SmartStream

In a star-studded event at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park in Cupertino, CA, Apple yesterday announced plans for a revamped Apple TV app, a new streaming service, and original content it is producing in cooperation with a slew of A-list Hollywood directors and actors.

Samsung has stopped selling Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray players in the U.S. Could this be one more sign that physical media will ultimately disappear, only to be replaced by streaming movies and TV?

Sling TV has just released changes to its app on Roku devices, allowing users to watch free TV episodes and channels.

If there is one word that describes the streaming innovations of 2018, it’s “convenience.” This year, more media players have added voice control through Google Assistant and Amazon Echo smart speakers, or voice remotes with built-in microphones. As live and recorded TV apps are being added to media players, users can now access all the content they want to watch without switching from one device to another.

Although the Fire TV Cube was released by Amazon in June, it has not yet received the recognition or hype it deserves. The Cube is a cross between a smart speaker and a Fire TV media player. Like an Amazon Echo speaker, the Cube can hear commands from across the room and has a built-in speaker to play back its reply. Like a Fire TV media player, it streams from all the same apps as other Fire TV models and can play 4K HDR content.

A number of streaming media players have recently been upgraded to include basic voice control via Amazon Alexa and Google Home, so I tested both systems on several players to see how close we’ve come to true hands-free control.