A new Acer Chromebook is coming soon to Best Buy, although it actually looks more like a revised C7 Chromebook. This new Chrome OS device will feature a 16GB SSD, rather than the old C7′s 320GB HDD – and while this may seem like a big downgrade as far as local storage goes, you have to remember that Chromebooks are really intended for cloud computing and come with 100GB of free Google Drive storage. Additionally, the 16GB SSD will perform much better than the clunkier HDD, allowing for much faster start up time, quieter performance, and – most likely – a longer life, since there are no moving parts.

Other specs remain unchanged from the C7: this Chromebook will feature the same 1.1GHz Intel Celeron processor, 11.6-inch 1366 x 768 matte screen, and 2GB of RAM (expandable to 4GB). Overall, for what you get, this is a great deal – and tinkerers who like to install other Linux distros should be in heaven with this machine.

There’s no exact release date yet, and so far it’s only available through Best Buy, but I fully expect this to take the place of the older C7 on the Google Play Store soon, along with other locations where the C7 is currently sold.

[Best Buy via OMG! Chrome!]

The post New Acer Chromebook coming soon to Best Buy appeared first on Pocketables.

Thanks for all of your feedback on last week’s Hangouts launch. I wanted to quickly talk about 1) making/receiving phone calls in Gmail, and 2) Google Voice support more generally.

1) Today’s version of Hangouts doesn’t yet support outbound calls on the web and in the Chrome extension, but we do support inbound calls to your Google Voice number. We’re working hard on supporting both, and outbound/inbound calls will soon be available. In the meantime, you can continue using Google Talk in Gmail.

2) Hangouts is designed to be the future of Google Voice, and making/receiving phone calls is just the beginning. Future versions of Hangouts will integrate Google Voice more seamlessly.

This is certainly great news, and it’s what many people were actually expecting already before Hangouts officially launched. However, while this specifically addresses many of the concerns I raised last week, I still would have preferred to see the new Hangouts app a bit more polished before launch.

It’s also still unclear whether or not Google will continue to support all of Voice’s extra features when the merge with Hangouts is complete, such as selective call forwarding, call screening, and call recording. Right now, none of this is available in Hangouts – you can only receive calls and add phone call to video Hangouts. All in all, it’s very clunky right now, but I’m confident Google will make everything much more seamless soon. I just hope that we don’t lose any more features in the process.

[Google+ via Google]

The post The future of Google Voice is Google Hangouts appeared first on Pocketables.

Google took some of the best heretofore root-only features of DataSync and Helium and combined them into the new Google Play Cloud Saves, which will allow you to set down one device and pick up another where you left off.

The new unified notification that’s coming allows dismissing a notification on one device and it being dismissed on every Android product you own – no more clearing out old notifications on devices that were left at home, and also no more worrying that a surprise birthday party notification will be sitting on the tablet you left at home with your significant other.

The new Google+ sign-in allows you to do a one-click sign-in to a website and also install its app, should you want it with just a click or two. Shopping on mobile will now be as easy as shopping on a computer.

But Google’s plans don’t stop at Android. APIs for Apple developers are there or being developed, and all one has to do is incorporate them and Cloud Saves – the app is now mostly device independent. The only difference between Angry Birds on a PC, Chromebook, Mac, Android, or iPhone will be the method in which it’s installed (Google Play, App Store, Chrome Web Store, etc.). the launcher that’s used to tap it, and of course what compiler/language it’s written in for the device you’re using it on.

Everything’s going to be the same soon…

… and somewhat better. Google’s APIs that come with the Play Store and services will be updated as the Play Store updates. All Google APIs can be included directly in any developer’s products and updated versions just show up as needed.

What happens when we wake up and find we exist in a device independent world, in which there’s no difference between the iPhone and the HTC EVO 4G LTE, or the BlackBerry 10 and an Android powered waffle maker, other than what radios they have?

While we’re headed for a software Tower of Babel, we’re also looking at a world in which advertisers will have to sell devices honestly: “It’s grey, about the weight of three hummingbirds, you can hit it with a hammer, and basically it’s the same as any other window into the Google Web.”

When Google announced the Samsung Galaxy S4 as a Nexus-style device, it took me a bit by surprise until I saw that it’s the first step of showing it’s not the device, it’s the software. Why Samsung agreed to this, I don’t know, unless it’s tired of competing with Google on what is basically launcher differences.

As anyone in the root world knows, it’s not particularly difficult to find a ROM with a device-specific launcher for another brand. There’re several Samsung TouchWiz ROMs available for HTC devices, and I’d bet there are HTC Sense-based ROMs on Samsung products.

At least until now, phone manufacturers have managed to protect their brands by refusal to release source code and drivers to their chipsets. HTC is infamous for its refusal to release camera source code, meaning if you created an AOSP ROM and use it on your HTC phone, the best you were going to get was the AOSP camera, which doesn’t have nearly the features due to lack of proper drivers.

Can you imagine the Google Samsung Galaxy S4 without proper camera software being sold to the masses? Or any Google Nexus-style device? Google’s move here was to rest control of the last operating system stranglehold that Samsung had, which opens up the device to be another perfect portal into the Google Web.

If it can get HTC to give up the camera driver goods and do the same, the Android front will be pretty much, “this is it, it is good, they all are good, rock on.” Your window into the web won’t be limited by what the manufacturer of that window thinks you should do with their hardware. It’ll be yours.

I do wonder how long until Android marches across the lines and is running on iPhones. My bet is the next step involves an emulator such as Bluestacks for iOS, which already runs on desktops, making its way to the iPhone.

If one isn’t already there and ready I’d be surprised, although whether Apple would ever agree to let something like that into its App Store would be the question. Probably not. Apple has its stranglehold, and it wi’ll keep choking the consumer all the way to the top or the bottom, depending on how things go. Perhaps Cloud Save API will be enough.

I’m not sure whether to see this as a bright and shining day for developers, or a death gong ringing for the hardware manufacturers, as what makes them appear unique to the average consumer is rapidly disappearing. What will we argue about in the smartphone world when every device can do everything and the only meaningful difference between devices is how it feels in the hands the end user?

The post Items unveiled at Google I/O seem to aim at unifying everything appeared first on Pocketables.

So, Google’s new attempt a messaging was unveiled at Google I/O 2013 yesterday and rolled out to the masses. It’s available to download on Google Play if you haven’t gotten it yet yourself, although your Google Chat Chrome extension should also update automatically. You can enable this in Gmail chat, too, and Google+ Messenger will disappear very soon. iOS users should check the iTunes App Store.

While I like the general direction that Google is going here (group messaging is awesome), there are quite a few things that Google got wrong with this first release. First of all:

Google Voice / Gmail calling on the desktop.

To me, this is the biggest and most glaring issue with the new Hangouts app. Previously, the old Google Chat Chrome extension allowed me to receive notifications for incoming phone calls to my Google Voice number, even when all browser windows were closed. I had the option to answer, ignore, or screen the calls, and I could also enable call recording when answering.

Now, I’ll get a notification that a phone number is attempting a “video call” with me, even though it’s clearly just a normal phone call. I am only shown the phone number, even if it’s a previously stored contact. Clicking the notification will sometimes give me the option to answer the call, and sometimes it will not. When I am able to answer the call, which is about 50% of the time so far, there is no option to screen the call or enable call recording. Additionally, when answering, it opens a full video Hangout, even though it’s just a single phone call (my webcam even turns on).

To make a call, I have to start a video Hangout by myself, and click the option to add a phone number. There is no dialing by name or auto-complete, so I either have to remember the full number myself, or copy and paste it from somewhere else.

To retain most of the functionality I had before, I have to keep a Gmail window open and use the old Gmail Chat. There’s no telling how long this will last, however. All in all, making and receiving phone calls with the new extension feels broken and half-baked, and there’s no way to revert to the old extension to get all of my previous functionality back. If you can’t tell, I’m kind of pissed about this.

Voice calling with other Google contacts.

Simply put, you can’t do this anymore. There is no option to initiate a voice call; instead, you have to start a video Hangout, and then turn off your web cam. This is clunky, cumbersome, and adds extra unnecessary clicks.

Online and offline status.

There is no longer a single list of all your contacts who are online. On the desktop, online contacts have a barely noticeable green bar underneath them, but only some of your online contacts are displayed; you’ll have to search to find others. On mobile, offline contacts are very slightly greyed out, but it’s so slight you can hardly tell. There is no indication of whether or not your contacts are idle or on a mobile device, and custom status messages are completely gone.

Some of these changes aren’t as big of a deal as some others. I can live without custom status messages or mobile indicators, for example. But I’d still like one complete list of everyone who’s online.

Upgrade issues.

The rollout has been anything but smooth. For some reason, when opening the Play Store on my household’s Samsung Galaxy Nexus, it showed that Google Talk had already been upgraded to Hangouts. However, when I opened it, it was still the old Google Talk. We ended up having to install the new Hangouts through the Play Store desktop website.

The Play Store also said that my ASUS Nexus 7 was not compatible with the Hangouts app. That’s odd – it’s a Google-branded Nexus device, running the latest version of Android. It doesn’t even run a custom ROM. I ended up having to pull the apk from the Galaxy Nexus, and then install it on the Nexus 7.

For what it’s worth, my HTC EVO 4G LTE was updated seamlessly. I simply opened up the Play Store, searched for Hangouts, and pressed the install button. I’m not sure why my Nexus devices were having so many issues, while my EVO running HTC’s Sense UI was able to upgrade without any problems. Something about that seems really wrong.

Text integration

Everyone was expecting this, and everyone has been asking for it. Why didn’t Google make sure that this would be ready in time for Google I/O?

Granted, several Googlers have confirmed that SMS integration is on the way very soon. When using Hangouts on your phone the first time, you’ll also notice that you have to verify your phone number (there doesn’t seem to be any reason for this, other than SMS integration). Finally, some of the new permissions of the app include “send SMS messages,” “read your text messages (SMS or MMS),” and “receive text messages (SMS).” Again, these permissions don’t seem necessary unless Google is planning on adding this functionality soon.

However, this brings me to my final point:

This is quite obviously a beta product.

Before almost every other major product release, Google has first released its new products as limited betas, many times by invitation only. This is how Gmail, Google Voice, Chrome OS, Google Music, and Google+ all started. This allowed Google to beta test the products with real, everyday users, most of whom are tech enthusiasts and power users who don’t mind finding bugs and reporting them. This allowed Google to fine tune its products before releasing them to the greater public.

In this case, Google radically redesigned some of its core messaging services, and forced the change on everyone. This wouldn’t have necessarily been a bad thing, if everything just worked at release. But so far, one of the most requested features – SMS integration – is missing at launch. Voice calling is completely broken and/or missing. People are having problems upgrading.

Put simply, this is a disaster – and there’s no way people can opt out of this, except in Gmail for the moment. (Android users will constantly get notification reminders from Google Play, while Chrome users are upgraded transparently in the background with no way to prevent this or revert.)

This is clearly a beta product that Google should have allowed enthusiasts and power users to opt in to – instead, it’s giving everyone a headache. I know Google is watching and listening, so I hope all of these issues get resolved very soon; otherwise, Google might have just shot itself in the foot.

The post What Google got wrong in the new Google Hangouts (so far) appeared first on Pocketables.

In a very quiet announcement today, Google revealed a new service that combines the features of Gmail and Google Wallet into one. In the next few weeks, a dollar sign will begin appearing in the attachments area for people who use Gmail and Google Wallet, which will allow users to send money easily as an email attachment.

This is at least a little bit easier than using PayPal, because it is integrated with the email service that most people already use. In addition, there is no fee for any transfers directly from a connected bank account, although credit and debit cards will be subject to an additional 2.9% fee. Any users will have to be over 18, but other than that recipients need not have even a Gmail address. There’s not much more to the new service, as it is truly quite simple. As long as you have a Google Wallet account and are over 18, you can attach money to an email. The recipient will have to set up Google Wallet if they don’t already have an account, but other than that the transfer is quite easy.

Other companies have toyed with transferring money via cell phone numbers and email addresses, but so far none of the services have caught on. Google has the advantage of already having hundreds of millions of Gmail users, and quite a few Wallet users as well. I don’t doubt that this new service, if it truly works as well and as simply as Google says it will, could become quite useful for payments between friends and family, or in other casual situations. The service clearly isn’t aimed at business, but could potentially be useful to some small businesses in certain situations.

Google Wallet so far hasn’t been extremely successful, but this new integration should help to make the service a little more prominent. Although there may not be too many reasons that you would have to share money through email, Google’s new money attachment option certainly looks convenient for certain situations, and perhaps could even save small, casual transactions from the fees and hassle of Paypal.

[Google]

The post Google Wallet’s new Gmail integration allows you to send money as an attachment appeared first on Pocketables.

It’s been more than a year since we started complaining about Google’s lack of unity with regards to its chat services, noting that there were too many different services that did essentially the same thing. A unified messaging solution from Google was rumored for some time under the name Babble (or Babel), but today at Google I/O the search giant finally released its unified messaging solution, called Hangouts.

The service ties together and replaces most of Google’s existing chat services, including Google Talk, Google+ Messenger, and Google+ Hangouts. Voice wasn’t mentioned, but eventually all of Google’s communication products are said to be moving towards the Hangouts brand. Hangouts is a basic unified messaging app, which is available for Android, iOS, and Chrome, meaning that it will work on Windows, OS X, Linux, and Chrome OS. (In fact, a nice little Hangouts icon appeared in the notification area of my KDE desktop as soon as I installed the Chrome extension, so integration for Linux is already great.)

Hangouts is a little bit different from Google Talk in that each conversation has its own name, and the interface begins with a list of current conversations instead of online contacts. Everything in a Hangout will be stored by Google in the cloud, including shared images and video history. This also means that you can “chat” with people who are offline, and they will see what you wrote when back online (much like Google Talk). The Hangout will keep track of how far each person has read, and you will be able to see that via a small watermark of each participant’s face. Of course, Hangouts also includes the features from the original Google+ Hangout, and any conversation can quickly be switched to a video chat with a simple click or tap.

The new Hangouts app may not include an incredible number of new features, but it certainly does a good job of unifying Google’s messaging services and integrating them with Google+. It is unfortunate that Google Voice isn’t yet a part of the unified Google communication experiment, but SMS and Google Voice support is planned for the future. For now, what we have is still a very good cross-platform text and video chat platform, which has unified Google’s products and should make communication easier, at least within the Google universe.

Download: Google Play

[Google]

The post Google’s unified messenger is called Hangouts, replaces Talk and more appeared first on Pocketables.

When accessing the updated Google Play Books Android app on your smartphone or tablet, you’ll notice there’s a new feature that allows you to view uploaded books. Selecting this gives you the following message:

You can now read personal documents such as PDFs or ePub files using Google Play Books.

To get started, go to play.google.com from your computer and click My Books.

Doing so will bring you to a page with the menu shown on the right. You can then upload files from your local storage, or directly from Google Drive.

Previously on Pocketables, we told you about apps like Fabrik and Moon+ Reader - until today, these were the best options for users who wanted to sync books you already own and reading progress across various devices from the cloud. Now, Google offers this ability itself – you can upload books you’ve obtained from any source, and sync your progress across literally any device you have seamlessly.

This is a great feature that I’ll definitely make use of myself. How about you?

The post Google Play Books now allows users to upload their own books appeared first on Pocketables.

At the end of the Google Maps overview earlier today at the Google I/O preview, Brian McClendon stated that everyone could sign up for a preview at maps.google.com/preview. Unfortunately, this isn’t working right now, but users who want in on the fun can actually go to google.com/maps/preview.

This page is live right now, and users can sign in using their Google accounts to request an invite. According to McClendon, I/O attendees have immediate access to try out the new Google Maps, while invites for everyone else will go out tomorrow.

Some features of the new Google Maps include individual custom maps that are drawn around your interests and preferences. Google Now-style cards pop up on the left-hand side of the full-screen map with user reviews, Zagat reviews, and StreetView images of both inside and outside the venue. (Inside StreetViews are made by cropping together multiple user photos that have been uploaded to Google).

The maps will change and develop as you use them over time, multiple driving routes will now be displayed at the same time, and flights have even been integrated into the new Google Maps. Visually, you can expect a tight integration with Google Earth, including 3D buildings made from StreetView images and satellite imagery. Keep zooming out, and you’ll eventually get an image of a globe with real-time cloud images, correct constellations in their proper places, and even real time light/dark imaging in relation to the earth’s rotation and the sun.

This looks fantastic, and I can’t wait to try it out myself. To get your invite, just go to google.com/maps/preview since the URL given in the keynote was incorrect.

Thanks, TonyD!

The post How to preview the new Google Maps announced at Google I/O appeared first on Pocketables.

Chrome for Android aims at using less data

Google’s engineers have been hard at work making things smaller, faster, and better. To do this they’ve introduced several new standards for images, video, and payments.

Among these new standards is a new image format called WebP which combines the best qualities of GIFs (transparencies, animation), while beating the image size and quality of JPEGs by 30%+ without sacrificing quality.

VP9 is also a replacement codec for h.264 video compression. It is royalty free and open source, offering about a 63% savings in data stream rate requirements without sacrificing video quality. YouTube will be implementing VP9 later this year for browsers, applications, and devices that support it.

Chrome for Android  requires fewer steps

The shopping cart abandonment rate on mobile is significantly higher than on the web. This, according to Google, is because on average you have to complete 21 steps in order to enter your shipping address, name, phone, billing address, credit card info, etc. That sucks on mobile devices.

With new auto-complete features, you enter that information once and then are given the ability to share that information with a tap, whenever a website that needs it.

Chrome for Android beta can deliver most of this now

These new features will be delivered in the stable channel shortly. The beta channel also features options to reduce data usage and has for the past month, which will use a proxy that compresses data into the new video and picture formats for you server-side before sending it to your device. Expect this in stable, too.

Note: Using the proxy gives some of your browsing info to Google, so know that the data you’re receiving has all been filtered through Google and your browsing habits could be profiled.

The post Chrome for Android is all about making you faster Google I/O 2013 appeared first on Pocketables.

Google Play Music All Access allows you access to any of the music in Google’s library for one low monthly cost, and also adds the ability to create stations of similar genre’d music to help you discover new music. The stations’ playlists can be skipped, re-ordered, or saved to your device. Stations adapt to what you like and don’t like.

Google Play Music All Access includes a 30-day free trial, after which it’s priced at $9.99 a month for unlimited music. People who start the trial before June 30 have the option to continue the new service at $7.99 a month.

Google Play Music All Access is being released today in the US, and will be released in other countries in the coming weeks and months.

Google Play Music All Access should be available later today to everyone running Google Play Music on Android or the web.

Download: Google Play

The post Google Play Music All Access introduced at Google I/O 2013 appeared first on Pocketables.

Google has finally started selling extra power adapters for the Chromebook Pixel, in the third month after the premium Chrome laptop first went on sale. It’s currently retailing for $54.00, with one-two day shipping to my zip code running me $9.99. With tax, the total price comes close to $70, although this may be a bit higher or lower depending on where you live.

It’s somewhat striking that it took Google this long to start selling the power adapter, considering how long the Pixel has been out. Given the enormous price tag, and merely adequate battery life, if something had happened to your power adapter, you could have had a $1.5k brick on your hands.

However, to Google’s credit, reports have cropped up about people receiving free chargers when contacting the Chrome Ninjas to inquire about the possibility of obtaining an extra. This even happened to me – when I had talked to a Ninja about an unrelated issue, I casually brought up my desire to own an extra charger, just to be safe. I was told that my issue would be escalated, and I’d have a response soon. Several days later, a free charger appeared on my doorstep – I was very pleased, to say the least.

In any case, now that these are available for purchase on Google Play, I doubt that Google will be sending any more of them to people for free. But it’s still quite obvious that Google is taking care of the early adopters who purchased a Chromebook Pixel, and the company is listening to our feedback.

[Google Play via Google+]

The post Google finally starts selling power adapter for the Chromebook Pixel appeared first on Pocketables.

After the keynote, be sure to check out the rest of our I/O coverage at pocketables.com/io!

Live blog transcript

2:30 PM

Smartphones are the keys for these places.

2:30 PM

Google’s plan for bringing the developing world online?

2:30 PM

Nothing to announce at the time.

2:29 PM

Will you do DNA sequencing? Image analysis with surgical imaging?

2:29 PM

It would have been bad if our company had ended up all male. We need to start early to get young girls excited about technology

2:28 PM

Women in the development community – what can we do to encourage women to be here?

2:27 PM

Why are people so focused on keeping medical history private? Probably insurance. People are afraid of not getting insured, but that makes no sense since we changed the rules to ensure insurance. I wish I would have admitted my medical problem sooner (vocal chord issues)

2:25 PM

How can Google help improve healthcare?

2:24 PM

Maybe some of us need to branch out into other areas like law and help things improve. We also need to build mechanisms to encourage experimentation

2:23 PM

Law can’t be right if it’s 50 years old!

2:23 PM

People are concerned about change, and not all change is good. We have adapted mechanisms to deal with that. Old institutions like the law aren’t keeping up with the rate of change.

2:22 PM

How can we reduce the negativity surrounding technology and focus on changing the world?

2:21 PM

Hopefully we can fix it quickly

2:21 PM

Why can’t people buy things from Google Play all over the world?

2:15 PM

Accessibility

2:15 PM

Keeping costs down.

2:14 PM

What advice would you give to rising generation of technologists? How to keep tech moving at the same pace as the past 5-10 years – and how to do that responsibly?

2:12 PM

Glass could also be used for hands free navigation

2:12 PM

I’ll have to ask Sergey … part of the answer is we don’t know. Photography is a good use case.

2:11 PM

Where are the greatest opportunities for Google Glass developers?

2:10 PM

(didn’t answer with specific projects – said that new projects are often based on existing products)

2:07 PM

What are some future projects Google will get into for the physical world?

2:05 PM

It’s a shame that the connections between computers are so tiny and slow

2:05 PM

Improved networking and data center management

2:05 PM

What do you see are the possibilities from Google Fiber?

2:04 PM

Transparency about government requests for information is a major focus

2:04 PM

We work to protect private information, make computing school, and protect freedom of speech

2:04 PM

This is a strong desire of Google – freedom of speech and free flow of information. We translate this into practice by talking to government leaders around the world. Eric Schmidt has traveled around the world to talk about this.

2:03 PM

How will Google help protect freedom of speech?

2:02 PM

Developers shouldn’t have to worry about platform differences – software should run everywhere

2:02 PM

The web isn’t evolving fast enough – but that’s what this conference is about

2:02 PM

Microsoft now supports Google messaging in Outlook, but Microsoft didn’t reciprocate

2:02 PM

It’s a shame how Microsoft approached Skype/Google Talk integration

2:00 PM

Are we ever going to see web be the center of mobile OSes?

1:59 PM

So much stuff out of the way on Google Maps – that will happen with all your devices, too

1:59 PM

Focusing on getting computers out of the way is where Google is heading

1:57 PM

Larry is taking questions!!

1:56 PM

Computer science has a marketing problem

1:55 PM

Mentions automated cars and how they will change our lives – more green space, fewer parking lots, more freedom, fewer hours wasted, less accidents

1:53 PM

Being negative is not how we make progress (referring to “us vs them” reporting in tech media)

1:52 PM

Larry’s speech can’t be done justice by a live blog – best to read a transcript

1:49 PM

Reflections on smartphones

1:47 PM

Larry Page on stage now

1:47 PM

Technical glitch prevented us from live-blogging the maps portion, but we’ll get back to that

1:47 PM

And we’re back!

1:28 PM

Direction and Navigation – real time traffic incident alerts

1:25 PM

Zagat badges now integrated into Maps

1:25 PM

Get through map results with horizontal swipes

1:24 PM

Preview of the new Maps for mobile, available on both Android AND iOS

1:23 PM

Last year Maps launched on iPhone

1:22 PM

Daniel Graf now on stage to talk about Maps for mobile

1:21 PM

Over 1 million websites now use Google Maps, with over 1 billion monthly users

1:20 PM

local data + imagery + street view + terrain data + pre-existing maps

1:20 PM

Covering tons of places with 3D buildings – generating data from other data. This creativity launched Google Earth

1:18 PM

50 countries now in Street View

1:18 PM

Actually, North Korea was just published, too, making it 200 countries

1:17 PM

199 Countries launched on Google Maps

1:16 PM

Brian McClendon on stage to talk about the future of Google Maps

Gary Lindeen1:29 PM

How does one present an idea to Google that incorporates Google Maps and Google Glass?

1:14 PM

Amit – This tech is rapidly developing, so it will take some time before this becomes the predominant search experience. But we are investing in this so it will come sooner rather than later

1:11 PM

Demonstrating reminders – they work on times, dates, and locations

1:07 PM

(This is totally awesome!)

1:07 PM

Demonstrates new voice search and voice answer

1:05 PM

Johanna Wright on stage now

1:05 PM

Set reminders for yourself in Google Now with new cards. Public Transit commute time cards, TV shows, Music, Books, and Video Game cards, too.

1:04 PM

Anticipate: This is Google Now

1:03 PM

You don’t even need to click the mic to search – just say, “OK Google”

1:02 PM

Today, conversational search is coming to desktop Chrome too

1:02 PM

Converse – getting the answers in the most natural way possible. Speech.

1:02 PM

Gmail search field trial users are already enjoying this experience

1:01 PM

You should find answers from your own world without searching through your email or calendar. Google should know this for you.

1:01 PM

Knowledge graph now available in Polish, Turkish, simplified and traditional Chinese, in addition to 8 current languages

1:00 PM

Starting today, knowledge graph will anticipate your future questions, too

12:59 PM

Talking about answers and knowledge graphs

12:57 PM

Search is changing before our eyes – how and why…

12:57 PM

Amid now on stage – “The end of search as we know it”

12:56 PM

We just put the Google into Google+

12:55 PM

Five auto-awesome effects: motion, collage, HDR, smile, and pano

12:54 PM

Auto-awesome creates a new image from one that did not exist. If you take several pictures in burst mode, you can have a motion animated GIF prepared

12:53 PM

These auto enhancements can be applied to all your uploaded photos for you – while still giving you full control. Original and enhanced always available. Can turn on or off globally or on an individual photo.

12:52 PM

…structure, sharpening, red eye removal…

12:50 PM

It does this by considering tonal distribution, skin softening, noise reduction…

12:48 PM (edited)

Google introduces auto enhance – an “easy button” to make your pictures look better

12:47 PM

Will roll out this evening

12:47 PM

Sees people, aesthetics, affinity

12:46 PM

Google will be able to see which aren’t the greatest exposure, which are duplicates, which are blurry, if there are important landmarks – that’s how it finds Highlights

12:45 PM

Google will pick the best pictures for you from all that are stored in the cloud

12:44 PM

Increasing cloud storage to 15GB free for full resolution, or standard size for free (this isn’t new)

12:44 PM

New photos: Backup + Highlight + enhancement + awesome

12:43 PM

Combining camera and cloud. Google’s datacenter is now your darkroom

12:42 PM

Now talking about Photos

12:42 PM

Group video at no charge

12:41 PM

Web, Android, and iOS Hangouts – all available today

12:40 PM

Animations as people enter and leave, or type

12:40 PM

Still have the ability to delete or turn off history – or you can save them, too. Photos are stored in albums.

12:39 PM

Hangouts on Android – a new app. Opens with a list of conversations – not contacts. Contacts are still one tap away, ranking important people for you

12:38 PM

“Conversations that last with people you love”

12:38 PM

What makes people the happiest? Just hanging out.

12:38 PM

No solution does everything great right now. Even Google has been fragmented and confused at time. Now, Google wants to fix this.

12:38 PM

Why should OSes matter? People matter!

12:37 PM

Computers are still in the way

12:37 PM

Circles more accurately reflect real relationships (instead of “friends and not friends”)

12:36 PM

Computers should get out of the way and let people do what they do best – live, learn, love

12:36 PM

New Google+ will roll out this afternoon. Now let’s talk about Hangouts.

12:36 PM

You will always have the option to turn this feature off globally or on individual posts. Can also edit the hashtags if Google gets it wrong.

12:35 PM

Google will also look at your images and compare pictures with important landmarks to add appropriate hashtags and related images

12:34 PM

Google will also ranks and search entire universe of Google+ content for you individually

12:34 PM

Introducing related hashtags … Google will analyze the content of your posts, and Google will add appropriate hashtags for you!

12:34 PM

(This really looks nice, folks)

12:33 PM

“Delightful” animations throughout the product

12:33 PM

Can change to single column if that’s what you prefer. Photos and videos can span multiple columns

12:33 PM

Mobile’s multi-column design is coming to desktop

12:32 PM

New stream will roll out on mobile and web. Problem is, today’s feed is flat. It’s impossible to go deeper, and Google will fix that. It’s about design and depth.

12:31 PM

Newly designed stream, new photos experience, new Hangouts app

12:31 PM

What’s next with Google+ … 41 new features

12:29 PM

Vic Gundotra to talk about Google+ after an intro video

12:29 PM

Now we will talk about the “Best of Google” for both Chrome and Android

12:27 PM

Playing video about Google in Malaysia

12:26 PM

Chromebooks are becoming mainstream in schools now, just like Google Apps already is

12:26 PM

Sundar back on stage

12:26 PM

Google Play for Education will launch this fall, but devs can start submitting apps for it this summer

12:24 PM

Google Play for Ed + Google Apps for Ed = easier app management for groups of children. Can charge purchases against a balance paid for by a school purchase order.

12:24 PM

NASA and PBS are partners, and recommendations from other teachers are available.

12:23 PM

Apps organized by subject matter and grade level.

12:23 PM

Google is making it easier and affordable to put Android tablets in students’ hands. Announcing Google Play for Education

12:22 PM

Why is there so much talk about tech in schools, but so little impact? Teachers say there’s a gap between what’s possible and what’s practical. It’s Google’s job to fix this – make it more affordable, easier to use, and easier to manage.

12:21 PM

Chris is back on stage to talk more about this

12:21 PM

7/8 Ivy League schools use Google Apps. Lots of public schools, too. Want to take this further – bring Android into education, too

12:20 PM

Talking about education – Google is passionate about and is investing a lot in education. This starts with Google Apps

12:19 PM

Sundar has one on screen and is holding one in his hand – giving all attendees a brand new Pixel!

12:19 PM

Talking about the Chromebook Pixel again

12:17 PM

Showing video that demonstrates evolution of the mobile web

12:15 PM

Watching a new game demo now

12:11 PM

For the first time, web components will allow you to build your own HTML tags

12:10 PM

Built a new tool to sync payment information across all devices that will make mobile checkouts much much easier

12:09 PM

All of this will help people save money on mobile data plans

12:09 PM

Data compression proxy on Chrome for Mobile can also help you save data

12:08 PM

YouTube will roll out support for VP9 later this year

12:08 PM

VP9 much smaller at same quality – 63% smaller in the example video shown on stage

12:08 PM

H.264 vs VP9 (webp’s next generation video codec)

12:07 PM

Can replace animated GIFs, JPEGs, and PNGs with WEBP

12:06 PM

Developed WebP – open source royalty free image format – 31% smaller than jpeg of same quality. Helps reduce bandwidth usage, epsecially on mobile

12:06 PM

2.4x speed boost in the last month alone

12:05 PM

JavaScript speed improvements on desktop and mobile – performance has improved more than 50% on mobile

12:03 PM

Linus Upson on stage now to talk about new Chrome mobile APIs

12:03 PM

We can create powerful experiences on the web, and run them on phones and tablets.

12:02 PM

This is thanks to WebGL

12:01 PM

Showing Chrome on Pixel AND on Nexus 10 – same capabilities of Chrome on desktop coming to mobile, too

12:01 PM

We need to take mobile web forward

12:00 PM

Chromebook Pixel – the goal was to create the best laptop possible. Best screen out there. Goal was to get it in the hands of devs to develop great things. We will have more to unveil with Chrome later this year.

11:59 AM

Many more partners jumping on board, expanding retail partners.

11:59 AM

#1 on AMazon laptops for 190 days

11:58 AM

Chrome is foundation for Chrome OS – Samsung Chromebook is the perfect additional computer for everyone

11:58 AM

INcreasingly being used on mobile

11:57 AM

750 million active users of Chrome right now

11:57 AM

Time to talk about our other important open platform – Chrome

11:56 AM

Sundar comes back on stage … time for Chrome

11:55 AM

Unlocked with 16GB, LTE, AT&T/T-Mobile, bootloader unlocked, will receive system updates promptly with every Android update, sold on Google Play June 26 for $649

11:54 AM

Samsung Galaxy S4 running PURE Jelly Bean – last night’s rumors were true!

11:54 AM

Talking about Nexus now

11:52 AM

Start a trial by June 30, and you’ll pay only $7.99/month

11:52 AM

Launches today in the US and will roll out other places soon

11:52 AM

How to try this yourself: $9.99/month. Everyone gets 30-day free trial.

11:51 AM

It works great on phones, tablets, and web

11:50 AM

Listen Now is a new feature that always changes depending on what you listen to… radio stations, your own music, etc.

11:50 AM

My Library includes my personal music I uploaded, along with whatever I want to add from All Access

11:49 AM

Of course, you can search too.

11:49 AM (edited)

Swipe left to see what’s coming up… can swipe away tracks you don’t want to hear in the playlist, can reorder tracks. “Radio without rules.”

11:48 AM

Includes a radio station functionality, too!

11:47 AM

Includes recommended, featured content. Genres, new releases, etc.

11:47 AM

It starts with “Explore” to browse millions of tracks.

11:47 AM

What if we gave you access to millions of other tracks, in addition to your own? Introducing Google Music All Access

11:46 AM

13 million users enjoy Google Play Music now

11:46 AM

We want to not only give you access to music, but guide you through it.

11:45 AM

When we discuss the next generation of our music service – the reality is somewhat different. It wasn’t helping us discover music we love.

11:45 AM

Let’s hear about music. It unites us. It’s a constant.

11:45 AM

Will also bring the same experience to all the Play apps, too – Books, Magazines, Videos, Music, too!

11:44 AM

Google will bring the same great Play experience to the web interface, too (makes use of laptop screens)

11:43 AM

We know you’ve spent a lot of time developing great tablet apps. Rolling out a new view in Play Store that showcase apps designed for tablets

11:42 AM

New Play Store isn’t just about looks, but helps you improve discovery. It adapts to you.

11:41 AM

Recently launched redesigned version of Google Play Store

11:41 AM

Chris Yerga takes the stage

11:40 AM

We’re API-ed out at the moment. “Let’s move on to something more playful. Let’s introduce a man who always brings music to my ears.”

11:40 AM

Google Play Dev Console is now totally awesome!

11:39 AM

This will really help app devs make better apps, rather than making the public into their beta testers

11:38 AM

Launching beta testing and staged rollouts

11:38 AM

It’s obvious that Google has been listening to dev feedback

11:38 AM

Revenue graphs

11:37 AM

Usage metrics

11:36 AM

Shows where installs come from using Analytics

11:36 AM

Referral tracking is announced

11:35 AM

App translator gives devs professional translations!

11:35 AM

Tips will analyze your app and how it’s doing in the Play Store, and give you tips on how to make it better (i.e. maybe a lot of users speak Russian, might need to optimize for tablets)

11:34 AM

Talking about optimization tips.

11:33 AM (edited)

Ellie Powers is on stage now!

11:33 AM

How to monetize your app and find new users

11:32 AM

Uh, oh – he lost his prompter!

11:32 AM

This is making me want to develop for Android!

11:31 AM

You can see your app on various screen sizes

11:30 AM

Lots of code gobbledygook… the devs seems impressed, though

11:29 AM

Goal is to make you faster and more productive as an Android dev

11:28 AM

Android Studio unveiled

11:28 AM

Shifting gears to developer tools for Android devs

11:28 AM

This update to Google Play services that enables these APIs is rolling out to ALL Android devices today, Froyo and up

11:28 AM

Lots of games launching today with many of these capabilities

11:27 AM

Blaming the bugs on the networking environment at IO – “not the most friendly”

11:27 AM

Problems with 3 players connecting…

11:26 AM

uh-oh… live demo showing some bugs and force closes!

11:25 AM

Riptide 2 demo is now playing

11:25 AM

Multiplayer allows for P2P connections, and Google+ integration for invites

11:24 AM

Multiplayer API is also announced

11:24 AM

These APIs also launching for iOS and web – this means cross platform gaming

11:23 AM

APIs also available for achievements and leaderboards

11:23 AM

Google Play game services – Cloud save, allows you to save game progress across different devices (phones and tablets)

11:22 AM

Major new service we’re adding today – GAMING

11:21 AM

HUGE round of applause for notification sync!

11:21 AM

GCM now a part of Google Play services. Three new features: supports persistent connections, upstream messaging, notification syncrhonization

11:22 AM (edited)

60% of top 100 app use GCM. Delivering 17 billion push messages everyday. Server to serve latency is 60ms

11:19 AM

Google Cloud Messaging introduced at last year’s IO

11:19 AM

Google+ sign in adding cross-platform integration. Ability to automatically install apps when signing in to sites on desktop computer

11:17 AM

Google+ sign in API launched a few months ago.

11:17 AM

Launching 3 new location-based APIs – fused location provider (very low power – uses less than 1% of battery per hour), geofencing (defines virtual fences around geographical areas that trigger when users enter or leave these areas), and activity recognition (helps users track their activities using accelerometer data)

11:15 AM

Example – build 3D maps directly into your apps

11:15 AM

Latest APIs will be updated by Google regardless of OS version.

11:14 AM

Google Play services – it’s a layer built and managed by Google on top of Android. Includes APIs used by Google, which are now available to devs too

11:14 AM

We’re listening to devs, and we want you to thrive.

11:13 AM

Google Play has just crossed 48 billion app installs. 2.5 million installs in the last month alone. Last month paid out more money to app devs than in all of 2012.

11:12 AM

Hugo Barra, VP product management for Android, comes on stage.

11:11 AM

Still most of the world has less than 10% (South America, Africa, Asia)

11:11 AM

Pichai is back on stage. Developers have helped Android become so successful. But journey is just getting started – long way to go still.

11:10 AM

900 million in 2013!

11:10 AM

Video shows how Android activations keep increasing month after month, year after year.

11:10 AM

Let’s talk about Android. 400 million activations of Android in 2012. Android video is playing now.

11:09 AM

What developers build on top of these platforms is what Google’s focus is.

11:09 AM (edited)

Both are designed for people to build amazing experiences and push computing forward.

11:08 AM

Android started with goal of bringing open standards to mobile space. It’s the most popular mobile OS in the world today. Chrome started as a  journey to make the web better for both developers and users. Today, it’s the most popular browser in the world.

11:07 AM

This is one of the most important moments in personal computing – Google is fortunate to have two large, open, scalable, fast-growing platforms – Android and Chrome!

11:07 AM

Displays are everywhere … Cars, thermostats, Google Glass!

11:06 AM

Shows how the world has changed dramatically in only 6-7 years by showing the differences in St. Peter’s in 2005 and 2013.

11:05 AM

Pichai talks about history of personal computing… fast forward to advent of the smartphone.

11:04 AM

Sundar Pichai on stage now

11:03 AM

“Here’s to what you build next.” Senior VP Vic Gundotra is on stage. Welcome to 6th annual I/O – over 1 million YouTubers watching live!

11:03 AM  -  HootSuite

Live  coverage of the Google I/O keynote starts NOW! http://www.pocketables.com/io

Live coverage of Google I/O 2013 on  Pocketables

Bookmark this page and come back Wednesday, May 15 for live coverage of Google I/O on , including a live stream of the keynote, and our exclusive live blog!

11:02 AM (edited)

Awesome geeky video intro… music is Alive by Empire of the Sun (thank you Google Sound Search!)

11:00 AM

The countdown has started! Less than a minute!

10:47 AM

In case you’re wondering who’s doing the live blog, it’s me… +John Freml! (Imagine me saying that in a Mario/Luigi voice.) After the keynote (maybe even during the keynote), you can expect a more coherent round up/summary of all Android announcements from +Paul King, and the same from me concerning all things Chrome.

10:41 AM

The second leak is about the new Google Maps desktop experience that we can expect to hear more about soon.

Google updates Play app, briefly leaks sign-up page for new Maps | Electronista »

Google has updated its Google Play app store, just before the first day of the company’s developer event, Google I/O. A new sign-up page for Google Maps also briefly appeared online before an expected reveal at the conference, which gave more informa

10:40 AM

With under 20 minutes to go until the keynote starts, I’ve got two last minute leaks to share with you… the first comes from CNET concerning some security enhancements we can expect in Android 4.3.

Android 4.3 pops up ahead of Google I/O »

A leak tips off security enhancements in the Android update expected to be unveiled at Google I/O. Read this article by Eric Mack on CNET.

8:47 AM (edited)

It looks like Google Now is coming to the Google homepage… click the microphone icon, ask it what the weather is, and see if it speaks a response for you!

8:17 AM

And last, has anyone else noticed that Google chats are appearing in the Gmail inbox as unread mail? Previously, they’d be archived as chats automatically. Could this be the start of the Babel/Hangouts rollout?

8:15 AM

Second, it looks like some people are seeing minor UI changes in a new version of the Play Store that rolled out overnight.

8:12 AM

I’ve noticed some subtle changes leading up to the I/O keynote in just a few hours – first, head to your sync settings in Android, and you’ll see two new sync options for your Google account: “app data” and “people details” (the latter is apparently different from “contacts”).

The post Live coverage of the Google I/O 2013 keynote [Video + Live blog] appeared first on Pocketables.

Google I/O starts tomorrow – we’ll be streaming and live-blogging the keynote tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. (Pacific) – and of course we’ve been hearing all kinds of last minute news and leaks leading up to Google’s biggest event of the year. Here are the most interesting recent developments that you should know about.

Google will launch a streaming music service ala Spotify this week.

According to both The Verge and the Wall Street Journal, Google will announce a streaming music service similar to Spotify tomorrow during the Google I/O keynote. This comes after Google finally completed separate licensing deals with both Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, the two largest record labels in the industry. Earlier this year, Google also signed another licensing deal with Warner Music Group, the third largest label. This will finally put Google on a level playing field with competing services, and also put Google one step ahead of Apple, who hasn’t been able to finalize agreements with the three big labels yet.

The new streaming music service will reportedly be available both on YouTube and Google Play.

Don’t expect any Nexus Q news this year.

At last year’s Google I/O, the Nexus Q was announced. Billed as “the first social streaming media player,” Google quickly realized it wasn’t quite ready for primetime yet, halted new orders, and sent early adopters the device for free with the promise that engineers and developers would work on it to make it better.

Now, a year has passed, and many people were hopeful about the product being reintroduced at this years Google I/O – perhaps even merged with Google TV somehow. Unfortunately, AllThingsD is reporting that there will be absolutely no news of the Nexus Q’s fate this year, according to “sources familiar with the matter.”

What this means is anyone’s guess. It’s possible that Google has completely abandoned development on the device all together, or it’s possible that it just needs another year to iron out all the kinks. After all, with so many resources being poured into products like Chrome OS, Google Glass, and Google+, engineers might not have all the time they need to focus on something like the Nexus Q. We’ll have to see.

Google Talk is coming to Outlook.com.

While not directly related to Google I/O, it’s very interesting that Outlook has announced that Google Talk will come to Outlook.com – especially since we’re expecting Google to announce a new chat service called Hangouts that will take the place of Google Talk, presumably with a new API.

Currently, only text chat is supported, so there’s no voice or video calling.

Some conspiracy theorists think that Microsoft has implemented this new feature in Outlook on the premise that it will break if and when Google announces the new service and the new APIs. How convenient it would be for Microsoft to claim that it’s been “scroogled” itself, when in reality it would just be a bad publicity stunt aimed at harming Google’s reputation.

I don’t think this is case, and even if it were, I think we’re all smarter than that. To be honest, I’m not sure what to make of it, but the timing sure does seem fishy. We’ll have to wait and see if anything else comes of this.

There are other items we’ve already talked about, too.

There’s the new Nexus 7. There’s the fact that it looks like Google’s main focus this year will be on software and development, rather than hardware (obviously, we’ll still see some new hardware). And then there are all my predictions, too (it seems several already look very possible).

I don’t know about you, but I’m so excited, I’m going to have a hard time sleeping tonight!

[The Verge: 1, 2 | The Wall Street Journal | AllThingsD | Google+]

Don’t forget to watch our live coverage of the keynote tomorrow (both streaming and a live blog) at pocketables.com/io!

The post Some interesting things to know on the eve of Google I/O appeared first on Pocketables.

Google I/O is only two days away, which means that soon we’ll finally know if a new Nexus 7 tablet is coming out, what the deal is with Android 4.3, and whether or not I’m any good at making predictions. In the meantime, two high-profile Google execs have decided to give some interesting media interviews, so here are the original sources, and a few highlights.

Eric Schmidt

Speaking to NPR last Saturday, Google’s chairman had this to say about privacy, Google Glass, and more:

• “We keep information about your searches for 12 to 18 months, and then we forget everything.”
• In response to the question of whether or not he can read anyone’s emails: “Yes, and I would lose my job, be fired, and be sued to death. Someone would find out, trust me.”
• Regarding the early days at Google: “We had to have two rules. The first rule – these are both rules I enacted. The first is that you had to wear clothes to work … the second rule is that you have to have fun. You can be serious without wearing a suit, and we wanted to invent the future.”
• On Google Glass: “Well, we don’t quite know yet. We have maybe 2,000 of these. We’ve shipped them out to developers, and we’re seeing what they develop.”
• On Don’t be evil: “Well, it was invented by Larry and Sergey. And the idea was that we don’t quite know what evil is, but if we have a rule that says don’t be evil, then employees can say, I think that’s evil … I’m sitting in this meeting, and we’re having this debate about an advertising product. And one of the engineers pounds his fists on the table and says, that’s evil. And then the whole conversation stops, everyone goes into conniptions, and eventually we stopped the project. So it did work.”

The full transcript is available at NPR.

Sundar Pichai

Here’s what the man in charge of both Chrome and Android had to say about both platforms, and more:

• On the co-existence of Chrome and Android: “Android and Chrome are both large, open platforms, growing very fast. I think that they will play a strong role, not merely exist. I see this as part of friendly innovation and choice for both users and developers … We embrace both and we are continuing to invest in both. So in the short run, nothing changes. In the long run, computing itself will dictate the changes.“
• On the biggest challenge for Android: “Here’s the challenge: without changing the open nature of Android, how do we help improve the whole world’s end-user experience? For all your users, no matter where they are, or what phone or tablet they are buying or what tablet they are buying.”
• On Facebook Home: “As for the specific product, my personal take on it is that time will tell. To Mark [Zuckerberg], people are the center of everything. I take a slightly different approach. I think life is multifaceted: people are a huge part of it, but not the center and be-all of everything.”
• On Facebook Home and the Amazon Kindle altering the Android user experience: “In general, we at Google would love everyone to work on one version of Android, because I think it benefits everyone better. But this is not the kind of stuff we’re trying to prevent. Our focus is not on Facebook Home or Kindle Fire.”
• On threats from Samsung: “I realize this gets played up in the press a lot. Samsung is a great partner to work with. We work with them on pretty much almost all our important products. Here’s my Samsung Galaxy S4. [Pichai holds up the phone.]“
• On future Google-branded hardware: “You will see a continuation of what we have tried to do with Nexus and Chromebooks. Any hardware projects we do will be to push the ecosystem forward.”
• Is Android making Google enough money? “We’re very comfortable with our business model.”
• On Android’s fragmentation: “We are thinking about how to make Android handle updates better. We see ways we can do this. It’s early days. We’re talking with our partners and working our way through it. We need time to figure out the mechanics, but it’s definitely an area of focus for me and for the team.”
• On what to expect at Google I/O this year: “It’s going to be different. It’s not a time when we have much in the way of launches of new products or a new operating system. Both on Android and Chrome, we’re going to focus this I/O on all of the kinds of things we’re doing for developers, so that they can write better things. We will show how Google services are doing amazing things on top of these two platforms.”

The full transcript of this interview is available at Wired.

The post Here’s your required reading before Google I/O appeared first on Pocketables.

In the days leading up to Google I/O, Google has announced that it plans to unify its storage plans across three of its most popular products: Gmail, Google Drive, and Google+ Photos. Additionally, Google is upping the free total combined storage to 15GB.

Currently, Google offers 10GB of storage in Gmail, and 5GB of combined storage for Google Drive and Google+ Photos (although Google also offers unlimited photo storage for all images under 2048px). This is good news especially for Gmail power users – Gmail storage will no longer be restricted to a maximum of 25GB, but rather any additional storage you purchase for Google Drive now applies there, too.

This is also good news from Chrome OS users, who often get free bonus storage when purchasing a new Chrome device. Currently, the Samsung Chromebook, the Acer Chromebook C7, and the HP Pavillion Chromebook 14 all offer 100GB of free Drive storage for two years, while the Chromebook Pixel offers 1TB for three years. Now, this bonus Chrome storage will be combined across all services, which wasn’t the case before.

Additionally, Google says that it will update the Google Drive storage page, making it easier to see exactly how much space each service is using.

Overall, I’m very pleased by this change, as it works to unify Google’s offerings, and makes for a more cohesive experience overall. This also makes Dropbox’s free 2GB look paltry in comparison to Google’s free 15GB – but that’s a post for another day.

[Google]

The post Google announces increased unified storage for Gmail, Drive, and Google+ Photos appeared first on Pocketables.

I’m finally starting to feel a little less crazy for spending so much on Google’s flagship Chromebook Pixel. Packaged apps that run locally on Chrome devices and function offline have already arrived and are growing in number every day, and even more exciting Chrome announcements are right around the corner at Google I/O next week. One such packaged app – Cracking Sands Racing – is particularly good at demonstrating the true potential that now exists in Chrome OS.

Cracking Sands Racing is a whopping 533MB – huge by Chrome standards. It’s designed by Polarbit, and contains everything needed to run fully and completely offline. (You can confirm this by downloading it for yourself, and then disconnecting your Chromebook from all WiFi and mobile data networks.) The video above demonstrates almost exactly how the game runs on my Pixel, although those of you with slower Chrome OS devices might not have such smooth gameplay.

Perhaps most interestingly, Kevin Tofel at GigaOm discovered that you can connect a wired Xbox 360 game controller and play the game that way. Users also have the option of controlling gameplay using the Pixel’s touchscreen, although that’s admittedly a little awkward.

The graphics definitely aren’t bad at all. And while it’s not in the same league as many other high-end racing games, it’s still a fun time waster, and it leaves me wondering what other awesome apps Chrome OS developers will come up with in the near future. If you want to try it out for yourself, the download link is below.

Download: Chrome Web Store

[GigaOM]

The post Cracking Sands Racing for Chrome proves Chrome OS is a real OS appeared first on Pocketables.

For those of you on the fence about Chrome OS and Chromebooks, now has never been a better time to try it out. For a very limited time, Amazon is selling a handful of the new Samsung Chromebooks for only $186.50 – a full $62.50 off the normal asking price of $249. This is part of Amazon’s “Warehouse Deals,” but there are some caveats to keep in mind:

• Most likely, these are all refurbished. That doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, and many people have had wonderful experiences purchasing refurbished items from Amazon’s Warehouse.
• The items may or may not have their original packaging.
• They are eligible for Amazon’s standard 30-day return policy.
• Aftermarket warranties are available at the time of purchase through SquareTrade, if you’re interested.
• These are Amazon Prime eligible, which means free two-day shipping if you’re a member, or free standard shipping if you’re not a member.

Amazon is also listing the Samsung Chromebook in “like new” condition for a few more bucks ($189.59), which is probably worth it for the extra peace of mind.

This is even a better price than Acer’s $199 Chromebook, which has a clunky HDD, lower battery life, and longer boot time.

If you’re still on the fence, even after this great deal, check out my in-depth review to see if the Samsung Chromebook on ARM is right for you.

[Amazon]

The post Deal alert: Buy the Samsung Chromebook on ARM for only $186.50 from Amazon appeared first on Pocketables.

Ever since I first got my Chromebook Pixel, I’ve spent the majority of my time in the beta channel, because it allows me to  try out some new features while not being overly risky. And from what I’ve been reading, the Chrome OS team has gotten a little crazy in the dev channel in the weeks leading up to Google I/O, so beta has definitely been a safer bet.

However, there are three things currently implemented in the dev channel that just might change my mind once more and get me to upgrade again. Here they are.

1. The new Files app.

Google has finally begun to put a bit more thought into the Files app, offering easy access to files that are shared with you in Google Drive, recently edited files, and files that are available offline. In other words, the Files app is starting to function more like Google Drive on the web.

Additionally, the Chrome OS team has moved Google Drive above the Downloads folder, which is just the local storage folder. This is another great move, since I use Google Drive to store practically everything that I do on my Chromebook.

And finally, two-panel navigation is available in the new Files app, allowing for easier navigation and a less-cluttered look overall. I’m really digging these changes – and if Google ends up integrating additional cloud storage providers, like the rumors indicate, it will only get better.

2. The new virtual keyboard.

There’s been a lot of talk about the possibility of Chrome OS tablets, and while I personally think they’re a bad idea, not everyone agrees. One of the latest flags in the Chrome dev channel is a virtual keyboard – it will only work properly on the Chromebook Pixel at this point, since this is the only touch-enabled Chrome device on the market right now. However, the inclusion of something like this paves the way for new device form factors, which is certainly exciting news.

While this is still a work in progress, it looks interesting and would definitely be fun to play around with.

3. The new docked mode.

One of the biggest complaints about Chromebooks is the fact that, when closed, they enter sleep mode – and there’s no way to disable this from happening out of the box. However, the new docked mode – which just appeared in the latest dev channel update - finally does this.

This is most beneficial to users who want to connect external peripherals to their Chromebooks, and use them in “desktop” mode. The image above shows a monitor, keyboard, and mouse all connected to the Chromebook Pixel, with the lid closed, turning the device into a Chromebook/Chromebox hybrid of sorts.

This is certainly going to to benefit those users who prefer to have a more desktop experience at home or work, but still prefer the portability and functionality of a traditional laptop.

*************************

Is there anything I’m missing here, or anything you’d add? What’s your experience on the dev channel been like?

The post Three awesome reasons to try the Chrome OS dev channel now appeared first on Pocketables.

Google+ Hangouts is arguably one of the most successful features in Google+, along with Google’s multitude of instant messaging services. The video chat service has a ton of functionality, with everything from playing games to watching YouTube videos together, and even sharing each other’s screens. But in the past few days, three nifty new features have made their way to Google+ Hangouts: Remote Desktop, live rewind, and instant replay.

Remote Desktop is a new Hangouts app that you can add to any existing Hangout, and it works almost exactly like Chrome Remote Desktop, except users can video chat while connecting to the other computer. I finally got around to testing this myself a few days ago, and it works exactly as expected, although it still doesn’t allow remote connections to Chrome OS devices. (Hang tight, though, since Google still says that this feature is coming soon.)

The latter two features – live rewind and instant replay – are geared towards users of Hangouts on Air, which publicly broadcasts these hangouts over YouTube. They do exactly what they say they do, and the recorded video of these Hangouts is also immediately available on YouTube after they end. (Previously, there was a short delay.)

Now, there’s talk that Google Babel will actually launch as Google Hangouts, which means that Google Chat, Google Talk, and Google+ Messenger will probably all be rebranded as such. This might cause some initial confusion, since Hangouts now mean something totally different, but we probably won’t know for sure what will happen until Google I/O next week.

At least we can enjoy these new features right away!

[CNET | The Verge]

The post Google improves Hangouts with three awesome new features appeared first on Pocketables.

One of the great things about Google Now is how it just knows the information you need, before you know you need it. And since I order a lot of things on Amazon, and occasionally get some cool tech stuff to review, I often make use of Google Now’s package tracking.

Theoretically, whenever a tracking number appears in your Gmail, Google Now will recognize it and put a card in the Google Now app with its expected delivery time, along with a link to track the package. And so far, it’s been working very reliably – until I ordered a Chromebook Pixel from the Play Store.

I actually received two emails from Google Play when I ordered the Pixel: an order confirmation and a shipping confirmation. That’s two chances for Google Now to be alerted that a package should be coming, along with one chance to pick up that tracking number in the shipping confirmation. Unfortunately, a Google Now card never appeared for the device order, in spite of Gmail on the desktop recognizing the order number and providing a tracking link on the right-hand side of my screen.

To make matters worse, I ordered something on Amazon at the same time, and the Google Now card appeared for that item just as it should have. To make sure I wasn’t somehow accidentally blocking Google Now from recognizing the Chromebook Pixel order, I didn’t archive or delete the shipping confirmation – in fact, it’s still sitting in my inbox. I simply never got a Google Now card.

What makes this so ironic is that Google Now shipping notifications work with one of Google’s biggest competitor’s – Amazon – but not with Google’s own online storefront. Huh?

It just goes to show that Google Now is far from perfect. Even though the service is great, it still needs some TLC to iron out all the wrinkles.

The post How ironic: My Google Play device order didn’t show up in Google Now appeared first on Pocketables.