How to Share Your Chromecast with Family and Friends
I love my Google Chromecast! As a father of young kids, it is easy to play music in the house, share pictures, view Youtube, and even a handful of cable movie apps will cast to it. All-in-all, it's a great little device for around $35, usually with some freebies thrown in.When I have family and friends visit, I have no problem providing them with my wifi password. In the past, I've used a guest wifi router so they could join on that without being on my personal network. But I dropped that since my visitors are all family and friends – no one I'm wary of. And with my wifi password, those same family and friends have full access to cast to my Chromecast. No problems on my end.With all of that said, I didn't initially see the value of the Chromecast’s new Guest Mode (not currently available on iOS devices). Essentially, Google set it up so that others (not necessarily friends or family?) can cast to your Chromecast if you provide them with your pin. (The pin is actually the back-up method. Your Chromecast initially tries to send an audio signal to the device looking to connect). It keeps them from having complete access to your wifi, but still allows them to participate in casting media.Why would I need this? It took me a bit and then it hit me... I am not the target market for this. Realizing that, I came up with a bunch of scenarios where it would be useful. First of all, I feel that this is more beneficial for millennials who may live in dorms or shared housing. Some of the great uses could include house parties, school/study related events, neighborhood/block parties, and other social gatherings.There's more info on Google’s Guest Mode Frequently Asked Questions.How do you use your Chromcast? How would/do you use the new Guest Mode?
Photo by TAKA@P.P.R.S via Flickr, licensed under CC BY-SA
