Amazon FireTV Stick announced

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

I love this thing.

Yup, we do too. And one of the things we actually like a lot about it? The screen saver! Sometimes we catch ourselves just watching the amazing pictures and wishing that the app had a way to show _where_ the photographs are from. Some we recognize, some we can guess, others we're guessing which _continent_ sometimes, but even that is a guess.

[fjtorres]

Version 1.5 OS adds X-Ray feature, like Kindle readers:

Good news! Your Fire TV Stick has received a software update that contains features requested by customers like you. The update has been applied automatically to your device and you will notice the new features when you next use it. We appreciate your enthusiasm and feedback and we are hard at work on future updates.

Connect to your hotel or dorm room Wi-Fi with captive portal support—Take your favorite movies, TV shows, games, and more with you when you're away from home. Fire TV Stick enables you to connect to Wi-Fi that requires web authentication—this includes Wi-Fi at most major hotels, as well as some universities.

New X-Ray on Fire TV Stick—You can now use X-Ray on Fire TV Stick to explore your favorite movies and TV shows on Amazon Instant Video directly on your TV screen. Powered by IMDb, identify actors and songs in the current scene, explore actor bios, and more by simply clicking the "Up" button on your Fire TV Stick remote.

Browse and search Prime Playlists—Prime members can now take advantage of Prime Music playlists directly from Fire TV Stick—there are hundreds of expertly curated Prime Playlists to choose from based on your mood, activity, artist, or decade of choice. Browse Prime Music Playlists

Hidden PIN entry—With the new PIN entry screen that hides the numbers selected, you can now make sure your kids can't see your device PIN as you enter it on-screen to confirm a purchase.

New shortcuts—Quickly put your Fire TV Stick to sleep or enable display mirroring by pressing and holding the Home button on your remote.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Version 1.5 OS adds X-Ray feature, like Kindle readers:

Good news! Your Fire TV Stick has received a software update that contains features requested by customers like you. The update has been applied automatically to your device and you will notice the new features when you next use it. We appreciate your enthusiasm and feedback and we are hard at work on future updates.

Connect to your hotel or dorm room Wi-Fi with captive portal support—Take your favorite movies, TV shows, games, and more with you when you're away from home. Fire TV Stick enables you to connect to Wi-Fi that requires web authentication—this includes Wi-Fi at most major hotels, as well as some universities.

New X-Ray on Fire TV Stick—You can now use X-Ray on Fire TV Stick to explore your favorite movies and TV shows on Amazon Instant Video directly on your TV screen. Powered by IMDb, identify actors and songs in the current scene, explore actor bios, and more by simply clicking the "Up" button on your Fire TV Stick remote.

Browse and search Prime Playlists—Prime members can now take advantage of Prime Music playlists directly from Fire TV Stick—there are hundreds of expertly curated Prime Playlists to choose from based on your mood, activity, artist, or decade of choice. Browse Prime Music Playlists

Hidden PIN entry—With the new PIN entry screen that hides the numbers selected, you can now make sure your kids can't see your device PIN as you enter it on-screen to confirm a purchase.

New shortcuts—Quickly put your Fire TV Stick to sleep or enable display mirroring by pressing and holding the Home button on your remote.

Translation: We made it slightly less sucky.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Translation: We made it slightly less sucky.

Which ain't a bad thing because the sucky is pretty small given the price.
It's no WD TV Live but it doesn't cost $100, either.
(And if I were going to go to $100 I would go with an Intel Stick PC anyway.)

I use mine primarily for music but the Hulu and Netflix streaming work fine.
It is what it is.

[wawasteele]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Yup, we do too. And one of the things we actually like a lot about it? The screen saver! Sometimes we catch ourselves just watching the amazing pictures and wishing that the app had a way to show _where_ the photographs are from. Some we recognize, some we can guess, others we're guessing which _continent_ sometimes, but even that is a guess.

My husband and I do the same thing!

[Bilbo1967]

Mine arrived yesterday and I set it up today. Good so far. The interface is pretty simple and I liked that I could download the remote control app onto my Nexus so I don't have to have multiple remotes with me. It seems to mirror my tablet screen well when I want it to (better than Chromecast I thought) and my youngest son liked being able to play a few games as well.

All in all, pleased so far.

[aceflor]

Best 19€ investition ever !

[wizwor]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Translation: We made it slightly less sucky.

Kind of a harsh assessment. All you get for $25 is...

games. there are more than 514 games for the Fire TV Stick. some are very good, most are free or inexpensive. you can play these with real game controllers.
captive portal support. makes it easier to use a streamer in a hotel or public wifi area where authentication is required.
voice search. again, all models.
x-ray. supplemental movie and TV show information (i.e., IMDB).
freetime. parental controls and content tailored to kids.

There is a sling tv app for those aching for linear programming and sports.

I do not stream much, but I can certainly appreciate the value in this dongle.

[Prestidigitweeze]

The most frequent comment I hear about the Fire Stick is that it's the perfect vessel for Kodi. Makes you wonder when or whether Amazon might address that security hole as Microsoft once did with the Xbox.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

The most frequent comment I hear about the Fire Stick is that it's the perfect vessel for Kodi. Makes you wonder when or whether Amazon might address that security hole as Microsoft once did with the Xbox.

Or, provide more of the Kodi feature set.
Or Kodi itself.

Unlike (the original) XBOX, FireTV doesn't sell at a loss. If Kodi helps sell FireTVs, then maybe they need to add Kodi to the store.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Yup, we do too. And one of the things we actually like a lot about it? The screen saver! Sometimes we catch ourselves just watching the amazing pictures and wishing that the app had a way to show _where_ the photographs are from. Some we recognize, some we can guess, others we're guessing which _continent_ sometimes, but even that is a guess.

I was killing time at the mall 2 weeks ago, and the only interesting store was the Sears electronics dept. They had some TVs running amazing slide shows of the seven wonders of the world or something like that. (There were more than seven). They looked absolutely amazing on the curved TV.

But anyway, I love the screen savers on the Fire TV box. When I had the Stick, it didn't have the screen savers. Does it, now?

[shalym]

Originally Posted by booklover6

I was killing time at the mall 2 weeks ago, and the only interesting store was the Sears electronics dept. They had some TVs running amazing slide shows of the seven wonders of the world or something like that. (There were more than seven). They looked absolutely amazing on the curved TV.

But anyway, I love the screen savers on the Fire TV box. When I had the Stick, it didn't have the screen savers. Does it, now?

Hmm...my stick has had the screen savers from the day I got it, on November 20th. When did you get yours?

Shari

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

The most frequent comment I hear about the Fire Stick is that it's the perfect vessel for Kodi. Makes you wonder when or whether Amazon might address that security hole as Microsoft once did with the Xbox.

Who or what is "Kodi"?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Who or what is "Kodi"?

KODI is the evolved and renamed version of XBMC.
With Windows Media Center headed for extintion, Kodi is going to be a lot more significant in the home theater space.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodi_(software)

[HarryT]

Thanks!