tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post4849504835370751846..comments2024-03-18T22:39:50.137-07:00Comments on A Kindle World blog: Catching up on some Amazon changes during late 2015: OS v5.1.1 update for current Amazon tablets ... an alternate blue-shade-type app for earlier tablets ... ShowTime & Starz subscription availability for Prime members, with Amazon X-ray and voice-search features ... Unlimited Photos storage for Prime members now shareable with another adult household member... The Beatles, on Amazon Prime Music now ... Find the tune you heard in a movie or tv show. Updated 12/27 to add some details.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05109282436243758435noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-77947151386360359682016-02-08T11:07:21.811-08:002016-02-08T11:07:21.811-08:00Creative-Edge Images - Good to see your experience...Creative-Edge Images - Good to see your experience with this. (I guess that means HD6 is getting it now or soon, Tom Semple.)<br />Thanks for for the info, C-E I.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05109282436243758435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-31111937745753467062016-01-31T15:46:07.327-08:002016-01-31T15:46:07.327-08:00I just received the OS 5 update today on my 4th ge...I just received the OS 5 update today on my 4th gen HD 7. It is very smooth and seems to be fairly quick from task to task.Creative-Edge Imageshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10617912189222041495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-37515132641172391112016-01-27T03:34:15.780-08:002016-01-27T03:34:15.780-08:00Mine actually says 4.5.5.1 (even though the previo...Mine actually says 4.5.5.1 (even though the previous update on it was v4.5.1<br />I never posted it at the time, but I ran across a fairly simple fix for Stagefright. I should try to find that again. It made a lot of sense.<br /><br />I kind of like Carousel now that you can move it out of the way easily and never see it for the day again. But when I want, I do like being able to see easily my last activity or two, to get at them easily again. I don't really want pages of apps of this or that kind. I get worn out looking at screens of them<br /><br /> I imagine they have to optimize everything for the HD 6 in that it has no SD slot, and RAM + storage space is short, and they're going to automate swapping in and out, to make it sort of transparent...<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05109282436243758435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-29041699126197727672016-01-27T03:33:49.376-08:002016-01-27T03:33:49.376-08:00Mine actually says 4.5.5.1 (even though the previo...Mine actually says 4.5.5.1 (even though the previous update on it was v4.5.1<br />I never posted it at the time, but I ran across a fairly simple fix for Stagefright. I should try to find that again. It made a lot of sense.<br /><br />I kind of like Carousel now that you can move it out of the way easily and never see it for the day again. But when I want, I do like being able to see easily my last activity or two, to get at them easily again. I don't really want pages of apps of this or that kind. I get worn out looking at screens of them<br /><br /> I imagine they have to optimize everything for the HD 6 in that it has no SD slot, and RAM + storage space is short, and they're going to automate swapping in and out, to make it sort of transparent...<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05109282436243758435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-82369360671928182182016-01-26T12:21:44.491-08:002016-01-26T12:21:44.491-08:00Ironically, my HD6 (which is my most active Fire t...Ironically, my HD6 (which is my most active Fire tablet) has still not gotten 4.5.1.1 update, while my 2013 HD7 got it as soon as I turned it on (it had been powered down for months). On the latter, I was able to confirm that there were two (of around 8-9) unpatched Stagefright issues, and afterwards there are none. Most likely these were more difficult to exploit in the first place: the thing that made Stagefright so concerning was that infected video could be delivered by messaging client, which Fire tablets lack.<br /><br />Wonder where the heck the Fire OS 5 update is (for HD6)? I suppose I should be running some benchmarks so I can do 'before and after' comparisons. Lollipop is supposed to be a little better about performance (faster launches, better battery management). Looking forward to carousel free experience (not that it ever bothered me much, but it just didn't really add anything).Tom Semplehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05127272649086914117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-11745265737241862062016-01-22T14:46:45.395-08:002016-01-22T14:46:45.395-08:00Tom ! Gads, of course. Thanks for the correction...Tom ! Gads, of course. Thanks for the correction re former-MayDay and ScreenSharing. I did get confirmation at one point that mirroring is done by all the Year 2013 HD and HDX models. As for 2015 models, they have somewhat less-costly power and speed capabilities, but they should be able to mirror -- I think that the processing might be somewhat slower with maybe more buffering. I read somewhere that only the $50 Fire model can't mirror, but I have nothing solid on that.<br /><br />Sorry to read about your phone prob ! Wow. MayDay is terrific. I watched as a friend, who uses it a LOT, make a long call with a very patient and knowledgeable rep. I had a curiosity happen with my Amazon music app. Everything disappeared. Nothing worked. The normal go-to's did not do the trick. But the reps tried several things and got it all working and it had to do with the order of how you force close before you clear data and then Uninstall. Everything came back.<br /> <br />I've used MayDay only twice in 2 years but each time I had very good results from reps who seem to know quite a bit more than the average phone reps.<br /><br />My Windows laptop runs mirroring much sloweer than my HDX does, and it's a good laptop (the Surface pro 2) but not great for mirroring via the Fire TV, though I was also able to mirror my Windows phone by attaching it to the Surface Pro 2 :-)<br /><br />Ah, good to know of one thing that the new Kindle Fire update fixed (the security issues)...<br /><br />Thanks for all the info!<br /><br /> Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05109282436243758435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-8095523836051168492016-01-22T13:04:09.797-08:002016-01-22T13:04:09.797-08:00Re 4.5.5.1: on my Fire Phone one thing it fixed wa...Re 4.5.5.1: on my Fire Phone one thing it fixed was the last of the Stage Fright security issues as reported by the Stagefright Detector app (from Zimperium labs, original reporters of the issue). Probably another Android patch and not much more than that. I haven't had a chance to check my HD6, but I'm sure it will report 'secure' there as well. Tom Semplehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05127272649086914117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-25352499427601822932016-01-22T13:00:59.059-08:002016-01-22T13:00:59.059-08:00The Screen Sharing feature referred to is for Cust...The Screen Sharing feature referred to is for Customer support only, not 'display mirroring'. CS can take control of your screen and see what is going on. They used to call this Mayday, but as this does not include seeing video of the customer rep on the new tablets, it probably didn't qualify as 'Mayday'. Obviously Mayday's days, in the classic sense, are numbered, since the only devices that support that are the HDX tablets and Fire Phone, which we'll probably never see successors to. My mom just bought an HD8 without any prompting on my part. She's had a 5 year old iPad, and I think she just does email and Words With Friends on that, so this might actually be nicer, except for needing to charge it up more often and more slowly. Zynga finally fixed the Fire version of WWF a few months ago, it was horrible for so very long.<br /><br />Ironically I made my second Mayday call ever this morning. Somehow I damaged my Fire Phone screen, while it was tucked safely in my vest pocket. I have no idea how. Looks like a bullet hit it. It still works, but I called Mayday to get a replacement ($99, still a bargain) as I don't know how long the glass will cohere. For some reason it has a glass back too, Maybe that is to make repairs easier? For the alternate eink screen that was in some early design? Anyway, they want the broken one back, which is cool. Should be simple to set up the new one from cloud backup. Hope so.<br /><br />As far as I can tell without actually having one, none of the new Fire tablets support anything other than Second Screen (fling). It is not mentioned in the product details, and the Help page just says if the option doesn't appear, you don't have that capability. I suspect they edited this feature out of Android because it doesn't work reliably (as I have found) and generates support calls. Even Fling stopped working on my Fire HD6 at home (works fine on my Fire Phone).Tom Semplehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05127272649086914117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-59268682474929327942016-01-22T05:33:38.693-08:002016-01-22T05:33:38.693-08:00Oddly, the new $50 does "screen sharing"...Oddly, the new $50 does "screen sharing" (the new word combo for 'mirroring') while the HD6 doesn't, but the comparison table still says, "Screen Sharing available in coming months."<br /><br />Sounds like an esoteric prob with your Fire Phone. <br /><br />Yes, the medici.tv app is the only one I had an interest in that required Google Play Services. Once I got it and used it, I found that I FAR prefer using the Dolphin Web Browser to view medici.tv -- much smoother, better resolution even! and I can mirror that to the HDTV fine (a process that doesn't require google play services...<br /><br />I got an update tonight. v4.5.5.1 -- but all it says (after taking forever to install !) is:<br /><br />"... includes general improvements and performance enhancements."<br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05109282436243758435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-91092556089907444772016-01-19T22:37:01.815-08:002016-01-19T22:37:01.815-08:00I don't have an Android device that will mirro...I don't have an Android device that will mirror to Fire TV apart from my iPad. In theory my Fire Phone will but it does not work (works with my Stick though) and I have been too busy to troubleshoot it. Surely something to do with network configuration, yet my brother's phone worked just fine. The medici.tv iPad app is not great (doesn't support headset controls, no PIP), but at least it does the mirroring thing. Did you need Google Play Services before it would run on your Fire? <br /><br />Tom Semplehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05127272649086914117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-30629917582511376162016-01-17T11:15:06.611-08:002016-01-17T11:15:06.611-08:00Tom, I agree with you about the blue filter thing ...Tom, I agree with you about the blue filter thing since I have no problem getting good sleep after too much time on the tablet. And I personally don't like the effect on the color.<br /><br />I got the letter from Amazon in my Carousel describing the new Fire OS 5 that would be put on my Yr 2013 Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" tablet soon. THEN I got a normal email from them days later that said, Whoops Sorry, we didn't mean to send that letter about updating your tablet.<br /><br />So I guess it's not included but that's fine with me. I don't need the improvements listed. <br /><br />On the Fire TV, my Echo App says that my Fire TV software version is "516012020" but I can't test any Alexa voice changes since I got the wrong remote when I sent for replacement for the lost one (got the stick one without voice - probably my fault) so I'm exchanging it this week.<br /><br /> Hulu's been working for the voice search for a long time because they cooperate with Amazon quite a bit. Not so much, evidently Netflix ... and for Netflix to benefit from using that much easier search, I guess Amazon wants something that Netflix isn't too interested in giving.<br /><br /> I love my basic Hulu direct without any ads. What a pleasure to see any series reruns, with ZERO ads. Worth $4/mo. <br /><br /> OK. I used the Fire TV app to watch Hulu, and it's just the same as if I'm watching it on subscription via my tablet or via my blu-ray player's menu-offerings. The resume works. The captions also. And, no ads. Also it fills the screen.<br /><br /> But when I MIRROR my tablet's Hulu app to the HDTV via FireTV box, it's a slightly smaller picture even though I did the FireTV display calibration.<br /><br /> As with the tablet, SOMEtimes the Fire TV app may start to buffer when it had been fine for half an hour or so. And, as with the tablet, if I just go back to the menu and then tap on the episode, it resumes runs fine after that.<br /><br />I'm not sure what the advantage would be to subscribe to Hulu through Amazon since Amazon would want to take a 'cut' of such a deal and it would cost us more. I also like keeping some of these things separate from Amazon so we don't depend on Amazon too much. <br /><br /> With Hulu I can do a Voice Search (when I had my voice search remote) and it would find both the Amazon Instant Videos that might exist for the search topic ALONG WITH any existing Hulu version of video or film. They got integrated pretty quickly!.<br /><br /> Good to know about AirPlay, I long ago put on the 4 files that let me have Google Play Services and it's worked since then for medici.tv and other Google Play apps but I actually prefer to use the Dolphin web browser to enjoy medici.tv on the HDTV via mirroring, which works. It seems less limited than the medici.tv app in its display. Let me know what you think if you try it. <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05109282436243758435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-83380806220117204142016-01-13T11:54:40.641-08:002016-01-13T11:54:40.641-08:00Have you tried going into Settings, Security &...Have you tried going into Settings, Security & Privacy and toggling off Lock Screen Password? that should take care of this. Of course if you have set up the device for parental controls, turning of the password sort of defeats the purpose of parental controls.Tom Semplehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05127272649086914117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-17108053782624608142016-01-13T11:52:53.312-08:002016-01-13T11:52:53.312-08:00It is amusing to see how this 'blue filter'...It is amusing to see how this 'blue filter' craze has taken off (Apple jumping on the bandwagon by adding such a feature to iOS 9.3). There is not what I would consider significant evidence that the blue light emitted by mobile devices is a significant contributor to sleep disturbances for anyone. The only references presented that I have encountered are poorly designed and statistically insignificant. Is blue filter more effective than existing common sense approaches (appropriately dimming screen, using Night theme for reading, etc.)? And we are about to have the last season of Mythbusters, so it's likely to remain essentially unstudied and unchallenged. In my case, my sleep is disturbed because I don't get to bed early enough, or something I've eaten disagrees with me. If there's a contribution from 'blue light' it is considerably more subtle than these other factors.<br /><br />That said, I've installed f.lux on my computers and look forward to playing with the feature on my Fire and iPad when the respective updates arrive. I find f.lux is helpful just for notifying me that it is getting late; I tend to lose track of time. <br /><br />I got a letter on my Fire HD6 informing me of an impending update 'in the coming weeks', but it makes no mention of Blue Shade. So will have to wait and see.<br /><br />It looks like there is a Fire OS 5 update in the works for 1st gen Fire TV as well. developer.amazon.com lists both of my Fire TV devices as eligible for Fire OS 5 beta, and the Alexa app shows them as devices one can switch to (but so far I cannot do anything new with them after that). The 'unified search' is a big deal. Here at LG we have something like that for our latest generation WebOS Smart TV's, but Roku/Apple/Google make you drill down into each app. It would be nice if you could subscribe to Netflix and Hulu and HBO through Amazon as well, though I don't see that happening (surely Amazon asked).<br /><br />I think I've mentioned this before but you can get AirPlay and DLNA support via third party apps. I use one called "AirPlay/DLNA Receiver (PRO)" and use that to play medici.tv on Fire TV from my iPad. The app is not so good, but at least it does support AirPlay.Tom Semplehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05127272649086914117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-18301584936979632882016-01-05T18:18:26.208-08:002016-01-05T18:18:26.208-08:00I have used Amazon prime for many years now and ha...I have used Amazon prime for many years now and have saved unbelievable amounts of dollars because of free shipping. This is my second fire (third generation). However, I have been trying to delete their new "update" of having a password now every time I shut my tablet case flap. I guess it's because the parental controls were not working and they did not want to correct the parental control program which would cost a bundle. I find it a real pain. I was also informed that there would be quick way to connect my fire to my printer in a few months. Anyone know about any of these problems?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03152449772523575266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-46653767685435385042015-12-26T09:54:03.564-08:002015-12-26T09:54:03.564-08:00The major benefit of Amazon kindle is there servic...The major benefit of Amazon kindle is there service Amazon Prime. Ahead of that there are more attractive choices in the tablet market. But with Amazon prime it worth buying. Prakash Mishrahttp://mishrascomputers.com/noreply@blogger.com