Google takes on AirPlay with Cast. Photo: Google

Google today announced a new Apple AirPlay competitor called Google Cast, which lets you stream audio from a whole bunch of popular apps to Cast-compatible speakers. The search giant has teamed up with a number of popular services for its launch, including Pandora, Rdio, and NPR One.

HP’s Stream mini is a PC that fits in the palm of your hand. Photo: HP

Google’s miniature Chromeboxes make desktop computing more portable than ever before, and HP’s hoping to do the same for those who prefer Windows over Chrome OS. The company’s new Stream mini and Pavilion mini PCs look like an Apple TV or a Roku, but they run Windows 8.1 on specifications you’d usually expect to see in a budget notebook.

Acer’s Chromebook 15 is the biggest Chromebook out there for now. Photo: Acer.

Even though the opening keynote of CES 2015 is yet to be delivered, some manufacturers have gone ahead and started making their products official. This includes Acer that has just announced a 15-inch Chromebook — making it the largest ever Chromebook in terms of screen size out there. 

OnePlus delivers its own take on Android. Photo: OnePlus

OnePlus has been promising its own Android software for a while, and that’s exactly what it delivered to kick off 2015. The new custom ROM, which is currently in alpha, is based on pure Lollipop and can be flashed using the TWRP custom recovery.

Nexus 6 is now available from Motorola. Photo: Google

Still struggling to get a Nexus 6 through Google Play? You can now buy the device direct from Motorola instead — and providing you get your order in fairly quickly, your handset will be shipped in early January.