Hasta La Gadget!

When LG invited us to an event in (thankfully) sunny London, we thought we’d be hearing about 4K, curved OLED and huge price tags. It wasn’t about hardware at all, in fact, as LG announced it has partnered with Sky to add the Now TV movie and sport streaming service to its smart TV line-up. Starting in August, Now TV content will be exclusive to LG sets for “a minimum of 12 months.” Those purchasing new home entertainment kit will get three months of free access to Now TV’s movie catalogue, as well as three free 24-hour sports passes. If you’re in possession of an LG smart TV from this year or last, or a 2013 era Blu-ray player or home cinema system, you may miss the introductory offer but will still be able to download the Now TV app. The only kicker is that Now TV doesn’t currently broadcast HD content, so don’t expect those movies to pop on your 84-inch 4K monster.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD, LG

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Even though Google only announced its new Chromecast HDMI dongle earlier today, we got our first peek at it in May. That’s when the mysterious H2G2-42 leaked in FCC documents, with few details other than the name referencing Douglas Adams’ book. As Anandtech’s Brian Klug points out, the documents have been updated, and now include a few pictures of the Chromecast with its external casing removed. Inside there’s a Marvell DE3005 chip, plus Azurewave hardware to handle its (2Ghz only) WiFi duties. Hit the link below to take a look, although at the $35 sticker price you can probably afford to do an iSuppli-style teardown of your own.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Google

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Source: FCC, Brian Klug (Twitter)

Microsoft’s Xbox One is getting decidedly more indie-friendly with today’s confirmation from Microsoft that its forthcoming game console will double as a developer debug unit. In so many words, each $500 unit purchased at retail this holiday will also run in-progress game code, enabling developers to get in on the action all the more affordably (debug versions of game consoles cost far more than retail game consoles, and tend to look slightly different from their retail counterparts). “Our vision is that every person can be a creator. That every Xbox One can be used for development,” Xbox corporate VP Marc Whitten said in a statement.

Of course, such a move wouldn’t make much sense without eased publishing regulations — the Xbox 360 allows for self-publishing only in its ghettoized “indies” section, and all other games require a Microsoft-certified publisher to distribute physically or digitally. Going forward with the Xbox One, developers can publish their own games; Microsoft’s looking at a quick turnaround on that code certification as well, according to reports, though we’re told there’ll be more info at Gamescom come late August. The full statement from Whitten can be found just below the break.

Update: We’ve also added responses from indies to today’s news below.

Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Microsoft

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Now that Google has let its $35 Chromecast HDMI dongle out of the bag at its breakfast press event, it’s gonna need developers to chip in some apps for it. To help boost that effort, the company is releasing the Google Cast SDK to help those folks bring content from mobile and the web to TVs. By using the kit, developers won’t need to build new applications for the big screen from scratch; they’ll just need to make a few tweaks to their existing mobile apps. Mountain View expects Google Cast tech to be embedded in future hardware from its partners, with Chromecast being “the first instantiation” of such an ecosystem. You can now grab a preview (at the source) for iOS, Android and Chrome — which is good news, since the wee dongle already appears to be sold out on Play.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Google

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Source: Google Cast

Google’s Chromecast is Mountain View’s next foray into the television market. In brief, it’s a $35 HDMI dongle that mirrors content being played nearby on a tablet, smartphone or computer. Hrm, that sounds familiar. The 2-inch device runs “a simplified version of Chrome OS” and requires separate USB power; connect it to your local WiFi network and similarly connected devices work with Chromecast. It can be ordered right now on Google Play and will apparently ship in one to two days. Of note, the device seems US-only for now, as our UK colleagues are showing a “not available in your country” prompt. Early buyers get three months of free Netflix with the purchase. Additionally, it’s also heading to retail (read: Best Buy) on July 28th. Google ended its presentation with a quick word that Chromecast functionality will eventually come embedded in various other devices, and that it’s working on getting other countries access “as quickly as possible.” No specs were given during the presentation, but its Google Play page lists the device as HDMI-CEC compatible, and it uses 2.4GHz 801.11 b/g/n WiFi. Given the separate USB power required, the $35 nets you a Chromecast device, an HDMI extended, a USB power cable and a separate power adapter.

Apps that work with the device include a “Cast” button that allows users to push video to their televisions and control various aspects remotely (volume, play, pause, etc.). “Once Chromecast is plugged in, you just go to YouTube on your smartphone,” Google reps said. “You’ll see the cast button in your UI and you press it — Chromecast will pull the info you requested from the cloud and play it on your TV.” Meanwhile, an on-stage demonstration showed YouTube video being pushed “via the cloud,” thus enabling other apps to be used while a video is being viewed on a television screen. Netflix was up next, and it has similar remote control functionality. Google Play movies and television (expectedly) also work with Chromecast, and Google delightedly demonstrated it with Vin Diesel vehicle Fast Five. Finally, Google demoed full Google Chrome projected on a TV and controlled remotely with a “standard $500 Windows 8 laptop.” The feature is “still in early days,” but a promise has already been made: that users will be able to easily project content to televisions via their web browser.

Update: We’ve added Chromecast’s first commercial (which demonstrates much of the device’s functionality) just after the break, and a source link with Google’s formal announcement.

Update 2: Aside from the Google Play store and Best Buy, you can also buy the Chromecast from Amazon. Thankfully, that three-month gratis Netflix would still be applicable if you buy it from the online giant.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Peripherals, Internet, Software, HD, Google

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Source: Google, Amazon