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..."


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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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