Month: January 2021

Enlarge / And the day that was comes to a close at NASA's Stennis Space Center after the SLS rocket fired up for the Green Run test on January 16, 2021. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann)

Nearly two years ago, then Vice President Mike Pence delivered the most consequential space policy speech of his tenure in office. During a National Space Council meeting at Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, Pence laid out the Trump administration's plans to land humans on the Moon by the year 2024.

"We must redouble our efforts here in Huntsville and throughout this program," said Pence, speaking to engineers leading development of NASA's Space Launch System rocket. "We must accelerate the SLS program to meet this objective. But know this: The President has directed NASA and Administrator Jim Bridenstine to accomplish this goal by any means necessary."

At the time, NASA engineers at Marshall told Pence they were confident the SLS rocket would make its debut flight in 2020, setting up a schedule to allow astronauts to return to the Moon by 2024. Even so, Pence maintained he was not committed to any single rocket, or contractor. The Moon was the goal—not the means of reaching it.

We've overhauled our guide to the best streaming sticks to account for the new devices and OS updates launched by Amazon, Roku, and Google since our initial comparison in January 2021. We've also added a section covering the hardware differences between the major players in the category.

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  The Google Chromecast with Google TV. [credit: Jeff Dunn ]

Most of us have a short list of requirements for a video streaming device. We just want something that easily delivers content worth watching and works with all the other devices in our living rooms without friction.

In most cases, a good streaming stick will do the trick. There are some reasons why someone would want to pay for a pricier set-top box: the Apple TV 4K doesn't stuff ads on its home screen, for instance, while a device like Nvidia's Shield TV Pro gives you more ports for local media streaming and enough power for gaming. Most people, though, don't need to spend more than about $50 on a streaming device to get an enjoyable, and oftentimes superior, experience. Google, Amazon, and Roku, three of the biggest names in the space, all offer useful and competitive options around this price point.