Amazon's Fire TV Stick -- June 12, 2021

Amazon Fire TV Stick: I first talked about this on May 30, 2021. It's very, very interesting on so many levels what Amazon is doing. Apple TV+ is a streaming service, backed up by an incredible stable of hardware products, from wearables to desktop behemoths. But Amazon, with the Fire TV Stick, has it all:

• Amazon hardware (so inexpensive, they could give it away) -- the "Fire Stick" itself;
• Amazon software: to run streaming from any source through the stick to the television;
• Amazon content (with Amazon Prime and the Fire TV Stick, there is no additional charge for any of the following, all part of Amazon):
  
• Amazon Prime Video;
• IMDb TV; 
• Thursday Night Football (a foot in the door); 
• the MGM catalogue (huge misstep for Apple);  
• Amazon Silk;  
• Amazon Kids+ (think Disney+);
  
• Amazon Photos (prime members get unlimited full-resolution photo storage and 5GB for video); 
• Amazon music;
  

Amazon Fire TV Stick:

• turn on your "dumb" smart television;
• press "on" at the top of he Fire TV Stick remote control;
• Amazon icons automatically appear; a few clicks and one gets to "all streaming" options plus the ability to add more streaming options as they become available (of course, Roku is not shown);
• so, let's say, right now there are twenty "streaming" icons from which I can choose, including the best ever, Hulu, it is interesting to note that Amazon has ten of those icons. 

One icon the Fire Stick does not yet have? NFL, but as noted above, Amazon has a foot in the door. 

I would not be surprised to see Amazon break out the MGM catalogue separately from the rest of the Amazon options. It's all about taking up space on the virtual product shelf. 

By the way, do you all remember the iconic Apple iPod with Apple's "signature iPod click wheel"? That's exactly what the Fire TV Stick looks like. Exactly. Except it's black, not white. 

The Fire TV Stick gets you to "all" streaming content with a few clicks but at the bottom, four buttons to take you immediately to:

• Prime Video, of course
• Disney+
• Netflix
• hulu

This tells me all I need to know. Is it FAANG or is it ADNH now? 

The tea leaves suggest Disney+ will have some stiff competition. 

With Amazon's foot in the NFL door, my next question for myself: would I rather watch the Summer Olympics on NBC or on Amazon? Which of the two companies has more money to spend on presentation?

Why this long note today?

I went out to the pool early this morning to rest, read, and meditate. 

By 10:30 a.m. it had gotten so hot and humid I had to return to our little hovel. There was nothing I wanted to watch on television but I did want to listen to some music. I was not aware that the Fire TV Stick supported the "internet" (and therefore YouTube) on the dumb "smart television" but there was something called Amazon internet which they call Amazon Silk.

It takes a minute to download (no password required; just click on the icon to install). And then, voilà, there it is, the internet, just as if one was on one's computer.

And now we have a giant screen with incredible resolution that can be replaced as technology improves without buying a whole new computer, although I would probably do that, also.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. Amazon Silk is a very, very clever name. Navigating through the internet through the Fire TV Stick is almost as smooth as silk.