Barb Gonzalez

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.

In a year when few new products surprised me, Lifeprint woke me up. Lifeprint demonstrated its photo printer and smartphone app that can make still photos appear to come alive and move. The experience brought to mind the excitement of the magical world of Harry Potter where printed photos in frames and newspapers would move like a short video.

The WarnerMedia and Discovery merger has been finalized. The new company, dubbed Warner Bros. Discovery, will bring significant changes to HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming and will likely affect the CNN+ streaming app. It’s expected that all the content will be aggregated into one streaming service, but it won’t happen immediately.