Special Black Friday special on Kindles, Fire TV devices and Amazon Echo. Additional 30% off any PRINT book. Note on Voice-dictation (speech-to-text) for HDX models for later blog article today. UPDATE 2

Amazon Kindle and Fire Devices on special sale, Black Friday (See Update 2: 30% off PRINT book.

  The special pricing on the Black Friday Amazon Devices page tends to be available until Nov 28, said to be 11:59 pm that day, tho' some have later ending dates.   Some will become available again only during lightning deals for the following "CyberMonday week" and for as long as the items are in stock).

  Clicking on the small-version images of Amazon's special sales page for its devices today will get you to the larger, much more readable page at Amazon.

The special device deals today include e-Readers, tablets, as well as Fire TV box and Fire Stick.

  Highlights

  Fire TV devices
Fire TV Stick, normally $39.99, is nearly 40% off at $24.99.

Fire TV Box (more fully-featured), normally $99.99 is 25% off at $75.99 and that's a rare price for this.

  Here's Amazon's Yr 2015 FireTV-comparison table


  Kindle e-Readers and tablets
The basic Kindle e-Ink e-Reader is almost 40% off at $49.99.

You can save $15 on the new Fire tablet, which has been, Amazon says, "the #1 best-selling product" on Amazon.com since launch.  Normally, $50, it's $34.99 today.

  Once more: the sometimes confusing lineup of Kindles and how to decide
  which ones would work best for you
  Here's a set of links that should help clarify the differences between models and allow easier comparison of features and prices:

  • Amazon's Tablet Comparison table
  • Amazon's Comparison table for the e-Ink Kindle eReaders
  • Paperwhite 3 vs Paperwhite 1: photos
  * Yr 2015 lineup: Details
        plus a quick-text listing or table of the various models:
  • Which Kindles Where? (Models available)


The previous blog article was on how the 8 days of Black Friday would work and the coming CyberMonday Week starting Nov. 30 will see similar multiple sales events.

GENERAL Black Friday pages for the US, UK, and Canada


UPDATE 2: Additional 30% off ANY Print Book 11/26-11/29 (thru' Sunday)
I got word of this and forgot, and it's not easily findable on the Amazon pages:

' Shopping Alert: Amazon Books announced it's offering shoppers an extra 30% discount on any print title beginning on Thanksgiving Day.  Shoppers must enter "HOLIDAY30" at checkout between Thursday (11/26) and Sunday (11/29) to receive the discount. '

[Amazon adds that the Amazon Book editors recently announced their Best Books of 2015 and that if any of you are looking for gifting options to use this 30% off on, take a look at the Editors’ Holiday Gift Picks.]

I'll end this here, since Thanksgiving and other events kept me from getting this out last night.

  I'm also working today on another blog article, to be completed this weekend, on how to dictate emails (voice dictation) and notes to Evernote and other apps on the Kindle HDX models.

  I've tested what works and doesn't in the way of punctuation and certain formats it understands (currency and time). This works very well for me on the 8.9" HDX that I have and for a friend's 7" HDX.

UPDATED, after initial posting:
EDITED: According to Amazon help pages on Language and Keyboard options:
  "For Kindle Fire HDX (3rd Generation), Fire HD (4th Generation), or Fire HDX 8.9 (4th Generation) devices, tap the microphone icon on your keyboard to use your voice to dictate text instead of typing."

  This means that the current HD6 and HD7 "Fire" tablets do have the Voice-dictation-to-text feature.

One more thing
  I'll also include, in that later blog article today, an example from a very effective voice-recorder app (NOT voice-to-text but an audio file) that I bought ($3), which is clearer than others I'd tried earlier, and is even said by commenters to be very good for recording singing.

  This is of course for Kindle tablets that use a microphone, although I saw that someone who bought earbuds with a mic attached was able to do the simple recording of voice to an audio file, which they can save and send or keep in a library.



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Amazon replaces Walmart as world's biggest retailer ... HBO Now available on some Amazon tablets ... Fire TV and Stick updated to access hotel WiFi with log-in screens, a how-to guide ... Other new features installed in Fire TV and TVFire Stick ... HBO Collections in Amazon Prime ... Unusual discounted Kindle books alert for 7/23-24 ... amusing, less-known facts about Amazon's history

Amazon and Kindle news updates
The photo at the left -- or in the center for Kindle Blog Edition subscribers who get the most-recent 20~ blog posts in each Kindle version (14-day free trial) -- is from a wonderful look by bt.com at the original Amazon page 20 years ago when Amazon made its first appearance.

The story includes 14 other things most of us did not know about ye olde Amazon, including why it was named 'Amazon' in the first place (the original name chosen is hilarious and I think the company probably wouldn't have been quite as successful with it) and what that underlying arrow in the logo means.

The article mentions Amazon's oft stated 4 principles:
"• Customer obsession rather than competitor focus
 • passion for invention
 • commitment to operational excellence and
 • long-term thinking."

It's somewhat fitting then that on its 20th birthday Amazon has suddenly become (last night) the world's largest retailer by market value, replacing Walmart as #1 after Amazon stock surged almost 17% when their latest quarterly report exceeded expectations, even including a profit for once.  Amazon has preferred to invest money back into expanded operations and new services of every conceivable type.  Its market cap is now approximately $264 billion to Walmart's $235 billion.

 The BT article on Amazon's history includes a picture of the company's first office building after the business graduated from Jeff Bezos' garage.  It's always amazing to me what one person with a vision and laser-focused energy can accomplish in this world

A little break here for a more mundane note, a small tip on the Kindle Daily Deal today (for those not watching daily)
  For fans of NY Times bestseller Michael Koryta
  Three of Koryta's thrillers are available at $1.99 each today only.

  And, probably even better, some unusual SHORT-term Kindle book discount alerts for the last two days
  NOTE: These last usually 1-3 days, but too often just one day.

N E W:
HBO Now (ad-free) is now available for Android devices and Amazon's Fire tablets. The PR release mentions "latest" Fire tablets, 6", 7", and HDX but does not mention the older tablets and I asked for clarification.  Found, at the app page that my Yr 2013 HDX 8.9" is eligible, And Amazon responded with this list of eligible Kindle Fire and Fire tablet devices.
 •       Kindle Fire HD 7
 •       Kindle Fire HDX 7 WiFi
 •       Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 WiFi
 •       Fire HD 6
 •       Fire HD 7
 •       Fire HDX 8.9 WiFi

  HBO Now will also be available in a few weeks for FireTV and Fire Stick - for those hoping to free themselves from Cable.  This will be at $15/mo. but if that can get some viewers off Cable TV's ever escalating monthly fees, it may be worth it for HBO watchers.
   I subscribe to Hulu (formerly known as Hulu Plus), and Showtime is going to be there with no need for a cable TV subscription, for $9/mo.

  This differs from the HBO Collection of older series already available on Amazon Prime.

How to attach Fire TV to a public WiFi network (hotel etc)
Amazon announced the software update that enables using Fire TV and FireTV Stick with hotel networks requiring a login screen.
   Mainstream tech sites had reported it was coming, although slowly over several weeks and 'over the air' to Fire TV and Fire TV Stick.
  That was back in late March:

  Now it should be generally installed, so here are the Instructions for or guide to doing this.

  As Verge explained from the Amazon press release:

' Amazon says both devices are the first media streamers to support the "captive portal," or Wi-Fi networks that require web-based authentication. You'd typically find these at hotels, where it's often hard or impossible to connect your own Apple TV or Chromecast to the Wi-Fi network. But now Fire TV owners can replace the hotel's own lacking entertainment options with the content they'd normally watch at home. '
  [and]
'the OTA release will add a few significant new features, led by support for expandable USB storage for the set-top box. You'll be able to plug in an external USB drive to boost the amount of space for your Fire TV apps and games — if you've somehow already managed to exceed the built-in storage, that is.'
  [Note that the support for an external USB drive isn't of course available for the little FireTV Stick though.]

'Curated playlists from Prime Music, hidden PIN entry (to keep the kids from seeing your code), and quicker shortcuts for putting the Fire TV to sleep or activating screen mirroring round out the latest update.'

More tidbits from that BT article on Amazon
Also from that BT article on things we didn't know about Amazon, there were some interesting actual numbers on some items sold on the infamous PrimeDay.  I had seen that, early that day, they'd sold 4,000 Echo's in 15 minutes, at $50 off, but here are some other items noted:

' To celebrate its 20th birthday, Amazon launched Prime Day with exclusive discounts for Prime members. 56,000 Lord of the Rings trilogy box sets, 47,000 televisions and 14,000 iRobot Roomba 595 Pet Vacuum Cleaning Robots were sold; in the case of the latter, this compared to just one the previous Wednesday. '

Intrigued by what the iRobot Roomba was like that involved 14,000 buys that day vs one purchase the week before, I went to see the product listing and saw that it's $380 now and wondered what the discount was when it sold so many.  I've always been curious about it but not at that current listed price.

There is more news to catch up on, but I've been able to drop one larger project that was keeping me away from this blog and will be able to be here more often again, so will report the rest in a couple of days.


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How to import music from iTunes or Windows Media to your Amazon library ... Shortcuts to find Prime Music for Echo and Prime Instant Video for FireTV and Stick+tablets ... Today's Kindle Daily Deal: 45 'Summer Reads' instead of one .

I've been collecting my PRIME-info shortcuts for friends new to FireTv and to Amazon Echo, which I still haven't done a fuller report on -- still hunting things down when here.

  These shortcuts include what's available on Instant Prime and --for the Echo --  what is included in Prime Music (and helpful for getting Echo to play what you intend).
  Details will follow on another post I'm working on today.

  Re Kindle books -- I noticed today the changes to Kindle Owners Lending Library and where that appears on Kindle Fire tablets now, as that was changed recently.  The e-Ink Kindle eReaders are clearer in that this borrowing feature appears in the main store menu, up front oon the older Kindles, the Paperwhite and Voyage readers.  So will show that later today and/or tomorrow with some screen shots.

  In the meantime, included with this post are shortcuts for Prime Instant Video info and the less easy to find Prime Music pages that are very useful for the Echo.

  With the Echo, you've a lot more to work with if you join (for free) iHeart Radio and Pandora, which now both work well with Echo.  Echo users use these sites by identifying them and your free accounts in the Echo app's Settings/Music after joining those two music sites. Both are free for the basic service.

  Until then I say, 'Alexa, play [artist] from Prime Music' if wanting to hear something I don't already have.
  If you're a Prime shipping member, the Prime music songs are free, and there are well over a million involved.
  From your own playlists, you can just say, 'Alexa, play playlist [playlist-name]'

Will have somewhat more interesting things in the follow-up Echo report - these are just what some are asking about on the first day of use.

At any rate, here are some Prime feature shortcuts for finding what you want in connection with accessing them on  Fire TV, tablets, or the Amazon Echo.

Prine Instant-eligible Video: Movies and TV
1. http://amzn.to/primeinstantvideo3 (by category)
2. http://amzn.to/primeinstantvideo
    (Listing of ~18,000 Prime Instant-eligible videos
      You can narrow these down by using the search box at the top of the page. )
3. http://bit.ly/instantvideowebplayersetting
    (Settings to use for instant video web player -- for tablets use, 'flash' instead if 'silverlight'

Prime Music for streaming from your library at no added cost/
1. http://bit.ly/primemusicpage (by category
    (Free Prime music by categories. You can just add these to your library
    On tablets and on Fire TV many songs have scrolling lyrics w/ current line highlighted
2. http://bit.ly/primemusic-amazon (help page)
3. http://bit.ly/primemusic-who
    (Who and what's included in Prime music (artists and albums, as of 6/12/14)


Importing Music from iTunes or Windows Media Player to your Amazon Library
  (source: Amazon help pages)

  To import your music:
Go to your Music Library from a web browser on the computer you want to import music from.
Click Upload your music in the left menu,
  If prompted to install the Amazon Music Importer, follow the on-screen instructions.
Once you've opened or installed the Amazon Music Importer,
  click Start Scan to automatically scan your iTunes and Windows Media Player libraries for songs to import.
  You can also click-Browse manually to choose files on your computer to find music.
    This process may take some time to complete.
After the Amazon Music Importer has located your music,
  click Import all to add the entire selection to your music library.
    OR, click Select Music to choose which songs you'd like to add."

  However, what is free and what isn't when importing music?
  Amazon limits free uploads to 250 songs.
  Anything bought from Amazon does not count against the 250 songs limit.
    The alternative they have is to pay $25/yr to be able to import up to 250,000 songs...



Saturday's Kindle Daily Deal - today only (May 23, 2015 only)

Sending this mid-day for people who didn't check the Kindle Daily deal today, which is good for only one day (or remaining night for east coasters, at the time I write this).

This consists of not the usual one book but 45 books, some of which are priced considerably higher usually.  For instance, I never got Amy Tan's latest book, but at $1.99 I will probably click on that today.

---

  For daily free ebooks, check the following links:

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics USA: by:    Publication Date      Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular The Kindle Daily Deal What is 3G? and "WiFi"?       Battery Care Highly-rated under $1,  Newest: $1-$2, $2-$3

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle Keyboard(U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad 1.1,   99c Calculator,   99c Calendar,   99c Converter

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button


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News scraps and Kindle tips: Kindle Convert software ... New features for Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick + availability in the UK and Germany ... Echo's new social network features and its If This Then That 'recipe' capability ... May's free contemporary Kindle books

AMAZON'S RECENT ACTIVITIES + SOME TIPS

The big news this week is what's happening with Amazon's Echo

But first, a couple of things that have happened with Amazon products in the last couple of months that weren't reported here yet + the regular beginning-of-month searchable links for free contemporary (non-classic) Kindle books:

May's free Kindle books (contemporary or non-classics)
    April 2015  May 2015.
    Also, all currently free non-classics sorted by:
    Publication Date   Bestselling    High ratings

  As ever, there are only a few shown on the first few days of any month, and these include pre-orders due that month -- most of these are listed as "free preview" of whatever chapters chosen, some are short stories, and a few (overnight) not-entirely-family-safe titles may show up.  Since this is May 3, the listing will not include more already available, full books.


Kindle Convert - new software
Amazon announced back in February -- in a Kindle Community Forum post -- new software that, for PC owners, will help you convert print books and printed personal documents into Kindle files that can be read on your Kindles.  The forum link just above is to a description of what the software, Kindle Convert can do.  The first paragraph:

' ... a new software application that allows you to convert scans of your most treasured personal books, documents and keepsakes into high quality Kindle books so you can digitally safeguard and enjoy them forever. Kindle Convert preserves all the things that make your books and documents unique, such as hand-written notes, autographs, photos and images, so you can maintain the look and feel of your printed books. '

The forum post explains more.
I didn't blog on this because initial reports and reviews cited difficulty of the process involved in doing this, and I felt later updates may improve the process.

  But I'm mentioning it here because there were a number of reports that "pdf files" did not convert well after all the effort.
  However, the software focus is on valued printed books and documents that you want to be able to read and keep on the Kindle.

  We already have an easy way to get PDFs converted to Kindle book format.  Amazon's own "Send to Kindle" programs works for documents from a web browser, an Android tablet, your desktop, and most of all, from your email.

  We all have Kindle email-addresses assigned to our Kindle devices.  It's in the format [you]@kindle.com and can be found at the Manage your Devices and Content page (formerly called "Manage-your-Kindle" page).

  There, under the image of each of your devices, you'll see the email address for your devices.  You can edit your device's email address name there to something that's easier to remember than the automatically assigned email address.

  Only you can send documents or books to that email address (which wind up in your Cloud area) so that no spam can invade your Kindle or Android tablet (my Windows phone doesn't get one of these addresses) and you can designate those whose email addresses can send docs to your Kindle (if, for example, doing a subscription not available from Amazon Kindle store).

  VIA EMAIL to your [you@kindle.com] Kindlebook-reading email address, you can send any personal text file or *.mobi book file (often an eBook in .mobi format acquired from a non-Amazon source) to your Cloud, to read in Kindle format, with annotations posible.

  Amazon converts these emailed documents for your Kindlebook-reading device.
  If you send a PDF to an email address for an e-Ink reader, it will arrive as a readable PDF on the Kindle and if you put the word "convert" in the Subject field of the email, Amazon will automatically convert the PDF to a searchable Kindle book format but the PDF's special layout of tables or charts and columns will be different.

  For a novel for and one-column docs, this usually won't matter and is free although the older Kindle Keyboard devices with only 3G wireless used will see a 15c fee for a novel-sized file.  It's cost-free for WiFi readers otherwise.

PDFs are easily readable on tablets via a number of PDF-reader apps.  Scanning print books to PDFs yourself can be an arduous task but likely worthwhile for very valued print books you want to have in eBook format.


Bew Features for Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick
In late March, Amazon announced the following new features for Fire TV and Fire TV Stick

' Amazon Fire TV adds expandable USB storage and private, wireless listening with Bluetooth headphones

Watch on the go—Fire TV and Fire TV Stick now support captive portal so you can connect to Wi-Fi at a hotel or dorm room that requires web authentication

Fire TV Stick now available in the UK and Germany — Amazon Fire TV already the #1 streaming media box on Amazon in the UK and Germany '

For now, I'll just link you to the Businesswire announcement for the details on all this.


NEW ECHO FEATURES announced this week
The Verge's Josh Lowensohn reported that the Amazon Echo, usually called 'Alexa' by its owners, will now work with Twitter, Gmail, and Evernote plus a few others, thanks to the newly installed feature of "If This, Then That" ("ITTT")

  Lowensohn mentions the recent updates already reported here, "things like Pandora, traffic reports, sports scores, and support for Belkin's WeMo and Phillips's Hue products" and describes the new features' capabilities:

' ... the IFTTT 'recipes' for Alexa let you send your shopping and to-do lists out to third-party services like Google Drive, Evernote, and Todoist

... There are 54 combinations in total.  Enabling them requires signing up for IFTTT, then linking it up with your Amazon account. You also need to go through the motions of activating the various third-party app channels, and approving your accounts there so IFTTT can link everything up behind the scenes. Some of the really good examples so far are:

. Adding your Echo shopping list items to Evernote
. Sending someone a short email with your voice
. Sending someone an SMS with your voice
. Adding Echo shopping list items to the iOS Reminders app
. Adding Alexa to-dos to Microsoft's OneNote '

See the Verge's full article for illustrations and more details.

---

  For daily free ebooks, check the following links:

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics USA: by:    Publication Date      Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular The Kindle Daily Deal What is 3G? and "WiFi"?       Battery Care Highly-rated under $1,  Newest: $1-$2, $2-$3

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle Keyboard(U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad 1.1,   99c Calculator,   99c Calendar,   99c Converter

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button


Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Alerts: Today's Free App of the Day is a good one - Elements of Photography Pro, usually $3.50. Sale pricing on Fire TV and Fire HDX 7" tablet, as well as on a FireTV-tablet bundle

Alert to a very good free App of the Day for Android and all Kindle Fire tablets

It's Elements of Photography Pro by Arkenstone Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and, so far, has 25 reviews with an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 (edited to add that a new app user just low-graded it because he thought it was a camera he could use).

  This app also has integrated Google Translate and is available in 14 languages.]


At the right is a sample lesson screen from the app.

At any rate, it should be useful to anyone wanting to understand how to use combinations of settings for any given photo situation.   Included are tips and a quiz section.


Updated the Free Books search links
(Non-Classics/Contemporary) available for November, with October also accessible.
    October 2014  November 2014.
    Also, all currently free non-classics sorted by:
    Publication Date   Bestselling    High ratings

Quick alert for limited-time pricing on a couple of tablet and streaming tv options
Amazon is starting its limited time pricing deals as they approach Black Friday, and online stores seem to be starting earlier every year.

Unfortunately, Amazon is now showing only starting prices for tablet products and asking customers to choose added storage and/or Wireless options (WiFi or WiFi+3G) after adding to the cart.  However, it's a little less confusing than it was when they had the 'hover' chart of different pricing based on storage and connectivity options.

The Kindle Fire HDX 7" tablet, recently given a regular price of $199 (down from $229), to start, is being sold for a limited time at $179 to start.
  And the Fire TV is available currently at a discounted price of $84 (down from $99).  There's no indication of expiration date for the sale, but this sold for a few days recently for that price and then was raised to 4.99

  They are also drawing attention on the tablet product pages to a current bundled pricing for the FireTV with a Kindle Fire HDX 7" tablet with 16 GB of storage space.  There is NO option to add storage to this tablet when bundled with Fire TV.  I'm personally more comfortable with 32 GB of storage, but Amazon pushes its Cloud storage for apps you use less frequently and these are downloadable at any time.

  At $259 for both, this allows the FireTV to have tablet content "mirrored" to your HDTV or even "flung" to it so that an Instant Prime movie starting on the tablet can be shown on just the HDTV, freeing up the tablet to be used for other things.
  That means that a few people can enjoy the video on the TV, with the Amazon Cloud processing the stream and freeing up the tablet's processor.  This includes being able to use the feature of checking who's in the current scene being watched, seen via Amazon's X-Ray feature available when viewing Amazon Instant Video -- but the tablet can be used for books, games, and other apps, while the video is shown on the TV.

That's it for now, as I have to be gone until tomorrow, but I wanted to send the alerts out to anyone who might be interested in them.

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button


Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

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Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Amazon App for Android Phone finally gets Prime Instant Video Viewing. Fire TV (for viewing videos on TV) expanding to the UK and Germany.

Note that this app is optimized for the Android phone (different dimensions from tablets), which when run will install the Amazon Prime Instant Video viewer the first time you choose a video. The video viewer will then always run from inside the Amazon for Android app.

  The Android app's product page has an alternate title of "Amazon App or Android," which probably means the version specifically for Android tablets could be coming later.

Those currently trying to use this on Android tablets with the older Android app for tablets will tend to find this doesn't work and will need to use the Amazon App for Android Phone (quietly released August 28) that supports the Prime Instant Video viewing.  For some tablets, the phone-focused app works.

. Reports from users are that it works well on Nexus 5 and 7 (and Cast Screen to the TV works with Prime); and Galaxy s5 at high resolution.  These are from early reports I viewed.

. Devices reported by users to have problems with the app currently:
  Some Galaxy Tab 3 phones, Galaxy S4, HTC One M8, Galaxy Note 2014, LG G3

    (Until the problems on some devices are resolved, you can always use
      the old workaround while making sure that you use the Amazon setting recommended
    and linked to in that article -- 'Flash' rather than 'Silverlight.
    This recommendation is mainly for the workaround.)

A main source of discontent (already) is that the app does not support Google's Chromecast device (to send video to the TV).
  Any who are eager to get it working on their TV in the meantime are able, however, to get the Amazon Fire TV box, for $99, which is both faster and much more capable, performance-wise, and has far more features.  You can view the Prime Instant video on the TV and run it from the Cloud, freeing up your phone or tablet for other activity.  You can also do simple mirroring, without lag.

  Fire TV is UK and Germany bound
    The box is expanding to the UK and Germany, shipping Oct. 23 in the UK and Jan. 1, 2015.

  Some articles on the Fire Tv:
* "The Set-Top Box That'll Read Your Mind" - Huffington Post, UK
* "...possibly the best single set-top box available ..."
* "I bought the Amazon Fire TV, and I love it which ends with a link to the full, more balanced review.  The Voice search is getting some cooperation, by the way, from both Netflix (down the line) and from Hulu already.
*   Recent improvements for Prime Instant Video on Fire TV.

I like the Chromecast for its portability, but I think the FireTV is a natural for those (especially families) who want to watch Prime Instant videos on their TV's with no-fuss and no lag.


BACK to the Amazon App for Android Phone and its Prime Instant Video viewer

---

From today's press release

Title: Prime Instant Video Now Available on Android Phones -- Exclusively Via the Amazon Appstore

Date(s): 9-Sep-2014 9:00 AM

Prime members can now enjoy unlimited streaming of tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes on their Android phones, including HBO shows such as The Sopranos, True Blood and The Wire, as well as popular series like Downton Abbey, Under the Dome, 24, Extant, and Suits, and the Amazon Original series Alpha House--and for kids, exclusive subscription streaming access to SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Team Umizoomi, and Amazon Original shows for kids, Tumble Leaf, Creative Galaxy and Annedroids

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep. 9, 2014-- (NASDAQ:AMZN) -- Amazon today announced that Prime members in the US, UK and Germany can now enjoy Prime Instant Video on their Android phones. The latest update of the Amazon App for Android combines the fast and easy mobile shopping experience customers have come to know and love with access to unlimited streaming of tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes from Prime Instant Video. After updating their existing Amazon App for Android, customers wishing to stream Prime Instant Video movies and TV episodes can install the Prime Instant Video player app, which is delivered exclusively via the Amazon Appstore. Prime members can enjoy popular HBO series like The Sopranos, True Blood, and The Wire, as well as favorites like Downton Abbey, Under the Dome, and 24, on their Android phones at no additional cost to their membership. Eligible customers who are not already Prime members can sign up for a 30-day free trial to start receiving all of the benefits of Prime using the updated Amazon App for Android. Customers who don't yet have the Amazon App for Android can get the latest version at amazon.com/androidapp.

The new Amazon App for Android phones provides an award-winning mobile shopping experience on hundreds of millions of physical goods and now enables customers to discover and purchase all of Amazon's digital catalog.

The new Amazon App for Android includes:

Hundreds of millions of items for purchase, along with Customer Reviews, 1-Click purchase and access to account and delivery information
Tens of thousands of movies and TV shows available for unlimited streaming for Prime members, including favorite HBO shows such as The Sopranos, True Blood, Boardwalk Empire, Six Feet Under and The Wire, and Amazon Original series like Alpha House, Tumble Leaf, Creative Galaxy and Annedroids
More than 200,000 movies and TV episodes to rent or buy
Over 30 million songs
More than two million Kindle books, along with over 150,000 audiobooks and more than 600,000 exclusive books that customers won't find anywhere else
5GB of free photo back-up with Amazon Cloud Drive
"Tens of millions of our customers have installed the Amazon app on their Android phones in order to enjoy the ease and convenience of shopping Amazon on the go," said Paul Cousineau, Director of Mobile Shopping. "Now, the latest Amazon App for Android combines that award-winning mobile shopping experience with access to Amazon's digital products and services, including unlimited streaming of tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes at no additional cost for Prime members. At Amazon, we are always innovating on behalf of our customers and we look forward to receiving their feedback on this enhanced shopping experience."

Customers can visit amazon.com/androidapp for more information about the new Amazon App for Android.

Prime Instant Video Exclusives

Prime Instant Video is the exclusive online-only subscription home for a large and constantly-expanding selection of hit series, making it the go-to destination for Prime members who want to stay up to date on their favorite shows. Popular choices include HBO classics The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Rome and Six Feet Under, recent HBO favorites Eastbound & Down, Enlightened and Flight of the Conchords, and select seasons of current HBO series True Blood, Boardwalk Empire and Treme. Other hit TV show exclusives include PBS series Downton Abbey and Mr. Selfridge, FX dramas The Americans and Justified, as well as 24, Orphan Black, Falling Skies, Hannibal, Grimm, Workaholics, Suits, Covert Affairs, Teen Wolf, Veronica Mars, CBS summer blockbuster series Under the Dome and now, Extant. Prime Instant Video also offers an exclusive collection of kids shows from Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. that customers won't find on any other online-only subscription service, including favorites like SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Team Umizoomi, Blue's Clues, and The Bubble Guppies. Airing now, Amazon's first original series Alpha House and Betas and first original kids series Tumble Leaf can be found exclusively on Prime Instant Video as well.

Customers can enjoy Prime Instant Videos on hundreds of compatible Amazon Instant Video devices, including Amazon Fire TV, Fire phone, Kindle Fire HDX, Kindle Fire HD, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Roku, Xbox, PlayStation and the Wii. Prime Instant Video is the only U.S. online subscription streaming service that enables offline viewing--on a plane, on vacation, and anywhere else where you may not have Wi-Fi. Customers can download tens of thousands of Prime Instant Video titles to their new Kindle Fire HD or Kindle Fire HDX.

About Amazon Instant Video

Amazon Instant Video is a digital video streaming and download service that offers Amazon customers the ability to rent, purchase or subscribe to a huge catalog of videos. Customers can choose from more than 200,000 titles to purchase or rent--movies range from new releases to classic favorites, and Amazon Instant Video offers major television shows, entire seasons, or even day after air TV. Prime Instant Video is Amazon's video subscription offer--it includes tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes selected from the full assortment available at Amazon Instant Video.

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Fire TV and Prime Shipping Tips: The Fire TV app selection has more than doubled, challenging Apple TV's, and Prime Instant-Video-ONLY categories have been expanded ... Amazon expands Same Day Delivery to more U.S. cities ... Amazon also offers a SLOWER shipping option to Prime members in return for a $1 Instant video credit.

Amazon's Fire TV's appstore has quickly become competitive with Apple's Apple TV offerings.

The Motley Fool, an investing site, reports today that "Amazon Fire TV Just Leveled the Playing Field With Apple TV."

  The article by Steve Symington draws our attention to Amazon's announcement that

' ... the Fire TV app selection has more than doubled, with "hundreds" of new services and games added since the media streaming device was launched in April.  Among Fire TV's new games are Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Dungeon Quest, Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse, and the official Flappy Birds Family -- the last of which is currently a Fire TV exclusive.  Meanwhile, new services include WATCH Disney Channel, WATCH Disney Jr., MLB.TV, Animal Planet Live, and WWE Network.

If that wasn't enough, Amazon promised more significant Fire TV services to come by the end of the year, including WATCH ABC, WATCH ABC Family, NFL Now, A&E, Lifetime, Outside TV, Young Hollywood, North Face TV, Fashion TV, Green TV, and Dailymotion. '

The Apple TV box has been reviewed as slower than the Fire TV, with much less memory, and with less advanced gaming capability (although the Fire TV is not going to be the equal of an actual $300-400 gaming console).  Curiously, Symington writes that an Apple TV advantage is its full-screen mirroring functionality.  But not only does Fire TV have that (and it's very smooth, with no delays), the Fire TV also has "Fling" a feature that allows you to use your Kindle Fire HDX or HD2 or Fire Phone to send a video to the TV where it will be streamed via Amazon's Cloud and not take up processing power while you can continue to do other work on the tablet or phone AND get X-Ray'd info on who is in a scene you're watching with Amazon Prime videos.

Tips from other customers
You can browse the customer reviews for tips on how to minimize your Cable bill by using the Fire TV offerings.
 There's a search box in the customer reviews area that lets you search the customer reviews for words like "cable" etc.

Voice Search - Does it work for more than Amazon's videos?
Hulu Plus's is now included in the voice search, for the most part (they're building the database, and most of it is working).
  Netflix will be integrated with voice search control later.  From a recent Amazon press release, a quote from CEO Jeff Bezos:

'... innovative features like unified voice search, which we’re delighted is being adopted by so many new partners, including Netflix, HBO Go, Hulu Plus, Crackle and Showtime Anytime... '

  Anyone doing keypad searches knows how arduous searches can be.

Finding Amazon Prime Instant Videos Only
Searching for only Prime Instant Video -- This has not been possible but customers have of course been keen to have this capability, and Amazon has said, earlier, that they are working on making Prime Instant Videos easier to find on the Fire TV.

  As of mid-July, Amazon added more Prime-Instant Only browsing categories.  One customer review mentioned it's not a Search, but it's much more helpful than it was. (Note that Apple TV does not get Prime Instant videos.)

  On July 30, Amazon explained the new features in a reply to a customer review:

' The Amazon team says                           July 30, 2014

. . . We wanted to let you know that we made it easier to find your favorite Prime content with the click of your remote.   You can now browse many more Prime-only categories, including
  Top Prime TV,
  Top Prime Movies,
  Prime TV for Kids,
  Prime Movies for Kids,
  Prime TV by Genre, and
  Prime Movies by Genre. '

They don't mention a coming Voice Search that searches specifically for Prime Instant videos, and even then it would take forever to show results that included large segments of the 40,000 or so that are available for a search-results page.  The Genre category should be very useful, as long as Amazon doesn't limit greatly the number of videos that will come up.  You can of course search for a specific movie to see whether it carries a charge for Prime members or is included at no added cost.

HOWEVER, there's another way to view what is available for Prime members at no added cost:
  You can use your laptop, desktop, or even tablet, to go to the Prime-Only pages, by categories and genres or by a listing that's sortable, with details.

Generally, it would be faster to go through these on a computing device when so many items are involved.
  I've read that due to various Agreements that are for varying terms, a video can go in and out of 'Free' category, so that may be an additional reason to have fixed categories that include only Prime Instant Video content.

  Some are also just putting Prime videos onto their "Watch" lists and these will show up on that list on the Fire TV.

If you're new to checking out Fire TV, see earlier blog articles for much more detail on the features and how to use them:
1. Intro to Features of the new Fire TV - April 2, 2014
2. Tips from further exploration of my Fire TV - April 8, 2014
3. The amazing Frequency app - April 14, 2014.


Amazon expands Same Day Delivery to more cities
Press release details are cited in a story by Forbes's Jeremy Greenfield, who reports:

' Amazon has launched Same Day Delivery in six more major cities, making goods from baby supplies to textbooks available almost immediately for millions more shoppers.

The program, which initially launched in Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco and Seattle is now also available in Baltimore, Dallas, Indianapolis, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
  For an additional charge of $5.99, Amazon Prime customers can have as many items as they want delivered to their doors on the same day they’re ordered.  Not all Amazon items are available for delivery same day and orders must be placed before noon.
. . .
It’s unclear from the Amazon release whether trade books — that is, books widely read by the general public like fiction, nonfiction, illustrated books, etc. — are included in the new program.  The release specifically mentioned textbooks, however: “Fill-up the back pack with things like pencils, glue, text books, lunch boxes and other supplies.”

Amazon has not yet replied to a request for comment. '

From the press release:

' ... Prime members pay only $5.99 for all the same-day delivery items they can order.
Pricing for non-Prime customers remains unchanged, with a $9.98 fee for the first item and $0.99 for each additional item. '

"Metro" areas:
I live across the bay from San Francisco but "the East Bay' (which includes Berkeley) is not considered part of the "metro" area of San Francisco, so it's not available where I am.  It's really rare that I ever need something in one day.  And I just received one item in 1 business day though it was estimated to take the usual two days.

  To view Same-Day eligible ZIP codes in select cities and see if your area is eligible:
    * East Coast & Midwest Cities
    * West Coast & Southwest Cities


In the meantime!
Amazon is encouraging Prime customers to opt for slower shipping if the item isn't needed in two days.
Cnet's Lance Whitney writes that Amazon is offering Prime members a $1 credit toward an Instant Video rental (usually costing $1.99 to $2.99) if they choose free "no rush" shipping.

It seems the expense of offering Prime benefits is having an impact on its bottom line, and this is one way to lower the costs for Amazon without having to raise the cost of Prime features any further.

  And it makes sense too.  Some commenters on news sites are saying that they can use their Prime to buy 3 separate items which will be delivered in slow motion :-) and get $3 toward video credits that way.  So far, it's being allowed.  Apparently some noticed that this option began to appear about 8 days ago.


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Kindle Fire tablet and Fire TV sale - special combo price is was $79 off. The last Fire TV with tablet bundling combo lasted for one day, but this one is noted as a Father's Day deal, (Updated May 16]

New banner appearing today on an Amazon Kindle Fire page  Here's the text:

Father's Day Deals: Up to $40 Off Kindle Fire tablets

or $79 Off Amazon Fire TV with Kindle Fire HDX 7" 16GB Bundle $328 $249.  Limit 1 per customer.

UPDATE: After Father's day (May 15), the price of the combo Fire TV and 16G Kindle Fire HD 7" tablet is $30 higher than the pre-Father's day sale.  It's $279 rather than $249 as of May 16.

  The Kindle Fire tablets' sale prices are also ended, returnedback up to the regular pricing.


[The rest below is from the original blog article for the sale as of that day.]

---

The first deal is for tablets alone and it starts with the 7" HD model and includes the 8.9" HDX.
  Prices shown are for models with 'special offers' on the lockscreen and represent models with increasing storage capacity:
  * New Kindle Fire HD 7" 2nd Gen - $139/169  $119/$129 [See "NOTE" below)
  * Kindle Fire HDX 7" - $229/269/309  $199/239/279   (More w/ 4G-LTE cellular network access)
  * Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" - $379/420/479  $339/389/439   (More w/ 4G-LTE cellular network access)
  * Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 1st Gen (Yr 2012) - $269/229  $229/229 (No sale on 32GB model)

  NOTE: The lower-cost HD 7" 2nd Gen tablet shows an 8GB option. DO NOT CHOOSE THAT - especially with only a $10 difference in pricing during the sale.  8 GB is just not enough.  You'd be swapping out apps all the time to get space since that 8GB includes system files with barely 5 GB for apps, videos and books.


  The Kindle Fire family header showing today



  Blog articles with detail on the tablets
    KINDLE FIRE HDX/HD Tips:
      Overview of New Features
      More tips: Things to know
      More info: From later reviews


The second deal is for the new Fire TV bundle that includes the 16GB Kindle Fire HDX 7" tablet
Note that this is a $79 savings that involves a $99 FireTv.

Amazon's Fire TV was released in April and is described by Amazon as a "Streaming 1080p media player with voice search, Netflix, [Hulu Plus also], Amazon Prime Instant Video, games, and more."
  The Fire TV ALONE (not bundled with a tablet) is described in detail on its normal solo product page, but the bundled or combo deal is on its own page and is being called a deal, so the 'bundled' page may not always be available.

  You can use any current (Year 2013) Kindle Fire tablet to 'mirror' onto your HDTV (to share with others or just to see it on a large HDTV) anything that's on your tablet screen, whether a movie, tv episode, the web, email, or an app.  And, it can be used to "fling" an Amazon Instant Video to the HDTV where it is run via Amazon's Cloud, freeing up your tablet so you can do other things with it -- whether web browsing or using it to use the X-Ray features with the video being shown to see (without interrupting the TV picture) who is in the current scene, what the music is, lyrics for it, etc.  The display is beautiful, and Amazon built this with faster specs than found on the other streaming video boxes currently and added more capable game-playing capability as well, including multi-player, with the optional game controller(s).


  Blog articles with detail on Amazon's Fire TV
    FIRE TV
      Intro, Tips, More


When the bundled deal was offered briefly a week or so ago, there were complaints that people who put the deal in their carts found that the deal was gone before they could complete the purchase.  It IS a very good deal.

  ONE caveat: For the Kindle Fire tablets, I tend to recommend the 32GB model, as people tend to get more and more apps, and some are sophisticated games, which take a lot of storage space.
  Amazon is bundling only the 16GB model of the 7" HDX tablet, which means that those who are heavy app collectors or those who download a lot of videos onto the tablet will have to, from time to time, remove an app from the device, leaving it in their Cloud areas for download when needed and another app has been swapped out to the cloud if the Fire TV user has filled the space.

  But that's what the Cloud (Amazon's server space for our content) is for.  However people should be aware this bundling is done only with the 16 Gig tabletel and they'd need to watch current storage apace more.
TV

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

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Fire TV and Kindle Fire tips: The Frequency app for Fire TV. (Fire TV is out of stock until April 21.) Free Android App of Day: Petting Zoo (FIXED link to Petting Zoo and updated info.)

Today, the Amazon Fire TV is listed as out of stock until April 21.  For more basic info, see my first blog article on that as well as one that added workarounds for Kindle tablet owners.

 Here are two apps of possible interest.  One for the Fire TV and one for tablets.

FREQUENCY app for FireTV is the most useful non-subscription app I've enjoyed so far for the Fire TV.
And it's free.

Frequency has the usual trending video and top hits from sources all over, though my favorite is using its Facebook, Twitter, or other video-site connections to show me only what friends have been recommending and this way I'm less apt to miss ones I'm actually interested in and also view them on the large screen in good resolution when I have more time.

But the best thing with the Frequency app is the variety of sources with quality content.  News, music, entertainment, arts, health, cooking, sports, comedy, nature, wildlife, science, and even short, somewhat popular clips from HBO.  After you've chosen what you like, these are all that are shown you except for Trending and top hits (which I tried to remove but can't).  I also could't remove individual video recommendations shown me.
  The guide gives you genres, categories and then specific channels.

From Amazon's page:

Product Features

• All the Best Videos -- from top news and entertainment sources
• The Most Channels -- choose from 1,000s of branded video channels across dozens of categories
• Current News & Events in Real-Time -- breaking news, people and topics that are happening right now
• Social Media Channels -- Watch all [NOT 'all'] the videos your friends are sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo & YouTube in a continuous-play stream
• Full Screen -- Go full screen at any time, in full 1080p HD (when available)

At any rate, it's a bit like video Flipboard.  They quote Mashable:
"Frequency’s interface is slick, and creating video channels from sites like Discovery Networks and The Wall Street Journal is a better deal than cable."


FireTV updates expected
Our music on the Cloud is due soon, it's said.

I've noticed some reviews that lament strongly that the added gaming capability, marketed as a bonus capability with only medium-gaming-level (above Roku, Apple, Ouya, however) is not as good as what you get for $400 with the dedicated consoles.  Note that I'm not commenting on this.

Checking for pricing
Amazon has rentable TV or movie material that may be currently free on Hulu Plus, so if you have Hulu Plus, be on the watch for that. With Netflix, Amazon's voice search doesn't work, finding only Amazon's usually but (increasingly) much of Hulu Plus's also.
  So you have to use Netflix's slow search separately (as I do with another streaming box).
  With Hulu Plus, the need to scroll along a row to get to these subscription-based videos that are at no added cost to Hulu Plus subscribers, can be awkward but it's definitely better than not letting us know they're there! And we get clickable access to them.

  I'd mentioned last week that I'd seen a few Hulu Plus entries pop up with the voice search, but it's quite a bit more as of today.  Amazon has told some that they are including most of Hulu Plus results in  the voice search and hope to include the others too. We'll see. I imagine there'll be incentives in both directions (3rd party's and Amazon's).  A work in progress.

  Again, if wanting to search for only free results, that's not possible at this point but I'll repeat a half-workaround:   It's easier, if wanting to see ONLY 'free' Prime videos,  to use your laptop, desktop, or even tablet, to go to the Prime-Only pages, by categories and genres or a listing, sortable, with details and then do a voice search on the Fire TV for one you want to see

  In the meantime, remember my having found search results that don't show "Watch now" (as a Prime member, for no added cost) unless you've added the video to your "Watchlist."  To make sure it's available on Prime, you have to go to "Other ways to watch" sub menu to see if it's Prime-eligible.  But the cover will usually have a Prime banner at the top left.

No time to organize the photo set mentioned yet (of mirroring and Fling'g things like Marvel Adventure), and of course this type of illustration is available on many sites now, but I still intend to put them up.  If not tonight, then after tax day. I have to be gone today too.

Personal video from a camera
Videos I've taken with cameras that we upload to youtube can be downloaded to our tablets in that format in a number of ways with several apps (Tubemate being the one I use most) and therefore easily playable on the FireTV when we search them on youtube or when we mirror them from current Kindle tablets to the HDTV.  On Youtube, you can make videos private and then usually find them by the URL only you're given, while logged in on FireTV or any tablet.

Your photos sent to Amazon's Cloud show really well via this box -- even when they're only 1024x768-pixel photos rather than 5000 pixels wide or more.

Free Android App of the Day - Zoo -- Petting Zoo
Mainly for children but apparently enjoyed by many adults for its creativity, Petting Zoo is normally $2.99 and gets high ratings and very favorable media reviews.  The drawings become animated when you touch them and the reactions seen are varied.

  Here is some 'Praise' that the appmaker cites:

* "Moms and dads will likely find that the app’s interface is not just fun
      for the kids, but also enjoyable for adults as well." — WIRED
* "Absolutely adorable" — USA TODAY
* "A Quirky and absolutely charming app" — CNET 5/5
* "Fizzing with character, craft, and humor" — THE GUARDIAN
* "An alligator’s teeth become guitar strings, an octopus’s arms serve as a mandolin.  It’s adorable, goofy, and immensely entertaining." — FASTCOMPANY
* "Possibly the loveliest app you'll download this week/month/year." — CREATIVEREVIEW
* “Four little thumbs-up in my household for this one.” — KOTTKE
* "Petting Zoo is one of those rare apps that brings out the kid in all of us." — MACLIFE

In the Credits we see:
. Concept + Animation: Christoph Niemann -- "...an author, cover artist for The New Yorker,
      and a columnist for The New York Times Magazine
. Developer: Jon Huang -- "...a graphics editor for the New York Times,
      an adjunct lecturer, and a beekeeper..."


  For daily free ebooks, check the following links:

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics USA: by:    Publication Date      Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular The Kindle Daily Deal What is 3G? and "WiFi"?       Battery Care Highly-rated under $1,  Newest: $1-$2, $2-$3

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources. USEFUL for your Kindle Keyboard (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad 1.1,   99c Calculator,   99c Calendar,   99c Converter

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A few thoughts while exploring the Amazon Fire TV - Revised Apr 12 and Aug 5, 2014

Just a status update, revised a bit April 12.

This is following my initial blog article on this, which highlighted the features.

This status update is to let you know I'd been exploring the new FireTV and reading others' experiences with it or questions they're asking, and organizing notes on how to do some of the many things it's capable of.

There are those who never got a Roku, Apple TV or Chromecast or even a Miracast adapter and want to know some basics;  others want to know more on the pros and cons than are seen in basic comparison charts, and then there is some curiosity about how mirroring and "Fling" technology works on this unit, which doesn't require a newer TV that includes those capabilities.

Currently, I'm somewhat addicted to using the unit (which will raise my electricity bill) because I'm into documentaries, and both Amazon and Hulu Plus have tons of those available, but it's the plethora of what is available in every genre in, for me, non-laggy ways and with great sound that's seductive for now.

The voice search works within 1 second for me and brings up a LOT, although this is usable only with Amazon Instant Videos as a rule while strangely reporting a Hulu Plus result now and then too, so maybe they're working on that.  The unit understood my spoken search words from the start (not an easy thing).]

  HBO Go is missing, but Amazon has told a couple of tech sites that they're working with HBO developers on that app.

  Workaround until then -- Since you can Mirror whatever is on your HDX and current HD tablet to an HDTV with a Miracast-capable unit, you can watch an HDX or current HD tablet's HBO Go app and mirror that content on a large HDTV via this FireTV unit.

   I tried the mirroring with the PBS Android app for tablets (which has great content on it), since there is no PBS-adults app specfically for the FireTV yet, which made the tablet app a good candidate for trying the mirroring feature.

  Amazon highlights the Smithsonian FireTV app on the new unit, and it has some, of course, educational full-episodes on it, with a lot of short clips for those wanting that.

  I tried Youtube for FireTV (it comes with the unit) and liked the video quality and sound but found it has the worst search function I've ever encountered.
  Vimeo is nice to have, but its search function is also ultra limited currently.

  My most recently viewed content always shows in the top row of athe Home page, which is similar to what we see with the Carousel on the tablets but without being outsized.
  Contrary to some reports, the top row showing most-recently viewed content includes videos seen via NON-Amazon apps as well.

  Here's Amazon's page of FireTV apps - specifically for the new unit.

  The remote control is well-made, small, and extremely comfortable for me, and economical in the use of buttons.  The batteries that came with it didn't function on the 2nd day although the batteries still had a full charge.  Odd.  New batteries I have did work though, with no problems on the 3rd day (today).

  The FireTV also makes "Fling" technology possible, which lets you send, from one of these tablets, an Amazon video to the TV so that it plays from the Cloud instead of from the tablet, freeing it so that you can use the tablet to just read about what you're seeing ('Xray' feature) or do normal tablet things on it while the movie or TV show displays on the HDTV for everyone in the room, with none of the buffering issues common to other ways of doing this.

  So, since HBO Go is available as an Android app on the current Kindle Fire HDX/HD tablets, you can mirror these (or anything you do on your tablet) to the HDTV via the FireTV box (which is smaller than I thought and I'll have pictures of it on top of my 10 yr old 34" reference Sony HDTV, which is a smaller TV than most HDTV owners today have and you'll see the size of the box with that).

I voice-searched "marlon brando" and got tons of his movies from the early 50s that I'd forgotten about and which are not available in streaming format on either Netflix or Hulu Plus.  Only a couple of them are free to stream, but the avg pricing to see one of these is between $1.99 - $2.99.
  As Prime users generally know, many of the Prime videos are downloadable these days too for the limited rental periods.
  Esoteric finds in some cases.  I even found a government film documenting Brando's testimony and that of several other film notables about a civil rights march, of all things.  I think super movie fans will like what's become instantly available in connection with favorite directors and actors.

  What is puzzling with Amazon's Prime is that some search results get you results that clearly show you that you can "Watch Now" because it's Prime at no added cost, while others return video info that doesn't mention it's Prime and available at no added costs, instead starting the info-display with standard rental cost and then you have to click on something like "Other ways to watch" which THEN mentions that it's an Amazon Prime Instant Video you can watch now if you're a 2-day Prime shipping member.

  Otherwise, on the ROWS of Prime videos that the FireTV highlights (a small subset of 40,000 said to be available) they have small diagonally-placed banners at the top left of the image to let you know it's Prime Instant video.

  It's easier, if wanting to see ONLY 'free' Prime videos,  to use your laptop, desktop, or even tablet, to go to the Prime-Only pages, by categories and genres or a listing, sortable, with details.

  Puzzle: These two pages mention a total of 17,000 Prime Instant videos rather than the 40,000 mentioned in the PR release.  That's because the 17,000 here refers to full series of tv shows as ONE video on the computer search, while the 40,000 videos count each episode as a separate video.

  But let's face it, they have 200,000+ videos, so at least 160,000 of them are items they hope will bring in some money as this is where their margins are to be made.  They produce tablets and now this new unit with higher quality hardware than available elsewhere and new capabilities for almost the same pricing, so the profit comes from sale of content.

  Older videos/films streamed tend to be $1.99-$2.99, and the newest ones are usually about $4.99, which does beat what my Comcast rentals are, and with Amazon's offerings, we can fast-forward (not so, the Comcast On-Demand ones, a limitation which drives me crazy).

  The relative power and speed of the unit, the abundance of good contentthe ability to do medium-level gaming, with an xbox-style game controller, parental control features, Amazon's information-filled X-ray features along with mirroring and 'Fling'ing are big pluses for me.

  I love being able to pause a movie to see info on the music in it (including how I might get it) as well as the now well-known "In-Scene" Xray features that show us who is in the current scene -- much better viewing this content on a large TV even if I enjoy viewing video on the 8.9" HDX tablet a lot (it's ultra clear and very smooth - at least when using cable TV rather than standard DSL).

  Again, with 'Fling' we can see info on a different device (Fling-enabled tablets) while watching the film full-screen on a TV without having to pause the video and place distracting info on the screen.
  It also frees the tablet for other uses while Amazon's Cloud runs the video displaying on the TV for more than one person to enjoy.

  Amazon MUSIC - Those who enjoy Amazon's streaming music from the Cloud, with lyrics for the songs provided for popular albums with publisher permission, will see this feature arriving for the FireTV soon too, they say.

  One thing not mentioned so far, this unit uses the most beautiful collection of screensavers I've ever seen -- photographed in beautiful light, the HDTV display of these images shows the quality of that light.  Now, if they would just add the XRay feature to those so I'd know where all of the photos were taken.  They even have Pitigliano in there.

---

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Amazon's FireTV is a reality, ready for pre-order, searchable by voice

Amazon announces the AMAZON FIRE TV

Fire Tv,Amazon's "tiny box" that you connect to your HDTV to easily enjoy "Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, low-cost movie rentals, and much more" (including WatchESPN) is even ready for delivery.  Didn't I just read that Amazon denied the rumors?

  The only surprise for me was that instead of the usual pre-ordering, it's available in one day to people who can't wait the usual Prime two days if ordered within ~4 hours from the time I'm typing this but I'm never in that much of a hurry for any product.  And 2-day Prime shipping (+ the program's InstantVideo + downloads and Kindle-book loans) is fast enough.

They offer an HDMI cable with it for $6 if you don't already have one.  If you don't, I'd get the one they are suggesting, as it's a decent price and they will have tested it together.  HDMI cables vary in effectiveness.

I'm editing to add that they have a separate page for "What's on" or available for the new Fire TV unit.

  They also suggest an Amazon Fire Game Controller for $40 currently (which needs batteries and those are suggested also, in their purchase box.  Their description of what you can do with this:

'...In addition to using the Fire TV remote and the Fire TV app available starting next month, you can also choose the Amazon Fire game controller, which enables more high-intensity and complex gaming with dual analog sticks and a complete assortment of controls. Simple and comfortable to use for hours, the Fire game controller pairs with Fire TV via Bluetooth.

The Fire game controller also intelligently manages power by automatically going to sleep when not in use, and waking at a touch of a button, so you get up to 55 hours of gaming on a pair of AA batteries. You can pair multiple game controllers with a Fire TV so the whole family can play together in the same room. ... The Fire game controller can also be used as a remote, with fast forward, rewind, play and pause, so you can control all your movies and music on Fire TV. The Fire game controller is available today for $39.99, and comes with a free copy of Sev Zero
[an Amazon's original game] and 1,000 Amazon Coins (a $10 value) for purchasing games.

They also have a page now for Fire TV apps: Apps for Android.

I'll just get this off by reproducing Amazon's wording, so people who've been interested can see what Amazon has to say about what they've actually done, and this one will be of interest to many.

   The VOICE-search is the thing that got my own interest, as I hate doing searches with the remote control, and I already have good experiences with the quality of Amazon's streaming of video and music. Here is what they're describing at their product page.  I'll add more detail later.

For $99:
The Features You Expect from Amazon

Amazon Fire TV is a tiny box you connect to your HDTV. It's the easiest way to enjoy Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, low-cost movie rentals, and much more

Your partner in Prime—The best way to enjoy unlimited access to over 40,000 Prime Instant Videos on your HDTV, including Amazon exclusives like Downton Abbey and Justified Massive selection—Over 200,000 TV episodes and movies, millions of songs, and over a hundred games Voice search that actually works—Simply say the name of what you want to watch and start enjoying in seconds. Tiny box, huge specs—Fast quad-core processor, 2 GB of memory, dedicated GPU, plus 1080p HD video and Dolby Digital Plus surround sound Easy to set up and use—Pre-registered to your Amazon account so you can enjoy favorite titles and personalized recommendations Instant streaming—Exclusive new feature ASAP predicts what movies and TV episodes you’ll want to watch and buffers them for playback before you hit play Perfect for parents—Amazon FreeTime lets you easily limit screen time and create personalized profiles just for kids (coming soon) Great for gaming, too—Play blockbuster titles like Minecraft-Pocket Edition,The Walking Dead, and Monsters University, plus free games and Amazon exclusives. Paid games start from just 99 cents

At the moment, I'm not sure how much will be on it right away but here's what Amazon says it will do:  This is a small preview of the comparison chart with Roku, Apple TV and Chromecast that you'll get a larger version of at Amazon if you click on "Show me" on the Fire TV product page.

So, for now, if interested, take a look for yourself, as there are too many details for one blog space, and I'm reading info from other sources that I'll add later today.


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