Google unveils devices that sync smartphone with TV and speakers

San Francisco

APPLE used a flashy stage show last month to lay out a vision for how it wants to take over your living room. Now it is Google's turn. The company on Tuesday revealed two new Chromecast streaming devices - one for televisions, another for speakers - along with a new tablet computer and a pair of new devices from the company's Nexus line of Android mobile phones.

Much like Apple, Google is pushing a future where televisions become a vessel for the Internet and channels are replaced with apps. But instead of having separate devices for music and TV, Google has tried to position the mobile phone as the centre of everything - a kind of remote control for life.

Enter Chromecast, Google's popular streaming device that beams content from mobile phones to TVs via the Internet. The idea is pretty much the same as Apple TV, but Apple TV costs US$149 and is essentially a small computer with lots of storage for apps to run on a television. Chromecast costs US$35 and is just a waypoint…