If you've ever wanted to create your very own Fire TV Application, but didn't know where to start, look no further.  Check out our latest video on how you can download from a repository, customize, and run a Fire TV Application in just 5 minutes.

Today, we announced the next-generation Fire TV Stick, all-new Fire TV Stick Lite, Fire TV Cube expansion in Europe, and a redesigned Fire TV user experience with improved content discovery and engagement features for Fire TV developers.

By publishing your app on Fire TV you can reach new audiences and millions of Amazon customers.  Read on to learn about the value of Fire TV, how you can create a free Amazon Developer account, and basic steps to publishing your first app on Fire TV.

The Gymondo home workouts app combines personalized workout programs and healthy recipes based on your dietary needs to support your wellness goals. We sat down with the developer to learn more about why it was important to them to publish it on Amazon Fire TV.

Your app can send recommendations to users about the content (movies, shows, music, games) that you want them to watch. Recommendations appear on a "Recommended By Your Apps" row on the Fire TV home screen.

In this article we will provide you with a step by step guide for the integrations process.

The German Government is temporarily reducing value added tax (VAT) from July 1^st until December 31^st this year. The German tax rates will change from 19% to 16% (regular VAT rate) and from 7% to 5% (reduced VAT rate). It is the aim of the German Government that retailers pass on the reduction to customers through lowered prices.

While this is not a required action for your published apps on the Amazon Appstore, you may choose to update the List Price of your apps and in-app purchasable items sold in Germany for the duration of the VAT reduction.

Before you apply any changes to the List Price for your apps and in-app purchasable items sold in Germany, please take note of the following:

• Changing the List Price for the “Amazon.de” Marketplace will also impact the calculation of Royalties for apps sold in Austria (AT), where at the moment there is no VAT reduction.
• If you plan to update the List Price for a subscription, please make sure to carefully read the documentation on how to Update Subscription Price on the Amazon Appstore Developer Portal. The system behavior for a given subscriber depends on the price that the subscriber is currently paying.

If you would like to lower the list price for your apps, you can follow the steps below on the Amazon Developer Console:

• Go to “App List” and select the app where you would like to lower the list price
• For Paid Apps, go to “Availability and Pricing” and edit pricing for the “Amazon.de” marketplace
• For editing In-App Items, go to the “In-App Items” tab. For each In-App Item, edit the list pricing for the “Amazon.de” marketplace.

If you have any additional questions, please contact Amazon Appstore Developer Support.

Amazon Appstore Team

We’re excited to announce the next generation (2020) Toshiba 4K UHD and Insignia 4K UHD Fire TV Edition Smart TVs, available in the United States and Canada. Both TVs have the Fire TV experience built-in, a wide selection of screen sizes, and a newly designed Voice Remote with Amazon Alexa.

Amazonは、家族全員の好みに合わせて選べる次世代「Fire HD 8タブレット」3機種を発表しました。処理速度がさらに向上し、日々のストリーミング再生をより快適に行えるラインナップとなっています。

Today, we are excited to announce the next generation of our Fire HD 8 tablet lineup, designed with the entire family in mind. Customers can enjoy a faster performing Fire HD 8 lineup with an improved experience to handle common daily streaming needs.

The Alexa Prize SocialBot Grand Challenge is now in its third year.  And for a third time participating student teams have made exciting advances in the state-of-the-art of conversational AI.  With gratitude for the efforts of all the teams this year, I am delighted to announce the five teams that are advancing to the Alexa Prize Finals.

The three socialbots with the highest average customer ratings during the semifinal period have automatically advanced: Alquist from the Czech Technical University in Prague, Emora from Emory University, and Gunrock from the University of California, Davis. We also advanced two wildcard teams this year based on evaluation criteria that included ratings from Alexa customers, depth and breadth of topics covered, appropriateness and accuracy of responses, and scientific merit as determined by the content of their technical papers: Chirpy Cardinal from Stanford University and Athena from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

In July 2019, ten university teams were selected from applications submitted by labs around the world to compete for the Alexa Prize. Since then, teams have been working tirelessly to delight customers with engaging and coherent conversations on a variety of popular topics. Now, the advancing five teams will compete for the Grand Prize.  If they have a composite score of 4.0 or higher, and at least two-thirds of their Socialbot’s conversations with interactors last for 20 minutes, they will win a $1 million research grant for their University.

Congratulations to Alquist, Athena, Chirpy Cardinal, Emora, and Gunrock!

On behalf of the entire Amazon Alexa organization, I want to thank all of the Alexa Prize teams for their creativity, passion, and contributions to both AI science and to delighting Alexa customers. We will be publishing the teams’ technical papers in a special-edition Alexa Prize Journal later this summer, enabling all teams to share their innovative ideas with the scientific community.

In the meantime, please continue to support our finalists by chatting with their socialbots, it’s as easy as saying “Alexa, let’s chat” to your Alexa-enabled device. You can also follow #AlexaPrize on Twitter and bookmark our website for further updates.