Those who will purchase the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook will already know what features to expect, and that is a complete new experience. It will take some getting used to, but it will not take long for users to get to grips with it. Can you remember when the Google Chrome browser was first launched, people were reluctant of change – now it is one of the fastest and smoothest browsers on the market.

Chrome OS R12 has some amazing new features, ones that will make the OS a great contender in an already tough market. New features include: file browser, new look, Flash Player, bug fixes, auto update improvements and screen indicators, and so much more. More details on these can be found over at TechCrunch.

One feature that will help Google Chrome OS become a popular choice is Angry Birds, which we recently discussed. It is no secret that people will be apprehensive about changing their OS, but you only have to look how Cloud is making its way into many aspects of our lives.

Will you consider changing to Google Chrome OS?

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Ryan Naraine of ZDNet is reporting that the new laptops are not the most spec loaded devices, and this may not be a problem as the Google Chrome OS is the first commercial consumer cloud-centric OS. It has been designed with the idea of throwaway terminals, but without the fear of losing your data. With this in mind the OS cannot get damaged or infected with malware.

If you have a crash all you need to do is reinstall it and re-sync with the cloud to get up and running again. Google have also claimed it won’t need virus protection, but recently a French company cracked security protections built into Chrome. But with all of our data being stored in a cloud and available 24/7 it will be highly tempting for criminals.

All criminals will need to do is get hold of authentication tokens that are needed to access the account, which is similar to what malware does now. The endpoint may now be more secure, but as the data is stored in a more risky location, it will be easier to quietly take it away.

Criminals will be busy trying to get their hands on the access credentials, as soon as they have those they won’t need to get bank accounts and passwords, they will all be neatly stored on the Google Dashboard. So in some ways the security for Chrome OS will be better, but in other ways much worse.

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Google Chrome OS is completely different to Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and even Linux, this is because everything resides on the cloud, you do not install applications on your notebook, instead you access webapps, also you do not store files locally, they are stored online.

Buy buying a Chromebook you will be taking a huge leap in terms of computing, you will no longer install local printers, no longer copy camera photos directly to your notebook, instead you will be able to print to ePrint-capable printers and rather than copy photos from your camera to your notebook they will be stored online, which means they will be accessible from any device which can access the internet.

It does not look like the Chromebook will replace a laptop, instead it will be used like a tablet for on the go usages, the more people that use Chrome OS the better it will become, but will people be patient enough to buy a Chrome OS-based device while developers improve the cloud-based OS?

We have heard that web apps are not as good as “real” apps, you can find out a little bit more about this over at InfoWorld, to cut a long story short Google Docs (and similar web apps) are great for editing docs on the go, however not as great as a locally installed office suite.

Do you think that there is a need for a cloud-centric OS? Are Google unnecessarily re-inventing the wheel? Share your thoughts in the comments section below…

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Prior to the update Chrome OS offered no way for you to properly access and manage locally stored files, the update is said to add file management support which allows you to view, edit and move files and folders which are stored on both local storage and and external storage devices. Also this allows you to easily select and upload files.

Enterprise users were probably wondering whether Google would both adding VPN support, well this new update has added just this and should allow people to share files and folders which are stored on a local network rather than the cloud.

The changes are two fundamental parts of any modern-date operating system and are great for those of you who do not want to fully commit to the cloud just yet, we wonder if Google have any more major changes in store for us over the next few months.

What features do you think Chrome OS needs?

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Once updated you should be running Chrome 11.0.696.57, most of the changes relate to security improvements and bug fixes, however one new feature allows you to use your microphone to convert voice-to-HTML.

We have not had a chance to test this new feature just yet, however if you have a microphone linked to your computer and then check out the Google Translate website you will see a microphone icon in the bottom right corner of the text box, here Chrome can convert your speech into text.

Many believe that this feature will be a big part of Chrome OS in the future, therefore it is unsurprising to Google testing it out. For people who have difficulties using a keyboard this will prove to be a great feature.

If you check out Cnet’s recent article you can find out more about the changes which Google have implemented, apparently there are bug fixes in cloud print, an Adobe Flash update and 15 security patches (when compared to the Chrome 11 beta).

Have you had any problems with the update? Let us know in the comments section below.

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But after months of nagging issues, Google finally got round to include a software update for the CR-48 that fixes a majority of problems with the so called “wonky touchpad.” You can thank Engadget for that phrase, where you can read their experiences with the update too.

Cursors have been jumping around, scrolling has been flakey at best, highlighting text took effort and any lengthy website seemed like a chore to browse. This is mainly down to the Synaptic older generation sensing technology that was implemented in the CR-48, instead of the newer, updated version which is currently housed in Apple Macbook and Synaptics ClickPad Series 3.

The update itself fixes a majority of the issues with the trackpad, but it’s still not as perfect as one would like. Also included in the latest update, Google has included some new power optimizations and screen indicators aswell as some much needed improvements to Google Chat.

Have you downloaded the update yet? If you haven’t, I recommend you do so then come back here whilst using your CR-48, and let us know if you can see and feel any difference.

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Google have seen a progressive increase in Chrome usage since 2009, who are now on par with Safari usage across the board. With around 11 percent of the market, they fall quite shy of Firefox and Internet Explorer, who also have notable loss in usage. You can check the latest stats of browser usage here.

As Chrome usage is on the up and the age of Google Chrome OS is on the horizon, the search engine giant has declared to the world that their browser can now be used in a corporate environment. Tools for administrators have been added to configure and deploy the browser on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms. Windows policy template support is a notable addition that lets administrators control all of Chrome’s settings throughout an entire organisation. Google have also added their support for the browser, with phone and e-mail now supported via Google Apps for Business.

As we stated, Chrome is not as popular as Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer from Microsoft — yet. “Let your administrator know to give it a try and let us know what they think,” Glenn Wilson and Daniel Clifford of Google said.

As IT evolves everyday, Chrome giving IT administrators another option in the browsing world will be a welcome addition to the stable of already available browsers. Maybe this could be the push that Google needs to come out on top?

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Back to the Cr-48 laptops, as with all new devices there are always problems, and this ones no different. We have learned from Joanna Stern from Engadget that the Flash Player is not working correctly, saying that when playing videos from YouTube or Hulu things are both “choppy” and “sluggish”.

Adobe is said to be aware of the issue and is currently working on the issue, but we cannot see the issue being resolved before people take possession of these new devices, as shipping has already begun. This has always been an issue with Flash, which is one reason why Steve Jobs will never support it on his iOS devices.

Electronista managed to learn more about the issue, as they learned from Paul Betlem from Adobe that the update would happen automatically, but was unable to offer any details how long we would have to wait. It certainly sounds as if the fix will take longer than a few days or weeks, and Electronista has other concerns that the Chrome OS is not polished enough. Do you think that Google has rushed the release of this new OS and laptop? What other problems with the Google Cr-48 encounter?

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This is all part of the Chrome OS pilot program, a program to see how web-centric your daily computer habits are, which is an important piece of information due to the nature of Chrome OS, that is based on the cloud.

One of the lucky guys from SeatGeek, Ben Kessler, who signed up to the program managed to get himself one of 60,000 limited supply CR-48 notebooks. This is the number of suggested OEM/ODM notebooks Google ordered from Inventec, so as you can tell, supplies are very limited for the time-being.

Kessler says that “the build quality on the Cr-48 is mostly great, all rubberized plastic but the damn battery doesn’t sit flush with the bottom.”

Laptops are yet to be branded as part of the pilot program, and we can expect to see commercial releases of the Google notebook from Samsung and Acer during mid-2011.

Did you sign up to the program and get lucky? Tell us what it is like, will you? A search on Twitter shows at least two others have received theirs too.

Source: SlashGear

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This is a bold change by Google. Some might say they are trying to police the way people use their keyboards. But Google have stated that the caps lock key isn’t entirely going away, as the newly adopted “Search” button can still be toggled to act as a CAPITAL LETTER FUNCTION.

If you hold the proper use of English in high regard, everyone knows that a CONSTANT USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS CAN BE VERY, VERY ANNOYING. That being said, over use of the under-case letter can be equally as bad. for instance at the start of sentences or without proper use of any full stops commas explanation marks or question marks what so ever and obviously the fact of over using the latter two aswell!!!!!!!! So what to do??????

Google say: –

“If you really need Caps Lock so you can post an INSIGHTFUL COMMENT ON YOUTUBE, click the wrench, click Settings, and then go to the System section to change the Modifier Key from a Search key to a Caps Lock key.”

Regardless of what Google do, it won’t stop people from raising their voices in cybercaps tones as we still have the handy shift key at our disposal. Maybe software implementation of auto-correcting could be put in place? Either that or we have a serious look at our education programs.

WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THIS BOLD MOVE BY GOOGLE??? Sorry, was just trying to emphasise. I wasn’t yelling at you, honest.

Source: Gizmodo

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