Turn any TV into smart TV using this $25 dongle

Here is a short review of what the world's cheapest HDMI smart dongle comes epquiped with.

What Does Matchstick Do?

Matchstick is a small, WiFi-connected HDMI stick that plugs into your HDTV or HD Monitor that lets you stream and interact with your favorite stuff from the Internet - movies, TV, music, games, and more! You can even use it in a conference room to get presentations or other media from your laptop to an HDTV.
Seen this before? Well, we approached the Matchstick project with the mindset to to build a completely OPEN hardware and software platform, so we moved forward with Mozilla to create the first streaming stick built and certified for Firefox OS. Matchstick is a entirely new product category for Mozilla, and we can't wait to bring it to you!

Why Firefox OS?

Firefox OS is completely open and adaptable. It makes perfect sense for today's blurred lines of online content including video, music, gaming, and all the other stuff we click "play" on. An open and adaptable operating system like Firefox means less cost in production, smaller installs, and more personalized apps.... Without the need for app approval or oversight. How cool is that?
Working with Mozilla has been exciting and their amazing support has allowed us to make it this far! Our goal was to make a streaming stick that was low cost, high design, and extremely adaptable without the walled garden for app developers that tends to slow progress. We also approached the hardware as a break even, open reference design, creating an app ecosystem where the app developers drive the economy. It's what Chromecast WANTED to be... =)

Movies, TV, Music, Games... The Important Stuff

But we know what you care about... CONTENT. The number one thing your HDMI stick needs to do is let you get your favorite stuff from the Internet to your big screen. You want to know your favorite movies, TV shows, music, and games will be available. We got this!

Matchstick is being built around a community that loves video and the Internet, so not only do you get great content from the apps the Matchstick team is building into the product, but you also benefit from the cool stuff being built by the Mozilla and Matchstick developer communities.
With no limitations, rules, or boundaries, app developers can explore their creativity to bring mainstream content to places never accessible before as well as unexpected, creative apps and personalized viewing and interactive experiences that just aren't available in closed systems. Matchstick allows for cool, crazy stuff that no one else could deliver.
There are already hundreds of apps in the Mozilla app store, and as the developer program ramps up many of those apps and hundreds of new apps will become available on the Matchstick app store.

  Matchstick

At launch, the Matchstick team will deliver a core set of content for Matchstick that will let you find the most popular movies, TV, and music. Apps like YouTube, HBO Go, Pandora, and others ensure great content right out of the box! And as our developer community grows, new apps will become available, giving users access to a constant flow of new content and experiences for Matchstick.

The Hardware

We wanted to make Matchstick hardware specs an upgrade over the components you might find in the leading products on the market today that might rhyme with "boneblast."

We selected the dual-core Rockchip 3066 processor, increased the onboard storage to 4GB, and dropped in 1GB of DDR3 memory. The bigger processor and increased memory gives you a much better video playback cache and increased performance for whatever games and custom overlays you might dream up.

Open source hardware and software means there are no limitations to what you can do with Matchstick. No need to jailbreak your Matchstick, the door is wide open!
Putting Our Money Where Our Mouth Is: We take open seriously and the only way hardware can be truly open is removing any barriers to development AND manufacturing. In light of this, we are making the reference designs and hardware schematics available for download.

Now anybody can dissect the schematics to learn what makes Matchstick tick, or use these files to build their own streaming stick. The files we provide are manufacturer ready, including board design, electrical layout, and the bill of materials. We are not including our Industrial Design - that we keep for ourselves, and is part of what makes Matchstick Matchstick.

How it Works

Matchstick simply plugs into an HDMI port on your TV or Monitor and connects to your Wi-Fi network. Done. Setup is super easy and Matchstick will guide you all the way. Easy peasy, now you're ready to "FLING".

Flinging (to Fling) lets you send any content, apps, and experiences from a computer, iOS or Android device to the big screen.

You can also mirror or fling any website in Firefox or Chrome from your laptop or PC to the Matchstick, bringing your workspace to the big screen in an instant!

Once you Fling anything to Matchstick simply use your laptop, phone, or tablet as your customized remote or controller to interact with your media. Then your phone or tablet is free for you to use without interrupting what's happening on the TV.
In fact, anybody can Fling to the Matchstick, so your entire family can Fling away and get into shouting matches over who gets to control the Matchstick (we are not responsible for damage caused during fights over the Matchstick!)