I don't typically write about products on launch day, but I'm very excited about Google's announcement today of Chromecast. Streaming from the cloud directly to any HDTV just got incredibly simple and inexpensive.

Not only is the tiny device, a bargain at only $35, but it's also incredibly flexible. No need to learn a new interface or change your behavior, with Chromecast you can send the content you want to your TV with the touch of a button. 

Since Chromecast streams content that is already in the cloud, it doesn't rely on the speed of your device or the speed of the WiFi network between your device and Chromecast, allowing for smooth streaming directly from content already on the internet.

Chromecast currently streams content from Google Play Movies & TV, Google Play Music, YouTube, Netflix, or it can mirror a tab in a Chrome browser on your smart phone, tablet or a computer you already have in your home, allowing you to show content on your TV from sites like Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, Clicker, etc. You can even multi-task on your device, without interrupting the video that's playing on your TV.

How it works:

Chromecast runs a slim version of the Google Chrome browser and communicates with your Andriod, iOS, MacOS or Windows device to discover the content you are watching. With the touch of a button, Chromecast taps into the same content you are streaming on your device and streams it from the exact same point on your HDTV.

No need to download a new application or learn a new interface, since Chromecast simply streams the exact same content you're already watching on your device by pulling it from the cloud at the same time.

Your device becomes the remote, allowing you to control playback and volume. Additionally, playback that started with one device, can be controlled seamlessly with another on the same WiFi network. For example, if someone in your home started streaming from their iPhone, you could easily take over later from your Android tablet.

Control from other apps like Pandora are coming and development is fully open without an approval requirement from Google. As if you weren't already sold on it, the product also comes with a complimentary three months of Netflix. There's little question that this pretty well replaces Google TV as a streaming device for most people, for roughly 1/6 of the price.

Making perfect sense for anyone without an large investment of purchased iTunes content, this is serious competition to the much loved Apple TV. For just over the price of one Apple TV, you can tuck away three of these tiny devices behind the HDTVs in your home, and since you can stream content from Chrome, combine this with a VPN service and you can potentially stream anything on the internet to your TV, except iTunes.

What do you think about this new way of streaming content to your HDTV? Please leave me your comments or send me a Tweet @dougkrug.

Image source - Google - CC