In the video there is no usb cable to power the device like the chromecast or roku stick.
I suppose it needs one too ?
It's a shame that advertisement for these devices "lie" about it.
The Chromecast does not require external power; it'll run off the power supplied via the HDMI port. I'm pretty sure the Amazon FireTV Stick will, too. I don't own a Roku Stick, so I can't comment.
They prefer having external power because many HDMI ports don't supply enough consistently, but don't require it.
HDMI provides about 50mA minimum. USB can provide up to 500mA or 900mA depending on USB 2 or 3.
I am not 100% sure what the power requirements for a Chromecast are, I'm 100% sure it is more then 50mA.
If you are plugging in your Chromecast to your TV without the USB and it is working it's because you have a MHL-HDMI that provides up to 900mA of power.
This looks awesome! I bought an Amazon Fire TV Stick when they were accepting pre-orders at $19, and while it works well for that price (or even the $39 current retail price), I would much rather it be hacker-friendly. It doesn't even have a web browser! I could see using it for all sorts of additional projects, if it were more flexible...and given how much horsepower they've crammed into it (it's comparable to a decent laptop from a decade, or so, ago, and can even do 1080p video, which even modern laptops can't always do reliably), I could imagine using it for all kinds of cool stuff.
Stuff like a project dashboard that users could update from their phone or laptop, a party music playlist determined by partygoers, so many cool things a tiny little device like this could make easier (it's not the only way it can be done, but it's certainly nice having a tiny little dedicated device, and would be better for being open).
In short, this looks really cool, and I'm actually really eager to start developing for Firefox OS, even though I currently don't have any Firefox OS devices.
Edit: Reading the other HN thread about this device raises a lot of concerns about their dedication to Open Source and Open hardware. It seems to simply be a marketing lie, which is troubling, and makes me far less interested in the device (maybe not interested, at all, since I already have a proprietary HDMI dongle in the form of the Fire Stick).
Cool. I didn't know that it could side load apps. That kinda changes everything. I didn't notice settings for that. I also got a Fire Phone during the Christmas sale, and once I got Google Play Store on it, it became a much better phone...almost good.
Update #10 [1] will please travelers: AdHoc mode allows you to use it even when you ordinarily can't get a TV stick to authenticate through the lame-o hotel wifi.
You can get around some of the captive portals by MAC-spoofing the stick of your choice through your laptop to authenticate (then switching back). It's a pain in the arse, but it works in a pinch.
I got my dad a chromecast. He's tech-illiterate, for the most part--can check his email, type in searches, but he doesn't really know where he's typing his searches. He might want a youtube video but type it into google, the url bar, youtube's search...which all work, but he's not seeing the difference.
Anyway, he loves it. He used to watch pool videos incessantly in a really bad computer chair, now he can watch them on the couch. Probably average of 3 hours per day. He had some trouble with the interface, and he kept pointing his iphone at the TV like it was a remote, when I showed him how to control it via the phone.
Anyway, any chance this is simpler from that perspective? Or should he just suck it up with the CC? (I think he's been doing fine now, honestly)
Probably just the CC, based on your use cases listed.
The use of Open Flint is interesting here, since it isn't tied to any major digital retailer. Amazon prime video won't work over Chromecast because, well, Amazon Prime competes with Google Play.
It's too bad that Flint is coming to the game this late - it would have been great if they had been there at the beginning of the market and became more of a standard.
