Google just announced Chromecast, a TV dongle that lets you stream online videos straight from your phone, tablet or laptop to your TV. Chromecast is based on a stripped-down version of Chrome OS, and interoperable with a multitude of devices. “We will not force you to have the same operating system on all of your devices,” Google executive Mario Queiroz said during the announcement Wednesday. The Chromecast dongle is plugged into the HDMI port of a TV, and can then be auto-discovered by apps like the YouTube app on a mobile device. Users can then change the volume, start immediate playback and compile collaborative playlists. This is essentially the same functionality that’s been available on Google TV for some time, but without the whole Google TV UI. Chromecast plays back content from the cloud, so users are able to change to a different app or even turn off their mobile device while playback on the TV continues.