If, like me, you’ve been checking for updates to your Chromecast with Google TV every day or two in search of the Android 14 and Google Home updates — well, today is not that day. There is, however, an update worth snagging sooner rather than later.
Chromecast with Google TV is making the leap from the July 1, 2024, security update to the September 1, 2024 security update. And in that sense, it’s now actually a month ahead of the Google TV Streamer, which launched with the aforementioned Google Home features that let you check on cameras, adjust the temperature, toggle lights — basically, they let you control all your smart home things right from the Google TV interface.
Owners of Chromecast with Google TV and the newer Onn 4K Pro are waiting with bated breath for a major update that hopefully will bring the Google Home Panel (and other Android 14 improvements) to those devices, as Google has said will happen. But as we’ve seen today, interim updates can happen.
Along with the Home Panel, the update should also bring new AI background art options that let you create computer-generated screensavers instead of using your own pictures. That’s a feature that’s already live on Google TV Streamer.
The Home Panel may be the biggest user-facing improvement, but there will be a smattering of under-the-hood updates, too, which is par for the course for the Google TV/Android TV platform. The larger Google TV interface should basically remain the same, though. Other than the Home Panel, our Google TV Streamer review didn’t really see any major differences in how that device works compared to Chromecast. And when we put Google TV Streamer versus Onn 4K Pro, those differences shrink even more.
The new Chromecast software version is STTL.240812.006.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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