Cox Communications Launches Xumo Stream Box: a next-level voice-activated streaming device for internet customers

• October 24, 2024

Cox Communications today announced the launch of Xumo Stream Box, a 4K streaming device that brings together the best of live TV and streaming into one simple, intuitive experience. The device is now available to Cox Internet customers nationwide at a competitive, one-time price point.

​Why it mattersResearch studies show consumers get frustrated and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of content available to them.

Consumers are managing all their streaming services themselves.
Finding something to watch can feel like a chore.

With the launch of Xumo Stream Box, Cox Communications is removing these obstacles for its Internet customers, offering them a device that makes finding and watching the content they love easy. Powered by Comcast’s newest entertainment experience, Entertainment OS, Xumo Stream Box enables Cox customers to:

Watch more, search less

Customers can search for a show or movie by saying its name into the included voice remote, and Xumo Stream Box will search across available apps and services to find it.
Xumo Stream Box uses both AI-driven personalization and a team of editors to surface content recommendations within the experience, helping customers find something to watch without having to jump in and out of apps.

Enjoy all the best apps, with more ways to personalize than ever

Xumo Stream Box comes preloaded with hundreds of streaming apps, including live streaming services like YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, and Fubo, as well as top streaming apps like Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Max, Peacock and hundreds more. They can simply say the name of the streaming service into the voice remote, and Xumo Stream Box will find and launch it.
With “My List,” Cox customers can build personalized viewing lists for every member of the family. With just one click, customers can add any show or movie available on Xumo Stream Box to a specific list, giving them a quick way to find what to watch next.

Get more from their streaming experience

The built-in channel guide makes browsing through Xumo Play’s 350+ free live channels – spanning live local and national news, movies, sports, reality shows, crime TV, kids programming and more – a seamless part of the experience.
By saying “free” into the voice remote, customers will find thousands of on-demand movies and TV shows from apps like Tubi, Pluto TV, and Xumo Play.​

With the launch of Xumo Stream Box, Cox continues to evolve its entertainment portfolio to meet the changing needs of its customers. Xumo Stream Box joins Contour as the latest device to leverage Comcast’s award-winning entertainment and voice technology, bringing the same seamless search and content discovery its TV customers enjoy to its broadband customers.

“We designed Xumo Stream Box to take the complexity out of streaming and get customers to the programs they love faster, while also making it easier for them to discover something new to watch,” said Michael Gatzke, Senior Vice President, Affiliate Development, Xumo. “Cox joins Xfinity, Spectrum and Mediacom as the fourth U.S.-based operator to offer Xumo Stream Box to its customers, capping off a great year of growth and momentum for our streaming devices.”

Xumo Stream Box is the latest example of Cox meeting its customers’ evolving needs – now with a flexible entertainment solution that pairs with Cox Internet. Cox has invested nearly $12B in network upgrades over the past 10 years to deliver some of the most powerful communications and entertainment services and will continue making multibillion-dollar annual infrastructure investments over the next several years. The company also recently launched Cox Mobile to provide flexible, affordable options to address customers’ connectivity needs outside the home.

​ Orange County Register 

How hard is it to find student housing in Southern California?

• October 24, 2024

Half of the public universities in Southern California have waiting lists for student housing, meaning that thousands of students are forced to look off campus for a place to live while pursuing a four-year degree, reporting by the Southern California News Group shows.

Although data shows that academic performance and a sense of engagement improves for students who live on campus, two University of California campuses and four California State University campuses in the region had to turn people away from university dorms, suites and apartments this year. That comes at a financial cost since off-campus housing tends to be more expensive than university housing.

What about you?

Have you been unable to find university-provided housing? How much of a struggle is it to find affordable housing off campus?

Please take our survey to let us know what it’s been like for you:

 SURVEY: How hard is it to find Student Housing in SoCal?

​ Orange County Register 

UCLA QB Ethan Garbers feeling more comfortable and confident

• October 24, 2024

LOS ANGELES — When UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers needs a little motivation, he’ll sometimes look to social media comments.

“You’ve kind of gotta take it with a grain of salt,” Garbers told reporters, “because a lot of these people, they have no idea what you’ve been through or what it’s like to be out there.”

Few people in general could relate to the season UCLA football has experienced under a new coaching staff in a new conference and with just two wins despite incremental improvements.

UCLA (2-5, 1-4 Big Ten) has continuously put its trust in the redshirt senior to lead the Bruins and uphold the team pillars of discipline, respect and enthusiasm – something he’s taken seriously through his final year of eligibility.

“After the last game, I was like, ‘Dang, only five more left.’ It’s kind of sad,” Garbers said. “The goal is to win every single game and make a bowl game. That’s been the goal since the beginning, to win every game.”

The offense seemed to finally click in the Bruins’ 35-32 win over Rutgers when Garbers completed 32 of 38 passes for 383 yards and four touchdowns for their first Big Ten victory. He even took off for a 49-yard touchdown rush despite dealing with a lingering ankle injury.

The coaching staff entrusted him with a quarterback sneak on a fourth-and-1 in the second quarter after shying away from fourth-down attempts in previous games.

“All the coaches were preaching, ‘Hey, if it’s third-and-long or fourth and we get fourth-and-one, we might go for it, doesn’t matter where we are,’” Garbers said “And that just fires us all up and it’s great to stay on the field. Any time we get short yardage, we’re definitely looking to capitalize on it.”

Garbers was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts and was given an 89.6 grade by Pro Football Focus – the second-highest grade of the week for anyone at the quarterback position.

Getting the ball out quicker has been a focus of the offense recently, which has helped lead to more pressure on opposing defenses and more yardage.

“Quickness just comes with the comfortability of the offense and then also just trust and then reps with all the other guys,” Garbers said. “I feel very comfortable in the offense. Now it’s just me just trusting what I see and going out there and just making the plays.”

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Garbers confirmed during media availability Thursday that he has been dealing with an ankle injury this season. Imprints from the layers of tape that heavily wrapped his ankle and foot were visible when he spoke with reporters.

He’s had to dedicate more time to pre-practice treatment and post-practice recovery as well as mobility exercises, but said the pain he’s dealt with this season is “really nothing, honestly.”

While his daily schedule may have changed, the team’s energy is inexhaustible. Team warmups before practice remain loud and fun, with riled-up players feeding off the nonstop jumping and body checks.

“I think everyone’s just feeling more comfortable, feeling better about the things that we’re doing,” Garbers said. “Everyone’s coming out here with a great attitude every day.”

​ Orange County Register 

Horse racing: Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar challenges horsemen, bettors

• October 24, 2024

For any major sports event that moves from place to place from year to year, the venue can be a big part of the story. That’s true of the Breeders’ Cup, whose moveable feast of multimillion-dollar thoroughbred races has visited a dozen tracks in eight states and provinces in its 40 years. And nowhere is it more true than at Del Mar, which hosts the 14-race festival for the third time next Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1-2.

Del Mar’s quirky main track and turf course can dictate strategy for horsemen and horseplayers, or leave them guessing over the next week.

Among them is Chad Brown, the nation’s highest-earning trainer in 2024, a four-time winner of the annual Eclipse Award as North America’s outstanding trainer and the most successful Breeders’ Cup trainer in recent years. The horses Brown entered this week include contenders in as many as seven Breeders’ Cup races. But many of those are horses whose come-from-behind running style could be compromised if the Del Mar main track plays the way it often did during the summer season.

“It’s a bit concerning that the track favored (early) speed at the most recent meet,” Brown, who’s based in New York, said this week when I asked him about it on a Breeders’ Cup media conference call. “Hopefully it’ll change a little bit. These tracks do change.”

It’s not only the racing surface that could work against late-running horses, including Brown’s Sierra Leone in the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, the main event of the second day, and Chancer McPatrick in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, the focus of the first day.

“The shorter stretch at Del Mar would also be a bit of a concern for horses that close,” Brown said. “So these are real challenges for those two horses to get to the winner’s circle. We’ll have to overcome it.

“Certainly it’s not impossible for horses that are coming from well off the pace to win at Del Mar. We’ve seen it before. My hope would be that they wouldn’t be quite as far back in these races.”

Del Mar and Breeders’ Cup executives can’t promise how the track will be, and with the Del Mar fall meet opening Thursday we’ll have only one afternoon of pre-Breeders’ Cup racing to judge by.

“The track at Del Mar can be a little bit different during the fall meet than it is during the summer meet,” said Tom Robbins, executive vice president for racing industry relations at Del Mar and executive director of the Breeders’ Cup selection panel. “Hopefully we can achieve all that we want: fairness from inside to outside (of the track), and the safest possible surface.”

Bettors are already analyzing the lists of 212 “pre-entered” horses announced Wednesday, including a Breeders’ Cup-record 80 from overseas. Handicapping will get more intense after fields, post positions and official morning-line odds are finalized Monday.

Some of Del Mar’s sharpest handicappers talked about the factors, specific to Del Mar, that they’re weighing.

• The possible speed bias of the dirt track.

Although overall statistics show front-running horses at the Breeders’ Cup distances on dirt won no higher a percentage of races in the Del Mar summer season than, say, at the current Santa Anita fall meet, there were many afternoons at the San Diego County track when early speedsters could not be caught.

“Speed is always a good commodity, but it seemed unbeatable on certain days,” said Bob Ike, proprietor of BobIkePicks.com and co-host of the Thoroughbred Los Angeles radio show.

“If the main track is anything like it was during the meet earlier this year, speed will be king,” said Bob Mieszerski, the Southern California News Group’s lead handicapper.

In the 2021 Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, front-runners won four of the seven dirt races, including Knicks Go in the 1¼-mile Classic. In 2017, only one front-runner won, but it was Gun Runner in the Classic.

• The short homestretch, which measures 919 feet from the turn to the finish – shortest among one-mile tracks in the United States – gives stretch runners less ground to work with.

Handicapper, radio host and horse owner Jon Lindo calls the short stretch the “biggest difference” about Del Mar.

“Riders with local knowledge – especially on the dirt course – have a slight edge on knowing when to move,” Lindo said. “(A) 1¼-mile dirt race at Del Mar has proven to be a ‘short’ race for the distance, meaning horses that at other tracks have struggled to get the distance have proven successful at Del Mar.”

• A home-track advantage appears negligible. Horses who ran their previous race in California scored one win at the 2017 Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar and two in 2021, fewer than average in the era of two-day Breeders’ Cups. This may reflect a general decline in the strength of California contingents.

• Post position can be decisive on the Del Mar turf, especially in 5-furlong sprints (like the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint and Juvenile Turf Sprint), which start close to turns.

“I won’t take a short price on a horse who is very likely to lose a lot of ground in a turf race,” said Frank Scatoni, the online handicapper, Del Mar seminar host and “Six Secrets of Successful Bettors” author. “But if that same horse was 10-1, I might feel OK about it.”

Chad Brown, who has contenders Carl Spackler in the Mile and Zulu Kingdom in the Juvenile Turf, said he hopes his grass-course horses “draw more toward the inside.”

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On the media conference call, Brown criticized another Del Mar quirk when he was asked about the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf by my Southern California News Group colleague Jay Posner: That race will be run at 1⅜ miles, as it was in 2021, instead of 1⅛, as in 2017. Brown declined to enter horses he thinks are unsuited to the distance. Fewer than half of the pre-entered horses have raced that far. It’s one more challenge for handicappers.

A Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar presents trainers, jockeys and bettors with more decisions to make than usual, and potential rich rewards for making the right ones.

Follow horse racing correspondent Kevin Modesti at Twitter.com/KevinModesti.

​ Orange County Register 

Horse racing notes: Stay Hot tries to close out Santa Anita meet with win

• October 24, 2024

SANTA ANITA LEADERS

(Through Sunday)

Jockeys / Wins

Juan Hernandez / 18

Umberto Rispoli / 15

Antonio Fresu / 11

Tyler Baze / 7

Hector Berrios / 7

Trainers / Wins

Phil D’Amato / 13

George Papaprodromou / 12

Bob Baffert / 11

Doug O’Neill / 8

Mark Glatt / 6

Michael McCarthy / 6

WEEKEND STAKES

SANTA ANITA

Friday

• $85,000 Anoakia Stakes, 2-year-old fillies, 6 furlongs

Saturday

• $200,000, Grade II Twilight Derby, 3-year-olds, 1⅛ miles on turf

Sunday

• $100,000, Grade III Autumn Miss Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, 1 mile on turf

LOS ALAMITOS

Saturday

• $100,000 Wild West Futurity, 2-year-old quarter horses, 350 yards

Sunday

• $1 million, Grade I Golden State Million Futurity, 2-year-olds, 400 yards

DOWN THE STRETCH

• Closing weekend of the Santa Anita fall meet features the Twilight Derby on Saturday. Stay Hot (Antonio Fresu riding), winner of four of six lower-level stakes, seeks his first Grade II and first 1⅛-mile victory for trainer Peter Eurton after running a sharp second in the Del Mar Derby at this level and distance.

• The Anoakia Stakes will be run Friday after drawing too few entries to be held as scheduled last Sunday. Bob Baffert trains three of the five 2-year-old fillies in the 6-furlong sprint, including Grade III runner-up Casalu (Martin Garcia) and 10-length debut winner Silent Law (Juan Hernandez).

• Santa Anita’s Friday card offers a double carryover in the pick 6, on races 4-9. After nobody combined all six winners on Saturday or Sunday, the carryover is $153,104.78, and the track projects the pool to grow to more than $750,000.

• In Los Alamitos night racing, fastest qualifier American Dreamin is favored in Sunday’s $1 million Golden State Million Futurity for leading quarter-horse jockey Armando Cervantes, trainer Monte Arrossa and owner Dunn Ranch. The 2-year-old filly can give Dunn Ranch its third futurity of 2024. Up to Party won the Ed Burke Million Futurity and PCAHRA Breeders Futurity and is pointing for the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity trials Nov. 24.

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• In one of the weirder award announcements, Luan Machado was named Jockey of the week for Oct. 14-20 by the Jockeys’ Guild. Machado won two Grade III stakes at Keeneland last weekend, with Brunacini in the Perryville and Chop Chop in the Dowager Stakes. But the previous Wednesday he had made an embarrassing error, costing Ultimate Strike a maiden win – and the horse’s bettors a 13-1 payoff – by easing up at the wrong finish line. The Jockeys’ Guild news release called Machado’s week “an example of the highs and lows of race riding.” The satirical Racing Onion tweeted: “Even we couldn’t come up with this one.”

— Kevin Modesti

​ Orange County Register 

Santa Anita horse racing consensus picks for Friday, October 25, 2024

• October 24, 2024

The consensus box of Santa Anita picks comes from handicappers Bob Mieszerski, Eddie Wilson, Kevin Modesti and Mark Ratzky. Here are the picks for thoroughbred races on Friday, October 25, 2024.

Trouble viewing on mobile device? See consensus picks

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​ Orange County Register 

USC football can take advantage of Friday night lights against Rutgers

• October 24, 2024

LOS ANGELES — Toward the end of Greg Schiano’s short-lived coaching tenure in the NFL, he and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers flew roughly 3,000 miles from Florida to Seattle to play the Seahawks.

The Rutgers coach pointed out, at July’s Big Ten Media Days, that it  was roughly the same distance from New Jersey to Los Angeles – 2,800 miles. He’d been through the details before, he reasoned. Football was football, he emphasized repeatedly, at any question trying to prod at the sheer reality of traveling cross-country in the Big Ten.

“At the end of the day, you gotta go out there and you got to block and tackle, you got to throw and catch, you got to play the game of football,” Schiano said that day in Indianapolis. “And I think sometimes people lose sight, they get all caught up in the semantics of the trips and things.”

But Schiano, still, could’ve never expected the conference he’d known for decades to suddenly feature USC. And as the first showdown in the two programs’ long histories dawns, those particular semantics look rather imposing when stacked together.

Rutgers is coming to L.A. on a short week – a Friday matchup completely shifting practice schedules, a few days after UCLA flew to New Jersey and knocked off the Scarlet Knights.

Rutgers will play at the Coliseum at 8 p.m. in a new iteration of Big Ten After Dark – kicking off a football game with all their body clocks set to 11 p.m. back home.

The Scarlet Knights will be dragging in a roster decimated by injuries – their two top tight ends, a starting left guard and an explosive backup halfback all ruled out for the season.

“We’ll see,” Schiano said, sighing, amid a response on Rutgers’ rash of injuries. “We’ll see who the 74 are that get on the plane. That’s a challenge too, right?”

Friday night’s contest will be fascinating in its novelty, pitting a home program struggling with the metaphysical concept of finishing games against an East Coast team that will have to physically counter being too tired to finish. After preaching the need to “separate,” as Trojans coach Lincoln Riley pointed out Tuesday amid a near-incomprehensible string of late losses, this 3-4 USC program has a golden opportunity for a cleanse against a Rutgers (4-3, 1-3 Big Ten) program that has to contend with a whole lot more than Los Angeles traffic.

Through the midway point of the season, Big Ten schools that have made a trip to or from the West Coast in a game involving the former Pac-12 programs, with any travel distance of more than 1,500 miles, are 5-11. The Friday night matchup is the kicker, forcing Schiano to completely rethink his travel philosophy.

Generally, Schiano’s programs have never flown out especially early to an away game on the West Coast, preferring to stay on Eastern time, he said in a press conference with local media Monday. It didn’t work in the NFL, nor in college.

But his hand was forced with Friday’s late kickoff, and Schiano told media that Rutgers was flying out Wednesday night and practicing Thursday in Southern California, a chance for players’ body clocks to adjust.

“At 2:30 in the morning,” Schiano said, referring to Eastern time, “hopefully the game is on the line. And I don’t like my decision-making at 2:30. And I don’t really like our players’ decision-making at 2:30, either.”

There hasn’t been an overwhelming amount of public outrage with the increased mileage in an expanded Big Ten, the most noise coming from Penn State’s James Franklin, who pointed out two weeks ago before a trip to USC that Penn State had to drive 90 minutes to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to fly out of an airport with a runway long enough for a larger aircraft. Riley’s comments on the topic, largely, have amounted similar to Schiano’s: football’s football. And there’s little mental-health issues that could arise from extended travel, Dr. Peter Economou, Rutgers’ director of behavior health and wellness for its athletics programs, told the Southern California News Group in the summer.

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“I mean, I think this is an age group that is resilient,” Economou said, speaking of the Big Ten transition’s effect on athletes’ mental health. “I don’t know if that’s going to be a popular response, but they’re resilient, they’re motivated, I mean, they’re excited. They want to do this.”

It’s hard to imagine, though, that this – flying westward early for a game played on body clocks set to the wee morning hours – is their ideal outcome.

USC (3-4, 1-4) vs. Rutgers (4-3, 1-3)

When: 8 p.m. Friday

Where: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

TV/radio: FOX (Ch. 11)/ESPN 710

​ Orange County Register 

Dan Albano’s Top 5 matchups to watch in the Mater Dei-St. John Bosco football showdown

• October 24, 2024

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The Top 5 matchups to watch in the Mater Dei-St. John Bosco game Friday at Santa Ana Stadium:

1. Can St. John Bosco slow Mater Dei’s ground attack?

This is the No. 1 question for a few reasons. Orange Lutheran running back Steve Chavez rushed for a season-high 131 yards on 22 carries (6.0 yards per carry) against St. John Bosco in the teams’ Trinity League opener. Servite running back Quaid Carr went for 166 yards on 21 carries (7.9 ypc) against the Braves last week. What will Mater Dei running back Jordon Davison do?

The Oregon-committed senior has 592 yards (6.7 ypc) rushing behind an offensive line that is better than its rivals at Orange Lutheran and Servite.

Davison also could run with some extra motivation after injuries limited him in two games against the Braves last season.

The Monarchs will support Davison — one of their emotional leaders — with the dual-threat capabilities of QB Dash Beierly and a talented combination of wide receivers and tight end Mark Bowman.

St. John Bosco’s defense is in the spotlight after surrendering 422 yards of offense to Orange Lutheran but has made strides in this area the past two games.

2. How will Koa Malau’ulu handle the pass rush of Mater Dei? 

The Braves now feature the standout freshman at QB following the transfer of Matai Fuiava to Kahuku of Hawaii. Malau’ulu is 2-0 as the starter, including an impressive second-half rally against Orange Lutheran. He plays with poise beyond his years and has thrown some exceptional passes — short and deep.

Mater Dei’s defense is outstanding, especially with its ability to pressure quarterbacks. Nasir Wyatt and Shaun Scott are explosive edge players and Tomu Topui and Semi Taulanga can create pressure up the middle.

Like Davison, Wyatt could be playing with extra motivation. The reigning Register defensive player of the year and Oregon commit was quiet against the Braves last season, including an early injury in the CIF-SS Division 1 final.

St. John Bosco could look to support Malau’ulu by committing more to the run or sticking with its short passing attack.

3. How does Mater Dei’s defense fare in pass coverage?

The St. John Bosco unit that seems to draw the most attention from opposing coaches is its athletic wide receivers. Juniors Madden Williams (6-2, 182), Carson Clark (5-9, 172), Daniel Odom (6-3, 191) and Christian Davis (5-11, 175) combine size, speed and playmaking. The group is arguably the best in the Trinity League.

Mater Dei’s counters with the best secondary. Cornerbacks Daryus Dixson (Penn State) and Chuck McDonald (Alabama) have proven they don’t need much help in pass coverage. Safety CJ Lavender Jr. has continued to improve while Danny Lang II, freshman Ace Leutele and sophomore Aaryn Washington have emerged.

The Monarchs’ secondary will need to be sharp. If St. John Bosco aims for short passes, keep an eye on Mater Dei linebacker Abduall Sanders. The Alabama committed senior reads and moves well. Remember his pick-six against the Braves in the Division 1 final last season.

4. Can Mater Dei continue to win the turnover battle?

In Mater Dei’s three biggest victories this season — Centennial, Bishop Gorman and Servite — it didn’t commit a turnover. In seven games, Beierly hasn’t thrown an interception on 130 attempts. The Washington commit has completed 66 percent of his passes for 14 TDs and no interceptions.

Credit Mater Dei coach Raul Lara for emphasizing discipline in the turnover battle. The Monarchs have taken the message to heart.

But don’t dismiss St. John Bosco in this area. Malau’ulu has completed 66 percent of his passes with 12 TDs and one interception.

5.  Which team will play better in the second half?

If the score is somewhat close at halftime, don’t jump to any conclusions. Mater Dei and St. John Bosco have both played well in the second half this fall. The Monarchs pulled away from Centennial and Bishop Gorman in the second half while the Braves rallied from a 10-point deficit at intermission to beat Orange Lutheran in the final minute. St. John Bosco also dug deep to beat Santa Margarita 13-0 after the teams were scoreless after three periods.

The Monarchs have more senior experience but the younger Braves have shown their heart.

RELATED COVERAGE

https://twitter.com/ocvarsityguy/status/1849127122092122461

Steve Fryer’s preview, prediction for St. John Bosco vs. Mater Dei in Trinity League showdown

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​ Orange County Register