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Chromecast update breaks AllCast

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Re: Chromecast update breaks AllCast

#111

Post by abraham »

nivla wrote: post #97
Ironlink wrote: post #75

Google has responded to a request for comment from The Verge. 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 wan…

> 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. Then why are they offering it in retail stores like best buy? Sucks that you buy something for feature X and few days later an update comes through getting rid of it. Does anyone know how hard is it…

> Sucks that you buy something for feature X and few days later an update comes through getting rid of it.

You really shouldn't buy products because of an un-official feature hidden in a preview of a developer SDK.

Re: Chromecast update breaks AllCast

#112

Post by jdjb »

jonknee wrote: post #86
jlgreco wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've had a long time to prove that using automatic updates to remove features is a recipe for disaster. In fact, I seem to remember a certain company using forced updates specifically to remove users' ability to install other OSes on their devices... Just because you can install another OS on your chromebook today doesn't mean you will be able to in the future. Get out now, or you are making a gamble.

> We've had a long time to prove that using automatic updates to remove features is a recipe for disaster. In fact, I seem to remember a certain company using forced updates specifically to remove users' ability to install other OSes on their devices... They didn't remove a feature... They removed an undocumented setting for an SDK that has warnings all over the place that the API is not final and to not release an a…

Woosh. He was referring to Sony and their removal of Linux on the PS3.

Re: Chromecast update breaks AllCast

#113

Post by Karunamon »

jlgreco wrote: post #99
jonknee wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We've had a long time to prove that using automatic updates to remove features is a recipe for disaster. In fact, I seem to remember a certain company using forced updates specifically to remove users' ability to install other OSes on their devices... They didn't remove a feature... They removed an undocumented setting for an SDK that has warnings all over the place that the API is not final and to not release an a…

From my response to somebody else in this discussion: " Hiding behind terms of use on SDKs isn't something that mellows the sting of this to users who probably don't even know what "SDK" means."

Then shame on the developer for releasing an app for mass consumption based on private and non finalized APIs, and then blaming Google when things break. I understand that ragging on corporations is fun, but c'mon. Perspective , please.

Re: Chromecast update breaks AllCast

#114

Post by myko »

badman_ting wrote: post #42

It's not so much that I mind Google doing this, as I wish people would stop pretending that Google is somehow more "open" or different from other companies that restrict the functionality of their devices in similar ways.

> I wish people would stop pretending that Google is somehow more "open" or different from other companies that restrict the functionality of their devices in similar ways.

This is the first device Google has done this with though, isn't it?

Re: Chromecast update breaks AllCast

#115

Post by koushikdutta »

zmmmmm wrote: post #104
bru wrote: post #20

The developer of AllCast, Koushik Dutta, gave his side in this reddit comment: http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/1l2hez/google_block...

His response is a little bit trite when you read his previous post where he more or less taunts Google about how he reverse engineered the protocol to avoid the whitelist. In some way it almost feels like a setup - perhaps this is all a strategy by Koush to flush Google out on this issue, and I suspect they've been forced to confront it now before they were really ready.

;)

Re: Chromecast update breaks AllCast

#116

Post by jlgreco »

Karunamon wrote: post #113
jlgreco wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my response to somebody else in this discussion: " Hiding behind terms of use on SDKs isn't something that mellows the sting of this to users who probably don't even know what "SDK" means."

Then shame on the developer for releasing an app for mass consumption based on private and non finalized APIs, and then blaming Google when things break. I understand that ragging on corporations is fun, but c'mon. Perspective , please.

"Shame on the developer" does not make this any better for the consumers either.

Re: Chromecast update breaks AllCast

#117

Post by Karunamon »

jlgreco wrote: post #116
Karunamon wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then shame on the developer for releasing an app for mass consumption based on private and non finalized APIs, and then blaming Google when things break. I understand that ragging on corporations is fun, but c'mon. Perspective , please.

"Shame on the developer" does not make this any better for the consumers either.

The problem the consumers are having was generated completely and totally by the developer of the app, not Google. If you as a developer write an app using non finalized APIs, and release it, and the app breaks because that API changed, it is completely and utterly your fault.

Re: Chromecast update breaks AllCast

#118

Post by sologoub »

Just got my Chromecast that I ordered in July and am profoundly disappointed. For a device with such high potential, it really did not deliver on the promise.

Here's what I expected: 1) AirPlay alternative via Google Chrome/Chromecast. 2) Reasonable picture quality and fit. 3) Possibly an office alternative to Apple TV for presentations.

While yes, this thing can project your browser tab on to the TV, there is severe lag, washed-out colors, and most importantly I have not been able to play HTML5 videos in full-screen mode. Could be user error...

Amazon Prime Instant Videos do not play in full-screen mode either. But then again, I didn't really expect SilverLight to work with Google's products all that well.

Picture quality is terrible. I only tried it on a 720p TV, as tab mirroring reportedly only supports 720p. Colors are washed out and lighting is off. Not a big deal, but I also did not get 720p all the time, connection seemed to fade in and out. This is on a completely not busy N router and nothing else streaming.

What really got me though was spotty support in YouTube and Drive Presentations going off-screen. YouTube has a nice library of international films. I really like watching old Soviet movies from my childhood. They are free to watch and I was stunned when Chromecast reported that the videos I was trying to watch are not supported, even though there is a chromecast icon in the player itself.

Lastly, Google Presentations ended up being cut off when projected in fullscreen (yes here it's fully supported, but not on all videos... go figure.). This last bit basically killed my hypothesis that we could get these for ever conference room and project from both Macs and PCs. I was really hoping this would work...

Re: Chromecast update breaks AllCast

#120

Post by aray »

jlgreco wrote: post #13

If I were somebody with a Chromebook that still had ChromeOS installed, I would be very very concerned right now. If you don't control your device's software updates, then the device is not yours. It is as simple as that.

How did you go about removing ChromeOS from it? As far as I've seen either a new OS is installed under ChromeOS (crouton) or beside it (chrubuntu).
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