Welcome to the Tech Mem Ride Home for Thursday, April 12th, 2018. Today,

ESPN goes over the top, Apple's home pod is reportedly stumbling, a final wrap up of the Zuckerberg testimony,

Snap is testing Commerce, and an AI doctor that can diagnose on its own.

Here's what you miss today in the world of tech.

Today ESPN officially launched its ESPN Plus direct to consumer subscription video service, otherwise known as an over-the-top video service.

For 499 a month, you can stream a bunch of content to the device of your choosing.

E-SPN-plus video streams come in high definition at 60 frames per second and you can pause or rewind anything

you're watching live. A seven day free trial is available and if you sign up by

next Wednesday, April 18th, your trial can be extended to a full 30 days.

I should probably make it clear that 499 a month does not get you the full live ESPN channel feeds or the majority of ESPN content.

You do get one free Major League Baseball game and one NHL game every day that they're in season and there are a ton of

major league soccer games as well as tennis rugby cricket and the lesser watched

college sports it's sort of like how ESPN the channel first launched almost 40 years

ago with what could generously have been called niche programming. One key driver for a

lot of people I think will be the deep back catalog of original ESPN programming that will be available though.

For example, going forward, ESPN Plus will be the only place you can access the archives of the 30 for 30 documentary series.

There will be commercials in live broadcasts so keep that in mind but if you sign up for an

ESPN plus account the display ads on the

the ads on the ESPN app will be reduced.

But you don't have to download a separate app on your phone or tablet

if you already have the updated ESPN app downloaded. You'll find ESPN Plus inside that app today on

Android, iOS, and most smart TV platforms. This next generation app is ESPN's most sophisticated and elegant digital product experience and

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