We also want to mention that some of the applications in our list focus on music, books, and media in general, while others focus on task management and collaboration. While some of them are great for accessing personal documents, others are great for the entire family.

In verifying and testing the applications below, we’ve used the amazon fire HD 8. Depending on your device, your experience using these applications may very well vary. Before we begin taking a look at each one, we also encourage you to let us know in the comments box of any app that you think should be included on our list. Here we go!

Duolingo

Let’s be honest about one thing: if you want to learn a new language, then this is probably going to take you quite a long time. If you’re an adult, then the learning process can be even more time consuming and difficult. Luckily, with Duolingo, you can easily get started with learning a new language. Even more, the app is free and it offers you the chance to learn more than 10 languages. Learning your preferred language can be done at your own pace and the tests and lessons all scale nicely in terms of difficulty. As a result, the app will certainly keep you engaged during your learning process.

VLC for Fire

Do you have one or more movies or videos that you’d like to view on your tablet? Well then, you certainly need to download VLC. This is an open source and free application that supports a wide range of video formats. While it doesn’t look great, it does its job well and you can easily watch your favorite videos using it.

Comics by Comixology

Are you a fan of reading comics? If the answer is yes, then Comics is one of the best platforms you can use in order to read tens of thousands of comics. With a library of more than 75 thousand comics, you’re never going to run out of comics you can read while commuting to work or taking a lunch break. You can take advantage of multiple sales in order to stock up on some pretty amazing books, too!

ES Mobile File Explorer

If you’re the kind of user that wants to use his amazon fire for a lot more than streaming media, games, and applications, then you should get your hands on ES Mobile Fire Explorer. Using it, you can access your amazon fire‘s file system in order to remove unwanted files and easily manage content. If you bring a lot of documents or local media onto your tablet, then you’ll find this application very useful.

SoundCloud

While many of us use Spotify in order to listen to our favorite artists, if you want something different, then you definitely need to check out SoundCloud. This is a community of collaborators and creators that share their remixes, demos, and many other aural masterpieces. Using the SoundCloud app, you can tap into a large database of free music offerings and listen to artists that you’d otherwise not know of.

Photo Editor by Aviary

The amazon fire is quite affordable if you are to compare it with some of the top tablets on the market. Because of its low cost, it’s understandable that its cameras aren’t that great. However, if you still want to edit your photos and make them look better, now you can do that thanks to the Aviary Photo Editor.

This is a free tool that allows you to make all sorts of tucks and nips to your photographs. You can add frames, filters, but also make a wide range of fine edits so that your photos look perfect. Using this app is very simple and you could realistically edit photos sometimes in less than 10 seconds.

Pocket

No one denies that tablets aren’t great reading devices, but there are times when you just don’t have the time to read a lengthy, but interesting article. In this case, all you need to do is download Pocket and save that article for offline reading. So the next time you have some free time on your hands, you can pull up the article from Pocket and read it. How great is that?

These are some of the amazon fire tv apps you can install on your tablet. There are definitely a lot more though, so let us know in the comments section about your favorite ones!

The post 7 Excellent Apps you need to install on your Amazon Fire Tablet right now! appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Apple sells iOS devices that come in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB, but what about the Apple TV 4? Why only 32GB and 64GB? Apple figures most Apple TV customers will just stream content via DLNA/UPnP or use home sharing for content we purchased on iTunes. So the internal storage is to just store apps and data.

I don’t think Apple would imagine that people may want to download media to the Apple TV hard drive so that we can use the Apple TV in the car, like i did (check out: Apple TV 4 in The Car detailed) or bring their Apple TV to a friend’s house.

However, there is an app that allows you to do just that. Save your collection of movies, tv shows and music right on the Apple TV hard drive itself.

In my video (below) i give you an overview of all the media apps i use on my Apple TV and if you skip to 7:05 you will see the app that allows you to download media to the Apple TV for offline use.

I don’t want to mention the name of the app in the article. So Apple, you will just have to watch the video to find out! But please don’t pull it from the App Store.

Also check out:

• Infuse 4 for Apple TV 4: first look (video)
• Plex on Apple TV 4 explained (video)

You can find more videos on my YouTube channel AskUncleDave.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post How to save media files to your Apple TV 4 ‘hard drive’ for offline viewing (video) appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Beamer is a Mac app that brings AirPlay mirroring to Macs, but is specially optimized for (and tops the native OS X mirroring in) streaming movies to your Apple TV (read our full review of Beamer 1.0 and about their 2.0 update, which brought a great interface and some cool new features). Recently, Beamer 2.1 was pushed out dealing with some of the most demanded features.

The most prominent one is how Beamer 2.1 will interact with keyboards. The media buttons on the Apple keyboard will now work directly with Beamer and the following Mac shortcuts makes it more powerful than ever:

Keyboard shortcuts for opening the playlist (Shift-Command (⌘)-P) and
The device list (Shift-Command (⌘)-D).

Keyboard shortcuts for skipping back and forward:
Shift-Command (⌘)-Left Arrow : Skip back to beginning
Shift-Command (⌘)-Right Arrow : Skip forward to end
Option-Command (⌘)-Left Arrow : Skip back 30 seconds
Option-Command (⌘)-Right Arrow : Skip forward 30 seconds
Shift-Option-Command (⌘)-Left Arrow : Skip back 5 minutes
Shift-Option-Command (⌘)-Right Arrow : Skip forward 5 minutes

Beamer 2.1 brings scripting support for Apple’s Open Source Architecture. You can right click Beamer icon from the dock and use the playback controls directly. Also the audio, video and subtitle tracks can now be selected from the context menu.

Besides, Beamer 2.1 brings a wide array of performance improvements and bug fixes:

Improved audio quality of stereo output.
Starting and skipping is now significantly faster for some MKV files.
Some SRT files would show overlapping subtitles.
AirPlay password or pin were often not recognized at the first attempt.
A dialog sheet would sometimes not disappear, causing the app to hang.
Playlist selection changed when deleting items from the playlist.
The video snapshot would sometimes not update to the selected movie.

Beamer 2.1 is sold at $15.00 and you can get it from here. A free trial (limited to the first 15 minutes of each video) is also available (the full fersion can be unlocked using in-app purchase).

For current users, Beamer 2.1 is a free upgrade.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post Beamer 2.1 brings support for Apple keyboard, shortcuts, scripting and more appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Remember OneCue, a media control device which we reported a while back? It lets you control all your living room devices including Apple TV, DVD/DVR, AV receivers, Philips Hue, Xbox and Nest, without even touching your remote and just by using gestures.

Three months down the road, they’ve acquired a new name — SingleCue and just released an app which brings similar technology to Macs. It is called ControlAir.

As you might have figured out by now, it enables touch-free control of audio, videos and other media on your Mac. ControlAir uses your Mac’s camera to track your hands and takes the appropriate action based on various gestures.

ControlAir is simple to use. Just raise your index finger in front of the Mac’s camera and move your finger left or right to navigate between the play/pause, skip, rewind and volume controls. To select a function, air-click by lowering and raising your finger and mute by placing a finger to your lips in a “shush” motion.

Developers claim these gestures to work from upto 5 feet away from the device.

ControlAir is compatible with any Mac having a front camera and running OS X 10.9 or later, and works with a variety of media apps like iTunes, QuickTime, Netflix, Spotify, Rdio, VLC, Vox and still more to come.

The best thing is that ControlAir accepts gestures even if the media apps are running in the background, so that you can have a truly touch free experience.

Although ControlAir is now available only for the Mac, this is a peek into what we’ll be seeing with the SingleCue – Apple TV combo, when it launches this spring.

So if you’ve been waiting for a genuine gesture-based touch-free interface for your Apple TV, this is the best step forward.

You can read more about the app here and get ControlAir from the Mac App Store for free.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post SingleCue teases gesture-based Apple TV controls with ControlAir Mac app appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Besides rolling out the Apple TV 6.1 firmware, Apple also updated their Remote app for iOS aiming for better and easier use with Apple TV. The highlight features of Remote 4.2 are:

• Now, you can browse the catalogue of purchased movies and songs on the app and play it via Apple TV. So no more searching iTunes on TV or using that pesky remote with the on-screen keyboard.
• Access iTunes Radio within the Remote app and play directly on your Apple TV – no need for AirPlay anymore.
• Also, the remote works great with the new “easy hide” feature of Apple TV 6.1, as you can use the Options button to bring up the juggle mode and tap Play/Pause button to bring up the hide option.

The features added, though few, are really handy for Apple TV users and make so sense that we wonder why Apple haven’t came up with them earlier. Now we have a solid reason to use the Remote app over the physical remote. The Apple TV experience is evidently getting more and more attention from Apple.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

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Some time ago we reported on a new hack discovered by an iOS hacker David Schuetz that let us put our own apps on Apple TV. By enabling an Apple TV OS feature called Add Site, Schuetz was able to add a custom site pointing at a Raspberry Pi media server which he added to the Apple TV. The hack quickly got closed as Apple disabled the Add Site feature. In a new post Schuetz explains what exactly happened and speculates on the future of his hack.

You can go through the article for the detailed explanation of what happened with the Add Site feature, here’s the conclusion:

If your ATV is on 6.x, and it doesn’t already have the Add Site profile loaded, then you can’t add it, unless you get a profile signed by Apple. And since the Apple TV program isn’t open to the public, you can’t get that profile. So, we’re pretty much stuck.

Great for Security. Lousy for DIY Apple TV hackers. Right?

Well, there is one workaround: If your ATV is on 5.2 or 5.3, you can still add the profile (you just won’t see the button), and then upgrade to 6.0, and, boom!, the Add Site application is available, and fully functional.

Unfortunately, Apple also introduced a signature test when using the Add Site feature. How to deal with this? Schuetz promised to discuss it in the next post.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for more coverage of this topic.

The post Apple TV hacking: “Add Site” hack follow-up appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

• Automatic pulling of cover and file details from IMDB.
• Stunning staging of covers and ticket entry to the theater.
• Support of over 14 formats
• Direct search and download of subtitles from OpenSubtitles.org
• Trakt.tv sync
• Social media sharing
• Easy file transfers and AirPlay

When I first heard about the Infuse 2, I was a little confused. How could there be a sequel to a video player app? Is it a tricky way to make old users pay again for a redesigned app? Later, I realized that it is not a new app but just the new name of the revamped app. Yeah, that makes more sense.

Bringing a brand new design and the ability to stream videos from other devices, Infuse 2 takes the experience a step further. Do consider reading the original review for an in-depth look into its huge list of features, as I will be dealing only with the fresh ones here.

The new interface is undoubtedly optimized for iOS 7. It is clean, compact and flat like a pancake. The basic UI frameworks, like the stage appearance and ticket entry are retained but are more plain as the skeomorphism is lacking. Support for iOS 7 gestures and the blurred backgrounds are in place too. Overall, the app seems new at a glance but instantly feels familiar once you start using it.

Regarding the features, Infuse 2 keeps all those lovable qualities which we praised last time. One of the most demanded features of Infuse was the support for video streaming and had been the deal breaker for many. Guess what? Infuse 2, as promised by FireCore, completely supports network streaming from Mac, PC or drives. It even works with AirPlay, subtitles and Trakt.

In short, Infuse 2 is all the goodness of Infuse, plus a lightweight design and some new features. The best part is that the app is now free. New users can try out the basic player for nothing and upgrade to the Pro version for $4.99 if they like what they see. Old users needn’t worry though. They can avail a free upgrade by tapping the restore button.

Get Infuse 2 from the App Store for free and do let us know in the comments section below, your thoughts on the app.

UPDATE: Firecore has released an update to Infuse 2, just in time for Christmas, bringing better options for free users, bug fixes and more. The full list of changes in Infuse 2.1 are:

• Free users can now play more formats!
• Variable speed scrubbing (drag position dot down for finer control)
• Improved accuracy while scrubbing
• Better movie artwork
• SMI subtitles
• Improved Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, and Spanish translations
• Many other fixes and improvements

The post Infuse 2 Review – The best gets even better appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

FireCore, the maker of aTV Flash (black) and Seas0nPass, has just released Infuse 2, a significantly updated version of its popular video player app for iPhone and iPad. Infuse 2 lets you watch videos in as many as 14 formats on your iOS device and is optimized for iOS 7 and Retina displays, with AirPlay and subtitle support as well as trakt.tv integration baked right in.

Infuse 2 builds upon our vision of being ‘the beautiful way to watch videos’ by featuring a fresh, new, content-first design for iOS 7 that makes enjoying movies and TV shows on an iPhone or iPad better than ever.

We’ve previously reviewed Infuse as the best video player we’ve ever used and now Infuse 2 is set to only increase the greatness of the application.

Other features:

• Automatically download and display cover art and other metadata from TheMovieDB and TheTVDB.
• Connect with trakt to scrobble plays back to your account, submit ratings and post shouts.
• Use a standard web browser to easily transfer videos. No iTunes syncing required.
• Add subtitles in seconds with one-tap downloads from OpenSubtitles.org.
• Easily post what you’re watching to Facebook, Twitter and trakt…all optional of course.
• Localized in 31 different languages with native support for multiple audio tracks and subtitles.

Infuse 2 is available from the App Store as a free app and comes with a new premium in-app purchase called Infuse Pro, which is said to empower you to play additional media formats, stream videos from other devices (such as a Mac, PC or network drive), send a wider variety of video types over AirPlay, and enjoy full Dolby Digital Mobile Surround.

The Infuse Pro in-app purchase is available at an introductory price of $4.99, but it’s a free update for all current Infuse users (note: current Infuse users should tap the ‘Restore’ button instead of ‘Upgrade Now’ on the Infuse Pro upgrade prompt).

Infuse 2 requires iOS 7 or later.

Infuse 2 [iTunes link].

Be sure to also check out a great review of Infuse by our friends at What’s On iPhone.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

The post FireCore releases Infuse 2 with all-new design for iOS 7 and the ability to stream from other devices appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

A new hack was discovered which allows custom site bookmarks to be added on pre-iOS 7 Apple TV’s. The backdoor hack comes from an iOS hacker David Schuetz who discovered a way to enable an Add Site feature which adds the ability to add custom sites to the Apple TV menu. However, it seems the hack has already been closed: it seems Apple checks for the existence of additional links placed on the Home Screen and actively disables them, so unfortunately the hack was short lived. Hopefully, Schuetz’s discovery will inspire people to figure out how to disable this check. Despite the hack being closed, here’s the details.

The hack didn’t even require a jailbreak and is compatible on version 5.x and earlier builds of Apple TV. By enabling the Add Site feature, Schuetz was able to add a custom site pointing at a Raspberry Pi Media server which he added to the Apple TV.

The process is explained in detail on this website and is shown in the below video:

Ultimately, to get this to work you have to do the following:

1. Start up a simple web server somewhere and put the .mobileconfig file there
2. Go to the AppleTV Settings app
3. Select “General” then scroll the cursor down to highlight “Send Data To Apple”
4. Press “Play” (not the normal “Select” button)
5. Enter the URL for the .mobileconfig file (don’t forget to add https://)
6. After loading, you may need to restart the AppleTV for the change to take effect

The possibilities that this opens up are endless, but it seems Apple have patched it in the 6.0 firmware. Let’s hope someone can figure out how to disable the checks Apple impose.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post Apple TV hacker discovered how to add custom sites, the hack gets closed quickly appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

I have been a power user of AVPlayer on my iPhone and iPad, since a long time. In fact, I din’t even know that I needed a better player until a couple of days back when I tapped the buy button besides Infuse – The Beautiful Way to Watch Videos.

Infuse amazes us at different levels!

The opening screen invites you to a Stage, that showcases all your videos both within the app and those in the gallery. You can add more content anytime, via iTunes sync, FTP transfer, via Browser or from other apps.

I just loaded my favourite episode of the TV show House, to test the app and that is when I started noticing the difference. Mine was a raw file named ‘house 0416‘ without any other details. In a few seconds Infuse tracked down the video and pulled all available details from the internet into a neat little ‘ticket‘. The thumbnail is on the stage, IMDB rating on top and even a Parental Guideline seal. Details of the crew, resolution of the video, duration and summary of the episode are here in a blink. Mind blown!

Tap on the play button and the ticket side is torn to enter the theatre. Sit back and enjoy all your favourite movies, TV shows, trailers, courses, music videos or just anything, in up to 1080p resolution.

Support for over 14 formats including the popular MKV, AVI, FLV, WMV, 3GP, etc., in addition to the standard MP4, MOV and MOV, means Infuse chews up anything you throw at it. Playing both AC3 and E-AC3 audio makes sure you have the highest level of entertainment’ always (note that DRM-protected content purchased from iTunes are not supported).

But things are far from over.

A little into the video, what if you realise that you cannot follow the conversations, especially if you’re a non native speaker or watching a foreign movie? No worries, just go into settings and look for an alternate audio track. If that doesnt help, tap ‘Subtitles’. Either your can load your own srts or Infuse can automatically find them for you in the vast and popular OpenSubtitles.org database. Change subtitle settings to customize the appearance and set the offset. Tadaa!

In addition to all these uniqueness, the routine brightness, aspect ratio, and scrubbing are available, of course. The videos are divided into chapters so that you can note down your favorite scenes. Sync via a Trakt.tv account to play across multiple devices and share with friends via Facebook and Twitter.

The latest update brings Wi-Fi file transfers (you can get videos into Infuse by dragging and dropping them into the app through any web browser) and the much awaited AirPlay option that lets you play your videos on the big screen and completes the video viewing experience. The new fullscreen TV-out feature (when using HDMI/VGA adapter) is also a good addition.

It is cruel to ask more out of an app that delivers so much. But if you insist, I would wish for a Touch lock and Orientation lock buttons within the app and also a few handy Gesture controls.

In short, Infuse is hands down, the best video player I’ve ever used.

Get Infuse – The beautiful way to watch videos from the App Store for $4.99, as a universal app for iPhone and iPad.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

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