CES 2013: Roku beefs up content deals, 700 channels now available in US

Roku has announced more content partnerships here at CES 2013 in Las Vegas. New channels for US-based Roku users include Blockbuster On Demand, Fox Now, PBS, Vevo, Syfy, and Dailymotion. Roku has also locked in Amazon's Cloud Player, Spotify and iHeartRadio which are unlikely to be offered in Canada. This now brings Roku's channel lineup to around 700 so even if Canadian customers get a franction of that number, it is still significant amount of streaming content. Roku can also run apps like the Time Warner Cable app (US-only) that effectively turns it into a cable box, pretty cool.

Amazon is no.1 in customer satisfaction for 8th consecutive year

Amazon today announced that for the eighth consecutive year, the company ranks #1 in customer satisfaction during the holiday shopping season according to the ForeSee annual Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction Index. As anyone who has used the service will tell you, Amazon puts customers front and centre and makes it easy to find, buy and even return items online.

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Facebook's Gifts leverages your connections, scopes out Amazon.com

Facebook has jumped into the Holiday spirit by offering users the opportunity to buy gifts for their friends. Facebook has been toying with the Gifts idea for some time but seems to be pushing full steam ahead this holiday season at least in the US. Hoping to take on highly successful e-tailers like Amazon.com, the new feature leverages people's connections on the social network. If it is someone's birthday or anniversary you get the option to send them a gift for real. The options vary from iTunes gift certificates to Starbucks cards to more expensive items. No indication if this will spread to Canada or the rest of the world but if it works out, we might be doing our gift shopping on Facebook next holiday season. Would you consider shopping for gifts via Facebook?

Amazon.com Announces Best-Selling Books of 2012

Amazon.com announced the top 10 best-selling books of 2012 overall (print and Kindle combined), as well as the top 10 Kids & Teens books. Unexpectedly, “Fifty Shades Freed: Book Three of the Fifty Shades Trilogy” takes the top spot, and thriller “Gone Girl” comes in at number two; “The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus, Book 3)” is the best-selling Kids & Teens book. Hit jump for the full list of most popular books of 2012.

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