Smart Devices Articles

Video / Updated 09-08-2023

Alexa works as a smart-home controller, so it can recognize and work with multiple devices from multiple manufacturers. An Alexa device such as an Echo or Echo Spot is an example of such a controller. Devices Alexa can control (like thermostats, speakers, TVs, and so on) just have to be compatible. You must make sure you get smart-home devices that are compatible with your controller, so be sure to buy items that are Alexa compatible. Smart-home devices are all the rage. Using apps on smart phones or simple voice commands from Alexa, you can control light bulbs, thermostats, garage door openers, security cameras, and so much more. To get your Alexa device to connect to and operate smart-home devices, you'll be using either your home’s Wi-Fi network or a direct Bluetooth connection. In most cases, the connection procedure involves two steps: For a Wi-Fi connection, use the manufacturer’s app to give Alexa permission to connect to the device. Enable the manufacturer’s device skill to update Alexa with the voice commands needed to operate the device. How to set up a smart home with Alexa If your smart-home device is Wi-Fi-friendly, go to your mobile device app store and install the manufacturer’s app. Then follow these steps to get your Wi-Fi smart-home device set up in the app: 1. Plug in and, if required, turn on the smart-home device. 2. Open the smart-home device manufacturer’s app. 3. Initiate the procedure for setting up a new device. Look for a command named Add or Add [manufacturer] Device (where manufacturer is the name of the company), or just a big plus sign (+). The setup routine will tell the device to broadcast its Wi-Fi network. 4. Open your mobile device’s Wi-Fi settings and look for the device’s Wi-Fi network. 5. Tap the device network to connect to it. 6. When the connection is complete, return to the device app. The app automatically detects the new network and uses the connection to set up the device. This usually involves giving the device a name. You’ll often have to set up an account with the manufacturer, as well. 7. The app will usually ask for your Wi-Fi credentials, which enables the device to connect to and operate over your network. Having the device on your network is also how Alexa discovers and operates the device, so this step is important. 8. If you see a notice asking whether you want to upgrade the smart-home device firmware, by all means tap Yes or Allow or Update or whatever button answers in the affirmative. With your smart-home device installed, you can view it and rename it if you so desire in the Alexa app. Just tap the Devices icon to open the Devices screen, and from there, you can change the settings for your device. Discover Smart-Home Devices Using an Alexa skill If you’re not using an Alexa device that includes a smart-home hub (such as the Echo Plus and second-generation Echo Show), then you usually need to upgrade Alexa to work with your smart-home device. You upgrade Alexa by enabling the device manufacturer’s Alexa skill. This not only lets Alexa discover the device but also upgrades Alexa with the voice commands that enable you operate the device. 1. Install the manufacturer’s app and use it to get your smart-home device on your Wi-Fi network. 2. In the Alexa app, tap Devices. 3. Tap the Add button (+) that appears in the top-right corner. 4. Tap Add Device. The Alexa app displays icons for some popular brands and some device categories. 5. Tap the category that fits your device, and then tap the manufacturer. The Alexa app prompts you to perform the duties I outline in Step 1. You’ve done all that, so proceed. 6. Tap Continue. The Alexa app opens the information page for the manufacturer’s Alexa skill. 7. Tap Enable. At this point, what happens next depends on the skill, but you’ll usually have to perform one or both of the following: Use the smart-home device app to give Alexa permission to access the device. Link Alexa to the user account associated with the smart-home device. 8. When you’re done, tap Close (X) to return to the skill page. 9. Tap Discover Devices. The Alexa app uses the manufacturer’s Alexa skill to search for available devices. 10. Tap Done. With a manufacturer’s Alexa skill enabled, you can discover new devices by following steps 1 through 5 and then tapping Discover Devices, or you can ask Alexa to run the following voice command: “Alexa, discover my devices.” Control Smart-Home Devices with Alexa Devices Alexa can control are any Alexa-compatible plugs, lights, thermostats, garage door openers, security devices, speaker, TVs, and so on. There are actually three methods you can use to control a smart-home device: Voice commands: This is how you’ll operate most of your smart-home devices, and the rest of this section takes you through the most common voice commands for a selection of smart-home devices. Alexa app: If you have your Alexa device microphone turned off, you can still use the Alexa app to control your smart-home devices. Tap Devices, tap the device type (or All Devices), and then tap the device you want to mess with. The screen that appears contains the controls you can use. Alexa device with a screen: Swipe down from the top of the screen to open the status bar, and then tap the icon for the device type (such as a bulb icon for your smart lights, plugs, and switches). Note, too, that after you issue a smart-home device-related command to an Alexa device with a screen, you see some device controls on the screen for a few seconds. Turn smart plugs on and off with Alexa A smart plug is an electrical outlet that you can control with voice commands. The smart outlet plugs into a regular electrical outlet for power and then you plug a non-smart device — such as a lamp or coffeemaker — into the smart outlet. Voilà! You now have voice control over the dumb device. Note, however, that “control” here just means turning the device on and off using the following voice commands: “Alexa, turn [device name] on.” “Alexa, turn [device name] off.” Replace device name with the name you gave to the smart plug using either the manufacturer’s app or the Alexa app. Work with smart lights and Alexa Another easy and relatively inexpensive way to get your smart-home feet wet is with a smart lightbulb or two. You can buy a smart bulb for less than $20, and installing it is as easy as changing any regular lightbulb. You can also get smart bulbs that change brightness without a separate dimmer switch and that can display different colors. Here are the voice commands to use to turn a smart lightbulb or light switch on or off: “Alexa, turn [device name] on.” “Alexa, turn [device name] off.” For dimmable smart lights (or smart dimmer switches), use any of the following voice commands: “Alexa, brighten [device name].” “Alexa, dim [device name].” “Alexa, set [device name] brightness to [number] percent.” For smart lights that support different colors, use these voice commands: “Alexa, set [device name] to warm white.” “Alexa, set [device name] to cool white.” “Alexa, set [device name] to [color].” (For example, “Alexa, set Chill Room to blue.”) Control smart thermostats with Alexa A smart thermostat gives you voice control over not only the thermostat mode — for example, switching between heating and cooling — but also the temperature setting. You can also interrogate a smart thermostat to learn the current temperature setting. After you’ve installed a smart thermostat, you can control it using the following voice commands: “Alexa, set [device name] to cool.” “Alexa, set [device name] to heat.” “Alexa, set [device name] to auto.” “Alexa, set [device name] to off.” “Alexa, set [device name] to [number] degrees.” “Alexa, increase [device name] by [number] degrees.” “Alexa, decrease [device name] by [number] degrees.” “Alexa, what is [device name]’s temperature?” “Alexa, what is [device name] set to?” Keep an eye on things with Alexa and smart cameras Smart cameras come in both outdoor versions and indoor versions. Outdoor cameras are usually called security cameras or surveillance cameras. You can also get a smart doorbell that has a built-in camera that activates whenever someone rings the bell. If you have an Alexa device with a screen, you can show the smart camera’s feed right on your screen by saying the following voice command: “Alexa, show [device name].” To turn off the camera feed, issue the following voice command: “Alexa, hide [device name].” Other Types of Smart-Home Devices That Work with Alexa Here’s a quick summary (in no particular order) of what’s out there that’s Alexa-friendly: Smart speakers: Echo isn’t the only smart speaker game in town. Big-time audio companies such as Bose, Denon, and Sonos have their own smart speakers that have Alexa built in. Smart locks: These are door locks that you can control with your voice. Smart sprinklers: You can control and schedule garden and lawn watering with a smart sprinkler system. Smart TVs: This is a television or remote that you can control by voice. Smart appliances: These are kitchen appliances that you can operate with voice commands. Amazon’s new Alexa-friendly microwave is the latest addition to this category. Smart vacuums: Why push a vacuum yourself when you can have a robot vacuum that you control via voice?

Article / Updated 11-04-2022

Listen to the article:Download audio What is the Amazon Fire TV Stick? The Amazon Fire TV Stick is a device joining the ranks of home entertainment streaming technologies. The Fire Stick plugs into your TV’s HDMI port giving you access to your favorite TV shows, movies, subscription services, music, photos, and games. The Fire TV Stick houses all of your favorite content and is easily transportable, so you can take your media anywhere! What you get with the Fire TV Stick Imagine being able to take your TV with you when you go on vacation. That’s the functionality you get with the Fire TV Stick. The Fire TV Stick houses all of your content and is completely portable. Simply remove your device and take it with you when you travel. Plug it into any compatible TV to gain instant access to all of your favorite videos. If you are an Amazon Prime member, your Fire TV Stick comes pre-registered to your account. You have immediate access to all of your Amazon Prime content as soon as you plug your Fire TV Stick into your HDMI port. Being a Prime member also lets you choose from a cache of Amazon Originals that cannot be accessed by the average user. When you receive your box from Amazon, you will have everything you need to make the Fire TV Stick work. In the box you will find your new Fire TV Stick, the remote, a USB cable and power adapter, HDMI extender, 2 AAA batteries, and a guide to get you started. In addition, you get the following features: 1 GB of memory 8 GB of internal storage Optional voice support Dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi A dedicated VideoCore4 GPU How the Fire TV Stick works The Amazon Fire TV Stick rivals other popular streaming devices like the Roku and Chromecast. How does the Amazon Fire TV Stick work? Your Fire Stick plugs into your HDMI TV via USB port, connects via Wi-Fi, and comes equipped with a Bluetooth remote. Simply plug your Fire Stick in and you will be directed through the setup process and prompted to sign into your Amazon account. The Fire Stick is a central repository for all your content. Once logged on, you will have access to any music and videos purchased through your Amazon account. In addition, you can view any pictures uploaded to your Amazon Cloud service. Using your device, you also have access to thousands of apps and games. For instance, you can use your Fire TV Stick to open the Netflix app and watch trending Netflix videos. Or, open YouTube and browse the latest uploads from your favorite vlogger. Other services like HBO Now, ESPN, and Hulu can also be accessed with your Fire TV Stick at a cost. However, even with the fee, you get the advantage of being able to choose your preferred services instead of being tied into a cable package. Games are also available. But, you will need a controller which is only available for purchase through Amazon. Fire TV Stick vs. Fire TV Amazon offers a Fire Stick and Fire TV. These products offer the same services and both come equipped with a Bluetooth remote. So, what's the difference? Size: The Fire TV Stick is far smaller than the Fire TV. The Fire Stick is about three inches long and plugs into your TV. Fire TV is a square console that, while sleek, is about four and half inches long on each side. If you prefer the minimalist look, the Fire TV Stick is the winner. Cost: You will find that the Fire Stick is the cheaper option. The Fire Stick costs $39.99 while the Fire TV will set you back $99. Speed: The Fire Stick will give you 1 GB of RAM, while the Fire TV offers 2 GB of RAM, making the Fire TV more responsive. If you're a serious gamer, you might want to go for the Fire TV to avoid lags and frustration in loading speeds. Additional ports and storage: With the Fire TV Stick, you won't have options for expansion. The Fire TV console has a USB port, Ethernet port, and microSD slot, making it easier to store and access content. Capabilities: The Fire TV stick can support your watching habits up to 1080p. Fire TV is enabled for 4K streaming. With the trend leaning toward 4K TVs, the Fire TV might be a better option if you are looking to upgrade or already have. Although, if you haven't (or don't plan) to go the 4K route anytime soon, the Fire TV's capabilities and portability factor make it a perfectly adequate choice for those just wanting to stream their favorite shows. Evaluate your needs and budget before determining which Fire TV option is right for you. Why you need the Fire TV Stick When people hear the phrase “streaming technology,” most groan and think about how they just want watching TV to be easy. Well, the Fire TV Stick makes it simple. Only now, instead of searching through those horizontal bars of endless TV shows, you can access what you want to see, when you want to see it. For easier searching, the Fire TV Stick offers voice control using Amazon's Alexa. You can get this capability two ways. Simply press the black button and speak your choice. If that extra cost doesn’t appeal to you, you can download the free Fire TV Remote app on your phone. Using your phone’s native voice prompts, you can speak your choice and your phone will relay your choice to the Fire Stick. Why else would you want the Fire TV Stick? Well, it learns. Or rather, it uses your preferences to make predictions about what you might like. Using ASAP (Advanced Streaming and Prediction), the Fire TV Stick offers you choices of related programming based on your previous watches.

Article / Updated 07-28-2022

The Amazon Alexa equivalent of apps are called skills. Like a mobile device, Alexa can do a few things out of the box, such as playing music or audiobooks, telling you the time or the weather, and making voice or video calls. But if you want to know how to use Alexa to perform more specialized tasks, then you need to add the appropriate skills from the Amazon Alexa skills list. It's pretty much the same as adding new apps to your smart phone. What kinds of skills can you add? Well, more than 50,000 skills are available in categories such as Business & Finance, Education & Reference, Games, Trivia & Accessories, and Smart Home, so the sky is pretty much the limit. Want to hail an Uber or Lyft ride? There are skills for that. Want to know what’s on TV tonight? There’s a skill for that. Want to play an adventure game or challenge you and your family with some trivia? There are skills for those, too. How to find top Alexa skills The skill equivalent of an app store is Amazon’s Alexa Skills list, which you can access in one of two ways: On the web: Use your favorite web browser to surf to www.amazon.com (or your local Amazon domain, such as www.amazon.ca for Canada), and then choose Departments→Echo & Alexa→Alexa Skills. In the Alexa app: Choose Menu→Skills & Games. By default, the Alexa app doesn’t show skills that were designed specifically for children. To see those skills, you need to adjust your settings. Choose Menu→Settings→Alexa Account→Kid Skills, and then tap the Allow Kid Skills switch to On. (If you don’t see the Kid Skills item, it means that feature hasn’t been rolled out in your location just yet.) Whether you’re using the web or the app, you see a few featured skills upfront, and you also get a search box to locate specific skills. However, when you’re just starting out, it’s usually best to examine the various skill categories, which are listed on the left side of the web page. In the Alexa app, tap the Categories button to see the list. Select a category to see what’s available. If something looks interesting, select the skill to open its info page, which gives you a description of the skill, voice commands you can use, user ratings, and any permissions that are required (such as allowing notifications or giving your address for a delivery skill). You may also see these two phrases, which require a little explanation: In-Skill Purchases Available: The skill offers extra features or content that you can purchase while using the skill. Account Linking Required: The skill requires access to a third-party user account. For example, if you want to use a ride-sharing service such as Lyft or Uber, both of which offer Alexa skills, you must give the skill permission to access your user account on the service, a process called account linking. How to use Alexa Skills If you locate a skill that looks fun, entertaining, or useful, go ahead and give it a try (hey, it’s free, remember?). To use a skill with Alexa, you must enable it. Enable an Alexa skill with a voice command To enable a skill with your voice, use either of the following commands: “Alexa, enable [skill].” “Alexa, open [skill].” Here, skill is the so-called invocation name of the skill: a word or phrase unique to the skill. How in the name of Jeff Bezos are you supposed to know a skill’s invocation name? That’s available on the skill’s info page, in the Skill Details section. Alexa tells you the skill is enabled and then invokes the skill. The first time the skill runs, you usually get a brief introduction and some suggested commands or tasks. If the skill requires permission from you to access information on your Alexa device, you can’t enable the skill with a voice command. Instead, you have to use the Alexa app. Enable an Alexa skill using the Alexa app You can also enable a skill using the Alexa app, as shown in the following steps: In the Alexa app, choose Menu→Skills & Games. Locate the skill you want to enable. Tap the skill to open its information page. Tap Enable. If the skill requires extra permissions from you, you see the Skill Permissions dialog. If you see the Skill Permissions dialog, set the permission switch or switches to On or Off, as desired, and then tap Save Permissions. Alexa enables the skill. 30 Cool Alexa skills to try With more than 50,000 skills available, finding a useful, fun, or entertaining skill is a true needle-in-the-proverbial-haystack exercise. Who has time to comb through either a haystack or Amazon’s Alexa Skills list? If you’re just not sure where to begin, let me help. Here are 30 ready-to-enable skills that you can take for a test drive. Top Alexa skills for daily living AnyPod: A podcast skill that enables you to add podcasts to your library, sync your listening history to your Alexa device, and much more. Invocation name: anypod. Lyft: Enables you to use Alexa to hail a Lyft. Account linking is required. Invocation name: lyft. Mastermind: An all-purpose AI-driven assistant that you can use to send text messages and emails, make phone calls, search the web, and tons more. Invocation name: mastermind. Uber: Enables you to use Alexa to hail an Uber. Account linking is required. Invocation name: uber. Top Amazon Alexa skills for news, weather, and information Big Sky: A weather skill that goes well beyond the default Alexa weather report. Account linking is required. Invocation name: big sky. CBC: News, music, or a specific Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio One station. Invocation name: CBC. Curiosity: This skill asks you to choose between two topics and then tells you interesting facts about the topic you chose. Invocation name: curiosity. Feels Like: Tells you what the current temperature in your location feels like, meaning the wind-chill temperature in winter and the humidex in summer. Invocation name: feels like. Learn Something Radio: Plays daily new episodes from some of the web’s most learned brands, including NPR, 99% Invisible, and Freakonomics Radio. Invocation name: learn something radio. NPR News Now: News stories from National Public Radio, delivered via Alexa’s Flash Briefing. Invocation name: npr news now. SAT Word of the Day: Presents a new word each day, spells the word, and uses it in a sample sentence. Invocation name: s-a-t word of the day. TED Talks: Gives you audio access to all the TED Talks. Invocation name: ted talks. The Daily Show: A satiric takes on the day’s news stories, delivered as part of your Flash Briefing. Invocation name: the daily show. This Day in History: Tells you the top historical event that occurred on the current day of the year. Invocation name: this day in history. Translated: Translates short phrases from English into more than three dozen languages, from American Spanish to Welsh. Invocation name: translated. Top Amazon Alexa skills for health, fitness, and safety 7-Minute Workout: Daily workouts that aim to improve strength and aerobic fitness in just seven minutes. Invocation name: seven-minute workout. Burglar Deterrent: Protects your home when you’re out by playing realistic audio for activities such as talking, cleaning, and cooking to make it seem as though someone’s home. Invocation name: burglar deterrent. Mayo Clinic First Aid: Provides first-aid instructions for common injuries and illnesses. Invocation name: mayo first aid. What to Expect: Daily tips and advice during pregnancy. Invocation name: what to expect. Top Amazon Alexa skills for inspiration Headspace: Provides guided meditations, including a new guided meditation each day. Invocation name: headspace. Inspire Me: Inspirational quotations from famous people (who do the talking instead of Alexa) that you can invoke at random, by speaker, or by topic. Invocation name: inspire me. Top Alexa skills for cooking (and drinking) The Bartender: Delivers cocktail recipes. Invocation name: the bartender. Meat Thermometer: Say a type of meat (such as “steak”) and how you want it cooked (such as “medium rare”), and this app tells you the internal temperature to shoot for. Invocation name: meat thermometer. MySomm: A wine-pairing skill. That is, given a food, the skill suggests a wine to go with it. Invocation name: wine gal. Top Amazon Alexa skills for fun and relaxation Akinator: Think of a real or fictional character and this skill guesses the name of that character after asking a few questions. Invocation name: akinator. Alexa Things to Try: Gives you a daily Alexa tip and news on the latest Alexa features as part of your Flash Briefing. Invocation name: flash briefing. Amazon Storytime: Plays professionally narrated short stories for kids aged 5 through 12. Invocation name: amazon storytime. Ambient Sounds: A collection of sound loops to help you sleep, relax, or block out noises. There are a few dozen sounds in all, including thunderstorms, windy trees, and fireplace. Invocation name: ambient sounds. The Magic Door: An interactive adventure game. Invocation name: the magic door. The Wayne Investigation: An interactive mystery game where the choices you make as you investigate a mystery affect the outcome of the story. Invocation name: the wayne investigation. Many of these skills are only available in certain countries. If you don’t see the skill either in Amazon’s Alexa Skills list or in the Alexa app, it means the skill isn’t available where you live.

Article / Updated 11-24-2021

No device is completely infallible. This article explains ten of the most common problems related to Fire TV software and hardware, and shows you how to solve every one of them. Fire TV devices, such as the Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Stick 4K, and Fire TV Cube, are extremely simple, spartan even, when viewed from the outside. They’re devoid of moving parts; the Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick 4K have but a single port for the power supply and the Fire TV Cube has just a few ports in the back. But don’t let that Zen-inducing outer shell fool you — inside every Fire TV device is a complex and sophisticated array of electronics. The good news is that these intricate innards enable Fire TV to perform its streaming magic. The bad news is that, when it comes to electronic devices, “complex and sophisticated” almost always leads to some kind of trouble. That’s just a fact of modern life, although it doesn’t guarantee that your Fire TV device will one day bite the digital dust. In fact, that’s very unlikely because Fire TV devices are known to be remarkably robust and nearly error-free. Did you notice that hedge-word nearly in that last sentence? Alas, yes, sometimes even Fire TV devices behave strangely. Troubleshooting general problems Before getting to the specific problems and their solutions, I want to take you through a few very basic troubleshooting steps. Many problems, particularly problems related to your Fire TV device, can be solved by doing the following three things (each of which I explain in more detail in the sections that follow): Restart your Fire TV device. Update your Fire TV device’s system software. Reset your Fire TV device to its factory default settings. Try restarting your Fire TV device to see if it solves your problem. If not, move on to updating the software and see if that helps. If there’s still no joy, only then should you try resetting your Fire TV device to its factory default settings. Restarting your Fire TV device If your Fire TV is having trouble playing media, connecting to Wi-Fi, pairing with a Bluetooth device, or doing any of its normal duties, by far the most common solution is to shut down the device and then restart it. By rebooting the device, you reload the system, which is often enough to solve many problems. There are three ways to restart either a TV that has a Fire TV device attached or a Fire TV Edition Smart TV: If you still have access to the Fire TV interface, choose Settings, choose either My Fire TV (for Fire TV Stick or Fire TV Cube) or Device & Software (for Fire TV Edition), and then choose Restart. On the Fire TV remote, press and hold both the Select button and the Play button for about five seconds until Fire TV restarts. For a Fire TV device or a Fire TV Edition Smart TV, unplug the device’s power cord, and then plug it back in. You may be tempted to just plug the Fire TV device back in again right away, but hold on a second. The Fire TV device has internal electronic components that take some time to completely discharge. To ensure you get a proper restart, wait at least three seconds before reconnecting your Fire TV’s power supply. Checking your Fire TV device for software updates Your Fire TV device uses internal software — called Fire OS (OS is short for operating system) — to perform all sorts of tasks, including connecting to your Wi-Fi network, handling media playback, and saving your settings. If your Fire TV is acting weird, and restarting the device doesn’t help, you can often un-weird the device by updating Fire OS. Sometimes installing a new version of the operating system is all you need to make your problem go away. In other cases, updating the system may fix a software glitch that was causing your problem. Here are the steps to follow to check for and install Fire OS updates: Choose Settings. Choose either My Fire TV (for Fire TV Stick or Fire TV Cube) or Device & Software (for Fire TV Edition). Choose About. Choose Check for Updates. When you highlight the Check for Updates command, the right side of the screen shows the current version of Fire OS, as well as the last date Fire TV checked for updates. Fire TV checks to see if an updated version of Fire OS is available. If an update is waiting, Fire TV downloads the update and then displays the Install Update command. Fire TV installs this update automatically the next time it determines that you’re not using your TV. If you’d rather install the update right away, choose Install Update. Fire TV installs the update. During this process, leave your device on and don’t press any buttons on the remote. Resetting your Fire TV device If your problem is particularly ornery, restarting or updating the device won’t solve it. In that case, you need to take the relatively drastic step of resetting your Fire TV device. I describe this step as “drastic” because it means you have to go through the setup process all over again, so only head down this road if restarting and updating your device don’t solve the problem. How you perform the reset depends on your device: Fire TV Stick or Fire TV Cube: Choose Settings→My Fire TV→Reset to Factory Defaults. Fire TV Edition: Choose Settings→Device & Software→Reset to Factory Defaults. You can’t connect to your Wi-Fi network Wireless networking adds a whole new set of potential snags to your troubleshooting chores because of problems such as interference and device ranges. Here’s a list of a few troubleshooting items that you should check to solve any wireless connectivity problems you’re having with your Fire TV device: Restart your devices. Reset your hardware by performing the following tasks, in order: Turn off your modem. Turn off your Wi-Fi router. After a few seconds, turn the modem back on and wait until the modem reconnects to the Internet, which may take a few minutes. Turn on your Wi-Fi router. Many Wi-Fi devices these days are all-in-one gadgets that combine both a Wi-Fi router and a modem for Internet access. If that’s what you have, instead of performing steps 1 through 4, you can just turn off the Wi-Fi device, wait a bit, turn the device back on, and then wait for the device to connect to your Internet service provider (ISP). Restart Fire TV. Look for interference. Devices such as baby monitors and cordless phones that use the 2.4 GHz radio frequency (RF) band can wreak havoc with wireless signals. Try either moving or turning off such devices if they’re near your Fire TV device or Wi-Fi device. Keep your Fire TV device and Wi-Fi router well away from microwave ovens, which can jam wireless signals. Many wireless routers enable you to set up a separate Wi-Fi network on the 5 GHz RF band, which isn’t used by most household gadgets, so it has less interference. Check your router manual to see if it supports 5 GHz networks. Check your password. Make sure you’re using the correct password to access your Wi-Fi network. Check your range. Your Fire TV device may be too far away from the Wi-Fi router. You usually can’t get much farther than about 230 feet away from most modern Wi-Fi devices before the signal begins to degrade (that range drops to about 115 feet for older Wi-Fi devices). Either move the Fire TV device closer to the Wi-Fi router or, if it has one, turn on the router’s range booster. You could also install a wireless range extender. Update the wireless router firmware. The wireless router firmware is the internal program that the router uses to perform its various chores. Wireless router manufacturers frequently update their firmware to fix bugs, so you should see if an updated version of the firmware is available. See your device documentation to find out how this works. Update and optionally reset your Fire TV device. Make sure your Fire TV device is up to date and, if you still can’t connect to Wi-Fi, reset your Fire TV device. Reset the Wi-Fi device. As a last resort, reset the Wi-Fi router to its default factory settings (see the device documentation to find out how to do this). Note that if you do this, you need to set up your network again from scratch. You’re having trouble streaming media Streaming media on Fire TV works well most of the time, but problems can arise, particularly the following: The media never starts. The media takes a long time to start. The media plays intermittently. The media stops playing and never resumes. It’s maddening, for sure, but most of the time you can fix the problem. I say “most of the time” because there are a couple of situations where media streaming just doesn’t work well: When you have a slow internet connection speed: Media files are usually quite large, so for these files to play properly you need a reasonably fast Internet connection. Amazon recommends at least a half a megabit per second (0.5 Mbps), but realistically you should probably have a connection that offers at least 8 Mbps download speeds for HD content. When you have an intermittent internet connection: If you live in an area with spotty internet service, that now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t Internet connection makes streaming media impossible. What if you have a zippy internet connection and strong service all the time? First, congratulations! Second, there are a few things you can try to get media streaming to work better (or at all). Try these troubleshooting ideas in the following order: Restart your Wi-Fi router and Fire TV device using the steps I outline in the preceding section. If you have other devices accessing your Wi-Fi network, shut down any devices you’re not using. Move your Fire TV device closer to your Wi-Fi router. Your Fire TV device must be within 230 feet of the router (115 feet for older routers), but the closer the two devices, the stronger the Wi-Fi signal. Make sure your Wi-Fi router isn’t situated near devices that can cause interference, such as microwave ovens and baby monitors. Make sure your Fire TV device isn’t close to a wall or a metal object. If your Fire TV device is sitting on a low shelf or even on the floor, move it to a higher location. If your Fire TV device is inside a cabinet or similar enclosure, take it out. If you’re having streaming problems with a particular app, run through the following steps to clear the app’s application data: An app’s data includes your app account info and any settings you’ve configured for the app. If you clear the app’s data, it means you have to enter your login info all over again and reconfigure your settings, so be sure you want to perform this operation before proceeding. On your Fire TV device, choose Settings→Applications→Manage Installed Applications. Choose the app you’re having trouble with. Shut down the app by choosing the Force Stop command. Clear the app’s data by choosing Clear Data→Clear Data command. The Fire TV mobile app can’t pair with your Fire TV device After you have your Fire TV device set up, the Fire TV mobile app will automatically locate and pair with the device. This enables you to use the app as a remote control for the Fire TV device (and, if you have Fire TV Recast, it also enables you to use the app to watch and record over-the-air TV programs). It’s all very convenient, but that convenience goes out the window if the Fire TV mobile app can’t locate or pair with your Fire TV device. If that happens, optionally curse your rotten luck and then try these troubleshooting techniques: Make sure your Fire TV device and the device that’s running the Fire TV mobile app are connected to the same network. Check to see if another device on your network is currently mirroring the display of your Fire TV device. If your Fire TV device is currently being mirrored, the Fire TV mobile app won’t be able to pair with the Fire TV device, so you need to first stop the mirroring. Restart Fire TV. Restart the device on which the Fire TV mobile app is installed. Disconnect a Bluetooth device or Fire TV remote (including any device running the Fire TV mobile app) from your Fire TV device. Fire TV supports up to seven connected devices, so if you’re already at that limit, your Fire TV mobile app won’t be able to pair with the Fire TV device. (Advanced) Log in to your wireless router and search the advanced settings for Multicast support. If you see an option for toggling Multicast, make sure that setting is On. (See your wireless router manual to learn how to log in and access the router’s settings.) (Advanced) Log in to your wireless router and check to see if a static IP address has been assigned to your Fire TV device. If so, configure the router to assign an address to the Fire TV device automatically. (Again, see your router manual to learn how to work with IP addresses.) Your Fire TV screen is blank If your Fire TV Edition Smart TV or the TV to which you’ve connected your Fire TV device shows a blank screen, here are a few things to check out: Make sure the TV is plugged in and turned on. Make sure the TV is set to the correct input: For a TV with a Fire TV device attached, switch to whatever input the Fire TV device is connected to. For a Fire TV Edition Smart TV, make sure the TV is using the Fire TV input (press the Home button on the Fire TV remote to display the Fire TV Home screen). For a Fire TV device connected to the TV via HDMI, disconnect and then reconnect the device. If your Fire TV device is connected to your TV with an HDMI cable or HDMI hub, try replacing the cable and/or the hub. On the Fire TV remote, press and hold both the Up button on the navigation ring and the Rewind button for about ten seconds. Fire TV begins running through the available resolutions for the TV and displays each resolution for ten seconds. If you see the text for a particular resolution, choose Use Current Resolution. If you have a second-generation Fire TV Cube (which supports 4K), make sure you’re using a high-speed HDMI cable. You don’t hear audio during playback If the video portion of a stream appears just fine, but you don’t hear the audio portion, then some troubleshooting is in order. Here are a few techniques to run through: Check that the TV audio isn’t either muted or set extremely low. If your TV is connected to a receiver or similar audio output device, make sure the device is turned on and correctly connected to your TV. If you’re playing sound through your TV’s speaker, make sure the speakers are turned on in the TV’s settings. For a Fire TV Edition Smart TV, choose Settings→Display & Sounds→Sound Settings, and then set the TV Speakers setting to On. For a Fire TV device connected to the TV via HDMI, disconnect and then reconnect the device. If your Fire TV device is connected to your TV with an HDMI cable or HDMI hub, try replacing the cable and/or the hub. For a Fire TV Stick or Cube, try turning off Dolby Digital Plus Output. Choose Settings→Display & Sounds→Audio→Dolby Digital Output, and then choose Dolby Digital Plus Off. You’re having trouble connecting a Bluetooth device Fire TV devices support a wireless technology called Bluetooth, which enables you to make wireless connections to other Bluetooth-friendly devices, such as headsets, speakers, and smartphones. This section provides you with a few common Bluetooth troubleshooting techniques. You don’t see a Bluetooth device Not surprisingly, you can’t make a Bluetooth connection if you can’t see the device on the Fire TV device’s Add Bluetooth Devices screen (which you display by choosing Settings→Remotes & Bluetooth Devices→Other Bluetooth Devices→Add Bluetooth Devices). If you don’t see a Bluetooth device, try the following: Make sure the device is turned on and fully charged. Make sure the device is discoverable. Most Bluetooth devices have a switch you can turn on or a button you can press to make them discoverable. Make sure the Bluetooth device is well within 33 feet of your Fire TV device, because that’s the maximum range for most Bluetooth devices. (Some so-called Class 1 Bluetooth devices have a maximum range ten times as long.) If possible, reboot the Bluetooth device. If you can’t reboot the device, or the reboot doesn’t solve the problem, restart your Fire TV device. Check with the Bluetooth device manufacturer to ensure the device is capable of being paired with Fire TV devices. Specifically, you need to find out whether the device supports either of the following Bluetooth profiles: Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) You can’t pair with a Bluetooth device As a security precaution, many Bluetooth devices need to be paired with another device before the connection is established. You initiate the pairing by tapping the device on the Fire TV device’s Add Bluetooth Devices screen (choose Settings→Remotes & Bluetooth Devices→Other Bluetooth Devices→Add Bluetooth Devices). In some cases, the pairing is accomplished by entering a multidigit passkey — sometimes called a PIN — that you must enter. Fire TV devices don’t support Bluetooth PINs, so if your device requires a PIN, you’re out of luck. Otherwise, you may find that even though the device shows up fine on the Add Bluetooth Devices screen, you can’t pair it with your Fire TV device. First, try the solutions in the previous section. If none of those steps does the job, check to see if the Bluetooth device is already paired with another device. Bluetooth stuff can only pair with one device at a time, so before you can pair the device with Fire TV, you need to disconnect the device from its current pairing. If you still can’t get the pairing to work, tell Fire TV to start over by forgetting what it knows about the device: On your Fire TV device, choose Settings→Remotes & Bluetooth Devices→Other Bluetooth Devices. Highlight the Bluetooth device name. Press the Menu button. Fire TV asks you to confirm the unpairing. Press Select. Fire TV removes the device from the Other Bluetooth Devices screen. Choose Add Bluetooth Devices. Press the switch or button that makes the device discoverable. When the device reappears on the Add Bluetooth Devices screen, highlight the device and then press Select to pair with it again. Your Fire TV device is unresponsive Perhaps the most teeth-gnashingly frustrating problem you can encounter in technology is when a device — particularly one you paid good money for — just stops working. The device appears to be on, but tapping it, shoving it, gesticulating at it, and yelling at it are all ineffective at making the device respond. If that happens to your Fire TV device, try the following troubleshooting steps, in order: Wait a few minutes. Sometimes devices just freeze up temporarily and then right themselves after a short break. Check your Wi-Fi network to make sure it’s working properly and that your device is connected. Restart the device. Check to see if your device is using the most up-to-date system software. Reset your device. You changed your Wi-Fi network password Your Fire TV device needs access to your Internet-connected Wi-Fi network to do its thing. When you first set up your Fire TV device, getting the device on your network by entering your network password is one of the first chores. That usually works flawlessly, but what happens if down the road you change your network password? In that case, you need to reconnect to your network by following these steps: Choose Settings→Network. You see a list of available networks, with your network at the top of the list. Highlight your network. On the Fire TV remote, press Menu to run the Forget This Network command. Fire TV asks you to confirm that you want to forget the network. Press the Select button on the remote. The Fire TV device disconnects from the network and returns you to the list of available networks. Choose your network. Enter your new network password and then choose Connect. Fire TV reconnects you to your network. A Fire TV app doesn’t work properly If a Fire TV app won’t start, freezes, or runs erratically, here are some troubleshooting suggestions you can try to resolve the problem: Restart Fire TV. Force the app to quit by choosing Settings→Applications→Manage Installed Applications→Force Stop. Clear the app’s cache (an area of memory that the app uses to store oft-used data) by choosing Settings→Applications→Manage Installed Applications→Clear Cache. Clear the app’s data by choosing Settings→Applications→Manage Installed Applications→Clear Data. Uninstall the app by choosing Settings→Applications→Manage Installed Applications→Uninstall, and then reinstall the app.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 08-16-2021

Alexa isn’t difficult to set up. But after the initial startup chores are complete, perhaps the most common question people ask is, “What do I do now?” It’s a reasonable question, especially if you’re looking at an Echo, Echo Dot, or Echo Plus, which give you no hints about what your next step is supposed to be. As a way of helping you answer the “Now what?” question, this Cheat Sheet takes you through a few important initial tasks and customizations, as well as a fistful of voice commands to make Alexa do some useful and fun things.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-14-2021

Fire TV makes your life simpler by bringing a bunch of streaming services under a single roof. However, that simplicity hides a complicated system that takes a while to master. To help you smooth out that initial learning curve, this Cheat Sheet offers a handy reference to a few important Fire TV things. Here you’ll find a quick guide to the most important Fire TV settings, a list of 50 — yep, 50 — of the most useful Fire TV–related Alexa voice requests, and a comprehensive glossary of words and phrases related to Fire TV and streaming stuff.

Article / Updated 03-06-2020

Electronics such as Amazon’s Fire TV devices — the Fire TV Stick, Fire Stick 4K, and Fire TV Cube — are streaming media devices. Explore the two-sides-of-the-same-coin ideas of streaming media and streaming media devices, which are at the core of the Fire TV experience. Do you really need to know this background to use Fire TV? Will having a working definition of streaming benefit you when you’re binge-watching Fleabag? Well, okay, the honest answer is “No” on both counts. Or, I should say, the answer is “No” if you don’t care about getting the most out of your Fire TV investment, you’re not the least bit curious how this technology works, or you’re 100 percent certain that you’ll never have problems with Fire TV. Introducing streaming If you were around for the early days of the web — I’m talking about the mid to late 1990s — then you probably remember when the web pages of that era, which contained mostly text with a few images, started giving way to pages that contained media — music, TV shows, and even short movies. That was a fun development, but no one would have described it as “on-demand” entertainment because it could take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more for the media you clicked to download to your computer. Crucially, you had to wait until the entire media file was downloaded before you could start the playback. Inevitably, with Murphy’s Law (“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong”) in full effect back then (as it is today), the longer you had to wait for a media file to download, the more likely it was that the download would crash when it was 99 percent complete. The molasses-in-January pace and the don’t-breathe-until-it’s-done fragility of media downloads were facts of online life back then, but a few nerds started thinking there had to be a better way. They realized that for most people, however slow their download speed, it was still faster than the rate at which they listened to or watched whatever media was being downloaded. Why was this speed difference important? Because it meant that after at least some of the media was downloaded, it could start playing from the beginning and the rest of the download could continue in the background without fear that the user would “catch up” to the download and be forced to wait. This breakthrough meant that most media would start playing within a few seconds. It also meant that, usually, the media was never really “downloaded” to the user’s computer; instead, when the media started playing, it would continue to play until it was over or the user moved on to something else. Consuming media online became like sitting on the bank of a stream watching the water flow by, so some sensitive poet of an engineer coined the term streaming to describe this new way of listening to and viewing media. Nowadays, streaming has gone, well, mainstream for a couple of reasons. First, many users now have computers and/or mobile devices that are powerful enough to process even the largest and most complex incoming audio and video signals. Second, lots of people (at least in the developed world) have speedy Internet connections and home networks, which means that streams usually start within a few seconds and the streaming buffer — the area of memory that’s used to store the next few seconds or minutes of the media (more on this a bit later) — is always full, which results in a continuous and glitch-free playback. Streaming today usually comes in one of the following forms: Audio streaming: Mostly prerecorded music through services such as Amazon Music and Spotify, as well as podcasts through services such as myTuner Radio and Plex. Video streaming: Mostly prerecorded TV shows and movies through services such as Amazon Prime Video and Netflix. Live streaming: As-it’s-happening audio or video, such as on-the-air TV programs delivered by your cable provider or Fire TV Recast, live concerts or sporting events, Internet-based audio or video phone calls, or video feeds of a specific place or scene. Streaming media devices Imagine yourself sitting on the bank of a fast-running stream. Your eyes see the water whooshing by; your ears hear the babbling of the brook; your nose smells the wonderful scent of clean water; if you feel like it, you could also use your hands or feet to sense the coolness of the stream and your tongue to taste the freshness of pure water. In much the same way that your senses give you “access” to a stream, you need a special device to “access” an online media stream. Sometimes that device is just a piece of software. For example, when you click to play a YouTube video, the YouTube site streams that video using special playback software that runs right in your web browser. Increasingly these days, however, that device is a piece of hardware called a streaming media device, and it offers two main features: Streaming service interface: A method for discovering and interacting with services that offer audio, video, or live streams. This feature is incredibly useful because there are dozens — nay, hundreds — of streaming services out there, so having a way to bring all your favorite services together in a single interface is mind-blowingly convenient. Streaming media playback: The capability of playing, pausing, rewinding, and fast-forwarding an incoming media stream, usually by pressing buttons on a remote control that comes with the streaming media device. Amazon gadgets such as the Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Stick 4K, and Fire TV Cube are streaming media devices that use your TV or a mobile device to display a streaming service interface and play audio, video, and live streams, which you can control using either the bundled remote or Alexa voice commands. How streaming works As you might imagine, streaming media is a hideously complex bit of business that requires extremely sophisticated hardware and software to make everything work as well as it does. The good news is that you don’t need to know anything about that complexity, so you can shut off all those alarm bells going off in your head. Instead, this section provides you with a very basic overview of how streaming performs its magic. Streaming is a five-step process For prerecorded audio or video, the media file is stored on the web using a special computer called a web server. When a user requests the media, the server begins sending the first few seconds of the audio or video file to the user. When the data reaches the user’s network, the network’s wireless router passes the data along to the streaming media device. Note that the router is usually wireless, but it doesn’t have to be. The streaming media device waits until it has a certain amount of the media before it starts the playback. The saved data is stored in a special memory location called a buffer. When the buffer contains enough data to ensure a smooth playback, the stream is sent to the user’s TV or mobile device, and the entertainment begins. More about buffering The buffering process that occurs in steps 4 and 5 of the previous section is such a crucial part of streaming that it goes on throughout the playback, not just at the beginning. For example, when you examine the current progress of the playback, you usually see a progress bar. The circle shows your current position in the playback. Just ahead of the circle is a dark portion of the progress bar, which shows you how much of the upcoming stream is stored in the buffer; the rest of the progress bar is white, which tells you that part of the stream hasn’t yet been received by the streaming media device. (The colors may vary on your TV or mobile device.) Why not just play the media as it arrives and skip the buffer altogether? That would be nice, and it just might work in an ideal world, but the world we actually inhabit is far from ideal. In real life, media streams can suffer from a number of problems: The server may be slow to respond if it has to deal with a large number of media requests. Your Internet connection speed may be slow. Your network speed may be slow. Glitches between the server and your network may mean that large parts of the media stream are delayed or missing. Any one of these problems could cause the stream playback to be interrupted for anything from a split second to a few seconds. Without a buffer to fall back on, your show or song would have to stop mid-playback to wait for the delay to resolve itself. However, with anywhere from a few to a few dozen seconds stored in the buffer, the streaming media device can keep the stream playing, and you remain blissfully unaware of any problems because they happen in the background, without affecting your enjoyment of the media. Streaming and data usage When you’re looking to sign up for an account with an Internet service provider (ISP), you’re usually presented with several plans of varying prices. One of the features that varies with the price of each plan is the amount of data per month that you can transfer between the Internet and your modem. This is called usage or monthly usage, and the cheaper the plan, the lower the usage limit you get per month. That limit is important because if you go over that amount in a given month, the ISP will charge you a small fortune for each gigabyte (GB) that you exceed your cap. Overage fees can easily run to several dollars per gigabyte, and Internet forums are awash in tales of people getting dinged $100 or $200 for going way over their monthly allowance. So, yes, for all but the most well-heeled, this is big bucks I’m talking about here. It’s important to know early in your streaming career that streaming media is very data-intensive, meaning it requires tons of usage. For example, here are the data usage values for some popular music streaming services: Music Service Data Usage per Hour Amazon Music 0.11GB Apple Music 0.11GB Google Play Music 0.14GB Pandora 0.57GB Spotify 0.14GB Similarly, here are the data usage values for various types of video stream qualities (most video streaming services give you the option of streaming video in two or more of these values): Video Quality Data Usage per Hour Low 0.3GB Standard Definition (SD) 0.7 GB High Definition (HD) 1.0GB to 3GB 4K Ultra-High Definition (UHD) 7GB Based on these usage values, you can see that it wouldn’t be that hard to use anywhere from 5GB to 10GB of streaming media a day. That translates to 150GB to 300GB a month, which is bad news, indeed, if your ISP’s monthly usage cap is 100GB! My advice? Get an unlimited Internet plan if you can afford it. If that’s too pricey for your budget, then keep an eagle eye on your daily usage (most ISPs offer a tool that lets you view your daily usage). If you see that things are getting out of hand, usage-wise, dial back the streaming for a few days or a week to make sure you don’t go over your cap. What you need to stream: apps and hardware What you need to get into the world of streaming varies widely depending on a number of factors, including what streams you want to check out, your budget, your tolerance for complexity, and your desire for convenience. At the simplest end of the streaming world, all you need is an Internet connection and a web browser. In this bare-bones scenario, you surf to a streaming site (such as Netflix, Spotify, or YouTube), sign into your account (if the site requires an account, as most do), and then use the site’s interface to find and play the streams you want. Many streaming sites offer free accounts (supported by the ads you’re forced to view), so you can get into streaming without forking over any extra cash. Jumping around from one streaming website to another isn’t hard, but it tends to get cumbersome as your stable of streaming services gets larger (as it inevitably will). One easy way to get around the inconvenience of multiple websites is to use the apps that most streaming services provide. Install the app on your smartphone or tablet, use the app to sign in to your account on the streaming service, and — voilà! — you can now locate, curate, and watch streaming media on your mobile device! Viewing streaming media on a mobile device might seem like the perfect solution for an age obsessed with its smartphones and tablets. There’s also something wonderfully intimate about watching a TV show or movie on a mobile device. That said, scratching the streaming itch using only mobile device apps does have its downsides: You may end up with apps scattered across multiple devices. If you’re not connected to Wi-Fi, overindulging your mobile streaming media habit may put you over your cellular plan’s monthly usage cap. You may prefer to watch a particular show on a large TV screen. It’s hard for multiple people to watch a stream on a relatively small mobile screen. There are ways to send a mobile device’s video stream to a TV (this is called mirroring), but an easier way to solve all these problems is to throw more hardware at them. I speak, in particular, of a streaming media device, which is designed to take an incoming stream and display it on a connected TV screen (or mobile device). Even better, all streaming media devices come with a large collection of apps for streaming services. This means that you can collect all your streaming apps in one location and view each app’s streaming content on whatever TVs and mobile devices you’ve connected to the streaming media device. It’s a pretty sweet setup, and it’s the Fire TV way of doing things.

Article / Updated 02-28-2020

Your Fire TV Edition comes with an Alexa Voice Remote that you use to navigate the Fire TV interface (either by pressing buttons or by using voice commands). Before proceeding with the Fire TV Edition configuration, remove the back cover of the Alexa Voice Remote, insert the two batteries that came with Fire TV Edition, and then reattach the back cover. If your Fire TV Edition comes via a device other than a Smart TV (such as a soundbar), connect the device to your existing TV’s HDMI port, which on most TVs is labeled HDMI. If your TV has multiple HDMI ports (as most modern TVs do), then the ports are usually labeled HDMI 1, HDMI 2, and so on. When you power up the Fire TV Edition Smart TV for the first time, or when you switch to the Fire TV Edition input if you’re using a device such as a soundbar, Fire TV Edition takes you through the following setup procedure: 1. Use the Alexa Voice Remote to choose the language you want to use. You use the Alexa Voice Remote to “choose” something by using the navigation ring to press Down (the bottom part of the ring), Up (the top part of the ring), Left (the left part of the ring), or Right (the right part of the ring) to highlight the item you want; then press Select (the circular area in the middle of the navigation ring). The TV should automatically pair with the Alexa Voice Remote. If nothing happens when you press the Alexa Voice Remote’s buttons, you can force the Alexa Voice Remote into pairing mode by pressing and holding the Home button for ten seconds, or until you see the Alexa Voice Remote’s LED rapidly flashing amber. 2. Choose Continue. After a short delay, Fire TV Edition displays a list of available Wi-Fi networks. 3. Choose your Wi-Fi network. Fire TV Edition prompts you to enter the network password. 4. Use the Alexa Voice Remote’s navigation ring to enter each character in your network password, and then choose Connect. If your network password requires one or more uppercase letters, you can switch to uppercase characters by choosing the aA button or by pressing Menu on the Alexa Voice Remote. Fire TV Edition connects to your network and then checks to see if there is an available update to Fire OS, the operating system that runs Fire TV Edition. If an update is available, Fire TV Edition downloads and installs the software, which can take a few minutes. Note that Fire TV Edition may restart during this process. Eventually, Fire TV Edition asks which Fire TV experience you want to have. 5. Choose Full to get the most out of Fire TV. Fire TV Edition asks you to sign in to your Amazon account. 6. Choose I Already Have an Amazon Account. Fire TV Edition displays the Enter Your Amazon Login ID screen. What if you don’t have an Amazon account? No problem. Choose I Am New to Amazon, and then use the Create Account screen to set up your account. 7. In the Email Address field, use the Alexa Voice Remote’s navigation ring to type your Amazon account’s email address, and then choose Next. Fire TV Edition displays the Enter Your Amazon Account Password screen. 8. In the Password field, use the Alexa Voice Remote’s navigation ring to type your Amazon account’s password, and then choose Sign In. By default, Fire TV Edition hides the password by displaying each character as a dot. If you want to make sure you entered the password correctly, choose the Show Password button. If you’ve enabled two-factor authentication on your Amazon account, Fire TV Edition will prompt you to enter a code to verify the sign-in. Type the code that was sent to you, and then choose the Next button. Fire TV Edition confirms your Amazon credentials, signs in to your account, and then registers your Fire TV Edition device. Getting to Know the Alexa Voice Remote One of the most important doodads that comes with your Fire TV device is the Alexa Voice Remote, which enables you to control Fire TV in two ways: Manually: Press the remote’s buttons to navigate the Fire TV interface and control playback. By voice: Use the remote’s built-in Alexa voice assistant to issue verbal instructions for navigating the interface and controlling content. Touring the Fire TV Alexa Voice Remote The Alexa Voice Remote will be your constant companion while you use Fire TV, so it pays to take a couple of minutes now to learn the lay of the remote land. First, the figure shows the version of the Alexa Voice Remote that ships with devices such as Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Stick 4K, and Fire TV Cube. Here’s a summary of what you see on the face of the Alexa Voice Remote: Power: Press this button to turn your TV on and off. Microphone: The internal device that picks up your voice requests when you press and hold the Voice button. LED: Lights up when the Alexa Voice Remote is performing certain operations, such as signaling the remote’s readiness to be paired with a Fire TV device. Voice: Press and hold this button to make a voice request. Navigation ring: Use this ring to navigate the Fire TV interface. Select: Press this button to choose the item that’s currently highlighted on the Fire TV screen. Back: Press this button to go back to the previous Fire TV screen. Home: Press this button to jump directly to the Fire TV Home screen. Menu: Press this button to see a menu of commands that are specific to the item that’s currently highlighted on the Fire TV screen. Rewind: During playback, use this button to rewind the content as follows: Press the button once to rewind by ten seconds. Press and hold the button for a few seconds, and then release the button to continuously rewind at low speed. While rewinding at low speed, press the button again to continuously rewind at medium speed. While rewinding at medium speed, press the button again to continuously rewind at high speed. While rewinding at high speed, press the button again to switch to the low-speed rewind. To stop rewinding, press the Play/Pause button. Play/Pause: During playback, press this button to pause the content; press the button again to restart the content. Fast Forward: During playback, use this button to fast-forward the content as follows: Press the button once to fast-forward by ten seconds. Press and hold the button for a few seconds, and then release the button to continuously fast-forward at low speed. While fast-forwarding at low speed, press the button again to continuously fast-forward at medium speed. While fast-forwarding at medium speed, press the button again to continuously fast-forward at high speed. While fast-forwarding at high speed, press the button again to switch to the low-speed fast-forward. To stop fast-forwarding, press the Play/Pause button. Volume Up: During playback, press this button to raise the volume; press and hold this button to raise the volume quickly. Volume Down: During playback, press this button to decrease the volume; press and hold this button to decrease the volume quickly. Mute: During playback, press this button to toggle the volume off and on. Touring the Fire TV Edition Alexa Voice Remote If you’re doing the Fire TV thing using a Fire TV Edition Smart TV or Fire TV Edition Soundbar, then you get a slightly different configuration for the Alexa Voice Remote, as shown in Figure 4-2. This configuration has the same buttons as the Fire TV Alexa Voice Remote shown in Figure 4-1, but it also comes with the following extra buttons: Guide: Press this button to display the live TV channel guide. Hot buttons: These four buttons take you directly to the app for whatever streaming service is named on the button. For example, pressing the Netflix button opens the Netflix app. As a bonus, pressing one of the hot buttons also turns on your TV if it’s currently off. If you’re accessing Fire TV Edition in a country other than the United States, your Alexa Voice Remote will likely offer one or more hot buttons that are different from the ones shown here.

Article / Updated 02-28-2020

If you have a Fire TV Cube, you need to position the device optimally, connect the device to your TV, and then trudge through the setup procedure. The following discussion explains all. How to position your Fire TV Cube After you’ve liberated your Fire TV Cube from its packaging, one obvious question arises: Where the heck do you put it? Somewhere near your TV seems like the obvious answer, but choosing the best location is a bit more complicated than that. Here are some things to consider: Your Fire TV Cube requires full-time power, so make sure there’s an outlet close enough to the device. Your Fire TV Cube connects to an HDMI port on your TV, so it needs to be close enough to your TV that your HDMI cable can reach. TV or sound system speakers can befuddle the Fire TV Cube’s built-in microphone, so make sure all speakers are at least 1 to 2 feet away from your Fire TV Cube. Make sure the Fire TV Cube is within range of your Wi-Fi network. Make sure the device is close enough that you can give your voice commands without having to yell. Depending on the ambient noise in your environment, this usually means being within 15 to 20 feet of the device. Don’t store the Fire TV Cube inside a cabinet or other enclosed location. Position the Fire TV Cube with the four buttons facing up, and the Amazon logo facing where you usually sit when you watch TV. Get to know your Fire TV Cube’s Alexa hardware Fire TV Cube is a combination of a streaming media device and an Alexa-enabled smart speaker. The latter means that you can send voice commands to the Fire TV Cube to control your TV and Fire TV, and the Fire TV Cube also responds to questions and other utterances. Before continuing with the Fire TV portion of the setup, it makes sense to first learn the basics of your Fire TV Cube’s Alexa hardware. Taking a closeup look at the far-field microphone Computers have had either external or built-in microphones for a few decades, and, of course, smartphones and tablets have had internal microphones from day one. But the characteristic that all these microphones have in common is that they assume the speaker is relatively close — within a few inches or, at most, a foot or two. Move much farther away, and those microphones get notoriously unreliable because they have trouble distinguishing your voice from the background noise in your environment. That sort of second-rate microphone performance just won’t do for the Fire TV Cube whenever you’re relying on voice commands to get things done because those commands could be coming from 10, 15, or even 20 feet away. To get accurate and clear voice recordings, your Fire TV Cube relies on a technology called the far-field microphone, which is optimized to distinguish a voice from the ambient room noise even when that voice is far away. Your Fire TV Cube’s far-field microphone uses some fancy-schmancy technology to accomplish this difficult task: Microphone array: The Fire TV Cube’s “microphone” is actually an array of eight individual microphones, as shown by the circles in Figure 3-8. Note that these microphones are arranged somewhat narrowly from the front of the device to the back. The line created by this arrangement is the direction that Fire TV Cube expects your voice commands to come from. This is why, as I explain earlier (see “Positioning your Fire TV Cube”), you need to place your Fire TV Cube so that the front (where the Amazon logo resides) is pointing to where you sit when you watch TV. Noise reduction: Detects unwanted audio signals (known in the audio trade as noise) and reduces or eliminates them. Acoustic echo cancellation: Detects sounds coming from a nearby loudspeaker (such sounds are known as acoustic echo) — even if that loudspeaker is the Fire TV Cube itself — and reduces or cancels them to ensure accurate voice recordings. Beamforming: Uses the microphone array to determine the direction your voice is coming from and then uses that directional information to home in on your voice. Barge-in: The microphone ignores whatever media the Alexa device is currently playing — such as a song or podcast — so that the microphone can more easily detect and recognize a simultaneous voice command (thus enabling that command to “barge in” on the playing media). Speech recognition: Detects the audio patterns associated with speech and focuses on those patterns instead of any surrounding noises. Pushing the Fire TV Cube’s buttons Your Fire TV Cube is built to be a hands-free device, which is a welcome design choice when you have one hand in a bowl of popcorn and the other clutching your favorite beverage. However, hands-free doesn’t mean hands-off because your Fire TV Cube’s outer shell is festooned with four buttons that you can use to control certain aspects of the device. Here’s a summary of the available buttons: Action: Activates Alexa. That is, pressing the Action button is the same as saying Alexa’s wake word. Microphone Off: Turns the Fire TV Cube microphone off. When the microphone is off, this button glows red, as does the Fire TV Cube light ring. Press this button again to turn the microphone back on. Volume Up: Increases the volume (no surprise, there). Volume Down: You guessed it: decreases the volume. How to connect Fire TV Cube to your TV Your Fire TV Cube connects to your TV’s HDMI port, which on most TVs is labeled HDMI. If your TV has multiple HDMI ports (as most modern TVs do), then the ports are usually labeled HDMI 1, HDMI 2, and so on. Your Fire TV Cube has a built-in infrared transmitter that enables you to use voice commands to control other devices in your home entertainment system, such as your TV (for example, to turn it on and off), audio receiver, Blu-ray player, cable set-top box, or satellite receiver. In other words, your Fire TV Cube, besides being a streaming media device and a smart speaker, is also a universal remote! The IR transmitter (some folks call it an IR blaster) is inside Fire TV Cube, but it may not work for some devices that you’ve stored inside a cabinet or other enclosed area. Are you out of the IR blaster game in that case? Not at all. Instead, you can connect the IR extender cable that comes with Fire TV Cube. Connect the IR extender cable’s jack to the corresponding port on the back of Fire TV Cube, and then position the cube end of the cable as close as you can to the enclosed device or devices you want to control. With your Fire TV Cube connected to your TV, grab the power cable that came with your Fire TV Cube. Connect one end of the power cable to the power port on the back of the Fire TV Cube, and plug the other end of the cable into a power outlet. Turn on your TV and change the input source to your Fire TV Cube’s HDMI connection. How to set up Fire TV Cube Your Fire TV Cube comes with an Alexa Voice Remote that you can use to navigate the Fire TV interface. You may decide to opt only to use Alexa voice commands to control Fire TV, but you still need the remote to get through the initial configuration. So, before proceeding, remove the back cover of the Alexa Voice Remote, insert the two batteries that came with Fire TV Cube, and then reattach the back cover. When you tune to the Fire TV Cube HDMI port on your TV, the Fire TV Cube starts up for the first time and takes you through the following setup process: 1. On the Alexa Voice Remote, press the Play/Pause button. Fire TV Cube asks you to choose your language. 2. Use the Alexa Voice Remote to choose the language you want to use. I talk about how to use the Alexa Voice Remote in more detail in Chapter 4. For now, you use the Alexa Voice Remote to “choose” something by using the navigation ring to press Down (the bottom part of the ring), Up (the top part of the ring), Left (the left part of the ring), or Right (the right part of the ring) to highlight the item you want; then press Select (the circular area in the middle of the navigation ring). After a few moments, Fire TV Cube displays a list of nearby Wi-Fi networks. 3. Choose your Wi-Fi network. Fire TV Cube prompts you to enter the network password. 4. Use the Alexa Voice Remote’s navigation ring to enter each character in your network password, and then choose Connect (or press Play/Pause on the remote). If your network password requires one or more uppercase letters, you can switch to uppercase characters by choosing the aA button or by pressing Menu on the Alexa Voice Remote. Fire TV Cube connects to your network and then checks to see if there is an available update to Fire OS, the operating system that runs Fire TV Cube. If an update is available, Fire TV Cube downloads and installs the software, which can take a few minutes. Note that Fire TV Cube may restart during this process. Eventually, Fire TV Cube asks you to sign in to your Amazon account. 5. Choose I Already Have an Amazon Account. Fire TV Cube displays the Enter Your Amazon Login ID screen. What if you don’t have an Amazon account? No problem. Choose I Am New to Amazon; then use the Create Account screen to set up your account. 6. In the Email Address field, use the Alexa Voice Remote’s navigation ring to type your Amazon account’s email address, and then choose Next. Fire TV Cube displays the Enter Your Amazon Account Password screen. 7. In the Password field, use the Alexa Voice Remote’s navigation ring to type your Amazon account’s password, and then choose Sign In. By default, Fire TV Cube hides the password by displaying each character as a dot. If you want to make sure you entered the password correctly, choose the Show Password button. If you’ve enabled two-factor authentication on your Amazon account, Fire TV Cube will prompt you to enter a code to verify the sign-in. Type the code that was sent to you, and then choose the Next button. Fire TV Cube confirms your Amazon credentials, signs in to your account, and then registers your Fire TV Cube. Fire TV Cube then asks which Amazon account you want to use. 8. Choose Continue. Fire TV Cube now asks if you want to save your Wi-Fi password to Amazon. This is part of a feature that Amazon calls Wi-Fi Simple Setup, which enables other Amazon devices you own (such as Echo smart speakers) to automatically connect to your network. This feature really makes setting up those devices easier, so it’s a good idea to let Amazon save your password. 9. Choose Yes. Fire TV Cube now prompts you to enable parental controls. 10. Choose No Parental Controls. Fire TV Cube asks if you want to set up your streaming services. 11. Choose No Thanks. If you do want to set up your services now, choose Get Started, and then follow the onscreen prompts. Fire TV Cube asks if you want Alexa to help you set up your TV and other equipment. 12. Choose Continue. If you don’t want to bother with this, choose Do This Later, instead. To actually do this later, choose Settings→Equipment Control→Set Up Equipment. 13. Gather the remote controls for each device you want Fire TV Cube to control, and then choose Next. You need the remotes both to confirm when Fire TV Cube has successfully controlled some aspect of the device (by pressing the Fast Forward button) and to perform certain tasks that Fire TV Cube wants to learn how to perform itself (such as changing the input source on your TV). Fire TV Cube runs through your devices, trying each time to detect the device automatically. If Fire TV Cube detects an incorrect device, be sure to choose No and then select the correct device from the list that appears. 14. When the equipment setup is complete, choose Continue. That’s it! Your Fire TV Cube is ready to roll.

Article / Updated 02-28-2020

If you have a Fire TV Stick or Fire TV Stick 4K, you need to connect the device to your TV and then run through the setup procedure. The following discussion takes you through all the steps. How to connect Fire TV Stick to your TV Your Fire TV Stick connects to your TV’s HDMI port, which on most TVs is labeled HDMI. If your TV has multiple HDMI ports (as most modern TVs do), then the ports are usually labeled HDMI 1, HDMI 2, and so on, as shown. Newer TVs usually have all their HDMI ports on one side of the TV’s back panel, while on older TVs it’s common to have one HDMI port on the bottom of the TV’s back panel and a second HDMI port on the side of the back panel. The location of the HDMI port is important because the length of the Fire TV Stick (especially the longer Fire TV Stick 4K) often means that there isn’t room between a bottom HDMI port and whatever surface the TV is sitting on for the Fire TV Stick to fit. If that’s the case for you, then you have three possible solutions: Plug the Fire TV Stick into a side HDMI port, if you have one available. Mount the TV on the wall (which gives the Fire TV Stick plenty of room because there’s no longer a surface immediately under the TV). Use the HDMI extender cable that came with your Fire TV Stick. In this case, insert the smaller end of the extender cable into the HDMI port on your TV; then connect your Fire TV Stick to the larger end of the extender cable. With your Fire TV Stick connected to your TV, grab the USB cable that came with your Fire TV Stick. Connect one end of the USB cable to the port on the side of the Fire TV Stick, plug the other end of the USB cable into the USB port on the power adapter that came with your Fire TV Stick, and then plug the power adapter into a power outlet. Turn on your TV and change the input source to your Fire TV Stick’s HDMI connection. How to set up Fire TV Stick Your Fire TV Stick comes with an Alexa Voice Remote that you use to navigate the Fire TV interface (either by pressing buttons or by using voice commands). Before proceeding with the Fire TV Stick configuration, remove the back cover of the Alexa Voice Remote, insert the two batteries that came with Fire TV Stick, and then reattach the back cover. When you tune to the Fire TV Stick HDMI port on your TV, the Fire TV Stick starts up for the first time and takes you through the following setup process: 1. When you see the Searching for Your Remote message, press the Home button on the Alexa Voice Remote. Pressing the Home button enables the Fire TV Stick and the Alexa Voice Remote to connect (or pair) with each other. If nothing happens when you press the Home button, you can force the Alexa Voice Remote into pairing mode by pressing and holding the Home button for ten seconds, or until you see the Alexa Voice Remote’s LED rapidly flashing amber. 2. On the Alexa Voice Remote, press the Play/Pause button. Fire TV Stick asks you to choose your language. 3. Use the Alexa Voice Remote to choose the language you want to use. For now, you use the Alexa Voice Remote to “choose” something by using the navigation ring to press Down (the bottom part of the ring), Up (the top part of the ring), Left (the left part of the ring), or Right (the right part of the ring) to highlight the item you want; then press Select (the circular area in the middle of the navigation ring). After a few moments, Fire TV Stick displays a list of nearby Wi-Fi networks. 4. Choose your Wi-Fi network. Fire TV Stick prompts you to enter the network password. 5. Use the Alexa Voice Remote’s navigation ring to enter each character in your network password, and then choose Connect (or press Play/Pause on the remote). If your network password requires one or more uppercase letters, you can switch to uppercase characters by choosing the aA button or by pressing Menu on the Alexa Voice Remote. Fire TV Stick connects to your network and then checks to see if there is an available update to Fire OS, the operating system that runs Fire TV Stick. If an update is available, Fire TV Stick downloads and installs the software, which can take a few minutes. Note that Fire TV Stick may restart during this process. Eventually, Fire TV Stick asks you to sign in to your Amazon account. 6. Choose I Already Have an Amazon Account. Fire TV Stick displays the Enter Your Amazon Login ID screen. What if you don’t have an Amazon account? No problem. Choose I Am New to Amazon; then use the Create Account screen to set up your account. 7. In the Email Address field, use the Alexa Voice Remote’s navigation ring to type your Amazon account’s email address, and then choose Next. Fire TV Stick displays the Enter Your Amazon Account Password screen. 8. In the Password field, use the Alexa Voice Remote’s navigation ring to type your Amazon account’s password (see Figure 3-7), and then choose Sign In. By default, Fire TV Stick hides the password by displaying each character as a dot. If you want to make sure you entered the password correctly, choose the Show Password button. If you’ve enabled two-factor authentication on your Amazon account, Fire TV Stick will prompt you to enter a code to verify the sign-in. Type the code that was sent to you, and then choose the Next button. Fire TV Stick confirms your Amazon credentials, signs in to your account, and then registers your Fire TV Stick. Fire TV Stick then asks which Amazon account you want to use. 9. Choose Continue. Fire TV Stick asks if you want to save your Wi-Fi password to Amazon. This is part of a feature that Amazon calls Wi-Fi Simple Setup, which enables other Amazon devices you own (such as Echo smart speakers) to automatically connect to your network. This feature really makes setting up those devices easier, so it’s a good idea to let Amazon save your password. 10. Choose Yes. Fire TV Stick now prompts you to enable parental controls. 11. Choose No Parental Controls. Fire TV Stick next makes sure the volume buttons on the Alexa Voice Remote are working properly. Before continuing, make sure your TV’s volume is turned up. 12. Choose Next. Fire TV Stick plays some music so that you can test the Alexa Voice Remote’s volume buttons. 13. On the Alexa Voice Remote, press the Volume Up (+) and Volume Down (–) buttons. Fire TV Stick asks if the music volume changed when you pressed the Alexa Voice Remote’s volume buttons. If the volume didn’t change, double-check that the TV volume is turned up loud enough that you can hear the music. Also, make sure you point the Alexa Voice Remote at your TV and that the TV’s output device (if any) is turned on and connected properly. 14. Choose Yes. Fire TV Stick tells you that the Alexa Voice Remote is configured. 15. Choose OK. Fire TV Stick asks if you want to set up your streaming services. 16. Choose No Thanks. If you do want to set up your services now, choose Get Started, and then follow the onscreen prompts. Congratulations! Your Fire TV Stick is ready for action.