ChromeOS

Google Chrome has recently picked up some super handy ways to send content to your phone and now, it appears to be working on another. In the latest Canary release, Google is preparing a new option to share webpages using QR codes.

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For the past two years, Google’s high-end Pixelbook has helped inspire a trend of “mid-range” Chromebooks that offer premium build and specs on the lightweight Chrome OS platform. Now, the Pixelbook Go is coming in to compete in that market, and it’s a truly excellent machine, but it might be a little overpriced.

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After the relative failure of the Pixel Slate and Google’s public decision to stop creating tablets, many thought that was the end of Chrome OS tablets. Defying that notion, it seems Lenovo has a Chrome OS tablet in the works for the near future, and they were looking for testers to try it out.

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Apple’s “Made for iPhone” and associated branding initiatives over the years have helped consumers in big ways when it comes to buying accessories and, over the past few years, we’ve seen Google do something similar for its products. Now, it appears that Google might be starting a new “Works with Chromebook” initiative.

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This morning, all eyes have been on Apple as they announced their latest MacBook Pro, which you can read more about from our friends at 9to5Mac. In an interview about the new MacBook Pro, Apple’s Phil Schiller took a potshot at Google’s Chromebooks, saying that kids who use them are “not going to succeed.”

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In recent months, we’ve all become more aware of the fact that every Chromebook has a built-in expiration date after which it will no longer receive updates. Likely in an effort to increase transparency, Google is now making information about your Chromebook’s End of Life date easily viewable within Chrome OS.

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One of the best features about recent Made by Google products — starting with the Google Nest Hub and most recently seen on the Pixel 4  — is “Ambient EQ,” or ability to perfectly adapt the display’s brightness and colors to the room’s ambient lighting. Ambient EQ is now working its way to Chrome OS, and will debut on an upcoming Samsung Chromebook.

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After rolling out to Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux, version 78 of Chrome OS is now available. Notable features in Chrome OS 78 include separate browser and device settings, click-to-call, and the full launch of Virtual Desks.

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Every Chromebook that’s ever hit the market has an “end-of-life” date built in, meaning that once that date has been hit, updates will no longer hit the machine. It’s a definite downside, but Google has just extended an olive branch to nearly every Chromebook by offering another year of software support.

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Following version 78’s release on Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux, the next beta release of Google’s browser is rolling out. The Chrome 79 beta features tab freezing on desktops to conserve resources, shared clipboard, and a trial of DNS-over-HTTPS.

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With Chrome OS being more dependent on internet connection than most other operating systems, it’s important to have a way to figure out why your connection might not be working. To that end, Google appears to be making their super handy “Connectivity Diagnostics” Chrome app a built-in part of Chrome OS, starting with version 80.

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For the past several years, Google has been trying to encourage Android developers to create apps optimized for larger screens. The latest push is centered around Chrome OS and Android Foldables, with the company revealing a new usage statistic today.

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Just a few short months after the release of the Pixel Slate, Google formally announced that they were getting out of the business of making tablets. Many took this as a bad sign for the future of Chrome OS tablets, thinking that Google wouldn’t bother developing tablet-specific features. However, evidence has come to light pointing to Google working on bringing something similar to Android 10’s gesture navigation to Chrome OS tablets.

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At today’s big hardware event, Google unveiled its new Pixelbook Go laptop. While it’s not a direct successor to the premium Pixelbook from 2017, it does deliver some of that laptop’s best features at a much more affordable price. Here’s our take after spending some time with it.

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We told you everything there is to know about the Pixelbook Go last month, but now we’ve got the goods. Thanks to a source we trust, we’ve now had a chance to go extensively, fully, completely hands-on with the Google Pixelbook Go. Here’s some thoughts on the hardware design and aesthetic, and some broader ideas about just how excited you should be about the newest Google laptop.

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Next week is the big Made by Google event where Google will reveal the Pixel 4 and the Pixelbook Go side by side. To help these devices feel like they’re in the same family, Google is sharing some of the Pixel 4’s wallpapers to Made by Google Chromebooks, both new and old, including the Pixelbook Go.

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After rolling out to Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux, version 77 of Chrome OS is now available. Notable Chrome OS 77 features include the wide launch of Virtual Desks and Google Assistant.

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HP today announced the latest laptops in its Chromebook x360 line. Both are convertibles, with the HP Chromebook x360 12b being highly compact and supporting the Universal Stylus Initiative.

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From time to time, Google places a small promotional message on their homepage, and these promos are often also shown on Chrome’s New Tab Page. Google has created a way for you to dismiss promos from the Google Chrome New Tab Page.

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