This week on The Chrome Cast, we spend the majority of the episode talking through some new hardware that has been floating around the office for a bit now. First, we begin with the Pixel 7a and some pre-review thoughts around Google’s latest phone.

Google Chat, Google’s replacement for Hangouts, has added a lot of features that help it and its sub-feature, Spaces, replace things like Google+ or “Currents” for Enterprise. It’s a different philosophy and approach to social, and acts more as an intranet than an open social network.

As recycling becomes a bigger and bigger part of our modern world, Acer is trying to incorporate more post-consumer recycled plastics. That’s the point of its Vero line, which includes the Acer Chromebook Vero 514 – a high-end Chromebook wrapped up in recycled plastics.

You may not realize it until you open your Chromebook launcher and search for it, only to be disappointed, but unlike other operating systems such as Windows, ChromeOS has no clock app! Well, that’s not entirely true, but it’s just not native – let me explain.

The Stable channel is being updated to 113.0.5672.134 (Platform version: 15393.58.0) for most ChromeOS devices and will be rolled out over the next few days. This build contains a number of bug fixes and security updates.

Welcome to the first Cloud CISO Perspectives for May 2023. This month, we’re featuring guest author MK Palmore, director in our Office of the CISO. MK will be discussing our new Google Cybersecurity Certificate and how it can help organizations close the security talent gap.

Active Assist’s Idle VM recommendations can help you save money and resources by identifying and deleting idle VMs. Today, we’re excited to announce a new configuration option for idle Virtual Machine recommendations, giving you more control over how idle VMs are identified and recommended for deletion.

With this new, affordable Chromebook from Lenovo – the 12-inch IdeaPad Flex 3i – I’ll just go ahead and say it: these new Intel Alder Lake-N Chromebooks are here to change the game in the low-cost Chromebook space.

Google announced a few new features for Docs this week over on its Workspace Updates blog. These tie directly into its Smart Canvas initiative, allowing you to make better use of the data you place in a body of text either for personal or collaborative reasons.

Image: The Verge Google Chrome will now check for typos in your URLs and display suggested websites based on what it thinks you meant.

Tailored devices deserve tailored experiences There’s something that’s been bothering me for the past few years, and I feel that the fix should be rather simple. Currently, one set of applications and data are synchronized across all of your ChromeOS devices that have your Google Account logged into them.

The Pixel Tablet is up for pre-order already and as much as it confuses me a bit, there seems to be some real interest in a Google-made Android tablet once again.

LTS (Long-term support) is Google’s solution for education and enterprise customers who prefer to update their fleet less frequently. Devices continue to receive frequent security and urgent bug fixes, but they receive feature updates every 6 months instead of every 4 weeks.

Hi everyone! We’ve just released Chrome Beta 114 (114.0.5735.35) for iOS; it’ll become available on App Store in the next few days.You can see a partial list of the changes in the Git log. If you find a new issue, please let us know by filing a bug.Harry SoudersGoogle Chrome

Hi everyone! We’ve just released Chrome Dev 115 (115.0.5776.0) for Android. It’s now available on Google Play.You can see a partial list of the changes in the Git log. For details on new features, check out the Chromium blog, and for details on web platform updates, check here.

You know how the saying goes, “with great power comes great…” amounts of data. And what if that data could help lower our carbon footprint?Uplight is on a mission to do just that.

Image: The Verge Google has been talking about a plan for Chrome to block the third-party cookies that can track user activity across many different websites since 2020. Its stated intention at the time was to complete the shift within two years.

Did you know that 1 in 6 people, roughly 16% of the world’s population, has some form of a disability? At Google, we want to make sure we’re building for everyone, all 8 billion people, which means making our products as inclusive as possible.

Google Chrome by default discards idle tabs after a certain amount of time when Memory Saver mode is enabled, Google is exploring providing options in Chrome Settings for users to configure a timer to choose or set inactive time for tabs from 5 to 10 minutes or to 1 day. Chrome Memory Saver Chrome is…

Unlike other Chromeboxes that debuted this year, HP is pushing things forward with 13th-gen Intel chips. The new HP Chromebox Enterprise G4 arrives in July.

Hi everyone! We’ve just released Chrome Beta 114 (114.0.5735.33) for Android. It’s now available on Google Play.You can see a partial list of the changes in the Git log. For details on new features, check out the Chromium blog, and for details on web platform updates, check here.If you find a new issue, please let…

I’ll have to admit, this one took me a bit by surprise. I have no idea how long this feature has actually been around, but in just a few minutes of using it, I’m already in love. Thanks to a quick how-to article by Chrome Story, I may have just enabled a feature that will…

In today’s GUI Challenge, @AdamArgyleInk builds a wide gamut color palette with okLCH, checking accessible color pairs along the way, inspecting color with devtools, and showing many other neat tricks for leveraging the features of this new web color space.

We’re continuing to find great, new features tucked away in the latest build of ChromeOS in the Beta Channel, and one of my favorite new ones to tinker with at this point is ChromeOS’ new Android App Streaming.

A new age of consumerism is reshaping commerce. In today’s rapidly evolving ecosystem, delivering a truly unified experience across digital and in-person engagements is central to a retailer’s ability to differentiate. While omnichannel commerce enhances retail by giving consumers a consistent shopping experience across all channels, unified commerce improves the experience even further.What is unified…

The new Chromebook virtual keyboard is a joy to use, and it’s all thanks to psychology. In the latest ChromeOS Canary 115 update, a redesigned virtual keyboard has made its appearance, and I must say, it has completely transformed my typing experience. Surprisingly, the changes are minimal at a glance, but they reflect a profound…

Just a month ago, Google announced that it would be adding Plex, TubiTV, and Haystack to the ‘Live’ tab on Google TV (and Android TV) for a total of over 800 free channels. These would join PlutoTV, which was added a while back, and kicked off the integration into the company’s TV operating system. Just…

Google recently faced user backlash after removing a flag that allowed users to disable Hover card previews in Chrome 113. However, in response to widespread complaints, Google has taken action by reinstating the flag, enabling users to once again disable Tab Hover Card images in Chrome.

Google is working to make Microsoft Outlook more compatible with its Calendar app, with several improvements already implemented for all Workspace users. This includes personal Google Accounts, and those with legacy G Suite licenses too. Essentially, it’s rolled out to everyone right now.

Even before the global pandemic hit in 2020, Chromebooks had become a staple in the American classroom. When schools began to shut down and remote learning became the new normal, the adoption of 1:1 devices for students skyrocketed as schools districts scramble to keep the educational stream flowing amidst the unprecedented adversity. Now that the…

Though there aren’t a ton of them out there in the market, ARM-powered Chromebooks represent a growing segment of the ChromeOS family that come in a wide variety of form factors. Notably, we have some great tablets and convertibles that come with processors like the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 and the MediaTek Kompanio series. While…

The Extended Stable channel has been updated to 112.0.5615.204 for Windows and Mac which will roll out over the coming days/weeks. A full list of changes in this build is available in the log. Interested in switching release channels? Find out how here. If you find a new issue, please let us know by filing…

The Stable channel has been updated to 113.0.5672.126 for Mac and Linux and 113.0.5672.126/.127 for Windows, which will roll out over the coming days/weeks. A full list of changes in this build is available in the log. Security Fixes and RewardsNote: Access to bug details and links may be kept restricted until a majority of users are updated with…

I’ve not been at all subtle about the fact that I don’t believe in traditional cable-style streaming in an age of on-demand services. However, I know that it’s still a viable option for many, and streaming itself has become the new cable, asking people to pay for something they used to pay to get rid…

It’s been a little while since we last talked about the enhanced split-screen features coming to ChromeOS, but they are finally beginning to arrive in the Beta Channel of ChromeOS 114 with no need for any setup, flags, tweaks, or changes to start taking advantage of them. It’s a needed addition if you ask me,…