In all of the fuss around the Boxee Box and Apple TV, it’s been easy to forget Roku, who pretty much kicked off this whole media streaming category with the SoundBridge. This week, the company launched three brand new media streamers, in the shape of the Roku HD, XD and XD|S.

The $59.99 base level HD offers 720p high definition video streaming, integrated 802.11g Wi-Fi and Ethernet, whilst the XD at $79.99 bumps up the output to 1080p with 802.11n Wi-Fi and an Instant Replay feature. At the top of the tree, the $99.99 XD|S goes for dual-band Wi-Fi, adds component and optical audio out as well as a USB port for photo, music and video playback.

Alongside content streaming from your local PCs and home servers, Roku bundle apps from a variety of providers including Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, Flickr, Facebook Photos, Pandora, RadioTime, UFC, MLB.tv, Vimeo and a whole host of other online channels.

All three models are shipping from today in the US.

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Over in San Francisco today Boxee announced a late switch to the architecture powering their forthcoming set-top  box, which is available to pre-order today in the USA and Canada. It’s no coincidence that the company chose to reveal the switch from NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 processor to the 1.2GHz  Intel Atom CE4100 at the processor giant’s Developer Forum this morning. Whilst the Boxee Box will be shipping in November, countries outside North America will have to wait until launch before placing their orders.

According to Engadget, the sole reason for the switch to the CE4100 was performance. Boxee’s head honcho, Avner Ronen told the site, “The major problem we had with the Tegra 2 was support for high-profile HD playback. You can do high-profile VC-1 with Tegra 2, but not H.264.” It seems like a very late switch in the development cycle of the much-delayed set-top box, but the revised design is said to be able to push 1080p high definition H.264 files around at 60 frames per second, which should ensure a great experience.

At a reported $199/£199, the Boxee Box story now looks a lot less attractive courtesy of the forthcoming $99/£99 Apple TV, but it’s sure to win its share of fans. Whose box will you be spending your money on in November?

Pre-Order: Amazon.com | Via: Engadget

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We revealed this week that the Lenovo were making changes to their D400 Home Server line, and to potentially expect retailers to start selling through their stock. Looks like the crazy discounting has commenced, with Amazon knocking almost $200 off the model in the US, which is now available for under $350, with 1GB RAM and a 2TB Hard Drive.

If you’re looking for a cheap home server, check out the link below.

A new update of online data backup service, CloudBerry Backup, has been released.  The update brings a couple of new features to the service, as well as the release of a new Server Edition.

The major changes in this release include:

• the ability to back up network shares.
• a Smart Delete option that will keep files deleted locally on backup storage for 30 days by default and only after that will it delete the files on backup storage.
• CloudBerry is introducing a new edition of the service called CloudBerry Backup Server Edition for use the Microsoft SBS operating systems.
• Finally, the method to configure RRS storage option has changed with this version, which provided a more robust RSS configuration then previous versions. 

The full announcement from CloudBerry:

CloudBerry S3 Backup is a powerful Windows Home Server add-on that automate backup and restore processes to Amazon S3 cloud storage.

With the release 1.6 of CloudBerry Backup we are introducing an ability to back up network shares, an option to keep locally deleted files for a certain time, server edition of CloudBerry Backup and Reduced Redundancy Storage Enhancements.

An ability to back up network locations is a feature that has been coming up during conversation with our customers over and over.  The most common use case is a need to backup Network Attached Storage (NAS) or an external hard drive. With the release 1.6 we are introducing this option to CloudBerry Backup.

Awhile back we introduced an option to delete files automatically from the backup storage when they are deleted locally. However, this option is dangerous in that you can still delete a file accidently on the local computer you won’t be able to recover from it as the file is deleted automatically from the backup storage too.

In the release 1.6 we are introducing a Smart Delete option that will keep files deleted locally on backup storage for 30 days by default and only after that will it delete the files on backup storage. 

With the release 1.6 we are introducing CloudBerry Backup Server Edition.  This new version of CloudBerry Backup ($59.99) is designed to run on the server version of Windows operating system such as Windows 2003 and Windows 2008. All existing Cloud Berry Backup customers running the product on servers are eligible for free upgrade.

And finally, in the release 1.6 we have modified that way how you can configure RRS storage option with CloudBerry Backup. In the previous release you had to specify RRS option for the whole account level. This turns out to be inflexible and in the newer release we moved RRS configuration to the Backup Wizard and you can now configure RRS option on the backup plan level. 

More Info: Cloudberry Labs

Having opened up pre-orders for the new Xbox 360 yesterday, Amazon UK have this morning issued an email to pre-order customers advising of a shipping delay from the manufacturer. Microsoft had previously advised a release date of July 16th for Europe – this has gone back three days to July 19th.

The email reads:

Greetings from Amazon.co.uk.

Unfortunately, the release date for the item(s) listed below was changed by the supplier, and we need to provide you with a new estimated delivery date based on the new release date:

“Xbox 360 Elite Slimline Console (250GB Hard Drive) (Xbox 360)”

Estimated arrival date: July 19 2010

One of Amazon’s aims is to provide a convenient and efficient service; in this case, we have fallen short. Please accept our sincere apologies.

You have not been charged for this item. We do not debit money from your payment card until just before your items are dispatched. We will send you a dispatch confirmation email on the date of dispatch.

Thank you for shopping at Amazon.co.uk, we hope to see you again.

Note that the delivery date is still estimated – fingers crossed the ship/plane that is bringing those consoles over doesn’t get held up any further.

Following yesterday’s unveiling of the new “whisper-quiet”, 250 GB Xbox 360 “Slim” at E3, online retailers have been busy getting the product ready for the public to buy.

In the USA, Amazon now have the product listed at $299, with stock arriving on June 19th. Orders are currently limited to once console per household. Meanwhile, over in the UK, Amazon.co.uk have the product available at £199 – as revealed yesterday, Europe will not get the new model until July 16th, so a little longer to wait.

I’ve just got my order in – stay tuned for a full hands-on review.

Last month we brought you the news that Acer’s refreshed home server range would be coming to market in the Summer. The single-core Acer Aspire easyStore Home Server H341 will be available globally whilst the H342 dual-core looks set to be exclusively available in the USA.

Those of you eagerly awaiting the H341 & H342 in the US will be pleased to see that Amazon now have the product listed. The H341 clocks in at $399.99 , whilst a relatively heavy premium of $100 buys you the H342, with dual-core Intel Atom processor.

Both items are available to order, with the retailer currently awaiting stock.

A new update of online data backup service, Cloudberry Backup, has been released today. The update brings a number of new features to the service, including:

Simple Mode

Simple Mode will allow you to create a data structure on your Amazon S3 storage that completely mirrors the data structure on your local disk. There will be no wired folders and you can access your data with other Amazon S3 client such as S3 Fox, S3Hub (Mac), CloudBerry Explorer freeware.

Reduced Redundancy Storage (RRS)

Enables users to store data in S3 at a 33% discount to the standard pricing in return for a reduced level of durability.  Newer version of CloudBerry Backup allows users to take advantage of RSS by specifying appropriate settings.

Asia Pacific Region Support

With new release of CloudBerry Backup users can back up their data to the data center located in Asia Pacific region.

CloudBerry S3 Backup for Windows costs $29.99(US) for a single-user license. Volume discounts are available. CloudBerry Backup will be offered without charge to students, educational institutions and non-profit organizations. You will continue to pay Amazon directly for their S3 charges.

More Info: Cloudberry Labs

Hot on the heels of the ASUS Home Server TS Mini and Acer’s easyStore Home Server hitting the market in Europe, Lenovo’s IdeaCentre D400 appears to be the next new home server landing this side of the pond.

Home Server Blog have spotted the product available for pre-order in Germany, with listings at both Amazon.de and Cyberport.de. The 4 bay IdeaCenter, powered by Intel’s Atom 230 processor,  is priced between 329 (500GB Hard drive)  and 339 Euros (1TB) depending on where you shop.

Amazon are quoting a 1-2 month lead time for delivery – let’s hope we see the D400 roll out across the continent. If you want to know more about Lenovo’s debut home server, check out our hands-on review.

As many of you know, today is Cyber Monday in the USA – the online equivalent to the crazy prices offered in stores across the US on Black Friday.

Browsing our Hot Deals forum today, I noticed a couple of decent deals from Amazon.com on the Acer Aspire easyStore Home Server and across HP’s range of MediaSmart Servers. Update: ASUS have also joined in the holiday fun!

Acer Aspire AH340-UA230N Home Server – $299 (Save $100)

ASUS TS Mini Home Server (500Gb) – $299 (Save $50)

ASUS TS Mini Home Server (2TB) – $479 (Save $50)

HP EX495 1.5TB Mediasmart Home Server – $599 (Save $92)

HP EX490 1TB Mediasmart Home Server – $469 (Save $74)

HP LX195 MediaSmart Home Server – $199 (Save $272)

If you’re thinking of treating yourself to a new home server for the holidays, now’s the time to buy!

Thanks to DV-Design for the tip!

We’ve had a number of our UK readers commenting that they’re struggling to find the new HP EX490 MediaSmart Server online for purchase. Amazon.co.uk plus a number of other retailers have been advertising the product, but it seems that everyone is now out of stock.

WGS contacted HP in the UK to understand what was happening out there – we were told that the initial allocation of stock sold out in the first two weeks of sale and that more units were being shipped to major distributors, all of whom have back orders in place for the product.

Looks like a great start for the product in the UK, although a frustrating one for those of you waiting to buy.

Update: Looks like Amazon UK have the EX490 back in stock.

The Online Backup monkeys at Jungle Disk have been stalwart supporters of the Windows Home Server platform almost since release in 2007. However, the company announced this week that they were temporarily withdrawing their add-in in favour of a forthcoming new backup product for Windows Home Server.

Existing Jungle Disk customers will be unaffected as the add-in will continue to operate as usual. Those customers who need to re-download the add-in can do so by contacting Jungle Disk support.

More Info: Jungle Disk