While Google’s Chromecast has turned our TVs and mobile devices into interlocking home entertainment systems, there are still some features that have been on a lot of users’ wishlist. Well some of them may have just come true as Google announced at the I/O conference new features for the casting device that developers can integrate into their apps and products. Users of the Chromecast as well as the Nexus Player and NVIDIA Shield and those who love binge watching shows and playing multiplayer games will benefit from these new features.
One of the things that has made video on demand so, uhm, in demand is the concept of binge watching through entire seasons of TV shows or going through all movies in a franchise in just one sitting. Netflix has given us the art of seamlessly moving from one video to the next and now Chromecast is adapting the same principle for its casting device. It will now give developers the ability to buffer the next video even as the current video is still playing but nearing its end. But of course users will still be able to have control over what to queue next or to re-order the videos according to their preference and other settings.
On the gaming front, the new Game Manager API makes it easier for developers to create multiplayer experiences and allow gamers to use their individual smartphones as their respective game controllers. The Remote Display API meanwhile lets developers take dual-screen interface to a different level. You can have an Android device work with Cast-enabled hardware in games where two screens are necessary. It can also apply to more than just games, like having tool windows and sliders on your smartphone while the photo you’re editing is cast on to the bigger screen.
Some games and apps have already applied these new features, like NBA Game Time and Red Bull TV for the autoplay and queuing, Catch Phrase for the new Game Manager APIs, and Autodesk Pixlr for the Remote Display APIs. But hopefully, even more developers will add these new tools and features to their current apps or products they’re still developing.
SOURCE: Google
