Mozilla's $25 Matchstick Dongle Running Firefox OS Hits Kickstarter

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

Chromecast competitor aims to be more open

Google is pitching its Chromecast device for streaming chores, Microsoft recently unveiled its Wireless Display Adapter based on Miracast technology, and now Mozilla is jumping into the fray with Matchstick, the first HDMI stick based on Firefox OS. Currently up for pledges on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter, Matchstick's makers hope to find an advantage over the competition by offering up a completely open hardware and software platform.
Like Chromecast, the Matchstick dongle plugs into your HDTV or HD monitor via HDMI. It uses Wi-Fi to stream and interact with content from the Internet, such as movies, TV shows, music, games, an more. Mozilla points out that you can even use it in a conference room to stream presentations from your laptop to an HDTV.
"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," Mozilla says. "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?"
There are no rules, limitations, or boundaries with Matchstick, so essentially developers have complete freedom in how they want to take advantage of the low-cost dongle. At launch, Mozilla promises a core set of content, including apps like Netflix, HBO Go, Pandora, and others.
As for the hardware, Matchstick rocks a dual-core Rockship 3066 processor based on ARM's Cortex-A9 design, 1GB of DDR3 memory, 4GB of onboard storage, and 802.11n Wi-Fi.
Intrigued? A pledge of $18 gets you a Matchstick in February with free shipping in the U.S. That's assuming the project reaches its goal -- Mozilla is hoping to raise $100,000 and has less than $90,000 to go with 29 days remaining.
Find out more on Matchstick's Kickstarter page or on the project's homepage.

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