There can be little doubt that the low-cost computer universe has begun to accept Chrome OS into its life, especially given today’s confirmation by Intel that a new generation of Chromebooks will be working with Haswell. This is Intel’s 4th Generation core technology, and as Intel and Google have made clear, it’s expected that this […]
Chrome is celebrating its fifth birthday today, and amidst the fan fare is a new announcement: Chrome Apps have gone (near) native on Windows and Chrome OS, gaining a launcher and allowing for use on desktops in the same way apps are used on a tablet or smartphone. The “new breed of Chrome Apps” are […]
Google may have released the Chromecast with support for Android and iOS, however it wasn’t until today that a setup app arrived in the iTunes App Store. This didn’t mean that iOS users were left waiting for the app, but it should make the setup process a bit easier for some. If nothing else, it […]
The folks over at Digitimes have popped up with an interesting rumor, stating that “upstream supply chain” sources have tipped an ASUS Chromebook for a late 2013 launch. Such a move is reportedly to get large orders from educational institutions, as well as to “tighten” Asustek’s relationship with Internet giant Google. Asus expects that orders […]
Developer Koushik Dutta is creating at least one app for Android devices aimed at allowing any and all video to be “cast” from a mobile device’s gallery to Chromecast. The Chromecast device is currently sold out in many areas of the internet and in stores across the country due to its relatively low cost and […]
We knew this day would eventually come, but we didn’t realize it would happen so quickly. Google’s new Chromecast has been rooted, and an exploit package has been released that allows the ability to erase the existing partition and install a new system image, which could open up the door to a wide variety of hacks and tweaks.
The folks over at GTV Hacker discovered the exploit and have confirmed that the software running on the Chromecast is not Chrome OS, despite the device’s focus on the Chrome platform. Instead, the Chromecast is said to be “a modified Google TV release, but with all of the Bionic/Dalvik stripped out and replaced with a single binary for Chromecast.”
The website makes clear that this current exploit won’t really be useful to the everyman, but it could up open doors for further hacking that everyday people could take advantage of eventually. Right now, the exploit merely just allows developers the chance to build and test software on the Chromecast and “better investigate the environment” of the new device.
Quite frankly, a root for the Chromecast is a great sign. While Google plans to add support for more streaming services in the future, streaming options are quite limited right now, with support for just Netflix, YouTube, and Google Play, with confirmation of Pandora coming in the near future.
This has been one of the main downsides of the Chromecast. With only third-party support for Netflix and YouTube, the Chromecast is a bit lacking, but the $35 price tag is certainly nothing to complain about. It’s definitely a good set-top box replacement for some people, but not for everyone.
VIA: Engadget
SOURCE: GTV Hacker
Google Chromecast root discovered, does not run Chrome OS is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Google’s Chromecast device is a Web media player, introduced by the company just a bit over a year after they first showed of a machine with very similar capabilities: the Nexus Q. Where the Nexus Q came into play as a bocce-ball-sized TV “box”, Chromecast is the size of a USB dongle, small enough to fit in your pocket. It connects through a television’s full-sized HDMI port and you’ll be able to pull it up with the input button on your television remote, the same as you would a DVD player.
Instead of playing physical content, like DVDs or Blu-ray disks, Chromecast uses the internet to pull content from web-based apps. Chromecast does not have a remote control included in the box it’s delivered with when you buy it because it’s able to connect with basically any smart device you’ve got in your home – or in your pocket.
Size: 72(L) x 35(W) x 12(H) mm
Weight: 34g
Video Output: 1080p
Connectivity: HDMI, Wi-Fi
RAM: 256k
Processor: N/A
OS: Chromecast
You’ll plug Chromecast in to your TV, plug a microUSB power cord (included in the box) into Chromecast to keep it powered up, and press the single physical button on Chromecast to send out a wireless signal that effectively says, “I’m ready to go!”
Turning the television on and the input to the HDMI port you’ve plugged Chromecast into, you’ll see a screen that directs you to google.com/chromecast/setup. Note that this URL may change over time, but this is the first place you’ll be sent in this initial launch of Chromecast when this article is first posted.
This one-time setup connects Chromecast to the web – if you’ve got a password on your Wi-Fi network, you’ll need to enter it. You can do this setup process from any device with an internet browser, while actually sending content to Chromecast is limited to the following:
• Android 2.3 and higher
• iOS 6 and higher
• Windows®7 and higher
• Mac OS 10.7 and higher
• Chrome OS (Chromebook Pixel, additional Chromebooks coming soon).
At the moment you’ll be able to use Chromecast to connect with Netflix, YouTube, Google Play Movies, and Google Music. Using Chromecast’s “Cast” protocol, you’re able to “fling” content from your control device (laptop, smartphone, tablet) to your TV.
So you’ll open up YouTube, for example, and play a video, but you’ll also be clicking the Cast button that, (once you’re set up), appears in the upper right-hand corner of your Chrome web browser or app. From there you’ll be able to control said media as it plays OR continue on with your regularly scheduled web browsing as the media plays on your TV.
Once the media you’ve chosen on your phone, tablet, or notebook has been flung to Chromecast, you no longer have to worry about it. If you DO want to control it again, you’ll have only to return to the app you were in and change it up. You can also choose to send something new to Chromecast, this immediately stopping the current media from playing, moving on to the next piece of media in kind.
There are also interesting side-loading features you can use if you’re not all about working with one of the few apps supported by Chromecast so far. At the moment Chromecast has a BETA mirroring feature that works with Chrome web browser windows.
You can open a file in a Chrome web browser window and fling it to Chromecast, your television then mirroring this window as you do so. This feature requires that you actually keep the window open if you want to keep watching it on your TV since the content is not on the web, it’s on your computer.
This BETA mirroring feature can be used for photos and video as well – we’ll be seeing how close we can get to real web-based gaming mirroring soon!
What else do you want to know about Chromecast? Is this a device (at $35 USD) that you’ll be picking up, supposing it’s not already sold out every which way from physical stores to Google Play? Let us know!
SlashGear 101: What is Chromecast? is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
It would appear that Google is good and ready to enter the smart TV market from a Chrome angle this week with a device called Chromecast. This little beast is made to plug into your television’s standard HDMI port, connect to the web, and obey your every Chromebook and/or Android device’s command. Sound easy enough?
Here you’ll be working with a new “cast” button in apps like YouTube – sound familiar? – that’ll play a video that you choose from your phone or tablet (or Chrome web browser window) to your Chromecast-connected TV. This works in a manner thats exceedingly similar to the Nexus Q, a much larger device introduced by Google at Google I/O 2012 – and ditched not long after.
This device will be offered through the Google Play store the same as the Nexus device lineup and will be opening some rather interesting avenues for not just Android devices, but the whole Chrome operating system universe as well. Think about how not just televisions will be utilized, but massive computer displays as well!
We’ll be exploring this device and its abilities in greater detail once we have our hands on a unit. For now you’ll want to know this: this device connects with software, not with hardware, over a Wifi connection in your living room. It’ll work with the YouTube app on iOS, you can access this button with YouTube in a Chrome internet browser – and we’ll see what else as soon as hackers get their hands on it, too!
UPDATE: Netflix, too, of course. Expect big things from this cross-collaboration in the near future!
Chromecast: a tiny computer that connects your TV to your phone, tablet, and laptop is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
If you’re running Chrome OS betas like it’s not even a thing, we’re pegging you as a bit of a maverick. The latest update (29.0.1537.32) rewards your non-conformity with a bevy of small, but useful new features. There’s Kernel 3.8 for the Pixel and Samsung 550 users, but likely you’re more interested in the new “immersive” full screen mode that hides the shelf and tool bar. Or, what about the ability to pin apps to the shells with drag and drop? There’s other tricks, too, such as wallpaper sync (across all your machines), UI scaling and a smarter app launcher. There’s a full list at the source, but knowing you, you already went there, right?
Filed under: Laptops, Internet, Software, Google
Source: Google Chrome Releases Blog
Down in the depths of the testing arena for Google’s Chrome known as Chromium, you’ll find the first whispers of “Chromoting”, aka Chrome Remote Desktop for Android – connecting the two worlds with a mirrored interface. While the directories themselves aren’t especially telling for the lay person, you’ll find the concept a bit more enthralling if you’re interested in controlling your computer from your smartphone from any location you may roam.
You’ll find Remote Desktop access inside of several of Google’s current services this summer, one of the most recent implementations being inside Google+ Hangouts. This service was introduced back in May of this year, allowing any user able to sign in with Hangouts to control a computer in the chat if it’d been checkmarked for access. This was well before Hangouts was introduced for Android as a bit of a re-branding of Google Talk and multi-form connection for mobile devices to the social network, mind you.
NOTE: Amongst the several apps with similar functionality to this on the market today is Splashtop, appearing not just on Android, but on Windows Phone, iOS, OS X, and Windows as well.
Chrome Remote Desktop was originally pushed out of beta back in October of 2012. That same month, SlashGear reviewed the Samsung Series 3 Chromebook and did a separate demonstration of Remote Desktop with the Chromebook and a MacBook Pro – have a peek!
Once this service appears in Android, it’ll take the form of a unique app with – tentatively – the same icon as the service inside Chrome. It was Francois Beaufort, Chromium evangelist and developer of neat new things that found the code we’re seeing here, complete with mention of the “Chromoting Android app” as it very well may be called in the end.
VIA: TNW
Chrome Remote Desktop for Android coming soon: Splashtop beware is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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