There is a bit of an uproar today, centered on the Chromecast and Koush's experimental AllCast application. A little background for those who haven't been following along. Developer and noted Android hacker Koushik Dutta hacked a method to play local content, as well as content from Google Drive or Dropbox from your Android on the Chromecast. The supplied APIs from the developer preview of the Google Cast SDK don't offer this functionality, so he had to do some magic and work around it. He did, and it looked pretty interesting to a lot of people who wanted a way to connect their Android to their TV. Today Koush announced that the latest update broke this functionality, and that he suspects Google is blocking this sort of behavior on purpose. Verizon is offering the Pixel 4a for just $10/mo on new Unlimited lines That's a bit of a sticky mess, and no answer is going to satisfy everyone. Maybe Google should just sell a Miracast dongle through Google Play, make it cheap, and be done with it. I don't have an answer, but I do have some food for thought, and there's two very important things that need remembered in any discussion about Chromecast abilities and use cases.

The Chromecast is not open

The Chromecast is not Android. It's also not Chromium. It was never offered as an "open" product. What it is is a $35 device that lets you play content from YouTube, Netflix and the Chrome browser with very little setup or difficulty. Google has said that other cool stuff will be coming to the Chromecast, but they never once said it would be open and hackable. In fact, making a device like this open and hackable will hurt its future. Content providers are afraid of Android. When people can take a few hours and do things like crack open an app so it works in ways it wasn't intended, the people who control the flow of entertainment get scared. They aren't afraid of the Xbox, or the Apple TV, because people aren't modifying the software on these right and left. They care about revenue, and things that can take away any of it get them jumpy. Google has to try and appease these folks, and whether we like it or not that means clamping things down. The SDK is not final