I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned my newfound hatred for televisions here. It’s not the poor TV’s fault - it’s the people that use it. I hate how when I have guests in my living room, the couches are pointed at the TV, and eventually someone can’t help themselves and turns it on, because the whole room is set up for TV watching - not chatting.

However, that doesn’t mean that I hate watching TV. I just hate the TV being a background noise when I’m not watching it.

For me, the Kindle Fire is a fabulous concept. It is a device on which you can watch TV and that connects to WiFi. With an Amazon Prime membership, you can get access to a whole lot of content right away. In addition to watching videos, you can also get access to movies, magazines, and games.

I used to watch TV on my laptop, but my new netbook doesn’t work well for watching TV online. Sure, I could get an iPad, but they’re so expensive that I could just buy a new computer to watch TV shows on, PLUS be able to run Civ 4 (I’m addicted. Luckily, I don’t have my own version of it at home. I wonder if they’ll come out with a Kindle Fire version… ? Please?)

But the Kindle Fire is only $199! True, it doesn’t have all the capabilities of an iPad. But again, if I really wanted all those capabilities, I could buy a laptop for the same price. $199 is a lot easier to justify as a present to myself than $600 (or however much iPads cost. So much that I’ve dismissed them from my mind.)

I’m a big fan of my 3G Kindle e-reader, which I bought for $170 or so, used on eBay. Now, you can buy the new 3G “touch” version for only $149.

I think that Amazon, by coming out with a cheaper option with less features than an iPad, has really put themselves in a competitive position with the iPad. Simply by NOT trying to recreate the iPad, but only recreating one popular feature, and for a price that you could easily justify spending on a Christmas present for a loved one, or on a treat for yourself.

You can read more details about the capabilities of the Kindle Fire here:

Disclaimer: This post is NOT sponsored by Amazon. I’m actually just excited about the product. The link above is sponsored by Amazon though, via their affiliate network. FYI.

The Kindle Fire will be released on November 15th, 2011, but you can order today, and be first in line in case they sell out!

What about you, readers? Would you consider buying a Kindle Fire? Do you own a Kindle e-reader? Do you already own an iPad? Do you think this device will be popular with folks that already have a TV plus a laptop that they can use to watch TV online?