SmartStream

Quibi was designed for a busy lifestyle—for those times when we are on-the-go and only have short snippets of time to kill. Now that it's launched, I have checked out the app and here's what I found.

Roku is aiming to simplify the process of setting up a home theater by making it easy to pair its subwoofer and soundbar with its wireless speakers. Let’s see how it works.

The newest Roku Streaming Stick 4K model may not make you abandon your current Roku player, but it does provide a step-up in performance, and is priced at a low $50. It's powered by a new Roku OS 10.5 update that ups the surround sound capabilities of Roku soundbars from 3.1 to a full 5.1 wireless setup. The combined updates deliver excellent video quality and decent surround sound at a reasonable price.

HBO has officially announced a standalone HBO Go option will be available in 2015. The new option will allow users to stream to the HBO Go app without requiring a subscription to the HBO premium cable channel.

This past year has been a wake-up call for streaming studios. As post-pandemic churn set in, these services started to report huge losses. The strategy to offer as many original titles to their users was a losing proposition, resulting in mergers, restructuring, and a reduction in new production.

For those who stream video from online sources, the speed at which data can be sent into their home is critical. If your connection isn't fast enough, streaming video can sometimes stall as it fills the buffer in the receiving device, or the content provider might send a lower-quality stream because it senses that your available speed can't handle anything more. So how much speed do you need?