Chromecast will use ultrasonic sounds to connect your TV to your phone

Now this is cool: Google’s Chromecast team has found an interesting way to pair Chromecast streaming sticks with mobile devices that are not on the same Wi-Fi network. Pairing is done through inaudible, ultrasonic sounds, which should make sure that your neighbor won’t suddenly rickroll your TV screen. Google first announced support for off-network casting at its Google I/O 2014 developer conference in San Francisco Wednesday, and Chromecast Engineering Manager John Affaki said during a presentation at the conference Thursday that the goal was to make the social use of Chromecast in the living room easier. Google’s YouTube app already allows users to build collaborative queues for on-the-fly YouTube parties, and Affaki said Thursday that the support for these kinds of queues will be added to the Chromecast software developer’s kit to bring it to other apps as well. However, the challenge is that users need to be on the same Wi-Fi network, and sharing Wi-Fi passwords can be cumbersome. “The initial step of getting on the same Wi-Fi network can be really complicated,” said Affaki.