14 DAY TRIAL // Google has announced today that it embedded the Google Cast extension into the latest version of Chrome, meaning any user will be able to cast audio and video from their PC to a local Cast-enabled or Chromecast device without having to install a Chrome extension in advance.
We expected Google to make this move ever since the product launched in 2014, when the company released it with a pretty limited feature set and with support for Chromecast devices only.
Since then, Google has worked on its Cast technology, and recently, it has decided to simplify the process of "casting" audio and video streams from browsers even more.
Casting features now embedded in Chrome menu, source code
Users who updated to the latest version of Chrome will be able to cast multimedia streams from their browser to a nearby Cast-enabled or Chromecast device just by navigating to their browser, opening the menu, and selecting the brand new "Cast" option.
Web services that implement the Chrome Sender API will be able to alert Chrome browsers about native Cast support. Chrome will then add a special button in its UI, which users can press to send the multimedia stream to a Cast device much more easily.
The old Google Cast Chrome extension will be kept around for users still deploying an older version of the Chrome browser.
Google says Cast is a very popular technology
Google says that users love its new Cast feature. What's more, the company adds that, in the past month, users have "cast" more than 38 million times and watched and listened to more than 50 million hours of content using the Cast feature.
The service's popularity has spurred Google into developing all sorts of spin-offs, such as Chromecast Audio, a new Chromecast device dedicated to audio streaming alone, and Cast for Education, a special Chrome app that allows students and teachers to share their screens wirelessly from anywhere in the classroom to a nearby Cast-friendly device.
Google has also been busy talking with hardware manufacturers and convincing them to make TVs and speakers with Cast-enabled hardware already built-in, meaning no Chromecast dongle will be needed for the Google Cast feature to work.
