Logitech Stops Production for Harmony Remote, Firefox Discontinues Support for Amazon Fire TV in Latest Tech Changes

Sieeka Khan, Tech Times 10 April 2021, 11:04 am

(Photo : Pexels/Oleg Magni) Logitech remote control

Logitech has gone a long time without any hardware updates, and now the tech company announced that it will no longer manufacture Harmony universal remotes.

Logitech discontinues Harmony remotes

According to TechHive, Logitech's universal remotes have been among the best universal remotes on the market, especially in the recent years.

The Harmony remotes were perfect for home theater users who want a traditional-style remote that can connect almost anything in a living room and a smart home.

However, with massive tech companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon extending their reach into home control and HDMI-CEC connects controls for more devices, the market for universal remotes is more of a niche than ever.

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While Logitech considered selling off the division back in 2013 before keeping it in-house, the product line is now coming to an end, with remaining products sold through retailer until they are all gone.

If you are thinking about picking up a Harmony remote, they are now labeled as "while supplies last." Logitech is now setting a goal to provide service and support for as long as customers are using the product but there will be no new features or updates anymore.

Firefox ends support for Amazon Fire TV and Echo Show

Meanwhile, Mozilla announced it is ending Firefox support for the Amazon Fire TV platform and Echo Show devices starting on Apr. 30.

The Firefox browser will stop receiving security updates after that date, and users will no longer be able to install it either.

That also means that users won't be able to reinstall if they ever decide to remove it from their device or if they perform a factory reset to start from scratch.

Amazon gave Fire TV and Echo Show owners access to Firefox in 2017 just shortly after Google announced that it is blocking the YouTube app on the devices. It also launched Firefox to give users another option and to make it easy for users to access the Web from the comfort of their couch.

As it turned out, Amazon added Firefox support just in time, because Amazon Fire TV users lost access to the YouTube app earlier than expected.

The browsers allowed users to stream videos from the Google-owned platform on their devices even while the tech giants were not in good terms.

At the time, Googled explained that its decision was born out of the lack of reciprocity.

Google has supported Amazon products but, as a spokesperson for the company pointed out, Amazon does not carry Google products and prevented Google Cast users from accessing Amazon Prime Videos.

After the tech giants went back to friendly terms, Amazon reinstated YouTube support on the Fire TV, which means users no longer need a browser to play its videos.

According to Android Police, the Echo Show does not have a dedicated YouTube app yet, so owners will have to rely on Amazon's Silk browser.

If you are using Firefox to stream videos, you will need to switch to Silk to keep watching the videos. Alternatively, users can always install the Android TV version of Firefox on your Fire TV by getting the APK from APK Mirror.