MarioQueiroz
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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.
Google TV now lists movie New Releases, to let users control YouTube vids from phones and tablets
While hardware manufacturers like Sony and Vizio have been hard at work making new Google TV devices, the folks in Mountain View have been in the lab cooking up new software features for the platform. We got to speak with Google TV's VP of Product Management Mario Queiroz today, and he shared a couple of tasty tidbits with us. Firstly, he informed us that there's now a New Releases section in GTV's listings, which makes it easier than ever to find the latest and greatest movies. Additionally, it turns out that GTV's taking a page from the Nexus Q and YouTube Remote playbooks to let users control YouTube videos on the big screen from their phones and tablets. Essentially, you'll be able to bring up a video on your mobile device and have it populate on your TV with the tap of a finger. However, unlike Apple's AirPlay -- which delivers a similar UX by streaming video from a mobile device to an Apple TV -- Google's tech simply has your Google TV device stream the video directly from the web. Naturally, Mario wouldn't dish out any more details about new feature, nor would he say exactly when this functionality will be pushed out to the public, but rest assured we'll let you know when it does.
