Hasta La Gadget!

So you have gotten lost because of Apple’s Maps app after being part of the 100 million folks who upgraded to iOS 6 on your Apple device, but not everything is all doom and gloom. Google has a heart for Apple users, and they have just updated Chrome for iOS to version number 21.0.1180.82, and needless to say, you are able to get this particular upgrade from the App Store already. Just what kind of goodies does the updated version of Chrome for iOS deliver?

For starters, it will not only be compatible with the spanking new iPhone 5, it will also bring with it fixes for Gmail on iOS 6. If taking the App Store route is not exactly your cup of tea for some particularly personal reason(s) of yours, there is an alternative – to do so from the update prompt that is within Chrome itself. Some of the known issues can be further read up on the Chrome support site. Needless to say, if you have a bug to report, you can always file it with the folks at Google, and hopefully, they will be able to get it fixed – and soon.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Google exec says no new Maps app has been submitted to Apple, Chrome and Cirque du Soleil team up in experiment,

What you’re about to see, should you choose to click the source link below, is far from perfect. On the other hand, it’s clearly had a lot of effort and expertise put into it — not only by HTML5-savvy coders, but also by a troupe of performers from the Cirque du Soleil. It’s called Movi.Kanti.Revo, which is a fancy way of saying Move.Sing.Dream, and it involves navigating through an ethereal and slightly laggy landscape using only swaying gestures, your singing voice (mournful sobbing sounds also worked for us) and a bunch of APIs that conveniently fail to work on FireFox, Safari or Internet Explorer. It’s well-suited to those with a mic and webcam, preferably sitting in a open-plan and bully-ridden workplace, and if you don’t like it there’s always Bastion.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Alt

Chrome experiment explores new types of navigation, degrees of embarrassment originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 10:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The iPhone 5. It is taller, and has incremental improvements under the hood, and is shiny. (I’m staying away. Typing on glass is wrong.)

Of more import, the smartphone you carry is more than a communication device; it is potentially a government surveillance enabler. To whatever extent that is the case (depending on whose public pronouncements you believe), latent digital snooping was reinforced on the same day as the iPhone event. Two days after that, Google announced its intention to build a “Do Not Track” option into the Chrome browser, giving users some shielding from a different type of rampant surveillance — the type that creepily delivers knowingly targeted ads. The two issues differ in seriousness, but are related as privacy concerns. As our mobile and desktop devices get sexier, we become increasingly naked.

Continue reading Editorial: We, the digitally naked

Editorial: We, the digitally naked originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 15:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chrome for Android has just received an update which makes it the “safest version” yet, although this does not mean it is 100% immune to hacks and security compromises. Still, security remains one of the core principles of Chrome, and as the number of mobile usage increases, Google’s Chrome team intends to deliver the safest browsing experience possible without paying attention to the kind of device Chrome runs on. The latest Chrome for Android update can be found on Google Play (weighing in at 19MB), where it boasts of a strengthened sandbox technology to make sure that malicious mobile websites are contained without impacting the entire browser.

This has become a reality courtesy of the innovative multi-process architecture in Chrome for Android, which works in tandem with Android’s User ID (UID) isolation technology. Such an extended in-depth sandboxing capability will be automatically used for devices that run on Android 4.1 Jellybean right out of the box. Apart from that, the latest Chrome for Android update will do away with a bunch of bugs, and will work with devices running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and above. This is definitely part of Google’s commitment to have Chrome for Android improve by “leaps and bounds“, we presume.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Android and Chrome to feature radial-style menus?, Chrome for Android leaves beta, now available on Google Play,

We talked a bit about Google considering offering rental Chromebook computers in the past. Little over a year ago, the topic came up with prices expected to start at about $20 per month. Google has now announced the launch of rentals for Chromebooks and bulk purchases for its Apps customers.

The catch is that renting a Chromebook is going to cost you more than we thought last year with prices starting at $30 monthly. After renting the machine for the first 12 months, the rental fleet will go down to $25 per month and then for the third year the rental fee will be $20 per month. The rentals are actually being provided by a 3rd-party, CIT, so you’re not dealing directly with Google for the deal. Granted Chromebooks are relatively inexpensive to begin with so an outright purchase makes a lot more sense, in my opinion.

Google also allow people to rent Chromeboxes, the desktop equivalent to the Chromebook. The rental price for the desktop version of the machine is $25 per month with that rate declining to $18 over time. The best news is that these are month-to-month services, so if you’re not sure a Chromebook is for you at least you can try out for a couple months with no commitment. The bulk purchase of Chromebooks is also available at $599 per unit – with support, which seems very expensive for what you’re getting, but maybe it makes sense to corporate clients.

[via TheNextWeb]