If you have a supported 4K Roku player or TV and either an iPhone or iPad running at least iOS 12.3, you can use AirPlay to send videos, music, and photos to your TV from a wide range of mobile apps. This is the first time AirPlay has been available on streaming boxes and sticks other than Apple’s own Apple TVs (though some recent smart TVs support AirPlay as well). With 4K Roku players starting at $40, versus $180 for the Apple TV 4K, they’re a much cheaper way to add AirPlay to any television.

While it might seem like a small feature, AirPlay adds a lot of capabilities that Roku previously lacked, including HBO Max support, easy music playback from your phone, and even big-screen video chat. I’d argue that the arrival of AirPlay is Roku’s most substantial software update in years.

For a rundown of what you can now accomplish with AirPlay on Roku, read the full column on TechHive.

As Keys reports, T-Mobile considers TVision Vibe and TVision Live to be separate services, and didn’t exactly give networks the full picture. So when it told NBCUniversal, for instance, that its local channels would be included in the cheapest available price tier, it was only referring to TVision Live. And when it told Discovery that its channels would be included for all customers, it was only referring to TVision Vibe subscribers.

If true, you’ve got to admire the chutzpah. T-Mobile essentially hoodwinked the networks into offering something closer to what cord-cutters actually want, and now those networks are in the position of publicly advocating against it. T-Mobile will probably have to rearrange its packages to make the networks happy—or that’s what the networks say—but the whole saga has at least provided its own form of entertainment.

Another Tablo DVR: Nuvyyo, makers of the Tablo over-the-air DVR, are out with a new version that combines direct HDMI output and streaming capabilities. If you plug the $150 Tablo Dual HDMI into a television, it’ll play over-the-air channels from an antenna at full broadcast quality. For any other TVs around the house, the device can stream video to the Tablo app on Roku players, Fire TV devices, and pretty much every other streaming platform.

I’ll likely be reviewing the Tablo Dual HDMI in the near-ish future, but on paper it sounds like an interesting approach. My main knock on Tablo has always been video quality, as its streams look worse than plugging an antenna straight into a TV. This device would solve that problem, at least on a single TV, though it’d also come at the expense of having to switch inputs from whatever streaming player you might be using.

Fire TV Stick and Stick Lite review: My review of Amazon’s new budget streaming sticks is out on TechHive this week. On a hardware level, I’ve got no qualms with the $40 Fire TV Stick, which provides similar performance to Amazon’s $50 Fire TV Stick 4K but without 4K video support. Most people should avoid the cheaper $30 Fire TV Stick Lite; trust me, having TV volume and power controls on your streaming remote is worth the extra $10.

The thornier issue is on the software side, as Amazon’s chaotic menu system is really starting to show its age. With row after row of seemingly random recommendations—and a heavy emphasis on Amazon video and sponsored content—it’s neither as straightforward as Roku’s app-driven interface or as useful as the new Chromecast with Google TV. Voice search also continues to have some big blind spots, and there’s no way to listen privately through headphones, which every other streaming platform now supports in one way or another. The lack of HBO Max and Peacock support stings too, even if you can sideload those apps.

Amazon is planning to overhaul its Fire TV software later this year, so I’ll revisit the review (and my admittedly harsh scores) then. In the meantime, I’m leaning towards other devices like the aforementioned Chromecast or Roku’s Express+ for your budget streaming needs.

That deal is still available now, and while Netflix’s standard plan now costs an extra $1 per month after last month’s price hike, the bundle price is still $90. In effect, that brings the cost of the new Chromecast down to just $6. It’s even available to current Netflix subscribers, with the $84 applied as credit to your account.

I like the new Chromecast a lot despite a few rough edges, so this is a great deal if you don’t mind paying for your next six months of Netflix up front.