Earlier this week, DirecTV Now dropped support for the 1st generation Amazon Fire TV and the 1st generation Fire TV Stick. Several people have reported that the latest version of the DirecTV app works fine on these older devices if you sideload the app. You can use my Downloader app to sideload the app by entering the URL
The latest Fire TV software update seems to have a bug that causes apps, specifically sideloaded apps, to be grayed out and disabled on the Fire TV home screen. Trying to access a gray app results in the message “This app is not associated with your Amazon account” appearing. It’s unclear why this is happening, but it likely has to do with changes the changes made to the apps row that allows Amazon Channels to appear. Thankfully, if you run into this issue, the fix is very simple. Read more ›
Amazon is running a new promotion that gives Prime members 3 months of Kindle Unlimited for $1.99 total. At a regular price of $9.99 per month, this deal saves you $27.98. Kindle Unlimited is the all-you-can-read service that gives you access to over 1 million books. Also included is a selection of popular magazines and thousands of books with Audible narration. You can access the content through a Kindle e-reader, a Fire tablet, or any mobile device using the Kindle app. This promotion is only for new Kindle Unlimited subscribers.
Amazon has announced Alexa Blueprints, a dead simple way to customize Alexa’s responses to questions and make your own Alexa skills without any coding. Using an easy to follow online interface, you can make Alexa give personal answers to questions, play personalized games, guide speakers with specific instructions, and more. Read more ›
Amazon’s developer blog has noted that the new Fire TV Edition televisions set to launch this summer will indeed run Fire OS 6, the latest version of Amazon’s Fire TV operating system, which is currently only available on the 3rd generation Amazon Fire TV. This was probably to be expected, but it’s still good to see confirmation. A concern many smart TV buyers have is that the television hardware will outlast the manufacturer’s willingness to update its software. For this reason, it’s important for a smart TV to at least launch with the latest operating system version available to it. Launching with the latest version of Fire OS is an important indicator that the Amazon treats Fire TV Edition televisions as equal citizens in the Fire TV lineup.
A small but helpful update has been released to the official YouTube app for Amazon Fire TVs, Fire TV Sticks, and Fire TV Edition televisions. The app is still essentially just a bookmark that opens YouTube in either the Silk Browser or Firefox, thanks to Google wanting to hurt Amazon, but now the app remembers which browser you last selected and makes sure to highlight that same choice the next time you open the app. There is no option to skip the browser selection screen and always load a specific browser, but at least now you won’t have to pause to check that your preferred browser is highlighted when using the app to access YouTube. Those of you who want to skip having to select a browser each time should use my Bookmarker for YouTube app instead, because it was made specifically for that purpose.
Amazon currently has Baby Driver available to rent for $0.99. Other $0.99 rental deals also include Mother!, Into the Wild, The Monster Squad, Rules of Engagement, Changing Lanes, and many others. When renting a movie, you have 30 days to start watching it and 48 hours to complete it once you’ve started, so you can rent these now for cheap and enjoy them over the next few weeks. For those of you who prefer to purchase movies, Super Troopers is on sale for $4.99, as is Fair Game and 27 Dresses. Up In Smoke is on sale for $4.20 (hehe) and for $9.99 or less, you can buy Justice League, Pitch Perfect 3, John Wick 2, Interstellar, Deepwater Horizon, La La Land, and many others. Video deals like these are a great way to maximize your No-Rush shipping credit. You can check to see if you have digital credit to use toward movie purchases or rentals here.
When Best Buy and Amazon announced their partnership this morning to make and sell new Fire TV Edition televisions running Amazon’s Fire TV operation system, it was great news for Fire TV fans because it will bring new hardware options to the Fire TV line. It turns out that the multi-year deal between the two companies goes a bit deeper because, not only is Best Buy going to start making Fire TV Edition televisions under their Insignia brand, they’re also going to be dropping Roku TV televisions. Read more ›
The first bit of information about the next generation of Fire TV Edition televisions was announced this morning. Not much about the “more than 10” new TVs has been revealed, other than being made by Toshiba and Insignia, and that they’ll come in 4K and 1080p variants. The one high-resolution image of the first TV made by Toshiba being released does include a view of the remote which shows new buttons not found on the current Fire TV Edition televisions or any other Fire TV device. Read more ›
Amazon has announced that, in partnership with Best Buy, there will be at least 10 new Fire TV Edition televisions released this summer. The first phase of this multi-year partnership will include 4K and HD (1080p) models from Toshiba and Insignia. The TVs will be available to purchase in the United Sates in Best Buy stores, on Best Buy’s website, and on Amazon.com where Best Buy will be the third-party seller. Read more ›
