Android By Russell Holly Nov. 21, 2013 9:47 am
The Google Chromecast team has seen fit to let one more streaming media service cross the whitelist and allow for simple living room sharing. If you’re a fan of HBO Go, there’s an update waiting for you in the Google Play Store.
For a company that worked so hard to sell Android to the world as this big open thing that anyone could use and developers could make money on, Google seems to be going out of its way to snub third-party content providers on Chromecast. The HDMI dongle got a lot of attention early on by being a clever $35 computer that could handle local video streams, but the number of things that you can actually use with the Chromecast is still very limited.
Google seems to be interested in courting large content sources for Chromecast while the rest of the content creators can sit back and play with the API behind the scenes, but without the ability to release to the public.
Recently there was Pandora support added, while the guys from Pocket Casts announced months ago that their app was ready as soon as Google allowed them. Anyone who tries to bend these rules find themselves unable to do so for very long, usually right after the Chromecast updates to block whatever loophole has been found.
It’s still a great little stick for $35 (or $30 if you grab one this Black Friday) if you’re a fan of Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, and now HBO Go, but it’s frustrating that it could be so much more if Google would allow it.
Now read: Geek Answers: How do self-healing materials self-heal?
More...
For a company that worked so hard to sell Android to the world as this big open thing that anyone could use and developers could make money on, Google seems to be going out of its way to snub third-party content providers on Chromecast. The HDMI dongle got a lot of attention early on by being a clever $35 computer that could handle local video streams, but the number of things that you can actually use with the Chromecast is still very limited.
Google seems to be interested in courting large content sources for Chromecast while the rest of the content creators can sit back and play with the API behind the scenes, but without the ability to release to the public.
Recently there was Pandora support added, while the guys from Pocket Casts announced months ago that their app was ready as soon as Google allowed them. Anyone who tries to bend these rules find themselves unable to do so for very long, usually right after the Chromecast updates to block whatever loophole has been found.
It’s still a great little stick for $35 (or $30 if you grab one this Black Friday) if you’re a fan of Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, and now HBO Go, but it’s frustrating that it could be so much more if Google would allow it.
Now read: Geek Answers: How do self-healing materials self-heal?
More...
