Fire TV

Amazon launched its Fire TV Stick in the US last October, leaving those of us in the UK feeling a little jealous of our stateside cousins. However, we don’t have to wait too much longer to get our hands on the retail giant’s streaming device as Amazon announces it will soon be available on British shores.

The Fire TV Stick is available to preorder today and will begin shipping on April 15. And there’s great news if you’re an Amazon Prime member, or have been toying with the idea of becoming one.

My household cut the cord in July 2014; the cable box is gone. In the process, I have been testing various streaming set-tops and sticks, and the latter is today's topic. Google opened up the category with $35 Chromecast in July 2013, and the device gets better with age. Roku Streaming Stick, at $49.99, is priciest choice, while Amazon Fire TV Stick is the $39 in-betweener.

Briefly, before deep diving, Chromecast is easiest to use and offers more commercial programming support. Roku delivers broadest streaming channel selection. Fire TV fits tightly into the broader Amazon Prime ecosystem, while offering satisfying, but incomplete, content options compared to either of the other devices.

Sling TV has just come out of private testing and no longer requires an invitation -- anyone can now use it. The next step is, logically, getting set-top box makers on board. One of those would be retail giant Amazon which produces the Fire TV. It's a growing platform with more options being added seemingly daily.

Now Amazon can count Sling TV among it growing list of entertainment choices. In fact, the retail giant claims its offerings have gone up markedly since the device launched in 2014.

Three weeks ago I asked "What tech changed your life in 2014?" You answered here and on Google+. As the new year starts, I wonder what will make all our lives better. Apple Watch? I doubt it. Shake me awake from the nightmare if the wearable isn't the most successful flop of 2015. Windows 10? Skipping nine is a good sign, but is giving users more of what they don't want to let go life changing? Eh, no.

At the precipice of looking ahead, this is a last look behind. Once Consumer Electronics Show leaks and early announcements rush the InterWebs, all eyes will turn forward -- blind to what many people have, focusing on what they want instead. That's because "aspiration" is the defining word of the technology era, and the promise if you buy newfangled This or That your life will be better for it. Sometimes the promise is true, but too often not, which is why I asked the important question three weeks ago.