Saluting the Chromecast, one of the great HDMI dongles

When I was still a starry-eyed 20-something living with my then-fiancée, the only way I could stream video on my TV was through its HDMI ports and my laptop. This had served me well for years — and still does, when I’m desperate — but dealing with the setup was cumbersome.

Then came the original Chromecast in 2013, and it was a revelation. Suddenly, I had this tiny black stick, shaped like an oversized key, that plugged right into my TV’s HDMI port and let me cast video through the air and onto my 55-inch screen in glorious high definition. And all it cost was $35? Incredible, especially in 2013.

It felt like pure magic. It was a basically invisible device that I didn’t even need an app for, and it let me beam music and video to my TV with almost no muss or fuss. I used it to watch Netflix shows and, more than once, to host karaoke parties at my house via YouTube’s vast catalog of karaoke videos.

But time doesn’t stand still, even for the Chromecast. Other streaming products that followed offered what Google’s miracle stick did, serving up easy wireless streaming via an HDMI dongle, for just as cheap and with more features. If you wanted more, there was Apple’s fancy and overpowered streaming box. Or you could just use the built-in features of countless smart TVs that themselves used Google’s wireless casting standard.

Google served up plenty of revisions of the Chromecast, but in the end, there was simply no place left for it. And now, Google has discontinued it, replacing it with something much more powerful (and expensive).

Still, while the market for streaming gadgets has come a long way, there was something great about the original Chromecast’s simplicity. It was nice to not need to keep track of a remote, and I loved that it was hidden behind my TV. The once-great HDMI dongle’s day may be over, but it served me well.

Rest easy, Chromecast. You were a very good dongle.