When asked about how AFTVnews started, I usually say that I stumbled into it. Five years ago, I was a software engineer who was in between jobs and I was trying to figure out my next steps in life. I purchased a new gadget called the Amazon Fire TV that had just been released and I started to tinker with it. With plenty of time on my hands and a desire to fill it, I started this website to share what I had learned about the Fire TV and to help other owners get the most out of their device. I have never considered myself a writer or a journalist, and I certainly never thought that I’d make a living doing either, but the website simply continued to grow day after day, month after month, and year after year. Before I knew it, I was running this website full-time and loving every minute of it, but I’ve always had a desire to return to working in the tech industry, instead of just writing about it. A rare opportunity has now been presented to combine my affection for Fire TVs with my desire to work on tech again, that I couldn’t pass up. I’ve accepted a position with Amazon Lab126 as a Product Manager on the Fire TV team.
Last year, I worked with Amazon as an analyst on Fire TV products to help identify and address any potential shortcomings of new devices. The Fire TV team leaders were very receptive to my feedback and eventually asked if I’d be interested in helping steer the direction of Fire TV devices much earlier in the development process. After meeting more of the Fire TV team and a few more discussions, I was offered a full-time position as a Fire TV Product Manager.
Since running a profitable website about a product that I would be directly involved with would be a clear conflict of interest, I am stepping away from AFTVnews. This will be my final post. I imagine hearing that is going to be disappointing to many of you, but I hope that you can understand and support my decision. I’ve spent the last five years writing thousands of articles covering every minute detail of the Fire TV, reading nearly all of your tens of thousands of comments, and responding to countless questions across emails, comments, forums, and social media. In that time I’ve learned just as much from you as you have from me and I know that you’ll accept this bittersweet news in stride. Thank you for supporting me with your patronage all these years and I hope that I’ve been able to return the favor in some way.
While I’ll no longer be helping you navigate the minutiae of Fire TV devices from the consumer side of things, I’ll be doing everything I can from the inside out to maintain the top level of quality that you expect from Fire TV devices and, hopefully, even make them better than ever. I don’t know what the future has in store for AFTVnews, but the plan is for the website to remain online but dormant for the time being. I encourage you to follow me on Twitter (@elias) and follow me on Instagram (@esaba), where I hope to continue to provide updates and information whenever I can.
Thank you all.
Sincerely,
Elias Saba
Update: Thank you, everyone, for the overwhelming flood of support in the comments below and across the web. There are too many of you to reply to individually, but know that I’ve read every one of your comments and that I’m blown away by all the support.
@AFTVnews
AFTVnews
Congratulations! And thanks for such a great blog while we were lucky to have you!
So happy for you, Elias! Thanks for all you’ve done!
Good Luck Elias!!
Sincerely wishing you all the best and every success!
Now who will pick up the gauntlet??
Congratulations Elias.
Congratulations bro please be very careful I don’t trust Amazon.! You know there are not too happy to see all the staff that was presented here so i hope they are not trying to have this website take down and latter fire you in the months or years ahead . I hope that’s not there plan but just in case as a Insurance you should keep this site up don’t close or lose the domain.!! Good luck to you God bless you
Congrats Elias!
Selfishly I’m sad to hear this news, but I’m sure I speak for all of us faithful readers/subscribers, that we are grateful for your contribution to AFTVNews.
Best wishes in your next chapter!
Congrats! You will be missed.
Congrats. Don’t forget the earlier followers when it comes to betas. LOL.
Best of luck
Here’s hoping they let you build the true successor to the 2nd gen Fire TV box. You know what the power users want.
Congratulations I learned a lot from you!!
Second this. Build a real Fire TV, not more gimmicky cubes and dongles.
And congratulations on your new position! Hope it works out for you.
Congratulations mate.
All the best.
Great story! You worked hard to achieve what you wanted and many can’t say that or have the drive to achieve it. Thanks for all the help you’ve provided through the years of being disconnected from cable. Good luck in your life’s next chapter.
I’d be happy to pickup where you left off and continue the updates and news.
Congrats and good luck! Please do your best to ensure a native (gigabit) ethernet port lives on in all future devices. Will the site remain in life-support mode, along with all of the guides available? Or will they be removed in the near future due to potential conflicts of interest?
Congrats!
Please fight for the common xdadevelopers man….congrats, bro
Congrats Elais! You will be missed. Good luck!
I wish you or someone would pick it up.
Thanks for all your hard work
Congrats!
Elias,
I am very happy for you but also sad to see you go. Your website became a go to for Fire ecosystem enthusiasts to stay on top of the news. At the same time it will be great to see someone who is obviously passionate about this technology to have influence on the future of Fire products.
I am really looking forward to the new products that will be coming out of Amazon now.
Good luck!
Congrats and can totally understand the decision, especially if you have a family to help support but also being on the inside.
Going to miss AFTV New, i’ve Been with it from the beginning, I as always thought the information and writing was top notch.
Congratulations buddy thanks I learned a lot from you!!
wow. In other words, Amazon decided to employ you over continuing the loss they’ve experienced from the exploits put out from your site. I just hope your price was high. Is there someone in mind to at least continue the site?
I find this very cynical, I too would like to find someone who could carry on, but you are basically calling Elias a sell out which I for one find offensive.
How about by working from the inside he is able to prevent disasters such as the FTV-3, FTV-cube. Returning to but improving FTV-2. I hope we find that the next product has 16-32GB ram. I literally just abandoned the FTV for the Nvidia shield. but like my FTV-2 much more except for the 8GB limit.
I agree with you. Loved my Fire TV2… Hated all that came after. Finally switched to Nvidia Shield… Though in my n car it was mostly the ui. It had become so ad heavyand user unfriendly, I wanted something I could customize to my heart’s content… And the Fire TV 2 was losing it’s ability to keep up power wise as well… Here’s hoping he can show them there is a desire for a power device and not just the cheapest device with gimmicks thrown in. I know he can do anything about the horribly ad heavy user unfriendly UI though…
Sure, there’s a bit of cynicism because he actually did sell out. Amazon is going to be about the bottom dollar at the end of the day. The majority of people that buy AFTV have no idea what they are lacking. The people in our column know the benefit that would come from hardware improvements. BUT we don’t makeup enough of the buying power to matter enough to go putting big money into these devices. Most of our column swapped to shields, but they cause WAY more than any AFTV and there’s really only 1 released 4 years ago with a refresh 2 years later available of the Shield to date. There are rumors of more in the future, but the timeline says it all because there aren’t enough sales to justify their investments. Amazon is no doubt going to see this too, and thus counter any attempt to the new guy influencing them to pour out more money for a device that sells good enough lacking. Amazon wins, because now they minimize the loss coming from this site that used to act as a check and balance to Amazon’s lacking.
Congrats Man!
That’s AWESOME!!! Thanks for all you have done and good luck :-)
Best wishes to you and your family for the future Elias-your site will be a fitting legacy to your talent whilst you go forward in your new venture
Conrats!
Can you work on getting them to get the gamepad working again on the new devices and also get Minecraft running on them? I’ve got my Fire TV 2 device for now, but would like to be able to use my 4K sticks with the gamepad/minecraft.
Thank you very much. I hope you can find someone who can take the mantel and help others as you have helped all of us.
Pip
Happy for you! Good luck
Elias, I am so very happy to hear of this amazing opportunity you’ve been presented with! Congrats on that, as I know Amazon has picked up an amazing resource in you.
I cannot help but selfishly feel a bit sad, as AFTVNews had become one of my favorite websites on a topic I loved. To say you’ve been the best resource on all things Fire TV would be putting it mildly. As I told you before, your information helped my family fully cut the cable cord and save untold amounts of money along the way. For that, I am truly grateful.
I wish you all the best in the new position! I look forward to seeing your personal touches on all things Fire TV in the future. Best of luck!
Congrats and all the best in your new role.
Since this is profitable venture why not sell the rights to someone else who wishes to continue in your role?
Sorry to see the website retiring as it’s proved to be an invaluable source of unbiased news for not just the Fire TV but Alexa in general. Best wishes in your new role.
Please bring us play store on Fire TV.
Oh and thank you. This site has been Awesome!
Hahahaha….
Thank you for all information about fire tv. It is very importante and necessary for us. Congratulation for the Job at Amazon.
Will miss easily getting all the great information you have provided!
Congratulations and good luck! You have been a big help to all us and OMG what perfect job for you to get back to the regular work force. It’s good know, also, we will have a man on the inside, who really gets what we want in fire TV devices.
Congrats. Awesome opportunity!
My Congratulations an wow what a new chapter to start. All your hard work is paying off. Wish an your family the very best. Going to miss you. Take Care.
Good for you buddy. I appreciate all of your time.
Congrats on the job and hope it works out for you. What about the downloader app? Will this still be updated in the future?
congratulations! I’ll miss this site, but very happy for you. take care
Congratulations!
Definitely, bitter sweet! Congratulations – much deserved opportunity and wish you all the best. Will definitely miss this site.
Congratulation! Later dude.
Sad to see you go, But you have to do what is best for you and your family’s future. I have also found myself checking this site daily for several years now
.
Please consider passing the torch somehow. There has to be someone out there that has our same passion and the technical experience to manage a website.
Oh noooo. I am just learning Fire Tv. Is there
Anywhere we can go to see all the old stuff and posts or will the site actually be disappearing? . Good for you, but sad for those of us following you.
Congratulations and best wishes Elias, Amazon is lucky to have you.
Sad to see you go, but happy to see you grow!
Thank you for all of the updates, the releases, the help, the guides, etc.
Elias,
As an early adopter to the AFTV , I have followed you for quite a while now. This site is definitely one of my top 5 favorite sites on the net. So much so that I only opened and used Patreon for it. Thank you for answering any questions I had and providing great information. Best of luck in the future.
Good job bro. I wish the best and thanks you for all the guides and other info you posted. Hard to believe its been 5 years, but it was a good 5 so enjoy your new found path.
Hey Elias!!! Congratulations big time!!! It’s always the best thing when a person can combine doing what they love/enjoy with an actual paying job that allows them to do that. And you’ve had the good fortune with AFTVNews and now your new Amazon gig to be able to combine those two things.
Gotta say… you’ve been a truly INVALUABLE resource to the Amazon Fire TV device community. For all these past years, you’ve done for all of us all the things that Amazon SHOULD have been doing to promote their ecosystem and devices among Fire TV enthusiasts.
I rarely rushed to read the emails/news I get from Amazon because they’re usually only trying to sell me something. But I ALWAYS rushed to read your updates, because they helped me make better use of my Amazon products (and in the process instilled brand loyalty). And they’ll be greatly missed.
Once you’re on the inside at Amazon, I’d hope you can talk to the powers that be about how much Fire TV and related device users rely on the kind of information and tips and how-to’s that you’ve provided thru the years. And try to convince them of the value of that being continued in some form, either from inside Amazon or from the outside via a possible future incarnation of AFTVNews or similar.
Again, best wishes and good luck in your new job. We’ll really miss you!!!!
Congratulations! Thank you for all your support here, and thank you for what you’ll help the FireTV to become in the future.
I would be remiss if I didn’t say you’ll be missed here.
Good luck in your future!!
Wow dude congrats
So happy for you. You’ve done a tremendous work. No doubt you’ll the same at Amazon.
Oooops… By the way, another thought comes rushing in….
What’s going to happen now with your various Fire TV-related apps — Downloader, Informer, Bookmarks? Especially Downloader is widely used in the Fire TV community (22,000+ reviews on Amazon), and it would be a shame if it and the others were left to languish…
Are you going to plan to maintain/update themselves even with your new job. Or, can an app developer such as yourself sell apps to Amazon, have the company commit to maintaining them, and then have them remain official apps in the Amazon app store?
Once again, another example of you having done stuff for Fire TV users that Amazon should have been doing all long, but didn’t.
Could you pass the website off to somebody else? It’d be a shame if the only real source on Amazon hardware died.
This is a really poor decision by Amazon. Not because you don’t know your stuff, you’ll obviously be a huge asset working for them directly, but because this is THE FireTV fan site on the internet.
It’s a poor decision by Amazon because this site probably won’t be replaced– there aren’t any dedicated AppleTV or Roku fan sites or blogs that I can find. The ShieldTV has one, but the lack of product releases let it lie fallow over the years.
Amazon may let you open a customer-facing blog, but it won’t have any info about sideloading or rooting. So that info will be dispersed into XDA posts and tweets and difficult to find. That’s a shame.
But hey, if you get Kodi back into the Amazon appstore all is forgiven, K?
Your April fool’s post came true.
Yep LOL I thought about that also.
Wow I will miss your insights. I must ask, I really think the ability to rearranging the horizontal groups on the home screen is a major weakness of the UI. I would love to see the order be…Recent, What’s On, advertisement, My Apps. That’s all, give me that and I will ceases my interest in Android TV. Ha!
Congratulations!!! That sounds like the dream job for you. I really enjoyed reading your articles on this site and your input. Good luck in your new job!
Congratulations, Elias!! Will you be continuing to update Downloader? All the best for the future.
Congrats.
First order of business should be a home screen redesign that doesn’t look like a bunch of random content vomited on the screen. :)
Elias,
I wish the best for you and your family. They really are getting a quality guy.
I’ve appreciated and read every single article, every single day since day one.
You will be missed.
Congrats Elias, wishing you the best. Bring back the Fire Phone at Lab126.
Congratulations Elias and best of luck! Bring us the next awesome Fire TV!!
congrats… ;)
Wow, I hope you enjoy the new job.
Wont be the same around here.
I’m always bad with these things, I mean the community.
Personally, this was always my go to for Amazon device news/rumours.
Sad to see you go. This was my go to site for all Fire information but I am happy that you are getting your dream job. Best of luck to you.
Also wanted to say that I probably ordered all my fire devices (and I have so many) from your links on this site during all the special deals. I just want to say a Big Thank you.
Congrats Elias!
If you could ask the group to look in to why the Miracast ability on the FireStick 4K struggles to deal with displaying video from apps that probably use HDCP like HBOGo and TiVo it would be much appreciated. :)
Congratulations! And thank you for all the great work on this blog!
Elias, Congrats on making your interests and hobby into paid work. Best wishes to you.
And, thanks so much for all the help you have given us, the community. It was all very much appreciated. You have a great future ahead, I’m sure.
Congrats and best of luck going forward. Now, go be the change!
Elias,
Congratulations! I was an early supporter both financially and fanatically. I understand and appreciate your decision. Oddly, I would have expected that Amazon might have bundled the site, or at very least offered to role it into your offer. I can’t get actual numbers on how many hits a day, but I do know that your posts move the needle on products during sale periods or invitations. Her is hoping someone will pick up the torch, or even Amazon will see the value in a skunkworks and open up the most popular site globally for Fire TV products. Again, I wish you well and thank you for letting us be part of your journey.
John
Congrats, good for you! Any news of when/if the site will need to come down? Will the downloader app remain in the app store? This site has been a great resource and helped me recover a 2nd gen fire tv that was boot loop bricked. Also, my go to site for installing kodi for each version I acquired. Definitely going to miss the news and updates.
Huge congrats! And huge hole will be left online for users because your site has become a go to. Thanks so much.
Wow, that’s fantastic! Congratulations Elias. A great opportunity for you. It’s quite bittersweet, as while I know most of your readers are happy for you, the discontinuing of AFTV News leaves a giant hole in our daily tech reading routine. Your site was always the very first site I visited each day to see what’s up. Always full of great information and tips. Man, I think it’s safe to say that we’re all gonna miss you very, very much. Thanks for the years of excellence, and much luck to you in the future.
Congrats and all the best elias! Thanks a lot to your contribution to this community
congrats. i’ll miss the great articles.
do you have a twin brother that can take over the site?
He does….he’s called James Hinchcliffe…but he’s kind tied up in Indycar :))
Be proud of what you accomplished and keep your head high. Congratulations on your next step in life, may it be a successful and a rewarding one.
I will miss your dedication to this community for all these years you have been running this show and I wish you all the best.
Congrats!!! Thank you for all of the useful information you provided us!!! Amazon is lucky to get you!!
So very happy decided for or agonist getting a gem!!
Congratulations and best wishes Elias. Everything you’ve done writing the guides for doing more with our firetvs has taught me a lot about this device. You’ve contributed to my interest into possibly going into a computer software programming career the next few years. We will dearly miss you guiding us on this FTV devices. Hopefully We can all still follow Rbox @ XDA for any future rooting updates.
And maybe you will still find the time to let us know the latest happenings from Amazon Fire TV a few times a year on instagram and twitter. Amazon is lucky to have you and we were all lucky to follow your posts all of of these years.
Hope you help Amazon make The Firetv a brand leader in the streaming entertainment business the next decade!!
You will be missed. Best of luck
Congratulations Elias. Without your site I would not have invested in the FireTV ecosystem like I have. Your articles will be missed! I’m sure your first task on the FireTV team will be enabling lossless streaming of Recast video ;-). Best of luck! (lossless music would be nice too… hint hint)
Wow! That’s amazing!! I’d say that’s the best one could hope for when doing an online blog…get offered a job from the company that you write about! That’s absolutely spectacular news. I’ve been with ya since Amazon asked you to change your domain name because of interest conflicts. I’ve always labeled myself as ‘Some One’ on here, waiting for that ‘forum’ experience. That being said….I’m jim16127 on 90% of the internet. It’s been a pleasure following you over these years. You’re site is the only one I visit daily aside from google. Your information WILL be missed. I wish you the best on your endeavors. Your family must be stoked too! I’ve watched your kid grow up through your updates. I almost feel as if I know you. Good luck Elias Saba. You’ve been amazing!
Congrats!
May you boldly go….
Congrats. Please suggest they implement some sort of “Find my remote” Alexa skill.
Thanks Elias, it was great while it lasted, make us proud at Amazon and congrats.
Please please please push them to open up the FireTV like the Shield. Give us root!
Congratulations Elias it seen like it was yesterday and i been with since the begining.
Congratulations and I wish you the best!
Congratulations Elias it seen like it was yesterday and i been with since the begining. I learned a lot from you!!
Congrats Elias! Don’t know where we will turn for the best Amazon news updates but I’m sure excited for you! You deserve this amazing opportunity!
Been a daily reader for years, thank you for sharing all of your work, your knowledge, this community you’ve built, and those glimpses into your wonderful family.
Congrats my friend, gonna miss you.
Elias,
I hope success with Amazon as you had with AFTVnews.
Just a reminder that the Amazon is unforgiving and impersonal with stress and deadlines that will seem impossible to achieve. Remember that we from the AFTVnews community will always be here to help and support all your endeavors.
Thank-you for 5 wonderful years.
Stay strong.
Focus on your family.
Congratulations! I’m so happy for you. You’re site and input will be missed.
Congrats. This has been my GO TO site for Fire TV for me. I will miss all the updates and fixes.
You worked hard for this, enjoy your success!
thanks and all the best!
Let me say Elias, it is with mixed feelings, that I while heartedly fully congratulate you, it is so so so funny how the world works and where our lives end up, I bet you NEVER thought you’d be working for Amazon a few years ago?
But you bought a gadget, tinkered with it, created a great little community here about it and you end up as an influential member of the gadget!
And you’ve started a family along the way too!
You fully deserve this for all your hard work you’ve carried out for us in this site.
I wish you all the absolute very best, and inly ask, please can you keep your downloaded app in the store? And any chance you can persuade the board that putting a powerful SOC in the Fire TV is beneficial? Lol..
I shall be looking forward to reading about your little gadget in the future.
Please excuse my typo’s :)
Good Luck.
You will be missed for sure! Congratulations and good luck! I hope you keep the site up as a resource. I frequently read old articles.
I agree. rooting guides & blocking auto updates on all the devices is invaluable. Hope we see plenty of next gen ftv boxes very similar to my favorites devices — the original ftv 1 & 2 box experiences–eg. faster cpus, better OS, ethernet, lossless audio and coaxial digital audio outs.
I’ll also miss those free amazon app deal announcements we all could jump on.
Elias! I am so happy for you, and sad for all of us. But now those of us who are fully immersed in the Amazon walled garden have a voice. You have done a great job for us with AFTVNews and I’m sure you can shepherd the FireTV product in the direction we will can appreciate. Good Luck!
Congrats, but I sure will miss this website. Thanks for everything.
Jeez!!! Congratulations! I wish you much success and happiness. You are doing the right thing. I now have no clue where I will get my Fire TV, and Amazon news from now on. Your site was invaluable, and I don’t know of anything that can replace this. You really did an excellent job and we all appreciate it. Best of luck to you and your family.
So long and thanks for all the news!
Thank you for your support and you will be greatly missed.
You were one of the originals, thanks for more solid info that I could find on all the other sites. Hope someone can carry on the torch. Family comes first and I think you have made the correct decision. Many thanks and many wishes for your families future.
Congratulations Elias, we will you and your site!! Hopefully you can find someone who can continue your work.
Well deserve it this new job.
Congratulations! I stumbled upon your site a few years ago and have always been impressed by how you ran it. Your technical aptitude was apparent, but you also had the communication skills to deliver quality reads coupled with a great work ethic that went beyond filling a niche. And you will be greatly missed! Best of luck with the new opportunity; you’ve earned it!
Congrats sir, I’ve been here with you since pretty much the beginning of your site. Good luck in your future endeavors.
Congrats! Can’t wait to see the future products you will have in store for us. You make all of us proud.
Your website, always informative and very cool. Your info always kept my fire tv stick fresh. Good luck and more good fortune to you.
Good for you Elias, I always knew that you were destined for something better.
Hey, AFTVNews community. I’ve read a lot of you mourning the loss of continuing news and updates, and I can’t argue there, but there are some other decent general STB communities that post how tos on sideloaded apps and streaming, such as Troypoint.com.
He has an excellent FireOS installer for sideloaded apps.
Congratulations!!! Elias and enjoy your new jorney!!!
Hope they respect your good work, best of luck.
Congratulations, I will miss having you on my daily read cycle. You always had a great scoop on amazon products and wouldn’t miss the details during a product announcement. Thanks for all you’ve done the tech blog community lost a great asset today. Hope to see some great achievements from you on the new projects at amazon.
This breaks my heart Elias. Whilst I am delighted for you, I don’t totally trust Amazon, but I am sure you have negotiated a water tight deal.
I do think that you could have found someone interested in continuing aftvnews, rather than just letting it go, but you would have been hard pressed to find someone as dedicated and knowledgable as yourself…..in which case putting the shutters up is probably the only option for now.
Thank you for everything……sharing knowledge, amazing reviews and saving us money.
You will be sorely missed and I wish you nothing but the best.
Aww, man… I saw this headline and thought “oh-oh, this can’t be good”. ;)
Almost five years ago I was about to take the plunge into cord cutting. I had put whatever the top Roku model was at the time in my cart and was about to seal the deal, but first something made me do one last search for reviews and info about my options because I needed this decision to work for the wife as well (or it wouldn’t last long). I don’t remember what led me to your site, but once there I learned that I could side load Kodi (was it still XBMC?) and root + add google play. I went back to Roku, deleted my cart, went to amazon and the rest was history. Since then I’ve come back almost daily reading your posts on how to’s, reviews, new features and apps, upcoming products, and deals, etc. I now have more fire tv devices than I have TVs to watch them on thanks to too many can’t miss deals!
Anyway, like everyone else is saying, congratulations and best wishes in this venture. You’ll do great thanks to your years of in depth experience with the products and close relationship with thousands of other end users. I do hope with your help Amazon listens to the users’ desires and puts out a new box that isn’t one step forward and two steps back like the last few generations have been.
Take care.
Congrats Elias! Very happy for you and your family. Are you able to transfer the website to anyone? I would be interested in running the website. But don’t know if you are allowed. I’m sure there are a couple of people that would love to run a website like this.
Thank you very much for all your work, scrupulousness and knowledges
Congratulations on your well-deserved evolution :^)
You are a fine man and LAB126 is the pinnacle for anyone who writes about tech, pertaining to Amazon. Your site has quickly grown and has been referenced by all the top tech blogs, for breaking scoops.
I wish you the best in your future endeavors.
Good luck in your new project. For the love of God, please tell Amazon to return the screen adjustment option to fire stick settings! Best wishes.
Thumbs Up!
Parabens e muito obrigado pelo seu trabalho formidável
awesome for you. You really did serve a niche. I was looking for the next best thing for fire tv news and guides, but came up with nothing that comes close. Anybody else know where to get good curated info, please share.
Nope, this was it!
Thank you for all your work here. All the best for you.
Good luck to you. Thank you!
Godspeed.
If you were us, while this site is dormant, where would you go for updated info to fill the void?
Elias, you’ll be back.
Congrats! Always happy to see success, especially well-earned success.
Good luck in your next adventure with Amazon, and please don’t hesitate to reach out if I can help with anything.
Congrats mate and all the best in your new position. Thank you for everything you have done for the FireTV community! Your site was the glue of this community and I’ll be sad to see it go. Cheers
Wow. I have been following this site for awhile. Congrats! Will miss the site.
Please whitelist the HDHomerun Prime as a live TV source on the Fire TV as you first act!
This is a sad day. You’re a gifted and decent man. I’m happy for you. I bookmarked this site 5 years ago and have visited it at least once a day, usually more. It’s gonna be weird, but I love hearing stories like yours.
Congratulations!
Hi hope you get to read all these comments, Elias, because I want you to know how very much your website has meant to me and so very many.
AFTV News has been the absolute bible for everything Fire TV. Through it, I’ve obtained an INCREDIBLE amount of knowledge on the Fire devices that would not have been possible otherwise.
From your reviews to your previews and rating of Amazon deals, this was simply ground zero for everything related to the Fire devices.
It was the first place I went every morning… and a site I looked forward to consuming daily.
Amazon could not have gotten a better man… and this makes all kinds of sense.
However, I, like many, will feel the loss keenly… but with the knowledge that this site — and you, Elias — were something very special.
I’ll be looking towards your Twitter account going forward…
All the best to you, my friend.
Congrats,
Please ensure downloader continues as an app!
Congratulations thanks for everything!! Also make sure amazon never blocks kodi
SO LONG AND THANKS FOR THE FISH!
Elias you have been a wealth of information over the years.
I’ve been here since the beginning and will miss your insight but as I’ve learned “All Good Things Come To An End” I am reminded now of when I first entered the streaming world nearly 10 years ago with my Roku DVP, I following another,now defunct website for years…cycles and change and rebirth…Good Luck To You!
Congrats! Influence Amazon to cater to home theater enthusiast needs–more powerful devices, not just a race to the bottom in pricing. There are many of us willing to pay for great all-in-one media player solutions!
This is wonderful news. Digital high five!
Well done man.
Congratulations! It is well-earned. I’m sure we all wish you the very best in your new pursuits.
That is just freaking awesome… PLEASE make sure they make a version with a faster graphics processor for us that use it to play games… the firetv 4k dongle is just not that powerful…
Im really happy for you man!
Good luck! Thank you for helping me with my sd card errors during a youtube video session. I make sure to eject before I turn it off. Please still have them support the FireTv2 and hopefully in the future make a device with 32gb and sd card. Also please have them arrange apps better and take your best of list of apps into action. Please have them introduce some google play store items too such as google photos. Thank you for your hard work. It would still be nice if you gave the new weekly apps or gave an article about how to find the new weekly apps. Thanks and God Bless!
Congratulations and good luck! Thanks for keeping users updated with techy news about AFTVs.
Question: We will miss your site very much! But Now where do we go from here for our latest Fire Tv news & fixes & learning cool new things to do???
Answer: youtube, xda, & maybe reddit, & come back here to read the old articles for nostalgia & referenc articles. And finally Ellias’s twitter, and instagrams.
Congratulations Elias. I certainly hope the best for you. Thanks for all of the insights that you have provided. I hope you can influence their designs and features. The 4k Stick is a real winner, but the Cube is a dog even for 1080p.
I hope that they will let you continue some sort of blog since the Fire TV features are so poorly documented. Perhaps something like what Xbox does with Major Nelson. I think having a face supporting the product is a great idea even if you actually have other people writing the blogs.
Please whitelist the HDHomerun Prime app as a live TV source on the Fire TV as your first act!
Mabrouk Allous! Wish you all the best. I felt like we got to know you and your family through the blog and established a remote kinship. I’ve followed your blog closely and wish you all the best. Knock ’em dead at Amazon!
Let me chime in and say thanks for all the hard work and effort that you have put in to this site, and more importantly thank you for what you have done for the FireTV/Amazon device community. I hope Amazon realizes that YOU are part of the reason for their success and as such, are compensating you accordingly!
Best wishes now and in the future!
Thank you for your hard work!
Little sad to read this but I’m happy for you!
Sellout…. just kidding. what an amazing opportunity! i don’t think anyone can blame you. who could pass that up? congrats and good luck! thanks for creating aftvnews!!!
I’m very happy for you! You have done a great job with this site. Has always been my “go to” for all things amazon/fire tv. Came here tonight to see how to get rid of the new nagging Alexa “try” all over my fire TVs now (shows on bottom of screen when idle for a moment). Good luck and if anyone knows how to get rid it it please comment. Thanks!
Bittersweet indeed.
As a power user, I’ve moved on to an Nvidia Shield. Yet AFTV is still one of the 4 sites I check weekly.
It’s hard to express emotions online. From the Christmas tree picture with your boys, to the less than frequent updates in the beginning, I feel like I’ve been there from the get go.
I hope you read this and realize the impact you’ve had on this corner of the Internet.
Good luck on the next corner.
Congratulations good luck, it is well deserved
Thank you for starting this website. I have personally benefited from it tremendously. I wish you success in your new role. While it was nice to write about something you are passionate about on the sideline, it’s even more fulfilling helping to create/shape that thing. I will missed this website for sure. Thanks again.
Thank you for all of your hard work and CONGRATULATIONS! Do you have any suggestions on where we can go for Fire TV updates?
Awesome to hear! Congrats! You’ve been an invaluable resource for FTV-related news! Thanks for all the hard work!
Congratulations. Amazon is very lucky to have you. Your web site has been a wonderful source of information for years.
All the very best…
Elias…there is a huge hole in my daily routine and I miss your informative posts so much. Can you maybe try and find someone to continue your amazing work for the sake of those who have come to depend on your site for so much great information. ?
Of course I wish you luck in your new job…..I just wish you were able to somehow keep the site going.
Thank you Elias for your selfless devotion to providing information and guidance to all of us! Best wishes for your career. Amazon is lucky to have you.
Now that you will be in a position of power, give the people what they want!
Version 2 of the Cube with something like an MT8173, S922, RK3399 for the main SOC.
Offline sync of the recast for watching recorded shows on the go sans internet access (like on a subway train).
Pipedreams… but still… thank you for all the help over the years.
Congrats Elias, I hope you can pass this website along to another fellow writer who can take over your work and make it grow, cause now we will be pretty much helpless in terms of information and hacks….
Congratulations! You were one of, if not the only one, actively promoting the Fire TV for a long time and it’s nice to see Amazon recognize and reward your hard work with a position after all these years. While it’s sad the website will no longer be updated, we know that the Fire TV will become better with you directly involved with it.
Thanks for ALL the great info over the years. Hope the sight can stay up as a reference. I am certain there are those of us that would make donations to make that happen. Looking forward to a “better experience” with you on the insight. I would appreciate focus on the “channel guide” for live TV and encouragment to content providers to integrate with it. Just because I have one, I would especially like HDHomerun to integrate. But I will probably just buy a recast, when I can get “permission” ;)
Good Luck.
THANK YOU. GOOD LUCK.
Vince: The last HDHomerun code has the support in it for FireTV Live TV integration! Amazon just has to white list it and you will be able to add it as a live tv source! All Amazon has to do is type a few characters into their white list file and push it out to FireTV’s.
I’m extremely disappointed and saddened to see this site come to a close. Your newsletters were top notch and always the first with new information. Sale and discount emails saved me a load of money. Congratulations on the job but you’re going to be greatly missed!
Congrats Elias, we are happy for you!
Hope we can stay in touch, through Twitter and/or Instagram!
You will be missed!!!
Wish you the best Buddy!
Elias,
You have turned the tide in the way that people enjoy television. Thank you for your undying commitment to making streaming the most enjoyable experience for us all. I wish you all the best and unlimited success!!!!! You truly deserve it for what you have accomplished and Amazon is lucky to get a person like yourself. Best wishes my friend!!!!!!!
This is some great news, Elias! While we’ll definitely miss you and your comments (and of course the Christmas updates with the family), very happy to hear about this move. Hopefully there’ll still be some software development involved somewhere in your days, as well.
Best of luck!
Congratulations and thank you for all your work here. Hope we see new fire tv devices in the future.
Congratulation my man. Will miss you here but very happy to have you on the inside looking out for us at Amazon.
Wow! Congratulations! I’ve been a vistor since the beginning, and have enjoyed all the content you’ve posted on AFTVnews. Prayers to you and your family. I’m confident you’ll bring the same level of integrity you’ve shown on this site into your new role at Amazon. You will be missed.
Congrats! Any chance you could get amazon to unlock the fire phone bootloader now that you’re on the inside?
The cynic in me was always dubious of aftvnews. Let’s be honest, the guy did it as a business venture and all he actually did was to consolidate news and guides. AFTVNEWS was first and foremost peddling wares, either amazon or 3rd party with affiliate lines. This was that Elias earned a living from. When you consider the work that rbox does for the community with no fuss. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s fine and astute what Elias has done, but let’s not eulogize took much over him. I just wonder what on earth he would bring to Amazon.
So so wrong in your assessment
Certainly it was a business for Elias and he made money from it, but we all benefitted too, from the website. I learned a lot, found out about the latest bargains, and will greatly miss using this site. Wish there was another to take it’s place.
definitely cynical.lol.
But I benefited too. I wouldn’t have been brave enough to attempt rooting without the guides here. Sure Rbox laid out the softwares to do it, but the guides provided more confidence for all beginners(like many of us) to learn and do it reliably without losing root, blocking updates etc.
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Also I would have missed on some cool deals & nostalgic free apps & games in 2015&16 which I still enjoy using today.
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It was also cool to discuss topics about kodi 3 or 4 years ago even though much of the info is found on youtube etc. I learned a lot of live TV info here as well –even from other users.
Wow I had to scroll all the way to the bottom just to comment!
Elias please design a more customizable Fire Tv with usb storage!! My FTV2 keeps getting this message about deleting apps but I have many usb thumb drives laying around but cant use them.
Anyways its hard to see you go to Amazon but will this mean the Fire Tv lineup will be more/less customizable by the user?
Oh btw… good luck with the new Amazon job.
CONGRATS Elias! Continue the fight for all us tinkerers and enthusiasts from your new, and well deserved, position with Amazon. I too quickly moved to the Shield when it was first released because of what it brought to the table in regards to performance and platform. I enjoy my Amazon ecosystem and much of that is due to you and this site. Thank You for the dedication to this community and always taking our concerns and ideas into account. We look forward to better things to come in the future of AFTV and the Amazon ecosystem. Good Luck!
Thanks for the all the terrific guidance you and the rest of the community have given to us over the years!
Congratulation ! Looking forward to see, FireTv shape up, under your guidance !.
On a side note: What happens to aftvnews.com :) (The domain would be hot in Google SEO)
I just want to say congratulations Elias, and thank you for running this website which has helped countless people tinker with their fires over the years. And please, while you’re over at Amazon try to stress that 8gb of internal storage and no usb/microsd slots isn’t cool lol
is there another site like this?
is there another site like this? like when new things come to fire tv
not sure but elias has twitter and instagram, and there’s XDA where RBOX POSTS about rooting. & maybe youtube & reddit can spread good info about FTV’s latest happenings.
Elias, Congradulations. Who better to guide the development of the future AFTV devices. How about a AFTV pro best available device, compete with sheild in streaming and gaming. Amazon could bundle this with additional subscriptions and value added perks.
Amazon could embrace some of the Mods we want for power users through a sort of insider program.
You should really turn over the website to a interested party, all companies need somthing like this to see what consumers want.
Congrats. Thank you for all your work here. Hope you enjoyed your first days at Amazon Lab126.
Wow…I’m late to the party. I’ve been out of the loop for a while. Congrats. So happy/sad to see you go. I love this site and have gotten so much help over the last few years. Thanks for all the great articles, podcasts, and for helping me get the most out of my many generations and types of AFTV boxes.
Congratulations, this is well deserved.