Android By Russell Holly Feb. 3, 2014 3:58 pm
Nine months has passed since Google announced the Chromecast, and now it seems the company is finally ready to let other developers play in their sandbox.
Ever since the day Google’s HDMI dongle was announced, the company seems to have been totally unprepared for the explosive popularity that surrounded the Chromecast platform. The hardware flew off the shelves the day it was released, and it took Google weeks to catch up. Despite opening a closed SDK for developers to test apps in a sandbox shortly after the launch, only a select few were chosen to release Chromecast support for their apps. Developers from every walk of life have had support in their apps for months, just waiting for Google to allow them to publish support for the platform. It looks like today is the day as the floodgates open for developers to publish Chromecast support through the new SDK.
According to Google, Chromecast support has been added to Android and to the actual Chromecast, with iOS support available shortly. These changes will make it so developers with existing apps — like the currently Chromecast-blacklisted AllCast app and Pocket Casts from Shifty Jelly — will be able to just push an update with support enabled and everything will just work.
Projects like the Lynxfit fitness app that combines Google Glass and Chromecast are now possible as well. AllCast’s developer, Koushik Dutta, has already announced plans to update his app soon and is even looking into allowing users to mirror their Android homescreens through other work he’s done recently with CyanogenMod.
This update is the thing developers have been waiting for from the moment the app was launched. While the Chromecast is a perfectly capable video streamer, and at $35 worth every penny even if all you’re doing is streaming HBO Go, this update will create a whole new world of opportunities for developers to do fun and exciting things on two screens. It’s a huge second step, one that many were concerned wasn’t coming after such a long delay, but now that it is here we can all sit back and watch as the apps come pouring in.
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Ever since the day Google’s HDMI dongle was announced, the company seems to have been totally unprepared for the explosive popularity that surrounded the Chromecast platform. The hardware flew off the shelves the day it was released, and it took Google weeks to catch up. Despite opening a closed SDK for developers to test apps in a sandbox shortly after the launch, only a select few were chosen to release Chromecast support for their apps. Developers from every walk of life have had support in their apps for months, just waiting for Google to allow them to publish support for the platform. It looks like today is the day as the floodgates open for developers to publish Chromecast support through the new SDK.
According to Google, Chromecast support has been added to Android and to the actual Chromecast, with iOS support available shortly. These changes will make it so developers with existing apps — like the currently Chromecast-blacklisted AllCast app and Pocket Casts from Shifty Jelly — will be able to just push an update with support enabled and everything will just work.
Projects like the Lynxfit fitness app that combines Google Glass and Chromecast are now possible as well. AllCast’s developer, Koushik Dutta, has already announced plans to update his app soon and is even looking into allowing users to mirror their Android homescreens through other work he’s done recently with CyanogenMod.
This update is the thing developers have been waiting for from the moment the app was launched. While the Chromecast is a perfectly capable video streamer, and at $35 worth every penny even if all you’re doing is streaming HBO Go, this update will create a whole new world of opportunities for developers to do fun and exciting things on two screens. It’s a huge second step, one that many were concerned wasn’t coming after such a long delay, but now that it is here we can all sit back and watch as the apps come pouring in.
More...
