Post by Willow on Jul 26, 2013 14:02:17 GMT 9.5
I have an Apple TV which is great but this looks nifty! And cheap enough to have as well as the Apple gizmo
IT'S a thumb-sized device that turns any TV set into a smart TV - a $US35 ($38) key that attaches to a regular HDMI port.
Unveiled in San Francisco overnight, Google's new Chromecast dongle lets popular mobile gadgets feed online content and Android apps wirelessly to most modern TV sets - in fact any set with an HDMI port.
Mario Queiroz, head of Google TV, said Chromecast "won't clutter your entertainment cabinet. It simply disappears behind your TV once it is plugged in".
The new connector device went on sale for $US35 online at Google play and will also be sold through Amazon and Best Buy in the United States.
(UPDATE: It is reported that all current Google supplies of the Chromecast sold out within 2 hours of it being made available through its Play Store)
In the US the connector automatically adds applications for online video services YouTube and Netflix but it is open to developers, including Australian ones, to ready any application they want for the living room.
It also offers device mirroring: it will let people use smartphones, tablets or laptop computers to easily direct online videos to television screens, a demonstration showed.
'If you know how to use YouTube on your phone, you know how to use YouTube on your TV," Queiroz said while describing the vision behind Chromecast.
"Any device in your home can become a remote control for the television."
Google also made available a software kit for developers to synch mobile apps with Chromecast.
Online radio streaming service Pandora is among those with Cast application features "in the works," according to Google.
Google is also working to let people "cast" online content from Chrome web browsers to televisions.
Content fed to televisions is delivered directly through home Internet connections, with smartphones, tablets or laptops serving essentially as remote controls, according to Queiroz.
"We are paving the way for more apps to come," he continued. "Over time, we expect the technology to be embedded in a range of devices from our partners."
Chromecast, is part of Google's attempt to make it easier for people to access Internet content on their TVs.
Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps said Chromecast could undermine Apple in the still-nascent market to plug streaming devices into TVs, just as the Nexus tablets have siphoned some sales away from Apple's iPad.
Google's previous products designed to connect TV sets to the internet haven't worked out well. The company initially tried to embed an operating system called Google TV into sets made by TV manufacturers, but that flopped. Last year, Google introduced an orb-like device called the Nexus Q in hopes of delivering more Internet video to flat-panel TVs, only to quickly pull the product from the market.
"Chromecast looks like a smart and disruptive device," Rotman Epps said. "Maybe it took the other failures for Google to get it right."
Google wants to have a presence on TVs because it could open up a lucrative new channel for it to sell more ads, which bring in most of its revenue.
Google's selling of Chromecast for just $US35 undercuts the most popular Internet-streaming devices made by Apple and in the US Roku. An Apple TV box sells for $US99, while the least expensive Roku box capable of showing high-definition video goes for $US80. Roku, a company that formed within internet video subscription service Netflix, also sells an internet streaming stick similar to Chromecast for $US100 in the US.
Earlier this year, Apple revealed that it has sold more than 13 million of its streaming boxes. Roku said its sales of streaming boxes surpassed 5 million units this year.
IT'S a thumb-sized device that turns any TV set into a smart TV - a $US35 ($38) key that attaches to a regular HDMI port.
Unveiled in San Francisco overnight, Google's new Chromecast dongle lets popular mobile gadgets feed online content and Android apps wirelessly to most modern TV sets - in fact any set with an HDMI port.
Mario Queiroz, head of Google TV, said Chromecast "won't clutter your entertainment cabinet. It simply disappears behind your TV once it is plugged in".
The new connector device went on sale for $US35 online at Google play and will also be sold through Amazon and Best Buy in the United States.
(UPDATE: It is reported that all current Google supplies of the Chromecast sold out within 2 hours of it being made available through its Play Store)
In the US the connector automatically adds applications for online video services YouTube and Netflix but it is open to developers, including Australian ones, to ready any application they want for the living room.
It also offers device mirroring: it will let people use smartphones, tablets or laptop computers to easily direct online videos to television screens, a demonstration showed.
'If you know how to use YouTube on your phone, you know how to use YouTube on your TV," Queiroz said while describing the vision behind Chromecast.
"Any device in your home can become a remote control for the television."
Google also made available a software kit for developers to synch mobile apps with Chromecast.
Online radio streaming service Pandora is among those with Cast application features "in the works," according to Google.
Google is also working to let people "cast" online content from Chrome web browsers to televisions.
Content fed to televisions is delivered directly through home Internet connections, with smartphones, tablets or laptops serving essentially as remote controls, according to Queiroz.
"We are paving the way for more apps to come," he continued. "Over time, we expect the technology to be embedded in a range of devices from our partners."
Chromecast, is part of Google's attempt to make it easier for people to access Internet content on their TVs.
Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps said Chromecast could undermine Apple in the still-nascent market to plug streaming devices into TVs, just as the Nexus tablets have siphoned some sales away from Apple's iPad.
Google's previous products designed to connect TV sets to the internet haven't worked out well. The company initially tried to embed an operating system called Google TV into sets made by TV manufacturers, but that flopped. Last year, Google introduced an orb-like device called the Nexus Q in hopes of delivering more Internet video to flat-panel TVs, only to quickly pull the product from the market.
"Chromecast looks like a smart and disruptive device," Rotman Epps said. "Maybe it took the other failures for Google to get it right."
Google wants to have a presence on TVs because it could open up a lucrative new channel for it to sell more ads, which bring in most of its revenue.
Google's selling of Chromecast for just $US35 undercuts the most popular Internet-streaming devices made by Apple and in the US Roku. An Apple TV box sells for $US99, while the least expensive Roku box capable of showing high-definition video goes for $US80. Roku, a company that formed within internet video subscription service Netflix, also sells an internet streaming stick similar to Chromecast for $US100 in the US.
Earlier this year, Apple revealed that it has sold more than 13 million of its streaming boxes. Roku said its sales of streaming boxes surpassed 5 million units this year.