caffeinated.

i am a dreamer. i dream of tech writing, oddly

enough. i guess that makes

me just another dream-chaser.

this is my dream.

i am sixteen, and live in kansas city, missouri. as a junior in high school, caffeinated is becoming my pet project, and one i am super interested in maturing. i love all things technology, and i love writing. this should be a fun adventure. come with me.

about me.

i went to new york. I grew up loving technology. Taking apart computers, and putting together DIY electronic kits, and fanboying over software updates as a kid distinguished me a little bit from the others on the playground. Seeing Engadget’s coverage of the first iPhone, though, really determined for me that I want to do something in the tech industry long-term. Ever since then, I’ve thought about everything from being a cell phone hardware designer to a product tester for big companies like Sony or Acer. Having been a longtime writer, though, and considering my lifelong desire to do something like journalism, I’ve finally decided on this midpoint between tech blogger and journalist, where I can do a bit of both editorials and news stuff. This is Caffeinated. Caffeinated wouldn’t have even been possible, though, if it weren’t for the Nicest Guy in Tech, Mister Tim Stevens. I contacted him earlier this year about getting help for starting some sort of web blog, or periodical, or anything to get my name out there. Timely enough, he responded, and, through our correspondence, I landed a Press Pass to Engadget Expand. Expand is a consumer electronics trade show that was hosted in New York City’s Javits Center, November 9-1, 2013. I had never done anything like that before, so I was ecstatic. Me and my older brother, Jackson, went up to the Big Apple to attend the show. I went to make connections, and to get some really cool content, and I got a little bit of both. I got to talk to representatives from Lenovo, Microsoft, Facebook, Blackberry, and I even got to briefly meet Reading Rainbow host Lamar Burton. New York and Engadget Expand was a super vital beginning to Caffeinated’s story, and I’m really excited to see the “big picture” affects that it has on me.

by gray bohlender

Google has recently been upping their game in the ‘hardware’ department, with 2013′s iteration of the Nexus 7, the brand new Nexus 5 and, hiding behind the search giant’s flashy new flagships, the $35 Chromecast. The Chromecast is a HDMI dongle that will stream content from your Android or iOS device, as well as a Mac or PC, to your television through your home wifi network. It has been described by much of the tech industry as “Google’s budget-friendly jab at the Apple TV”, but it was hard for me to see such an innovative company launch a copycat product over 6 years after the original products release. I watched the unboxing videos of the Chromecast, and I read the reviews, and I was (probably inordinately) amused by the device; it couldn’t just be another smart-streaming option, another Apple TV. With such a low price point, it was hard for me to resist the purchase.

I got my hands on the dongle today, and I eagerly tore it of its packaging. I had watched enough unboxing videos that, believe me, my fingers almost instinctively tore at every single sticker holding that little trooper in their. I opened the very simpleton-looking, very professional-feeling box, and I saw my Chromecast. Upon picking it up, it was immediately distinguishable in size from, say, a USB flash drive. Although definitely the smallest in the category of smart-streaming devices, it definitely has a heft to it. !I plugged it in to both the HDMI outlet and the USB port (HDMI for audio/visual and USB for power) in my TV, and it was recognized immediately. A splashscreen told me to go to a get the companion app on my smartphone, and when I did, it found my Chromecast automatically. I went through the set-up process like a breeze, and was then ready to start streaming. !

UNBOXING/SETUP

After a quick setup, the Chromecast was ready to roll. The number of apps that officially let you stream is pretty limited, but they include the vital Spotify, Pandora, Netflix, Youtube and a few others, and apps on the Play Store that are unofficially marketed as ‘supported’ are abundant. !I opened Play Music, and tried streaming Twenty-One Pilots’ Vessels via the dongle. A dialogue box came up, telling me I can’t stream anything to my Chromecast stored on my phone. Alternatively, I searched the album on Play All Access, selected “Car

STREAMING

i reviewed the chromecast.

by gray bohlender

Radio, and it played without a hitch. Any media streamed directly from a supported internet database, particularly Google’s own, can be streamed to the Chromecast. If it’s on your hard drive, though, I’m sorry, because you’re out of luck. !YouTube and Netflix streamed super well from my phone. For the first 30 seconds of any video or movie, though, a buffering blur definitely serves as an annoyance, but that will be the case with any smart streaming option. After the buffer, the image looked beautiful and the audio wasn’t laggy. Half an hour into watching Mythbusters, while checking Instagram and reading news on the Nexus 4 it was streaming from, I forgot that I was streaming from a Chromecast. It was DVD quality image, even on inconsistent wifi like my home network. !Browser streaming via the Chromecast was iffy at best, and that is really the only word I have to describe it. It was just slow, and inconsistent, and wasn’t very practical. If you’re buying the Chromecast for PC streaming solely, wait for an update that addresses this. I’m sure it is coming.

Chromecast has been called a copycat, and called ‘late to the game’, but it’s also been called $35 and a very worthy investment. At that price point, it’s not even much of an investment, either. Also, more than a cheap alternative to the Apple TV, Roku and other streaming devices, I think Google’s vision for Chromecast is completely different than those either. !Chromecast is a very Google-esque device. It’s clean, streamlined user interface and deep integration with the cloud and Google services make it sort of like what the Kindle Fire line is to Amazon – a selling point for more than the name of streaming, but for all things Google. It’s interaction with your phone, tablet and computer make it very open-sourced, too, and really just a world waiting to be developed for. It’s not the same as an Apple TV, but really just a knot to tie to the Google ecosystem together. This is the future of streaming, and really could define the future of Google products.

CONCLUSION

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