The Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick are getting a software update today that brings more powerful search features, fixing the platform's most criticized features.
Both Fire TV products have added over 75 new apps and channels to universal search. This means you don't have to go digging in each app to find what you're looking for. Instead, you can look up a topic or actor from the universal search and see all relevant results immediately.
Today's update also brings personalized recommendations for services like Netflix and HBO Go, and will eventually add the same for HBO Now and other apps. Subscribers to these services will see personalized recommendations directly in the Fire TV home screen for quick access to content.
Amazon's voice assistant, Alexa, also gets smarter with the update. You can now ask Alexa to skip or rewind any amount of time. For example, you can say "Skip ahead 2 minutes" to jump an episode's intro, or you can say "Rewind 30 seconds" if you missed something.
Last but not least, Amazon is adding the ability to check sports scores for your favorite teams from your Fire TV. Using Alexa, you can say "give me my sports update" to see the latest scores and game info. You can choose which teams to get updates from via settings in the Alexa app.
These updates seem relatively minor but they help make the Fire TV products more compelling amidst tough competition from Roku, Google and Apple.
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