I didn’t make it to NYC last night for the ShowStoppers press event. However, ZNF ally Brad Linder (Liliputing, Mobiputing) did. And I had him scout out the Roku table for signs of Hulu Plus. While all he thought he had uncovered was an app placeholder, he actually photographed a very significant UI update that hasn’t been reported on.
From what I can gather, under the yet-to-be-released software version 2.8, the Channel Store (above) will inherit an interface that’s quite similar to Roku’s updated Netflix experience — making much better use of screen real estate. Other areas of the UI appear to have some slight visual and functional updates as well. For example, as you can see in the photo below, Roku is pushing down some sort of fall homescreen theme and I’m told we’ll be able to re-order our applications.
Lastly, there’s been rumors that DLNA support might make an appearance this fall. But no one from Roku’s talking, so we just don’t know if that feature will (finally) flesh out the device for LAN playback.
