This is one of the toughest things I have had to do. Actually it has taken nearly a year for me to accept that the Chromemote development will not continue. It has been an exciting ride and I have learned so much from both building Chromemote and its users. Although I would like to continue make improvements, the time has come. Initially with Google ending support for the plugin that is the backbone of Chromemote, then with the end of the Google TV platform, it just doesn't make sense to continue this project as-is. For these reasons I have decided to sunset the Chromemote project.

Throughout the startup journey that Chromemote took me on, I received no shortage of "are you crazy" comments around building anything for the Google TV platform. I had a fate that it wasn't long before every TV would be a smart TV and I was betting on Android. It is nice to see the platform continue on as Android TV, but the differences basically make Chromemote obsolete. I think the remaining feature that could be carried over, would be just simple d-pad controls of a GoogleTV from a Chrome extension. But with the combination of the Google Cast feature on Android TV, it again makes Chromemote obsolete.

In early 2013, I joined a startup accelerator and began to push my vision of how second screen interaction should work with a new project called Flinger. This project was spawned from the fling feature within Chromemote. After adding this feature to Chromemote, it became obvious to me that discovery and navigation to content should happen on the small screen and the big screen should only be used for watching that content. The whole 10-foot UI idea just isn't always practical. Navigating tedious menus for each individual bits of content with a large keyboard-remote is a pain.

Just before releasing the initial version of Flinger.co for public beta, a bombshell dropped with the release of the $35 Chromecast. Both Chromemote and Flinger required a $100+ device. The team at Google really hit the nail on the head and must of ran into the same issues and came to similar conclusions as my startup had. It essentially fulfilled my vision for Flinger but implemented at Google scale. We continued development on Flinger.co anyway for about five more months and launched a redesigned version one, but just before I ran out of runway and had to find a job to keep me afloat. 

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I landed at Bouncing Pixel doing web development two years back. During my first year there I was able to keep up with updating Chromemote, but it has just about been a year since the last update. I know that as Google continues to deprecate old tech that Chromemote is built on, it is only going to continue to break down. I want to be transparent with everyone that has supported this project over the years. I just want everyone to know that development on Chromemote has officially ceased.

The Chromemote users that have shared their support and love for this project are really the rocket fuel that kept it going for as long as it did. I didn't make a living, but I did something I truly loved. Chromemote and Flinger took me across the country. These projects won my brother and I multiple awards. A few ironically from Microsoft, although this being targeted at Google users. The feedback and outreach I received from all the users is what I will remember the most about Chromemote. Whenever I am working on a project at work I don't like, I remember the passion and excitement of my Chromemote users. The greatest part of building a startup, profitable or not, is connecting with real users and making their lives better. Even if it was just to make it easier to change whats on TV.

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I have open sourced every bit of code I developed for Chromemote. So if any diehard Chromemote fans want to pick up where I left off. It's all publicly available on my Github account. http://github.com/RobertDaleSmith/ 

I want to hear from you. What did you like most about Chromemote? What will you miss? Did you also get a Chromecast and/or Android TV? Feel free to reach out to me anytime. If you want to pick up on development, then even better. Lets talk: robert@chromemote.com