I had the same experience setting it up. In fact, I didn't realize it was doing it until after it had happened. Couldn't have been easier.

Hulu Plus is now available for the Chromecast.
http://mashable.com/2013/10/02/hulu-plus-chromecast/

I'm also a bit underwhelmed. The main positive thing I can see is that this will be great for traveling at hotels. I believe I can make a hotspot with my PC and just have the chromecast connect to it, stream my screen to the chromecast and just watch my shows/movies/etc that way.

I finally managed to remember to take my ChromeCast with me when travelling.

No problems at all connecting it to the TV, including a USB connection to the TV for power. I was able change the input to HDMI using either the remote (standard LodgeNet remote) or the controls on the side of the TV.

The ChromeCast, my laptop, Android tablet and Android phone are all connected to my mini-router, connected to the hotel internet via Ethernet.

No problems at all with streaming both video from the laptop (via a Chrome window) or from NetFlix via the tablet - although in fairness the hotel does have reasonable speed (speedtest gives a bit over 3Mbps).

The biggest problem I can see is leaving it behind when I leave...

I would be interested in people's experiences using it on hotel internet. I used it with my jailbroken iPhone and it worked fine from a Hampton Inn. My iPhone grabbed a hotel internet signal and then shared it with the Chromecast using PDANet. I didn't think it would work directly.

I've used it in 3 hotels now. In all cases it was connected to my mini-router (Asus WL-330GE) - twice with the router connected to the hotel internet via Ethernet, once with it connected via Wifi.

No issues at all with either watching NetFlix or with streaming video via a chrome tab. In all 3 cases the hotel did have reasonably fast internet.

I could not get the Chromecast to connect to the hotel wifi at the Hotel Shattuck in Berkeley. I suspect the login screen that I was directed to for access to the hotel wifi. I suppose another workaround would be to clone the Chromecast MAC address on my laptop, authenticate, then unclone. I would guess that at that point the Chromecast would connect properly. I should have tried that.

I ended up using my "not quite world's smallest router" and connecting both the Chromecast and my MacBook through that. Worked fine though the Netflix stream did hiccup a few times. One odd thing was that I couldn't get it to work through the handy wall HDMI outlet the hotel provided but worked great when i connected it directly to the television/monitor.

I find myself totally puzzled by the fact that there are a number of sellers on eBay offering Chromecasts (sometimes used) for well over what you can buy one new for ($35). And those auctions have multiple bids! One that I saw is closing in on $50. Why in the world would someone pay far more than retail?

It's the mystery of life!

Only thing I can think of is that they live abroad and want international shipping.


BTW, since Google unlocked their developer part of the Chromecast are there any new cool apps to check out?

Two reasons I can think of, both to do with foreign buyers. Most countries do not have this device for sale yet, and the ones that just got it, like the UK, charge 30 pounds!

http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/19/chr...oes-to-europe/

If you take a laptop, wouldn't it be easier just to use an HDMI cable than using a Chromecast?

I loaded some movies and shows on my laptop for a trip. By now, most hotels, even smaller ones, have flat screens than CRTs now.

...and a many, many hotels disable those ports :(

Indeed: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...mputer-tv.html

Well in that case, you at least could watch on the laptop screen.

I agree. Lots of hotels make it hard to connect but luckly Google has plenty of info how to enable them back.
But I did find the chromecast is a bit useless. I already have a hdmi cable with me so I could just plug my laptop in instead of messing with the WiFi Hotspot or making my own just to stream my screen.