Hasta La Gadget!

Chrome OS. Man, seems like Google has gotten its hands into quite a few things since we last heard of that, but the underground is keeping things lively with new builds of Chromium OS — you know, to keep us satisfied while we wait for the real deal. Hexxeh has just unleashed its latest build, dubbed Flow, which makes a few critical improvements, particularly if you’re planning to install the system onto an Ion-based rig. Flow includes full NVIDIA Ion acceleration, and it also “improves battery life” while making the automatic update… um, work. Hit that source link to get your download on, and if you’ve been holding out for fear of trying something new, you’ve got your whole weekend to fix things should things go terribly awry.

[Thanks, Amrita]

New Chromium OS build brings full NVIDIA Ion acceleration, hope for the future originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While those initial leaked specs for a Chrome OS-based netbook unabashedly specified a multitouch panel, Google is remaining shy on confirming just what it’s up to in the fingerprint department. When Google’s Senior Product Manager of Search was asked pointedly about touch support in the OS, according to TechRadar he looked nervously at a PR manager before failing to provide a concrete answer. Read that how you will, but the open source wing of the OS, Chromium, has gone ahead and created its own vision of what touching chrome might look like, including a very compelling video we’ve included for you after the break. This includes popup context menus, a selection of finger- and thumb-friendly keyboards, and of course some delicious multitouch support. Interestingly, if the scale of the hands in the video below is anything to go by, the Chromium group expects an eventual Chrome OS tablet to be between three and five feet wide, which might be a little cumbersome for those with diminutive laps.

Continue reading Google mum on Chrome OS touch support, Chromium devs show us how it might look anyway (video)

Google mum on Chrome OS touch support, Chromium devs show us how it might look anyway (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you thought Chrome OS was all about the Chrome, here are some words of reassurance from Google’s Matthew Papakipos, engineering director for the project. In a marathon interview with Ars Technica, he notes that Chrome OS will have its own integrated media player, and although the focus remains on being “lean and mean,” it’ll not neglect basic system functionality. Current thinking is to keep JPEG and other media file handlers within the tab structure, with native and web apps being melded seamlessly into the browser experience. That may all still change, of course, since development is also noted to be a good year away from a consumer release. Hit up the read link for more, much more, on the past and future of Google’s featherweight OS.

Google devs reveal Chrome OS will have media player originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After a weeks of speculation, leaks, confirmation and a sneak peek from my colleagues here at Engadget, Google finally told the story of the Nexus One. The Nexus One is the latest and greatest Android device, with a bit of a twist. The Nexus One is available without contract and unlocked directly from Google for $530, as well as subsidized from T-Mobile on a two-year contract for $179. Even with T-Mobile service, the device is only available from Google. Interesting, but hardly the groundbreaking business model that was expected as soon as the words “Google phone” began to make the rounds.

As nice as the Nexus One is — and in my opinion it’s the nicest Android device on the market — it makes me wonder what Google’s up to with Android and why it’s even in the mobile OS business, let alone selling phones directly to consumers. I’d ask the same about Chrome and Chrome OS as well. Android is particularly puzzling, however: Google licenses it for free and it’s turned up on some rather interesting devices, but none of those devices have helped build out an ecosystem. Many of them are proprietary and Android is rapidly becoming fragmented — the Archos5 Internet Tablet, for example, can’t make official use of the Android marketplace. But nothing is as strange as Google getting into the hardware business directly and selling devices, albeit unlocked and unsubsidized ones, directly to consumers.

Continue reading Entelligence: ‘Don’t be evil’ isn’t the basis for a relationship

Entelligence: ‘Don’t be evil’ isn’t the basis for a relationship originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already seen that early builds of Google’s Chromium OS can be hacked onto existing machines, but those Chrome OS netbooks that the software giant has planned for next year have remained curiously elusive until now. According to both IBTimes and Netbook News, the company is in talks with a number of outfits in order to bring at least a few sub-$300 options to the market that are well suited to power through its first non-mobile operating system. For starters, we’re told that the 10.1-inch machine will be ARM-based, while NVIDIA’s Tegra platform (likely the second generation) steers the graphical ship. There’s also promise of a multitouch panel (1,280 x 720 resolution), 64GB SSD, WiFi, 2GB of RAM, integrated 3G connectivity, Bluetooth, an Ethernet jack, an undisclosed amount of USB sockets, webcam, 3.5mm audio jack, a multi-card reader, a 4- or 6-cell battery and optional GPS. Wilder still, a $200 configuration could very well pop up, and it looks as if (at least initially) Google will sell the device(s) directly through its own website — much like Fusion Garage has done with the Joojoo tablet. ‘Course, it’ll still take some arm twisting to get the low-end crowd to try anything not labeled “Windows,” but if anyone can do it, it’s the company that inexplicably kept Gmail in “beta” for over five years.

Google’s Chrome OS-based netbook specs leak out originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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