Roku turns televisions into beta testing grounds

The new Roku Labs feature appears as a dedicated tile on the home screen, granting early access to utilities like weather trackers, stock tickers, and a custom game titled Roku Dash. In this minigame, users navigate a UFO through the company’s signature "Roku City" screensaver, a neon-drenched landscape often used for subtle advertising. By developing these first-party applications, Roku aims to tighten its grip on the living room, directly challenging the AI-integrated interfaces found on Amazon and Google streaming devices.

Beyond experimental software, the company is expanding its personalized home screen to Mexico and Brazil, complete with localized content recommendations. The platform is also deepening its utility by enabling the voice assistant to handle weather queries and introducing bundled subscription tiers in the U.S. and Mexico. These packages allow users to combine services like AMC+, Starz, and Hallmark+ at a lower cost than individual subscriptions. To accelerate ecosystem growth, Roku is open-sourcing its remote control software, Roku LT OS, inviting third-party developers to integrate their own hardware and applications into the platform.