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Tag: chrome os

  • Chromebook Ad: You Can’t Protect Your Chromebook From Aliens

    Google has put out a new ad for its Chromebooks – the Chrome OS-based computers, which essentially rely on Google’s cloud for all storage purposes.

    The ad highlights this point, claiming that you can’t keep anything safe from aliens, including your Chromebook, but that at least your files will be safe, assuming aliens actually do attack, and destroy your Chomebook.

    This has actually been one of the main points Google has made about Chrome OS from the beginning. It doesn’t matter how many times you break your Chromebooks, you can always get another one, and it will be as if nothing happened.

    Google shared the new ad on Google+:

  • Google eBooks Offline Support Now Available for Chrome, Chrome OS

    Google eBooks Offline Support Now Available for Chrome, Chrome OS

    Google announced the launch of offline support for Google eBooks for those using Chrome or Chrome OS, so they can continue reading books even when they’re not actually connected to the Internet.

    “We’ve all been there: the Internet is suddenly down, and you can’t keep on reading your ebook to see what the character decides to do next,” says Google Books Product Manager Xinxing Gu. “Or you’re about to head to the airport and want to be able to dive into a newly-purchased ebook during a long flight.”

    “Whether you are flying through the air, backpacking through the European countryside, or simply facing intermittent network connections, you can always read your Google eBooks in your Chrome browser or on your Chromebook,” says Gu.

    Offinline access requires the installation of the Google Books app, which can be found in the Chrome Web Store.

    Google Books App

    Obviously you’ll have to download the eBooks themselves while you’re still online.

    Mouseover the cover of books you’ve downloaded, and find the “make available offline” checkbox that pops up. This option can also be accessed by clicking the “i” in the right-hand corner of your screen.

    In the Google Books Help Center, Google offers 5 tips and best practices for offline reading in the web browser:

    1. You can only use this feature with flowing text (EPUB) books, as scanned pages (PDF) are too large for offline reading and not supported at this time.

    2. If you encounter an error saying “Oops! There was a problem retrieving your bookshelf, please try again and reload the page later (when you’re online)” it is possible your network request could not be completed due to a slow connection. Please try to access your bookshelf again, or from a faster connection.

    3. Publishers set limits for how many devices a book may be licensed to. If you receive error message, “Over device limits” please contact our support staff at this page.

    4. At this time features in the web reader, such as margin notes, search in Wikipedia or Google, and translation, do not work offline.

    5. If you have multiple windows open with the Google Books app, only one of the windows will show the percentage of Downloading completed. All other windows will simply display “Downloading”. Our engineers are aware of this issue and are working to fix it.

    Offline reading is also supported in Google’s mobile apps.

  • Is Mozilla Building A Web OS?

    Is Mozilla Building A Web OS?

    While the downfall of the desktop operating system has been foretold since the before the days of Gmail’s launch, the industry hangs on. Sure, mobile device operating systems and netbooks have increased in uptake, but home computing is still dominated by Windows, the Mac OS, and Linux. While there have been rumors of a web-based OS for some time now, Google’s Chromebook is probably the closet thing to that, and it’s still very much a niche item.

    It certainly doesn’t have the proliferation of iOS.

    With that in mind, it appears as if Mozilla wants to enter the web OS sweepstakes with their Boot to the Gecko project, which would allow users to boot directly to the web. Granted, the project is in the announcement stage, so there are not a lot of details. The announced goals of the project, however, indicate Mozilla’s web OS wouldn’t not be limited to those who purchase an entirely new device, like the aforementioned Chromebook or one of Apple’s mobile devices.

    They also indicate that Boot to Gecko would be open source software where the source code was released in real-time, as it was being developed. In fact, the Boot to Gecko project page is not so much an announcement as it as a call for assistance from talented web developers around the globe:

    To that end, we propose a project we’re calling Boot to Gecko (B2G) to pursue the goal of building a complete, standalone operating system for the open web. It’s going to require work in a number of areas.

  • New web APIs: build prototype APIs for exposing device and OS capabilities to content (Telephony, SMS, Camera, USB, Bluetooth, NFC, etc.)
  • Privilege model: making sure that these new capabilities are safely exposed to pages and applications
  • Booting: prototype a low-level substrate for an Android-compatible device
  • Applications: choose and port or build apps to prove out and prioritize the power of the system.

    • We will do this work in the open, we will release the source in real-time, we will take all successful additions to an appropriate standards group, and we will track changes that come out of that process. We aren’t trying to have these native-grade apps just run on Firefox, we’re trying to have them run on the web.

    At what point does a collection of applications become a full-blown operating system that could potentially replace the current standards? Or is Boot to Gecko not necessarily aimed at the home computing market, instead, choosing to focus on mobile devices? Functionality on the web and running a device from boot up to shutdown are entirely different programs.

    By booting directly to the web, where there are a number of applications and services that duplicate home computing functions — document creation, printing, calendar utilities, to name a few — once the device was powered up, it would boot directly to, in this case, what would likely be a Mozilla (or Firefox) start page and the user could pick from various applications, depending on what they were wanting to do.

    Over at the Mozilla dev Google Group, it does look like mobile devices are the intended recipient of Boot to Gecko, something Mike Shaver reveals in a response he provided:

    On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 12:56 PM, Ian Bicking wrote:
    > Given this, thoughts about, or reactions, or possible work with to
    > Webian OS? (http://webian.org/ – built on Chromeless)

    As with ChromeOS and other such projects, we’ll be looking all over
    the place for both inspiration and collaboration. We’re really
    focused on the handheld/tablet/mobile experience for this work    , and it
    looks like Webian is more aiming at the desktop. It will great if
    we’re both successful!

    Webian’s experiences in building APIs for system services seem like a
    great place to collaborate, too.

    Mike

    With that in mind, might we expect Mozilla to also develop an answer to the Chromebook, something maybe called the Mo-Device or something similar, or, much like their current method of software delivery, make the OS and tailor it to work on various other devices, although you’d probably have to jailbreak an Apple device to use Boot to Gecko? Judging by the early responses, it’s doubtful a Mo-Device netbook item is on the way.

    H/t to Shoze for making that awesome lead image.

  • Google Chromebooks Now on Sale for Consumers

    Google Chromebooks Now on Sale for Consumers

    Google’s first Chrome OS-powered Chromebooks from consumers finally became available today after months of testing through a pilot program with the Cr-48 model Google introduced when it first unveiled the operating system.

    Available models come from Samsung and Acer, and can be ordered from Amazon and BestBuy.com. In other launch countries, consumers can visit google.com/chromebook to find local retailers. Best Buy is offering the Samsung Chromebook Series 5 in white and Titan Silver. Amazon has the Samsung Series 5 and the Acer Cromia.

    The way devices come with Wi-Fi +3G, as well as an interesting “It just works.” slogan, also heavily used by Apple to describe its products.

    “Chromebooks were built and optimized for the web to give you a faster, simpler and more secure experience without the headaches of traditional computers,” says Director of Product Management Felix Lin on the Chrome blog.

    @google
    A Googler    Built for the web: #Chromebooks now on sale @Amazon & @BestBuy in the US. More countries: http://goo.gl/pWMMj via @googlechrome 1 hour ago via Tap11 · powered by @socialditto

    Rajen Sheth, Group Product Manager, Chrome for Business, says:

    Users like the easy, instant access to all of their computing needs without the complexity of traditional PCs. And if you’re a business or school, they’re extremely cost-effective.

    With today’s announcement that the new Google Chromebooks are available from our partners, we’re officially open for business. For businesses and schools, we’re offering a subscription that includes the Chromebook, a web-based management console and 24/7 support from Google starting at $28 per month/user for businesses and $20 per month/student for schools.

    He also shares the following video from a pilot customer- Jason’s Deli, discussing Chromebooks:

    After Chrome OS was revealed, we asked readers if they thought it would succeed. Suffice it to say, many have been skeptical. Personally, I’ve had few complaints. You have to take it for what it is. It’s not ready to replace all other PCs, but the Chromebooks are pretty handy and are good on battery life for basic web browsing needs. It will probably compete more with the tablet market than the PC market, at least at this point.

    For our previous coverage on the Chrome books and Chrome OS, read the articles here.

  • Google Chromebooks: How Will They Impact the Antivirus Industry?

    Google has been touting the security features of its Chrome OS operating system since it was unveiled last year. Google hopes that both consumers and businesses will go for web-based computing model the operating system offers, which includes instant updates from Google as they are available.

    Some people are talking about what this means for the online security industry – particularly makers of antivirus/anti-malware software.

    “Chromebooks have many layers of security built in so there is no anti-virus software to buy and maintain,” Google says in a blog post. “Even more importantly, you won’t spend hours fighting your computer to set it up and keep it up to date.”

    “Similar claims from Apple (that its computers are safe “right out of the box“) or from Oracle (that its machines are “unbreakable“) have only been invitations to the security industry to prove otherwise,” writes Andy Greenberg in a post for the Firewall security blog at Forbes. “But this time is different: Google may have built something so simple that it renders security add-ons–and the industry that sells them–irrelevant.”

    Of course, for Chrome OS to render this industry irrelevant, it will have to sell very, very well. It still remains to be seen, not only whether or not Google’s OS will be a hit, but whether or not the entirely cloud-based computing experience is something the majority of consumers and businesses will more toward in the future.

    Some bullet points Google gives in its Security Overview for Chromium OS (the open source OS on which Chrome OS is based):

    • Chromium OS has been designed from the ground up with security in mind.
    • Security is not a one-time effort, but rather an iterative process that must be focused on for the life of the operating system.
    • The goal is that, should either the operating system or the user detect that the system has been compromised, an update can be initiated, and—after a reboot—the system will have been returned to a known good state.
    • Chromium OS security strives to protect against an opportunistic adversary through a combination of system hardening, process isolation, continued web security improvements in Chromium, secure autoupdate, verified boot, encryption, and intuitive account management.

    The overview has all of the technical details.

    Chrome OS devices will become available on June 15. More on Google’s announcement from Google I/O this week here.

  • Google Chromebooks Get Release Date – June 15 (Acer and Samsung Models)

    Yesterday was Android day at Google I/O, and today is Chrome day. The company announced today that Chrome is up from 70 million users at last year’s Google I/O to 160 million active users now.

    Google announced new Google “Chromebooks” – Chrome OS-based Notebooks from Samsung and Acer coming next month. Devices will be available for order on June 15 – Amazon.com and BestBuy.com in the U.S. and at various retailers in six other countries.

    In addition, Google announced monthly subscriptions for Chromebooks for businesses and schools. These will begin at $28 per user for business and $20 per user for educational institutions.

    With Chromebooks, users will be able to access Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Calendar offline.

    Google also encouraged users to jailbreak the devices (inserting another jab at Apple).

    In a blog post, Google says:

    These are not typical notebooks. With a Chromebook you won’t wait minutes for your computer to boot and browser to start. You’ll be reading your email in seconds. Thanks to automatic updates the software on your Chromebook will get faster over time. Your apps, games, photos, music, movies and documents will be accessible wherever you are and you won’t need to worry about losing your computer or forgetting to back up files. Chromebooks will last a day of use on a single charge, so you don’t need to carry a power cord everywhere. And with optional 3G, just like your phone, you’ll have the web when you need it. Chromebooks have many layers of security built in so there is no anti-virus software to buy and maintain. Even more importantly, you won’t spend hours fighting your computer to set it up and keep it up to date.

    At the core of each Chromebook is the Chrome web browser. The web has millions of applications and billions of users. Trying a new application or sharing it with friends is as easy as clicking a link. A world of information can be searched instantly and developers can embed and mash-up applications to create new products and services. The web is on just about every computing device made, from phones to TVs, and has the broadest reach of any platform. With HTML5 and other open standards, web applications will soon be able to do anything traditional applications can do, and more.

    Google announced that it is expanding the Chrome Web Store around the world in 41 languages for free apps. In addition, in-app payments are now available for apps in the Chrome Web Store.

    Angry Birds is now available in the Chrome Web Store as well. Google collaborated with Angry Birds maker Rovio to bring Angry Birds to the web.

    For more announcements from Google I/O cheek out this roundup of yesterday’s news. One other Chrome-related announcement that was actually released yesterday was the availability of the ChromeVox screen reader for Chrome and Chrome OS. This is a Chrome extension that lets developers test web apps with a screen reader inside the browser so they can do better accessibility testing.

  • Chrome OS Tablets On the Way?

    Does Google’s true future in tablets rely on Android or Chrome OS? Both? Right now, it’s easy to say Android. It’s been around longer (Chrome OS isn’t even in the market yet, beyond the pilot program).

    A report from CNET says that Google has begun building a tablet version of Chrome OS, citing source code. Google said in a statement, “We are engaging in early open-source work for the tablet form factor, but we have nothing new to announce at this time.”

    Google has said in the past that Chrome OS and Android will likely converge one day. Specifically, in late 2009, co-founder Sergey Brin is quoted as saying, “Android and Chrome will likely converge over time.” There’s no telling when or if this will actually happen. If it does, it’s not likely anytime soon.

    Clearly Android is doing well. It’s market share is expected to reach 50% by next year. Meanwhile, Google is clearly putting a fair amount of energy into Chrome OS. Again, it’s not even out for the general public yet.

    If the two are to converge in time, Google will wait to see how each product evolves, and combine the best features of both. Android will have a solid lead, but the Chrome browser is gaining in popularity too. It will be interesting to see how the public interacts with it.

    In some ways it makes a great deal of sense to make a tablet version of Chrome OS, because tablets are becoming much more “in” than laptops/netbooks, and if they want a lot of people to use the operating system it will help to be on more devices.

    Google expects Chrome OS to be a major force in the enterprise, and to help push Google Apps, don’t forget – a key area where it competes with its main competitor, Microsoft.

  • Google Cloud Print Printers Available From HP

    About a year ago, Google introduced preliminary designs for Google Cloud Print. Today, Google and HP announced that all HP ePrint-enabled printers are now Cloud Print-friendly.

    Google Cloud Print can actually be used with any printer, but the new printers are “Google Cloud Print Ready,” which makes for a more “seamless” experience, according to Google.

    “Imagine printing an important email from your Chrome notebook on your train ride to work, then finding the completed printout in the printer tray when you reach the office. Or printing your airline boarding pass from your smartphone to your home printer, so you can grab the printout on your way out the door,” says Google software engineer Abhijit Kalamkar. “Today, we are one big step closer to this vision.”

    HP Google Cloud Print-ready printers

    “Simply associate your printers with a Google Account—preexisting or new—to start printing,” says HP. “You can add your HP ePrint-enabled printer (HP Photosmart, HP Officejet, HP Officejet Pro, HP LaserJet Pro) to your Google Account with the printer’s unique email address. When you’re ready to print, simply select from the list of printers associated with your account.”

    “You can send a print job to the printer you’ve chosen when you want—whether the printer is in front of you, in another room or across the country,” the company adds. “And you’ll have virtually the same experience as if you were physically connected to the printer. Print your favorite vacation photo to the closest printer to you for quick-and-easy sharing. Or, send your business presentation to the printer at your desk.”

    Earlier this year, Google launched Cloud print for mobile documents and Gmail for Mobile. It also works with Chrome OS notebooks.

    “We’re also continuing to release enhancements to the Google Cloud Print service,” says  Kalamkar. “We’ve released a Mac version of the Google Cloud Print connector for non-cloud printers in the Chrome beta channel. And over the next few days we’ll be enabling printer sharing for current Google Cloud Print users, so your family, friends and colleagues can print their documents from anywhere to anywhere.”

    The first Chrome OS devices for consumers are expected to ship in the middle of the year.

  • Google Updates Chrome OS, Fixes Cr-48 Trackpad Issue

    Early reviews of Google’s Cr-48 notebooks were, as you may remember, not encouraging.  They seemed to indicate that the machines made better coasters than computing devices for anyone who already owned a laptop.  Google’s now addressed some problems with a new release of Chrome OS, however.

    Part of the change involves Chrome 10 effectively hitting Chrome OS.  That means users should see improved Javascript performance, improved security, and a password sync feature enabled by default (among other a few things).

    Then there are some Chrome OS-specific upgrades, as well.  These include 3G modem activation fixes, 3G connection to the carrier fixes, Wi-Fi connectivity fixes, power optimizations, and tweaked onscreen indicators.

    Finally, the biggie: new trackpad sensitivity settings, which should cut down on occurrences of misclicks and jumping cursors.

    If you’d like more details, Josafat Garcia, a member of the Google Chrome team, wrote on the Google Chrome Releases blog, “You can find full list of fixes that are in Chrome OS R10 in the chromium-os bug tracker.  If you find new issues, please let us know by visiting our help site or filing a bug.”

    Perhaps this development will encourage a few people to dust off their Cr-48s and give Google’s operating system another try.

  • Eric Schmidt’s Mobile World Congress Speech: Full Video

    Google has made video available of CEO Eric Schmidt’s speech at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week. 

    At the event, he discussed the company’s current operating system focuses: Android Gingerbread and Honeycomb, and Chrome OS. "We’ve got an OS for phones called ‘Gingerbread’ and one for tablets called ‘Honeycomb’. G and H. You can imagine that the next will begin with I and will be named after a dessert, and it will unite them," he said. 

    He said Chrome OS is unrelated, as it’s targeted at netbooks and PC. "I learned a long time ago, don’t try to force technology to be merged," he said. 

    Schmidt also discussed the Chrome browser, HTML5, YouTube, IPv6, competition, and more. 

     

  • Will Google’s Chrome OS Succeed?

    Will Google’s Chrome OS Succeed?

    The biggest news in tech and business that wasn’t related to Wikileaks this week, was probably the unveiling of Google’s new operating system – Chrome OS. Earlier this week at a special Chrome event, the company highlighted a number of new things they’re doing with the Chrome browser (which has grown by 300% since January, according to Google), opened up the Chrome Web Store, and showed off the long awaited Chrome OS. 

    Will you buy a Chrome OS notebook when they’re released? Let us know. 

    If you’re not familiar with Chrome OS, you can learn more about it here, but it basically turns the Chrome browser into the entire OS. Everything is in the Cloud. It’s designed to make your entire computer experience very fast from booting up to coming back from standby mode. The company launched a pilot program in which it has sent a bunch of applicants test models of an unbranded notebook computer with the operating system built in. The goal is to get people to test it and give feedback before a consumer launch (which will come sometime in 2011 beginning with models from Acer and Samsung). 

    Google has shared some words from CEO Eric Schmidt on its official blog, who appears incredibly confident about the operating system’s future and place in history. He discusses the history of the concepts behind Chrome OS going back to the 70s, which is pretty interesting.

    Schmidt calls the concept behind the product "something computer scientists have been dreaming about for a very, very long time…The kind of magic that we could imagine 20 years ago, but couldn’t make real because we lacked the technology."

    "In 20 years time, I’m certain that when we look back at history it will be clear that this was absolutely the right time to build these products," he says. "Because they work—and they work at scale—I’m confident that they’ll go on to great success. Welcome to the latest chapter of an epic journey in computing. Welcome to Chrome OS."

    Is this a little over the top or is Chrome OS as revolutionary as Schmidt makes it out to be? Early reviews of the test model have been generally positive with some complaints, which should be expected as it is just that – a test model. 

    One of the biggest complaints has been the machine’s sluggishness when it comes to handling flash, such as when watching YouTube videos. Adobe says it is working with Google to resolve this. "Enabling video acceleration will deliver a more seamless experience on these devices. Because Flash Player is integrated directly into Chrome Notebooks, users will automatically benefit from the latest features and improvements as new versions of the software are pushed out."

    Google has high hopes that Chrome OS will be heavily used by businesses. Security is a big reason for this. Take a lot at the company’s security overview for Chrome OS here. 

    The question is do consumers and businesses want to move entirely to the cloud? 

    Will Chrome OS succeed? Will it become as revolutionary as Schmidt thinks? Will consumers buy Chrome OS machines? Tell us what you think?

  • Google Shows Off Chrome OS, Launches Pilot Program

    At a special Chrome Event today Google made some announcements regarding Chrome’s usage and strides in its performance. They also launched the Google Chrome Web Store, announced earlier this year at Google I/O. The main thing everybody was really waiting for however, was the launch of Chrome OS. 

    Well, we got that to some extent. Google announced the Chrome OS Pilot Program, where businesses and consumers can apply to receive a Google Chrome Notebook to use and provide Google with feedback about. 

    Google gave the announcement following an impressive demo of the OS itself, which still isn’t quite ready for true prime time – hence the Pilot program. 

    "We’re not done yet, but Chrome OS is at the stage where we need feedback from real users," the company says. "Some of the features of Chrome OS require new hardware, but we didn’t want to sell pre-beta computers. Instead we’re launching a pilot program where we will give test notebooks to qualified users, developers, schools and businesses. We’re starting with the U.S. and will expand to other countries once we get the necessary certifications. To participate in the pilot program, visit the Chrome notebook website."

    The test notebooks used in the Pilot Program are black with no branding. They have 12.1 inch screens, full-sized keyboards and touch pads, integrated 3G from Verizon, eight hours of battery life and eight days of standby time. 

    Chrome Pilot Program Specs

    During the demo, Google showed that you sign into the OS, so we asked if you’re using a Google account when you sign in. Google said, "You’re signing in with your Google Account," but they’re working on signing in with different standards like OpenID, OAuth, etc. However, we were also told that "nothing inherently ties Chrome to Google or Chrome OS to Google," and that you don’t need to use a Google account to use Chrome OS, just like you don’t to use Chrome. You can always sign in with the guest mode, which opens in incognito mode.

    "Chrome notebooks are designed to reach the web instantly, are easy to share among friends and family, and simply by logging in, all of your apps, bookmarks and other browser settings are there," the company says. "Setting up a new machine takes less than a minute. And even at this early stage, we feel there is no consumer or business operating system that is more secure."

    What Chrome OS looks like

    Google has no price information to share, as this will come from partner launches on an individual basis. 

    Google is putting a lot of stock into Chrome OS being big for the enterprise, largely because of the security it offers. It stays automatically updated and all user data is "heavily encrypted." They also expect to save system administrators a lot of time simply because they won’t have to spend time installing and updating software. 

    Chrome OS Security Points

    If the partner offerings operate like the model Google used in its demo they will indeed be very fast from set-up to boot to resuming a session after being on standby, when compared to other notebooks. It’s back online instantly "every time" Sundar Pichai, VP Product Management says.

    Chrome OS Demo Model

    Chrome OS notebooks from Acer and Samsung will be available in the first half of next year, with more OEMs expected to get on board after that. 

    Google has partnered with Verizon on data connectivity for Chrome OS, because all devices will let you switch between Wi-Fi and Cellular (like 3G). Verizon is giving 100MB data free every month for 2 years. There are no contracts. Users can buy a data day pass for $9.99 or buy different amounts in chunks. There are not activation, overage or cancellation fees.

  • Google Cloud Picker Feature Discovered Prematurely

    It has been revealed that Google is testing something called "Google Cloud Picker". It’s apparently not something we’re supposed to know about yet. 

    According to those who spotted it, it appeared when they tried to insert files and images into Google Sites and Blogger. A screenshot is now making the rounds, showing that it is tied to Picasa, Maps, Google Docs, and YouTube. 

    A spokesperson for the company told TechCrunch, "Oops… looks like someone pushed some code too quickly. It’s not quite ready for prime time yet but stay tuned!"

    Something like this might come in handy when you want to share things. Incidentally, Google is also working on something else that’s not quite ready for prime time (and isn’t expected to be until the Spring – you know, that "social layer" Google is supposed to be adding to tie its products together. 

    Any suggestion that this is related could only be considered speculation, but it’s something to consider. Another thing to consider is that Google is heavily trying to move people to the cloud. Google made an announcement recently that also connects the better part of Google’s services together through Google Apps. 

    Something else that is also apparently not quite ready for prime time? Google’s Cloud-based operating system Chrome OS. This very likely has a lot to do with that. In the end all of these things are going to be connected in one way or another, I believe. 

    Google Cloud Picker

    Sarah Perez at ReadWriteWeb drops a name we haven’t heard in a while. "Wait, a Google storage product? Isn’t that Gdrive?" she writes. "Gdrive, the long-rumored Google competitor to Microsoft’s now 3+ years-old SkyDrive cloud storage service has never officially been revealed. But it was supposedly going to do something similar – tie together Google services into one interface."

    "Isn’t that what Cloud Picker is doing?" she adds. "Actually, no – at least not to the extent of what Gdrive would have done. Cloud Picker only appears as a pop-up when you go to insert media into Blogger or Sites at this time, according to the forum posts…In other words, it’s a dialog box, not a service."

    It certainly seems that way. There’s probably already more being made of this than is really necessary. It would appear to just be a function that could be applied to any Google offering the company wishes. If nothing else, it should make it easy to share different types of content in any given Google service. If you’re inserting a file, image, map, document, or YouTube video into something, you’re probably sharing it with somebody. Sounds social to me. 

    Google is expected to launch a Chrome OS-based netbook on Tuesday.

  • Chrome OS Tablet May Debut On Black Friday

    Fans of Google, tablets, and/or good deals will want to visit a Verizon store in late November, judging from a new report.  A Chrome OS tablet is supposed to debut at that time, and it’s probably going to offer consumers a lot of tech for a low price.

    Lee Mathews heard from a source that the tablet will go on sale on November 26th, which is Black Friday.  That’s clever in the sense that many people will have the day off and dedicate it to shopping; the potential downside is if folks don’t want to spend hours waiting for the tablet when they could be snatching up dozens of products at Walmart.

    Google ChromeOtherwise, Mathews indicated that HTC, which put together the Nexus One, will also build the Chrome OS tablet.

    Then, with regards to specs, he wrote, "It’ll likely be based on Nvidia’s Tegra 2 platform and sport a 1280×720 multitouch display, 2GB of RAM, minimum 32GB SSD, WiFi/Bluetooth/3G connectivity, GPS, webcam, and possibly expandable storage via a multi-card reader."

    Finally, Mathews speculated, "You can bet Google’s Chrome OS tablet will be heavily subsidized, and I’d go so far as to say it will be substantially cheaper than the iPad – if not totally free – with a Verizon data contract."

    Let’s hope the tablet lives up to expectations (and turns out to be real in the first place).

  • Steve Ballmer Talks Up “Terribly Important” Tablets

    The tablet PC market may not be an easy one for Google – and its new operating system – to enter.  Steve Ballmer indicated this morning that Microsoft is "hardcore" about the field, and will be launching more than a few models before the end of this year.

    As reported by Patrick Goss, Ballmer said during his keynote at the Worldwide Partner Conference, "This year, one of the most important things that we will do in the smart device category is really push forward with Windows 7-based slates and with Windows Phone 7 phones.  It’s a terribly important area for us."

    Ballmer also stated, "In the course of the next several months you will see a range of Windows 7-based slates which I think you’ll find quite impressive – they will come from the people you would expect: from Asus, from Dell, from Samsung, from Toshiba, from Sony."

    That’s bad news for Google, since the only tablet device it really had to worry about up until this point was the iPad.  Now it looks like Chrome OS could have a much more difficult time gaining traction, especially since the Microsoft-based products could match or undercut Google’s versions in terms of price.

    One interesting thing is that Steve Ballmer didn’t specifically reference tablet PCs with ties to Apple or Google during his keynote.  So Microsoft doesn’t appear to be declaring all-out war in this segment just yet.

    That time may come when we’re a little closer to specific products’ launches, though.

  • Facebook Snags Chrome Engineering Director

    A man who, according to his LinkedIn profile, "started and manage[d] the Chrome OS project" is now leaving Google.  Matthew Papakipos announced this afternoon on Twitter that his future paychecks will come from Facebook, instead.

    You can read Papakipos’s tweet about the shift for yourself below.  It actually makes the situation sound almost positive for Google, in a the-real-work-is-done-and-now-I-want-another-challenge sense.

    Still, no matter how solid the first version of Chrome turns out to be, it’s hard to imagine that Google wouldn’t prefer to keep Papakipos around.  Papakipos, an engineering director, founded PeakStream before it was acquired by Google, worked at Nvidia prior to that, and earlier still, earned a degree from Brown.

    That means he should be a valuable asset for Facebook, anyway.

    Of course, Facebook and Papakipos haven’t seen fit to tell anyone what he’ll be doing there.  It’s hard to guess, too, given that Chrome and most of the other stuff Papakipos has worked on over the years isn’t similar to any known project at the social network.

    We’ll see what happens; a Facebook browser or operating system would certainly be interesting.

    Hat tip goes to Eric Eldon.

  • Chrome OS Release Set For “Late Fall”

    Chrome OS Release Set For “Late Fall”

    Anyone who’s interested in using Google’s first operating system shouldn’t have to wait too much longer to give it a try.  Earlier today, at Computex Tapei, a vice president of product management at Google indicated Chrome OS will launch in "late fall" this year.

    Google ChromeGoogle doesn’t intend to put out a buggy beta product that will hobble along, frustrating early adopters, either.  Sundar Pichai explained, "We will be selective on how we come to market because we want to deliver a great user experience.  We’re thinking on both the hardware and software levels."

    According to Reuters, Pichai then continued, "Chrome OS is one of the few future operating systems for which there are already millions of applications that work.  You don’t need to redesign Gmail for it to work on Chrome.  Facebook does not need to write a new app for Chrome."

    And here’s one other thing to consider: this talk of Chrome OS’s release comes quite soon after reports about Google abandoning Windows began to circulate, meaning some serious "dogfooding" may be set to take place.

    Pichai said Google’s intention is just to have Chrome OS work on laptops at first, though, so don’t expect the launch of the operating system to represent a full-scale attack at every level of the PC market.

  • Google TV and All Sorts of Fun Expected at Google I/O

    Google I/O, the company’s annual developer conference starts this week, and all eyes will be upon Google, just as they have been on Facebook since its developer conference.

    Watch  for exclusive, live video interviews from Google I/O this week at live.dev.webpronews.com.

    Google has so many products, APIs, and relationships with a seemingly infinite number of third-parties, that there is bound to be a plethora of interesting news and general information coming out of San Francisco this week. What’s going on with Google Wave? Chrome OS? Android?

    Google I/O Session (from last year)Leading up to the event, it is Android that appears to be capturing the most attention, as the main weapon in Google’s arsenal in its increasingly competitive battle with Apple. Apple and Adobe are of course also involved in something of a tiff, and this Adobe’s relationship with Google and Android will no doubt be discussed a great deal as well.

    The Financial Times reports that Google is expected to call upon the developer community at I/O to create apps for Android-based TVs. Google and Intel are expected to launch a "Smart TV" platform. The latest version of Android, Froyo, is also expected to be heavily showcased.

    Google has session tracks scheduled for Android, App Engine, Chrome, Enterprise, Geo, Google APIs, GWT, Social Web, and Wave, as well as tech talks and fireside chats. Specific sessions will also deal with things like Google Buzz, Google Powermeter, Google Maps, SEO, iGoogle, YouTube, OpenSocial, Chrome, OpenID, Google Analytics, and much more.

    WebProNews will be attending Google I/O, which takes place on Wednesday 05/19 and Thursday 05/20. In addition to articles, watch for exclusive, live video interviews at live.dev.webpronews.com.

  • Acer Chrome OS Devices Said to Appear in About 2 Weeks

    While reports of an upcoming tablet from Verizon to run software from Google, which would presumably compete with Apple’s iPad have captured much of the industry’s attention, it has not been revealed whether the device will run Android or Chrome OS, but Android seems the more likely fit. However, Chrome OS systems are on the way, and we may see some as early as within the next couple weeks.

    According to VentureBeat who has "learned from multiple sources," Acer will launch Chrome OS devices at the Computex Taipei show in June. Unfortunately, that appears to be the extent of what has been learned about these devices. We don’t know if they’re tablets or netbooks or what, but most likely netbooks, as that has been what Google generally associated Chrome OS with from the beginning. Though there has certainly been speculation about touch technology in Chrome OS.

    Here’s how Chrome OS is designed to work:

    According to MG Siegler, who dug through some Chrome OS developer notes, any devices shown at the Computex Taipei show are unlikely to include a complete version of Chrome OS, and that while Google claims development is on schedule, devices aren’t supposed to be ready until the second half of the year.

    We’ll be covering Google I/O next week, and we expect to see some news on both the Android and Chrome OS fronts.

  • Google Cloud Print in the Works for Printing from Chrome OS

    If computing is going to the cloud, does that include printing? It does in Google’s plan. The company has introduced preliminary designs for a project called Google Cloud Print, a service that would allow any desktop, web, or mobile app on any device to print to any printer that the user sets up.

    "Rather than rely on the local operating system (or drivers) to print, apps can use Google Cloud Print to submit and manage print jobs," explains product manager Mike Jazayeri. "Google Cloud Print will then be responsible for sending the print job to the appropriate printer with the particular options the user selected, and returning the job status to the app."

    Google Cloud Print

    It’s important to understand that Google Cloud Print is in the early stages of development, and there’s no telling when it might become available, but Google has released all the documentation and code as part of its open source Chromium and Chromium OS projects.

    My guess is that they will want to make something available before too long, as the release of the Google Chrome OS devices gets closer. In case you don’t remember, that’s Google’s web-based operating system, on which all applications on a device are run from the cloud.

    "While the emergence of cloud and mobile computing has provided users with access to information and personal documents from virtually any device, today’s printers still require installing drivers which makes printing impossible from most of these new devices. Developing and maintaining print subsystems for every combination of hardware and operating system– from desktops to netbooks to mobile devices — simply isn’t feasible," says Jazayeri. "Since in Google Chrome OS all applications are web apps, we wanted to design a printing experience that would enable web apps to give users the full printing capabilities that native apps have today."

    Google says it will have more information to share about which Google products will use Google Cloud Print in the coming months. The company will eventually offer an API for any app to use it.

    The company expects "cloud aware" printers to become standard, although it acknowledges that none exist today. Google says it will engage with the printer OEM community in the coming months to help drive the effort forward.

    For regular printers, users will be able to install a print proxy on their PCs to enable functionality with Google Cloud Print.

  • Asus To Take On iPad With Google OS

    Asus To Take On iPad With Google OS

    Google and Apple have clashed a number of times in recent months, and a Taiwanese hardware manufacturer is poised to ensure that the two companies butt heads yet again.  Asus has indicated that it will challenge the iPad with a tablet PC powered by either Android or Chrome OS.

    Google AndroidElizabeth Woyke talked to Asus chairman Jonney Shih and reported afterward, "Shih said one Asus tablet will likely run Google software, such as the upcoming open-source operating system, Chrome, or the mobile operating system, Android."

    "There will be an Apple camp, but Asus always tries to address the open camps of Google and Microsoft," Shih explained.  He also stated, "Content will play a very important role on tablets.  The Google tablet will have a lot of media."

    Considering that Android is doing rather well against the iPhone (the most recent AdMob report puts their U.S. market shares at 42 percent and 44 percent, respectively), this could be a smart move for Asus.  For Google, too.  It just seems certain that Google’s relationship with Apple will suffer as a result.

    We’ll see what happens.  The new tablet PCs from Asus should debut sometime this year, and probably sooner rather than later.