Teenagers Prefer Chromebooks Over IPads. I Rave A Lot But - Google Music! Chromebook Takes A Stride - HTML Youtube Video. HTML5 Youtube has 'turned up' on my Chromebook and it is good. Google have been working with HTML5 for youtube for a while. In the past it did not turn up on my Chromebook however. Last night, it just did. I am not sure if it was a change to the flags on the Chromebook or to Youtube. The other big difference is around frame rate. I have no doubt that Google will get a good way of putting ads into HTML5 and then all video on Youtube can move to HTML5. To see the example video (the above image is a screenshot shot from it) go here Is Flash a dead man walking? Chrome 16 On The Chromebook - Is Chrome Destined For The Tablet. The Chomebook OS updated last Wednesday to the super new and shine Chrome16. Besides the lovely tweaks and performance gains, it looks increasingly likely that Chrome or ChromeOS is destined for the touch-screen.
Briefly the Chrome 15 dev channel version went back from having icons for bookmarks to using the bookmark bar. Everyone who commented no the forums preferred the bar. So why would Chrome 16 have the icons again? The obvious answer is that it is being groomed for touch screen use where the bar would be hopelessly fiddly. I really hope Chrome makes it to Android soon, or maybe a touch screen version of ChromeOS is in the offing? One quick note is that I record the review parts of these videos using a Panasonic SD900. If you want an further illustration - look at the picture of the moon above. Back to the Chromebook (which I used to write this blog post btw): Here is the video review recorded in 1080p (see above discussion and click to get 1080p if you would like to).
Chromebook - Dawn Or Dusk? Is the Chromebook fighting for its life or at the beginning of a bright and exciting day in the light? Chromoting, not much else matters. This is the thing which will either make or break the Chromebook. Living in the cloud is great, but jumping to the cloud straight from the desktop is just impossible for many individuals and all established organisations. Just the retraining cost for staff moving from Microsoft Office to Zoho or Google Docs is too large to consider. Microsoft's cloud Office offering is as close to pointless as it is possible to get an still have a point. So, the Chromebook only makes sense as a interface to the cloud and as terminal to remote machines.
That's the rub. Along with the yang of the Chromebook proposition failing to function, the yin is not doing so well either. Could apps help? It is all a bit of a mess because the proposition does not make enough sense without Chromoting and virtual machines in the cloud for which the Chromebook can be client. Chomebook built in image editor - commercially very clever. Why would Google bother to make a built in image editor when the Chrome webstore has much better ones already? Here is a possible explanation and a review of the editor. As we can see from the images in this post, Pixlr is a very good image editor; it works very well, is free and works on the Chromebook. If Google's intention is to get a strong cloud app market going, being in competition with apps like Pixlr does not make much sense.
Digging around in the source code for the dev channel editor shows it is written in HTML5 and Javascript.This is in crontrast to the flash based Pixlr [the license for the code is the Chromium BSD style license - this code was written and copyright owned by the Chromium etc]: One might argue that the Chromebook could do with an image editor because having it off-line is really handy. So, let's go back to the point that the image editor is in HTML5. But why does Docs need to be 'complete'? Chromebook - Dead? I am writing this on a Chromebook! I am sitting in a bar in a hotel in Cambridge (UK). In front of me is the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook. I would not use anything else for writing a blog post when on the move. If I wanted, I could send the extra (three times as much as the Chromebook to get all the way to 3G) and get a Mac Book Air. In my hotel room, upstairs from this bar, is a DELL Windows 7 laptop. Alongside the Windoze brick is a Sony S1 tablet. Later, I might log into my business bank account.
I think the Chromebook is destined to be a flop! Stupefying, how can Google be so idiotic? I look at the progress of the ChromeOS and I think "Tiny team, over stretched and with no real backing from the business. " When Microsoft took on Netscape, they assigned more engineers to Internet Explorer than Netscape had employees. Then there is Chromoting. If this was a bunch and weekend warriors doing a pet project, it would make sense. What is Google's response to the Chromoting screw-up? What Do You Use Your Chromebook For? The Samsung series 5 has a surprisingly good sound card in terms of audio quality.
Google Music has a shockingly good quality to it. The two go together to make a really nice music server to keep me going through those long hard days of coding. I am listening to Deep Purple right now! I originally saw the Chromebook as the alternative to a full laptop. I really thought I had made a mistake buying a laptop as the Chromebook and a machine in the cloud would be a better choice. The complete failure of remote desktop from the Chromebook has killed this idea off. So, was the Chromebook good buy? You see, the Chromebook is just easy. To make the Chromebook work as a really good music source the first thing I needed was a ground (earth) loop isolator. After the isolator the output of the Chromebook goes into a mixer. I find that a lot of modern music is equalized up in ways I am not that bothered about. As I said here modern recordings are all squished up and lack depth.
Long Term Review. So, what has it been like using the Samsung S5 for nearly 5 months? It is amazing, a complete dud or something else entirely? I really thought the Chromebook could/would be something amazing. The idea of a light weight thin client to cloud computing was so 21st century, so right, so cool. Unfortunately, it did not work out that way (or at least not yet). I wanted to not buy any more laptops or desktops and use Chromebooks with cloud based virtual machines for software which was not yet web enabled. This dream has died because Google did not put Java on the Chromebook and their efforts in remote desktop have be pathetic. On top of the fundamental inability of the Chromebook to do what it so clearly should be able to do (be a thin cloud client) Google have completely failed to update the software on it is a consistent and rapid fashion. So, on the face of it, my Chromebook is a huge dud and a major disappointment.
But there is a problem... There is another problem... And another problem... Dev Channel Chromebook Upates And Log Me In. Today was an amazing day in the Chromebook world - especially for me. There was another dev channel update which brought some exciting new features, and I found a way to remote control my Windows machine from my Chromebook! Owing a Chromebook is an exercise in continuous delayed gratification. If you want something from it then all you really have to do is wait. Quite quickly someone will either find a way to achieve what you want of an update will just give it to you.
Here is a video showing the smooth scroll as it works on this page: The video is in HD (720p) so feel free to set it to full screen - which naturally works brilliantly on a Chromebook :) Lower down this post I show some more cool dev-channel features. The power of LogMeIn and Chromebooks: LogMeIn is a well know service for remote accessing one computer from another. Here are some screen shots ( scroll down for the really exciting bit): More updated features! The new Print Preview feature is really nice. Chromebooks - kicking the hornet's nest. Chromebook Dev Channel: Printing Sorted! The last update to 15.0.874.5 has pretty much sorted out printing and also brings in a few other long awaited or just cool features.
It is not just the printing, but the combination of updates to the file manager, the print preview and the PDF viewer which make this an A1 solution. OK - we still need a traditional machine connected to a printer with cloud print or a cloud print enabled printer, so I guess some people will pick fault, but for me, this is pretty much it - perfect. Here is a quick tore of printing on the new version of ChromeOS: Step 1: Just tap the touchpad with two figures then select 'print'. Step 2: Pick the printer you want to send the document to. Step 3: Pick the file name under which you want the file printed. Step 4: The file manager now understands PDF documents (as can be seen from the special icon for a PDF which is uses now). Other New And Cool Stuff Flash 11: The version of flash (10) on the Chromebook had very poor resolution for the Linux drivers. How To Use The New ChromeBook File API « Ido's Blog.
Next week, on June 15, we are going to see a new animal in town. It’s a laptop that works perfectly for the web. It got one of the best/fast browsers out there and its security model is baked really deep. One of the cool things in ChromeOS is that it gives developers a new API to play with. I worked with it in the past few weeks and I must say, it’s great (=Simple and powerful). Let’s see how we can use this powerful API to upload files from USB and/or our ChromeBook.
The ChromeOS (=ChromeBook) file browser comes up when the user either presses Ctrl+M or connects an external storage device, such as an SD card, USB key, external drive, or digital camera. You should declare the “fileBrowserHandler” permission in the extension manifestYou should use the “file_browser_handlers” field to register the extension as a handler of at least one file type.Last but not least, you should also provide a 16×16 icon to be displayed on the button.
Is that easy or what? Resources Like this: Like Loading... Chromebook review DSCI0012.AVI Chrome OS adds ZIP file support (inches closer to being a real operating system) Google Chrome OS is often described as an operating system designed to run a single app: a web browser. But as the Chrome OS project has evolved, it’s started to take on features that help you do some of the things you’d expect to do with a desktop operating system. There’s a built-in file browser that lets you view downloaded media, photos and screenshots you take with a Chromebook, and a media player that can handle music and video from your SD card or local storage even when there’s no internet connection handy. But there are still a number of quirks. For instance, while you can cache some data for offline viewing, there’s currently no good way to download your entire Google Docs list of documents for offline editing.
And the file browser doesn’t support ZIP files… or at least it didn’t until a fwe days ago. Google released a Dev Channel software update for the Samsung Series 5 and Google Cr-48 notebooks on Tuesday. DSCI0027 How To Run Linux On A Chromebook. Spoiler - this is not breaking a chromebook into a linux box! What it is - quite simply - is proof positive that the web browser is quite capable of taking over as the primary application context for all but the most extreme human computer interaction [Yes - that does mean Microsoft are getting in right - as are Google]. It is absolutely 100% the truth that these are pictures of my Samsung Chromebook running linux. What is happening here is that it is running linux in Bellard's amazing JavaScript PC emulator. The Chromebook's chrome V8 JavaScript engine can boot this 2.6 kernel up in around 10 seconds. OK - enough of that - is the Chromebook any good? This review and all the mutli-media in it have been put together with my Chromebook.
How about some more pictures? Javascript PC Emulator. 1080p Chromebook Samsung Series 5 3G Chromebook (Arctic White): Amazon.co.uk: Computers. I bought the Samsung Chromebook because I wanted one fast-access device, with an attached keyboard, where I didn't have constant reminders about security updates and scans, to act as a supplement to my home PCs.
I'd been very interested in buying one since they appeared on the market, as I'd remarked to a colleague a few years ago that netbooks would run faster if the browser alone was the operating system, and you could probably do most tasks using this - so I had already bought into the concept, as far as I know, before it was even announced. Anyway, in the following, I've compiled some points which I hope will be useful to other Amazon users. Maximising browser speed:With all apps and extensions loaded by default, web browsing slows down.
They can all be switched On/Off manually, but I found one extension, Disable All Extensions Plus, which simplifies the process. Switching off all apps and extensions visibly speeds webpage opening/scrolling, for the times when you need it. Chromebook Blog. Chromebook working in the middle of the countryside. Chromebook vs Fedora 15 on powerful laptop scrolling bakeoff. Chromebook Kicks Ipad Ass! Plus super new windowing feature. Chrome 13 Utterly Demolishes IE9 In Speed Tests! Chromebooks take IPad2 to the cleaners and Chrome 13 smacks the brown stuff out of Safari 5.1 as well. But the big shocker - IE 9 is slower than Safari and Chrome 13. My response to finding this out has complete shock. I mean - a complete WTF (what the fudge) moment. How on earth can IE be so slow and how on earth can Chrome be so stupidly fast? What I have been up to is running this page: Which runs a set of performance tests for the Javascript right there in the page and gives you the results (nice).
I got a over all score of 1733 for my Chromebook (bigger is faster). Then someone else tried an IPad 2... The IPad2 could not complete the bench marks. IPad2/ChromebookRichards = 408/2224DeltaBlue = 301/2428Crypto = 549/3160RayTrace = 384/2104 So the Chromebook totally KO'd the IPad 2. So I tried a side by side of Safari 5.1, IE 9 and Chrome 13 on a medium specification Windows 7 machine and here the real fun begins... Thanks ! UrbanDaddy and Virgin America Team Up for New Google Chrome Traveler Application. New York, NY (PRWEB) August 22, 2011 Virgin America and luxury media powerhouse UrbanDaddy (UrbanDaddy.com) have launched their jointly developed Virgin America Traveler app for Chrome. The free app, now available exclusively at the Chrome Web Store, will assist and inspire travelers for upcoming trips with on-the-fly essential packing lists and complete integration with UrbanDaddy’s unparalleled archive of local restaurant, nightlife and entertainment recommendations.
UrbanDaddy’s highly filtered, editor-driven database of suggested bars, restaurants, shopping and leisure destinations represents the single most carefully curated real-time city guide available anywhere online. Before app users leave for their next Virgin America jaunt, they’ll be able to access original stories cataloging the best of the best in food, nightlife and entertainment in their destination city. “Our goal has always been to use technology to reinvent the travel experience—and help bring some fun back to flying. Warts and all physical review of Samsung Chromebook. Chromebook: Browsing Power User Features. Extreme Chromebook Coolness - IPad Killer For Me!