Weekly Digest From Chrome Unboxed

View this email in your browser The Chrome Cast 240: ChromeOS 117 rolls out with sweet new features This week on The Chrome Cast, we begin the show by discussing the fresh, new roll-out of ChromeOS 117 to a handful of devices. This update comes with some sweet, new features like Material You design throughout and a new ability to select wallpapers from shared Google Photos albums. It’s a nice upgrade, for sure, […] Read More Momentum grows as T-Mobile moves to Google's Jibe for RCS messaging T-Mobile is going all-in on RCS by fully integrating Google’s Jibe platform, promising what should become an instant arrival of new messaging features as they are released in the future. This move aligns T-Mobile with AT&T – which also embraced the Jibe platform earlier this year – highlighting the growing momentum of RCS and carriers […] Read More ChromeOS 117 begins roll-out with Material You and other features on board I’ve been checking over the last few days over at cros.tech to see if the latest version of ChromeOS was rolling out to anyone just yet. It was slated to arrive earlier in the week, but as these things tend to go, it seems there was a small delay. Even right now as my Lenovo […] Read More How to make data processing easier with the new Enhanced Smart Fill feature in Google Sheets Google is now rolling out its Enhanced Smart Fill feature as a part of its Workspace Labs AI initiative. If you’re looking to automate finding relationships between column pairs and swiftly filling in the corresponding values, this is worth exploring. Don’t worry, I’m going to go over how to use it here in a moment, […] Read More Act now: You'll soon lose the ability to sign into QuickBooks products with your Google Account I know by my experience as a Chromebook expert in Best Buy that a lot of you use QuickBooks online for your business accounting, so late last night when I got an unexpected email from Intuit, I thought you’d like to know about it. If, like many, you’ve been signing in using your Google Account […] Read More Google takes another jab at Apple's iMessage's lack of RCS support with new iPager video In a continued effort to advocate for the RCS (Rich Communication Services) messaging protocol that is the proper replacement for SMS/MMS, Google has thrown another log on the fire of its #GetTheMessage campaign. This time around, Google’s slightly-more-aggressive nudge to Apple to adopt RCS as a part of iMessage utilizes a humorous video that introduces […] Read More Say goodbye to whole home audio: Nest devices can now only be in one speaker group at a time Remember the Sonos lawsuit from last year where the company blamed Google for essentially stealing its speaker tech to make Google Home and Nest devices? Well, it seems that the ramifications of that may still unfolding. While there’s no direct evidence this is the cause of what I’m bout to tell you, I’m confident there’s […] Read More Soon, your Android phone's camera can be your Chromebook's upgraded webcam With the recent unveiling of Android 14 QPR1 Beta 1, Pixel phone users can now transform their devices into high-quality webcams for their Chromebooks, too (PC and Mac are supported, too). If you have one of the many Chromebooks out there that came equipped with a less-than-stellar 720p shooter, your video calls are about to […] Read More Wacom One M 2023 Review: The wireless wonder for aspiring Chromebook artists I’ve been using the new 2023 Wacom One M pen tablet for a few weeks now, and have collected my thoughts for you all. If you’re interested in getting into some art software on your Chromebook or just want a lightweight tablet to carry around with you, I think you’re going to want to hear […] Read More Get $380 off the HP Chromebook x360 14c by signing up for My Best Buy Plus The deals at this point are getting simply ludicrous. We’re not even in a particular buying season and the discounts just keep flying in left and right. We posted not long ago about a massive savings on the HP Chromebook x360 14c, taking a full 50% off the $699 price tag for a whopping $350 […] Read More Google Domains has stopped selling domains to new and existing customers in wake of shutdown By now, you’ve probably caught wind of the fact that Google Domains is selling its soul to Squarespace. For those of you (like myself) who’ve trusted Google with your domains over the years, this might come as a bit of a shock, especially seeing as how it’s one of the very few services it’s kept […] Read More One of the best new Chromebooks of 2023 is only $269 right now If you’ve been on the lookout for a budget-friendly, speedy Chromebook without too many caveats, your search might be over. The Lenovo IdeaPad Chromebook Flex 3i, originally priced at $349, is now available for just $269 at Best Buy right now, and at that sort of price, this device is an absolute steal that redefines […] Read More One of the best deals of the year is back as the HP Chromebook x360 drops to $349 [U: still going strong] Though we’re all finished with the Back to School deals blitz from a month ago, Best Buy hasn’t taken its foot off the pedal when it comes to Chromebook deals. As we near what we expect to be a push for the upcoming ‘Chromebook Plus’ releases, it seems manufacturers are ready to get pretty aggressive […] Read More It's totally ridiculous that Google has no repair path for Pixel Watch screen cracks The Pixel Watch has been largely regarded as one of the best overall Wear OS devices you can buy. But if you happen to already be an owner of a Pixel Watch, you might want to consider how you handle it and make certain you do so with a bit of extra care; because Google […] Read More ASUS Chromebook CM34 Flip review: budget-friendly workhorse [VIDEO] More than ever, the Chromebook market is overflowing with options – from convertibles to tablets to gaming Chromebooks, it can be tough to sort out one Chromebook from the next. And for devices like the Asus Chromebook CM34 Flip, I’d say the ability to stand out in the crowd is even more difficult. It’s a […] Read More [U] Google's Bard AI just got access to your Gmail, Drive, and more with these new extensions Ever wished your AI companion could delve deep into your Google toolkit and help you knit everything together? Disappointed by how much Google Assistant sucks at doing this? Well, you probably remember Bard, Google’s fix, or rather, its likely soon-to-be replacement for Assistant’s internals in the near future. When it launched, not everyone was that […] Read More This wild, new feature coming to Chromebooks takes window-splitting to the next level For as long as I can remember, Chromebooks have had window-split features of some sort. They started out simple, but the simple act of dragging a window to one side of the display and having it auto-split to half of the screen has been part of the ChromeOS experience for a very long time. Early […] Read More Google Slides will now show you everyone's cursor in real-time like Microsoft Loop Many collaboration tools like Microsoft Loop have, since their inception, shown you the mouse cursor of your team members who are adding and editing a document with you in real-time. Now, Google Slides is catching up with the times. In a new Workspace Updates blog post today, the company announced just this, with a splash […] Read More YouTube Music digs into its inner 90s angsty teen soul and adds mood filters for crying, more Remember when mixtapes were our go-to for capturing every emotion? I personally had Linkin Park Meteora burnt onto a disc along with Fallout Boy and Blink 182 for when I had a crappy day. YouTube Music, just dug into our 90s angsty teenager souls and ripped out a feature we invented 20-30 years ago. The […] Read More At long last, Google's Tab Groups actually save, and it's the final piece to my productivity puzzle Two months ago, I grumbled about how Chrome’s much-touted Tab Groups Save feature was, to put it bluntly, completely busted and useless. It promised to let users save groups of tabs, collapse them, and then restore them later. However, not every online find belongs on your Reading List. Moreover, many tabs, particularly those used for […] Read More Acer Chromebook Vero 514 deal: powerful, eco-friendly and $150 off When we hear terms like eco-friendly, sustainable, or green, it’s easy to dismiss them as mere marketing jargon. But every so often, a product comes along that not only delivers on these labels but also packs an exceptional user experience. Acer’s Chromebook Vero is one of those devices, and there’s no doubting that they have […] Read More The next Chromecast with Google TV could get a solid performance upgrade We’ve already heard rumblings of a new Chromecast with Google TV, but my initial reaction to that news was mostly a bit of confusion. With the new Onn. Google TV box at Walmart giving users 4K with the full-blown Google TV interface, what is Google left to do in this space to command their standard […] Read More [U] Zoom drops support for Nest Hub Max, Meet no longer lets you join via codes and links Update September 18, 2023 at 2:55 PM – Google has reached out with a correction to Meet being removed from Nest Hub Max clarifying with the following statement: There is no change to making 1:1 and group video calls to friends, family and businesses with Google Meet.  What’s changing at the end of September is […] Read More Quick look at the new Metal Slim band coming for the Pixel Watch 2 As we approach the now-official release of the Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel Watch 2, there aren’t many details left to the imagination for Google’s upcoming hardware event on October 4th. However, a new band that we’ve been expecting has made an appearance over on 9to5 Google, and this new Metal Slim strap […] Read More ChromeOS shows off working Game Dashboard with mouse and keyboard controls for your games Back in February, I wrote about the new ‘Control Overlays’ beta for mouse and keyboard support in games played on ChromeOS. When it was announced, I tested it out with RuneScape, as well as several other titles, and it continuously crashed. Clearly, it wasn’t ready for prime time yet, despite how exciting it was that […] Read More Ztype by Phoboslab is a super satisfying way to kill some time, is worth a try for the whole family A friend of mine recently introduced me to this game, ZTYPE by Phoboslab. It’s set in space, and you type out words to shoot down oncoming enemy ships. Sounds simple, but as you dive deeper, the words get trickier and the ships, faster. I made it to wave 11, feeling quite proud of that. My […] Read More The Chrome Cast 239: Google extends Chromebook end of life by 2 years This week on The Chrome Cast, we obviously talk at length about the biggest news of the week in the Chromebook and ChromeOS sphere: Google extending the AUE on Chromebooks by 2 full years. With this move, we now get two extra years of support on all current Chromebooks and a full 10 years of […] Read More Chrome working on a new "Organize Tabs" feature to quickly clear the clutter If you frequently find yourself overwhelmed by a way more Chrome browser tabs than you thought you had because your head was deep in research, then I’ve got a bit of good news for you. The Chrome team is working on a new “Organize tabs” button that will appear on the top left of your […] Read More Chrome seems to suffer from annoying hidden ad audio that can't be located or stopped Chrome version 116 for desktop has seriously been testing my patience over the last few weeks. Out of the blue, some YouTube video or web ad decides it’s its turn to be the star of my time and attention playing audio in the background that’s both impossible to locate or shut down. I’ve paid for […] Read More Google Messages may finally allow cross-device support by linking your Google Account In the absolute mess that is messaging here in 2023, Google Messages has slowly-but-surely continued to increase adoption numbers, amassing over one billion downloads as of this May. Despite that growing popularity, there’s one aspect of Google’s latest messaging strategy that has been a point of contention for many: the reliance on QR code sign-in […] 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. CLICK HERE to be a part of our community.  Copyright © 2023 Unboxed Media, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: Unboxed Media 111 W Dixie Ave Ste 200 Elizabethtown, KY 42701-1410 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.