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Google's Photowall to convert Chromecast connected televisions to photo frames

Google's Photowall to convert Chromecast-connected televisions to photo frames

By Rohan Swamy | Updated: 25 March 2014 12:41 IST

In the latest offering from the Google Chrome stables, its new app, Photowall for Chromecast, is all set to convert television panels into digital photo frames. Dubbed the 'latest Chrome experiment' the app is available for the iPhone, iPod, iPad, Android devices, with a Web version thrown in for good measure. The app will allow users to convert their Chromecast-connected televisions to become live, interactive digital photo frames

The Photowall for Chromecast app will allow a user or a group of users to share their pictures or stitch them together and form a collage and stream it to the television. In addition users can also play around with the images, edit them, create doodles before the beam down to the telly. Another important feature of the app is that it automatically creates a YouTube video of the collage for users to stream it on the Web, which is an interesting, as well as, useful feature. The host, who has set up the Photowall however will have to enable the feature before the compilation video is made. Even when it is uploaded to the host's YouTube page it will be set to the 'Private mode' which will then be available to the user for making it public.

Availble for $35 (roughly Rs. 2118) on Amazon, the Google Chromecast HDMI Streaming Media Player, is one of the cheapest mode of streaming content from a cellular device to a television over Wi-Fi. The Photowall for Chromecast app went live on the iTunes store on Monday and is available for free. Later, a Web-based version and the Android app also made an appearance. The official Chrome webpage mentions that users can start a new Photowall, or join an existing Photowall if they have the code to join in. Also Chrome is offering a developers' kit, citing that it is 'now an open platform'. The webpage mentions that developers can 'make experiences like Photowall' for themselves.

According to the Help section, on the webpage, Photowall for Chromecast can work with .jpg, .png, .gif image styles. Google have gone the extra mile to educate users about the type of pictures that can be uploaded. The section also mentions, that it is imperative that a user has permission from everyone before uploading them, and that the picture has to be originally owned by the user. Pictures of celebrities, according to the webpage are not to be uploaded. Ditto for graphic images, and those which have sexually explicit content. A user needs to be at least 13-years-old to use the app and up until the age of 18 requires parental guidance to use it. The 'Manage my Photos' option allows the user to edit or remove pictures.

Currently Chromecast, is available in the US, Canada, the UK and nine other countries. The webpage also mentions that in the event that Chromecast is unavailable in a user's country (say India), the user can still use Photowall for Chromecast, with the only difference being instead of a television display the photo wall will be seen on the computer screen.

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