Google’s first Chromecast was unveiled in 2013, and more Chromecasts have been released since then. The first-ever Chromecast was updated to software version 1.36.159268 in November 2022, bringing only “bug fixes and improvements.” Users can still continue to use the original Chromecast, but Google warns that there may be problems in the future.

The Google Chromecast help support page states that support for the first-gen Chromecast has ended, meaning it won’t receive any updates after that. Additionally, Google will no longer provide technical support of any kind for this product. While the devices will continue to work, Google says “users may notice a decrease in performance.”

So if you’re still using the first-generation Chromecast, you may need to upgrade. Pricing hasn’t changed much since the original Chromecast was released a decade ago, with the latest model costing $30, and Google has also expanded its lineup to offer a 4K version of the Chromecast that’s suitable for Most modern TVs.

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Delta Electronics (the company that makes the Google TV remote) unveiled a reference design for the new Google TV remote at CES 2023.

This new remote control design directly eliminates the battery and instead uses a solar photovoltaic panel as the power source. This new remote is self-charging, either by sunlight or indoor lights, meaning it will never run out of power or require you to replace the batteries yourself.

The remote will likely be used in the upcoming new Chromecast TV stick, which will replace the 4K Chromecast products coming in 2020. Of course, we may also see similar designs from Hisense, TCL, and their other Google TV adoption partners.

Chromecast is a TV stick that runs a lite version of Chrome OS and plugs directly into your TV’s HDMI port to bring streaming content from your computer or another device to your TV, giving a new lease on life to devices that don’t have internet access.

In addition, Google has announced that users will also be able to “cast” content viewed on Chrome to their TVs, so there’s actually a lot of playfulness to this product.

Currently, Google Chromecast (with Google TV support) is priced at NT$1199 (currently about RMB 265) and can stream a variety of 4K or 1080p HDR content.

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