Last week, Amazon added a new product to its growing portfolio of tablets, ebook readers and online service. Its new device is called Fire TV and pairs with the company's Prime Instant Video service. But what is Fire TV?
CEO Jeff Bezos describes the $99 gadget simply as, "A tiny box that plugs into your HDTV." In that way, it's a lot like Apple TV or Roku, a so-called "streaming video" device that can grab TV shows, music and movies from the Internet for viewing on as TV.
But the box has other ambitions as well. It can play video games with a $40 game controller, sold separately. It also has a neat trick in its remote control: A built-in microphone allows viewers to use their voice to search for programs by name, actor or genre.
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What's available for Fire TV? Anything from Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, Watch ESPN and Showtime Anytime, though you'll need to pay for subscriptions to those services. HBO Go is missing so far, and the video game selection, including "Minecraft" and "The Walking Dead," is small, but sure to grow.