Photo by Eliot Weisberg/ReadWriteWeb. Creative Commons licensed.
At Google I/O Wednesday, Google took the wraps off of Google Q, a mysterious, spherical, Android-powered computer for home entertainment and software designed by Google from the ground up. It doesn’t stream media from another local device like Apple’s AirPlay. All its content comes from the Google Play cloud.
It plugs into the best speakers and TVs out there using optical outputs. It has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC for connectivity, as well as USB ports “to encourage general hackability.”
Nexus Q allows for social streaming of music. Friends can add their own music from Google Music to the device, so anyone in the room can DJ the party straight from their phones. The Nexus Q will be available for pre-order on Wednesday for $299, starting in the U.S.
