Resident Techie: Chromecast: Good, but needs some polish

Last night I had a magical moment from one of the most seemingly mundane pieces of modern technology. Google's Chromecast isn't the first media streamer and, at the moment, it likely isn't even the best. But there's something special there and it goes way beyond the obvious.

Chromecast has attracted a lot of attention, primarily because of its size — imagine a box the size of a large USB stick with ports for HDMI and power — and its ultra tiny price, just $35.

I convinced my wife we needed one, in spite of a video game system and Roku box eliminating the usefulness of the device, with the promise of HBO Go on the living room TV. I had found one of the few remaining original Chromecast bundles, which included a credit for three months of Netflix (a $24 value), left at Best Buy with free shipping. So for the equivalent of $11 plus tax, I was in.