Chromecast-a-day: And then there were four

OK, boys and girls. We're in the home stretch now. Just four Chromecasts remaining on our desk, and one of them can be yours today.

We're declaring this "No-hoop Hump Day." To enter to win, just leave a comment on this post. We'll collect 'em through midnight PDT (anything after that won't count) and pick a winner in the morning.

And congrats to the winners of the first two days —  Ben in Utah and Ray in Houston! Your Chromecasts are on their way!

Read More

Koush builds Chromecast app to share anything from your gallery

He should need no introduction at this point, but the popular Android modder and hacker Koush has been busy working on some new treats for Google’s Chromecast device. It’s only been available for under a week, is sold out in most places, and has some serious potential. And Koush is proving that already. Using the beta SDK he’s developed an app allowing a user to cast pictures, videos and more all from their device gallery.

As it stands now, the Chromecast can share YouTube videos, Netflix, Google Music, and a few other very select things. Yesterday we learned Vimeo, Redbox Instant and more are coming soon, and we’ll welcome HBO and Showtime too. However, for those who don’t pay for a service and want to just cast their own pictures and video, Koush has you covered.

He explains his first Chromecast app will allow the user to share (via the standard cast button) anything to their TV they’d like. Well, anything that’s on their smartphone or tablet. Any pictures or videos in the gallery can be cast, and it does so at full framerate, looks wonderful, and “works like magic” according to him.

The hacker then goes on to mention sharing tons of other options with the app. Things like music and playlists, instead of requiring us to use Google Music only. He promises a video showing off this awesome new feature set is coming soon, but the app will have to wait as he’s not allowed to release it yet. So what does this mean? The Chromecast is about to get tons of support from some of the best Android developers and modders around. So get excited.

Read More

Dell ships thumb-sized Android PC to testers

Merely days after Google revealed its Chromecast device, Dell has started shipping test units of its own take on the “computer on a stick” concept. Named Project Ophelia, the Android-powered thumb PC is aimed to be an affordable, lightweight PC alternative, according to Pund-IT principal analyst Charles King.

First announced at the Consumer Electronic Show last January, Project Ophelia is a device the size of a USB stick. Once attached via HDMI, Ophelia turns any screen or display into a personal computer, a workstation, a media player, or a gaming box. Running on Android, Ophelia is able to harness the power of a familiar OS, allowing users to download and install apps, stream movies or play games as they would on their gadgets.

Project Ophelia might be one of Dell‘s measures to address the continued rise of smartphones and tablets that have taken a huge bite from their PC market. The company is hoping that the idea of small thumb-sized computers will catch on as more people take to the cloud for data storage. Priced at $100, Ophelia will definitely not be competing with regular PCs. Instead, Dell will be targeting sales staff, field personnel, or maintenance workers. Ophelia could also be enticing to companies who are looking for more affordable alternatives or who are trying to avoid the cost of upgrading office computers to Windows 8.

Dell plans on developing features that will differentiate Ophelia and make it interesting for enterprise customers. This could include allowing IT administrators to lock down or wipe a device in case of loss or theft. Another feature could be the ability to log and track activities on the device. Once available to the public, Ophelia will be sold through Dell’s website as well as through certain partners.

Read More

Chromecast support eyed by Vimeo, Redbox Instant

The Internet is ablaze with news and details about Google’s new streaming video device and there isn’t any indicator of things mellowing down soon. And it seems that online video streaming services are getting ready to jump into the Chromecast bandwagon with Vimeo and Redbox Instant expressing interest in supporting the device.

Google’s announcement of the Chromecast was greeted with so much interest that it completely sold out within 24 hours of its availability. The thumb drive-sized device, which connects to a TV through HDMI, currently supports streaming media from a very limited number of services, including YouTube, Netflix, and Google Play. Additional services will also supported through Chrome browser extensions in the future.

The popularity of the little device has definitely grabbed the attention of several other video services. Vimeo VP of Mobile Nick Alt shared that they are looking forward to supporting Chromecast in the future as part of their thrust in bridging the gap between mobile and TV. There are also rumors that Redbox Instant by Verizon will also be bringing its service to Chromecast.

Service providers aren’t the only ones excited about Chromecast though. The creators of Plex media center hinted that they are investigating and are optimistic about supporting the device. Google TV fans over at GTV Hacker have also started the painstaking process of trying to hack into the device to discover its secrets. Their first attempts have yielded a configuration file that hinted at tests for HBO Go, suggesting that support for HBO might be coming soon as well.

Read More

Google Chromecast Review: A Little Dongle With Big Potential

Over the past few years, manufacturers have been packing more and more features into their televisions-from 3D picture to web browsing-in an industry-wide arms race to differentiate. It hasn't added up to much more than bloat. Google Chromecast offers relief in the form of a little dongle that puts whatever's on your laptop, phone, or tablet on your television. For cheap.

What Is It?

What the ill-fated Nexus Q should have been. It's a dongle that plugs into your television set and pulls video you call up on your mobile device or computer down from the cloud and onto your big screen. It can also mirror whatever you're playing in your chrome browser. At $35, it is super cheap.

Who Is It For?

People that dislike using the integrated UI of their existing components-be that a Smart TV, connected Blu-ray player, or AV receiver-or don't have a streaming-capable device to begin with beyond their phones and tablets.

Why It Matters

It's easier than ever to cut ties with the tyranny of cable these days. Streaming services like Netflix and Hulu are quickly pushing it out, but require either a Smart TV or a media streamer like Apple TV or Roku if you're going to watch it on anything bigger than a laptop screen. With a $35 Chromecast device, you only need a TV with a single HDMI port to watch all of the treasures the internet contains.

It's important to take it for what it is, though; Chromecast isn't Google's version of Apple TV, and it's not trying to be. Hundred-dollar boxes like Apple TV and Roku come with way more apps pre-loaded; Hulu Plus, HBO Go, Amazon Prime HBO Go-these are all major streaming services that you can't yet find on the Chromecast. Live game streaming services like MLB League Pass and NHL Open Ice are huge draws but, aren't available directly from Google's offering either. Neither are Spotify, MOG, or Pandora (although that last one's coming soon). There's a lot of stuff that the Chromecast can't do yet.

But Chromecast also costs a third of what those devices do, and has plenty of potential given that its SDK is just a few days old.

Design

The Chromecast itself is about two inches long, half as wide, just under an inch think, and looks like a bulbous USB stick. It's got an HDMI plug on one end with a USB port on the other. The HDMI plugs into your TV and draws power from the USB port. You'll either have to plug the included USB cable into a spare port on your TV (if it has one), or plug it into a wall socket using the included adapter. This is less than ideal-and a far cry from how Google advertises Chromecast-but all those wires are out of sight behind your television anyway.

Using It

This is ludicrously easy to set up. Plug in the Chromecast to HDMI and USB power. Change your TV to the designated input, download the Chromecast app, and follow the onscreen instructions. The dongle will automatically detect your home network; all you have to do is input your network key and confirm that the two devices are indeed tethered. Altogether, setup took less than 10 minutes from my opening the retail packaging.

For the purposes of this test, I used my first-gen Nexus 7, Droid DNA, my busted old HP laptop running Windows 7, and a Samsung tablet running Windows 8 as sources and plugged the Chromecast into a 55"" Vizio M Series LED TV. A Sony streaming Blu-ray player acted as the control measure against which video quality was judged, and everything ran off my home network with an average streaming speed of about 10-15 Mbps.

Sharing video is a cinch. Open up the streaming app you want to watch (your choices for now are Netflix, YouTube, and Google Video), load up the video or track you want and tap the onscreen Chromecast icon. A dialog box will pop up and ask which TV you want it sent to and boom-it's on your TV. I powered through the first season of In-Betweeners, Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior, and The Man from Nowhere on Netflix from both the phone and the Nexus tablet, as well as a few Dethklock videos on YouTube. The Chromecast videos had comparable fidelity, stream rate, and video quality as on the Blu-ray control.

While more services beyond the founding three will be available on Chromecast soon, you might not want to bother waiting. That's fine. In addition to the Netflix, YouTube, and Google Video apps, Chromecast can also mirror any open tab in your Chrome browser. Simply install the Google Cast Extension, load up the Hulu website (or Crunchyroll, NHL Open Ice, MLB League Pass, HBO Go, etc), tap the new Cast button next to the address bar, and you're set.

I watched the latest episode of Naruto Shipuuden on Hulu Plus, and a couple of random episodes from Crunchyroll using both the HP laptop and Win8 tablet. There's about a second of lag between small and large screens, but both advance without hesitation once playback starts.

The video quality of mirroring also isn't quite as sharp as when using either the Blu-ray control or one of the officially sanctioned apps. The same is true for playing local content in a Chrome tab; it works but isn't quite as crisp as it should be. I noticed also that mirroring tabs really put a strain on both my network and my CPU. For the 1.6Ghz (2GB RAM) laptop, this strain caused noticeable slowdown, but the 2.4 GHz (4GB RAM) Win8 tablet was unfazed.

Chromecast's ""mobile as a remote"" feature is a great idea but it can be problematic. Unless you keep your device on and set to the streaming app's playback control (which totally negates the ability to do other stuff on your tablet while casting content) you can't just pick up the remote and pause playback immediately. No, you'll have to navigate through the lock screen, into the streaming app, wait for your Wi-Fi radio to turn back on, wait for the streaming app to recognize that it is in fact controlling playback on the TV, then hit pause. What took two seconds can now take up to 20. That was never a problem with Apple TV or Roku, unless of course you lost the remote in your sofa cushions. You can also just download Remote apps for both of those that work just as well.

Like

Chromecast provides a much-needed low-cost means for migrating towards streaming services that immediately renders most of the recent advances in Smart TVs obsolete (unless of course you really love surfing the Internet on your Samsung TV's built-in browser, you masochist).

The fact that Chromecast communicates directly with the cloud server means that once I load up a video, I can continue using my phone or tablet for other stuff without disrupting the movie. I can also queue up additional media directly to the TV so my mobile device doesn't burn through its battery pushing the data from Netflix's servers to the TV. What's more, my mobile device not only becomes the remote but, if say I have to leave mid-movie, anyone else in the room can log on to Chromecast (assuming they have my Netflix credentials) and take over remote control duties. It's brilliant, but more importantly, it's simple.

Also, the price. Come on. For $35, it's worth at least taking a flier.

No Like

Google's Chromecast demos show people slapping it back of their TV and then having it magically work are entirely true. Since the Chromecast doesn't run on battery power and HDMI ports are unpowered, you'll either have to sacrifice one of the TV's USB ports (which really, you've got like three unused ones right now) or a power outlet. That's not a particularly big price to pay but it is a bit of a pain if you've already got a full complement of socket-hungry component pieces.

The fact that it only currently only supports Google Play Music is also a pain. I use a mix of iTunes and Amazon primarily and, while there are ways to sync your collection between all three, loading my 100+GB of music onto a third service is not really worth it at this point.

Last, it's important to note that for mirroring to work at all you're going to need pretty strong Wi-Fi, and even then it's not ideal. Presumably as more apps become available this becomes less and less of an issue, but for now, your mileage will definitely vary on anything that's not Netflix, YouTube, and Google Play content.

Should You Buy This

Yes. Thirty five times, yes. Especially if you don't already own an Apple TV or Roku, or are a heavy Netflix user. As discussed above, those boxes do offer quite a bit more functionality at the moment but they will set you back $50 for the barest of bones purple box or $100 for the Apple TV. And even if you do already own another box, the Chromecast's low-cost mirroring capability is a surprisingly handy (albeit a bit fuzzy) feature.

Look at what exactly you want to use your device for and choose accordingly. But for multiple-TV houses, or for people dipping their toes into the river of streams, Chromecast is an excellent option.

Read More

What Chromecast needs to go from good to great

Google has an instant hit with its $35 Chromecast, apparently selling more than 250,000 unitsalmost immediately. It's been so unexpectedly popular, in fact, that the company had todiscontinue its initial three-month Netflix promotion.

Here's what Google can do to make the Chromecast an even worthier living-room contender:Of course, most of those purchases were made in the minutes following the initial announcement -- and before anyone had his hands on the new gadget. My experience with the Chromecast didn't fully live up to the hype, with mediocre screen-mirroring performance and dedicated streaming being limited to Netflix, YouTube, Google Music, and Google TV & Movies. It's not a bad device by any stretch -- especially when you consider the price -- but it could get a lot better with some key improvements.

More app support

The most glaring limitation at launch is the limited app support. Right now the Chromecast can stream directly from Netflix and YouTube using both iOS and Android devices, with Android users also getting support for Google Music and Google TV & Movies. That leaves out quite a few high-profile services that are on competing devices, such as Amazon Instant, HBO Go, MLB.TV, PBS, Spotify, and Rdio. (Google has already pledged to add support for Pandora.) Yes, you can get many of these services working via screen mirroring, but dedicated apps are vastly superior in just about every way, especially image quality.

Netflix and YouTube are nice, but Roku's boxes support many more streaming services.

Support for just a few more apps would add a lot more value to the Chromecast, especially since Netflix and YouTube are already so widely supported on other devices. Given the massive initial buzz (that even Google seemed unprepared for), I wouldn't be surprised if we saw app support come quickly -- there are already rumors that HBO Go could be on the way. And since "support" is more about cutting the deals and adding a Chromecast toggle to existing iOS and Android apps -- rather than making changes to the Chromecast itself -- we could see a flurry of updates soon.

True phone-to-TV streaming

The Chromecast is great at pulling content from the cloud via supported apps, but it's a little surprising that you can't stream music, photos, and videos stored on your mobile device. With so many people using their smartphone as their main camera -- and video camera -- it seems only natural that the Chromecast should let you display your media on the biggest display in your home.

Roku's mobile app lets you push photos and music stored on your phone to your TV.

This shouldn't be an impossible feature for Google to implement. Apple's AirPlay already delivers easy photo, music, and even video streaming to the Apple TV from iPhones and iPads, and Roku's smartphone app (on iOS and Android) lets you stream music and photos stored on your phone right to the Roku. Google's service doesn't need to be quite as seamless as AirPlay, but a basic way to play content stored on your phone would be a big plus.

Screen mirroring can seem like the solution to all your "Internet video on your TV" problems, but in practice I've always found it sort of clunky. It requires a very robust home wireless network, otherwise you'll end up with dropouts and glitches. And even if your network is up to the task, the transcoding process makes image quality suffer and your laptop's fan kick into high gear. The truth is, even though I was impressed with the Apple TV's mirroring capabilities, which I found more stable than the Chromecast's, I've rarely found myself wanting that feature in my everyday life. (I use the Roku 3 as my home streaming box.)

But I recognize that screen mirroring is the feature that makes a lot of people excited about the Chromecast, so Google needs to work out the early issues I found in my review. Screen-mirroring functionality was advertised as a beta feature, so it's understandable that it isn't entirely polished out of the gate. I have my doubts as to whether screen mirroring will ever truly look comparable to dedicated streaming apps, but if Google can nail this, it could be a killer feature that would keep people excited about the Chromecast after the initial buzz wears off.

Make iOS support even better

One of the best parts about the Chromecast is that it works with both Android and iOS devices, but iOS support could still be improved. Google Music remains unsupported on the Chromecast for iOS devices, which could presumably be fixed if Google releases its long-promised iOS app. I'm less confident that Google TV & Movies will ever make it into the Apple ecosystem, although it's not out of the question since other video stores, like Amazon Instant and Vudu, are available. Finally, Google can add support for setting up the Chromecast with iOS devices, which isn't currently possible, but Google says it is coming soon.

An MHL-compatible Chromecast

When Google announced the Chromecast, the company rolled out photo after photo of the device connected to a TV with no additional cables. Of course, the reality is that the dongle needs power, either via a USB port on your TV or using the supplied power adapter. I don't think the extra wire is that big of a deal -- it's all hidden behind your TV -- but Google could offer a version of the Chromecast that supports MHL, a newer HDMI-like port that provides enough power to run the Chromecast.

It's smart that Google didn't make the Chromecast MHL-only, as that strategy has hampered Roku's otherwise excellent Streamingg Stick. But now that many new TVs and AV receivers are including an MHL port, the option to buy a truly wireless Chromecast would be nice.

Read More

Now that we have Chromecast, is it time for 'Xbox TV?'

A funny thing happened to me when I made a comparison chart this week listing what you can watch on Google's new Chromecast versus Apple TV and Roku. A few people asked why I didn't list the Xbox. The answer is that the Xbox is a different class of device, to me. And if I'm not thinking of it alongside streaming media devices, consumers might not, as well. That's an opportunity for Microsoft.

I love my Xbox for gaming. But I've also streamed Internet-based video content through my Xbox, just as I have through my Apple TV and my Roku. Usually, it's HBO Go content, because of whatever is the ridiculous licensing issue that prevents DirecTV subscribers from enabling HBO Go on the Roku.

There's no question that the Xbox is a great streaming media device. Indeed, here's how it compares to the other three devices, in terms of support for what I consider to be the essential app-based "channels" that an Internet-to-TV device should include:

My article for Marketing Land, What You Can Watch On Google Chromecast, Apple TV, Roku & Xbox, explains more about the chart, why I consider these channels (Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO Go) important and more on how they work, so I won't repeat that here.

Natively, without having to open up a laptop or play around with settings, Xbox supports even more major options than the others. So what's the problem? Why wouldn't everyone buy an Xbox to stream video material?

The problem is that the Xbox is also a streaming media device, a capability added on to what I'd argue remains its main function, being a gaming console. That leads to two issues for consumers who may consider it versus one of the other devices:

• It's overlooked or not thought of alongside the others
• It's at least twice the price or more than the others

I think if you're a consumer not already considering Roku or Apple TV, and the now sold-out Chromecast has got you reassessing the space, you might take a closer look at the other two. But would you contemplate an Xbox? It's probably not showing up in comparison reviews for the same reason it wasn't in my article, because it's really a different class of device. It does more; the primary purpose still seems game-oriented, and it sure costs more.

Why can't I have that in a much smaller box, at a much smaller price -- and which doesn't take longer to load than my Apple TV or Roku, or make as much noise operating? That might be a hit for Microsoft in the way the Chromecast may be turning into for Google.That's where Microsoft's opportunity lies. Why not make an "Xbox TV" streaming media device, of a similar nature to the Roku, Apple TV or Chromecast? Lose the gaming functionality, focus on the video (and perhaps music), and Microsoft might have a way into people's living rooms who might otherwise dismiss the Xbox.

When I was discussing on Twitter about my initial omission of the Xbox in my comparison, that's where I thought of the "Xbox Live" idea, that it seemed such an obvious move that Microsoft should make. Then Tom Warren pointed out to me his article in The Verge, on rumors that an Xbox TV-type of device is coming.

Warren says Microsoft's plans have put this type of device back until next year. Xbox TV may be coming, and if so, perhaps Microsoft should accelerate its development.

Read More

How to set up a Chromecast

To hear Google tell it, you'd think its Chromecast practically installed itself. I can tell you from experience that this is not the case.

To Google's credit, Chromecast setup is a breeze compared with some of the hair-pulling experiences I've had involving the Apple TV, for which I suspect Apple designed the remote control out of metal in order to help you withstand the compulsion to throw that thing back into the useless hell it spawned from. But I digress. Here's how to set up your Google Chromecast.

Plugging it in

Sounds simple enough. Grab your dongle and stick it in. But there's more to it.

First off, the Chromecast dongle requires more power than an HDMI port alone is able to provide. So to deliver the extra juice it needs, a Micro-USB cable is included that can be run to either the included power adapter, or ideally, an available USB port on your TV. The latter option will minimize cable clutter, save on power, and give you one fewer thing to plug into what is likely an overcrowded power strip behind your TV.

Another hiccup in this first step is that the Chromecast dongle may not fit quite right in the space carved out around your TV's HDMI input -- especially when you factor in the Micro-USB power cable that juts out from the top. To give you a little extra flexibility, Google includes a small HDMI extension cable that can easily be plugged into cramped inputs.

Once you're plugged in and powered on, switch your TV to the corresponding HDMI input and you should see a short Chrome startup screen and an invitation to get started.

Software setup

The Chromecast dongle itself is a relatively "dumb" technology -- there's no user interface, and no means of directly connecting a Bluetooth keyboard or remote.

So the first hurdle is to figure out how to get the Chromecast on your local Wi-Fi network, without any direct way to talk to it. So, to set your Chromecast straight on how to connect to the Internet, you'll have to talk to it through a nearby browser. In my case I had a MacBook running Google's Chrome browser. I pointed it to the address listed on my TV (also inscribed on the inside of the Chromecast box): google.com/chromecast/setup.

Next, install the Chromecast setup app on your Mac or PC.

Once here, I was prompted to download a small Chromecast setup application. Initially the app is used to locate and identify any nearby Chromecasts. You can tell yours apart using the name and unique four-digit ID shown on your TV screen.

Finally, you'll arrive at a step for selecting your Wi-Fi network. This step is critical, because for the Chromecast to work it needs to be on the same Wi-Fi network as the devices you want to use it with. Select your network from the drop-down list, type in any required passwords or let the software pull one over from your password keychain, and if you're feeling saucy, give your Chromecast a personalized name.

For better or worse, the Chromecast relies on your computer to determine which Wi-Fi network it will connect to.

But you're not out of the woods yet. In order to use one of the most coveted of the Chromecast's features -- the ability to push any Web content to your TV -- you'll need to take one extra step and install the Google Cast Chrome extension. Doing so gives you a nifty little button in the upper-right corner of your browser that will toss the currently displayed tab over to your TV, giving you access to the wide world of streaming-video services.

In the final step, you'll be prompted to install a Chrome extension that places a Chromecast button in the top-right corner of your browser.

Things get a little confusing with services such as YouTube and Netflix, where a separate Chromecast button is provided directly on the video player, which automatically kicks content over at full screen. This is the typical usage scenario, so it makes sense, but if you really are dying to see the video displayed exactly as it is on your computer screen (comments and all) you can opt to use the Chromecast button in the corner of your browser instead of the one shown on the video player.

Using the Chromecast with mobile devices is another story. As yet, there is no way I can find to send over mobile Chrome browser pages to the Chromecast (I trust the Internet will correct me if I'm wrong). Instead, you'll find Chromecast buttons included in a select number of apps, such as Netflix, YouTube, and Google Play apps such as Play Video and Play Music (Android-only). Support for Pandora is expected soon.

The upside to this app-specific implementation of the Chromecast is that the screen of your mobile device is transformed into a remote control, allowing you to play, pause, skip, or scrub through the content on your screen. In this mode, volume adjustments made to your device will be reflected in the volume of the content displayed on your TV.

Mobile devices, such as Android and iOS phones and tablets, can make use of the Chromecast using compatible apps, such as Netflix.

Tips and tricks

Finally, a few tips and tricks I learned along the way. When using the Chrome browser on your computer to send content to the Chromecast, you have a few extra settings that you can mess with. Press the Chromecast button in the top-right corner of your browser, select Options, and the following list of settings will pop up.

An Options setting found via the Chrome browser's Chromecast button allows you to tweak a handful of settings.

And though I hope that you never have reason to use it, there is a way to perform a factory reset on the Chromecast. Since I had to re-create the process for first-time setup multiple times, here's a trick I found for starting from scratch.

Locate the small button at the top edge of the Chromecast, near the Micro-USB port. While the device is powered on and plugged into your TV, hold the button down for at least 25 seconds until the indicator light starts flashing. I found I had to do this twice before the reset took and the screen went dark and rebooted.

Read More

The Week in Pictures: Chromecast and Cassini shots

At Google's "Breakfast with Sundar Pichai" event on Wednesday when the search giant unveiled a new version of the Nexus 7 tablet and a new take on TV. The tiny, $35Chromecast plugs into a HDMI input to let a wide swath of smartphones, tablets, and devices using the Chrome browser seamlessly fling what they're playing onto the TV.

While Google looked forward, paleontologists from Mexico's National Institute for Anthropology and History and National Autonomous University of Mexico took a look back -- 72 million years. After days of brushing away sand and gravel, they uncovered one of the world's largest intact dinosaur tail fossils.

Meanwhile, Earth had its portrait taken from far, far away. From its orbit nearly 900 million miles away, the Cassini spacecraft used its wide-angle camera to snap a stunning image of Saturn's rings with Earth visible as a tiny point of light in the background.

Read More

Super-hotcakes? Chromecast wait now up to 4 weeks

Well, that was quick. The Chromecast disappears from Amazon in mere hours.

Chromecast, Google's new $35 HDMI dongle that seeks to create a bridge between laptops, mobile devices, and televisions or other larger screens, has quickly become the hot item of the day. I'm talking measured-in-Kelvin hot here, folks.

Since being unveiled Wednesday morning at a Google breakfast event and going on sale shortly thereafter, Chromecast is already listed as "temporarily out of stock" on Amazon and on theGoogle Play store, you're now looking at three to four weeks before your dongle will ship. I ordered mine from Best Buy which is still offering relatively speedy service (and free shipping) by promising to ship me a Chromecast in the first week of August.

Helping to drive the rush to snag the already inexpensive gadget is a bonus, limited-time offer of three months of free Netflix streaming with the purchase of a new Chromecast from Amazon, Google or Best Buy. Rather unbelievably, the offer is valid for both new and existing Netflix subscribers. Factor in that deal, and the net cost of your dongle is just $11.This comes after availability and ship dates bounced around shortly after going on sale online, as my colleague Josh Lowensohnreported earlier.

Did you already order a Chromecast? Let us know in the comments when you've been told to expect that yours will ship.

Read More

Google's $35 Chromecast stick pushes Netflix, YouTube to your TV

Google's taking yet another stab at the living room.

Today Google introduced the Chromecast, a sticklike device that connects to one of your TV's HDMI inputs and accepts video wirelessly pushed from smartphones, tablets, and the Chrome browser. It's available for just $35 starting today from the Google Play store in the U.S., with availability in other countries to follow. Google is also offering three months of free Netflix to Chromecast buyers and even existing Netflix subscribers will be able to take advantage of the promotion.

The compact 2-inch device will work with Netflix, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, and Google Play Music at launch, with support for future services, including Pandora, coming soon. It's a cross-platform device, with support for both Android and iOS devices as well as the Chrome browser on both Windows and Mac computers. More details are currently available onGoogle's Chrome blog.

In approach the Chromecast is different from most devices on the market: it's half remote, half streaming-media box. The idea is instead of designing a TV-optimized user interface, you'll be able to select and control content from your smartphone or tablet. Browse the Netflix app, find your content, then tell it to play in your living room. The Chromecast even goes one step further, by automatically switching your TV to the correct input and giving you the ability to adjust the volume using your mobile device's built-in volume controls. The ability for Android devices to pause content without unlocking the phone first seemed particularly well-implemented.

You'll also be able to juggle control between multiple mobile devices, with the Chromecast syncing between connected devices. You can start playing Netflix from your tablet, then later use a smartphone to fast-forward. Using the YouTube app, you can also create a shared queue of content, stringing together several short Web videos for an extended viewing session. All in all, Google's demos looked particularly slick.

The Chromecast won't be quite that wire-free.

Chromecast also includes screen-mirroring capabilities, although it's a beta feature initially. Essentially, anything that's on your Chrome browser can be broadcast to your TV, including music, photos, and, yes, even video. Google showed a demo of the feature using Vimeo, but it could conceivably also allow you to stream content from network TV sites and Hulu -- the same sources that have blocked devices from streaming content to a TV previously. The screen-mirroring strategy has proven resistant to attempts to block devices, as Apple's similar AirPlay Mirroring feature continues to work with Hulu and major networks.

As sleek as the Chromecast device looks, Google's initial presentation skimmed over some of the rougher edges. The specs in the Google Play store list both a USB power cable and a power adapter, which indicate that the Chromecast will have some wires hanging from it -- it's not truly "just a stick." It's the same method Plair used to power its similar HDMI-based streaming stick.

Internally, the hardware supports 2.4GHz Wi-Fi 802.11, which isn't quite as nice as the dual-band Wi-Fi offered on Roku's Streaming Stick. The internal processor is capable of playing back full 1080p video with 5.1 surround sound.

CNET editor Jessica Dolcourt was able to snag some hands-on time with a Chromecast right after the event and sent me her thoughts.

The Chromecast dongle itself is wrought of light black plastic, with a rounded head on one end and a USB connector port on the other. Its thick top isn't slim, sleek, or beautiful. Instead, Google has adopted a more robust design to make it eminently grippable and easy to pull in and out of your TV.

There's not much to the physical dongle; the system owes its real magic to software. In practice, nothing could be easier than launching a video or music on Chromecast. All it takes, truly, is tapping the Cast icon in the top right of an app, and then confirming which device you want it to play on -- the TV in your living room, the current device, and so on.

It worked again and again using Netflix, Google Music, Google Movies, and YouTube.

That last bit is the biggest limitation I can see from the initial announcement -- the Chromecast only supports four apps at launch. That puts it well behind established players like Roku and Apple TV, and limited functionality was one of the major knocks against the ill-fated Nexus Q.

However, the big difference is the Chromecast's ultralow $35 price. It's a lot easier to accept those limitations on a $35 device and the low price should also help spread adoption, which in turn should encourage services to include Chromecast at a faster rate.

This is a developing story, so stay tuned for further details as we get them.

Read More

Livestream: you can watch the new Nexus 7/Android 4.3 launch event here

We love the smell of fresh Android in the morning, don’t you? Of course you do, and, if you’re anything like us at Android Authority, you probably can’t wait to see what Google has in store for us today.

The chief of Android and Chrome OS development, Sundar Pichai, is expected to preside over today’s Google announcement. We look forward for him to show us a brand new Nexus 7 tablet, a new version of Android, and possibly a new media streaming service named Chromecast. Thanks to a steady stream of leaks, we know pretty much everything there is to know about the new Nexus and the 4.3 version of Android, but Chromecast is still in the realm of speculation, and we hope that Google still has a few more surprises for us today.

You don’t have to attend the San Francisco event with Sundar Pichai to witness live all the good stuff. As usual, Google is livestreaming on YouTube the entire event, and we’ve embedded it below for your viewing pleasure.

The stream is over, but check out our coverage.

• Play Store hits 1 million apps, 70 million Android tablets activated
• Android 4.3 rolling out to Nexus devices today, Google Play Edition phones to get it “soon”
• New Nexus 7 official: specs, features, availability
• Google Play Games app launched: a center for your Android gaming needs
• Android 4.3 Jelly Bean finally official – here’s what’s new

Stay tuned throughout the day for more information. With a little over four hours left, we’re in the final dash to what shapes out to be an exciting event.

As always, we’ll bring you all the news as it happens, so check back soon.

Read More