WebProNews

Tag: fire tv

  • Amazon Expands Free Local News Coverage on Fire TV

    Amazon Expands Free Local News Coverage on Fire TV

    Amazon has expanded its free local news coverage on its Fire TV streaming device.

    Amazon introduced its free news app last year, initially in just 12 cities. In March, the company expanded to 88 markets. The company has once again expanded the service, this time to 158 cities across the US.

    Today’s expansion includes cities like Charleston, Wichita, Tucson, Reno, Raleigh-Durham, Honolulu, and Lincoln, and will double the local stations available from 126 to 259.

    Customers can access their local news under the “Local News” tab in the app, or by saying “Alexa, play local news” using the Alexa Voice Remote.

  • Echo Becomes the First Non-Apple Device to Support Apple Podcasts

    Echo Becomes the First Non-Apple Device to Support Apple Podcasts

    Starting Friday, Amazon Echo has become the first device aside from Apple’s HomePod to offer full support for Apple Podcasts.

    Prior to this announcement, the only way to play Podcasts on an Echo was to AirPlay them from another Apple device. With native support, “Alexa customers in the U.S. will be able to listen to more than 800,000 podcasts available through Apple Podcasts on their Alexa-enabled device.

    “Whether you’re listening at home or on the go, you don’t need to worry about losing your spot. Link your account in the Alexa app using your Apple ID, and you can seamlessly pick up where you left off listening on the Apple Podcasts App or your Alexa device. Pause the subscribed episode you’re listening to in the Apple Podcasts app on your commute, and continue listening with your Alexa device at home by asking Alexa to resume the podcast.

    “It’s easy to find and play your favorite podcasts with Alexa—all you have to do is ask for the episode you want to hear.”

    As TechCrunch points out, this “is the latest in a series of partnerships between the two rivals, which also included the launch of the Apple TV app on Amazon’s Fire TV platform, as well as the launch of Apple Music on Echo devices and Fire TV. Amazon, in response, has expanded its assortment of Apple inventory to include Apple TV, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch and more.”

    Whatever the motivation, further cooperation between the two companies is good for users on both sides.

  • Amazon Fire TV Gets Major Software Update

    Amazon Fire TV Gets Major Software Update

    Starting today and over the coming weeks, Amazon will be rolling out a free over-the-air software update to Fire TV customers. It includes Alexa support for first-generation Fire TV and Fire TV Stick devices.

    It also includes improvements to Amazon’s Video add-on subscription service, including an easier way for users to sign-up, discover, and access your Amazon Video add-on subscriptions.

    There’s also new Bluetooth headphone support for Fire TV Stick devices for private listening.

    “Since the launch of the new Fire TV in September, we’ve added dozens of Alexa skills to Fire TV devices including local search (i.e. the ability to find restaurants in your neighborhood), Amazon Choice and Re-Ordering from Amazon.com (i.e. quickly purchasing items off Amazon.com), home automation (i.e. turning on the living room lights via Alexa), traffic (i.e. find out how your commute to work is looking), Audible, games like Jeopardy!, Bingo, and more,” an Amazon spokesperson tells us in an email.

    “Amazon Fire TV remains #1 best-selling streaming media player in the U.S. across all retailers, and is a great way to watch your favorite TV shows and movies on the big-screen from apps like Amazon Video, Showtime, Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go, HBO Now and more,” the spokesperson adds.

    It’s worth noting that Amazon recently stopped selling competing devices like Apple TV and Google’s Chromecast. In fact they even put their own devices right at the top of search results for these competitors.

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon Claims Record Weekend For Its Devices

    Amazon Claims Record Weekend For Its Devices

    Amazon says it had a record holiday shopping weekend for sales of its devices. While the company didn’t reveal any hard numbers, it says it sold “millions of devices” and 3x over last year.

    The top-selling products across all of the products available on Amazon.com on Black Friday were Amazon devices. #1 was Fire and #2 was Fire TV Stick. Of course it probably helps that the company recently removed the competition from its site.

    Amazon Fire TV sales were up more than 6x year over year for the holiday shopping weekend, the company says, noting that from July through October (the last month for which there is data) Fire TV has been the top streaming media player in the US, across all retailers.

    On Black Friday, Amazon Echo was the top seller across all $100+ products on Amazon.com, according to the company. The new $49.99 Fire tablet is the fastest-selling Amazon tablet ever, with millions sold since launch, it says. Amazon sold “hundreds of thousands” of Kindle e-readers over the weekend.

    “We’re excited that millions of customers will be opening new Amazon devices this holiday season. This has already been the biggest holiday shopping season for Amazon devices, and we’re energized by the year over year growth for all of our product categories,” said Dave Limp, Senior Vice President, Amazon Devices. “With a sub-$50 price point for one or $250 for a six-pack, we’ve reached a tipping point with Fire—it is our fastest-selling tablet ever. We’ve already built millions—and we’re ramping up production to build millions more.”

    There are stats about online shopping on Thanksgiving and Black Friday in general from a variety of sources here.

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon Is Ramping Up TV-Commerce

    Amazon is about to make a huge push into TV-commerce.

    Here’s the scenario: You’re using your Amazon Fire TV, catching up on episodes of The Good Wife. You spot an incredible pair of shoes. OMG, you say. I must have those. Then, with the help of Amazon, you have them at your doorstep in an hour.

    Amazon has already started testing specific product ads inside the Fire TV experience – mostly for candy and Fitbits. But according to a report from GeekWire Amazon is about to turn the TV shopping game up a few notches.

    From GeekWire:

    Amazon is looking to integrate products into its X-Ray feature, which currently leverages Amazon’s IMDb subsidiary to display details about shows such as the actors and music. Product integration with X-Ray will let viewers see specific items in a movie or TV show, and then click to easily purchase those products for themselves.

    Not only that, but Amazon is reportedly developing its own, QVC-like shopping channel. You see something you like, you order it in a couple of clicks.

    And with Amazon’s Prime Now one-hour delivery service (only available in a few markets as of now), you can see how the above scenario is very plausible.

    Amazon makes its money when you buy things. That’s the idea behind its most popular service, Amazon Prime. If Amazon can get more purchasing opportunities into the TV experience, the place where many people spend the most leisure time, it’s a no-brainer.

  • Amazon Banishes Apple TV and Chromecast

    Amazon Banishes Apple TV and Chromecast

    In that’s sure one way to middle finger the competition news, Amazon is about to stop selling the Apple TV and Google’s Chromecast.

    Apparently, all traces of said devices will be gone from Amazon.com by October 29th.

    Bloomberg got its hands on a recent letter to third-party sellers:

    No new listings for the products will be allowed and posting of existing inventory will be removed Oct. 29, Amazon said. Amazon’s streaming video service, called Prime Video, doesn’t run easily on rival’s devices.

    “Over the last three years, Prime Video has become an important part of Prime,” Amazon said in the e-mail. “It’s important that the streaming media players we sell interact well with Prime Video in order to avoid customer confusion.”

    Roku Inc.’s hardware, Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox, and Sony Corp.’s PlayStation, which work with Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service, aren’t affected, Amazon said.

    From that, it’s pretty clear that Amazon is blaming the move on the fact that Apple TV and Chromecast lack of Amazon Prime Video support.

    And that could be part of it, I guess. But Amazon also sells these things called the Fire TV and the Fire TV stick, which just happen to be direct competitors of the Apple TV and Chromecast.

    Oh well. There are plenty of places to buy Apples TVs and Chromecasts.

    This has been the latest installment of When Corporate Giants Can’t Get Along.

  • Amazon Just Unveiled A Bunch Of New Fire Devices

    Amazon has been making headlines over the failure of its Fire Phone, but its Fire tablets and Fire TV devices live on with new models just being unveiled in time for the holiday shopping season. The company announced a new Fire tablet, new Fire HD tablet models, and a new Fire Kids Edition tablet as well as a new Fire TV model and new Fire TV Gaming Edition.

    New Fire Tablet

    First up is the new Fire tablet (pictured above). This is a $49.99 device that Amazon says has the best display on any tablet under $50. It has a quad-core processor, 7” IPS display, front- and rear-facing cameras, and up to 128GB of expandable storage.

    “Today, we’re taking another step in our mission to deliver premium products at non-premium prices,” said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. “The all-new Fire features a quad-core processor, is incredibly durable, and is backed by the Amazon content ecosystem, the new Amazon Underground, and Amazon customer service with Mayday Screen Sharing. Fire sets a new bar for what customers should expect from a low cost tablet.”

    New Fire HD Tablets

    Next up is the new line of Fire HD tablets, which Amazon has designed from the ground up with an 8” or 10.1” widescreen HD display, a thinner and lighter design, quad-core processor, stereo speakers, front- and rear-facing cameras, and microSD card support for up to 128GB.

    new-fire

    The tablets come with Amazon’s latest operating system, Fire OS 5 “Bellini”. This includes an updated user interface, deeper integration of Amazon services and literally hundreds of new and upgraded features and updates. One of these is On Deck, which automatically keeps your tablet current with popular Prime movies and TV shows as well as Amazon’s original programming. It uses available storage “opportunistically in a special shadow mode,” as Amazon puts it. When you download something, it makes room for your selected content, so you have to clear out space yourself.

    You can get a look at more of the features here.

    The Fire HD 8 with the 8″ display is $149.99. The HD 10 with the 10.1″ display is $229.99. They ship on September 30.

    New Fire Kids Edition

    The New Fire Kids Edition is also built from the ground up, and is now cheaper at $100. It comes with a year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, a “kid-proof case,” and a 2-year guarantee which lets you return it “if anything happens,” and they’ll replace it for free.

    Screen Shot 2015-09-17 at 10.58.58 AM

    It gives kids access to over 20,000 “age-appropriate” sites and YouTube videos curated by Amazon’s “experts,” and with FreeTime, they’ll be able to access over 10,000 books, videos, educational apps, and games, which is double the selection from last year.

    New Fire TV

    According to Amazon, the new Fire TV is 75% more powerful. It includes “best-in-class” Wi-Fi, support for Alexa (Amazon’s virtual assistant software), and supports 4K Ultra HD. The company says it offers the most 4K Ultra HD movies, and is half the price of any other 4K Ultra HD streaming media player.”

    Screen Shot 2015-09-17 at 11.05.04 AM

    The device includes voice features powered by Alexa, which let you ask for music, information, weather, traffic, etc.

    It provides access to over 3,000 channels, apps, and games. It’s available for pre-order for $99.99 and ships October 5.

    There’s also a new Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote that also includes voice search and Alexa integration. That’s $49.99 and ships October 22.

    “The team has packed an incredible amount of technology and innovation into a tiny package,” said Bezos. “The new Fire TV includes 4K support, more processing power, Alexa integration, the largest selection, and exclusive features—for less than $100. The new Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote brings voice search and Alexa integration for less than $50. These are powerful devices at incredible prices.”

    Finally, there’s a new Fire TV Gaming Edition that combines Fire TV with a new game controller, a 32 GB microSD card, and includes two games: Shovel Knight and Disney’s Ducktales. The controller includes a headphone jack. This will run you $139.99.

  • HBO GO Finally Hits Amazon’s Fire TV

    Back in April, Amazon launched Fire TV, its streaming device for the connected living room. It was missing one key service however. It didn’t support HBO GO. While Amazon has since added HBO content to Prime Instant Video, those don’t include the latest episodes of all the shows.

    Today, Amazon announced that the device finally has the service.

    “Since launch we’ve increased the number of services available on Amazon Fire TV by more than 4x,” said Peter Larsen, Vice President of Amazon Devices. “We’re thrilled to add HBO GO, the most requested service, to Fire TV in time for the holidays. HBO has produced some of the most groundbreaking and award-winning TV shows and movies, and we are excited to bring this amazing content to our customers, all of which is accessible via voice search on your Fire TV remote.”

    “Given our longstanding relationship with Amazon, we’re delighted to bring HBO GO to Amazon’s Fire TV—offering our vast collection of award-winning TV series and movies to Fire TV users,” added Jeff Dallesandro, Vice President, Digital Domestic Network Distribution at HBO. “We’re thrilled to add this platform to the suite of HBO GO viewing options, offering our subscribers compelling new experiences like Amazon’s unified voice search.”

    Amazon is selling Fire TV for $79 through December 28. HBO GO will be available for the less expensive Amazon Fire TV Stick in the spring.

    Last month, HBO GO finally became available for Xbox One.

    Image via YouTube

  • Amazon Fire TV Stick Is Now Shipping

    Amazon Fire TV Stick Is Now Shipping

    Amazon’s Chromecast competitor, the Fire TV Stick, has now begun to ship.

    According to Amazon, the pre-order buzz for the new device was the most impressive the company has ever seen.

    “Fire TV Stick has been our most successful device launch ever,” said Dave Limp, Senior Vice President, Amazon Devices. “We built a ton of these, but customer demand still outpaced our supply. We’re excited by the overwhelming customer response and the team is working hard to build more as quickly as possible.”

    Amazon first announced the Fire TV Stick late last month, It’s a few dollars more than Google’s Chromecast ($39 vs $35) – but Amazon sold it at a lower price point to Prime subscribers. Once you plug it in to your TV, It’s controlled by a separate remote or by the Fire TV remote smartphone app.

    Like its competitors, the Fire TV stick offers access to all the most popular content providers – Netflix, Hulu Plus, Watch ESPN, etc. It isn’t launching with HBO Go access, however, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who’s followed Amazon product launches of the past few months. April saw Amazon launch its original Fire TV (set-top box) without an HBO Go app.

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon Announces Fire TV Stick To Rival Chromecast

    Amazon just announced its own competitor to Google’s Chromecast, which is more expensive and includes a separate remote. It’s called the Fire TV Stick, maintaining the brand of its previously released streaming device.

    The Fire TV Stick connects to the HDMI port on an HDTV just like the Chromecast. While it’s only $19 for Prime members for two days only, its regular price is $39. Chromecast is typically $35, but can be found for less from some retailers. Walmart is selling it for $28.32 with 2 months of Hulu Plus for free at the moment. In fact, you can even get it for the same price on Amazon itself.

    Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says, “Fire TV Stick is the most powerful streaming media stick available—a dual-core processor, 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of storage, dual-band and dual-antenna Wi-Fi, included remote control, voice search with our free mobile app, easy set-up, an open ecosystem, and exclusive features like ASAP for instant streaming. The team has packed an unbelievable amount of power and selection into an incredible price point—Fire TV Stick is just $39.”

    While it comes with a remote control (unlike the Chromecast which you can simply use with your phone, tablet, or computer), you can still download the Fire TV Remote app to use your phone as a remote. Some additional features include:

    Instant streaming with ASAP—No more waiting for your movies and TV shows to buffer—ASAP (Advanced Streaming and Prediction) predicts which movies and TV episodes you’ll want to watch and buffers them for playback before you even hit play so videos start instantly.

    Fling movies and TV shows from your phone or tablet—Fling movies and TV shows from your Fire tablet or Fire phone to Fire TV Stick, turning your TV into the primary screen and freeing up your phone or tablet to provide playback controls, a customized display for X-Ray, or simply a place to email, browse the web, and more, while you watch a movie. Fire TV Stick supports standards like DIAL so you can also fling services like YouTube, Spotify, and coming soon, Netflix, from your Android phone or iPhone.

    Mirror your phone or tablet display—Wirelessly mirror your tablet display to your Fire TV Stick from Fire tablets, Fire phone, and Miracast-enabled phones or tablets including devices from Motorola, Samsung, LG, and Google without any additional apps or software.

    X-Ray for movies and TV shows—Using Second Screen on your Fire tablet or Fire phone, you can see X-Ray information as your movie or TV show plays on your TV via Fire TV Stick. See information about cast and crew, the names of songs as they play, as well as a list of music in the movie or TV show, trivia items in context with the action on the screen, and character backstories so you can easily remind yourself of the character’s history. X-Ray is exclusive to Amazon and is powered by IMDb.

    X-Ray for music—Lyrics display and scroll line-by-line automatically as the song plays, so you can follow along with songs.

    Great for casual gaming—Play your favorite casual games like Monsters University, Ski Safari, and Flappy Birds Family.

    Personal photos and videos—Play slide shows and choose your favorite album for the screen-saver on Fire TV Stick. Photos or videos you take on your phone or tablet can be automatically uploaded to Amazon Cloud Drive, so they appear on your Fire TV Stick.

    There’s also an Amazon Fire TV Voice Remote, which you can get for an additional $30.

    Amazon boasts about all the services and content you can access with the Fire TV Stick, including Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, NBA Game Time, Twitch, SHOWTIME ANYTIME, Prime Music, Spotify, Pandora, Vevo, Plex, A&E, PBS, PBS KIDS, WATCH Disney Channel, and YouTube.com.

    One of the services people care about the most, however, is missing in action, just as it was at the launch of Fire TV itself. While Amazon touts the fact that you can watch shows like Game of Thrones and The Wire, there’s no mention of HBO GO. Amazon struck a deal with HBO earlier this year to license old HBO content, but that doesn’t include current seasons of its shows, which you need HBO Go to stream. There were reports earlier this year that the service would be coming to Fire TV, but we’re still waiting on that one.

    It’s going to be even more important for devices to get HBO Go if they want to stay competitive in the future, as HBO is talking about turning it into a standalone service for those who don’t subscribe to any cable television packages.

    Amazon launched Fire TV in April. Last week, the company gave an update on it, saying that it has tripled the amount of available apps. There are over 600 available now.

    As you might expect, Amazon is giving away a free 30-day Amazon Prime trial with Fire TV Stick purchases.

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon Gives An Update On Fire TV

    Back in April, Amazon unveiled its long-anticipated streaming device Fire TV. While the company has made a number of other hardware announcements since then (including a new phone and new tablet and Kindle device), we we haven’t really heard that much about Fire TV from the company since Gary Busey was being weird in the ad earlier this year.

    Today, however, the company has released an update on what’s going on with it. It has added a bunch of apps since launch. Its selection has actually tripled since April with over 600 apps and games now available.

    “We continue to hear from customers how much they love the selection available to them on their Amazon Fire TV. In just over six months we’ve tripled the catalog and we’re adding new customer favorites on a weekly basis,” said Steve Rabuchin, Vice President, of Amazon Appstore. “We also hear from customers how much they love playing games on their TV—9 of the top 10 grossing apps on Fire TV are games—so we continue to work with game developers and add the most popular game content. Dungeon Quest, Spoiler Alert, Leo’s Fortune and Ninja Hero Cats, are some of the new games recently launched on Fire TV, and, coming soon, NBA 2K15.”

    The most-played gamed, according to the company, are actually: Asphalt 8: Airborne, Minecraft: Pocket Edition, Despicable Me: Minion Rush, Hill Climb Racing, Hungry Shark, Sev Zero, Riptide GP2, Solitaire, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Kindle Fire Edition), and PBA Bowling Challenge.

    The most popular media apps and services are Amazon Instant Video, Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube.com, Plex, Pandora, WatchESPN, VEVO, iHeartRadio, and Crackle.

    Amazon is no doubt looking to sell a lot of units this holiday season, and it’s taking this opportunity to tout “developer success” with Fire TV. It shares a handful of quotes from developers:

    “As a small development team, we have had the largest return on our invested capital with Fire TV,” said Todd Daniel, Managing Partner at Shiny Box Games, makers of Dungeon Quest. “We are seeing world class performance metrics only a month in to the game being available on Amazon Fire TV. User retention and attachment rates are higher than any of our other platforms.”

    “For us it was really important to be on Fire TV, because of our beyond-mobile strategy,” said Chris Kassulke, CEO and co-founder of HandyGames, creators of Ninja Hero Cats and Save the Puppies. “The end-consumer should have access to their games, whether they are on the go or at home in the living room, and this is the reason why we optimized all our games for Fire TV. As a next step, we will be optimizing all our future games for Fire TV, so the end-consumer can look forward to lots of exciting new content from us.”

    “Video content owners have been able to transform their video catalogs into TV apps with the Opera TV Snap technology, and we are excited to publish this video content on Amazon Fire TV – yet another platform to massively increase their audiences,” said Aneesh Rajaram, Senior Vice President for TV & Devices, Opera Software.

    Fire TV just went on sale in the UK.

    Image via YouTube

  • Fire TV Price Cut to Just $84 by Amazon

    Fire TV Price Cut to Just $84 by Amazon

    Amazon this week cut the price of its Fire TV streaming media player by $15. The device now costs just $84 and will remain at that price for a limited time.

    The Fire TV is Amazon’s entry into the streaming video market. It is the online retailer’s effort to be the gateway into living rooms for video and music streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Instant Streaming.

    Normally, price cuts on Amazon devices signal the impending announcement of next-generation versions of those devices. The Fire TV, however, was only just released back in April. The device is so new that some big streaming apps such as Spotify have only recently begun to show up on Amazon’s streaming box.

    Amazon earlier this month did announce several new upgrades for their hardware offerings. The announcement included new versions of the Kindle Fire HDX, Kindle Fire HD, and the Kindle. Amazon also debuted the Kindle Voyage (the new high-end for Amazon e-readers) and the Kindle Fire HD Kids Edition. The Fire TV was not included in the announcement, though that doesn’t necessarily mean a new version of the streaming box isn’t coming soon.

    Another possible reason for the price cut could be that the Fire TV is not meeting Amazon’s sales expectations. Unlike the Amazon Kindle, which pioneered the seven-inch tablet segment, the Fire TV was released into an already-crowded market. Products such as the Roku and the Apple TV are still the leaders of the streaming box product segment, and it will take more than some weird Gary Busey commercials to displace them.

    Even if the Fire TV is underperforming, it doesn’t look as if Amazon will be giving up on it. The company just this week announced that it will be investing an additional $55 million in its hardware initiatives. Amazon is expected to expand its hardware staff by 27 percent over the next five years. The company is also reportedly testing Wi-Fi-enabled home devices meant, of course, to make buying products over Amazon even easier.

  • Amazon Fire TV Ad Stars Gary Busey

    Amazon Fire TV Ad Stars Gary Busey

    At a large announcement event today in New York Amazon officially unveiled its long-rumored streaming set-top box device. Called the Amazon Fire TV, the device is a streaming video and entertainment box priced at $99 to compete with other streaming boxes such as the Roku 3 and Apple TV.

    One of the Fire TV features that sets the box apart from those other products is a voice search feature built into the Fire TV remote. The feature allows consumers to search through content on their Fire TV by using only voice commands. Amazon is claiming that the feature “actually works,” calling out other voice search software (such as Microsoft’s Kinect for Xbox One) that can be rather spotty.

    It now appears that the voice search feature of the Fire Tv is the one that Amazon will focus on first in its big marketing push for the box. The company has enlisted actor Gary Busey to star in the first-ever commercial for the Fire TV.

    The ad itself is exactly as weird as it sounds. Busey is portrayed as himself, complete with the slightly-insane personality the actor is known for. Busey explains that he loves to talk to inanimate objects and laments their lack of reaction before rejoicing over the fact that the Fire TV actually listens:

    Sure, it’s an odd marketing plan. Maybe not quite as odd as HTC’s hipster troll carwash campaign, but certainly among the most bizarre ads Amazon has ever released.

    In addition to the Fire TV’s voice recognition capabilities, the device contains all of the features expected of a modern streaming box. The device supports 1080p video and comes with popular apps such as Hulu Plus, Netflix, Pandora, and (of course) Amazon Instant Video.

    The device also supports video games that use a Amazon-brand controller. This feature is the truth behind months of rumors that Amazon had been building an Android video game console. It also helps to explain why the company recently acquired prominent video game developer Double Helix Games.

  • Amazon Fire TV Launches Sans HBO Go

    Amazon Fire TV Launches Sans HBO Go

    As you may have heard, Amazon stepped onto the streaming video device stage in a huge way today with the unveiling of their $99 Fire TV, their new set-top box.

    At launch, Amazon Fire TV boasts a bunch of third-party apps alongside its own Amazon Prime Instant Video-including Netflix, Hulu, Showtime Anytime, Pandora, and Watch ESPN. But there is one incredibly popular streaming video app that is absent from the Fire TV’s launch list…

    HBO Go.

    Yep, at least for now, there’s no HBO Go app on the Fire TV. They did know that they launched this thing a few days before the new season of Game of Thrones, correct?

    In reality, this shouldn’t be too much of a shocker to anyone. HBO Go is notoriously slow to appear on many a streaming device. Amazon Fire TV will eventually get HBO Go-it’s simply too popular of a service to exclude from your app lineup. But at least for the time being, Amazon Fire TV purchasers are going to have to live without HBO’s superior content.

    Unless, of course, they simply choose to buy it from Amazon Instant Video. I guess this is what Amazon is suggesting, considering their Fire TV product page is littered with visual references to HBO shows like Game of Thrones and Girls.

    I’m doubting a lack of HBO Go will be a complete dealbreaker for many prospective buyers, but it is a pretty big omission. If you simply can’t live without HBO content and are in the market for a streaming device, Google’s Chromecast, at just $35, looks like a more attractive option at this point.

    Image via Game of Thrones, Facebook

  • Amazon Fire TV: $99 Streaming Box Launches into Crowded Field

    Amazon Fire TV: $99 Streaming Box Launches into Crowded Field

    As expected, Amazon unveiled their long-awaited streaming device today in an event in New York. Contrary to the rumors, however, the device isn’t a dongle like Google’s Chromecast. Instead, it’s a super-thin (0.7 inches) set-top box that the company is calling the Fire TV.

    It’ll run you $99 and you can order it right now. In terms of price, Amazon Fire TV matches Apple TV and the Roku 3, and is significantly more expensive than a Chromecast.

    But in terms of specs, Amazon has built a more powerful device. It sports a quad-core processor which Amazon says has three times the processing power of its competitors, as well as 2GB of memory–which is four times the memory of the Apple TV, Roku 3, or Chromecast.

    As expected, Fire TV comes stocked full of third party apps like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Watch ESPN, Pandora, Showtime Anytime, and many more, alongside the company’s own Amazon Prime Instant Video. It plugs directly into your TV and supports full 1080p and HDMI audio. This falls in line with most of its streaming box competitors.

    Where Amazon tries to differentiate its new device from its competitors’ is not in the price or the video streaming basics, but in flourishes to the experience. The company has added voice search to the set-top box’s remote, and in a jab at other streaming devices, Jeff Bezos says that it is “voice search that actually works.”

    “Gone are the days of searching for a movie or TV show by left-left-down-right-ing through an on-screen alphabet grid using your remote. Simply speak the name of a movie, TV show, actor, director, genre, app, or game into the remote, and the results will appear instantly. Voice search leverages the search data and expertise of Amazon.com and IMDb, and is optimized to understand Amazon’s…catalog.”

    Amazon Fire TV also boasts a new “ASAP” mode, which stands for “Advanced Streaming and Prediction.”

    “You shouldn’t have to wait 10 seconds for a video to buffer after you press “Play”—it should start immediately. Based on your Watchlist and recommendations, the new ASAP (Advanced Streaming and Prediction) feature predicts which movies and TV episodes you’ll want to watch and prepares them for playback before you even hit play. This feature is smart—it is personalized based on your viewing habits and adapts as those habits change. The caching predictions get better over time, so ASAP will continuously improve as you use Fire TV,” says Amazon.

    There’s a bunch of other little things that Fire TV offers, and if you’re interested, the company’s lengthy release on the new device is worth a read.

    “Tiny box, huge specs, tons of content, incredible price—people are going to love Fire TV,” said Bezos. “Voice search that actually works means no more typing on an alphabet grid. Our exclusive new ASAP feature predicts the shows you’ll want to watch and gets them ready to stream instantly. And our open approach gives you not just Amazon Instant Video and Prime Instant Video, but also Netflix, Hulu Plus, and more. On Fire TV you can watch Alpha House and House of Cards.”

    Last but definitely not least, Amazon is pushing Fire TV’s gaming component. As was leaked a few weeks ago, Amazon Fire TV has its own game controller available for purchase to compliment games from EA, Disney, Gameloft, Ubisoft, Telltale, Mojang, 2K, and Sega. A few titles include Minecraft, The Walking Dead, NBA2K14, and an Amazon Game Studios exclusive title called Sev Zero.

    Bezos says that there are currently about 100 titles available, but “thousands more are coming soon.”

    There’s no denying that Amazon has created an alluring products here, and the addition of the gaming elements is sure to attract customers in a way that other streaming devices cannot. Its price is at least competitive with other top-end streaming boxes, but well above the lower-cost dongles like the Chromecast and Roku Stick.

    It’s a super competitive field, so it’ll be interesting to see how Fire TV sells over the next few months. It’s not just the Roku, Chromecast, and Apple TV that the Fire TV will have to compete with–it’s also the gaming consoles like Xbox One and the PS4, as well as the various SmartTVs on the market. Maybe this Gary Busey ad will give it an edge.

    Images via Amazon