Netflix's best friend: Chromecast

When I use Netflix, I use it with Chromecast. For anyone not in the know, Chromecast is an HDMI stick the size of a thumb drive that inserts into the back of your tv, and has a cord connecting it to a power source. It has to be connected to WiFi, but once you have it set up, you can “cast” from your phone to the tv. I’m a big fan of things you can purchase once and not have to pay a monthly subscription, and Chromecast is a steal at $30 to own. Not everything that you can pull up on your phone can be cast to your tv, but so far I’ve used it for Pandora, other radio station apps, YouTube, and most importantly: Netflix.

Yes, Netflix! It gets even more beautiful when I don’t have to pay the Netflix subscription (thanks roommate’s sister!). They're so diesel in their market domination that they undoubtedly have worked this freeloading clause into the subscription price.

(Forgive the atrocious spelling)

I rarely use Netflix on anything other than my phone, so I didn’t interact with their web interface. The mobile controls are fairly simple though, to the point where I don’t even think about them. I think that’s what constitutes a good design: when something just works intuitively to the point where you don’t even notice it.

They still have a few bugs to work out with the Chromecast and the mobile controls, for example, sometimes when you hit pause on your phone, the tv will keep going, and sometimes when you close the app, it continues to run on the tv. My roommate accidentally turned on the tv in the living room and blasted Jason Aldean Pandora all night without ever leaving his room. Oops!

I think it’s just one more step closer to the future. Everything will be controlled by our phones, until the phones are replaced by Google Glass, or whatever the next medium is. While our phones are nice, we still like to see stuff on big screens so the Chromecast is really hot right now.