An Android app turns your Chromecast-equipped TV in to a whiteboard
Article
Cast Drawings On Your Phone To Your Television Using A Chromecast And This App | Lifehacker
Video (Click or tap to play)
Get this app here
CastPad (Google Play for Android)
– Free version has ads, in-app purchase for premium version
My Comments
The idea of using a regular TV as the electronic equivalent of a chalkboard (blackboard) or whiteboard has been explored through the 1980s thanks to a few key drivers.
A use case that was being put forward was to work with the then-new hobby of home videography thanks to the arrival of affordable video cameras and portable video recorders. Here it would be about creating title cards for one’s home video projects. As well, third-party peripheral vendors created light-pen setups that work with various home-computer platforms like the Commodore “VIC” computers (VIC-20 and Commodore 64), the Tandy TRS-80 Model 1 and the BBC Micro. The software that came with these setups included an elementary “paint” program that worked with the light-pen and allowed the (low-resolution) drawings to be saved to the computer’s secondary-storage medium (cassette or floppy disk) or printed to a connected printer.
The mouse, along with various graphics programs for later computer platform, extended the concept further even though newer computers were hooked up to displays better than the average TV set.
But the concept has been revived using the CastPad app for Android. This app allows you to draw using your finger or stylus on your Android smartphone or tablet, then “cast” it to your TV or monitor that is connected to a Chromecast or has full Chromecast ability built in. There is also the ability to “cast” to other Android devices running the same software and connected to the same logical network that the Chromecast is connected to.
You can save what you drew to your Android device but I am not sure whether it supports printing via Android’s print functionality. There is a free ad-supported version that is limited to five colours. It may be good enough to show to a child or use for games like Pictionary. But a premium version, which you can purchase through an in-app arrangement allows for infinite colours and a few more features.
A use case that was called out in the article was to improve a family Pictionary game that the article’s author played during their family’s Thanksgiving celebrations. Here, they had a Chromecast connected to their family home’s TV and used their Android smartphone to draw out the word ideas as part of gameplay.
But the app has other use cases such as conference facilities, classrooms and the like that are kitted out with a large-screen TV or video projector. Here, the CastPad app may work as a better approach to illustrating concepts in a basic manner and showing them to a larger audience as part of your presentation effort.
Apple could easily answer this app with something that runs on an iPhone or iPad and uses AirPlay to stream the canvas to an Apple TV. Or the app developers could simply port it to iOS to take advantage of that platform’s user base.
Similarly, there could be the ability to have you draw the graphic on the smartphone or tablet then project it through the Chromecast, which can be useful if you are preparing that diagram for a class. This can also be augmented with the ability to insert printed text in a range of font sizes, something that would appeal to “blackboard diagrammers”.
Apps like CastPad can exploit “screencasting” setups like AirPlay or Chromecast to turn the largest screen in the house or business in to an electronic whiteboard and the touchscreen of your device in to a “canvas”.
