TRAVEL TECHIE
Chromecast Bring the comforts of
home entertainment with you whereever you go.
By Stephan Bazzocchi
T
o start with, let’s set the scene. You fall down on the big comfy hotel bed. A long day of meetings behind you leaving you drained, physically and mentally, and in desperate need of some down time. Sure dinner and drinks with colleagues is unwinding and relaxing for some, but for oth-
ers some mindless media consumption is exactly what the doctor ordered. One problem - laptop, tablet, and smartphone screens are so small. Te angles to view your media are awkward and there is that nice flat screen TV with horrible hotel cable sitting at the foot of the bed. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a simple way you could just stream your Netflix
account to that 42 inch wonder, kick back and relax, or watch your teammates on League of Legends defeat another opponent, or maybe just some YouTube clips of cats doing cat things? Rest assured, there is an easy and affordable way to do all this and I will tell you how. Google Chromecast is nothing new, in either concept or availability. Te United
States has had the Chromecast device for purchase for just over a year and now it’s available in Canada. I ordered mine from Amazon for a measly C$40 in the hopes it would be a simple and acceptable replacement for a proper home theatre PC. It has fulfilled that use and more. Te unit is simple so that even the least tech savvy people can operate it; you browse things on your device like Netflix, pick your movie and hit the cast button. Done. Now back to your hotel room. Tis recommended setup will require a few pieces
of additional equipment (nothing that breaks the bank) and some software, and you will be off to the races for whatever media your little eyeballs desire. Firstly, let’s look at infrastructure. Let’s face it; hotel WiFi/networks are pretty basic. You aren’t going to get the same type of connection as you do on your own personal home network, but there are ways around this.
60 • Summer 2014 The Hub
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