Android is already a flexible platform, but it seems power users will get even more flexibility in the next major update. Thanks to Android 13, phones such as the Pixel 6 are able to run virtual machines for Windows and Linux with better performance and fewer headaches.
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While Chrome OS is Google’s “desktop” platform for laptops and other computers, many Android users turn to Windows for a more powerful operating system. Google is now fully embracing that trend, with plans to bring Nearby Share and Fast Pair to Windows PCs.
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The ability to share your copy/paste clipboard between your phone and computer is a neat trick, but one that’s not always been very easy on Android devices. In its latest update, Microsoft has just granted the ability to sync your clipboard across Windows and Android, thanks to SwiftKey.
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With the recent release of M1-powered Apple Macs and MacBooks that are capable of running iOS apps, it seems as though on the PC side of the fence we may soon see something similar occur. According to Windows Central, Microsoft’s “Project Latte” could see Android apps run on Windows.
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Back in June, Google announced that Windows apps are coming to Chrome OS through a third-party partnership — instead of an in-house solution. Parallels Desktop for Chromebook Enterprise is launching today to provide access to Windows apps that some businesses still need.
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Last month, Google announced a partnership with Parallels to bring Windows apps to Chrome OS. An interview today provided a high-level overview of how this works and what will be required.
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The biggest complaint for many regarding Google’s Chrome OS platform has been app support, but that’s apparently changing in the near future. Thanks to an official partnership between Google and Parallels, full apps from Windows are coming to Chrome OS.
Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge are the most popular Chromium-based browsers, and being based on the same foundation, they see development often shared between the two companies. This week, both Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome are picking up support for better spellcheck, thanks to a joint effort.
Android Messages for Web went official just last week and so far, it seems like everyone is loving it. Having access to your messages from the desktop is great, but locking it to a tab can be a bit annoying. Thankfully, a third-party developer has managed to build an unofficial desktop client for all major platforms.
Google launched YouTube Music just a couple of weeks ago and it makes a lot of improvements to the company’s streaming strategy. One thing it doesn’t fix, though, is the lack of a native app for desktop operating systems. Luckily, a third-party developer is coming to the rescue.
While the Pixelbook only runs Chrome OS, its hardware isn’t — technically speaking — entirely locked in to the lightweight laptop (and lately, tablet) OS from Google. In fact, according to some new commits discovered by a Redditor over at /r/ChromeOS, Google is working on an “AltOS” mode that might allow it a bit more flexibility, although for now things are still muddy at best…
If you’re a Windows user like me, you’ll probably remember when you set up your machine and tried to change the default browser from Edge to Chrome. Microsoft pushes Edge hard on Windows 10, and doesn’t really do any favors for Google’s browser. However, the company has recently made its Browser Protection tool available on Chrome…
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With VLC’s 3.0 update, it has introduced some slight design tweaks and new features. The best one, though, is the ability to cast local content directly from your Android or Windows devices. Here’s how…
Google Chrome is one of the best browsers available today, if not the best, but its relationship with various operating systems is certainly strained. On Windows, users have wanted Chrome in the Store for a long time, and today, it’s finally happening. Well, it’s kind of happening.
Google, just like Amazon, is working hard to get its virtual assistant on almost every physical platform that it possibly can. This includes phones, speakers, security cameras, appliances, TVs, and more. But as someone who spends close to 80 to 90 percent of my time on a computer, I want an official Google Assistant app that is accessible from both my Apple laptop and Windows desktop.
While we know Google is working to bring Assistant to Chromebooks, and there are ways to build your own Assistant app for Mac and PC, there isn’t an official option that packs with it all of the functionality found elsewhere.
A notorious problem given by Android and iOS‘ dominance in the mobile space is the lack of interest developers have in putting their effort into less successful and widely adopted platforms such as Windows Phone. However, in its grand plan, Microsoft announced compatibility of apps between the desktop and mobile versions of Windows 10 under the “Universal Windows Platform” umbrella.
To encourage devs, the Redmond giant also worked on some porting tools, the so called Windows ‘bridges’, namely “Project Islandwood” and “Project Astoria” – for porting from iOS and Android respectively – which after a troubled beginning are seeing their roads separating, with the former going forward and Astoria officially shutting down as of today, after a period of apparent hiatus.
Chrome on Mac, Window, and Linux is being updated this week to version 48. The latest update contains the usual bug fixes and improvements for the desktop browser, but mobile devices will see the bulk of the improvements. Future updates to Chrome, we’ve learned, will bring a new compression algorithm that will help the browser load faster pages and use less power on all platforms.
You probably know about this little notification center, but it’s very unlikely that you ever use it. That fact is according to data that Google itself has compiled, and — as is definitely not unusual — low usage means cutting features in the name of simplicity…
In some cases, these desktop notifications would appear while users were gone, so in 2013 Chrome launched the notification center, a place for users to find notifications from Chrome apps and extensions that they’d missed.
However, in practice, few users visit the notification center. To keep Chrome simple, it will be removed from Windows, Mac, and Linux in the upcoming release. The notification center on Chrome OS will remain unchanged.
Google today has announced that its Compute Engine on Windows is expanding to General Availability. Google’s Cloud Platform allows users to deploy and operate a wide variety of technologies and today’s expansion to Windows will allow for more users to take advantage of the platform.
Compute Engine offers Windows 2012 R2 and Windows 2008 R2 customers benefits of rapid deployments, increased uptime due to transparent maintenance, cheap and predictable block storage, and best in class Google Cloud Storage Nearline backup. Sharepoint, SQL and Exchange Server, and other Microsoft applications are also available to Compute Engine customers via the Microsoft License Mobility program.
Google shared more details about the graduation to General Availability for Compute Engine on Windows in a blog post on its Cloud Platform blog. Details include that Windows instances are now covered by the Compute Engine SLA, the ability for users to deploy a server running Active Directory or ASP.NET using the Cloud Launcher, and users can securely extend their existing infrastructure into Google Cloud Platform using VPN.
Microsoft’s new Universal Foldable Keyboard, first unveiled earlier this year, is now available to purchase online and through Microsoft stores. The super portable Bluetooth keyboard folds in half when not in use and allows users to connect to two mobile devices at once including Android, iPhones, iPads, and Windows devices.
Microsoft notes that the keyboard has full-size keys, a spill-resistant, water-repellent keyboard and outer material, and a built-in rechargeable battery that will get you around three months of use on a charge. There’s also an “OS” button for switching between connected devices. Here’s a closer look at the keyboard:
The Microsoft Universal Foldable Keyboard is available for $100 on Amazon, and it’s also available through Microsoft retail stores and online.
Microsoft made a new video for today’s launch to show off some of the keyboard’s features and its compact, 5mm thin design:
[youtube=https://youtu.be/zNrop5Mwv0g]
Do you speak and write in more than one language – and often use them interchangeably? If so, you may know the frustration of having to constantly change the language Google Chrome uses for spellchecking. Fortunately, it looks like Chrome soon will be able to spellcheck in multiple languages simultaneously, as well as make it easy to quickly toggle spellchecking on and off for different languages.
Following up on the recent announcement that Microsoft would be bringing its Cortana personal assistant software to Android (a move originally scheduled to happen at the end of this month), the company said today that it will be launching a beta version of the app next month instead.
The app’s feature set has been expanded upon, revealing that the system works across platforms like Windows 10 and Xbox One as well as mobile platforms like Android. Cortana will be connected to the user’s Microsoft account in order to keep the cross-platform features in sync.
Back in May of last year, Google started enforcing a policy that requires Chrome extensions be hosted on its Chrome Web Store, but only on Windows. The goal was to prevent malware hidden in extensions installable from outside its store, and it even started disabling extensions already installed on users’ systems that weren’t hosted on the Chrome Web Store. Now, Google says it will bring that requirement to Mac Chrome users over the coming months, as well as the Chrome developer channel for Windows that wasn’t previously enforcing the policy:
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Google has today pushed Chrome 40 to the stable channel, specifically version 40.0.2214.91. This update, while packing only minor changes, is the first that has moved version 40 to stable from its beta stage (which it entered in late November of 2014). Of the changes are an updated app information dialog for the Windows and Linux versions of the browser, and a new message for when the clock is ahead or behind. The more important change in this update is the inclusion of 62 security fixes, which are all documented on the Chromium issue tracker.
The Chrome team is delighted to announce the promotion of Chrome 40 to the stable channel for Windows, Mac and Linux. Chrome 40.0.2214.91 contains a number of fixes and improvements, including:
- Updated Chrome app info dialog for Windows and Linux.
- A new clock behind/ahead error message.
A partial list of changes is available in the log.
