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Tag: AllCast

  • Chromecast SDK Is Finally Out Of Beta

    Last July, Google invaded the living room in a big way with Chromecast – a little HDMI dongle that streamed content to your television from an Android device. It was and still is a big hit thanks to its affordable $35 asking price, but developers weren’t so keen on it thanks to Google only letting select partners build apps. In fact, Google killed a third party app called AllCast that allowed users to stream local content stored on their PC to their TV. All of that can be put behind us though thanks to the release of the Chromecast SDK.

    Google announced today that the Google Cast SDK is finally available to download. This is the SDK you’re going to need when building apps for Chromecast. It will allow you to integrate Google Cast into your apps for Android, iOS and Chrome so that users can stream content from their smartphone or Chromebook to their TV.

    This is big news as it essentially opens the floodgates in regards to Chromecast apps. Until now, Google has been incredibly selective by only letting a few partners use the Google Cast API in their apps. Google’s pickiness has led to some noteworthy apps being left out, like Amazon Instant Video. Apps like AllCast and other local streaming apps are now also possible thanks to this release.

    If you want to start building an app right now and don’t know where to start, you might want to watch the below video first. In it, Google gives a brief overview of the SDK and what you need to get started on development:

    To learn more, you’ll want to check out the Google Developers page for Google Cast and its documentation.

    Image via Google Developers

  • Google Has A Perfectly Reasonable Explanation For Why It Killed That Chromecast App

    We learned yesterday that Google killed a third-party streaming app for Chromecast called AllCast. Koushik Dutta built the app so that he could stream local content to his TV through Chromecast instead of having to rely on official apps like Netflix or YouTube. He expressed concern that Google would block indie developers from working on Chromecast, but Google says that’s not happening.

    In response to the killing of AllCast, Google told TechCrunch that it’s all a matter of building a better experience for end users before giving indie developers free reign:

    We’re excited to bring more content to Chromecast and would like to support all types of apps, including those for local content. It’s still early days for the Google Cast SDK, which we just released in developer preview for early development and testing only. We expect that the SDK will continue to change before we launch out of developer preview, and want to provide a great experience for users and developers before making the SDK and additional apps more broadly available.

    In other words, Google feels that its Google Cast SDK is in too early a form for the kind of tinkering being done by Dutta and other developers. Much like with Google Glass and facial recognition apps, Google wants to make sure that the appropriate technologies and policies are in place before it opens development to all.

    In a way, I can see Google’s concern here. Dutta didn’t have access to the official Google Cast SDK so he reverse engineered the Chromecast to build AllCast. Google would want to shut that down to prevent malicious apps from making their way onto its new gadget.

    Of course, restricting the Google Cast SDK to a select number of participants is a double edged sword as it forces developers to crack hardware. We’re already seeing it on Google Glass, and people will continue to do so on Chromecast. Until Google releases the official Google Cast SDK to all, expect to hear more stories like this one.

    [Image: Google]