Amazon revamps Fire TV UI

Source: Amazon

Amazon recently revealed the new "Fire TV experience," which will be available on the new Fire TV Stick Lite and Fire TV Stick. It introduces a new Main Menu and a "more personalized way to discover new entertainment." Amazon revamps the Home screen to make it easier for you to access your favourite content. 

The Main Menu now houses features like Find, Live TV, Library, and your pinned apps. It lets you scroll over your apps to get a preview of your content and jump right into your favourite shows on supported streaming services.

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Get Full HD playback with Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite for just CA$50

Amazon has a new low-cost media streaming player in the form of the Fire TV Stick Lite. Available for just $49.99, the streaming stick can now be pre-ordered with its release on September 30. It supports Full HD playback with HDR, and it comes with a redesigned Alexa Voice Remote that doesn't have volume and power buttons.

The company also refreshed the original Fire TV Stick, which costs $59.99. It offers a quad-core processor that's supposedly 50% more powerful than the chipset on the previous model and supports HD streaming, HDR, Dolby Atmos, and dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi. The extra $10 you'll spend will also get you a remote that has TV controls. It is also available for pre-order, and it will be released at the end of the month.

Amazon prepared for these new streaming players with new Amazon Fire TV UI, which you can read more about at this link.

Source: Engadget

Twitch Prime is now called Prime Gaming

Amazon rebrands Twitch Prime to emphasize the company's Prime branding. Now called Prime Gaming, it offers Amazon Prime subscribers the same perks and benefits on the live streaming platform. Subscribers will still get exclusive in-game content, free games you can keep, and a free monthly Twitch subscription.

The name change aligns with the other digital content that comes with an Amazon Prime subscription, including Prime Video (for streaming shows and films) and Prime Reading (for ebooks, digital magazines, etc.). An Amazon Prime subscription costs $7.99 a month or $79.00 a year and includes free shipping on many online purchases you make on the site.

Prime Gaming shows the company's interest and commitment to the gaming space. Amazon also owns a game development arm called Amazon Games, and it's rumoured to be developing its own cloud gaming service.

Source: The Verge

Taylor Swift's 'Folklore' smashes first day streaming records

Taylor Swift's Folklore is raking in its streams, breaking several first-day streaming records since its release on July 24. Folklore now sets the global record for first-day album streams on Spotify by a female artist with 80.6 million streams. On Apple Music, it's the most-streamed album in 24 hours with 35.47 streams. And it has set indie/alternative streaming records in the US and worldwide on Amazon Music, though we don't get official figures. Swift's representatives have confirmed that the album sold over 1.3 million copies worldwide within the first 24 hours of its release.

The pop star announced the surprise album on social on Thursday, July 23, which she was inspired to make and release since the coronavirus pandemic hit and affected her plans to tour her previous album, Lover. You can check out the lead single of the record in the music video above.

Source: NME