Chromecast

This Puck Is Lenovo’s $50 Chromecast Competitor

Lenovo has just announced that it’s producing its own media streamer, in the same vein as Google’s Chromecast—but with a few extra features. The neat, black puck will let you beam video straight to your TV from most devices, for the princely sum of $50. Unlike Google’s offering, which plugs straight into the HDMI port…

You Can Now Control Your Chromecast With A Normal TV Remote

A Chromecast is just about the cheapest (and best) way to get Netflix onto your TV with minimum hassle, but one of the tradeoffs is that you have to control everything from your smartphone or laptop — which kinda sucks. But as of now, you can at least play and pause without poking a screen.…

VLC Is Getting Chromecast Support

Google’s Chromecast is cheap and awesome and it’s about to get even better. The latest changelog posted by VLC—which mentions a “Chromecast output module”—suggests that the Swiss Army-knife of media players will finally get Chrome support. If that means what we think it means, you’ll soon be able to cast any video from the VLC…

Got a Chromecast? Check for a $6 Gift From Google Right Now

If you’ve got a Chromecast set up on your network, click this link right now and you should be eligible for $6 from Google just for owning a Chromecast. It’s a Valentine’s Day gift for your Google Play account. I will spend it on renting The Rock or something similarly unromantic. And if you’re not…

Walmart’s Vudu-Only Chromecast Knockoff Somehow Wasn’t Just a Bad Dream

There’s too much year left to name Vudu Spark the worst gadget of 2015. But it will without question go down as the most cynical. The Vudu Spark, for those blessed with not yet being familiar, is a streaming dongle sold by Walmart that literally only streams movies and TV shows from Vudu, a streaming…

Switch On Guest Mode and Have a Chromecast Party

In the last major update Google rolled out for its Chromecast device, guest mode was the key new feature: It means anyone in the room can cast a video or tune to the streaming dongle. Here’s how to get the mode set up and why you don’t have to worry about unauthorized access. To start…

MatchStick Hands-On: A Cheap Open Source Chromecast? Yes Please.

Chromecast has largely caught on as a way to easily use services like Netflix on your computer. MatchStick is an open source HDMI stick for everyone who wants to use there TV for more than just watching movies. There’s no problem with Chromecast per se it’s just that Chromecast is a closed ecosystem that doesn’t…

Google Cast for Audio: Can Google’s AirPlay Answer Be More Open?

The newly announced Google Cast for Audio gives Chromecast-like audio powers to Wi-Fi enabled speakers and soundbars. It basically sounds like Google’s version of AirPlay. Does that mean it’s going to suffer from AirPlay’s unfortunate drawbacks? Playing music or other audio content through a “Cast Ready” speaker will work much like video works using Google…

5 Great Uses For Android Lollipop’s Built-In Screencasting

The Chromecast continues its inexorable rise to world domination and the latest version of Android comes with the option to cast your device’s screen straight to the dongle plugged into your television set. Why would you want to do this when so many apps already support Chromecast? We’ve got five potential uses you might be…

Chromecast just got more educational content and funny laughs, in the form of seven new apps including Comedy Central, Sesame Street Go, Nickelodeon, and more. Sidenote: this also offers more ways to escape your family over the holidays.

Chromecast Is Getting a Bunch of Smartphone-Controlled Games

Your Chromecast is about to be a little more like Amazon Fire TV. The streaming dongle is getting a whole slew of family-friendly games. The games are coming in the form of a bunch of new apps you control from your phone or tablet. They include a bunch of titles you already know and love,…

Primecast Disabled After Just 36 Hours Of Life

Welp, that was pretty fast: just two days after springing into life on the Play Store, Primecast, a $2.99 app that put Amazon Instant Video-streaming capability onto your Chromecast, has ceased to be. The devs have confirmed in a blog post that they were ‘locked out’ of the streaming functionality, and have pulled their (now…

Walmart’s Chromecast Knockoff Looks Like How They Stream in Hell

I suspect the Germans have a word for taking something great and then stripping it of everything remotely joyful until it’s a cold hollow shell not fit for existence. Now I do too! Well, two words, I guess: Vudu Spark. The Vudu Spark is not a thing you can purchase yet; as first reported by…

Workaround Finally Puts Amazon Instant Video on Your Chromecast

Amazon Instant Video is now available on Android, but what’s still missing? Chromecast support. But you can hack it together with a handy (and barebones) app. Primecast is a $3 app for Android that puts Amazon Instant Video on your Chromecast by scraping Amazon’s backend to show you a list of your purchased and rented…

How to Stream Local Video From Your Android Device to Your Chromecast

The Chromecast is cheap, useful and easy to operate, so it’s no surprise that it’s become Google’s biggest hit yet in the world of home theater. Out of the box it’s designed to stream online content directly from services such as Netflix and YouTube, but with the right utilities installed you can cast local content…

Roku Now Has Google Play, Is Pretty Much Unstoppable

Roku was already the best little streaming device money could buy. But now, Google has gone and given Roku players access to all your Google Play movie and TV goodies. Which, more than just being an unprecedented move on Google’s part, makes Roku pretty much unstoppable. There was no obvious reason for Google to give…

Fire TV Stick vs Chromecast vs Roku Stick: Streaming Dongle Showdown

Amazon just announced the Fire TV stick, a cheap streaming media dongle, which looks a lot like Google’s Chromecast, and the Roku streaming stick. But there some important differences that might make each device slightly better suited to different people. We’ll have a full review of the Fire TV stick soon; you can check out…

According to a FCC filing spotted by Android Police, the Chromecast is getting an upgrade to a 5GHz Wi-Fi chip, which should make for some speedier Netflix streaming. It also makes it an even more potent contender to Google’s own brand-new Nexus Player, or the likes of the Apple TV for that matter. [Android Police]

How To Put Your Photos on Your TV with Chromecast

Google had promised us it was coming, and how its here: Chromecast has been updated with a new Backdrop feature that lets you display your own photos when you’re not busy streaming something. You can also display popular photos from elsewhere, and news and weather snippets. Here’s how to get the new feature set up.…

Meet MatchStick: Mozilla’s $12 Firefox-Powered Chromecast Competitor

At $35, Chomecast is a very good deal. But Mozilla thinks it can do a little better, with its own Firefox OS-based streaming stick, the $12 MatchStick. Actually that $12 should come with a caveat—the lil dongle is now on Kickstarter, and if you sign up for one now, you can get it for just…