Chrome Blog
The latest news from the Google Chrome team
For schools: The new Lenovo ThinkPad Chromebook
Thursday, January 17, 2013
The Chromebook journey has been about building a faster, simpler and more secure computer for everyone, and today we're excited to introduce a new Chromebook built for schools. Learn more about the Lenovo ThinkPad Chromebook from
today's post
on the enterprise blog.
Posted by Caesar Sengupta, Director of Product Management
Hello Browser
Monday, January 14, 2013
Using your voice to search on your computer or phone is handy, but there’s so much more you can do with voice commands. Imagine if you could dictate documents, have a freestyle rap battle, or control game characters with your browser using only your voice. With today’s
Chrome Beta
release, this future is closer than you think.
With the inclusion of the
Web Speech API
for developers, users can start enjoying new, interactive experiences with web apps, like in this
demo
where you can compose an email by speaking. With this new JavaScript API, developers can integrate speech recognition into their web apps. So, in the near future you’ll be able to talk apps into doing all sorts of things.
To make sure your Chrome installation isn’t being slowed down, today’s Chrome Beta will
automatically disable some extensions
on Windows that may have been added by third party programs without proper acknowledgement from users. The original intent was to give people an option to add useful extensions when installing applications, but unfortunately this feature has been widely abused by third parties who added extensions without user consent. A notification will appear with the option to re-enable the affected extensions.
Download
Chrome Beta
to give these latest enhancements a test drive. If you dig APIs more than chocolate cake you can get more details on the
Web Speech API
and this Chrome release over on the
Chromium blog
.
Posted by Glen Shires, Software Engineer and Speech Specialist
Our newest Beta, for Android phones and tablets
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Release early, release often. Today, we’re introducing Chrome Beta channel for phones and tablets on Android 4.0+.
The Beta channel
was launched in the early days of Chrome to test out new features and fix issues fast. Our newest Beta channel for phones and tablets now joins our Beta versions of Chrome for Mac, Windows, Linux and Chrome OS.
You can expect early access to new features (
and bugs!
), as well as a chance to provide feedback on what’s on the way. Just like our other Beta versions, the new features may be a little rough around the edges, but we’ll be pushing periodic updates so you can test out our latest work as soon as it’s ready. Even better, you can install the Beta alongside your current version of Chrome for Android.
Chrome for Android now benefits from all the speed, security and other improvements that have been landing on Chrome’s other platforms. For example, in today’s Beta update we have improved the
Octane
performance benchmark on average by 25-30%. In addition, this update includes interesting HTML5 features for developers such as
CSS Filters
. This is just one step of many towards bringing beautiful experiences to the mobile web.
Ready? Use it, abuse it, and
tell us
what you think. Our new Chrome Beta for Android is available now on
Google Play
(use the link, you won't find it in search)!
Posted by Jason Kersey, Technical Program Manager & Mobile Cat Herder
Speedy Chrome delivery
Thursday, January 10, 2013
With today’s
Chrome Stable
release, you’ll be booting up a
faster browser
. Feel free to kick back after the holidays and enjoy Chrome’s new year freshness through
automatic updates
.
Posted by Dharani Govindan, Technical Program Manager
Santa Claus is coming to Chrome
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
On Christmas Eve, as Santa makes his way across the world, you can follow his progress and keep tabs on how many presents he’s delivered with the
Google Maps’s Santa Tracker
. And this year Santa’s developer elves went a bit further. They created a Chrome extension that enables you to simultaneously browse the web on your Chrome Browser and follow Santa along his route. Simply install the
Santa Tracker Chrome extension
from the Chrome Web Store.
Before Santa takes off on Christmas Eve, you can also use the extension to follow the countdown to his departure, play around with his blimp, elf bus, and write messages on a frosty browser window.
While everyone in Santa’s Village is busy gearing up for the big day, they always make time for visitors. You can meet some elves and ask
Santa to make a personal phone call
to a friend or your family.
For more ways to get holiday inspired Chrome themes, apps, and extensions, check out the holiday collection in the
Chrome Web Store
- including the
Santa Tracker chrome theme
. And, if you don’t have Chrome yet, give it a
spin
.
Happy holidays from all of us at Google!
Posted by Eric Bidelman, Chrome Developer Elf
The evolution of
This Exquisite Forest
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
A
few months ago
we released
This Exquisite Forest
, a Chrome Experiment that lets you create collaborative animations using an online drawing tool. Thousands of people from all over the world have contributed to the project, creating unique animations like
Looking Up / Looking Down
,
Wine after Coffee
and
Animated Typography
. For any of these animations, you can click the button in the lower right to add to the story and branch it in a new direction.
Today, we’d like to share
The Endless Theater
, a new way to wander the forest by viewing a continuous stream of different animations. In addition, now you can embed animations directly into your site or blog, so it’s even easier to share your work with the world. Just go into the
lightbox view
and click “Embed.”
A project of this scale and diversity is really only possible on the web, where people can view and contribute from all over the world using only a browser. Thank you all for making the forest so full of life. Please continue to
explore
, find your favorite animations, and add to the story.
Posted by Aaron Koblin, Creative Lab
Chromebooks for classrooms: $99 for the holidays
Monday, December 10, 2012
[cross-posted from the
Official Google Blog
]
For many students and teachers, the hassles of traditional computing often prevent them from making the most of technology in the classroom. Schools that have adopted Chromebooks, however, have been able to bring the web’s vast educational resources—whether it’s conducting real-time research or collaborating on group projects—right into the classroom. Chromebooks are fast, easily sharable, and require almost no maintenance. Today more than 1,000 schools have adopted Chromebooks in classrooms, including some school districts like Richland School District Two (S.C.), Leyden High School District (Ill.), and Council Bluffs School District (Iowa) who have deployed Chromebooks to tens of thousands of students.
To help budget-strapped classrooms across the country, we’re working with
DonorsChoose.org
, an online charity that connects donors directly to public school classroom needs. For the holiday season, teachers can request the
Samsung Series 5 Chromebook
—the most widely deployed Chromebook in schools—at a special, discounted price of $99 including hardware, management and support.
If you’re a full-time public school teacher in the U.S., visit DonorsChoose.org and
follow the instructions
to take advantage of this opportunity by December 21, 2012. Your request will be posted on DonorsChoose.org where anyone can make a donation to support your classroom. When you reach your funding goal, you’ll receive your Chromebooks from Lakeshore Learning, DonorsChoose.org’s exclusive fulfillment partner for this program.
If you’re not a teacher, please share this opportunity with the teachers who have made a difference in your life! Or if you’re interested in supporting a classroom directly, read through the
list of Chromebook projects
and donate what you can. Be sure to check back often for new projects.
Thank you for your support in giving the gift of hassle-free technology to teachers and students. Working together, we can ensure “The virus ate my homework” is never uttered in a classroom again, and we can help classrooms get off to a strong start in the New Year!
Happy holidays.
Posted by Rajen Sheth, Group Product Manager
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