Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2014/07/10/googles_lounge_room_invasion_advances_with_chromecast_upgrade/

Google's lounge room invasion advances with Chromecast upgrade

Your tellie is about to mirror your Android

By Simon Sharwood

Posted in Software, 10th July 2014 06:56 GMT

Google is making yet another attempt to get its content into televisions.

The Chocolate Factory already offers Google TV, which is either baked into a TV or a set-top box and allows users to run Android apps, the Chrome browser and access content from the Play Store. There's also Android TV, which promises more or less the same thing.

Now the text advertising giant has made a 1.7 update to the Chromecast app that will, Google says, beam anything from an Android phone or tablet to a Chromecast-equipped tellie.

Desktop and laptop computers running Chrome (the browser) can already pull off that trick. By adding it to phones 'n' slabs, Google has another way to get its content into lounge rooms. And another reason to make its Chromecast HDMI stick an attractive buy.

Google says the upgrade will handle “apps” but doesn't say if that includes games. In Vulture South's experience, video broadcast to Chromecasts lag on-device action ever so slightly. It will be interesting to see if Google's update is fast enough to make Chromecast a threat to consoles as well as an easier way to beam photos to a big screen. ®