You know what Google Chrome is, don't you? It's a browser that sits on your computer or on your phone.
Now, it sits on your TV too. Or at least it will, if you cough up STG25 ($A43.16) or so to buy Google's latest gadget innovation, the Chromecast.
It looks like a slightly oversized USB stick. At one end there's an HDMI plug that goes into the back of your TV. At the other, a power socket. What it does is connect your TV set to the internet, and to other Chrome-capable devices in your home.
It turns your TV into a giant browser window, capable of displaying and running anything that ordinary Chrome on your computer can.
If you have a YouTube video on your tablet, you can tap a button and it will start playing on the TV. If you use Chrome as your computer's browser, you can send web pages in the same way.
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All very clever, but the question is: do you actually need it?
Not for reading text - that's easier on a laptop or tablet. But for video and audio, yes. In fact, they look and sound better on the TV, because that's what it was designed to do in the first place.
So you can spend hundreds of dollars on a so-called "smart" TV that has its own built-in internet wizardry, but the beauty of Chromecast is that it adds similar wizardry to any TV with the right socket, for a fraction of the cost.
Keep an eye on the Chromecast website (www.google.com/chromecast), or on the Google Play store for details of its arrival.
