As Google slowly preps the Chromecast ecosystem, waves of new apps are on the way

HBO Go, Songza and Pandora are about to get more company on Chromecast, according to a Gigaom interview with Google's VP of product management Mario Queiroz where he stated additional waves of apps are coming soon. A public release for the Chromecast SDK -- which should allow developers to build and release their own apps at will -- won't happen until next year, but this week the team gave over 40 developers access to a preview version just to get their feedback. To ensure its elegantly simple user experience remains intact across all applications, the company also recently released a 14-page design guide that details the basic expectations for the development community. An impending international release next year is also encouraging publishers to make compatible apps -- moves that should benefit everyone, regardless of where they call home. Quieroz's "broader" goal is to establish Cast tech as a standard embedded into other hardware, but until that happens there's still time to gift-wrap a few of Google's HDMI dongles and look like a hero all year as their capabilities continue to expand.