news

Roku, the maker of a popular player for streaming Web content to TV sets, has closed a new round of funding.

The company has landed a $45 million investment from companies including News Corp. and British Sky Broadcasting, it announced today.

Also participating in the round were prior Roku venture investors Menlo Ventures and Globespan Capital Partners, as well as an unnamed strategic investor. In addition to the cash injection, News Corp's chief digital officer, Jon Miller, has joined the Roku board of directors, while Roku CEO Anthony Wood remains chairman.

"Our philosophy is to give consumers the … Read more

Mountain Lion roars onto Mac computers and Netflix is getting some new competition:

Mac users can now upgrade their operating systems to version 10.8. The official CNET review praises Mountain Lion for its cloud functionality and useful updates to some core apps. However, a lackluster gamecenter and a dictation feature that requires an internet connection are a bit disappointing. So should you upgrade? If it were any more than $20 we'd say no, but the price for this update is just right.

Apple also announced its Q3 earnings, and while iPad sales soared, a drop in iPhone consumption … Read more

Tuesday's top stories score a touchdown against trolls:

YouTube is hoping to reduce its troll population by letting users go by their real names. Google+ accounts can now be used as a YouTube identity. The switch can be done in settings. Before making the change, users can review past activity and delete any undesirable comments. But this isn't a required switch. Users can keep their existing account names.

Video game publisher Electronic Arts may not have the monopoly over pigskin for long. Back in 2008, EA was sued for making exclusive licensing deals with the NFL, NCAA and … Read more

It's time to tap into the juiciest tech conversations for Monday:

Microsoft has not given a straight answer about whether its Skype service can facilitate law enforcement wiretapping of conversations. Previously, the online chat service was so heavily encrypted that the company went on the record about not being able to participate with wiretapping.

But Skype just made a change to its technology, and some say the changes make it possible to intercept a call. But when asked, Microsoft didn't admit if wiretapping was possible. It told Slate that Skype "co-operates with law enforcement agencies as much … Read more

Streaming you the top Friday headlines with the latest in 2D technology:

Amazon scored a licensing deal with Warner Bros. to offer more shows for Prime streaming, including West Wing and Fringe. Amazon Prime continues to step up the competition with Netflix. Prime costs $79 a year, which works out to be less than a year's subscription of Netflix.

The fight between Viacom and DirecTV is finally over. The 20 million subscribers of DirecTV can now access 17 Viacom channels, including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. On July 10, DirecTV turned off 26 Viacom channels over a payment dispute … Read more

Betaworks, the company that acquired the remaining parts of Digg.com, says it will have a brand-new version of the social-news site up and running in less than two weeks.

In a blog post today, the 10-person team offered a brief primer on its plans to rebuild the site, as well as more detail on why Betaworks purchased Digg in the first place.

"We acquired Digg because we all need a product to help [us] find, read, and understand what the Internet is talking about right now," the company wrote, adding that Digg once "represented the messiness … Read more

Thursday's top stories will fill you up on patent spats, better maps and creepy apps:

There's a laughable twist in the never-ending global patent battle between Apple and Samsung. A U.K. judge (the same judge that said Samsung's tablets were "not as cool" as the iPad) ruled that Samsung did not copy the iPad's design. But the judge also ordered Apple to publish a notice of this fact on its U.K. website and in British newspaper ads for six months. Awkward.

Nokia has promised "something amazing" to be announced Sept. … Read more

This Wednesday's top stories are sharing the love of data (but not the love of sharing data):

It began with Verizon, and now AT&T has joined the data-sharing movement. Starting in August, new AT&T customers will be signing up for "Mobile Share" plans. All have unlimited voice and text, but you pick how much data you need, and up to 10 devices can share from that bucket of data. Generally speaking, AT&T and Verizon's plan prices are pretty similar in the lower data tiers. Depending on your needs, one can … Read more

Tuesday's biggest tech story has a superstar trading teams, and I'm not talking Jeremy Lin:

Are you dusting off that Yahoo email account? Freshening up your Flickr page? Yahoo got a dose of Google cool factor with its new CEO, 37-year-old Marissa Mayer. She was a top executive at Google and Google's first female employee. She oversaw pretty much every Google service that's a common part of your life, including maps and search. Expect Mayer to breathe new life into Yahoo's services. Perhaps she can even lure talented computer minds to join her new team. … Read more