Looking back at late September, Google released Chrome Apps which should not be confused with Chrome OS or Chrome’s browser apps. These ‘Chrome Apps’ are full-fledged applications complete with offline support and include apps like Any.do, Pocket, and many more available in the “For your desktop” collection in the Chrome Web Store.
Chrome OS users take note, a brand new camera app is on its way offering a host of new features. The announcement came via Google’s “Happiness Evangelist” Francois Beaufort who suggested that while the current Chrome OS camera is good, the team can do better.
Last month we reported that Google’s slick new “Google+ Photos” app that launched exclusively on the Chromebook Pixel could possibly be making its way to Mac & PC. The proof came from a newly posted listing on the Chrome Web Store that made references to auto-uploading features specifically for OS X and Windows. Unfortunately, launching the app would give users a “not supported on this platform” error message. While Google has yet to officially launch the Mac and PC versions of the Chrome app, there is a way to bypass the error message and enable the app now.
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Google Keep, the Evernote-like content storing app for Android, is now available for the desktop as well as a Chrome web app, bring offline support to the desktop and keeping with its web app initiative.
Google announced today that it updated the mobile web app for Gmail and the Gmail Offline Chrome app with a refreshed UI and new features similar to recent enhancements to its iOS apps. On top of the redesigned visuals, Google also included improvements to search and Google Calendar integration:
Today we’re rolling out a similar refreshed look to the Gmail mobile web app as well as Gmail Offline (http://goo.gl/0f1ae) that includes many of these same changes. Try it out at gmail.com in the browser of your Android, iOS, Blackberry or Kindle Fire device.
Google noted it decided to implement a design for its web apps similar to its iOS offerings after receiving positive feedback since first launching the new iOS design in December.
Google announced today on the Google Developers Blog that it would now allow users to add Drive-enabled Chrome web apps to the Create menu in Google Drive. While users could previously select from one of Google’s own apps such as Google Docs or Sheets, a new “Connect more apps” button will now allow users to install apps from the Chrome Web Store’s Drive collection of apps. Once an app is installed, users will then be able to launch the app from the Create menu and open Drive files directly in the app (as highlighted in the image below):
Google today announced on Google+ that it is introducing a new Chrome extension that will allow users to save content from on the web directly to their Google Drive account. Using the new Chrome extension, users will be able to select which part of a webpage they want to save, such as “an image of a page, the HTML source code, or a Web archive.” Once installed, users will also get an option to save images, links, or files directly to Drive when right clicking.
Google also explained it has made enhancements to the photo viewer in Google Drive that allows users to zoom, fit to page, and comment:
We’ve also added a few new ways to work with images that are already stored in Drive. You can now zoom by scrolling or using the new fit to page and 100% buttons. And if you have something to say about a specific part of an image, you can select a region and add a comment to it.
The Google Drive Chrome extension is available from the Chrome Web Store here.
The Chrome Web Store is now Google+ integrated.
“You can now share all of your favorite Chrome Web Store items with people in your Google+ circles by finding them in the Chrome Web Store and clicking the +1 button located in their store detail page,” wrote Software Engineer Hui Guo on the official Google Chrome blog.
Users can also review app, extension, and theme recommendations from friends in their Google+ circles by hitting up the ‘From your circles’ link under the left category menu on the Chrome Web store. If apps have been +1’d by people in a user’s circles, the indication will appear respectively on the Chrome Web Store to help folks pick an app. Those new to Google+ will notice suggestions from the Chrome team instead.
Google just announced at its second day of Google I/O that Chromebooks and Chromebox would come to 100 Best Buy stores in the United States and Dixon’s stores in the United Kingdom. Google’s Chromebook website already has a “Buy In Store” option, which will allow you to locate a Best Buy location near you that is stocking the Chromebooks. Google also promised more retailers and more OEMs would get their hands on Chromebooks before the 2012 holiday season. Lucky, I/O attendees were given a free Chromebox, which means we will soon have a hands-on for you.
[tweet https://twitter.com/googlechrome/status/218399112062701568]
Google just revealed over 500 school districts in the United States and Europe use Chromebooks on a regular basis, while also naming a few new districts to adopt the technology in both North Carolina and Wisconsin.
In a post on the Official Google Blog, which is appropriately titled “In schools, all you need is web,” Google talked about the functionality of Chromebooks coupled with Google Apps and educational apps available on the Chrome Web Store. The company clearly wants the world to know its marketplace and lineup of notebooks are ideal for teaching, learning, and exploring the Web.
“There are tens of thousands of apps in the Chrome Web Store, and today we’re adding some new ones: ST Math, VoiceThread and Acheive3000,” wrote Chromebooks for Education Product Manager Vidya Nagarajan. “To give you an idea of what’s possible on the web: Leyden High School District from Illinois is rolling out Chromebooks to their 3,500 students and are using apps like WeVideo,EasyBib, Vernier Labquest2, SlideRocket, Geogebra and Pearson’s OpenClass as part of their 1-to-1 learning initiative.”
Google launched a preview of its PageSpeed Insights Chrome Developer Tools extension last year, but it just released version 2.0 today.
The add-on analyzes web page performance and offers specific suggestions on how to make them load faster. Google Software Engineers Libo Song and Bryan McQuade gave an example on the Official Developers Blog:
For instance, PageSpeed Insights can inform you about an expensive JavaScript call that blocks the renderer for too long, remind you about that new photo on the front page of your web site that you might have forgotten to resize or optimize, or recommend changing the way you load third-party content so it no longer blocks the page load. PageSpeed Insights for Chrome is a Developer Tools extension that analyzes all aspects of the page load, including resources, network, DOM, and the timeline. If you’re already familiar with the Developer Tools, you’ll find that PageSpeed Insights integrates with a toolset you’re already using.
PageSpeed Insights also runs the open-source PageSpeed Insights SDK securely to optimize images, CSS, JavaScript and HTML resources on a website. The PageSpeed Insights extension is available now on the Chrome Web Store.
In a recent post on the Chromium Blog, Google detailed some new features and improvements that have recently been implemented for developers in the Chrome Web Store.
The first announcement was the addition of six new countries developers can now sell apps to, including: Turkey, Ukraine, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. The new additions bring the total up to 42 countries that currently have access to the store. Next Google noted it has added a new “Offline Apps” category that will allow developers to better promote apps that include offline functionality. The post explained how devs can get their apps included in the new section:
If you are a developer, getting your app listed in this collection is as simple as adding theoffline_enabled flag to your app’s manifest file (note: to avoid negative user feedback, please ensure that your app does indeed work well offline before you do this).
The third new enhancement announced by Google is better insights into how apps are performing from within the developer dashboard:
To help you with your data needs, we’ve created a new graph view to help you understand the performance of your apps. To make this data more accessible, you can easily download it as a CSV file. Currently, we provide 90 days of history information.
Google said it plans to provide even more data to developers in the near future to help them understand how their apps are being used.
Google took to the official Google Blog today to introduce its new Chromebook and Chromebox, two devices we spied earlier this year at CES—complete with an enticing new reel (below).
The Mountain View, Calif.-based Company’s Vice President of Engineering and Director of Product Management Linus Upson reminded the world about the launch of Google’s Chromebooks last year, and then he unveiled the new Chromebook and the industry’s first Chromebox.
“Like its predecessor, the newest Chromebook is a fast and portable laptop for everyday users. The Chromebox is a compact, powerful and versatile desktop perfect for the home or office,” explained Upson in the blog post.
Google partnered with Samsung to produce the Series 5 550 Chromebook starting at $449. It boasts a 12.1-inch 1,280-by-800 display, six hours of battery life, 4 GB RAM, built-in dual band Wi-Fi 802.11, an optional 3G modem, an HD camera, two USB 2.0 ports, a 4-in-1 memory card slot, and a DisplayPort compatible with HDMI, DVI, VGA.
Samsung manufactures the $329 Chromebox with similar specs as the Series 5 550, but it carries six USB 2.0 ports, a 2x DisplayPort, a DVI single link output, and Bluetooth 3.0 and Kensington key lock compatibly. However, it lacks the 3G modem option and HD camera.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oLUPlTA9gsY]
A gallery is available below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0ee3R3tfdd4]
You probably know by now that Google just unveiled its new cloud service called “Google Drive.” The service integrates with Google Docs online, offers an Android app, and it provides a desktop app for Dropbox-like functionality. In addition, Google announced availability of a Google Drive SDK and 18 web apps that used the SDK to create apps integrated with the service.
Integrating your application with Google Drive makes it available to millions of users. Drive apps are distributed from the Chrome Web Store, and can be used with any modern browser. Plus, your app can take advantage of Google’s sharing, storage, and identity management features.
So, what exactly will the Google Drive SDK allow you to do? Google will allow you to integrate sharing through Drive directly into your apps that manage files such as web app Lucidchart. Google already partnered with 18 apps that have integrated Drive features. The post also explained how Google would let you tap into Drive’s storage and indexing features:
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The Chrome Web Store now offers a trending section for the hottest apps and improved methods for finding the perfect extension.
Today’s automatic update allows users to view apps and extensions ranging from “warm” or “on fire” in the new “Trending” view of the Chrome Web Store. App subcategories were also included, such as “Music & Radio” under “Entertainment.”
A screenshot gallery is available below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZHZVVJQwJLU]
Google announced on the Chrome Blog that they are adding more console quality games to the Chrome Web Store that take advantage of the Native Client. The Native Client, according to Google, will allow developers to “build web applications that seamlessly execute native compiled code inside the browser”. In other words, gaming experiences on par with native applications and quickly approaching the quality of console titles.
While Square Enix planned to drop the first Chrome Web Store title to take advantage of Native Client with a port of 2009’s Mini Ninjas, but it looks like award winning RPG Bastion beat them to it. However, that is not the only console quality game available in the Chrome Web Store as of today. You can also check out Sleepy Jack, Cordy, Pirates of New Horizons, Star Legends, Running Fred, and Pocket Legends.
Other games also received updates for the approaching holidays, including a new HTML5 version of Bejeweled, Angry Birds with updated Christmas themes, and Cargo Bridge received a Christmas level edition.
Chrome Web Store, the Google-operated repository of web apps for the Chrome browser, has expaneded to 24 new countries, Google announced in a blog post. The newly supported territories are:
Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Last month, Google brought Chrome Web Store to sixteen new countries. The nine-month-old store is now available in 55 countries around the world and it hosts web apps which accept in-app payments with a flat five percent fee.
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zItInA2ruMk”]
The above video is reportedly Chrome OS running on a tablet, looking very unfinished, but hey, at least it’s something. This isn’t an official video by any means, but put together by web developer Francois Beaufort. You’ll notice that icons look much different, being bigger and more tablet optimized. The QWERTY keyboard looks very familiar, almost Honeycomb-like as well.
We don’t expect this to be close to even the final build of the Chrome OS that will ship on a tablet — if it ever does. It’s cool nonetheless. Check out a few shots after the break. (via Lilputing)
Stunning 45-degree views are now available in Maps for more places in the US and abroad.
Never content with resting on its laurels, Google have been iterating their products at a pace faster than ever before. Here’s a quick overview of some of the noteworthy changes we spotted in Google’s popular services, such as Docs, Tasks, Chrome Web Store, Blogger and Maps. The latter now features breathtaking 45° imagery for many more US cities (full list here), including international locales, such as Córdoba, Spain. If you haven’t yet seen highly detailed aerial photography in action, definitely give it a try now by checking out the Córdoba, William P. Hobby Airport or the Houston Ship Channel 45° views from all four directions.
Chrome Web Store, the Google-ran online repository of web apps, now supports more markets, having added sixteen new countries for 31 countries in total. In-app payments in web apps distributed on Chrome Web Store are also a go-go: Google confirmed paid transactions in web apps will be available to users in twenty countries “later this year”. Zyngas of this world will love it, that’s for sure. More features in other services right below the fold.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EEOWbIqQdE]
A new Chrome Extension called GTools+ allows you to customize Google+ to your liking. The extension features many customizations — like moving Chat to the Google Bar, adding an unread counter for Gmail and Reader, language translation for posts from your foreign friends, and the ability to keep the Google Bar at the top of the page when you scroll down. GTools+ is available on the Chrome Web Store. All of GTools+’s features:
- Unified Google bar, your personalized menu is possible on all Google services! - Stick the Google+ bar always on top when you scrolling - Prevent open in new tab or window when you click on link inside the Google+ bar - Change the position of the chat for put in the Google+ Bar - Change the color of the notification bubble in the Google+ bar - Right click on the extension icon for go to the options page fastest - Add a translation link in the context menu (auto detect the post language) - Add notification for Gmail and Reader in the Google Bar. - Edit the color of any notification bubble.
A new extension Google+Facebook adds your Facebook newsfeed right into Google+. As you can see in the screenshot above, a Facebook icon is placed right next to the home icon at the top of the page. While it doesn’t give you all the functionality of Facebook, it’s a nice tool to have to update your status and check out the latest news from your friends that haven’t moved to Google+.
Google+Facebook was developed using the Crossrider framework, a framework that is used to build an extension across all three popular browsers: Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. While we wish the extension was up on the Chrome Web Store, for those of us who use Chrome, it sadly isn’t. For now we’ll have to hit up the download that is available on Crossrider. Check out Crossrider’s demonstration of Google+Facebook after the break.
One of the big hurdles to get over when considering Cloud computers is the “What if I am offline” argument –and the number one place people have traditionally been unable to get online is on an airplane.
Gogo Wireless a few years ago started putting that to rest and it is almost unthinkable to take a domestic flight these days without wireless Internet onboard.
But Google, who want to reinforce the belief that the Internet is everywhere, has teamed up with Virgin and Gogo to give consumers a taste of what its like to operate a computer off with data 35,000 feet below. The plan will have ChromeOS reps at Virgin gates handing out and instructing passengers on how to use the Chromebooks (we see Samsung’s beautiful Series 5 12-inch devices above – which should fit really well in cramped spaces vs. clunky Windows laptops). Customers must put down a credit card as a deposit to make sure the Chromebooks make it back, but the transaction is otherwise free. Virgin and Google are also working on a Chrome web App that will help travelers get ready for their flight.
This is an incredibly smart idea and a great way to make the public aware of these devices…so long as the wireless bandwidth can handle it. (It also might get a few more people signed up with Google)
Full press release below:
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(Cross-posted on 9to5Mac.com)
Here at San Francisco’s Moscone West, the Google I/O 2011 keynote has just wrapped up. Being their most important annual pilgrimage for developers, the show is a launchpad for important new products and announcements. For some people, the biggest news is that popular Angry Birds franchise is now available for the most popular platform of all – the web.
Joining Google’s senior vice president of Chrome Sundar Pichai on stage was Peter Vesterbacka, the CEO of Espoo, Finland-based multi-million dollar Angry Birds developer Rovio Mobile. Wearing a red Angry Birds sweatshirt, Vesterbacka announced that the Angry Birds web app is now available on the Chrome Web Store.
The web version taps several new Chrome capabilities to ensure smooth experience one would expect from a native version. “It’s one of the best we’ve built to date,” Vesterbacka quipped as he cut through several levels of Angry Birds with ease. More information and three screenies right after the break.
