Chromecast Device

 Google has introduced a cheaper rival product to the Apple TV set-top box with Chromecast, a small portable device that streams video and music from people's computers and mobile devices to their televisions.Take the idea of Apple’s Air Play feature, make it work with more than just Apple devices, and charge $35 for the thing that connects to TV sets instead of $100 for an Apple TV box.
That’s ostensibly what Google’s just done with the $35 Chromecast, a device resembling an oversized thumbdrive that plugs into an open HDMI port on the back of your TV set and draws power via a USB connection.
Once connected, you’ll be able to hand video and audio content from your phone, tablet or computer off to your TV set, where it’ll be available for all to see (or hear) on the biggest, nicest screen in your home. This works cross-platform, too – not just with Google devices. Google today demoed how it works using an iPhone, for instance.
Some apps – most notably, YouTube and Netflix — will feature built-in Chromecast support via a “Cast” button residing somewhere in the interface. Press the button, and the Chromecast – which runs a stripped-down version of Google’s Chrome operating system – will grab the video feed from the cloud and play it back directly from the Chromecast device. No actual slinging from the phone, in other words. The idea works the same for music from Google’s music service and Pandora.

Within those applications, a new "cast" button will appear in the interface. Clicking on it will give users the option to stream the content to the television that is connected to Chrome cast.
The device is compatible with both Android- and i OS-based mobile devices as well as the Chrome browser for Windows, Mac and Chrome-book Pixel laptop computers.
Apple TV, meanwhile, retails for $99, and works similarly by letting users view on their TV screens different types of content from various devices via an HDMI cable.
But at $35, Chromecast is affordable enough to connect up every TV in people's homes, said Mario Queiroz, VP of product management at Google.
Chromecast's low price "is a big deal," agreed Greg Sterling, senior analyst with Opus Research.
Compared to Apple, Chromecast has the potential to usher in a larger ecosystem of applications and services, but Google will need to work hard to educate people about its capabilities, Sterling said.