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Technology catch-all thread


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QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Aug 29, 2013 -> 10:51 PM)
Chromecast doesn't stream the media from your phone or tablet. Instead, it receives instructions from the phone or tablet to fetch the video based on what the tablet or phone tell it, then it rides your WiFi to get that content. Basically, think of your phone or tablet as a remote for the Chromecast. That's why when you stream, you get full HD video instead of a 10 inch screen magnified.

 

BTW, got mine the other day and it's pretty badass. It's supposed to be adding HBOGo and Hulu soon.

 

Exactly what I was about to say. The size of your device you are streaming it from has 0 impact on the resolution on your TV.

 

My dad got his in yesterday or today, and I will come home from school tomorrow so I'll get to try it out. I've been calling Best Buy every couple days but they have yet to get any in. I've heard some random Best Buys across the country are getting a handful in at a time.

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QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Aug 29, 2013 -> 12:03 PM)
I had an HTC for two years that I dropped plenty of times and it was fine, no case either. Bought a Samsung "Rugby" because it was supposed to be "tougher" than any other AT& T phone it fell about three feet and the screen shattered. Salesperson sold me on the idea that I did not need a case for it, bulls***.

 

Shoulda gotten a Samsung Galaxy S4 Active instead.

Edited by chw42
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QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Aug 29, 2013 -> 01:39 PM)
So my chromecast order finally came in last night. Pretty sleek device with some potential, especially for $35. At this point it's basically a more convenient (i.e., wireless) way to play netflix or youtube on my bedroom TV, not a full-fledged phone/tablet-with-all-the apps-on-TV device. I got a 2nd one for travel purposes. It'd be great if they eventually get HBO GO, Sunday Ticket, and the DirecTV app on there. They also need to add support for casting mobile chrome content, not just desktop chrome content.

 

Koushik Dutta found a way to pretty much stream anything to the Chromecast via an app called AllCast. Google's latest update to Chromecast broke it.

 

Google will be releasing an SDK just for the Chromecast later this year. The platform is young ATM, but when it fully develops, it's gonna be great.

 

I've bought two for myself and one for my parents.

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QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Aug 29, 2013 -> 10:05 PM)
Exactly what I was about to say. The size of your device you are streaming it from has 0 impact on the resolution on your TV.

 

My dad got his in yesterday or today, and I will come home from school tomorrow so I'll get to try it out. I've been calling Best Buy every couple days but they have yet to get any in. I've heard some random Best Buys across the country are getting a handful in at a time.

 

Just order online, they come back in stock every few hours. I've ordered all of mine that way.

 

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Just pledged to the Pressy kickstarter. Pretty neat little invention. Makes my decision to get the HTC One over the Moto X more tolerable as I really liked the double twist camera trick on the X. This seems even easier and I won't risk flinging my phone across the room.

 

LINK (It's worth checking out the video)

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QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 30, 2013 -> 11:13 AM)
Just pledged to the Pressy kickstarter. Pretty neat little invention. Makes my decision to get the HTC One over the Moto X more tolerable as I really liked the double twist camera trick on the X. This seems even easier and I won't risk flinging my phone across the room.

 

LINK (It's worth checking out the video)

You are too f***ing obsessed with smartphones. :P

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QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 30, 2013 -> 11:13 AM)
Just pledged to the Pressy kickstarter. Pretty neat little invention. Makes my decision to get the HTC One over the Moto X more tolerable as I really liked the double twist camera trick on the X. This seems even easier and I won't risk flinging my phone across the room.

 

LINK (It's worth checking out the video)

 

You guys do know that in Android 4.2, all it takes to get to the camera is to unlock the phone and swipe to the left on the lockscreen, right?

 

That Moto X double twist thing might work half the time and you risk flinging your phone.

 

The camera thing is cool with Pressy, but for a lot of the other stuff, you can just use Tasker.

Edited by chw42
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QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Aug 29, 2013 -> 11:02 PM)
They always say ships in 2-3 weeks though.

 

Check slickdeals 2-3 times a day, you're bound to find it in stock.

 

I'm talking about the Best Buy website BTW, not Amazon or Google Play.

Edited by chw42
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QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 30, 2013 -> 09:29 AM)
You guys do know that in Android 4.2, all it takes to get to the camera is to unlock the phone and swipe to the left on the lockscreen, right?

 

That Moto X double twist thing might work half the time and you risk flinging your phone.

 

The camera thing is cool with Pressy, but for a lot of the other stuff, you can just use Tasker.

 

I'm required to use a pin to unlock my phone because of work. No option for the customized lock screen with shortcuts.

Edited by BigSqwert
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Called BestBuy for like the 4th time this week. I didn't realize you never actually talk to a store, but rather you speak to a central hub somewhere that uses your information to look in to the nearest stores around you. I was wondering why I had to confirm my info every time I called to simply ask on the availability of something.

 

Anywho, the lady tells me that there are no Chromecasts available at the Merrillville, Highland, Lansing or whatever other stores near me.....which confused me since I am down in Muncie right now. So I said 'Where are you located? I am not in NW Indiana right now, I am at school in Muncie." She apologizes (As if she should know that?), and looks up the BestBuy in Muncie.

 

30 minutes later, I am driving home with 2 Google Chromecasts! :D :D :D

 

The guy said they got 20 of them in this morning, and when I got there they were down to 6 of them. They don't even display them or advertise, but they sell off the shelves within hours. I got one for myself, and one for whatever family member wants to buy the 2nd one off me.

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QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Aug 30, 2013 -> 12:59 PM)
Called BestBuy for like the 4th time this week. I didn't realize you never actually talk to a store, but rather you speak to a central hub somewhere that uses your information to look in to the nearest stores around you. I was wondering why I had to confirm my info every time I called to simply ask on the availability of something.

 

Anywho, the lady tells me that there are no Chromecasts available at the Merrillville, Highland, Lansing or whatever other stores near me.....which confused me since I am down in Muncie right now. So I said 'Where are you located? I am not in NW Indiana right now, I am at school in Muncie." She apologizes (As if she should know that?), and looks up the BestBuy in Muncie.

 

30 minutes later, I am driving home with 2 Google Chromecasts! :D :D :D

 

The guy said they got 20 of them in this morning, and when I got there they were down to 6 of them. They don't even display them or advertise, but they sell off the shelves within hours. I got one for myself, and one for whatever family member wants to buy the 2nd one off me.

That's a lot of work and driving for Netflix and YouTube.

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QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Aug 30, 2013 -> 01:36 PM)
I think I'll survive the 1.1 mile drive I took today.

I just don't get the allure just yet. Once they enable, say, every play store app, then f*** yeah bring it on... but my bluray and ps3 both have perfectly fine integrations with anything Chromecast actually does out of the box. The effort to hack it to enable other stuff just doesn't seem like a viable option right now.

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QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Aug 30, 2013 -> 06:17 PM)
I just don't get the allure just yet. Once they enable, say, every play store app, then f*** yeah bring it on... but my bluray and ps3 both have perfectly fine integrations with anything Chromecast actually does out of the box. The effort to hack it to enable other stuff just doesn't seem like a viable option right now.

 

I don't have a PS3 in every room yet, and being at school, I don't even have a REAL comcast box, which means not even on-demand shows or movies. I like being able to have Netflix in my bedroom AND my living room, and hopefully an xFinity app will come soon and then I can watch pretty much every TV show and a whole host of newer movies available too.

 

I can't imagine this not being worth $35, especially once they add a whole host of more options.

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QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Aug 30, 2013 -> 08:03 PM)
I don't have a PS3 in every room yet, and being at school, I don't even have a REAL comcast box, which means not even on-demand shows or movies. I like being able to have Netflix in my bedroom AND my living room, and hopefully an xFinity app will come soon and then I can watch pretty much every TV show and a whole host of newer movies available too.

 

I can't imagine this not being worth $35, especially once they add a whole host of more options.

 

I'm willing to wait to make sure it happens

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With the 3 free months of Netflix it was definitely worth it for me. The load time is exponentially faster than using a ps3. And God forbid there's an update waiting for you when you turn on the ps3. That's like 5 hours before you can get to your Netflix movie.

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QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 31, 2013 -> 11:01 AM)
With the 3 free months of Netflix it was definitely worth it for me. The load time is exponentially faster than using a ps3. And God forbid there's an update waiting for you when you turn on the ps3. That's like 5 hours before you can get to your Netflix movie.

Thamkfully PS+ takes care of the update issue.

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QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 31, 2013 -> 12:01 PM)
With the 3 free months of Netflix it was definitely worth it for me. The load time is exponentially faster than using a ps3. And God forbid there's an update waiting for you when you turn on the ps3. That's like 5 hours before you can get to your Netflix movie.

 

Your Ps3 must have an awful internet connection. Videos take between 1 and 2 seconds to load for me, and updates take 5-10 minutes at the most.

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QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Aug 31, 2013 -> 10:18 AM)
Your Ps3 must have an awful internet connection. Videos take between 1 and 2 seconds to load for me, and updates take 5-10 minutes at the most.

How long does it take from the moment you turn the power switch on your ps3 to the moment your netflix movie starts playing? I'd wager a year's salary that it's 20 times longer than starting a video via chromecast. The ps3 update just makes it worse. You'll never have to wait 5 or 10 minutes for the device to update before you can actually watch a video.

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QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 31, 2013 -> 03:21 PM)
How long does it take from the moment you turn the power switch on your ps3 to the moment your netflix movie starts playing? I'd wager a year's salary that it's 20 times longer than starting a video via chromecast. The ps3 update just makes it worse. You'll never have to wait 5 or 10 minutes for the device to update before you can actually watch a video.

2 minutes tops

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