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News

• The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Monday, April 6

  Chip could make smartphones into 3D scanners...US, IBM surge in mobile patents...Roku gets voice upgrade... and more tech news.

• Sizing up the three popular Internet TV streaming sticks

  If you're like most folks, the back of your home entertainment center is a hive of HDMI cables, USB cords and power adaptors, not to mention the HDMI switchers necessary to cope with this cornucopia of entertainment providers. Thankfully, there is a solution: The increasingly popular streaming stick.

• Seagate wireless drive can now stream to Roku set-top box

  Seagate announced today Roku set-top boxes will now have a channel to connect to Wireless Plus hard drives for streaming movies, music and photos stored on the drives.

• Google shows off Android TV, a software system for entertainment

  Android TV is Google's latest effort to make inroads into the smart TV market, with a software system that can be embedded into televisions and other devices to stream content.

• Amazon jumps into set-top media business with voice-enabled Fire TV

  Amazon released the Fire TV set-top media streaming device today at an event in New York, stepping squarely onto the turf of the Apple TV, Roku and Google Chromecast with a small, feature-heavy package about the size of an old CD double album.

• Roku's new streaming stick challenges Chromecast

  Roku's new iteration of its streaming media stick chops the price from $99 to $49 and it now works with any TV. And it's not just looks that make it different from Chromecast.

• Roku thinks outside the box, builds into TVs

  Forget a Roku streaming video box: this year the company is building its famous video streaming service directly into televisions.

• An Amazon set-top box would be cheap, might streams others' content

  Amazon's plans for a set-top media box likely center around having a device it can use to sell myriad retail products and services the company already offers.

• The science of app-wrapping

  BYOD brings out the classic problem between control of corporate information and individual freedom. It kicks it up to a whole new level because the devices belong to the users, but at least some of the apps and information belong to the company and as such need protection and policy enforcement.

• Home Entertainment Tech Treasures [2011 Cool Yule Tools]

  The home entertainment category in our Cool Yule Tools holiday guide used to be a part of the “After Hours” section, but with the explosion of high-tech features in the consumer electronics space, there’s a multitude of devices that will keep you entertained after a long day of work. Here are our picks for gift ideas that can keep you entertained and connected when you’re home: