Roku is reportedly testing a Wi-Fi extender to improve its streaming reliability

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Roku hasn’t really released products outside of its core offering of streaming media players. But it seems the company might release something to expand its hardware offerings—and improve its streaming capabilities. The company is reportedly testing a Wi-Fi extender called the Roku Relay. It’s designed to improve wireless connections inside a home as well as reliability while streaming. This product hasn’t been announced yet, but The Verge reports it’s being tested by users outside the company. It’s a small white gadget that plugs into a power outlet and rests alongside the wall. It’s supposed to be used with Roku devices to improve their Wi-Fi connection. It isn’t known if it can be used with other devices, too.

The Relay is being marketed as an extension of Roku players. According to the manual, it’s directing people to install the Relay halfway between the router and the TV. The launch doesn’t seem to be imminent, though. It has yet to pass the US’s Federal Communications Commission’s clearance process, which it would need before it can start selling the product.

These are the new ASUS ROG Phone II accessories

ASUS Republic of Gamers

The ROG Phone II needs some accessories to make it a worthy purchase. And ASUS prepared a few alongside the launch of the new phone.

We get the new AeroActive Cooler II, which is four times quieter than the original at 24dB. It’s designed to keep the exterior of the phone cooler and help drop temperature by 5 degrees lower. At the same time, it doubles as a kickstand, so you can leave the phone on the table and uses a wireless controller.

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ASUS ROG Phone II vies for gaming phone crown

ASUS Republic of Gamers

The gaming phone segment isn’t exactly a big market. But there are several contenders there. And after a year since it launched its first model, ASUS is back with a bigger and better model. ASUS didn’t change much with the phone’s design but improved it in other respects. The ROG Phone II is the first smartphone to sport the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus chipset, a tweaked version of the 855 built for better gaming and virtual reality use. The phone now has a 6.59-inch display with a 120Hz 10-bit HDR screen with 1ms latency. It now shows images twice as fast as the 60Hz of a normal phone, but this also has 60Hz and 90Hz modes available.

The ROG Phone II also now gets a bigger 6,000mAh battery, which is one of the biggest out there for a smartphone. But if you expect to game a lot on this device, then you’ll burn through this quicker. ASUS promises up to seven hours of non-stop PUBG action on this device. And with 30W ROG HyperCharge using a standard 3A cable, it can charge up pretty quickly, too.

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Slack gives its desktop app a performance boost

Slack is making life easier for its Windows and macOS users. The collaboration software has been rebuilt for both Windows and macOS to make it load 33 percent faster and use 50 percent less RAM than before. Many Slack customers will notice the change, but it’ll be particularly evident for those who use multiple workspaces. The company has been working on this overhaul for two years, and they have been modernizing parts of the code along the way. The new underlying code is now multi-workspace aware, meaning it won’t create a standalone copy for each workspace and take up RAM for each instance. What the program does is reuse components and rely on a modern codebase. The app itself still runs on Electron, but all the UI parts have been rebuilt using React.

For those who use Slack calls, that feature should be faster as well. And when you’re offline or suffer from a bad internet connection, the app now caches your session better. The app doesn’t get an offline mode per se, but you can now look back at messages in a channel or view conversations you were having before your connection dropped. All these changes have started rolling out to Slack users now.

Source: The Verge