Losing the remote is never fun, but thankfully for Roku owners, the company has provided a mobile app that can double as an extra remote, making a lost remote a far less urgent problem. The app doesn’t only function as a remote, and with its latest update, which brings the version number to 4.0, the Roku mobile app is more feature-packed than ever.
The first thing you’ll notice if you’ve used the Roku app before is that this new version has had a visual makeover. Not only does the updated app boast a sleeker appearance than older versions, but it now has a navigation bar at the bottom that makes navigating between its various sections a much faster process than it used to be. Looking at this navigation bar, you’ll also notice the major new feature this update brings, which is dubbed What’s On.
Tap on the What’s On tab, and you’ll be presented with a selection of shows and movies currently available via your Roku. Select any of them, and they’ll immediately start playing on your TV, without the need to explicitly choose to “cast” them as with some other services. If you’re sitting down after a long day and don’t want to browse through your various installed channels to figure out what to watch, this feature will likely be a welcome addition.
There are times where you do want to pick a streaming service and see what’s available, and that is now easier as well thanks to the updated mobile app’s refined Channels section. Browsing the channel list, each item now acts as a button that launches that service on your Roku, after which the app will immediately switch over to its remote control mode.
The updated Roku mobile app is rolling out starting today, and is available for both the iOS and Buy Now platforms. If you haven’t yet installed the app, you can find it in each platform’s respective app stores.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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