Overview
Rapidly developing technology sees damn great inventions pop up week after week — namely Snapchat’s scary new filters and this killer whale submarine that’ll set you back a cheeky 100k. The flipside of such speedy development comes when all those fully-functional, expensive devices suddenly become clunky and incompatible with new phones and laptops. But Google's come up with a nifty way to make old technology relevant again, your old Bluetooth-less speakers in particular.
Paired with this week's release of the new Google Chromecast, Google has come up with a nifty little doodad that acts as a go-between for online tune streaming and old-school audio devices with 3.5mm audio jacks or RCA/optical audio outputs — the bit where your headphones plug in, for those feeling confused. It's called Chromecast Audio, a dongle that allows you to sync your phone to the once defunct speakers via wi-fi. This dinky doodad dongle (we'll stop) looks like a spy device but only costs $35 a pop — but you'll need one for each device you wish to make relevant.
Chromecast Audio is compatible with iOS, Android and most laptops and can stream tunes from Pandora, Google Play Music, Spotify, iHeartRadio and Rdio. Where’s Apple Music, you might ask? We don’t know. Perhaps they fell down the village well on the way to the project signing or perhaps, as BGR suggests, they're just pulling a classic Apple and refusing to work with competitors. No synergy points for you, Apple.
Via The Verge.