Hasta La Gadget!

Google is doing a good job of trying to make Chromecast have a degree of cross-platform appeal that AirPlay can’t offer; today, it’s launching an iOS app for managing the Chromecast device’s settings, and for setting it up in the first place, so that you can more easily use the $35 streaming player if you’re generally an Apple device fan.

The app for iOS devices is available for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users, and will automatically scan for existing local Chromecast devices, as well as allow you to set up a new one to add to your Wi-Fi network. It also lists compatible apps, which for now include both YouTube and Netflix on iOS, from which to broadcast content.

Google recently got some flack for shutting down a third-party app that allowed users stream anything on a user’s Android smartphone, true AirPlay mirroring style. Google then issued a statement saying the app broke mostly due to the evolving nature of the still-in-development SDK, and not necessarily because of any direct attempt to block its functionality.

The iOS app released today is basically equivalent to the Android version released in mid-August, which means Apple users will likely get support for the device in time with or slightly behind their Google-favouring counterparts. If Google can expand the Chromecast beyond its limited feature set and see it embraced as a fairly universal standard by app-makers, this could be the sleeper media streaming hit of the decade at $35, but that’s still a very big “if”, and many early reviewers seem unconvinced by the gadget’s current limitations.

Barnes & Noble can’t stem the losses from its digital books and device division, as the Nook department saw revenues drop 20.2 percent year over year according to the company’s just-released quarterly earnings report. Nook earned $153 million, and that’s up sequentially from $108 million despite the yearly decline.

Nook hardware fared the worst, dropping 23.1 percent year over year while sales of digital content for Nook apps and devices dropped 15.8 percent. B&N partly blames the decrease in content sales on poor Nook tablet and reader sales, but also on outside factors. Specifically, B&N calls out the fact that this year there wasn’t either a Hunger Games or a 50 Shades of Grey trilogy to drive consumer content purchases. Retail was down 9.9 percent year over year, with revenues of $1 billion total, covering business from physical and online stores.

Overall, the company seemed keen to express continued support of its Nook offerings via the earnings release. Board Chairman Leonard Riggio suspended an offer he had planned to make on the company’s retail business, saying that instead B&N needs to focus on building its 10 million Nook owning customers, and to increase sales of Nook devices both in stores and online. That means Nook will continue to operate in tandem with the retail business, rather than the two divisions being split up into separate companies.

Nook Media CEO Michael P. Huseby also said in a statement that the Nook line will continue to be offered “at the best values in the marketplace,” and that “at least one” new Nook product will be coming for the holiday season, with others in development for beyond that. No mention was made of the plan revealed last time around to open up Nook development to outside OEMs, but the conference call is at 10 AM ET this morning, so we’ll update if any new information comes to light at that time.

Many die-hard fans like myself, who can’t get enough of the award-winning AMC TV drama, "Breaking Bad,"
have often thought that the alter-ego character "Heisenberg" was the
invention of anti-hero Walter White, played by actor Bryan Cranston. In
actuality, the chemistry professor referenced the name in Season 1 as an
homage to the famous German physicist, Werner Karl Heisenberg.

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Sold out for weeks after its launch, everyone seems to be in love with the Chromecast — the ultra-cheap, ultra-small, interface-free, HDMI-toting TV appendage that stole the show from the new Nexus 7. Building beyond the DIAL device-discovery protocol that Netflix and YouTube have supported, Chromecast is a client of Google Cast, which enables the kind of second-screen control for volume and other features implemented by the device.

Google has gotten the jump on similar products such as the Plair TV dongle by natively supporting three of the most popular services to use on televisions — Netflix, YouTube and Pandora. Furthermore, it has also enabled a backdoor to many other services by building in support for displaying Chrome tabs on a Chromecast-connected TV. In doing so, it treats the TV as an extension of the browser just as Apple’s forthcoming OS X Mavericks can treat an Apple TV-connected set as another Macintosh screen.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Google

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Amazon is working on a games console, according to rumors from Game Informer and backed up by rumblings we’ve heard at TechCrunch as well. Game Informer says we’ll see the device by end of year, possibly in time for holiday shopping season, and that it will have its own dedicated controller and offer access to digital games sold online by Amazon.com.

We’ve heard from a reliable source that the hardware Amazon is building could be powered by a Qualcomm MPQ chip, which is the Snapdragon processor line the chipmaking company builds specifically for smart TV and set-top box devices. That, combined with earlier rumours that have emerged suggesting Amazon is working on a set-top device as reported by the Wall Street Journal, combine to suggest that while gaming may be part of this potential new hardware, it won’t be the sole focus. Nor does it make sense for Amazon to focus only on games; it has a huge vested interest in pushing digital music and movies, so why not do a device that combines all three?

Our source also informs us that the Amazon box is being worked on at Lab126, the Cupertino-based experimental hardware division that first created the Kindle. That’s been reported earlier this year by Bloomberg and other sources, but our informant says those plans are still on track and that this is the gaming device being discussed now as well.

We’ve also heard from separate sources reports of developers being approached by Amazon regarding developing games for their hardware, which means it could be more than just a media center PC designed to play the digital downloads it already offers. Amazon might be looking more at competing with devices like the OUYA and the upcoming BlueStacks GamePop and GamePop Mini, if it’s securing original content from small developers.

Webush Securities analyst Michael Pachter previously suggested that Amazon could even give away its hardware to Amazon Prime subscribers, similar to the model that BlueStacks is promising GamePop Mini buyers in exchange for subscription to their all-you-can-play mobile console gaming subscription. We haven’t heard anything specific regarding that possibility, but Amazon’s interests would definitely lie in making more money from content, not in hardware margins.

We reached out to both Amazon and Qualcomm for more information, and Amazon responded saying that it doesn’t comment on “rumors or speculation,” while Qualcomm hasn’t responded as of press time. The fact that these rumors are floating up for a second time definitely suggests that Amazon’s living hardware plans are a key area to watch, for both consumers and competitors.