Google blocks Chromecast app that streams local media files

You can stream a lot of content to a Chromecast dongle, but one thing you can’t do is stream your personal files from an Android device—and according to one developer, Google's actively working to keep it that way.

A beta version of an Android application called AllCast has lost the ability to stream content to Chromecast from Android apps such as the photo gallery, Dropbox, and Google Drive.

“Google's latest Chromecast update intentionally breaks AllCast,” said Android developer Koushik Dutta in a recent Google+ post. The company removed a developer option called “video_playback,” which as its name suggests, allowed any application to support video playback.

Dutta believes this is a sign that Google will not be friendly toward third-party developers of Chromecast apps compared to the relative openness Android developers enjoy on Google Play. “The Chromecast will probably not be indie developer friendly,” Dutta said in his post. “The Google TV team will likely only whitelist media companies.”

“We’re excited to bring more content to Chromecast and would like to support all types of apps, including those for local content,” Google said in a statement when we reached out to them for comment. “It’s still early days for the Google Cast SDK, which we just released in developer preview for early development and testing only. We expect that the SDK will continue to change before we launch out of developer preview, and want to provide a great experience for users and developers before making the SDK and additional apps more broadly available.”

Indeed, in its Chromecast developer documentation, Google says that all functionality is subject to change.

Regardless, Google certainly hasn’t made it easy for Chromecast users to stream their own video files to their TV—an obvious feature deficit. Competitors such as Apple TV already allow you to stream content from your PC or iOS device; however, Apple restricts video formats to h.264 and a specific type of MP4.

Many critics suspect that Google left out the ability to stream personal videos to make its new Web-meets-TV platform more attractive to movie and television studios concerned about piracy. Instead of buying approved content from Google Play or Amazon, the argument goes, users could just download a pirated copy of Sunday night’s Breaking Bad episode and send that to Chromecast.

If the speculation is accurate, it’s rather unfair to limit obvious functionality on Chromecast just to make sure Hollywood doesn’t get spooked, especially since Apple TV could broadcast pirated video to your TV right now. Plus, anyone with the technical know-how to download a pirated video (especially via torrents) likely figured out how to put that content on their TV long before Chromecast showed up.

If you’re absolutely dying to stream personal videos to your Chromecast, one workaround for now is to try casting from your PC. Our recent primer on seven Chromecast tips and tricks shows you how to easily access a PC’s file system from an open Chrome tab.

Updated at 11:23 a.m. PT with a comment from Google.

Ian is an independent writer based in Tel Aviv, Israel. His current focus is on all things tech including mobile devices, desktop and laptop computers, software, social networks, Web apps, tech-related legislation and corporate tech news.
More by Ian Paul

View the original article here

Zealous Internet filter blocks Hamlet as 'violent content'

The unreliability of internet filters has been demonstrated at the British Library, where its Wi-Fi network blocked an author from reading an online version of Shakespeare's Hamlet, as it was deemed to contain "violent content."

Author Mark Forsyth was writing a book in the library and needed to check a line from the famous play, reports the BBC.

The British Library told the BBC the problem was caused by a newly installed Wi-Fi service from a third-party provider that contained internet filters.

British Prime Minister David Cameron's plan to force ISPs to turn on internet filters "by default" to stop "adult content" for new customers have been criticized in some quarters.

Cameron's stance is that such filters make it harder for children to view adult content, although they could inadvertently block other content which isn't necessarily targeted by the government.

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, a key technology adviser to Cameron, slammed the government's demand that ISPs should introduce porn filters by default, saying the move is "ridiculous."

While ISP filters in people's homes can be turned off, that isn't the case for users of services in places like the British Library.One security expert told the BBC the British Library incident highlighted the "dysfunction" of internet filters.

Professor Ross Anderson, a security expert at Cambridge University, said that internet filters were "pointless" and that it was "completely inappropriate" to have one in the British Library.

"Everything that is legal should be available over the library's Wi-Fi network. The only things they should block are the few dozen books against which there are court judgments in the U.K.," Anderson said. "One of the functions of deposit libraries is to keep everything, including smut."

A spokesperson for the British Library told the BBC that Hamlet had since been made accessible. They said the filters were aimed at protecting children visiting the building from content "such as pornography and gambling websites."

View the original article here

Google blocks Microsoft's YouTube app for Windows Phone (again)

Sometimes, it just ain’t easy being a Windows Phone owner.

A mere two days after a revamped, Microsoft-made YouTube app landed on the platform , bringing sweet relief to the poor Windows Phone users long saddled with an old and crappy port of the service, the new app has stopped working whatsoever. Why, you ask? Because Google blocked Microsoft’s access. Again.

“Microsoft has not made the browser upgrades necessary to enable a fully-featured YouTube experience, and has instead re-released a YouTube app that violates our Terms of Service,” YouTube spokespeople told bothThe Verge and TechCrunch. “It has been disabled. We value our broad developer community and therefore ask everyone to adhere to the same guidelines.”

Microsoft The Windows 8 YouTube app that Google objects to.

While the situation stinks for Windows Phone owners, it’s pretty ironic for several reasons. Google has long refused to release an official YouTube app, so Microsoft has been forced to homebrew a band-aid of its own to keep Windows Phoners placated.

“YouTube is consistently one of the top apps downloaded by smartphone users on all platforms, but Google has refused to work with us to develop an app on par with other platforms,” Microsoft told TechHive when Microsoft first published a new YouTube app all the way back in May.

That release rankled Google for several reasons, most notably that the app allowed users to easily download videos—and it cut all the ads out of YouTube completely.

“We’d be more than happy to include advertising, but need Google to provide us access to the necessary APIs,” Microsoft said at the time. Clever, clever!

Barely a week later, Google took Microsoft up on the offer, and the companies announced that they were working together to create a YouTube app that “enable compliance with YouTube’s API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks.”

The Windows Phone YouTube app released earlier this week was assumed to be the result of that temporary union, but something must have revived the bad blood between the two to coax Google into cracking down so swiftly. Sources tell both The Verge and Engadget that the YouTube app released earlier this week was not, in fact, the joint effort touted months ago. Instead, the sources claim, the Windows Phone release was a native app that Microsoft built by reverse-engineering Google’s advertising network, rather than the HTML5-based app that Google wanted made.

No matter what caused the banhammer, one thing is certain: Windows Phone users are the ones suffering from this petty cat fight, and both Google and Microsoft have been left looking absolutely terrible.

Follow TechHive on Tumblr today.

Brad Chacos spends the days jamming to Spotify, digging through desktop PCs and covering everything from BYOD tablets to DIY tesla coils.
More by Brad Chacos

View the original article here