Isaiah's Tech

So, at Google's event today they announced a bunch of things. Chrome (the browser) improvements in speed and functionality, the Chrome Web Store (which is available in the USA right now with a global roll-out in 2011), and Chrome OS which is all about the web. The first Chrome OS notebook (they don't call it a netbook) is being dubbed the Cr-48 and it's part of a Pilot Program for now. Some businesses will be using it, like American Airlines and Google themselves. The Cr-48 has no design features at all; it's all black and features no logo. If you really want to get one then you can audition for one here or your business can apply for the Pilot Program here.

As you can see in the photo above, the Chrome OS notebook features a 12.1-inch display, a full-sized keyboard, a large touchpad, global 3G support, WiFi 802.11n support, an integrated webcam, and a battery life that will last 8 hours of active use and 8 days of standy time. This notebook has an SSD inside and does not feature a spinning disc or any function keys. This notebook will be running on Verizon's network in the USA and you'll have 100MB of free data every month for two years. If you want more then there are a number of plans available starting for as little as $9.99 monthly.

Acer and Samsung Chrome OS notebooks will be available in mid 2011 as you can see in the picture below. If you want to know more then the interwebs are flooding with new information and you can also check out Engadget's live blog at the link below.

[Engadget]

This morning, Adobe and Google announced a partnership and the first thing they've done is pre-installed Flash on the dev build of Google Chrome. That's not all though. Google mentioned that deep Flash integration will also be included into the Chrome OS as well, which we know will be hitting some netbooks and possibly even tablets before the end of the year.

We already know that the iPad doesn't support Flash so this is really something. Hopefully Google will be able to keep up the battery life while playing those Flash videos - they should also keep it from crashing as much as well. HTML5 may be the future, but a lot of websites and games out there still rely on Flash so it's good to know that Google has got Adobe's back.

This Apple and Google relationship is really starting to turn extremely sour.

[Tech Crunch]

According to Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, Google Chrome for Macs will be available in a couple of months. Optimistic people are hoping that it gets released by the end of this year, but it could also be in early 2010. Let's hope that by then, extensions are slowly rolling out for the Windows version of the browser.

[9 to 5 Mac]

If you're on Google Chrome's dev channel, you may have noticed that extension support has been enabled by default. Basically, this means that Chrome is closer to ruling the web browser market. These few extensions can only be found on version 4.x right now, but since the beta is still 3.x, we're going to have to wait a little while for extensions to be available on the stable build.

[Lifehacker, Tech Crunch]

Google Chrome's birthday is today and that means I've been using it for a whole year already. Since the first release I have stuck with Google Chrome because it's just overwhelmingly fast. When I test out another browser I just get impatient all the time. Anyways, Google Chrome has been through a lot in their first year and I actually couldn't believe that it's already been a year. Google has mentioned that extensions are still on the way and they're starting to make some right now, which is definitely great news. Below is a bit of what Chrome has gone though.

• 51 developer releases, 21 beta releases or updates, and 15 stable releases or updates
  
• Over 20,600 bugs filed (4367 of them were duplicates, 3505 have been fixed, which leaves a whole lot left to go!)
  
• 11 external contributors and bug editors
  
• 50 Chrome Experiments
  
• 26 posts on the Google Chrome blog
  
• 12 Chrome Shorts, a collection of short films about Google Chrome
  
• A sequel to the comic in Japanese
  

[Google Chrome Blog]

According to a post on Read Write Web, Google may only allow for Google's programs to run on their Chrome OS. This is unconfirmed at the time, but if this happens I think it will only be in effect at launch. I feel that Google will allow other non-Google programs to be used, but Google is pretty unpredictable, so I don't know for sure.

I hope you haven't forgot about Google Wave since it plans to hit 100,000 users by the end of this month - on September 30th to be exact. Today, Google "announced that along with the public preview, Google plans to integrate Wave into some businesses and schools Google Apps accounts." We'll see who gets lucky enough to test it out this month.

I don't believe this rumour has any steam behind it, but it states that Google Chrome could be coming to both the PlayStation 3 and the PSP. This rumour was probably fueled by the Sony and Google deal we heard about yesterday, the one where Sony's Vaios will have Google Chrome as the default browser. All we can do is wait and see, but I think this is doubtful at the time.

Google Chrome OS: Gizmodo, Read Write Web
Google Wave: Mashable, The Next Web
Google Chrome to the PS3?: Brutal Gamer

According to Financial Times, Google is teaming up with Sony to distribute their browser, Google Chrome. Although having Google Chrome on Sony Vaio's won't push Google Chrome's market share a whole lot, it's definitely a good start. According to Mashable, "the Sony Vaios with Chrome on board have already begun to go on sale. Google indicated it's already in talks with other computer manufacturers to boost distribution through similar deals."

All Google needs to do now is work on those extensions and then they'll be set.

[Mashable]

Could these really be the first live photos of Google's Chrome OS? Probably not, but they're worth the look. I think everyone expects that the dock is a must-have in the new Chrome OS and Google will probably pull through with that. I like the idea of Google search right on the desktop, but if Chrome (the browser) is built right in to the wallpaper then there's no need for that - since the Google Chrome URL bar is basically a Google search engine itself. Anyways, enough for my rant, you can take a look at the other photo below.

[Tech Crunch]

Google has just introduced their first set of themes for their browser, Google Chrome. You can now head over to this page to install / apply themes. You have to be on the Google Chrome 3.0 beta / developer preview to install the themes though. Be careful when using the themes because some of them don't install properly. Most of - if not all - of the themes are terrible looking.

You can also create your own theme here and there's actually two other bonus themes - Camo and Snowflakes. I'm using Snowflakes right now because the Classic theme won't re-install for me anymore... Yes, there are problems.

[Google Operating System]

With Windows 7 launching in Europe, it was said that the OS would not have any browsers built-into the OS, since Internet Explorer truly sucks. Well, now it looks like it will be the default browser, but it will transfer you to a "ballot screen" so that you can easily install a "competing browser" of choice. We don't know what the other browsers on the "ballot screen" will be at the time, but the picture above should be the top five on the list. They should do this in North America too.

[Gizmodo]

I don't know how possible this is, but apparently the Google Chrome OS - in the future - could hit mobile phones. So much for Android being the only mobile phone OS for Google. Only time will tell, to be honest. The Google Chrome OS looks like it will swallow up netbooks, desktops, as well as mobile phones - or maybe I'm just looking too distant in the future. Google, what are you up to?

After the Chrome OS hits mobile phones what will happen to Android? Will they fuse Android and Chrome together? I doubt it. But, I think this could mean that a mobile Google Chrome browser could be in the works.

[Gizmodo]

Well, looky here, it's another photo of what appears to be the long-awaited Google Chrome OS! Are you excited? I am - for pictures of the actual OS - but not for fake screenshots. I'm not even going to bother what the explanation said about the screenshot, but that's a fat and funky-looking scrollbar you got there. You can enjoy the picture above and you can click on the link below to see some more photos - that are probably fake.

[Engadget]

All the buzz about the Google Chrome OS hasn't died yet. Early reports, by Google themselves, mentioned that the Chrome OS should be available by the end of 2010. But according to Eric Schmidt, HP and Acer could launch netbooks with the Chrome OS by the end of this year. First, we'll see how smooth things go before getting overexcited.




[Portable Monkey]

Yesterday, I covered that Microsoft will be announcing something on Monday to trump the success of the Google Chrome OS. The first rumour pointed out that Microsoft could be releasing their new browser, Gazelle, in order to compete with Google's browser, Chrome. Today's rumour is also regarding the announcement, but this time it's a web-based version of Microsoft Office. This will compete directly with Google Docs and could possibly affect the launch of Google's new OS. I don't know how much of a factor a web-based Microsoft Office would hurt Google.

[Lifehacker]

"The Gazelle prototype is supposed to do stuff like protect webapps from each other, and isolate different browser tabs (like Google Chrome does now and Firefox is going to do). It's one of the many, many research projects Microsoft has incubating, but might be the one that they trot out next week to show that they're still in the loop in terms of keeping up with Google." It won't be confirmed until Monday, but it looks like it could be a new browser that takes aim at Google Chrome. We'll just have to see what happens on Monday. This would mean that one of my guesses could be correct!

Update on July 14: The official announcement by Microsoft on Monday was that they will offer a free version of online Office 2010 - to directly compete with Google Docs / Apps.

[Gizmodo]

According to this FriendFeed post, Microsoft may have something to counter the newly announced and highly anticipated Google Chrome OS. What could it be? A lightweight browser that can actually compete? An open-source and lightweight version of Windows 7? A Windows 8 announcement? A lawsuit? Julian Irwin in the Gizmodo comments said "Bing OS?? Shoot me." I LOL'd. I don't know what it could be, but the announcement will take place on Monday. Oh gosh, Microsoft. Please be something worthwhile.

[Gizmodo, Picture Source: Aden Hepburn]

This is now confirmed! The Google Chrome OS is now official. It's now posted on The Official Google Blog. The Google Chrome OS is initially targeted for netbooks and will act as a "quick-booting OS" that is, of course, built around lightweight applications like Chrome. It will be designed to get the user onto the web in mere seconds. Like Android, the Google Chrome OS will be open-source and "netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010." This is really exciting stuff for me - the Google fanboy. Check out what Google had to say below.

Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems. While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google.

One question about the Google Chrome OS though. What about Android? Well, I guess that quote kind of answered it actually. The Google OS is coming to take over the world, and I can't wait. Looks like I'm going to purchase my last Windows PC this year, sorry Microsoft.

[Ars Technica, The Official Google Blog]

If you take a look at the chart above, Apple's claims this morning may have been false. Safari 4 is, though, the world's fastest stable browser, but it's definitely not the world's fastest browser - as a whole. Google Chrome 3.0.182.2 edges out Safari 4, according to the chart above. Either way, Safari and Chrome beat out the rest of the competition, special thanks to Webkit. Check out a full analysis of the chart above at the link below.

[Beta News]

Yes, I did. I marked it on my Google Calendar and everything. And I'm sad that they haven't announced it yet. I mean, yes, there are ways to make your own extensions, but Google hasn't launched an official extension platform for their browser, Google Chrome, yet. A couple of months ago, people guessed that May 27 would be the day that Google would announce extensions because it marked the start of their developer conference, Google I/O. Google has announced a bunch of juicy information at their conference so far, so I'm not upset. Maybe they'll announce extensions at tomorrow's keynote because people like me are still patiently waiting.

Anyways, I really hope Google announces extensions soon because I think it'll really increase their browser's market share. Speed + Flexibility is a great combination.

Picture Source: Tech Crunch