Ten years ago today — July 24th, 2013 — Google announced a $35 streaming stick called the Chromecast.
I was one of the first journalists to lay hands on the dongle, and it wasn’t yet clear how big a deal it’d be. The demo was choppy! It could arguably be classified as a me-too product given Apple’s AirPlay was already three years old and Miracast was a buzzword across the industry. (Do you even remember Miracast? It was on, like, every smart TV.)
But $35 to sling the Netflix and YouTube you’re already watching to your television screen turned out to be a magical notion — The Verge’s Nilay Patel called it a no-brainer for…