Samsung Chromebook: Hands-On Visual Tour -- InformationWeek

The first look at the new Samsung Chromebook.  Pretty sweet looking piece of tech.  I still think they're a little overpriced though.  I though Chrome OS based netbooks would come in at about the $200 price mark.  While the Samsung entry is pretty sleek (can you say Mac-book like?), I don't think the higher price($500) is justified.

We'll see what the market will support.  In the mean time, head over here to take a look at the pretty pictures:

Samsung Chromebook: Hands-On Visual Tour -- InformationWeek

Top 10 reasons Chromebook will forever change corporate laptop use | Enterprise Features

With just over 1 week to go until the general availability of the Chromebook (Acer and Samsung versions) running Chrome OS, there is this article to peruse listing the Top 10 reasons that the Chromebook is a great idea for corporate use.

Top 10 reasons Chromebook will forever change corporate laptop use | Enterprise Features

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Another step in the browser-based desktop revolution

Citrix announced that their Citrix Receiver will be available in the Chrome Web Store soon.  The Citrix Receiver will work with Citrix servers to allow your Chromebook (CR-48) to run enterprise applications natively.  This fits in very nicely with the Corporate lease option of $28/mo. for chromebooks.  Now you can outfit an entire sales fleet with Chromebooks, and the users can run your company's software right on the Chromebook via the Citrix Receiver application.  And if your company avails itself of Google Apps, you will find that collaboration on work documents and applications will lead to greater productivity.

Read the story here on the Official Google Enterprise Blog:

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Another step in the browser-based desktop revolution

Company Backing the Chrome OS Model

A story from a company which has embraced the Chromebook to get work done.  Hear how they have determined that Google Apps give them everything they need to run their business:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt579RU7Ot0&feature=player_embedded

Next-gen Chrome OS build hits Google's Cr-48 notebooks - Computerworld Blogs

As I've mentioned before, I'm on the development channel which has had the changes mentioned in this Computerworld Blog, but this article is a nice synopsis of what was rolled onto the Beta channel over the weekend.  Getting very close to a stable channel release, I would think.

Next-gen Chrome OS build hits Google's Cr-48 notebooks - Computerworld Blogs

Google Chromebooks: Aimed directly at Microsoft's PC upgrade cycle for $28 a month | ZDNet

Another article which examines the cost of the Chromebook in relation to the Microsoft money suck.  It describes how it is very attractive to use Chromebooks that are always updated with the latest version of the operating system, and that have a cost-free upgrade plan included.

Check it out:

Google Chromebooks: Aimed directly at Microsoft's PC upgrade cycle for $28 a month | ZDNet

Five Reasons why Google's Linux Chromebook is a Windows killer | ZDNet

Another very good article on why the Chromebook is a great platform, and how it fits into the enterprise:

Five Reasons why Google's Linux Chromebook is a Windows killer | ZDNet

Why Chromebooks do have a role in your enterprise - JavaWorld

Now that the Chrome OS pilot program has been in existence for about 6 months, news of Chromebook releases from Samsung and Acer were announced at Google I/O 2011, and the technical press has been filled with reviews and opinions about the necessity of such machines.  As readers of my blog know, I'm a big fan of Chrome OS and my CR-48.  I have 2 laptops, a netbook, a MacBook and my CR-48 in the house, in addition to 2 desktop machines, and I use my CR-48 almost exclusively.  I think that the ability to use this machine as much as I do is a testament to the fact that most people use the internet primarily, and other, non-internet functions are secondary.  There are those who claim that the Chromebook becomes a paper weight as soon as you loose internet connectivity, but by the time these machines hit the market, I believe that Google will have the off-line capabilities ready to go, or very nearly so.  And what this means is that you can continue to work on your documents and email until you reconnect to the net, at which time the work you have done syncs to the cloud.  Read the following article from JavaWorld to get their take on the Chromebooks fit in the enterprise.

Why Chromebooks do have a role in your enterprise - JavaWorld

New Development Channel Update Fixes Some Problems

Image by lewong2000 via FlickrThere was a new Development Channel release at the end of last week (3/17) which for me has fixed a couple of glaring problems.  The previous release had the annoying habit of continually restarting every time I would bring it out of sleep mode.  It had something to do with reconnecting to the wireless network in my house, which is a problem that has persisted since I got my cr-48.  I would need to disconnect and reconnect my wireless in order to get any data.  And then the release came that would make my cr-48 crash completely while trying to reconnect to the wireless.  So, I'm happy to report that this release doesn't crash my cr-48 on wake-from-sleep, and even successfully reconnects to the wireless occasionally.  This is something that still needs some work, but it appears to be getting close to completion.

Another problem is that the location aware features of the cr-48 crash the cr-48.  If you try to use any extensions or apps that are location aware, the crash occurs.  Some examples are the full-page web app from the weather underground, and Twitter if you try to use location stamping on your tweets.  This problem has been around for the last two releases on the dev channel, so hopefully a fix is forth-coming.

Overall, the CR-48 experience is getting better and better.  I have noticed an increase in the speed and responsiveness of the system, with quick redraws on loading of web pages.  Flash-heavy pages still seem a little choppy, and scrolling with the track pad while loading one of these pages is jerky at best.  Scrolling with the down arrow key is much better.  Speaking of flash, the newer dev channel releases include to different flash engines: one called pepper and the "regular one."  In order for most flash pages to work, the pepper flash needs to be disabled.

Cloud printing still works well for me, but the about:flags print preview page is still broken.  Luckily for me, most of what I print is pdf, so I can already see what the printed output will look like.

The last couple of dev channel releases have also seen the addition of a widget in the status bar that looks like a little square.  Much has been asked and answered on many blogs as to the purpose of this widget.  It is, in fact, a window changer that becomes active when you have multiple windows open.  It somewhat mimics the task of the "next-window" button in the top row of the keyboard, but unlike that button, it will not display crosh shell windows when used.  So if you have a crosh window open, you still need to use the "next-window" button to see it.

Oh, one more thing:  the slideshow url still doesn't work, so you need to use the trusty file:/// url to see any screenshots or image files that you may have.  It will be nice when this is fixed; a lot of users are complaining that screenshots don't work, when in fact it is the slideshow functionality that is broken.

As alway, anxiously awaiting the next update to see what goodies it brings!

Related articles

• New Chrome OS update finally fixes the Cr-48's touchpad issues (engadget.com)
• Location-aware technology will be big trend for mobile advertising (creativedepartment.com)
• Google Chrome Dev channel update brings new logo to Linux (omgubuntu.co.uk)

The Developer Channel

Image via WikipediaA couple of days ago I made the decision to run my CR-48 on the developer channel as opposed to the beta channel.  I know that you run the risk of more bugs in the developer channel, but I was anxious to see how the extended file system worked.
So I made the switch and immediately downloaded the developer version of Chrome OS for the CR-48 and found that the extended file system worked well for the USB flash drives and SD cards I inserted.The built-in file browser pops up and displays the contents of the flash drive and clicking on a file in the browser displays it appropriately in the browser window.  Nice job Google.
But that wasn't all.  Last night there was an update available for the developer channel.  I installed that one also (actually, it kind of happens automatically), but I'm not sure what's changed in this version. The trackpad seems to be more responsive. And some of the fonts seems sharper, but that's kind of a subjective observation.

I'll poke around and see if I can find out what might have changed in the latest version of the developer channel.  Love the CR-48.  It's everything I hoped it would be so far!

Here's a screen shot of the current versions installed on my CR-48:

Related articles

• Switching to the Dev Channel in Chrome OS (thechromesource.com)
• Chrome OS Dev Update Brings File System Support, More Experiments (thechromesource.com)

WiFi Problem on the CR-48

Image via WikipediaOne of the annoying things that I have noticed on my CR-48, and that I have reported to Google, is the inability of the OS to keep a WiFi connection active when the computer goes into standby mode.  What normally happens is this:  I'll be using the notebook, and get distracted by something else for a few minutes.  The computer goes into standby mode, with the display off and the little blue power light blinking.  I'll touch the touch pad and the computer wakes back up.  The network icon still shows me connected to my home wireless router. But at this point, I can no longer get any data.  Refreshing web pages result in page not found errors.  I must manually go into the settings window, disconnect the wireless and reconnect.  At this point, everything is back to normal.  Other computers using my wireless network do not exhibit this behavior so I have to surmise that it is a CR-48 problem.  I sent in feedback, but I don't see this issue listed in the known problems area of the Chrome forums.

Is anyone else experiencing this type of behavior?  Let me know.

An OS Update On My Google CR-48 Notebook!

Last night, while working on my Google CR-48 notebook computer, I noticed that the wrench icon had changed.  There was a little orange dot (at least it looked like a dot) below the wrench.  So I opened the menu and found that by clicking on the About entry that a new version of the Chrome OS had been installed, and I only needed to restart my notebook for the changes to take effect.

So, I restarted immediately.  And what did I see?  Nothing obvious, but I did realize quite quickly that the issues with the track pad seem to have been resolved.  I can now smoothly scroll up and down using two fingers and the right click capability of tapping with two fingers seems much more accurate.  This fix is huge for me since it's been a pain to scroll when reading long web pages or editing documents or spreadsheets.  I had found a work-around that I described in an earlier post, but having the track pad work as designed is much preferred.

I don't know yet what else has been fixed.  I'll do a little research and experimentation to see if I can find anything else.  Until then, I need to do some real work.  Back later!

Related articles

• Here's The Cr-48, The First Chrome OS Laptop You Can Never BUy [Cr48] (gizmodo.com)
• Google Chrome Cr-48 Shipments Stopped At 15k - Could This Be The Reason Why? (lockergnome.com)
• More Chrome Notebooks On The Way (webpronews.com)