Surf the Net On Your Television With Google's $35 Chromecast

 Internet on your TV  

In a surprise announcement today in Google‘s event to unveil new products and software, a USB stick-like device that plugs into a TV HDMI port was made. The Chromecast enables users to watch videos from YouTube, Google Play, and Netflix and handle music and photos, or just browse the web.

T oday Google announced at an event where everyone was expecting a new Android tablet ( and got one), something with a much greater impact was made. Chromecast, is a USB-like stick that hooks into the back of your television via HDMI and allows you to mirror content via Wi-Fi from your phone, tablet or computer to the big screen.

At just $35, the device comes with three months of free Netflix (even for existing subscribers), which means it effectively costs $11 plus shipping. According to Wired, "on paper at least, it’s the best device Google has ever announced."

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Compared to Apple’s AirPlay and Roku’s Streaming Stick. But both of those have required you to buy a $100 device to connect to your TV. Nothing else has been so device independent, cross platform and at such a price-point.

Chromecast will work with Android and iOS phones and tablets, Chromebooks, and the Chrome browser for Mac and Windows.

The original device controls playback–so if you want to turn up the volume on your TV, simply turn up the volume on your phone. Any program 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 tab projection.”

“One barrier to viewing online content on TV is getting your TV connected in the first place,” Google VP of Product Management Mario Queiroz said at the company’s launch event Wednesday. Chromecast, named after the Chrome web browser, is designed to “enable experiences across all platforms and devices — it should just work with your TV.”

This means no matter what the web video or audio source you should be able to play it on your TV if it plays in your desktop browser tab. That opens the door to web-based entertainment options right out of the gate without having to wait for the developers to take advantage of Google’s SDK.

The Chromecast is just $35 and is available today in the U.S.



SOURCE  Google

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