Last year, Google launched its Chrome Remote Desktop in beta. This app allows users to remote access their own computers while away, and to access other computers running Chrome with the remote desktop extension. Google announced Monday that the application is now out of beta, and that it includes some new features.
As the announcement touts, “from adjusting printer settings on your mom’s computer to finding a lost file on your dad’s laptop,” Chrome Remote Desktop simplifies the task of hopping on someone’s machine (or your own) and getting stuff done. The new features include real time audio for Windows users, and the ability to copy and paste between local and remote machines. Says Google, more features are in the pipeline, and will be announced as they become available.
Getting started with Chrome Remote Desktop is simple enough that, should you be unfortunate enough to have to play tech support for someone, walking them through the steps on setting up the app should be relatively frustration-free. After downloading the extension, you’ll be prompted to choose your Google account from a list if you have more than one. Once you’ve selected the account, you’ll be presented with a list of requested permissions, which includes permission to view your email address, your Chrome Remote Desktop computers, and to view and send chat messages, as well as permission to perform all three actions when you’re not actually using the app.
After clicking the “Allow Access” button, you’ll be presented with two options: connect with a different computer, or set up a connection with your own. Under “Remote Assistance,” you can either share your computer with someone else by clicking “Share,” or you can access another computer by clicking “Access.” In order to access your own computer, you’ll be prompted to click “Enable Remote Connection,” and then set up a 6-digital PIN.
Over all, using Chrome Remote Desktop proved to be fast and simple. Google touts it as a useful tool for those using Chromebooks, allowing users to remote desktop from the Chromebook into a laptop or desktop computer to access files while on the go. You can check out our review of the Samsung Series 3 Chromebook here.
Following its beta launch one year ago, Google’s Chrome Remote Desktop is now officially out with more nifty features. Among the new features added are real-time audio feed on Windows which will allow users, for example, to access music files remotely across computers and the ability to copy-and-paste between local and remote computers. In case you haven’t heard about Chrome Remote Desktop, it’s actually an extension that allows users to remotely access another computer through a Chrome browser or a Chromebook.
“One year ago, we launched Chrome Remote Desktop in beta. From adjusting printer settings on your mom’s computer to finding a lost file on your dad’s laptop, Chrome Remote Desktop has made you the family hero by helping you remotely access other computers — including your own — via Chrome. Now, we are taking Chrome Remote Desktop out of beta, by adding some additional features,” said Stephen Konig, the Product Manager for Google Chrome.
After a year of living in beta, Chrome Remote Desktop is finally ready for primetime. Similar to other screen sharing services like LogMeIn and Splashtop, Chrome Remote Desktop lets you access other computers remotely. Of course, it is special to the Chrome browser, and by extension, the Chrome OS. The latest version of the app adds a couple of new features like a real-time audio feed for Windows users and the ability to copy-and-paste between remote and local computers. You can use this with any Chrome browser of course, but it could prove especially useful for those with Chromebooks, as you can easily communicate with a presumably storage-laden home PC while still toting around a lightweight notebook.
Windows 8 is here at last and, for the most part, we think it’s pretty great. However, as with all new Windows installs, Internet Explorer and Bing are both present. Most people would rather leave those two behind and use different browsers and search engines instead, and today we’re seeing Google capitalize on that. Google has launched a new “campaign” of sorts to get new Windows 8 owners using both its search engine and Chrome as quickly as possible.
It’s called “Get Your Google Back,” and the big G has even launched a new website with the sole purpose of getting its products on your Windows 8 machine. The process seems painlessly simple – once you’ve got Windows 8 installed on your computer, open up Internet Explorer and direct it to getyourgoogleback.com. Once you’re there, you’ll be prompted to install the Google search app for Windows 8.
The website also has a button to make Google Chrome your default browser, and clicking that button will begin the install of Google’s much-loved Chrome. The whole process is laid out in the handy little video posted below. Google gets bonus points for setting the video to a strikingly good cover of Jackson 5′s I Want You Back.
And there you have it – just a few simple steps and you can have Google search and Chrome tiles right there on your Start screen. Are you a new Windows 8 user who will be following Google’s advice, or are you going for a different search/browser combo? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to check out our story timeline for more on Windows 8!
Google did some housekeeping earlier this year by folding their online office suite into the Google Drive online storage service. If you did not notice by now, whenever you type docs.google.com in the address bar of your web browser, you will automatically be redirected to drive.google.com. Well, I would say that most folks would have gotten accustomed to the changes by now, and Google decided to make life a wee bit easier for folks who want to create new text, spreadsheet, or presentation documents using a single click. By introducing a range of new web apps in the Chrome Web Store, you are now able to add such shortcuts to your Chrome web browser or Chrome OS device.
Of course, this does not discount the fact that you are required to launch Google Drive still should you want to have a full view of your current documents and files on the cloud, but should you require the shortcuts for specific office apps, they are over at the Chrome Web Store known as Docs, Sheets and Slides.
After a debut this summer, YouTube’s visual refresh hasn’t rolled out to all of its users, but the folks at OMG! Chrome! have stumbled upon a way for you to get in on the action a little early. Simply point Chrome or Firefox to YouTube, open up the browser’s console, enter a line that’ll fiddle with a cookie and you’ll be able to cruise Google’s video service with its fresh coat of paint. To open up your console in Firefox, just punch Control+Shift+K on Windows or Command+Alt+K on a Mac. For Chrome, hit Control+Shift+J on a PC or Alt+Command+J on machines running OS X. Can’t wait to take the new look, which gives Google+ a nod, for a spin? Hit the source link below for the code snippet to get started.
It’s a long overdue match, really — if the Google Drive productivity suite is considered the centerpiece of Google’s web app catalog, and the Chrome Web Storeis the catalog, why weren’t the two combined? Google has seen the light by turning Docs (text), Sheets (spreadsheets) and Slides (presentations) into neatly packaged web apps that can be installed through the Chrome browser. New Chromebook owners won’t even have to go that far, as the trio will surface automatically in the Chrome OS app list over the next few weeks. The web app bundles might be simple, but they could be tremendous helps for anyone who wants to punch out a few quick edits while on the road.
The newest entry in Google’s family of low-priced devices running their own home-grown software has appeared in their Google Play online store – enter the Samsung Chromebook (series 3) for just $249. We have our own Samsung Series 3 Chromebook review for you to take a peek at with full details on how this little beast is about to take the student world by storm. By the looks of it though, it’s not just students that Google hopes to be swallowing up here with the price-floor-busting Chromebook: it’s “FOR EVERYONE.”
This device works with an extremely lightweight body and a display that’s by no means perfect, but certainly gets the job done for the average user. You’ve got this version which is wi-fi only for $249, another coming soon with 3G connectivity availability via its SIM-card slot in the back, and a whole massive barrel of Chromebooks out there on the market from the past two years. This is the newest though, and perhaps the most important.
It’s the price point first, then the high-quality build that makes this notebook – excuse me, this Chromebook – so important to the tech world. Though you wont be able to play any high-powered games, nor will you be working with processor-busting video rendering (for now), you will be getting a web-centric machine for $249 USD. That’s a price so low that it makes the masses consider it, even if they don’t need it.
This unit in its wi-fi-only iteration is available now from Google Play. If you want any other version, you’ll have to head elsewhere for now. Chromebooks are not yet heavily available in stores around the world (or around your neighborhood, for that matter), but they are a big enough deal at this point to be ready for delivery at larger electronics stores in all cities – have a peek!
It’s no secret that Google is aiming to create a whole new segment in the world of portable computing with Chrome, and here with the newest Samsung Chromebook, especially at its eye-opening $249 price point, it appears that the big G will make that move. If you’ve got a need for an internet machine for school, for fun, or for a present for your mother who doesn’t use her desktop anyway, this device might just be perfect. It’s light, it’s extremely inexpensive, and most important of all: it’s a high quality machine. Samsung and Google have made some fabulous strides forward since September of 2011, of that you can be certain.
Hardware
This piece of Samsung hardware is the most basic Chromebook you can buy right this minute, but it’s not the low-quality piece of hardware the price suggests. Instead you’ve got a machine that Samsung and Google very obviously went through a lot of work to perfect, and they’ve taken all the bits from the machines that have been successful in this arena and stuffed them into a quality package here without a doubt. This rings true especially in the keyboard and the trackpad.
The real test a person such as myself must go through to decide if a notebook is going to work long-term is if the keyboard is able to take my non-stop usage and real need to be able to type relatively quickly. With this keyboard I certainly can do both of those things. One of the main reasons for this is that the keyboard is so extremely close in shape, size, setup, and spring to the MacBook series from Apple. It’s absolutely uncanny, in fact, with the main differences being in the special buttons that Chrome uses to execute commands like Full Screen, Back, Forward, and Reload (all of which work directly with the Chrome web browser which is, of course, at the center of your Chome OS experience.)
The trackpad is also extremely nice – the only more perfected trackpad I’ve ever used has been on the MacBook (Pro and Air, the same in the end). You can do the soft-tap we’ve seen running rampant over every Windows-toting notebook here as well, but unlike many notebooks, it’s not something you’ll do on accident. You’ve also got keyboard and touchpad settings in the Chromebook just incase you do want to increase or decrease speeds and such – but you’ll likely be fine right out of the box.
This Chromebook weighs in at 2.5 pounds and is 0.8 inches thin, working with what Google and Samsung say is 6.5 hours of battery life. It would appear very likely that Google has been modest in its estimation of how long this machine will stay active, even while movies are playing and oddities are rendering. Even with the 46% battery left I’m looking at right now, the machine has nearly 6 hours quoted as being left – and the machine has been out and on for at least 12 hours without need for a charge. This machine has some undeniable standby power abilities, that’s for certain.
The display is 11.6-inches large with 1366 x 768 pixel resolution across it, this making for a display that’s certainly OK, but not the best in the industry by a long shot. What you’ve got here is Samsung providing you with the amount of pixels you’ll need to watch relatively high definition videos without making a case for having a display that’s mind-blowing. The viewing angles on this device are also far from perfect, but certainly usable in most single-user situations. You won’t want to use this for a YouTube party, if you know what I mean.
You’ve got a VGA camera built-in for average video chat on the web (on Google+ Hangouts, of course) as well as a full-sized HDMI port for video output. You can connect to this device with 1 USB 3.0 port, 1 USB 2.0 port, and Bluetooth 3.0. Inside is a Samsung Exynos 5 dual-core processor – this is the next generation of processors working for mobile devices Samsung introduced last year and made available here in 2012, only available on this Chromebook thus far. The next-newest after this is a Samsung Exynos 4 quad-core which you’ll find on the Galaxy Note II.
Software and Performance
The newest version of Chrome OS provides you with the ability to download and upload files to storage on your Chromebook – this is one of the biggest stumbling points for people who only know the operating system to be an “internet only” sort of situation. Now that I can download an image from one webpage and upload it to another, I can write articles in a blog – I now have a machine with the most basic set of requirements I need.
Its worth noting that it appears the quality of this machine is above that of every tablet we’ve had our hands on thus far – if only because the operating system is made to handle notebook operations. One should not expect that since this device uses a processor from the Exynos lineup with two CPU cores (two less that the Galaxy Note II) that it wont work as hard on everyday tasks as a smartphone or tablet would. On the contrary – this is a minimally powered notebook with all the non-web elements stripped away – that’s all.
You’ve got 2GB of RAM that will not let you down unless you absolutely push the limits of the device on purpose. If you’ve got 20 or more tabs open, each of them playing videos or keeping up with Twitter feeds, for example, you’re not going to see as fast a performance speed as if you’re being a reasonable person working with just a few tasks at a time. This machine is not made to be a workhorse – it’s made to take care of basic tasks, management of your daily duties, and web browsing.
Access to the entire range of Google services here means you’ll be working in the Chrome web browser – the only offline items here are changing your wallpaper, storing files in your local downloads folder, and working on a calculator. You can also use a Beta product on the machine if you want to go bigger: Chrome Remote Desktop. With this environment you’re able to access your larger machine virtually, seeing it through your browser window and controlling it as if you were there at that other machine in-person – though it’s significantly more laggy than real life, when it comes down to it.
What you’re seeing above is a connection between the Chromebook and a MacBook Pro, both of them connected to the same wireless network. It’s not a perfect system, by any means, and it’s a bit difficult working with a display that’s mean to be much larger inside a browser window that shrinks it, but it’s interesting to say the least. This system is not limited to your local network, mind you, you can do tasks remotely, just so long as both devices are connected to the web.
This is all topped off by the fact that current purchases of the Samsung Chromebook come with 100GB of Google Drive storage for two years. That would cost you $100 if you bought it outright.
Wrap-up
This Chromebook from Samsung is a value offer you might just need to think about, if only because the quality matches the price so very closely. Considering the alternatives start at several hundreds of dollars higher, you risk being called “silly” for not considering the Chromebook in your decision making process in purchasing a new notebook. Where this device leaves off at a price of $249, the MacBook Air picks up – starting at $999.
Google and Samsung have created a machine with a price point that’s impossible to ignore. We’ll be using this device for an extended period to see how “game changing” it really is. Meanwhile, please feel free to let us know if you’ve got any questions about this device and we’ll certainly do our best to answer to the best of our ability. Have a peek at the Chromebook tag portal as well to keep up with all things Chromebook through the future!
It’s no secret that Google is aiming to create a whole new segment in the world of portable computing with Chrome, and here with the newest Samsung Series 3 Chromebook, especially at its eye-opening $249 price point, it appears that the big G will make that move. If you’ve got a need for an internet machine for school, for fun, or for a present for your mother who doesn’t use her desktop anyway, this device might just be perfect. It’s light, it’s extremely inexpensive, and most important of all: it’s a high quality machine. Samsung and Google have made some fabulous strides forward since September of 2011, of that you can be certain.
Hardware
This piece of Samsung hardware is the most basic Chromebook you can buy right this minute, but it’s not the low-quality piece of hardware the price suggests. Instead you’ve got a machine that Samsung and Google very obviously went through a lot of work to perfect, and they’ve taken all the bits from the machines that have been successful in this arena and stuffed them into a quality package here without a doubt. This rings true especially in the keyboard and the trackpad.
The real test a person such as myself must go through to decide if a notebook is going to work long-term is if the keyboard is able to take my non-stop usage and real need to be able to type relatively quickly. With this keyboard I certainly can do both of those things. One of the main reasons for this is that the keyboard is so extremely close in shape, size, setup, and spring to the MacBook series from Apple. It’s absolutely uncanny, in fact, with the main differences being in the special buttons that Chrome uses to execute commands like Full Screen, Back, Forward, and Reload (all of which work directly with the Chrome web browser which is, of course, at the center of your Chome OS experience.)
The trackpad is also extremely nice – the only more perfected trackpad I’ve ever used has been on the MacBook (Pro and Air, the same in the end). You can do the soft-tap we’ve seen running rampant over every Windows-toting notebook here as well, but unlike many notebooks, it’s not something you’ll do on accident. You’ve also got keyboard and touchpad settings in the Chromebook just incase you do want to increase or decrease speeds and such – but you’ll likely be fine right out of the box.
This Chromebook weighs in at 2.5 pounds and is 0.8 inches thin, working with what Google and Samsung say is 6.5 hours of battery life. It would appear very likely that Google has been modest in its estimation of how long this machine will stay active, even while movies are playing and oddities are rendering. Even with the 46% battery left I’m looking at right now, the machine has nearly 6 hours quoted as being left – and the machine has been out and on for at least 12 hours without need for a charge. This machine has some undeniable standby power abilities, that’s for certain.
The display is 11.6-inches large with 1366 x 768 pixel resolution across it, this making for a display that’s certainly OK, but not the best in the industry by a long shot. What you’ve got here is Samsung providing you with the amount of pixels you’ll need to watch relatively high definition videos without making a case for having a display that’s mind-blowing. The viewing angles on this device are also far from perfect, but certainly usable in most single-user situations. You won’t want to use this for a YouTube party, if you know what I mean.
You’ve got a VGA camera built-in for average video chat on the web (on Google+ Hangouts, of course) as well as a full-sized HDMI port for video output. You can connect to this device with 1 USB 3.0 port, 1 USB 2.0 port, and Bluetooth 3.0. Inside is a Samsung Exynos 5 dual-core processor – this is the next generation of processors working for mobile devices Samsung introduced last year and made available here in 2012, only available on this Chromebook thus far. The next-newest after this is a Samsung Exynos 4 quad-core which you’ll find on the Galaxy Note II.
Software and Performance
The newest version of Chrome OS provides you with the ability to download and upload files to storage on your Chromebook – this is one of the biggest stumbling points for people who only know the operating system to be an “internet only” sort of situation. Now that I can download an image from one webpage and upload it to another, I can write articles in a blog – I now have a machine with the most basic set of requirements I need.
Its worth noting that it appears the quality of this machine is above that of every tablet we’ve had our hands on thus far – if only because the operating system is made to handle notebook operations. One should not expect that since this device uses a processor from the Exynos lineup with two CPU cores (two less that the Galaxy Note II) that it wont work as hard on everyday tasks as a smartphone or tablet would. On the contrary – this is a minimally powered notebook with all the non-web elements stripped away – that’s all.
You’ve got 2GB of RAM that will not let you down unless you absolutely push the limits of the device on purpose. If you’ve got 20 or more tabs open, each of them playing videos or keeping up with Twitter feeds, for example, you’re not going to see as fast a performance speed as if you’re being a reasonable person working with just a few tasks at a time. This machine is not made to be a workhorse – it’s made to take care of basic tasks, management of your daily duties, and web browsing.
Access to the entire range of Google services here means you’ll be working in the Chrome web browser – the only offline items here are changing your wallpaper, storing files in your local downloads folder, and working on a calculator. You can also use a Beta product on the machine if you want to go bigger: Chrome Remote Desktop. With this environment you’re able to access your larger machine virtually, seeing it through your browser window and controlling it as if you were there at that other machine in-person – though it’s significantly more laggy than real life, when it comes down to it.
What you’re seeing above is a connection between the Chromebook and a MacBook Pro, both of them connected to the same wireless network. It’s not a perfect system, by any means, and it’s a bit difficult working with a display that’s mean to be much larger inside a browser window that shrinks it, but it’s interesting to say the least. This system is not limited to your local network, mind you, you can do tasks remotely, just so long as both devices are connected to the web.
This is all topped off by the fact that current purchases of the Samsung Chromebook come with 100GB of Google Drive storage for two years. That would cost you $100 if you bought it outright.
Wrap-up
This Chromebook from Samsung is a value offer you might just need to think about, if only because the quality matches the price so very closely. Considering the alternatives start at several hundreds of dollars higher, you risk being called “silly” for not considering the Chromebook in your decision making process in purchasing a new notebook. Where this device leaves off at a price of $249, the MacBook Air picks up – starting at $999.
Google and Samsung have created a machine with a price point that’s impossible to ignore. We’ll be using this device for an extended period to see how “game changing” it really is. Meanwhile, please feel free to let us know if you’ve got any questions about this device and we’ll certainly do our best to answer to the best of our ability. Have a peek at the Chromebook tag portal as well to keep up with all things Chromebook through the future!
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
Following its beta launch one year ago, Google’s 
Google did some housekeeping earlier this year by folding their online office suite into the Google Drive online storage service. If you did not notice by now, whenever you type docs.google.com in the address bar of your web browser, you will automatically be redirected to drive.google.com. Well, I would say that most folks would have gotten accustomed to the changes by now, and Google decided to make life a wee bit easier for folks who want to create new text, spreadsheet, or presentation documents using a single click. By introducing a range of new web apps in the Chrome Web Store, you are now able to add such shortcuts to your Chrome web browser or Chrome OS device.
