Did this $35 dongle just make Google a player in your living room? I think so

Google Chromecast 

Chromecast came out of nowhere and got a lot of people excited about what it had to offer. Everyone had been expecting Google to do something with the idea that was born in the Nexus Q, but the media and the public were both pleasantly surprised when Sundar Pichai showed us the little dongle that held so much power.

Chromecast is not quite Google TV, and it's not quite a Roku. It fills a happy medium between the two, and is a great way to get your content on to your television. With platform support from Android and iOS, as well as the Chrome browser and OS, it's useful for most people. With an open set of APIs for developers to use I can imagine big things from this little stick. If you're tied into the Google ecosystem, it's a no-brainer. Even if you're not, it's a cheap solution to get content from the web to the television without any wires or hassle.

The Good

It's $35. That $35 gets you a cross-platform way to push content from the devices you likely already have, to the screen and sound system you've spent the most money on. It's also very easy to setup and use. This is the Google gadget people have been waiting for — cheap, easy and fun.

The Bad

It's not going to work for you if you use a BlackBerry or Windows Phone phone or tablet. For you 19 people, I'm sorry. Relax — I'm kidding. I sincerely hope application developers for these platforms can find a way to work with the existing API, or that Google extends the SDK to include them. 

Conclusion

There's a reason these have pretty much sold out everywhere and are on eBay for $50 plus. People want them because they support the expensive electronics they already have, and setup without any issues. It's a great addition to your living room, and I can't wait to see where things go from here.