roku

For the first time, Roku is bringing one of its set-top boxes to the bricks-and-mortar world.

Starting today, customers who peruse the store shelves at Best Buy will find the Roku XD in store, Roku announced today. The device will also be available on Best Buy's Web site. In addition, Roku said that its players are available at BJ's Wholesale Club, Fry's Electronics, and RadioShack.

The Roku XD is the company's middle-of-the-road set-top box between the cheaper Roku HD and the more expensive Roku XDS. The XD retails for $79.99 and lets users play up … Read more

Sony Pictures Entertainment's Crackle online video platform is expanding its service on several devices, the company announced today.

When users boot up their PlayStation 3 consoles, as well as Roku set-top boxes, they will find all of Crackle's programming available. The full content lineup is also coming to Sony's line of Blu-ray players and Bravia televisions. Previously, users had access only to a small portion of Crackle content on those devices. The news follows an announcement in November that Crackle would be available to Google TV owners through an optimized Web site.

Crackle, which was founded in 2007, … Read more

It's becoming obvious that Apple TV is not a hobby anymore.

The company had famously referred to its set-top device that way when it premiered four years ago as a way of keeping expectations low. But with today's software update, Apple is being more aggressive about making Apple TV competitive with its set-top rivals.

As part of the iOS 4.3 update released today, Apple TV owners will now have access to MLB.TV and NBA League Pass. Both are subscription services for streaming live games over the Web, and like Netflix, which is already on Apple TV, … Read more

Thanks to a new firmware update, Roku HD-XR and XDS streaming-video boxes will be able to play back digital media files off a connected USB drive. That fixes one of our major complaints about the box, which has an otherwise extensive collection of streaming-video sources. Full-file format support is explained in a post on the company's forum, including MKV, MP4, and MOV video formats.

While the addition of USB playback is a step in the right direction, it's worth pointing out that the Roku line of streaming-video boxes still doesn't officially support network media streaming, which is supported by competitors like the Apple TV, the Boxee Box and the Sony SMP-N100.… Read more

Roku has inked a deal with WealthTV to bring a linear feed of the television network's programming to its set-top boxes.

If you're unfamiliar with the term, "linear feed," it's because Roku hasn't had anything of the sort until now. Unlike the other channels on the company's platform that provide on-demand access to programming, WealthTV's offering, which costs $2.99 per month, will act as a television channel, letting users drop in to see what's on. The network will be sending out its programming to Roku devices 24 hours a day, … Read more

Our hilarious Internet video of the day is also a disturbingly meta metaphor for what's got to be happening if the FCC would just roll over and approve a Comcast-NBCU merger 4-1, like they did today: walking headlong into the fountain. Hello, content balkanization! What could possibly go wrong? Also in the news, Steve Jobs on medical leave again, get your info off Facebook, for god's sakes, and why everybody hates Netflix. --Molly

Roku has delivered 1 billion streams via its set-top boxes, the company said yesterday.

According to Roku, which also announced that it has sold 1 million set-top boxes, the average user watched 11 hours of content on a Roku device in December. The company said that at the end of 2010, its set-top boxes had 135 channels available, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Video On Demand.

Roku currently sells three set-top box units, the Roku HD, the Roku XD, and the Roku XDS. Prices start at $59.99.

Roku, which launched its first set-top box in mid-2008, finds itself … Read more

Merry Christmas Eve! CNET social-media expert Caroline McCarthy joins us on this 404 Podcast Yuletide episode where we're wrapping up the year in tech.

The Apple iPad dominated our most-wanted list for the year, but 2010 was a huge year for technology as a whole. From mobile location check-in apps like Foursquare to on-demand video and wireless set-top boxes to motion-control video games and e-books, join us as we recap our personal favorites and reveal what we're looking forward to the most in 2011!