Chromecast
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Unlock Chromecast's incognito mode to keep your browser history clean
Chromecast is a pretty neat little gadget, but there are some things you might not want showing up in your browser history -- we'll leave it to your imagination as to what those things might be. With that in mind, the folks at Android Central have put together a brief walkthrough to explain how to use incognito tabs with Chromecast. It's pretty much the same way you'd access any extension in Chrome's disposable browser session: just type in "Chrome://extensions," find the Google Cast section and select the "Allow in incognito" option. While we're the last people to judge how you choose to use your dongle, some things should probably be kept private.
Sony NSZ-GU1 FCC filing hints at a post-Chromecast Google TV
We already heard from Google that it will press forward with its Google TV ambitions along with the new Chromecast dongle, and this FCC filing for a Sony device may reveal what the future holds. Dug up by GTVHacker team member cj_000, the NSZ-GU1 internet player has a model number that follows all of Sony's previous Google TV set-top boxes (NSZ-GT1, NSZ-GS7 and most recently the NSZ-GS8), so there's little doubt about which family it belongs to but there are other questions. Unlike Sony's previous Google TV hardware it actually has an FCC filing, dated June 20th and credited to manufacturer Wistron, and it comes with a USB cable. The notes also show a test layout (after the break) suspiciously similar to the one found in Google's FCC documents for the H2G2-42 Chromecast. Does this mean it's a Sony-branded Chromecast device? While it's possible, there are a few differences that suggest it isn't. The NSZ-GU1 has an IR blaster like other Google TV boxes, and Bluetooth where the Chromecast doesn't include either. The power adapter it's tested with also could be overkill for a simple dongle-like device, but its input rating is very similar to what's listed on the MST3K power adapter that shipped with the Chromecast. We couldn't find any other information to base a final decision on (update: other than a hit on the A1: Dev SD benchmark), hit the source link to take a peek at the filing for yourself and see if there are any clues we may have missed.
Tonido Home Cloud gets Chromecast support, lets you stream from desktop to TV (video)
As the dust around Chromecast's surprise arrival starts to settle, expect to see a lot more apps and services get on board. Today's adoptee? Tonido's home cloud software (of recent giveaway fame). The company's updated its mobile apps, so that you can now stream (correctly formatted) media from your PC or desktop to the HDMI device wherever you (and it) are. So, in theory, you can store all your content at home, and take your Chromecast (and phone, of course) out with you -- and still be able to access your prized movie collection. Now you just have to wait until they're back in stock...
Weekly Roundup: Moto X preview, Nexus 7 review, Chromecast review, and more!
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
The Daily Roundup for 08.02.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Editor's Letter: Made in the USA... sort of
Motorola has been doing its best to build some buzz around the Moto X, which launched this week. As a smartphone, the X is decidedly middle-of-the-road. It boasts specs and a design similar to the Droid models Motorola announced last week. Available later this month at $199 on-contract from most major US carriers, the X's biggest claim to fame -- other than swappable backplates, including one made of wood -- is the fact that it's assembled in the US, in a 500,000-square-foot factory in Fort Worth, Texas. Yes, that's "assembled." Despite widespread reports that the X is being made in the US, most of its components, from its display to those backplates, are produced in factories around the world, and workers in Texas will assemble the phones. Does it really matter where your smartphone is made? If your main concern is domestic job creation, it might. A 2012 survey by Boston Consulting Group found that over 80 percent of Americans are willing to pay more for products that are made in the US instead of China, mainly because they want to keep jobs in the country. Interestingly, the same survey found that 60 percent of Chinese consumers would pay a premium for US-made products, apparently based on the belief that the US produces higher-quality products. When it comes to smartphones, that's an idea that's difficult to put to the test; there are none currently manufactured in the United States, and that's not about to change with the launch of the X.
This week on gdgt: the new Nexus 7, the Leap, and two-step authentication
Each week, our friends at gdgt go through the latest gadgets and score them to help you decide which ones to buy. Here are some of their most recent picks. Want more? Visit gdgt anytime to catch up on the latest, and subscribe to gdgt's newsletter to get a weekly roundup in your inbox.
Editorial: Is Chromecast the little dongle that could change things?
It is sold out at Amazon. It is sold out at Best Buy online. It is sold out at the 16 Best Buy stores closest to my home in North Carolina. The nearest Best Buy availability is in Roanoke, Va. (Amazon and Best Buy are the retail outlets sanctioned by Google.) You can buy it directly from Google at the Play Store, but as of this writing, the wait time for shipping has been extended to three to four weeks. In a world where people line up for hours to buy a $500 tablet, selling out a $35 dongle isn't necessarily a milestone, or an indicator of anything significant. But I'll hammer a prediction stake into the ground: Chromecast will create change in media consumption habits disproportionate to its price. Its power will come partly from its tech-candy pricing, but only partly. This little invention hits a few other sweet spots.
Chromecast update breaks root-friendly exploit
We hope you weren't planning to tinker with your Chromecast this weekend. GTVHacker has confirmed that a recent firmware update to Google's streaming media stick plugs the bootloader exploit that many are using to get root access. Some XDA-Developers members have tried maintaining root by flashing recovery images and disabling signing keys, but those aren't reliable solutions -- we've seen a few reports of bricked Chromecasts. If you're cautious, it may be best to wait until more adventurous owners find a vulnerability in Google's newer code.
Distro Issue 101: Google takes another stab at streaming with Chromecast
Remember the Nexus Q? Yeah, we do too. After coming up short with that streaming effort, Google pulled the wraps off of another attempt to invade living rooms last week. In this week's issue of our tablet mag, we give Chromecast the proper review treatment to see if Mountain View's goal to smarten up dumb TVs hits the ground running. Hands-On scours the show floor at SIGGRAPH, Recommended Reading has more first-hand Google Glass observations and IRL takes another peek inside our rucksacks. Get cozy folks, because your end of the week tech reading is ready for download. Distro Issue 101 PDF Distro in the iTunes App Store Distro in the Google Play Store Distro in the Windows Store Distro APK (for sideloading) Like Distro on Facebook Follow Distro on Twitter
Marvell flaunts its Armada 1500-mini CPU powering Chromecast, lists codecs
Ever since Google TV made the move from Intel to ARM processors, Marvell has been there with its Armada 1500 CPU, providing decoding, power management and wireless support. As recent FCC documents showed, that arrangement hasn't changed, and Marvell has just formally introduced its Armada 1500-mini processor at the heart of Chromecast. The scaled-down chip provides it (and other USB-powered devices) with 1080p decoding along with features like DRM support and access to TV-centric applications like YouTube and Netflix. Marvell also filled us in on what kind of video decoding the hardware is capable of: it supports most H.264 profiles, MPEG2/4, WMV9, VP6/8, DivX-HD and most digital audio formats (see the PR for a complete list). The high-profile Google connection aside, Marvell also said the chip will work great for other laptop, smartphone and Smart TV streaming applications. On top of that, Mountain View wants to get Chromecast tech natively into Smart TVs and other devices through its Google Cast SDK -- no doubt putting Marvell on the ground floor.
Phone to Chromecast app streams pics and video, but can't be released yet
Google's $35 Chromecast fared well in our review, but something that could make it even more useful is the ability to stream pictures and video from mobile devices. Users have been able to work around that on PCs by entering info for locally stored files into the Chrome address bar, and now ClockworkMod developer Koushik Dutta is showing off a solution for mobile that closes the gap with AirPlay. Demonstrated in the video after the break, his Phone to Chromecast app can fling pictures or videos stored on the phone directly to the dongle -- apparently thanks to web server software he'd already created for Android. There's no specific word on the codecs or resolutions tested, but he reports videos work at full framerate "like magic." The only bad news? The preview SDK terms mean he can't distribute the APK without written permission from Google, so this demo is as close as we're getting for now.
The Daily Roundup for 07.29.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Google Chromecast review: can you make your dumb TV a smart one for just $35?
More Info Google introduces Chromecast, a $35 HDMI streaming solution for televisions Google Chromecast hands-on Google cancels free Netflix Chromecast promotion a day after launch Despite the best efforts of Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, LG and others, most of the televisions in people's homes these days are not of the smart variety. However, there are hundreds of millions of regular televisions packing HDMI ports, and Google's new Chromecast device offers a way to put some brains into those dumb TVs by giving them access to web-based content. Having a Chromecast dongle connected to your TV means you can stream videos straight from a Google Play, Netflix or YouTube app, or mirror the content in any open tab in Google's Chrome browser using a tab casting feature. Sure, we've seen devices with almost identical functionality, like Plair, but Chromecast is backed by Google, whose relationships with content providers and developers mean that the Google Cast technology powering it will soon be popping up in even more apps. Not to mention, there's the price. At $35, it's almost a third of the cost of Plair and also Roku 3 and Apple TV, the current most popular devices that bring internet video to your TV. Even for such a paltry outlay, is it a worthy addition to your living room? And is it really "the easiest way to enjoy online video and music on your TV" as Google's marketing would have us believe? Read on to find out.%Gallery-194845%
The Weekly Roundup for 07.22.2013
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Chromecast bootloader exploit surfaces, opens up plenty of possibilities (video)
"Give it time." It's something many mums have uttered to their frustrated youth, and it's something that's also uttered amongst the hacker crowd each time a new device emerges. In the case of Google's $35 Chromecast, it took but a couple of days for the HDMI streaming stick to be exploited. Granted, Google's never been one to keep its biggest software projects under lock and key, but for those looking to tinker a bit with their new toy, GTVHacker has the goods. The exploit package has thus far been used to confirm that the software within is not Chrome OS -- it's described by the aforesaid site as "a modified Google TV release, but with all of the Bionic / Dalvik stripped out and replaced with a single binary for Chromecast." Those interested in giving it a go themselves can test their luck here, while the timid among us can hop on past the break for a video.
Adventures in Google Cast development: Day 1
Google's developer preview SDK for Google Cast -- the streaming technology that's powering the Chromecast hardware -- is up and running. It looks like adding Google Cast support will be ridiculously easy with little coding overhead for anyone who wants to jump on the bandwagon. Although the Chromecast stick we ordered here at TUAW will take a couple of weeks (at least) to arrive, the iOS SDK is already live and an iOS-specific project can be found over at Github. It consists of an app that more or less runs (you may want to comment out the bits about the playProgressSlider) and transmits arbitrary media to a Chromecast receiver. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, you can't immediately use the receiver HTML on your local network to test transmission. Google writes in its Xcode README: Getting Whitelisted: App IDs and receiver location. You will have to be whitelisted as a developer before you can specify your own App ID and receiver URL, or test the included receiver. For whitelisting instructions, see https://developers.google.com/cast/whitelisting. You send along details about your testing device for whitelisting for your app. In all, it's a bit disappointing that you can't just simulate a receiver for immediate development and testing -- assuming I'm reading all the pages correctly -- without whitelisting a receiver URL and an app. Once you have a receiver URL set up and whitelisted for an app, you can use the receiver.html code included with the sample. I'd been hoping you could just use the built-in OS X Apache server without all the fuss and bother. The sample is remarkably simple even if it is a bit hard to read. You start listening for a device. If one is found, you establish a media protocol message stream; that is, you begin talking to the device. You point the media content to a URL and set yourself to listen for updates. At any point, you can push request like pause and play to the device or listen for status updates from the device using a delegate protocol. You can learn more about Google's developer preview at the Google Cast site. Fun facts: Google Cast uses SSDP for device discovery. Details are in the GCKDevice.h header file. You receive notifications as device appear online or disappear. You can buy an inexpensive router if your Wi-Fi reception is iffy. This one is cheap and reasonably well reviewed. You should also be able to create a network if you have a Mac along with you.
MMObility: Google's new Chromecast shows screen size does not matter
If you missed Google's latest press conference, go check it out here or spy on my own cute self as I attempt to explain what was covered during the event. Either way, it was a nice chance to see how dedicated Google is to the mobile lifestyle. I'd argue that this "mobile" lifestyle that I continue to love will not be referred as "mobile" soon as more and more people adopt portable computers as mainstay devices, but for now we'll keep the moniker. Despite the fantastic new Nexus 7, the real announcement for me was the unveiling of the Chromecast, a simple HDMI dongle that plugs into your television and allows the wireless broadcast of all sorts of web content. Why is this a cool idea, and how isn't it just something that we're already able to do? I'll give my take on it but would love to hear from my readers as well.
Comparing Chromecast and AirPlay
Google this week introduced Chromecast, a US$35 dongle that lets users wirelessly access a humble array of entertainment options on their HDTV. Google writes: With Chromecast, you can easily enjoy your favorite online entertainment on your HDTV-movies, TV shows, music, and more from Netflix, YouTube, Google Play, and Chrome. No more huddling around small screens and tiny speakers. The big story here is that Google is making yet another push for the living room after Google TV failed to really do much of anything in the marketplace. So just how does Chromecast measure up to Apple's AirPlay? Not that well, apparently. The Verge recently compared the two and put together this informative chart. AirPlay has, of course, been around for much longer and not surprisingly has many more options with respect to content. Indeed, the lack of support for apps like Hulu Plus and HBO Go on Chromecast is rather stark. You'll also note that Chromecast doesn't have much in the way of anything when it comes to supporting audio streaming from popular apps like Pandora and Spotify. From the looks of it, the only real advantage of the Chromecast is that it works on devices outside of the iOS realm. Chromecast is only $35, which making it more affordable than a $99 Apple TV, but as Steve Jobs used to like to say when asked about Apple's premium pricing, sometimes you get what you pay for. It will be interesting to see how well Chromecast actually sells in the long run given that Apple TV sales are seemingly accelerating with each passing year.
This week on gdgt: Nokia Lumia 1020, Olympus PEN E-P5 and Google's Chromecast
Each week, our friends at gdgt go through the latest gadgets and score them to help you decide which ones to buy. Here are some of their most recent picks. Want more? Visit gdgt anytime to catch up on the latest, and subscribe to gdgt's newsletter to get a weekly roundup in your inbox.
