The Chromecast is a media streaming device from Google, allowing you to play your favorite content from Netflix, Spotify, Google Play Music, Pandora, and countless other services on your television. The device is a small HDMI dongle, and retails for $35.
Ah yes, winter is in the air and along with it the promise of Black Friday shopping deals. I’ll just get right to it and say if you’re in the market for a Galaxy S 4…you should hold off and take a look at the Walmart and Target deals coming up in a little under two weeks.
We got a tip (Thanks Guy!) that Amazon had trademarked the name ‘Firetube’ in Canada and the US. With all of the news surrounding the Amazon Phone lately – I immediately thought that is a dumb name for a phone.
[tweet https://twitter.com/llsethj/status/385746818480742400]
Seconds later it hit me. Tube=TV. Amazon needs a TV product to counter Apple and Google.
[tweet https://twitter.com/llsethj/status/385748077677936640]
It makes a lot of sense. Amazon has all of this content on the Fire and no way to put it on a TV yet. They have to release some type of Chromecast competitor and quick. There are, of course, rumors of an Amazon TV. Lots of rumors. Bloomberg thinks Fall 2013 is the planned launch window. That’s right now.
Quick thoughts: Will it play from the iOS app? Will it be cheap and cost ~$35 like the ChromeCast? Bundled with Kindle? Will it work with older devices? I’ve reached out to Amazon for a comment.
With the name now public and the holidays approaching, it would be surprising not to see an announcement soon.
Google has announced that Hulu has added Chromecast support to its Hulu Plus app, enabling online shows to be viewed on the big screen – something it promised back in July.
Now you can easily enjoy your favorite shows, such as “Modern Family,” “New Girl” and “Parks and Recreation,” on your big-screen TV by casting from Hulu Plus on your mobile phone or tablet. It’s the same intuitive, remote-free experience you’ve come to enjoy with the other Chromecast-supported apps, and is as simple as pressing the Cast button which will now appear in the app …
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Google has released a new application for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch to make it easier for users to setup and manage the Chromecast TV device.
• Set up your Chromecast to work with your Wi-Fi network
• Manage your Chromecast settings (such as changing your device name, Wi-Fi password, etc.)
The application is free on the App Store. The Google Chromecast is a device that plugs into a TV set via an HDMI port. The Chromecast allows users to stream content, such as YouTube and Netflix, from devices like computers, tablets, and smartphones.
Image: Amazon
There were suggestions yesterday that Google had deliberately blocked the Chromecast stick from playing local content after an update blocked the functionality.
Google today confirmed in a statement that this was a glitch with a particular SDK, and that it remains committed to allowing the stick to play all types of content.
We’re excited to bring more content to Chromecast and would like to support all types of apps, including those for local content. It’s still early days for the Google Cast SDK, which we just released in developer preview for early development and testing only. We expect that the SDK will continue to change before we launch out of developer preview, and want to provide a great experience for users and developers before making the SDK and additional apps more broadly available.
There may of course be suggestions that it was a hasty rethink rather than a glitch; if so, it was done very swiftly.
Developer of the third-party AllCast Android app, Koushik Dutta, says that Google’s latest software update for Chromecast blocks the app’s ability to stream local files to Google’s new $35 streaming device. The app had not yet made its way to Google Play, but Dutta claims (via TheVerge) that Google intentionally disabled support for AllCast in the latest Chromecast software update:
Heads up. Google’s latest Chromecast update intentionally breaks AllCast. They disabled ‘video_playback’ support from the ChromeCast application.Given that this is the second time they’ve purposefully removed/disabled[1] the ability to play media from external sources, it confirms some of my suspicions that I have had about the Chromecast developer program:
The policy seems to be a heavy handed approach, where only approved content will be played through the device. The Chromecast will probably not be indie developer friendly. The Google TV team will likely only whitelist media companies.
So far Google’s Chromecast only officially supports YouTube, Netflix, and content from Google Play, and to help it make deals with other big media companies it looks like it might have to limit access to streaming capabilities for third-party apps. The other side to that of course is that Chromecast allows users to stream a tab from the Chrome browser, which allows users to stream local content from their own devices anyway. Google hasn’t commented on the AllCast situation, but we’ll update you if we hear anything.
AllThingsD reports that Google may be in discussions with NFL to buy the rights to the Sunday Ticket package when DirectTV’s contract runs out at the end of the 2014 season.
Today, according to sources, Google CEO Larry Page, along with YouTube content boss Robert Kyncl, met with a delegation from the NFL led by commissioner Roger Goodell. And the Sunday Ticket package was among the topics of discussion, according to people familiar with the meeting …
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Photo: technobuffalo.com
If you have a Chromecast stick but were having problems getting it to find one or more of your Android devices, give it another go: Google has just silently updated the firmware to address the issue.
Via AndroidCentral
We thought $35 was pretty cheap for Chromecast, but if you don’t even want to lay out that much (or, more likely, can’t get your hands on one at the moment), there’s an app for that.
XDAdevelopers (via Phandroid) pointed us to CheapCast, a free app in the Play Store that enables any Android device to emulate a Chromecast stick. Install it in two devices, one of which could be an Android TV or OUYA, and you can broadcast from one to the other. Don’t, however, expect full functionality at this stage …
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Google’s insistence that there is room for both Google TV and Chromecast has seemingly been confirmed by an apparent new Sony-branded Google TV making its way through FCC approval.
The FCC filing spotted by @cj_000 (via Engadget) has all the hallmarks of a new Google TV device.
The NSZ-GU1 has an IR blaster like other Google TV boxes, and Bluetooth where the Chromecast doesn’t include either. The power adapter it’s tested with also could be overkill for a simple dongle-like device
Despite some speculation that it could be a Chromecast stick, it seems unlikely.
Google SVP Sundar Pichai recently told AllThingsD that Google TV “will be a full-fledged Android for television,” and that the company will be announcing more manufacturing partners at CES next year. One of those projects is believed to be an Android-powered set-top box with a motion sensor similar to Microsoft’s Kinect.
If you’re a mixed platform kind of person, with both iDevices and an Android media server, you can now use the popular XBMC media player to stream audio and video from your iPhone or iPad to your TV without any third-party hacks.
Engadget reports that Zeroconf support (aka Airplay compatibility) has been added to the latest pre-release Android version of XBMC, Gotham.
While this was a long-awaited development, interest may be reduced since Google launched its $35 Chromecast stick with similar functionality.
Full details and download from the XBMC site. The usual cautions about pre-release software apply.
“We are actively working with Google to bring Hulu Plus to the platform,” Hulu rep Meredith Kendall said. “At Hulu, we’re constantly innovating to provide our users with access to their favorite TV shows anytime, anywhere, on any device.”
What a stark contrast to when GoogleTV was released and Hulu blocked, yes BLOCKED, Google TVs from accessing Hulu content. Yes, a few years makes a big difference and Hulu has since gotten comfortable on set top boxes, but I think the model where Google puts content owners in control has struck a chord with content distributors. They are 100% in control of what goes on Chromecast.
“Here’s how you put your content on a Chromecast. They are $35 and going to be everywhere. Do what you want” works.
Vimeo, HBO, Redbox, and many others are also jumping on board.
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That $35 stick is looking less and less like a novelty item and more and more like a serious option for those looking to view content on their TV as developer Koushik Dutta has created an Android app to allow both photos and video to be streamed from a smartphone …
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Update: HBO confirmed to GigaOM that its in talks regrading offering support for Chromecast in the near future.
When Google announced the Chromecast last week, it revealed handful of content providers that are available to ‘cast’ to your TV. GigaOm is now reporting, however, that both Vimeo and Redbox Instant will soon be making their way to the new $35 streaming stick.
In a statement to the blog, Vimeo’s VP of mobile, Nick Alt had the following to say about Chromecast:
“We’re excited about the emerging opportunities bridging mobile to Connected TV and we look forward to offering Chromecast support in our products.”
The report also states that Redbox will also be bringing its Instant streaming service to Chromecast. Plex, a service that focuses mainly on brining local files to your big screen, also says that it is “actively investigating and optimistic” for Chromecast support.
Wow, lots of interest in Chromecast and Plex. Yes, we've ordered a few of them :-)
— Plex (@plex) July 24, 2013
Finally, GTV Hacker has also uncovered some configuration files that hint at tests for HBO Go as well as the services that Chromecast already supports.
While none of these services have specific time frames for release, it looks like Google will be moving a pretty quickly to beef up the streaming services it supports.
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Just a few days after its announcement, Google’s new Chromecast stick has already been rooted. The rooting process, as detailed by GTV Hacker, is similar to almost every Android phone. During the announcement last week, Google said that the Chromecast was powered by Chrome OS, but GTV Hacker has found something different.
The blog says that after rooting and doing a little digging around within the software, it looks like the Chromecast is running software closer to Android or Google TV, not Chrome OS as Google implied. While this doesn’t mean all that much for the end user, it does leave the door open for an eventual port of the full Google TV operating to the tiny HDMI stick or the ability to install standalone apps at some point.
We had a lot of internal discussion on this, and have concluded that it’s more Android than ChromeOS. To be specific, it’s actually a modified Google TV release, but with all of the Bionic / Dalvik stripped out and replaced with a single binary for Chromecast. Since the Marvell DE3005 SOC running this is a single core variant of the 88DE3100, most of the Google TV code was reused. So, although it’s not going to let you install an APK or anything, its origins: the bootloader, kernel, init scripts, binaries, are all from the Google TV.
We are not ruling out the ability for this to become a Google TV “stick”.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google has been working on an Android-powered set-top box, so it’s possible that it the device may be some sort of advanced variation of the Chromecast.
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Google’s new $35 Chromecast device has huge potential in a living-room environment, but as PC World notes, the device also could be a major player in the enterprise market as a presentation tool. If you have to give a presentation now, it’s tricky to make sure you have the right converters to connect to the projector at the office, and if you get there and it turns out you needed VGA, not DVI, you’re in big trouble. With the Chromecast, all you would have to do is bring it to your meeting and have your documents stored in Google Drive. From there you can cast all of your Chrome tabs to the big screen with no issues.
The Chromecast would also be the perfect device to take on a family outing, as it would allow you to easily watch Netflix content on any TV with an HDMI connection at your hotel.
While it may take a little work to get all your documents in Google Drive, the process has gotten simpler and simpler over time and with more businesses switching to Google Apps anyway, there’s no reason not to use a Chromecast in the office.
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Google is clearly serious about its intentions to make a sizeable push into the living-room market, as Android Police spotted a small clue revealing that Android 4.3 has added support for 4k displays.
Google has added a new DPI category to Android: XXXHDPI. This is for screens with an approximate DPI of six hundred and forty. Did you think we were stopping at 1080p?
Android engineer Dianne Hackborn is quoted as confirming the intent behind this:
A typical use of this density would be 4K television screens — 3840×2160 …
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Sundar Pichai already made it quite clear that Google TV isn’t going anywhere despite its shiny new $35 Chromecast device unveiled during its Android and Chrome event yesterday. However, in case you were wondering whether or not the Chromecast and accompanying SDK would be supported through Google TV devices as well, Googlers have since confirmed that it will indeed support the Chromecast streaming standard in a future update:
With the exciting news about Chromecast we are getting a lot of questions mostly wondering if Google TV is dead.
No, in fact partners are continuing to launch new Google TV-enabled HDTVs and boxes. As we announced at I/O, we are working with partners to bring the latest experience of Android and Chrome to devices later this year. We believe there is ample room for both products to exist and succeed.
Sundar made it quite clear that going forward Google TV and the new Chromecast HDMI stick would be part of one product strategy, so its not surprising Chromecast apps will also be able to stream to Google TVs through the same standard. Chromecast hardware will focus on more casual video streaming on the cheap, while Google TV will continue its mission to bring a full Android experience into the living room.
The photos don’t really add much to what we know about the Chromecast, but here for the curious is what the $35 device looks like on the inside. There’s a Marvell DE3005 system-on-a-chip (SOC) with an AzureWave wifi chip and what appears to be 4Gb of flash memory …
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At its breakfast event this morning, Google officially confirmed the Chromecast, which is a device that lets you “cast” content from your computer, smartphone, and tablet to your big screen TV. While most people don’t have their hands on the device yet, Google has just released the official Cast extension for Chrome.
The Google Cast extension enables you to find and play content on your Chromecast device from your Chrome browser. When on Cast optimized sites like YouTube and Netflix, you’ll see new options that let you play video on your TV via Chromecast – using your computer as a remote to browse for videos and to control playback. You can also cast any of your tabs in Chrome to your TV, letting you enjoy sites, photos, or even video from the best screen in your home.
The Chromecast itself is available from a variety of retailers, including Best Buy and Amazon.
Google just seemingly ‘cast’ its Google TV project to the curb. As a much simpler version of GoogleTV, the leaked Chromecast allows you to do what you can now do on Google TV: pushing content from both Netflix and Youtube to your TV. Unlike Airplay, the Chromecast stick allows the original device to turn off or go to sleep. It functions as a standalone streaming device, awaiting orders from an iOS device, Android device, or Chrome browser on a PC, Mac or Chromebook Pixel (strangely, other Chromebooks need not apply).
Google has also baked in iOS support, which will allow users of both platforms to control Netflix or Youtube. You can also broadcast a tab in the Chrome Browser.
Google Play music and movies can also ‘cast’ to the best speakers in your house as long as those are connected to your TV. Pandora is coming soon.
It will be available from Google Play, Amazon and Best Buy as well as other retailers. We’ll have a review up as soon as possible.
Earlier this afternoon, several eagle-eyed people noticed that an odd device dubbed “Chromecast” was listed on Google Play’s device list (via Droid-Life). Many people have since speculated that the device, which has now been removed from Google’s support site, is some sort of Chrome dongle for your TV.
Droid-Life reported on something like this a few weeks ago, though that device was called the Chromekey. It’s unclear how, or if, the two devices are related, but it seems likely that they are in some fashion. Droid-Life’s source told it that the Chromekey could “cast” your Chrome browser from another device (computer, smartphone) to your big screen TV.
Several people also interrogated Google support live chat with questions about the Chromecast device and were told that it’s a TV service that’s available “only in a few areas.” When asked how and where the device could be purchased, the Google support representative simply said that she is not sure.
More than likely, we’ll hear something about the Chromecast and/or Chromekey at tomorrow’s Breakfast with Sundar event, as he is the head of Chrome and Android for Google.
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