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For Malaysia: Bringing Google Apps and Chromebooks to the classroom
April 10, 2013
As a parent of three kids, I have the same aspirations as many other parents and educators—to provide them with the best opportunities to learn and discover their passions. For many students, the web has become an incredible resource for the classroom, offering tools to work collaboratively, share and research. School systems of all sizes—from a single primary school to an entire country such as the
Philippines
—have “Gone Google” in their schools and embraced the web to transform education.
Today the country of Malaysia is going a step further by adopting
Google Apps
for 10 million students, teachers and parents. As part of this initiative they are also deploying Chromebooks to primary and secondary schools nationwide. These efforts to integrate the web are a central part of a
national plan
(PDF) to reform its educational system.
To deploy technology across a nationwide school system, computers need to be simple, manageable and secure. Chromebooks are ideal for learning and sharing in the classroom—there’s nothing complicated to learn, they boot up in seconds and have virus protection built in. They also offer
easy setup and deployment
, which means they’re ready to go the moment a student opens the lid and logs in. And with reduced overhead costs, Chromebooks are a cost-efficient option* to deploy technology at scale.
To date, more than 3,000 schools worldwide, from Edina, Minnesota to Point England, New Zealand, have deployed Chromebooks to
improve attendance and graduation rates
,
make learning more fun
and
enable students to take more ownership for their learning
.
The web gives our children and students new opportunities to access the world’s information and work collaboratively. We look forward to working with
national and regional leaders
to make the most of the web with Google Apps and Chromebooks and help them provide the best opportunities to every student.
Posted by Felix Lin, Director of Product Management
*In research sponsored by Google, research firm IDC found that Chromebooks yield three-year cost of ownership savings of $1,135 per device compared to traditional PCs or tablets, require 69% fewer hours to deploy and 92% fewer hours to manage.
Learn more
.
Google Keep—Save what’s on your mind
March 20, 2013
Every day we all see, hear or think of things we need to remember. Usually we grab a pad of sticky-notes, scribble a reminder and put it on the desk, the fridge or the relevant page of a magazine. Unfortunately, if you’re like me you probably often discover that the desk, fridge or magazine wasn’t such a clever place to leave the note after all...it’s rarely where you need it when you need it.
To solve this problem we’ve created Google Keep. With Keep you can quickly jot ideas down when you think of them and even include checklists and photos to keep track of what’s important to you. Your notes are safely stored in Google Drive and synced to all your devices so you can always have them at hand.
If it’s more convenient to speak than to type that’s fine—Keep transcribes voice memos for you automatically. There’s super-fast search to find what you’re looking for and when you’re finished with a note you can archive or delete it.
Changing priorities isn’t a problem: just open Keep on your Android phone or tablet (there’s a widget so you can have Keep front and center all the time) and drag your notes around to reflect what matters. You can choose the color for each note too.
Pro tip: for adding thoughts quickly without unlocking your device there's a lock screen widget (on devices running Android 4.2+).
Google Keep
is available on Google Play for devices running Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich and above. You can access, edit and create new notes on the web at
http://drive.google.com/keep
and in the coming weeks you'll be able to do the same directly from Google Drive.
Posted by Katherine Kuan, Software Engineer
Make a silent movie by talking to Chrome
March 19, 2013
Last month
, the
Web Speech API
brought voice recognition to
Chrome
users in more than 30 languages. We thought it would be fun to demonstrate this new technology by using an old one: silent film.
The Peanut Gallery
lets you add
intertitles
to old black-and-white movie clips just by talking out loud while you watch them. Create a film and share it with friends, so they can bring out their inner screenwriters too.
We hope that developers will find many uses for the Web Speech API, both fun and practical—including new ways to navigate, search, enter text, and interact with the web. We can’t wait to see how people use it.
Posted by Aaron Koblin, Creative Lab
(Cross-posted from the
Chrome blog
)
Making the cloud more accessible with Chrome and Android
February 28, 2013
If you’re a blind or low-vision user, you know that working in the cloud poses unique challenges. Our accessibility team had an opportunity to address some of those challenges at the 28th annual
CSUN International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference
this week. While there, we led a workshop on how we’ve been improving the accessibility of Google technologies. For all those who weren’t at the conference, we want to share just a few of those improvements and updates:
Chrome and Google Apps
Chrome OS now supports a high-quality text-to-speech voice (starting with U.S. English). We’ve also made spoken feedback, along with screen magnification and high-contrast mode available out-of-the-box to make Chromebook and Chromebox setup easier for users with accessibility needs.
Gmail now has a consistent navigation interface, backed by HTML5 ARIA, which enables blind and low-vision users to effectively navigate using a set of keyboard commands.
It’s now much easier to access content in your Google Drive using a keyboard—for example, you can navigate a list of files with just the arrow keys. In Docs, you can access features using the keyboard, with a new way to search menu and toolbar options. New keyboard shortcuts and verbalization improvements also make it easier to use Docs, Sheets and Slides with a screenreader.
The
latest stable version of Chrome
, released last week, includes support for the Web Speech API, which developers can use to integrate speech recognition capabilities into their apps. At CSUN, our friends from
Bookshare
demonstrated how they use this new functionality to deliver
ReadNow
—a fully integrated ebook reader for users with print disabilities.
Finally, we released a new
Help Center Guide
specifically for blind and low-vision users to ease the transition to using Google Apps.
Android
We added Braille support to Android 4.1; since then, Braille support has been expanded on Google Drive for Android, making it easier to read and edit your documents. You can also use Talkback with Docs and Sheets to edit on the go.
With Gesture Mode in Android 4.1, you can reliably navigate the UI using touch and swipe gestures in combination with speech output.
Screen magnification is now built into
Android 4.2
—just enable “Magnification gestures,” then triple tap to enter full screen magnification.
The latest release of
TalkBack
(available on Play soon) includes several highly-requested features like structured browsing of web content and the ability to easily suspend/resume TalkBack via an easy-to-use radial menu.
These updates to Chrome, Google Apps, and Android will help create a better overall experience for our blind and low-vision users, but there’s still room for improvement. Looking ahead, we’re focused on the use of accessibility APIs that will make it easier for third-party developers to create accessible web applications, as well as pushing the state of the art forward with technologies like speech recognition and text-to-speech. We’re looking forward to working with the rest of the industry to make computers and the web more accessible for everyone.
Posted by T.V. Raman, Engineering Lead, Google Accessibility
Race to win on big and small screens with Chrome Super Sync Sports
February 27, 2013
Smartphones and tablets are great for all sorts of games, and lately we've been thinking about new ways to play.
Chrome Super Sync Sports
is a new
Chrome Experiment
that uses the unique features of mobile devices to create a new gaming experience on big and small screens. In this game up to four friends can compete in running, swimming and cycling on a shared computer screen, using their smartphones or tablets as game controllers.
To get started, you’ll need a computer and a smartphone or tablet that run a modern browser, like
Chrome
. Visit
chrome.com/supersyncsports
on your computer, pick a game and decide if you’re playing solo or with friends. Next, visit
g.co/super
in Chrome on your smartphone or tablet and type in the unique code shown on your computer screen. You’ve now “super sync”ed your mobile device with your computer, and you’re ready to race!
Use the arrow pad on your smartphone or tablet to select one of 50 athletes and prepare yourself for the competition. The motions you make on your mobile touchscreen will move your athlete on your computer screen. To move your athlete forward and win the race, you need to make the correct gestures as quickly as possible. The better you are, the higher your chances of making it to the global leaderboard.
Select your athlete by using the keypad arrows on your mobile
Race using your smartphone or tablet touchscreen
Up to four friends can play using a shared computer screen
Chrome Super Sync Sports is available for Chrome v15 and above, and for Android 4.0+ and iOS 4.3+ devices. It uses the latest modern web technologies, including HTML5 features such as
WebSockets
for real-time gaming synchronicity on desktop and mobile, and Canvas and CSS3 for rich and engaging visuals. For more detailed information on the technologies used, see the “About” page.
On your marks, get set, race for your place on the World Leaderboard!
Posted by Steve Vranakis, Executive Creative Director, Google Creative Lab
The Chromebook Pixel, for what’s next
February 21, 2013
Chromebooks were designed to make computing speedy, simple and secure. For many of you, they have become the perfect, additional (and yes, affordable) computer: ideal for catching up on emails, sharing documents and chatting via Hangouts. We’re tremendously grateful to our partners—Samsung, Acer, Lenovo and HP—for their commitment. The momentum has been remarkable: the Samsung Chromebook has been #1 on Amazon’s bestseller list for laptops every day since it launched 125 days ago in the U.S., and Chromebooks now represent
more than 10 percent
of notebook sales at Currys PC World, the largest electronics retailer in the U.K.
So what’s next? Today we’re excited to announce our newest laptop—
the Chromebook Pixel
—which brings together the best in hardware, software and design to inspire the next generation of Chromebooks. With the Pixel, we set out to rethink all elements of a computer in order to design the best laptop possible, especially for power users who have fully embraced the cloud. The philosophy of
Chrome
has always been to minimize the “chrome” of the browser. In much the same way, the goal of the Pixel is to make the pixels disappear, giving people the best web experience.
Let’s start with the screen. This Chromebook has the highest pixel density (239 pixels per inch) of any laptop screen on the market today. Packed with 4.3 million pixels, the display offers sharp text, vivid colors and extra-wide viewing angles. With a screen this rich and engaging, you want to reach out and touch it—so we added touch for a more immersive experience. Touch makes it simple and intuitive to do things like organize tabs, swipe through apps and edit photos with the tip of your finger.
The Pixel has been engineered with the highest quality components to ensure it’s comfortable to use all day long and meets the needs of demanding power users. The body of the Pixel is made from an anodized aluminum alloy to create a smooth and durable surface; vents are hidden, screws are invisible and the stereo speakers are seamlessly tucked away beneath the backlit keyboard. The touchpad is made from etched glass, analyzed and honed using a laser microscope to ensure precise navigation. The Pixel also has powerful, full-range speakers for crisp sound, a 720p webcam for clear video, and a total of three microphones designed to cancel out surrounding noise.
Other aspects of the Pixel include:
Speed
: Speed has been a core tenet of Chrome and Chromebooks since the beginning. For Pixel, it’s critical that the overall experience, everything from loading webpages to switching between apps, is near instant. Powered by an Intel® Core™ i5 Processor and a solid state Flash memory architecture, the Pixel performs remarkably fast.
Connectivity
: The Pixel has an industry-leading WiFi range thanks to carefully positioned antennas and dual-band support.
Long-term evolution (LTE)
is engineered directly into the machine, delivering fast connectivity across Verizon's network, the largest, fastest 4G LTE network in the U.S. (LTE model optional). It also comes with 12 free GoGo® Inflight Internet passes for those times you need to connect while in the air.
Storage
: Since this Chromebook is for people who live in the cloud, one terabyte of Google Drive cloud storage* is included with the Pixel. This enables you to save, access and share photos, videos, documents, and all of your stuff from all of your devices, from anywhere.
Finally, as you’ve come to expect from all Chromebooks, all of your favorite Google products like Search, Gmail, YouTube, Maps and Google+ Hangouts are integrated and just a click away. And since it’s based on Chrome OS, the Pixel boots up in seconds and never slows down, requires
almost zero setup or maintenance
, and comes with built-in virus protection. Best of all, it stays up to date with automatic updates every few weeks.
If you want to be part of the next step in the Chromebook journey, the Pixel will be available for purchase starting today on
Google Play
in the U.S. and U.K., and soon on BestBuy.com. The WiFi version ($1,299 U.S. and £1,049 U.K.) will start shipping next week and the LTE version ($1,449) will ship in the U.S. in April. If you’re interested in a hands-on experience, you can visit select
Best Buy (U.S.)
and
Currys PC World (U.K.)
store locations.
It’s one of the most exciting times in the history of personal computing, thanks to a rapid pace of change, innovation and consumer adoption of devices. Our goal is to continue to push the experience forward for everyone, working with the entire ecosystem to build the next generation of Chrome OS devices. We hope you enjoy what’s next.
Posted by Linus Upson, Vice President of Engineering
*You will have 1TB of free storage for 3 years, starting on the date you redeem the offer on eligible Chrome devices.
A Chrome Experiment made with some friends from Oz
February 5, 2013
You won’t need magical powers to take a journey down the yellow brick road; just point your favorite browser to the latest Chrome Experiment, “
Find Your Way to Oz
.” Developed in collaboration with Disney and
UNIT9
in anticipation of the upcoming film,
Oz The Great and Powerful
, this experiment takes you through a dusty Kansas circus and leads to a vibrant land, following in the footsteps of the Wizard himself.
Like any good circus, there’s plenty to keep you entertained: compose your own music, play with a fun photo booth and create your own movie with a zoetrope. The path to Oz also involves confronting an ominous tornado; surviving it completes the journey, enabling fans of the movie to watch an exclusive unreleased clip from the film.
Chrome Experiments
like “Find Your Way to Oz” would have been impossible a few years ago. Since that time, the web has evolved and allowed developers and designers to create immersive beautiful experiences. For “Find Your Way to Oz” the 3D environment was built entirely with new technologies such as
WebGL
and
CSS3
. It’s enhanced by rich audio effects thanks to the
Web Audio API
. The photo booth and zoetrope were built using the
getUserMedia
feature of
WebRTC
, which grants webpages access to your computer’s camera and microphone (with your permission).
For the best experience, you’ll need to use an up-to-date computer built to handle intense graphics. It also works best with a webcam and a modern browser that supports WebGL and WebRTC, like
Chrome
. For tablet or smartphone users, we have a smaller scale yet equally enjoyable experience that you can try with the latest Chrome browser on your Android device, iPhone or iPad.
If you want to learn more, or run away and join the developer circus, you can get an explanation of the technologies used on the
Chromium blog
or in our
technical case study
.
Start your journey towards the yellow brick road at
www.findyourwaytooz.com
.
Posted by Christos Apartoglou, Marketing Manager
The evolution of
This Exquisite Forest
December 11, 2012
A
few months ago
we released
This Exquisite Forest
,
a Chrome Experiment that lets you create collaborative animations using an online drawing tool. Since then, thousands of people from all over the world have contributed to the project, creating unique animations like
Looking Up / Looking Down
,
Wine after Coffee
and
Animated Typography
. For any of these animations, you can click the button in the lower right to add to the story and branch it in a new direction.
Today, we’d like to share
The Endless Theater
, a new way to wander the forest by viewing a continuous stream of different animations. In addition, now you can embed animations directly into your site or blog, so it’s even easier to share your work with the world. Just go into the
lightbox view
and click “Embed.”
A project of this scale and diversity is really only possible on the web, where people can view and contribute from all over the world using only a browser. Thank you all for making the forest so full of life. Please continue to
explore
, find your favorite animations, and add to the story.
Posted by Aaron Koblin, Creative Lab
(Cross-posted from the
Chrome blog
)
Chromebooks for classrooms: $99 for the holidays
December 10, 2012
For many students and teachers, the hassles of traditional computing often prevent them from making the most of technology in the classroom. Schools that have adopted Chromebooks, however, have been able to bring the web’s vast educational resources—whether it’s conducting real-time research or collaborating on group projects—right into the classroom. Chromebooks are fast, easily sharable, and require almost no maintenance. Today more than 1,000 schools have adopted Chromebooks in classrooms, including some school districts like Richland School District Two (S.C.), Leyden High School District (Ill.), and Council Bluffs Community School District (Iowa) who have deployed Chromebooks to tens of thousands of students.
To help budget-strapped classrooms across the country, we’re working with
DonorsChoose.org
, an online charity that connects donors directly to public school classroom needs. For the holiday season, teachers can request the
Samsung Series 5 Chromebook
—the most widely deployed Chromebook in schools—at a special, discounted price of $99 including hardware, management and support.
If you’re a full-time public school teacher in the U.S., visit DonorsChoose.org and
follow the instructions
to take advantage of this opportunity by December 21, 2012. Your request will be posted on DonorsChoose.org where anyone can make a donation to support your classroom. When you reach your funding goal, you’ll receive your Chromebooks from Lakeshore Learning, DonorsChoose.org’s exclusive fulfillment partner for this program.
If you’re not a teacher, please share this opportunity with the teachers who have made a difference in your life! Or if you’re interested in supporting a classroom directly, read through the
list of Chromebook projects
and donate what you can. Be sure to check back often for new projects.
Thank you for your support in giving the gift of hassle-free technology to teachers and students. Working together, we can ensure “The virus ate my homework” is never uttered in a classroom again, and we can help classrooms get off to a strong start in the New Year!
Happy holidays.
Update
Dec 11
: We’ve seen a tremendous response—thanks to all the teachers who have applied so far! Please check
DonorsChoose.org
for the latest status of the program.
Posted by Rajen Sheth, Group Product Manager
The new Acer Chromebook
November 12, 2012
Creating a
better, simpler
computer and making it available for everyone is at the core of the Chromebook vision. It’s exciting to see people using Chromebooks as the perfect additional computer in the home, and we continue to work with our partners to make them easy-to-use and more affordable. Today, we’re delighted that our partner Acer is introducing a new addition to the Chromebook family: the
new Acer C7 Chromebook
.
The new Acer C7 Chromebook delivers a hassle-free computing experience with speed, built-in security and the simplicity of automatic updates. It features a full-size keyboard, fully clickable trackpad, an extra bright 11.6-inch display and over 3.5 hours of battery life. Powered by an Intel Core processor, the Acer Chromebook is fast—boots up in 18 seconds, resumes instantly and high-definition videos play smoothly (yes, videos like
Gangnam Style in 1080p
, in case you’re one of the few left who hasn’t seen it). You can easily store your stuff on the Chromebook or in the cloud, with a 320GB hard drive and 100GB of free storage on Google Drive.*
As you’d expect from a Chromebook, it’s easy to share with others around the home. Moms, dads, siblings or even your roommate can all have separate accounts and simply log in to get things done. And because Chromebooks bring you the best of Google, if you use products like Gmail, Drive, Maps, YouTube and Google+, your stuff is always available and everything
just works
.
Starting tomorrow, the Acer Chromebook will be available for $199 in the U.S. on Google Play, BestBuy.com and rolling out this week in select Best Buy stores. In the U.K., it’s available on Google Play, Amazon UK, PC World and Currys. We’re working hard to bring it to more countries soon.
Together with Acer, it’s great to welcome the newest addition to the Chromebook family. We hope it will make a great additional computer for your family, too.
New Chromebooks
, for everyone.
Posted by Sundar Pichai, SVP, Chrome & Apps
*You will have 100 GB of free storage for 2 years, starting on the date you redeem the offer on eligible Chrome devices.
Update
11/15:
The latest update for the Acer C7 Chromebook enhances battery life to 4 hours. You should get this update when you open your computer for the first time. Thanks to auto-updates, you already have a better computer than the one you bought.
(Cross-posted on the
Chrome Blog
)
JAM with Chrome: Play music live with your friends online
November 8, 2012
If you ever dreamed of playing in a band, now’s your chance to be a rock star.
JAM with Chrome
is an interactive web application that enables friends in different locations to play music together in the Chrome browser on their computers. No matter what your level of talent—from daydreaming air guitarist to music pro—you can JAM together in real time over the web.
When you enter the site, you can choose from a selection of 19 different instruments, from acoustic and bass guitars to drum kits and keyboards. Once you get playing, you can switch instruments as often and as many times as you like.
In the default “easy mode” you can experiment by clicking individual strings, drum pads or keys, or you can play around with the four different autoplay functions and let the machines do the work. Switch to “pro mode” to play any instrument using your keyboard.
Invite up to three friends in different locations to join your JAM via the sharing buttons on the site. Here’s “Keyboard Cat” jamming with his friends:
JAM with Chrome is a Chrome Experiment that uses the latest modern web technologies, including HTML5 features such as the Web Audio API, Websockets, Canvas and CSS3. For more detailed information on the technologies used, check out the
technology link
in the app.
Go on, get the band together at
jamwithchrome.com
.
Posted by Emma Turpin, Google Creative Lab
(Cross-posted from the
Chrome Blog
)
The new Chromebook, for everyone
October 18, 2012
As a kid growing up in India, I was fascinated with computers and the endless possibilities they presented. I had to wait until college to finally get my hands on one in the computer lab and since then began dreaming of a world where everyone could have access to one. We’re not quite there yet, but every day we get a bit closer.
A few years ago, we set out on a journey to build a
better computer
that’s faster, simpler and more secure. When we
introduced
a few Chromebooks into the market, many of you early adopters joined us on this journey. For folks living entirely in the
cloud
, the Chromebook is now a primary computer.
Many people use the Chromebook today as the perfect additional computer for their home. For families, it’s easy to use and share: for kids doing homework on the couch, parents catching up on emails at the kitchen counter and grandparents staying connected on video chat. There’s no need to worry about
security updates
and maintenance is easy; all you need to do is charge the battery. It just works.
This gets to the heart of the Chromebook vision. In order to have one, two or more computers around the house, they need to be easy to use and much more affordable. So together with Samsung, we designed a new laptop—the
new Samsung Chromebook
for $249—the computer for everyone.
The new Chromebook is a great computer at any price, but it’s an incredible computer at $249. It’s one of the lightest laptops on the market. You can easily carry it around all day—it’s 2.5 pounds, a mere 0.8 inches thick, with more than 6 hours of battery life for the typical user. And with 100 GB of free storage on Google Drive*, you can get to all of your stuff anytime, anywhere.
Even with its compact design, it’s packed with performance—it boots up in less than 10 seconds and resumes instantly. High-resolution videos (in 1080p) are beautiful to watch and when using the touchpad, you’ll notice smooth scrolling due to a hardware-accelerated user interface. And as you‘d expect from a Chromebook, it’s easy to share with others. Everyone—mom, dad, grandparents, tech lovers, tech haters—can have separate accounts where all of their stuff is kept safe. Finally, if you’re an active Google user of products like Gmail, Drive, Search, Maps, YouTube, Play or Google+ Hangouts, everything just works seamlessly.
Starting today, the new Samsung Chromebook is available for pre-order online from Amazon, Best Buy, PC World and other retailers. Next week it will be available for sale from these same online retailers as well as the Google Play store. You can also buy them at over 500 Best Buy stores across the U.S and over 30 PC World and Currys stores in the U.K.
So if you ever felt it was too complicated and too expensive to have an additional computer (or two), we hope you (and the entire family) will give the new Chromebook a try.
Posted by Sundar Pichai, SVP, Chrome & Apps
*You will have 100 GB of free storage for 2 years, starting on the date you redeem the offer on eligible Chrome devices.
Moving, singing and dreaming with a Chrome experiment from Cirque du Soleil
September 19, 2012
Cirque du Soleil
stages impressive live performances that challenge the laws of physics and the limits of the human body. Today, at Google’s
Big Tent event
in New York, the wonder of
Cirque du Soleil
transcended the confines of real world performance and embraced the entire web through
Movi.Kanti.Revo
, a new sensory Chrome experiment crafted by
Cirque du Soleil
and developed by Subatomic Systems.
Movi.Kanti.Revo comes from the
Esperanto
words for moving, singing and dreaming. In the experiment, you can follow a mysterious character through a beautiful and surreal world to encounter enchanting
Cirque du Soleil
performances and live an emotional journey made of love, doubts, hopes and dreams.
Breaking with the tradition of point and click web browsing, you can navigate through this unique experience simply by gesturing in front of your device’s camera. This was made possible using the
getUserMedia
feature of WebRTC, a technology supported by modern browsers, that, with your permission, gives web pages access to your computer’s camera and microphone without installing any additional software.
To bring the creativity of
Cirque du Soleil
to the browser, we mixed traditional HTML and CSS with 3D transitions and HTML5 APIs. If you’re more technology-curious, you can get a backstage tour via our
Chromium blog
and a brand new
technical case study
.
Chrome Experiments
like Movi.Kanti.Revo demonstrate how the web has evolved into a beautiful creative canvas underpinned by continuously evolving web technologies. For optimal viewing, you’ll need to use a computer that has a camera and a browser that supports WebRTC, like
Chrome
. You can also access the experiment from a tablet or a mobile phone for a slightly different yet still beautiful experience.
Start your journey at
www.movikantirevo.com
.
Posted by Christos Apartoglou, Marketing Manager
(Cross-posted on the
Google Chrome blog
)
Conquer the back to school blues with Google tools
August 9, 2012
August is both an end to the lush freedom of summer and the beginning of another year of student life. As a rising senior at the University of Florida, this time is both exciting and anxiety-inducing. Even though I’m looking forward to many aspects of the school year, there are certain things about college—from book budgets to calculus study sessions—that can make it a headache.
But this fall, I feel more prepared to face the daily student grind. This summer, I had the chance to intern on the communications team at Google and got the inside track on some tools and tricks to make school a snap. For example, did you know there was an
extension for Chrome
that helps you stay focused on your work? Yup, didn’t think so! So I thought I’d share some of my new favorite tips—my “Survival Guide for Student Life”—to help make it easier for all students to get through the coming months.
Easy ways to coordinate your social and extracurricular life
Google+ Hangouts enables you to video chat with up to nine friends from your desktop,
mobile phone or tablet
. A great feature for when your club needs to discuss some last minute changes for the upcoming meeting.
Stay on task with
Hangout Apps
like
Symphonical
, which provides a digital wall of sticky notes for virtual brainstorm sessions.
With
Google+ Events
, invite all your friends to your get-together and attach a personalized video greeting to the invitation. During the event, photos from the party can be uploaded to the event page in real-time using Party Mode. So if you have to miss a party due to a study session, you can avoid that pesky FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)!
Let your friends know what you’re up to by sharing your Google Calendar with them. Or create a shared calendar just for your study group.
Stay organized and efficient—and be prepared for the unexpected
Stop the email flood from the ridiculous number of email lists you signed up for using Gmail’s
auto-unsubscribe
feature.
No more sore eyes from crowded inboxes—Gmail's default mode is
Priority Inbox
so it automatically sorts your important messages for you.
Cite your sources! Use Google Docs’
research tool
to investigate highlighted portions of your essay and then generate a citation.
Group projects call for collaboration. With
Google Drive
, you can use shared folders so everyone can access materials without having to email updates to each other.
Using your laptop or phone, you can send any documents or presentations saved on your Google Drive to
Fedex
to be printed, thanks to Google Cloud Print.
Get what you need and where you’re going faster
For those of you starting at university this year, Google Maps has 360-degree panoramic
Street View imagery
for many campuses around the world to give you a preview of your new stomping grounds.
Back to school shopping is one of the most fun things about August. Find your way in and out of malls and department stores with
indoor Google Maps
on Android devices.
We college students can’t go too long without homemade food. Search for your next flight home with
Flight Search
. (If flying makes you a bit queasy, track any care packages by typing the tracking code into the Google search bar.)
Stay informed with
Google Now
. This feature, available on Android devices running Jelly Bean, can update you when the next bus is coming or provide the weather forecast for Saturday’s big game.
Reading, writing, 'rithmetic and... YouTube
Don’t break the bank on textbooks. Google Play has millions of FREE (emphasis is important) books readily available such as "
Pride and Prejudice
" and "
Gulliver’s Travels
."
With the new
Nexus 7 tablet
, you can take your
Google Play
books, music, movies, TV shows, magazines and apps (like
My Majors
and
doubleTwist Alarm Clock
) with you, wherever you go.
Locate hard-to-find books online or at a library near you with
Book Search
.
Put Chrome to work with educational
apps
.
Not a fan of traditional note taking?
Chromebooks
are a super fast and virus-proof laptop. It starts seconds after you boot it and will last through a whole day of classes.
A fair portion of us students aren’t fans of mental math. Type any equation into the Google search box to get the answers you need. It can
graph functions
as well.
We know we spend too much of our time watching funny videos on YouTube, but there are video channels that can actually help us learn more about a variety of subjects—from
astrophysics
to
world history
. Find more educational channels at
YouTube EDU
.
I’m resting a bit easier now that I know there are tools that make student life a bit less overwhelming. Here’s hoping you, too, feel armed to face the fall semester—and beyond—with Google in your backpack.
Posted by Jenise Araujo, BOLD Intern, Communications Team
Explore “This Exquisite Forest” with Chrome and London’s Tate Modern
July 19, 2012
This morning, in partnership with the
Tate Modern
in London, we released an online art experiment called
This Exquisite Forest
, which lets you collaborate with others to create animations and stories using a web-based drawing tool.
Seven renowned artists from Tate’s collection, including
Bill Woodrow
,
Dryden Goodwin
,
Julian Opie
,
Mark Titchner
,
Miroslaw Balka
,
Olafur Eliasson
and
Raqib Shaw
, have created short “seed” animations. From these seeds, anyone can add new animations that extend the story or branch it in a new direction. Or you can start a tree of your own with some friends. As more sequences are added, the animations grow into trees, creating a potentially infinite number of possible endings to each animation.
In addition to the website, an interactive installation will open on July 23 in the Level 3 gallery of Tate Modern. Trees seeded by Tate artists—and the contributions from the public—will be on display as large-scale projections. Gallery visitors may also contribute using digital drawing stations.
This Exquisite Forest
uses several of Google Chrome’s advanced
HTML5 and JavaScript features
to produce a unique content creation and exploration experience. For example, the Web Audio API makes it possible for contributors to generate music to accompany their submissions. The project also runs on
Google App Engine
and
Google Cloud Storage
.
Please try it out at
ExquisiteForest.com
and contribute your own animation to help the forest grow.
Posted by Aaron Koblin, Google Creative Lab, Data Arts Team
Web Lab: the magic of the Internet, brought to life
July 18, 2012
Inspiration comes in many forms and can influence you in unexpected ways. I can trace my own interest in programming to
Babbage’s Analytical Engine
, which fascinated me on my childhood visits to the
Science Museum
in London.
This idea that science and technology can inspire people is one that we hold close to our hearts. It’s also the thought behind a new exhibition we’re launching today online and at the Science Museum in London. We hope to inspire people around the world by showcasing the magic that the Internet makes possible.
Launching in beta,
Web Lab
is a set of five physical installations housed in the Science Museum in London. You can interact with them in person at the museum, or from anywhere in the world at
chromeweblab.com
. By opening up the museum experience to the world online, Web Lab doesn’t play by the usual rules—a visitor’s location and museum opening hours no longer matter.
Each of the five experiments—Universal Orchestra, Data Tracer, Sketchbots, Teleporter and Lab Tag Explorer—showcases a modern web technology found in Chrome to explore a particular theme in computer science. For example, the Universal Orchestra experiment uses
WebSockets
to demonstrate real time collaboration as people from around the world make music together on custom-built robotic instruments housed in the Science Museum.
Please join us online or at the Science Museum in London (entry is free), and let us know what you think. True to its name, the year-long exhibition is a working lab, and we’ll continue to tinker with it based on your feedback.
Here’s to the next wave of Internet invention!
Posted by Jayme Goldstein, Product Marketing Manager, Chrome, on behalf of the Web Lab team
(Cross-posted from the
Chrome Blog
)
Chrome & Apps @ Google I/O: Your web, everywhere
June 28, 2012
This morning we kicked off day 2 at I/O to talk about the open web—one of the most amazing
platforms
we have seen. To put things in perspective, today there are more than 2.3 billion users on the web—a staggering number, but it only represents one-third of the world’s population. There’s still a lot of opportunity for growth.
Chrome, which we
built
from the ground up as a browser for the modern web, has seen tremendous adoption. Thanks to many of you, Chrome has nearly doubled since last year’s I/O—from 160 million to 310 million active users around the world. As more and more of you live your lives online, we want to to help make it easy for you to live in the cloud...seamlessly.
A better web to your web
One of the most exciting shifts is the explosion of the mobile web. When Chrome first launched, many people were tethered to a single computer. Today most people use multiple computers, smartphones and tablets. With that trend in mind, our goal is to offer you a consistent, personalized web experience across all devices. In February, we
released
Chrome for Android, which
exited beta
this week and is the standard browser on
Nexus 7
, a powerful new tablet.
Starting today,
Chrome is also available
for your iPhone and iPad. That means you can enjoy the same speedy and simple Chrome experience across your devices. Also, by
signing in
to Chrome, you can easily move from your desktop, laptop, smartphone and tablet and have all of your stuff with you.
Living in the cloud
A modern browser is just one ingredient of living online seamlessly. We continue to invest in building cloud apps, which many people rely on daily. Gmail, which launched in 2004, has evolved from a simple email service to the primary mode of communication for more than 425 million active users globally. We’ve also built a suite of apps to help users live in the cloud, including Google Documents, Spreadsheets, Calendar and more.
At the hub of this cloud experience is
Google Drive
—a place where you can create, share, collaborate and keep all your stuff. Ten weeks ago we launched Drive and in 10 weeks, more than 10 million users have signed up. Today
we introduced more capabilities
, including offline editing for Google documents and a Drive app for your iPhone and iPad. Drive is also seamlessly integrated into
Chrome OS
. With Drive available across Mac, Windows, Chrome OS, Android and iOS, it’s even easier to get things done in the cloud from anywhere.
Going Google
With the help of Chrome and and the growth of Google apps, people are discovering new ways to get things done faster, connect with others, and access their information no matter what device they’re using. This is what we call “
going Google
.” And it’s not just individual people. Schools, government institutions and businesses—big and small—are also “going Google.” Sixty-six of the top 100 universities in the U.S., government institutions in 45 out of 50 U.S. states, and a total of 5 million business are using
Google Apps
to live and work in the cloud.
It’s an exciting time to be living online. To celebrate this ongoing journey, here’s a quick look back at the evolution of Chrome:
None of what we shared onstage at I/O today would be possible without the awe-inspiring work being done by a global community of developers and the continued support of our users. We can’t wait to see what you do next.
Posted by Sundar Pichai, SVP, Chrome & Apps
Next step in the Chrome OS journey
May 29, 2012
Last year we announced
a new kind of computer
This is the next step
All of you
haiku
fans (like many of us on the Chrome team) can stop here; the rest can read on for more details.
A year ago we
introduced
a new model of computing with the launch of Chromebooks. We’ve heard from many of you who’ve enjoyed the speed, simplicity and security of your Chromebooks at home, at school or at work. (Thanks for all the wonderful feedback and stories!) Today, we wanted to share some developments with you—new hardware, a major software update and many more robust apps—as we continue on our journey to make computers much better.
Next-generation devices
Our partner Samsung has just announced a new
Chromebook
and the industry’s first
Chromebox
. Like its predecessor, the newest Chromebook is a fast and portable laptop for everyday users. The Chromebox is a compact, powerful and versatile desktop perfect for the home or office.
Speed
Speed is integral to the Chrome experience. The new Chromebook and Chromebox, based on Intel Core processors, are nearly three times as fast as the first-generation Chromebooks. And support for hardware-accelerated graphics, a built-from-scratch multi-touch trackpad and an open-source firmware stack provide a much faster and more responsive computing experience. The new Chromebook boots in less than seven seconds and resumes instantly. With the Chromebox, you can be on a video conference while continuing to play your favorite role-playing game on the side.
An app-centric user interface
With the new
user interface
you can easily find and launch apps, and use them alongside your browser or other apps. You can pin commonly-used apps for quick access, display multiple windows side-by-side or experience your favorite apps in full-screen mode without any distractions.
Be much more productive...or not
Get more stuff done, online or offline: With the built-in ability to view Microsoft Office files and dozens of the
most common file formats
, you can access all your content without the hassle of installing additional software.
Google Drive
makes it easy to create, store and share with just one click. Drive will be seamlessly integrated with the File Manager and support offline access with the next release of Chrome OS in six weeks. With Google Docs offline support (rolling out over the next few weeks), you can keep working on your documents even when offline and seamlessly sync back up when you re-connect. In addition, there are hundreds of
offline-capable web apps
in the Chrome Web Store.
Have more fun: The revamped media player and a built-in photo editor and uploader enable you to easily play and manage your personal media collections. Through the Chrome Web Store, you can access entertainment apps such as
Google Play
,
Netflix
,
Kindle Cloud Reader
and
Pandora
, and thousands of games including popular games like
Angry Birds
and console titles such as
Bastion
.
Carry your other computers...inside your Chromebook: With
Chrome Remote Desktop Beta
, you can now securely connect to your PC or Mac from your Chromebook or Chromebox. With the underlying
VP8
technology, it’s almost like you’re in front of your other computers in real time.
The (always) new computer
We’ve released eight stable updates over the past year, adding a number of major features and hundreds of improvements to all Chromebooks through our seamless auto-update mechanism. There’s a lot more on the way, so all you need to do is sit back and enjoy the benefits of the (always) new computer.
For those who want to try the Chromebook and Chromebox first-hand, we’re expanding the Chrome Zone experience centers. In the U.S., Chromebooks will be available to try out in select Best Buy stores in the coming weeks. In the U.K., they’re now available in a growing list of
PC World and Currys stores
.
Starting today, you can get the new Chromebook and Chromebox from our
online retail partners
in the U.S. and U.K., and in other select countries over the coming weeks.
Posted by Linus Upson, Vice President, Engineering and Caesar Sengupta, Director of Product Management
(Cross-posted from the
Chrome Blog
)
Celebrating our super-mom users
May 10, 2012
These days, moms use technology in a ton of creative and resourceful ways to keep their families running smoothly. As a working mom myself, I use Google Calendar to keep track of our three busy kids and all their different activities, sports and schools. Technology also keeps us connected—I’m always amazed at how a Google+ Hangout between my kids in California and their grandparents in France can make the distance between them feel so small.
In celebration of Mother’s Day this weekend, we thought we’d applaud the many tech-savvy super-moms out there by sharing a few of their stories.
Heather Fay, using Google+ to make her dream a reality
Heather
, from New Haven, Conn., is a stay-at-home mom of two who has always had a passion for music and performing. Until recently, her music career took a backseat to her responsibilities at home, but when she signed up for
Google+
in 2011, she realized she could find an audience using
Hangouts
—without stepping foot outside of her home. Now Heather can sing and play her guitar for people, no matter where they live in the world. Between changing diapers and
cleaning up spilled cereal
, she’s on Google+ engaging with more than 13,000 fans, collaborating with other musicians on an epic
live concert
and sharing the occasional
mommy woes
. You can find out more about her music on
Google Play
, where you can also hear a tribute to her daughter called “
Ruby’s Song
.”
Sarah Stocker, bringing robots to life with Chrome
Sarah, from San Francisco, is the co-founder of
My Robot Nation
, a Chrome web app that lets you create a unique robot online, then have it printed in full-color 3D and mailed to your door. When developing My Robot Nation, Sarah employed some of the most advanced web technologies, such as
WebGL
, to bring the 3D experience to the browser; however, making the app easy for people to use was paramount. Enter Sarah’s 10-year-old son Max. He designed the first
robot
and was My Robot Nation’s first “customer.” The fact that Max could create something online and then hold it in his hands made Sarah feel like the coolest mom ever—and he’s already told her that he wants to be an inventor, just like her.
Carol Galland Wildey and Danielle Yates, founders of Headcovers Unlimited
Almost 25 years ago, at the age of 40, Carol was diagnosed with breast cancer. After losing her hair due to chemotherapy treatments, she and her daughter Danielle realized how few options there were to help cancer patients look and feel like themselves throughout their treatment. In 1994, she and Danielle started Headcovers Unlimited, selling hats, wigs and scarves for patients with hair loss. Danielle helped take the business online in 1995, launching
www.headcovers.com
. Based in League City, Tex., the Internet helps them reach women in more than 60 countries; and more than half their customers have come through online advertising with AdWords.
Betty Givan, preserving family recipes with YouTube
For years, Betty has been cataloguing and saving family recipes to pass along to her own daughter. At first, she used a scrapbook of recipe cards, but one day, while making nachos for a football game, she decided to make a video of the process and asked her daughter to film it. Soon, she was filming and posting her favorites on a
YouTube channel
and today, it’s become her full-time business from her Richmond, Ky. home. With more than 1,100 videos of her southern cooking recipes and 16 million video views, Betty has become a mom to people all around the world.
Karen Castelletti, Googler reunited with her birth mother using Google Search
Not only can search help you find what you’re looking for, it can also help you reconnect with the people you care about. Karen grew up knowing she was adopted, and always thought it would be too difficult to find and connect with her birth parents. Then, when she was 22, she received a message from her birth mom, Mary Ellen. Mary Ellen found Karen's name through public birth records, and used Google Search to find one of Karen's social networking profiles. They reconnected in time for Mary Ellen to watch Karen graduate from college alongside her adoptive parents, and today they speak regularly.
I hope the stories of these super-moms have inspired you to use technology in ways that keep you connected, organized and creative, so you can spend more time doing the things that matter—having fun with your kids!
Posted by Francoise Brougher, Vice President of SMB Sales and Operations and proud mom of three young boys
Introducing Chrome for Android
February 7, 2012
In 2008, we
launched
Google Chrome to help make the web better. We’re excited that millions of people around the world use Chrome as their primary browser and we want to keep improving that experience. Today, we're introducing Chrome for Android Beta, which brings many of the things you’ve come to love about Chrome to your Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich phone or tablet. Like the desktop version, Chrome for Android Beta is focused on speed and simplicity, but it also features seamless sign-in and sync so you can take your personalized web browsing experience with you wherever you go, across devices.
Speed
With Chrome for Android, you can search, navigate and browse fast—
Chrome fast
. You can scroll through web pages as quickly as you can flick your finger. When searching, your top search results are loaded in the background as you type so pages appear instantly. And of course, both search and navigation can all be done quickly from the Chrome
omnibox
.
Simplicity
Chrome for Android is designed from the ground up for mobile devices. We reimagined tabs so they fit just as naturally on a small-screen phone as they do on a larger screen tablet. You can flip or swipe between an unlimited number of tabs using intuitive gestures, as if you’re holding a deck of cards in the palm of your hands, each one a new window to the web.
One of the biggest pains of mobile browsing is selecting the correct link out of several on a small-screen device. Link Preview does away with hunting and pecking for links on a web page by automatically zooming in on links to make selecting the precise one easier.
And as with Chrome on desktop, we built Chrome for Android with privacy in mind from the beginning, including incognito mode for private browsing and fine-grained privacy options (tap menu icon, ‘Settings,’ and then ‘Privacy’).
Sign in
You can now bring your personalized Chrome experience with you to your Android phone or tablet. If you sign in to Chrome on your Android device, you can:
View open tabs: Access the tabs you left open on your computer (also signed into Chrome)—picking up exactly where you left off.
Get smarter suggestions: If you visit a site often on your computer, you'll also get an autocomplete suggestion for it on your mobile device, so you can spend less time typing.
Sync bookmarks: Conveniently access your favorite sites no matter where you are or which device you’re using.
Chrome is now available in Beta from
Android Market
, in select countries and languages for
phones
and tablets with Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. We’re eager to hear your feedback. Finally, we look forward to working closely with the
developer community
to create a better web on a platform that defines mobile.
Posted by Sundar Pichai, SVP, Chrome and Apps
(Cross-posted from the
Chrome blog
and on the
Mobile blog
)
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