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Ever since the Amazon Echo came out, cylindrical or conical wireless speakers have become en vogue, especially in the smart speaker market. Of course, that has also given rise to gimmicks and design quirks to give their products some character and make them stand out from the crowd. Not all those designs appeal to consumers, of course, and some just look almost out of place in any setting. The new LG XBOOM 360 omnidirectional speaker might be one of those that will make you wonder if it makes sense to carry around a fabric-covered lantern that happens to plays music.

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We may see an Amazon-brand Fire TV model (or multiple models) launch in the US as early as next month, according to a new report. Amazon's alleged plans to offer smart TVs running its Fire TV platform under its own brand have been rumored for a while now, with sources claiming the project has been in the pipeline for a couple of years. Though it won't be the first time Amazon has launched its own TV, it will be a first for the US market.

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BenQ has introduced its new GV30, a portable projector that offers users a solid compromise between features and portability. Though this may not quite meet your home theater needs, the GV30 makes it easy to take the projector with you for movie nights with friends or watching a movie outside on a dry night. The model offers, among other things, a 720p resolution and 300 ANSI lumens.

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Focal is expanding its Aria K2 family of speakers, filling in some gaps in the living room so as to make the system just as much at home for surround sound theater use as it is for music. Building on the Aria K2 936 floor-standing speaker launched in 2020, the French hi-fi company's new additions tap the same unusual materials that helped set the 936 apart.

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Focal may be best known for its high-end headphones, but the French audio company is pushing hard into more social playback with the unveil of the On Wall 300 line. Intended - as the name makes clear - to be mounted on the wall rather than used free-standing, the range is designed to deliver both for music and home cinema purposes.

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Despite bowing out of the mobile market, NVIDIA managed to actually become an exemplar in the Android community, at least when it comes to software support. Years after it launched in SHIELD TV boxes, NVIDIA continued pushing updates both big and small beyond what most OEMs would have done in the past. Sadly, good things do come to an end, and the graphics tech giant has just confirmed that the SHIELD TV won't be getting Android 10, but that doesn't mean it won't be getting updates either.

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Although it's more trivial to steal something as pocketable as a smartphone, there are times when organized crime or angry mobs try to get away with even bigger products. Last month, South African towns and cities saw unrest turn into riots, which often results in mobs looting unprotected stores. That, of course, transforms into losses for affected retailers, so Samsung is implementing a new Television Block functionality to deter the theft and resale of stolen TVs by effectively bricking them.

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Fox's free ad-supported video streaming platform Tubi TV plans to add new content for sports fans, giving cord-cutters and everyone else access to both live and on-demand content. The new offerings will be available to users in the United States and they will include content from notable leagues and associations, including the NFL, NASCAR, and MLB.

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Chinese company XGIMI has launched a new portable LED projector called Elfin that is far more compact and portable than many of its competitors. The new model manages to pack a number of notable features into the small body, though there's the notable absence of true 4K support. Assuming that's not a dealbreaker, XGIMI says its new offering can project a 200-inch image at Full HD.

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Roku has announced the arrival of new live, linear channels available on its Roku Channel platform. The streaming app is home to a variety of on-demand and live television content, including notable movies and television shows. All but one of the new channels has arrived today, bringing the total to more than 200.

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Late last year, Sony announced that it had entered an agreement to purchase anime streaming service Crunchyroll from AT&T for a whopping $1.175 billion. Fast forward eight months and Sony has announced that the planned acquisition is now complete - Crunchyroll will join the Sony family, which importantly includes another anime streaming service called Funimation. It sounds like Sony has some big plans for Crunchyroll as well.

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Roku previously swooped in to acquire content from now-defunct short-form video service Quibi and now it is gearing up to release a bunch of originals, including new seasons for some of those shows. As you'd expect, these originals will be exclusive to The Roku Channel, the company's own streaming channel. Even better, you don't need a Roku device to access the channel.

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