Hasta La Gadget!

Chromecast, the nifty $35 HDMI dongle from Google, was being offered alongside a free three months of Netflix promotion that had been offered on a limited basis. That promotion has already run out, with Google stating that the free service offer has been cancelled. Shortly after that, the Chromecast itself sold out entirely.

The Chromecast brings video streaming to one’s living room in a very small form factor, with the dongle being about the size of your average USB drive and plugging directly into the TV. With a price tag of only $35, the device already stood apart, but the Netflix promotion perhaps pushed it over the edge – three free months of service was a value of about $24, reducing the overall cost of the device to nearly nothing.

There was a very short period between the device’s announcement and the time it went live for sale on the Google Play Store. The shipping time was originally set for immediately, but switched over not too long after to a shipping time of 3 to 4 weeks. As our friends at Android Community noted, the Chromecast is now sold out at Google Play, as well as Best Buy and Amazon.

It is not surprising, then, that the Netflix promotion has already run out. Google told the LA Times in a statement, “Due to overwhelming demand for Chromecast devices since launch, the 3-month Netflix promotion (which was available in limited quantities) is no longer available.” It followed this up with confirmation that those who bought the device before the promotion ended will still be able to redeem their free Netflix service.

If you head over to your local Best Buy, you might still have luck grabbing one in person, but otherwise you’re looking at a few weeks of waiting, and you won’t be getting a Netflix promo code with it. Curious about the device, but not sure if it’s your thing? We have everything you need to know about it for you over in our SlashGear 101.

SOURCE: Android Community

Chromecast sells out as Google cancels Netflix promotion is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The next generation Nexus 7 tablet has certainly been talked about the past couple of days, and there are already analysts going around touting that the Apple iPad, which seemed invincible to other tablets, will finally see its market share […]

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As if the Google TV and Chromecast platforms (which are coexisting, if you hadn’t heard) weren’t enough, the Wall Street Journal reports there may be more living room focused projects brewing in Mountain View. According to sources, former Android head Andy Rubin demonstrated a Roku-style set-top box for partners at CES that had Hangouts as its main feature, with a video camera and motion sensor built-in for videoconferencing — something Logitech tried once with its ill-fated Revue TV Cam, shown above. The report claims the box, capable of running Android apps, games and services like Netflix or Pandora, was scheduled to launch at I/O, but it’s unknown whether or not it’s still in development. Recent WSJ rumors have suggested Google is looking into IPTV and its own Android game system, so even as one mystery is revealed others pop up to take its place.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Google

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Source: Wall Street Journal

Three free months of Netflix with the purchase of Google’s $35 Chromecast dongle sure sounded too good to be true. Turns out it was — or at least too good to last longer than a day. Google’s pulling the plug on the promotion, telling The Los Angeles Times that it couldn’t keep things going, “due to overwhelming demand.” So good on those folks who got in early, and while the streaming plug-in still has a pretty sweet price point, it’s not quite the $11 post-subscription deal it was yesterday.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Google

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Source: LA Times

Now that we’ve seen the boosts in the change-over from Nexus 7′s original iteration to its reboot, and have heard Google confirm that Samsung will be taking command on a second Nexus 10, it’s high time we went hunting for the build on this next-generation companion to the smaller tablet. While virtual ink on the announcement for the Nexus 7 isn’t even really dry yet, it having been announced less than 24 hours ago (if you don’t count the leaks), a new version of this tablet’s 10.1-inch tablet companion can be given a run-down based on what we’ve seen from ASUS, the maker of the smaller slate.

With the Nexus 10′s current abilities, it should by all means be ready to continue to compete with today’s best comparably-sized slates without a problem. So why make another? Isn’t a 10.055-inch liquid crystal panel with 2560 x 1600 pixel resolution enough? That’s ever-so-slightly less sharp than the Nexus 7′s reboot, mind you, at 300.24 (while the Nexus 7 sits at 323 PPI with its same amount of pixels in a smaller space.)

Perhaps its time that Samsung move forward with a non-Exynos processor, then, is that it? The original Nexus 10 works with a dual-core Exynos 5250 processor (currently re-named Exynos 5 Dual, if you’re looking it up). Meanwhile the Samsung Galaxy S 4 (international edition, that is) – a smartphone, for goodness sake – works with what Samsung calls its Exynos 5 Octa.

While we’ve not had two devices with the same specifications save the processor to benchmark these two processors against one another, it should be noted that the dual-core version was introduced well before the “Octa”, and that they work with completely different GPUs. Furthermore, the Exynos 5 Octa works with two sets of 2 cores rather than 1, working with one set of ARM Cortex-A15 cores as well as a set of ARM Cortex-A7 cores for backup. Meanwhile the Exynos 5 Dual works with just one set of ARM Cortex-A15 cores.

So what will the Nexus 10′s reboot work with instead?

How about a brand new Exynos 5 Octa “Evolved”? This update to the original Exynos 5 quad-core “Octa” that we’ve seen in the international Galaxy S 4, and has been tipped to be being prepared for Samsung’s other hero smartphone line in the Samsung Galaxy Note III.

With Samsung pushing their own processor to the original Nexus 10, it’s not only possible that they’ll do the same thing with a second iteration, it just makes good sense.

As for the rest of the specifications – you can probably guess what’ll happen. Though we can’t imagine Google aiming to ramp up the density of this tablet’s display again since the only competitor it has at the moment is the Nexus 7, you never know! The tablet is a little bit unwieldily, looking more like an extension of the style of the Galaxy Nexus than it does a current-gen Nexus tablet – perhaps a bit of a smoothing effect is in order.

Something like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1, perhaps?

Samsung Nexus 10 reboot: what to expect is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.