The Xiaomi Mi TV Stick is expected to be one of the smallest Android TV devices to date, packing the guts of a powerful media streamer into a small stick that plugs into the HDMI port of your television.
In May Xiaomi confirmed it was planning to bring the Mi TV Stick to market this year. And web pages for it have already popped up at several online stores and other places. Now the stick has passed through the FCC Website, accompanied by documents confirming that the device will support dual-band WiFi and Bluetooth.
There’s still no word on the price or release date… or whether the model coming to the United States will be capable of 4K video or if it will top out at 1080p (there may be two different versions). But at least this thing has received FCC certification, which is a hoop it had to jump through before it could eventually go on sale in the US.
Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.
- Xiaomi Mi TV Stick [FCC]
The Xiaomi Mi TV Stick makes another appearance ahead of launch. This time the tiny Android TV media streamer stopped by the FCC for a visit (and certification). - WiFi routers are riddled with known flaws and run ancient, unpatched Linux [ZDNet]
Waiting for the company that made your router to release security updates might not be the best use of your time. You might be able to take matters into your own hands by replacing the firmware for some routers with OpenWRT, DD-WRT, or Tomato though. - Walmart’s Amazon Prime competitor will launch in July [Vox]
Walmart’s $98/year membership service for free delivery and other discounts could go live this month. Walmart+ is basically the company’s answer to Amazon Prime… although it won’t include quite as many perks at launch. - A Bird? A Plane? No, It’s a Google Balloon Beaming the Internet [NYTimes]
Google’s Project Loon (internet delivered by balloons) goes live in part of Kenya as part of a collaboration with Telkom Kenya to bring 4G LTE to Nairobi and the surrounding area. It’s the first commercial deployment of Loon technology. - Akasa Gem fanless Raspberry Pi case [Akasa]
Akasa Gem and Gem Pro fanless case for the Raspberry Pi 4 model B is now available for around $30. It has an anodized aluminum case and cooling kit with aluminum blocks, thermal pads, and compounds.
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What’s the expectation for router updates? Linksys’ WRT54GL was criticized heavily in the study discussed in the ZDNet article, but that router was first released in 2005 – four years before Windows 7.
I Googled a few routers and found support periods between three and five years (which is not saying there were actual firmware updates for that long). That’s not long enough, but I’d put it at less of a problem than most phone manufacturers’ Android updates.
“Google’s Project Loon (internet delivered by hot air balloons)”
Hot air balloons don’t work in the stratosphere. Google’s Loons are high altitude Helium filled balloons.
My bad. I’ve updated the article!
That Xiaomi Mi Stick, is basically the Mi Box S made slightly smaller… which itself was the same as the Original Mi Box… and that box is nothing special spec-wise compared to many boxes out there.
The only thing that makes the Mi Box/Stick worthwhile is that it is running the proper Android TV operating system. The Vodafone TV Box is basically the same thing. Many boxes both cheaper and more expensive, they’re just using some AOSP fork. It’s sad that the Nvidia Shield TV is the only good box outside of the budget Mi Box.
We definitely need a new High-end option out there… maybe a Snapdragon 855+ TV Box (ie No 5G) that runs the close-source AndroidTV operating system, and is sold for around USD $300. It would make a fine device for emulation like PS2/3DS/Wii titles.
if you want emulation pc/htpc make more sense than android box, Amd apu + small barebone like asrock deskmini will do the work for around $300.
While I agree, a HTPC is much more capable, that wasn’t the point.
The above suggestion was for a TV Box, that focuses on having a great user interface first, and being feature-packed secondly.
You can even repurpose a Used Laptop, an old one with a broken screen (or keyboard, trackpad, battery) as a HTPC. Not to mention getting a SFF Office PC (ie Dell OptiPlex). And as you mentioned, there are Intel NUCs too.
About the Wi-Fi routers. I wonder if they tested those modem + router combos that you rent from ISPs. I used to buy a modem and separate router but I just use the one from my ISPs nowadays.
I just use what AT&T installed: Arris BGW210-700
Can’t confirm if they actually fix vulnerabilities but it gets FW updates pushed to it automatically and frequently. The last one was a couple months ago and there were a few this year so far. Don’t like that it reboots the modem and disrupts my internet though. Would be nice to manually update it when I’m not actively using the Internet.