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After spending about a month and a half in the beta channel, Chrome is rolling out Google Now notifications to all Chrome users. To activate the feature, Google says to sign in with the same Google account used on Android (or iOS).

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After much speculation, Google has officially announced that the Chromecast is available in 11 new countries across Europe and North America. These countries include Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The streaming device has been available in the United States since its original announcement in July of last year.

In the UK, the Chromecast will run £30 and be available from Amazon, Google Play, Currys, and PC World. A BBC iPlayer app with Chromecast support will also start rolling out to customers in Europe today. In France, users will get access to local content providers TV Pluzz and SFR. Finally, German customers will have access to Watchever with Maxdome coming soon. Google says that it will continue to work with more local content providers to expand these options.

If you are located in one of the 11 new countries, get your hands on the device at one of your local or online retailers, including Amazon, Google Play, Currys PC World, Elkjøp, FNAC, Saturn, Media Markt and many others.

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In a legal fight which has stretched over seven years, Google seems to have finally resolved their issues with Viacom over copyright violations of videos uploaded to YouTube. Information on the details of the settlement have not been publicly released.

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Re/code received this rather bland statement from the two companies.

Google and Viacom today jointly announced the resolution of the Viacom vs. YouTube copyright litigation. This settlement reflects the growing collaborative dialogue between our two companies on important opportunities, and we look forward to working more closely together.

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Google is releasing its Chromecast streaming device in the United Kingdom next week, according to a Gizmodo source. Above is a photo taken by a Currys PC World employee which shows an announcement on the store’s internal portal. That announcement pegs March 19th as the launch date. According to the article, the store already has the device in stock.

The Chromecast launched in the United States last year but hasn’t yet been available outside the country. Germany and France are also said to be included in the international launch next week. No information on the device’s price has been released yet.

Update: We’ve received a clearer shot. Shown above.

After first announcing last month that its smallest-ever Chromebox would be arriving sometime in March for $179, Asus today started accepting preorders for the device through a number of online retailers. Amazon is currently accepting orders and listing an expected release date of March 17th for the new Chromebox.

The new Chromebox from Asus will actually arrive in three CPU configurations. Preorders today start for the dual-core 1.4GHz Celeron 2955U model, while an Intel Core i3 will also arrive March 14 as will an i7 model for outside of North America. Other specs include 2GB RAM, a 16GB SSD, 4 USB 3.0 ports, SD card reader, HDMI, DisplayPort, Bluetooth 4.0, and dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n. That’s all inside a case that measures 4.88″ x 4.88″ x 1.65” and comes in at 2.2 pounds. 
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Since its release, CyanogenMod developer Koushik Dutta has been at the forefront of expanding the Chromecas’s capabilities. He first released his AllCast app that allowed users to beam a variety of content to their Chromecast, and now, he’s updated his Mirror for Android app with a few big new features. In a post on Google+, Dutta announced that Mirror for Android has been updated with the ability to mirror your Android device’s screen to a Chromecast or a Chrome browser. Dutta has been teasing this feature for a while, but he finally released it tonight, albeit in a very early beta.

The feature works just as you expect. After installing the app and going through the set-up process, you have the option to mirror your entire Android device’s interface to your Chromecast, Chrome browser, or even Apple TV. Mirror also allows you to create a video recording of your Android screen.

Mirror lets you:

• Create a video recording of your Android
• Mirror your Android screen to Chromecast (Nexus 5 only)
• Mirror your Android Screen to Chrome (Nexus 5 only)
• Mirror your Android screen to an Apple TV

Of course, there are some bugs given that it is still in an early beta. Chromecast and Chrome mirroring is also only supported on the Nexus 5, as it’s the only device that has the required hardware video decoder for the app. You also must have root-access to your device and have the SuperUser app installed.

If you meet all of these qualifications, head over to Dutta’s Google+ page where you can sign-up for the beta and get access to the Mirror for Android app. Dutta hopes to release it, without root required, to the Play Store officially soon. Check out the video demo up above.

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Since its initial release last year, the Chromecast has added support for a plethora of apps and services, including Plex, Vevo, Songza, and many more. Last month, Google announced the Chromecast SDK, which it said would make supporting the device even easier for developers. Online streaming video service Vudu has now announced that it too will soon support Chromecast with that SDK.

On its website Sunday, the WalMart-owned company stated that both its Android and iOS apps will soon receive updates that add Chromecast support. The company also adds that streaming will be available through Chrome on Windows and Mac, although that has been available since day one.

There are no details available as to when we can expect the Android and iOS Vudu apps to be updated, although we can’t imagine it taking too long. Rdio and Beats Music are also expected to add Chromecast support soon, so it’s clear that the SDK is going to help beef up the app selection significantly.

Samsung’s new Chromebooks leaked a little bit last week and again over the weekend, but now they are official.  The biggest upgrades include the form factor featuring the faux leather stitching made famous by its Galaxy Note 3 and a new 1080P 13-inch display on the higher end $399 model. Both still use Exynos 5 Octocore processors that lack a little bit of the oomph of Haswell Intel processors, but they compete very well in battery life (8.5-9 hours claimed by Samsung). These machines also have wake times of less than one second and cold boots in less than ten.

Another prime area of improvement is the Hangouts video chat experience enhance by a 720P front side camera paired with improved mic and 2x 2W speakers.
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN0WrJGKNk4]

Google has announced an experimental feature in the developer version of Chrome OS that allows you to access more than one user profile at the same time, easily flicking between them, as well as passing both tabs and files back-and-forth between profiles.

Switching profiles is as easy as clicking on the profile picture in the system tray popup. […] One nice thing, but still highly experimental, is that you can move windows to different profiles with a simple right click in the window top bar. As you can see in the video, even the Files App even supports this feature.

To access the feature in the Chrome OS dev channel, enter the following line:

chrome://flags/#enable-multi-profiles

If you’re not currently using the dev channel, you can find instructions for switching here, but note that by definition you can expect to experience some glitches. The stable channel is always recommended when working on anything important.

Google has just promoted Chrome 34 to the beta channel, bringing with it a few new features and a lot of new apps/extension APIs for developers. Perhaps the most notable new feature for users on Mac, Windows, and Linux is hands-free Google Voice Search, allowing users to initiate a voice search on Google using the “Ok Google” command without the need of an extension:

• Responsive Images and Unprefixed Web Audio
• Hands-free Google Voice Search in Chrome
• Import supervised users onto new computers
• A number of new apps/extension APIs
• Lots of under the hood changes for stability and performance

While users have been able to download a browser extension for Chrome since November that allows them to activate a voice search with the “Ok Google” voice command (just like on Android), it the native feature without the need of the extension will land for all Chrome users soon. Here’s how to enable it:
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If you’re looking to give Google’s ChromeOS a try, the 11.6″ HP LTE-equiped Chromebook may be your best option right now. The non-LTE version of the Chromebook usually sells for $279, but the LTE model is actually available now for only $249. The connectivity isn’t the only difference between the two, either. The LTE model comes with 16 GB of flash storage while the more expensive, less-capable version uses a standard hard drive of the same size.

Both come with 2 GB of RAM, a 1.7 GHz Samsung Exynos processor, built-in webcam, support for 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, and weigh only 2.3 pounds. Both models are also available in a range of colors. Obviously, the connectivity differs between the two, as the LTE model comes with support for Verizon’s 4G LTE network.

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While we’ve yet to get official word on the machines from Samsung, it looks like two new Samsung Chromebooks will be going on sale shortly as retailer B&H begins accepting preorders for the new models. The listings were spotted by OMGChrome (via GigaOM) but since removed.

Presumably replacing the original 11.6-inch Samsung Chromebook model that sells for $249 ($329 with 3G) is an 11.6-inch model starting at $299 featuring a Samsung Exynos 5 SoC and a $399 model with a 13.3-inch display. There isn’t much more information on the new Chromebooks at the moment, but we expect Samsung will announce them once it wraps up its big smartphone announcements at MWC this week. 
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CNET is reporting that Google is set to announce a smartwatch next month, manufactured by LG (who also manufactured the two most recent Nexus phones). The device is described as the Nexus of smartwatches, with Google controlling the design of software and hardware.

Although Google will announce the product in March, the watch will not be released until June at Google I/O. As 9to5Google reported last year, Google’s smartwatch will revolve around Google Now’s assistant features with voice playing a major role in how users interact with the product.

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According to new reports pointing to what look like internal strategic documents, Asus appears to be preparing to launch its first Chromebook products in the near future. VR-Zone posted an image (via GigaOM) showing two Chromebook models, the C200 and C300, mentioned in a document titled “ASUS NB Strategy.”

We’ve seen Chromebooks from Acer, Samsung, HP, and more recently Toshiba, but one of Google’s closest OEM partners, Asus, has yet to release one. It’s not that surprising that it plans to, however, as it is already making a Chrome OS device soon to hit the market. Earlier this month the company announced the smallest-ever Chromebox set to go on sale next month starting at $179.

There aren’t any details about when we might be seeing the Chromebooks from Asus or specs for the two models, but of course there is speculation the company could make a hybrid tablet/Chromebook like line of Transformer products. 
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Google announced a partnership with virtualization software maker VMware today that will bring Chromebook users access to Windows desktops and apps. The deal means enterprise Chromebook users will have access to Windows apps through VMware Horizon DaaS and an upcoming Chrome Web Store app:

Cloud applications allow flexibility, scalability and security and enable a work-anywhere environment, but many of our customers still use traditional desktop applications. Desktop as a Service (DaaS) helps bridge the gap between the cloud and a traditional desktop by allowing you to run your traditional software in the cloud and have applications appear on your Chromebook similarly to how they run today. An example might be your Windows based accounting application.

It might sound a little bit like Google is admitting that enterprise customers need more than just Chrome apps to get the job done, but it’s also embracing the upcoming end of life for Windows XP and encouraging business customers to upgrade to Chromebooks. Giving businesses access to the Windows apps many rely on is certainly a good argument for upgrading to Chromebooks. In a statement in VMware’s press release, Google’s president of enterprise Amit Singh said “Chromebooks can save businesses about $5,000 per computer when compared to traditional PCs.”
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HP previously teased that it would be releasing a Chromebox this spring, but has today announced a few more details about the box, in addition to some images. HP’s Chromebox will come in four colors including white, black, silver, and turquoise. The device will be marketed towards homes and businesses, seeing that it will be more powerful than some of the other Chromeboxes we’ve seen so far this year (via Engadget).

HP’s Chromebox features an HDMI port and DisplayPort, in addition to four USB 3.0 ports. The device will be powered by a fourth-generation Haswell-based Intel Core i7 processor.

Missing from the details announced today is pricing. ASUS’ new box will come in at $179, although it is less powerful. Either way, HP will certainly have some tough competition in the Chromebox space. The company’s box is set to be released in spring.

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