Google unveils Nexus 7 and net-to-TV dongle

Google yesterday unveiled a sleeker but more powerful tablet PC in its Nexus range along with a thumb-sized device to enable users of popular mobile gadgets to send online content to television sets wirelessly.

The upgraded second-generation Nexus 7 from Taiwan-based Asus debuted along with a Chromecast dongle that plugs into television sets to allow easy routing of online content to big screens.

According to Mario Queiroz, head of Google TV, Chromecast would not jumble users' entertainment cabinet, as it simply disappeared behind their TV once it was plugged in.

The new connector device is on offer for $35 online at Google play and would also be sold through Amazon and Best Buy in the US.

Demonstrations showed, "cast" icons built into applications for online video services YouTube and Netflix people can use smartphones, tablets or laptop computers to easily direct online videos to television screens, a demonstration showed.

Queiroz said while explaining the vision behind Chromecast that is users knew how to use YouTube on their phone, they knew how to user YouTube on their TV.

The new device, Chromecast, is a part of Google's strategy to simplify the process of accessing internet content on their TVs. Chromecast, a small stick about the same size as a thumb drive can be plugged into an HDMI port on flat-panel TVs and brings Netflix, Google's YouTube site and other internet content to what has  usually the biggest household screen.

According to Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps, Chromecast could undermine Apple in the emergent plug to stream devices market even as the Nexus tablets had taken some sales away from Apple's iPad.

Google's earlier attempt to enable connections from the internet to TV sets by embedding an operating system called Google TV into sets made by TV manufacturers. Google last year had failed.

Now it has introduced an orb-like device called the Nexus Q in hopes of delivering more internet video to flat-panel TVs, but had to quickly pull the product from the market.

According to Epps, Chromecast looked like a smart and disruptive device, and it possibly took the other failures for Google to get it right.

Google wants to have a presence on TVs as it could open up a lucrative new channel to pull in more ad revenue say commentators.

In a clear sign of its intentions Google started selling Chromecast for just $35 yesterday, a price that undercuts the most popular internet-streaming devices made by Apple and Roku.