The Web-to-TV media device have been updated as Google continues its push into the lounge.

Google on Tuesday released an update to its Chromecast streaming media device that adds support for 10 new apps.

The over-the-air update would be distributed automatically to Chromecast devices connected to a wireless network. It provides the facility to stream music, news, sports, and other content from mobile and web apps like BeyondPod, PostTV, Red Bull.TV, Revision 3, Songza, VEVO, and Viki to a Chromecast-connected television.

The revised software also offers access to the Avia, Plex, and RealPlayer Cloud apps.

Introduced in July, Chromecast seems to be quite popular, presumably as a result of its affordable $35 price. It sold out in retail stores shortly after its launch. That month, citing “overwhelming demand,” Google halted a promotional deal that provided three months of Netflix free with a Chromecast purchase.

Presently, the internet-to-TV device is the end seller in Amazon.com’s electronics category. Google didn’t reply to a request to produce specific sales figures.

Chromecast offers two the right way to route content to a television. The 1st is via Chromecast-enabled apps, akin to those mentioned above. These apps have integrated Google Cast APIs for optimized video playback. Google also offers a Chrome extension called Google Cast that could display optimized video from Cast-enabled websites like YouTube.

The second method is via Chrome browser tabs. Chromecast can display a Chrome tab window on a connected TV, much the way in which Apple’s AirPlay technology can display an iOS or OS X screen on a TV. The Chromecast tab video quality is usually inferior to a Cast-enabled app since the tab approach depends upon the transmitting device’s processor to deal with the video, without the assistance of plug-in technologies like QuickTime or Silverlight.

[Which version of Android are you running? Read Google Pushes Android 4.4.2 To Nexus Devices.]

Google’s quest to become relevant in living rooms got off to a slow start with the launch of its smart TV platform, Google TV, in 2010. Google TV hardware from Logitech and Sony did not attract much enthusiasm and the project never really recovered. Google’s consumer audio product, the Nexus Q streaming music player, was also poorly received and had its launch postponed after which cancelled over worries about cost and shortcomings.

Reports within the Wall Street Journal and The tips, a recently launched paywalled tech news website, indicate that Google is preparing to launch an Android-powered set top box called Nexus TV. The device reportedly shouldn’t support live broadcast television, thereby obviating the necessity to negotiate with traditional media providers, a set far less pliant and much better organized than software developers.

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Thomas Claburn is editor-at-large for InformationWeek. He was writing about business and technology since 1996, for publications consisting of New Architect, PC Computing, InformationWeek, Salon, Wired, and Ziff Davis Smart Business.

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