LocalCast for Chromecast Pro is free provided you're willing to watch short video ads.

On my list of most useful gadgets, Chromecast is deeply entrenched in the second place behind, obviously, my phone. It's amazing how a $35 casting gadget make such an impact on how I consume and share digital content. But like all things, Chromecast also has its limitations and one of them being the lack of support for local files casting. There have been some minor improvements over the years, but nothing compared to apps like LocalCast for Chromecast.

Basically, LocalCast is capable of casting every file formats available from mp4, mkv, 3gp, m4v. And it does that from a variety of sources, not just limited to your devices. LocalCast will happily cast from NAS, Google Drive, Google+, Dropbox and even a webpage.

LocalCast is available in two versions in the Store: The free and pro version. The latter contains no ads; lets you search your device for contents; displays a video preview in certain areas of the app. While I don't mind paying to support an independent developer, it's nice to see that in the latest app update, the developer is making the pro version "free". Well, you have to watch a short video ad to unlock the app's pro features and they remain available until the app is restarted. Not a big price to pay to take full advantage of LocalCast.

The update also reduces the app download size from 10.31MB to "around 9MB".

Check out LocalCast in Google Play Store. Happy Casting! 

Pocket Casts for Android gets some layout issues and auto cleanup bug fixed.

My daily commutes to and from work would be stressful without my daily intake of podcasts and that is not because of the bad traffic or that the bus experience is awful. Neither of that. The issue is that they broadcast local radio to make the travelers experience comfy. That’s not the case for me as local radios are probably the worst listening experience on this island. Podcasts help me keep my sanity by blocking these stressful radio waves from reaching my brain. Enter Pocket Casts, my all-time favorite podcast app for Android. 

Pocket Casts is a cross-platform podcast app that is very popular on Android. I’m not saying that the app is perfect to the point of being bug free. Today’s update does not introduce anything new, but some fixes instead and raises the app version to 6.4.7.

Here’s what are the fixes in this release:

·       Fixed some layout issues for Chrome OS and Android when using split screen. Our app should now look more graceful (if that’s even possible) when resized to your weird and wonderful tastes.

·       Fixed a bug with auto cleanup where in some cases it wouldn’t delete played files. Cheeky little bugger.

·       Chromecast updates which should fix some issues people have reported.

I’ve said time and again in each of my posts about Pocket Casts that it offers the best podcast experience on mobile devices. I currently use it on Android and Windows Mobile (Yeah, I know what you’re thinking about the latter). Pocket Casts is not free and costs $3.99, but is well worth the money. Check it out in Google Play Store.

Pocket Casts update fixes Stats sharing, improve Chrome Cast support and more.

I listen to a lot of podcast every day of the week, with two podcasts each day covering technology exclusively. Pocket Casts for Android is my favorite pod catcher app and is also reliable in that I don’t have to remember downloading my podcasts when they become available, Pocket Casts handles that for me. The app is so good that it won the Google Play Top Developer award, a Google Play Editors Choice and Google Material Design award. This is to say that if you’re not happy with your current podcast app, Pocket Casts is one you should consider. It is not free, but it’s well worth the $3.99.

Today, Pocket Casts was updated to version 6.4.2 with a few fixes, no new features this time. The developer has fixed an issue with stats sharing. I did not know until today that Pocket Casts had this feature in its settings. I went to check on seeing this update and indeed, it’s right there under Settings > Stats.

According to the screenshot above, I’ve been listening for 18 days 20 hours of podcast. I’m pretty sure I’ve listened more than that, but it seems the collected stats are exclusive to the Android device I use. Sure enough, I checked Pocket Casts on my Lumia 1520 and it does not even have this feature. I have been switching between both at some point, but I now exclusively use Pocket Casts on Android since the developer stopped updating the Windows Mobile version. No surprises there. There’s more to the Stats screen than just numbers.

Right under the Stats, Pocket Casts displays random data related to the numbers of hours spent consuming podcasts. For example, the app says that 2,714,300,000,000 emails were sent during the time I spent to listening to podcasts or “during which time you released 320 oz of air biscuits. Gross!”. Funny, right? 😊

Besides the stats feature, the developer also fixed other issues. Check the rest of the change log below:

·       Fixed some issues with auto download and manual downloads when leaving/entering WIFI networks.

·       Improved Chrome Cast support.

·       Some other small tweaks and improvements.

Pocket Casts users can update the app in Google Play Store for free.

Dailymotion on Android finally gets Chromecast support.

Compared to YouTube’s 1 billion downloads, Dailymotion’s 10 million downloads is measly in comparison. Just so you know, there’s other apps in the store for video lovers and Dailymotion is one of those.

The app has been updated today which finally adds support for Chromecast. Yes, you read that right. It’s been one of the most awaited features and Dailymotion users will finally get to watch their favorite videos on a big screen. I’m not sure that will help increase the number of subscribers though.

Download Dailymotion in Google Play Store. 

CNN app for Android gets new reader mode and support for Chromecast.

Reader mode enabled

Reader mode disabled

Back in February of the current year, CNN updated its Android app with a new card based design that I described as terrible for a news app. The new layout required a lot of scrolling with one news item taking most of the screen property. Today CNN has pushed another update that, unfortunately, does not replace the big cards layout, but includes a new reader mode that will remove the huge pictures and all associated links from the news-feed and instead keep only the news titles that make it easier and quicker to consume news on your device. Reader Mode can be enabled in the app settings by tapping the gear icon at the top right and use the toggle to activate.

CNN also added support for Chromecast so you'll be able to throw videos to your TV while doing something else on your phone.

If you have not tried the CNN news app for Android yet, you can download it free in Google Play Store.

CNN finally adds support for 360-degree video & Chromecast to its Android app.

You would be wrong to think that News/Press industry are the first to embrace new technologies. In fact, the one industry that is always on the avant-garde and even drives innovation in tech is porn. Don't believe me? Check out this article by Business Insider that dates back to 2013 on "How porn drives innovation in technology" and you will get my point. OK, it's a dated article that remains true today. 

Unless you have been living under a rock, you've heard about Virtual Reality or VR. It's all the buzz with Oculus Rift leading the pack, HTC having the Vive up for pre-order and Microsoft choosing to go AR instead with Hololens. With that, one of  the first company to launch a new VR channel is not CNN, Time or any other major news company, but PornHub, a market leader in the porn industry. The company has even been giving away 10,000 Google Cardboard to viewers at launch of the new channel. In the meantime...

CNN has pushed an update for its Android app that finally adds support for 360 degrees video. Users will be able to rotate their device to view 360-degree video within the app itself. CNN also finally added support for Chromecast - now Google Cast - so you can use Google first and second generation streaming device to cast videos to your TV. Casting Live TV and Android TV support is coming in another update.

Before checking out Pornhub's VR channel, head over to Google Play store to download or update CNN app for Android.

Chromecast for Android renamed to Google Cast.

Chromecast, Google's media streaming device, has been updated today and while not much has changed besides the usual bug fixes and performance improvements, the app has been renamed to Google Cast. I don't know the reasons for the change but the app will now show under G in your app drawer after downloading the update. You can still use the term 'Chromecast' to search for the app in the Play store. In the end, it is just a matter of getting accustomed to the name change. 

Download the update on Google Play store.

SoundCloud adds Chromecast support to its Android app.

Listening to music and audio for free is great and SoundCloud serves you that on as many devices as possible while regularly updating the app. Today, SoundCloud is rolling another update that adds support for Google Chromecast, Android TV and speakers. Your listening experience can only get better with additional support of Google's popular streaming dongle. If you have been holding up on getting a Chromecast, SoundCloud brings you a good excuse to get one. The SoundCloud team also made some performance improvements and bug fixes that raises the version number to 15.08.14.

Navigate to the Play Store to update or download SoundCloud for Android.

Microsoft's OneDrive app for Android now supports Chromecast.

Microsoft is hard at work bringing their services to Android. Since cloud services is now an important part of their strategy, Microsoft is making sure you want to use their cloud offering with the OneDrive app for Android. The latter got an update that lets users cast their photos and videos to a TV with Google's Chromecast. A feature that I welcome, being a user of OneDrive and owner of a Chromecast. 

The update is of course free for download on Google Play store. This update does not contain any performance improvement or bug fixes.

Castaway update fixes picture swiping issues.

Castaway is my favorite app to use with my Chromecast. It's simple to use and the developer is constantly adding new features and fixing bugs. In the latest round of update published yesterday, the developer fixes an issue where casting local pictures would fail when swiping through them rapidly. 

The update also contains the usual bug fixes and the app icon has been updated. Check it out on Google Play.

Chromecast app available in over 50 languages.

Over 50 languages is a lot. Google has added that much languages to the Chromecast app for Android. That can only that the Mountain View company is planning the release of it cool Chromecast device in more countries. The addition of languages is obviously part of an update to the app that was published today in the Play Store. Unfortunately, there is no info about the added languages. See the full change log below:

- App available in over 50 languages.

- Improved support for Samsung devices.

- Additional Chromecast settings and bug fixes.

Download: Play Store

Easily cast local media to Chromecast with Castaway.

If ChromeCast was my favorite gadget for year 2013, Castaway is, so far, my favorite Android app for the current year. Castaway has been developed to do something simple: Send locally stored pictures and videos on your Android device to your ChromeCast devices. The app is available for download free in Play Store. A premium version is also there if you want to support the developer - the latter is a member of XDA developers. 

I have used Castaway since for a week now and it just works. Connect to your Chromecast, run the app on your device. Castaway will display your locally stored photos and videos. Tap an album or video and select your Chromecast device and your done. Of course, you can use your device to do other stuff while watching the stream.

I strongly recommend Castaway if you already own a ChromeCast or are planing to get one.

Download: Castaway Premium - Castaway Free

Pocket Casts gets Chromecast support, pending Google approval.

I received my Chromecast this week after almost a month wait. We all remember how fast the $35 dongle sold out shortly after its announcement during Google IO. It was well worth the wait anyway. It's so much fun to instantly launch a karaoke from my phone or watch whatever YouTube has to offer. As of now only Youtube, Netflix and Chrome browser supports Chromecast. It should not take long to see other apps take advantage of it.

Coincidentally one of the first to add Chromecast suport to its app is ShiftyJelly's Pocket Casts, an app I use for my podcast consumption and one that I recommend. Pocket Casts published an update that adds Chromecast support. The thing is, the new feature is not activated yet as it seems it has not got Google's blessing. I don't know how that works, but it seems that the folks at Mountain View have to have their say into which app gets to support Chromecast or not. No matter what, I hope this is not one of these long corporate procedures.

Besides announcing the Chrome cast support into Pocket Casts, the update also contains a bunch of new features. See the change log:

What's New

v4.3

- Need for Speed 5, Android Drift: faster podcast grid, faster playlists, faster everything

- Auto download added for podcasts :)

- Quickly blow away boring episodes with our bulk delete feature (long press on an episode to enter)

- Fancy Pants Official Google side menu thing

- Bug fixes. Didn't see that one coming, did you!

- Chrome Cast support: we can't ship it until Google lets us. Residents of Mountain View: go poke some Googlers for us.

Source: Google Play Store