Unlike some other companies content with releasing a product and simply letting it ride the wave of success until it fades away, Google has taken a proactive approach with Chromecast. The HDMI dongle that captured the interest of geeks everywhere nearly a year and a half ago continues to receive updates that make its $35 price tag an ever-improving investment.
The latest additions include a little something for everyone starting with a barrage of family-friendly apps. Hasbro-owned games including Monopoly, Scrabble, Connect Four and Simon Swipe are all available on Chromecast and use your smartphone or tablet as a controller.
Similarly, Just Dance Now uses your smartphone to determine if you are actually participating in the dances and awards points accordingly.
Trivia buffs may appreciate a couple of new apps, Big Web Quiz and Emoji Party. The former uses Google Knowledge Graph to come up with hundreds of questions while the latter uses emojis to interact in a question and answer format based on the character language.
Rounding out the update are two new entertainment apps, Showtime Anytime and Starz.
When Google launched Chromecast in July of 2013, few had an idea of just how big of a deal it really was. Since then, we've seen at least half a dozen or so "me too" devices spring up from competitors including Amazon, Roku, Microsoft, Walmart and Matchstick, just to name a few.