If you have a Chromecast with Google TV and have been looking longingly at Google TV Streamer and its ability to view camera feeds and adjust temperature and turn lights off and on, you can now get in on the fun. Also available is the custom AI ambient art that you can use as screensavers. You’ll first need to enable the “Public Preview” function in Google Home (which takes just a couple clicks either in the app or on the website) and wait for it to appear.
It looks like this is a server-side option — my Chromecast didn’t receive an additional system update beyond the one I got earlier this week. Once that switch has been flipped, you’ll see Google Home as an option in the notifications menu. And that gives you the same two options that are available on the Google TV Streamer: You can opt to turn on the home panel, and enable doorbell notifications on your TV.
Turn all that on and you get your camera feeds and thermostats and lights — things that are connected to Google Home — same as on the Google TV Streamer. We go deeper into that in our full Google TV Streamer review.
Just to repeat one more time — if you want to play with this today, you’ll need to enter the Public Preview for Google Home. If you don’t mind waiting, it’ll come to Chromecast with Google TV in due time. Also note that I don’t yet see anything in my Onn 4K Pro.
And one final reminder: The Google TV Streamer is set to replace Chromecast with Google TV at some point. So if you’re looking at getting one of the latter — which costs half as much as the former — you might not want to wait long. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
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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