Digital Trends
Roku captured headlines last year by being the first out of the gate with a set-top box that could stream movie and television content from Netflix; now, the company has vastly expanded the video offerings available to owners of its Roku Digital Video Player by tapping into Amazon Video On Demand content. Roku has been beta testing the service for a few months, but has finally thrown open the doors for all customers.
Roku, the company behind the well regarded Roku Soundbridge network music player, today unveiled a new wireless music device. Called the SoundBridge Radio, this Wi-Fi enabled radio is set to begin selling in November for $399. The Soundbridge Radio,according to Roku, comes in a traditional tabletopradio form factor and uses Wi-Fi wireless technology to stream either Internet radio from your broadband connection or digital music files from your PC or a built-in SD/MMC card slot. Playlists aresupported and the radio has compatibility with protected music services such as Napster and Real Networks’ Rhapsody. The Soundbridge Radio also lets consumer access traditional AM/FM via atuner. Other features of the Soundbridge Radio include a subwoofer, preset, scan and source select buttons, a volume ramping alarm and a vacuum-fluorescent display which auto dims at night. "There are 40 million regular listeners using PCs to access Internet radio in the US. SoundBridge Radio gives those users a way to comfortably bring Internet radio away from their PCs andinto their bedrooms," said Anthony Wood, Roku founder and chief executive officer. "With the SoundBridge Radio, consumers get traditional radio, Internet radio and digital music combined ina simple, high-quality product that’s easy to use."
Perhaps their clocks were already messed up and they thought it was April, but Roku Labs has posted a humorous press release on their site. The statement says that Roku has switched to Mars time, which will provide them with an “extra 39 minutes” per day.
We have to give credit to them for being a company that seems to have fun. It is important to work in an environment you enjoy and if this press release is any indication of their attitude, it would seem to be an enjoyable place to work.
With the new company, Anthony Wood hopes to target a high-end market of big screen TV buyers that may also desire using the advanced visual quality of the screen to display more than just programming. At about $500, the HD1000 connects to any HDTV and offers a high-resolution canvas for digital media such as photos, art, music or other media applications.
“The TV can be used for more than just watching TV,” he told Reuters in an interview. “I think there is a tremendous opportunity for a company … that is focused on media players for the home.”
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