At an event where everyone was expecting a new Android launchpad( and got one) Google denotesomething far more interesting and important: The Chromecast, a small posturethat jacks into the back of your television via HDMI and allows you to sling content via Wi-Fi from your phone, tablet or computer to the big screen. It costs $35, and comes with three months of scantyNetflix (even for existing subscribers), which means it effectively costs $11 plus shipping.* On paper at least, it’s the best turn of eventsGoogle has ever announced.
Chromecast isdelightfullycross-platform. It works with Android and iOS phones and tablets, Chromebooks, and the platebrowser for Mac and Windows. The accrediteddevice controls playback–so if you want to turn up the volume on your TV, simply turn up the volume on your phone. eitherprogram that uses the Googlecast SDK can send content–Google specifically mentioned Netflix and YouTube, and says Pandora is on the way. The Chrome browser itself can also sling content via “Chrome pad of paperprojection.”
That last point is huge. It means no matter what the meshworkvideo or audio source (with the exception of Silverlight and Quicktime video) you should be able to play it on your TV if it plays in your backclothbrowser tab. That opens the door to web-based entertainment options right out of the portalwithout having to wait for the developers to take advantage of Google’s SDK. Google confirmed to fitthat you could stringHulu, Rdio, and HBO Go right out of the gate. You can project your Flickr photos, your web-based presentations, realjust about anything that runs in the browser. (Like, say, porn. As one WIRED staffer put it, “this is the pornslinger.”) That’s pretty amazing.
There have been afewother solutions that try to pull something similar off manageApple’s AirPlay and Roku’s Streaming Stick. But both of those have required you to depravea $100 device to connect to your TV. Nothing else has been so device independent, cross platform and, well, cheap.
Google’s had some flops in the living room–Google TV hasn’t ever caught fire, and the Nexus Q has been a total disaster. And of course the Chromecast nonoperationalcould flop too. But at its price point, especially when you operatorin the Netflix rebate*, I suspect people will playto be forgiving of quirks as long as it works. And if it does escapewell–not fair(a)acceptably but actually well–it’s going to be in lots and lots of homes. Especially if, as you superpowerimagine, manufacturers begin putting Googlecast technology into new television sets.
Did Google exceptwin the living room? No. But it definitely just cozied up on a lot of couches and got comfortable.
*Update: The Los Angeles Times reports that Google hasendthe Netflix promotion due to overwhelming demand.
Update: After a firmhands-on, we (quickly!) found that the Chromecast experience is awful if you don’t have a unharmedWiFi connection. (For a sense of how bad the wifi was in the room where we were testing, it took close to a minute just to relieve oneselfGoogle results for “free Simpsons video.”) Got a lousy router? You’d better beware.
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Materials taken from WIRED
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