search functionality to find windows by specific locations, unlimited bookmarks to save your favorite views, and access to every window ever uploaded to the platform.

Try WindowSwap for yourself

The next time you feel that familiar restlessness creeping in and want to dodge the endless scroll without relying on another “anti-scrolling” app, try opening WindowSwap instead. Click a window, pour yourself a coffee, and let the world roll in. Maybe you’ll find yourself in Tokyo watching the neon glow. Maybe you’ll end up on a farmhouse porch in the middle of nowhere. Or maybe you’ll just watch someone’s cat hogging the spotlight. And if you’re feeling generous, consider submitting your own view. You never know whose day might be brightened by it.

Anytime director Edgar Wright releases a new movie, it’s an event. Throw in Glen Powell playing the Arnold Schwarzenegger role in a high-octane Stephen King adaptation, and, well, all bets are off. That’s what graced the Empire Stage at New York Comic Con this weekend as Wright, Powell, and co-star Lee Pace showed up to talk all things The Running Man and debut a brand new trailer too—which has finally made its debut online now that the con has wrapped up.

Directed by Wright, from a script by Wright and Michael Bacall (the same duo who wrote Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), The Running Man hits theaters on November 14. Most fans know the title because of the 1987 Schwarzenegger movie, but that was based on a much more sprawling 1982 novel written under King’s pseudonym Richard Bachman. This version is closer to the novel, with the titular game show not beholden to a single arena but taking place all over the world. You see lots of that in the new trailer, which you can watch below.

The best parts of this trailer, besides this movie actually existing and coming out in a month, are the Edgar Wright action touches. We’ve seen lots and lots of action movies, but you can just tell when it’s Wright behind the camera. The way it moves, the way it’s cut together—everything just has this kinetic feeling, which you can bet will permeate the entire movie.

It also helps that, in addition to Powell and Pace, Wright has assembled an incredible ensemble to bring The Running Man to life. He’s got William H. Macy, Emilia Jones, Michael Cera, Daniel Ezra, Jayme Lawson, Colman Domingo, and Josh Brolin. Not too shabby.

The Running Man is running to theaters soon, on November 14, and we’ll have much more in the coming weeks. Are you as excited about this one as we are?

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Since I can access my Plex server from just about everywhere in my home, including Plex on my Roku device, sometimes I like to stream in my room. However, the television is a good distance away, and I normally watch movies with subtitles on. Unfortunately, when I add movies to my Plex server, they don’t come with subtitles, and I have to fix them myself.

Part of the problem is that I rip DVDs without subtitles to speed up the process a little. It’s rather lengthy, actually. Not having subtitles right out of the gate is fine because I already have a solution for adding them later.

FileBot reintroduces subtitles into my Plex library

I normally don’t rip them as a rule

The process of ripping DVDs isn’t hard, but it is tedious because it takes time. Depending on the quality of the DVD, like HD or Blu-ray, it could take as long as an hour or so to rip one. For that reason, I want to rip as little as possible with VLC and HandBrake. I can’t say for sure if it makes a difference, since I haven’t tested that, but I do it in the spirit of efficiency.

Once I have a DVD ripped and added to my library, I want to test the rip first. Is it running well? Are there any weird artifacts? Additionally, Plex is available on multiple platforms, ranging from consoles to Roku, so I enjoy testing different devices for the purpose of transcoding.

That then brings me to my solution: when all is said and done and the rip looks good, I go in and add subtitles myself with FileBot. It’ll automatically scan for any and all relevant subtitles, which I can then pick and choose which ones to download. This isn’t FileBot’s only purpose, mind you—you can rename vast portions of your library in a jiffy, too. That’s its main use!

FileBot can find subtitles for multiple languages

I didn’t realize how many non-English dubs there were

Speaking of relevant subtitles, FileBot also gives me the ability to choose the languages I want subtitles for. Sure, I could have done that when I initially ripped the DVDs, but I’ll get to why. This comes in handy when I invite Plex users to my server who speak other languages. FileBot makes it really quick to find and download the right ones.

The primary reason I use FileBot for downloading subtitles is that I can also obtain better, updated versions. Some movies will have better, more descriptive subtitles, and the ones I rip from, say, older DVDs may not be as good. So, why bother filling my hard drive with even more useless files? Plus, the DVD may not have the language I’m looking for. Re-releases of movies can often have additional languages!

How to add subtitles to movies and series in FileBot

Another boon is that FileBot makes it incredibly easy to reintroduce subtitles into my Plex server. It’s just a few clicks, though you will have to be present every time you add a new movie or series. That sounds like it’ll take a lot of time, but if you aren’t ripping DVDs in bulk, it’ll only take a few moments.

1. First things first: create an OpenSubtitles account.
2. In FileBoot, select Rename, then Load located along the bottom on the left-hand column. Choose the directory of your Plex library.
3. Now click Subtitles, then select the Login button—that’s the green orb next to Find. Sign in with your OpenSubtitles account.
4. Now, in the search field at the top, find a movie you want subtitles for, choose the language in the middle drop-down menu, and then click Find.
5. Double-click the subtitles you want, which will move to a second list down below. Right-click it and choose Export from the menu, and choose your movie’s folder as the target.

Now, that’s for adding subtitles individually. You can fetch numerous subtitles for large portions of your Plex library and rename your content at the same time. Select Rename –> Settings -> Post Processes and checkmark Fetch subtitle files. When you click Rename, FileBot will rename and download subtitles at the same time. Please note that downloading may take some time, especially if you have a large library.

Fixing subtitles with FileBot does have one drawback

Yet another subscription to juggle

If there’s one drawback to FileBot, it’s that downloading subtitles has its limitations when you don’t have a subscription to the software. Without one, I’m limited to downloading subtitles for 20 movies or series in a single day, which you’re told is your daily quota when you log in with your OpenSubtitles account, appearing at the top as an ominous message. Personally, I haven’t had a huge issue with this, since my Plex budget is tight. I rarely add more than a movie or two in a single month.

That said, this will be a problem if you are adding a bunch of content at once or are looking to add subtitles after the fact, like I do. If you choose to get a subscription for FileBot, then this point is completely moot, anyway. To avoid this entirely, you could simply download subtitles when you rip your media.

FileBot is a quick and simple solution

While I intend to add languages other than English to my Plex server, FileBot does a pretty good job of fetching the basics, even on a large scale, if you opt for renaming and fetching subtitle files simultaneously.