Weekly Digest From Chrome Unboxed

View this email in your browser The Chrome Cast 229: Why the Pixel Fold's long development may make it special This week on The Chrome Cast, we begin our discussion by talking through the upcoming Google-made hardware that is set to release this month. The Pixel Tablet and the Pixel Fold are set to be unleashed on the world in the next few weeks, and both devices bring unanswered questions that won’t be addressed until […] Read More Google Play Books gets new tools for helping young readers practice comprehension My son is well past needing help with basic reading skills, but that doesn’t keep me from getting excited about new Google Play Books features for young readers. No matter what gets added to Google’s Kindle competitor, I’m stoked to talk about it, especially if it means it’s going to help families make the most […] Read More Steam for Chromebook is being readied for prime time in the Stable Channel The time might finally be coming where Steam games being played on Chromebooks is a standard, included feature of ChromeOS. After years in development at this point, it’s an exciting proposition that would see a bunch of different Chromebook models included in the Steam game revolution set to be unleashed on the market. In the […] Read More 5 things Google Smart Canvas really needs to improve I’m leaning all in on this Google Smart Canvas thing here, so as I said in previous articles, you’re going to see me talking about it a lot more often as I explore its capabilities and use cases. I recently talked about how you could inject a writing timer or stopwatch for your creativity or […] Read More Google Wallet really wants you to ditch physical cards, will let you scan in (almost) all the things Google announced today on its Keyword Blog that Google Wallet is about to receive a few new features. First, you’ll be able to further cut back on what’s in your wallet (and alleviate scoliosis) by saving passes into the Wallet app from images. Let’s say, for example, that you have a physical gym membership card […] Read More Smart Home Deals: Save up to $150 on Nest and Google TV products today only Yesterday, we shared the news that Google was ending support for the original Chromecast from 2013. Coincidentally, today has brought us some killer deals on some Google TV devices that will help you upgrade that old device and save some serious cash in the process. Along with some great deals on a variety of Google […] Read More I've fallen in love with Google Docs all over again thanks to Pageless view and Smart Canvas I’ve got a bit of an addiction to Google’s new Smart Canvas features. After the company introduced the dynamic, modernized Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides tools that were created to help you increase your productivity and add a bit of creative and personalized flair to your files, I tinkered a bit, but never really gave […] Read More This deal on the Acer Chrombook 514 is one you absolutely cannot miss It’s been a little while, but I still think back quite fondly on the Acer Chromebook 514. It didn’t show up in a ton of places and wasn’t widely available, but my review of that Chromebook still stands. It is far better than you would think and it does all the most important things a […] Read More 7 new Android features arriving this month This morning, Google has announced the quarterly Android feature drop and this one includes some very useful features for phones, tablets and even Wear OS devices. The updates lean heavily to the Wear OS side of things but there are some very interesting additions to Android that I’m sure many users will welcome with open […] Read More Google's Pixel Fold development was a long affair, and that could make it truly special I’ve said it a few times before, but there’s never been a phone I’ve waited longer for than the Pixel Fold. Even the Palm Pre and the 6-month wait I endured for my first real smartphone doesn’t even touch the surface of how long I’ve been anticipating this new, folding device from Google. On some […] Read More How to set a writing timer or stopwatch right inside of Google Docs with Smart Canvas Have you ever wanted to gain quick access to a stopwatch or a timer for your writing sessions? Many of you, especially if you’re a novelist or hobbyist writer, will know of the Pomodoro technique. This method of time management dictates that you think in tomatoes instead of hours (Pomodoro means tomato in Italian, by […] Read More The OG Chromecast has received its last firmware update It’s hard to believe that it has been just shy of ten years since Google released the first Chromecast device. While the Chromecast name is nearly synonymous with Google’s long line of video and audio streaming dongles, the first iteration of the Chromecast laid the groundwork for an entire ecosystem of Cast-enabled devices from third-party […] Read More Chrome Extensions take too much work to toggle on and off, and it needs to change I was installing the Dark Reader Chrome extension for late-night Google Docs work yesterday and I noticed something that hadn’t quite annoyed me until now. You see, most of the time when I install an extension, it stays on indefinitely. However, with something like Dark Reader, I like to toggle it on and off during […] Read More Now that I've had Material You in ChromeOS Beta, I can't go back For the past several weeks, I’ve been in the Beta Channel of ChromeOS 114 and most of the reason for not heading back to the Stable Channel comes down to one factor: Material You design throughout the OS. In the works for quite some time at this point for ChromeOS, Material You is on the […] Read More Google Messages "Magic Compose" beta brings AI to your RCS chats, but with some limitations During Google I/O 2023, Google announced that it would be injecting AI into its Messages app by way of a feature called “Magic Compose”. This is a part of the company’s larger AI integration initiative, which has already begun transforming various aspects of its services. From the “Help me write” feature in Google Docs to […] Read More Google Contacts is getting Maps Location Sharing, user weather, local time and a new look Google Contacts has undergone some significant changes over the past year. It’s not really a powerful CMS by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s much more capable than it was, and it’s becoming even more so with every update. Thanks to a user named @Nail_Sadykov on Twitter, we now have our first look at […] Read More Noted Google leaker hints at a possible pen and keyboard for the Pixel Tablet A couple weeks back, I posed the question of why Google would release a tablet in 2023 without at least providing a basic keyboard accessory. Even the cost-cutting OnePlus Pad has a simple folio keyboard, and you can buy that tablet with the keyboard included for only $479 right now. If Google wants people to […] Read More Farlight 84, heir apparent to APEX Legends, has multiple ways to play on Chromebook The Apex Legends Mobile era was far too short. While the desktop version continues to see plenty of player support, for some reason or another, the mobile version could not maintain enough of a player base to stick around. It’s sad because it was an immensely fun game that seemed to have plenty of fans […] Read More Take up to $120 off this 12th Gen Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5i For the past three years, Lenovo has quietly made one of the most budget-friendly flagship Chromebook 2-in-1 devices on the market. The Flex 5 or Flex 5i Chromebook started as a 13.3″ device that features the latest Core i3 from Intel, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage on the model that was readily available […] Read More Shockingly, one version of the Pixel Fold is already sold out We’re about a month out from the arrival of the Google Pixel Fold, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. To tell the truth, I’m doing my best not to think about this device, watch videos about it, or generally bring it up in conversation when not necessary just so I don’t have to […] Read More Memorial Day Chromebook Deals 2023 Memorial Day 2023 is here and for many, that means cookouts, opening the pool and of course, holiday shopping. Before we get into that, I just wanted to take a moment to recognize why we here in the U.S. celebrate this day. Today is the day that we remember those that paid the ultimate price […] Read More Lenovo's big new tablet is beautiful, and proves that ChromeOS is Google's better desktop OS Lenovo was kind enough to send over their new, bombastic Tab Extreme that we were lucky enough to handle back at CES 2023, and I’ll be honest: I was really, really excited to try out Android as a pseudo-desktop replacement for light workflows. In only a few days, I’ve realized just how far Android still […] Read More Google Keep reminders won't show on Calendar anymore, the perfect productivity trifecta ruined Google has begun the switch to its Tasks service in Calendar as a replacement for standard and Assistant-based “Reminders”. Previously, you could set reminders from Assistant or Google Keep for notes so that they would pop up at a pre-determined time or location. Now that both of these features are in the toilet though, I’m […] Read More How to enable and use Google's new AI integrated Search Generative Experience (SGE) Starting right now, if you have a Google One subscription for 2TB or higher and have signed up for Labs in Search, you can enable Google’s new SGE, or Search Generative Experience. Essentially, this is its artificial intelligence integrated with Google Search! What Search Generative Experience is NOT Now, this isn’t exactly meant to replace […] Read More The Chrome Cast 228: Why mid-range Chromebooks will become the sweet spot This week on The Chrome Cast, we start the show by discussing a recent video we publish that highlights all the ways ChromeOS is hiding in plain sight all around you. From call centers to trivia at Buffalo Wild Wings to medical establishments, ChromeOS is moving in all sorts of professional directions and as time […] Read More Google Collections gets some unsuspected love with the release of Google's AI Search integration Love it or hate it, Google Collections, Google’s content curation tool that’s kind of but sort of not meant to replace bookmarks is still alive and kicking. As I’ve covered a bunch in the past, Collections lets you save recipes, Maps locations, Travel trips, images, shopping products and pretty much anything else across the company’s […] Read More Google is bringing Nvidia RTX GPUs to Chromebooks Google is not relenting in trying to make ChromeOS the operating system for the masses. With more and more devices arriving and more features being added on a very consistent basis, the young OS has become extremely versatile but there’s still plenty of room for more. One area, in particular that Google has placed some […] Read More 3 upgrades I'd love to see in the Pixel Watch 2 when it inevitably arrives The story of the Pixel Watch 2 has been an interesting one thus far. Ahead of Google I/O 2023, we had mountains of leaks for devices like the Pixel Fold, Pixel Tablet and Pixel 7a. On the Pixel Watch front, however, there was a shocking amount of silence for a Google-made product. While we weren’t […] Read More Criminal IP launches AI-based Chrome Extension to battle phishing, malware, and ransomware Malicious scams such as phishing, malware, and ransomware continue to evolve and have become a critical concern to users around the globe. To address this issue, Criminal IP, an OSINT-based search engine, made an exciting announcement introducing the launch of a Chrome extension called Criminal IP AI-based Phishing Link Checker on May 22, 2023. This Criminal […] Read More I'm shocked at how good the web-based CapCut editor is on a Chromebook By now, you’ve likely come into contact with CapCut: the video editing phone app that is used by millions to make viral, short-form videos for services like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. I was a late adopter of CapCut, but as I’ve begun to use it more and more, I’m impressed by how many features there […] Read More Join our Patreon community and get access to things like behind-the-scenes footage, early access to videos, private Discord server access, an ad-free experience on the mobile and desktop versions of the website, your name listed on all our YouTube videos, and monthly live stream Q&A. 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