Roku

It's end-of-the-year roundup time, when we marshal the power of hindsight and judge all of the tech products that came out in 2011. There were some obvious groaners (hello, HP Veer), but plenty of winners, too.

This is a whopper of a poll. The choices are all culled from the hardware that made CNET's list of the top tech of the year.

There is some stiff competition here. The iPad 2 has been cooking up millions of sales, but Amazon's Kindle Fire has muscled onto the scene in a big way.

The iPhone 4S landed on both the winners and disappointments lists. Will that stop if from coming out tops in the poll? … Read more

You finally know which gadgets you're buying for friends and loved ones this holiday season. But now you're stumped about whether to shell out the extra bucks for features like 3G on the Kindle Touch or higher resolution on the Roku video-streaming box. Have no fear; Ask Maggie is here to help.

Kindle Touch: 3G or Wi-Fi-only?

Dear Maggie, My sister wants an e-reader for Christmas. I am going to get her the Kindle Touch. But I'm not sure if I should spend the extra $50 to get her a 3G version of the device. She has … Read more

Do you own a Roku box? How about a Web-connected HDTV or Blu-ray player? Or any other device that's compatible with Amazon Instant Video? If so, today is your lucky day.

You can get a $5 Amazon Instant Video credit when you link that player, TV, or box to the service. The entire process takes all of 2 minutes, and the credit is good for anything in the Amazon Instant Video store: movies and TV shows, and both rentals and purchases.

Here are the deets from Amazon:

1. Register an eligible Amazon Instant Video-compatible device with Amazon Instant Video … Read more

Happy Black Friday, fellow cheapskates! At this most holy time of year (for our "religion," anyway), I'm on the prowl all weekend for the best sales and deals and giveaways. Today, I bring you five.

1. First up, as CNET's Steven Musil reported a few days ago, Amazon is offering all AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon phones for just one penny (with a two-year contract, of course). The only criteria: it must be a new line of service.

Although the iPhone isn't among the 98(!) available models, you can score awesome phones like the … Read more

Roku is taking its streams across the pond.

The company announced today it plans to begin selling its set-top boxes to consumers in the U.K. and Canada in early 2012. Roku will also expand its platform to support region-specific channels.

The announcement follows Netflix's expansion in September into 43 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

"This year has been one of many accomplishments for Roku in the U.S.," Roku CEO Anthony Wood said in a statement. "And now we're looking forward to kicking off 2012 by expanding to Europe and Canada to … Read more

CNET Gotham is here and we've stocked the Openhouse Gallery in Nolita (in NYC) with your must-have gadgets, including ones that haven't even hit the shelves.

We've set up stations like the CNET living room (shown in the video), where items like a 60-inch Samsung TV, the Roku 2 XS, and a supercomfy couch come together to create the ultimate tech experience.

I got to play with the Roku 2 XS, which lets you wirelessly stream video and music content from the Internet to your TV, but soon learned that although the device is awesome, juggling yet … Read more

Here's how you know the Roku LT is a great product: it's both the cheapest and one of the best streaming-video boxes we've tested. Roku has managed to shave the price all the way down to $50, jettisoning unnecessary features, while keeping all of the streaming content that we love.

The Roku LT supports the same list of channels as Roku's more expensive models, including Netflix, Amazon Instant, Hulu Plus, Pandora, MLB.TV, MOG, Rdio, and HBO Go, along with tons of additional niche content. We even like the remote control better than the one that comes with the Roku 2 XS, appreciating its simpler layout and fingerprint-resistant matte finish.… Read more

The $50 Roku LT showed up in the CNET office today, and it lives up to the hype.

We were worried that Roku would have to cut some serious corners to hit the $50 price point, but after some quality hands-on time with Roku's new budget streaming-video box, it looks like a winner.… Read more

It's a busy job being president of CBS Interactive, but Jim Lanzone takes an hour to sit down with CNET's The 404 Podcast to talk shop, so we're minding our Ps and Qs, our Fs....Ss....Bs....and Ds.

Jim kicks off the conversation and tells us about his experience in the start-up world with eTour, Clicker, and Ask.com, then we explore his ideas about the future of television and how Web programming will compete with DVRs.

We'll also chat about GameSpot and EA teaming up for The Controller, a competition reality show where the best pro-gamers from around the country battle in a high-stakes competition without ever touching the controller.

Finally, we're taking questions from the live chat room and talking with Jim about today's tech news headlines, like the new Lytro camera that captures light in every direction in every point in space (whoa), the most annoying tech words in Web 2.0, and a reminder to turn off Siri access in your iPhone 4S's lock screen!… Read more