Ever since Google released their Chromecast this past summer, a constant battle has been going on between Google and owners of the device. More specifically, Google has continued to try to maintain control over how a Chromecast can be used and what content it is capable of streaming. Meanwhile, users have been trying to figure out ways to make the device more useful for their purposes and capable of streaming content they are interested in instead of what Google thinks they should be interested in. A new mod called KyoCast from XDA forum member Kyonz is a step in the direction of more freedom, at least for those users who managed to root their device before Google figured out a way to clamp down on that.
Once developers figured out a way to root the Chromecast, Google quickly issued a patch to stop this activity. Since that time, the Chromecast world has been divided between users who managed to root their device prior to that update and those who did not achieve that feat. However, even with a rooted Chromecast, users were still stymied in what they could do with the device because of the way Google implemented the whitelist of available services and applications.
Kyonz developed KyoCast to get around that problem by setting up independent whitelist servers. A user can then install a modified image on their Chromecast using Flashcast so that whitelist requests are redirected to the KyoCast servers. The biggest impediment now will likely be the lack of clients for different services. Several services are already on the whitelist including HBO, AOL, Post, Rev3 and Songza and developers can contact Kyonz to get their service added to the whitelist.
A download of the image file is available through the source link below along with additional instructions on verifying whether the install has succeeded. If things don’t work out, Kyonz has provided a tool to revert a Chromecast back to pointing to the Google whitelist servers.
Anyone out there with a rooted Chromecast want to give this a try? If you do, be sure to let us know your results.
source: XDA Developers Forum
Come comment on this article: New mod for rooted Chromecast devices helps users break out of Google’s walled garden
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