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How to Enable Automatic Google Services Login Through Chrome 15
Posted on 25. Aug, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 
7 Comments
It’s not surprising that Google is attempting to enable tighter integration with Chrome and it’s massive array of services. One of the newly discovered settings within Chrome 15 Canary for Windows is the ability to automatically login to Google Sites through a setting configuration in Chrome’s menus. Here’s how to access it.
From the preferences menu item under the wrench icon, head over to the Personal Stuff tab on the left hand side. That’s where you’ll find your password settings.
From there, you see a setting that allows you to automatically login to Google sites just below the password configuration settings.
One thing to note: although this setting seems to enable some sort of pass-through for authentication, you’ll often find yourself still having to click “Sign-in” on many of Google’s services. So while you don’t have to constantly enter in your password credentials every time, it can be a bit misleading at first because it isn’t as “automatic” as one might think.
Often times, once you log in to one Google service there isn’t much of a problem accessing others, at least in my experience. Nevertheless, this may be a new method, or perhaps security precaution, that will base a user’s authentication via a browser instance which may not be a bad idea.
Do you think that enabling automatic Google services login in Chrome is going to be useful?
via Cougar Abogado
Is Cloud Print Going to be Held Off on Chrome OS?
Posted on 27. Jul, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 12 Comments
…And so how am I supposed to print on my Chromebook? Judging from this Chromium Authors issue submission, it looks like over the past week that the Google Cloud Print Service is going to be removed. I’m currently running Chrome Stable and Chrome Canary for the Mac and I can see Google Cloud Print on both browser instances.
Yet on my Chromebook I can still see the service in the “Under the Hood” tab in Settings. The fact that the issue submission says that the “Cloud Print component app should not show up on Chrome OS.” is a bit concerning to me to say the least.
No one every really said that Google Cloud Print is a slam dunk and ready for primetime. But this really blows out a lot of functionality when you consider that you might not be able to print from a Chromebook and you cannot watch Netflix.
I know I’m being critical here, but let’s be serious. Without some of these functions Chrome OS is likely not as useful as perhaps advertised. I get the feeling that the launch of the commercialized Chrome OS platform for Chromebooks was rushed into action far more quickly than it perhaps should have been. Am I grateful that they did not hold it off any longer? Yes, I am. But that still doesn’t take away from the drawbacks that the operating system is experiencing.
Since Chromebooks don’t have a printer port, I would see that removing Cloud Print, even temporarily, is a major problem. This would be especially true in a business environment. While I believe that there is serious potential for Chrome OS in the enterprise, the harsh reality is that those types of users have the disposition where they will need to print things whenever they can.
How do you feel about the overall development and drawbacks of Chrome OS since its commercialize launch? Let the discussion begin in the comments!
UPDATE: As it turns out, the answer asked in the headline for this post is a resounding “no”. It’s not that Google Cloud Print is being held off, as in the comments below you’ll see that it is actually the Cloud Print Proxy service. “They’re simply preventing cloud proxy code from being included with Chrome OS builds, this isn’t turning cloud print off on Chrome OS.”
via @kendfinger
Announcing Our Partnership with ConceivablyTech
Posted on 30. Jun, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 4 Comments
ConceivablyTech is an independently-owned and edited blog that focuses on cloud computing technology. Its focus is more wide ranging than this site, yet still offers a great deal of insight into the Google Chrome and Chrome OS universe. Today, I am happy to announce that thechromesource will be partnering with ConceivablyTech and its editor, Wolfgang Gruener, to provide even more Chrome-related content than ever before.
This means that you will start to see posts on this site from ConceivablyTech’s staff writers on this site. This includes analysis from contributors such as Kurt Bakke, Daniel Bailey and of course Wolfgang Gruener. The focus of this site will not change, but you will start to see more content that pertains to the subject matter we write about here.
On a professional level, this is an important step in the evolution of this blog. And personally, I have respected Wolfgang for some time and the angle with which he writes and edits, so the readers here can only benefit from the fact that even more high quality writing will be posted here than ever before.
I look forward to hearing everyone’s comments on this.
An Ecosystem Can Be Built Around Chromebooks and Customer Service for Companies
Posted on 30. Jun, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 2 Comments
In an increasingly digitized society that we live in, the announcement today of the offering of Chromebooks on Virgin American flights as well as availability at the NYC Ace Hotel property strikes me as a total win-win between customers and businesses. And I’m not just talking about these two companies. Previously, I have waxed a bit upon how Chromebooks and traveling could become key companions. In my own experience, I’ve found that my Samsung Series 5 is indispensable when I’m on the road.
Yes, the Series 5 cannot do everything that I need. But what it can do is just enough. Just enough for me to be able to get five hours of work done in an airport terminal, send off a quick email late at night in my hotel, and lightweight enough to carry around in a slipcase like the total technology-driven person that I am.
This type of activity described above is the use case I’ve been talking about ever since Chrome OS was first open sourced and when I started this blog. I personally believe in this technology. There are critics for these devices, and the concerns are warranted. But when I hear more and more about use cases and the example that the director of IT for the city of Orlando, who is piloting Chromebooks, saying that he doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to take back Chrome OS device now that they have been deployed sounds extremely promising.
Sure, we may be entering a world where you see a lot of people in public places and in business establishments with their noses in Chromebooks, but that’s the world we live. That’s digital progress. That’s human beings being more productive – and getting more things accomplished than we ever could before. Yes, some of these things that can be done on Chromebooks can also be done on smartphones, but I believe the screen real estate combined with a full keyboard lends to a much better user experience. I would really struggle to write this 300-plus word post on my smartphone, that’s for sure.
Bottom line here? With Chromebooks being offered by companies they can improve customer service with a great communication tool, increase their sales and overall have much more customer satisfaction all by offering the use of these devices on the temporary.
How do you feel about the synergy between companies, customers and Chromebooks? Share with us your thoughts.
Video: How to Switch into Developer Mode on the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook
Posted on 22. Jun, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 4 Comments
The Samsung Series 5 is not built like the Cr-48 in the respect that you can just swap out the battery. Because of this, Google and the designers from Samsung decided to put the developer toggle switch in a different spot for this device. It will be interesting to see where they put it in the Acer Cromia, which is reportedly getting a name change and being delayed until July. We’ll see about that, since the first delay was extremely abrupt and suggests that Acer wants a lot more information about Chromebook sales before they sell them. But without further ado, check out where to find this switch.
Once you’ve done this, you’ll need create a recovery USB drive to load a new image of Chrome OS on the machine. This image will not be verified, and therefore you’ll be able to root the device using the normal Linux commands. First, you’ll need to go into the terminal by hitting CTRL+ALT+T. Then type “shell” to drop to a full bash shell. You’ll be the special user named chronos. Type “sudo su” and your rooted!
Did you have any problems doing this on your Chromebook? Let us know in the comments.
New For Users Considering the Switch to Chrome: Non-Admin Chrome Frame
Posted on 20. Jun, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
Google has announced today the release of non-admin Chrome Frame, something that the company said they would be launching during the Google I/O developer conference back in May. Basically, this means that anyone who uses Internet Explorer can now get some of the benefits of Chrome in terms of performance regardless of if they have administrative rights on their machine. This is done through a helper process that runs in the background that is part of startup.
You can get this new version of Chrome Frame right here. Right now this is a developer channel version only, although a stable version is coming soon.
Chrome Frame works within Internet Explorer to provide advanced HTML5 capabilities. This new release is another way for Google to circumvent some of the objections that administrators and users have had about switching to Chrome. One of the major issues is proprietary software compatibility. As in, many organizations have developed customized software that works in or a part of the browser. Often times this software was created with IE in mind.
The use of non-admin Chrome Frame is a distinct option for those who still feel like Chrome is not ready for the enterprise. Of course, there are other reasons why some want to stick with Internet Explorer.
Can you think of other reasons? Do you think that admins will think of non-admin Chrome Frame as a threat, or just an evolutionary step?
New Web-Based Task Manager Coming to Chrome
Posted on 17. Jun, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 2 Comments
Just came across this. In case you’re not aware, you can access the task manager from the wrench menu by going to Tools and then Task Manager. You can also hit Shift+Esc in Windows, and ⌘ Cmd+⌥ Opt+Esc in Mac.
It’s Google’s stated goal (somewhere, post the link if you find it) to make menus all HTML-based. There’s a good reason for that: it lessens the differences that users find across platforms. A menu or window should in theory look the same whether you are using a Series 5, Chrome Stable on your Windows PC or its Mac and Linux siblings.
What do you think about web-based menus and windows in Chrome?
via @ruslanrudenko
Video: My First Look at the Samsung Series 5
Posted on 17. Jun, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 2 Comments
I received my Series 5 yesterday, and I got a chance to take it out of the box real quick.
Why is it that the battery on these never have a charge out of the box? Anyone know?
Did You Go to Google I/O? Relax, You’re Still Getting a Chromebook
Posted on 16. Jun, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
Nary a word has been said about Google I/O attendees getting their free Samsung Series 5 that they were promised back in May during the annual developers conference. Until now. The Google I/O Twitter account posted yesterday that attendee should be getting an email regarding their device in the coming week.
I had assumed that attendees would be the first ones to receive their Chromebooks, but as it turns out an exclusive sale as well as some special promotions have taken precedence. The goal of this seems pretty clear to me: Google is trying to forecast demand with as much data as possible.
My hunch? Initial supplies of the Chroembook are very low. And they’re only coming in white until there is a manufacturing run on the other colors of black and “Titan Silver”.
That’s too bad, because I really want to see what this Titan Silver colored Chromebook is all about.
What color Chromebook are you waiting for?
via @googleio
Five Reasons Rich Jaroslovsky Needs to Stop Writing About Chrome OS
Posted on 15. Jun, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 10 Comments
I really don’t shouldn’t give this guy the time of day. That’s especially true when it’s the day that Chromebooks finally are out and I can literally go anywhere and blog whenever I want. I also think that Bloomberg is a respectable news organization and I watch Bloomberg West whenever I can. So I’ll make this really short.
“It isn’t often you come across a computer that makes you wish it ran Microsoft Windows.”
“If you’re on an airplane or someplace where you can’t get an Internet signal, you can for now forget about being able to do anything productive.”
“Samsung claims the battery will last 8 1/2 hours in normal use; I got more than six hours in my torture test.”
“As for printing: It’s complicated. In most cases, you’ll first have to enroll the printer you want to use with Google’s Cloud Print service, then send it your document via the Internet.”
“Someday, when the Internet is even more ubiquitous than it is now and connectivity is as available as oxygen, the Chromebook may make sense. For now, though, it dwells in a netherworld, neither as convenient as a tablet nor as potent as a PC.”
Jaroslovsky, you need to retire. Since you enjoy Windows so much, take your opinions and put them in a DOS command line window. And then type exit. Don’t forget to hit enter after that too. I bet this guy thinks that every new release day for Microsoft Windows is like Christmas, while those of us who actually have to work to support that platform keep wishing that they would just stop trying to add more and more features to it.
via Bloomberg
Chromebooks Officially Launched
Posted on 15. Jun, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 9 Comments
I’m not a sentimental person usually, but I won’t lie that this day means a lot to me. If you’d like, you can read the first post that I ever wrote on this blog right here back in on November 29, 2009. It was my first ever experience blogging, and I surely had no idea what I was doing. Sometimes I wonder if I even know what I’m doing writing this right now. OK, I’m just kidding there. I hope.
Nevertheless, we’re certainly in a much different place that I ever thought that this site would be when I started way back then. This will be the #1,337 post published, and I very much want to thank every single one of you readers for that feat.
It’s been a long time coming folks, with a snag or two along the way to real commercial Chrome OS devices, but we’ve now made it. To me it certainly feels like it’s been long a long time coming, but I must say Chrome and Chrome OS is something that I believe in, even in spite of the criticisms that we give Google here for some things sometimes. I hope that the words we have written here reflect that.
I very much believe that both the Chrome browser has immense potential, and that Chrome OS for devices of all types has a spot out there in PC and gadget-land. That’s why I started this site – because I think it has so much potential. I just wanted to write this to thank everyone who reads this, because it means a lot to me. I hope that myself and the other contributors who write on this site meet the expectations and editorial quality that you all deserve.
Alright, enough sappy crap, go buy yourself a freaking Chromebook today or sometime soon and show your support if you can.
Also, anyone else noticing that the Acer Cromia doesn’t appear to be for sale yet?
Video: Prerendering in Chrome
Posted on 14. Jun, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 6 Comments
While some of the earlier channels of the Chrome browser have had prerendering for some time, Google is now touting this technology and the fact that it is in the dev channel. Not aware of what prerendering is? Take a look at this video. It’s basically a prediction on what the next user action is in the browser is going to be.
Some of this browser technology is getting whiz-bang fancy. But seriously, what’s your opinion on a browser being able to predict with good accuracy what you are going to do next? Also, how do you think that competing browsers like IE and Firefox are going to be able to continue to compete with things like this being available in Chrome?
Via Chromium Blog
