Google's latest foray into the world of smart TV technology, the Chromecast streaming dongle, has been relatively locked down as it finalizes its developer SDK. Previously, only a handful of applications worked with the $35 device, but now things are finally starting to open up as ten new apps for both iOS and Android have been given functionality on the Chromecast.
According to PC Mag, the apps now available on the device are a mix of audio and video programs that pull content from various online sources. These apps are available to stream directly from your mobile device to your television and a few of them are also capable of streaming your personal files.
The online streaming services now allowed to plug into Google's Chromecast include: VEVO, Red Bull.TV, Songza, PostTV, Viki, Revision 3 and BeyondPod. While many of these apps aren't exactly the most popular or well known, they've got very big download numbers, which means they are at least being used by many.
A few months ago, when the product first launched, Google blocked an app called AllCast from streaming local content to the Chromecast. Now there is an officially supported way to get your own content sent to the device. With the App rollout today, useres of Plex, aVia and RealPlayer Cloud can connect to a Chromecast.
Google was shy about letting local content run on the Chromecast as it didn't want to discourage app developers like HBO GO, which typically lose money on people downloading media content. Now, it seems that the Chromecast is going down a road of full entertainment app and allowing anything saved to your computer or mobile device to be streamed using any of these officially supported apps.
Plex is probably the most popular out of all the choices but costs $5 on the app store. It's up to the user to determine if that's worth it to play all of the files on his or her harddrive.
