Acer Chromebook 11 C771 has optional touch screen and up to 13 hours battery life
I absolutely love Chromebooks. Well, not for me exactly, but I love suggesting them to other people when appropriate. While they aren't for everybody, they are brilliant when they can meet a user's needs. The underlying Chrome OS operating system is based on Linux and is extremely secure. In fact, it can be argued that Google's laptop operating system is the most secure OS for web browsing. If you are tired of fixing either a friend or family member's Windows 10 PC, and they live in a web browser, get them on a Chromebook and get some of your time -- and sanity -- back.
Today, Acer unveils a new laptop running Chrome OS. The "Chromebook 11 C771," as it is called, is designed primarily for education (where they really shine), plus as thin clients for businesses too. The notebook features an 11.6-inch display with optional touch, and up to 13 hours battery life. Since it is designed primarily for students, and they can be rough on computers, the C771 has military grade (MIL-STD 810G) durability and a spill-resistant keyboard. It can even survive a 4 foot drop.
Save Gmail emails to PDF or ZIP with a click
Save emails to PDF is a Chrome extension which enables saving any Gmail email to PDF in a couple of clicks.
Download options include saving individual emails to separate PDFs, merging all selected PDFs into one PDF, or saving conversations to CSV or Excel, apparently (the Excel option just saved to PDF for us).
Google Chrome bests Microsoft Edge in new battery life tests
Ask Microsoft which browser offers the best battery life on Windows 10 and it will not hesitate to tell you that Microsoft Edge is the best. And it has the test results to prove it: on a Surface Book, for instance, Microsoft Edge lasts a couple of hours longer than Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, which is remarkable.
But, and there is a but, an independent test disputes Microsoft's claim. YouTuber Linus Tech Tips has pitted Microsoft Edge against Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Opera and discovered that it does not deliver as strong a performance as Microsoft claims.
Microsoft ads slam Google, claiming Windows 10 beats Chromebooks for business and education
Microsoft's latest anti-Google ad campaign has more than a slight whiff of Scroogled from a few years back. A pair of advertisements lay into Chromebooks, and suggest that Windows 10 devices are far better for both business and education.
Google has made much of the benefits that Chromebooks can bring to the classroom, but Microsoft disagrees -- and says Windows 10 Pro is far better for businesses too. In the two ads, the company highlights the security and features of Windows, painting Google's software as insecure and underpowered.
Chrome Delight brings gorgeous time-lapse video to your New Tab page
There’s now a whole library of Chrome extensions which aim to enhance your "new tab" page, typically by importing new wallpaper from sources like Flickr and Shutterstock.
Delight goes a step further, replacing the usual static images with gorgeous time-lapse videos.
Material Design and new developer tools come to Chrome 59
Google has started to push out updates to the latest version of its web browser -- Chrome 59 for Windows, Linux and macOS. The update includes a number of important security fixes, but also sees the arrival of Google's Material Design on the desktop.
The Material look is one that will be very familiar to Android users, as well as anyone who uses Google's various online services. But Google is not quite ready to give its desktop browser a full makeover yet.
Google is building an ad blocker into Chrome in 2018
Starting early next year, Chrome users will benefit from an ad blocker built into the web browser. As part of its work with the Coalition for Better Ads, Google is looking to clamp down on intrusive ads that web users find most irritating.
Google is a company whose business model is built largely on advertising, and it is keen for the experience of being subjected to ads to be as painless as possible for people. But rather than block all ads -- killing revenue streams for many websites -- Google wants to block only those that do not comply with Better Ads Standards.
Instantly enable and disable Chrome extensions with Extensity
Chrome extensions can be incredibly useful, but they also grab resources and clutter your toolbar, annoying if you only use them occasionally.
Extensity is a free Chrome extension which allows all, individual or groups of extensions to be turned on and off with a couple of clicks.
Any browser coming to Windows 10 S will have to use the EdgeHTML rendering engine
Windows 10 S, Microsoft’s new education-focused operating system, has a lot of restrictions in place. The main one, of course, being that it only allows you to install apps from the Windows Store. If you want to install programs from outside its ecosystem, you’ll need to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro.
Edge is the default browser in Windows 10 S, and Bing the default search engine, and unlike in Windows 10 itself, you can’t change these. That might be something of a deal breaker for any browser-makers interested in bringing their product to Windows 10 S, but that’s not the only issue they’ll face.
Google just made offline browsing a whole lot easier in Chrome for Android
Offline web browsing is a useful feature, particularly on a smartphone, so it was little surprise when Google added website downloading to the Android version of Chrome. Today the company launches a number of improvements to make the whole process even easier.
The latest update to the app introduces a couple of new ways to download pages for offline viewing. It also provides easier access to the content you have earmarked for offline reading, encouraging more people to make use of the feature.
Is a Google-made Chrome ad-blocker the answer to intrusive advertising?
In case you missed it, rumors are rife that Google will soon introduce an ad blocker in Chrome. Understandably, there's concern about the power that would give Google over the advertising industry and its competition. As a member of said competition, I am equal parts concerned and supportive of an ad blocker in Chrome.
It’s certainly an interesting story. On first thought it’s a little ironic, in that a company which makes a large proportion of its money through advertising revenue is not only giving users of its browser the ability to block ads from appearing, but turning it on by default too. If the rumor is true, the addition of an ad blocker in Chrome could limit the reach of ads to over half of the world’s internet users overnight. That’s a big change, and in many instances it’s needed.
'Start' is a do-everything new tab page for Chrome
If you’re bored with Chrome’s standard "new tab" page, there are hundreds of free extensions to make it better. Whether you’re after gorgeous photos, better searching, more productivity tools, there’s something, somewhere that can help.
If you don’t have time to look, that doesn’t have to be a problem either -- just install something like Start -- A Better New Tab, which crams in just about every feature you could possibly want.
Schedule web pages to open automatically with Open Me Later! for Chrome
If you’re looking to revisit a website later then the obvious solution is to bookmark it. That’s easy, but won’t help much if you forget about the link, or where you saved it.
Open Me Later! is a free Chrome extension which enables scheduling a page to open automatically, as the date and time you specify.
Google Chrome could soon include an ad blocker
It's news that -- on the face of it -- makes very little sense; the Wall Street Journal reports that Google is going to include an ad-blocking feature in its Chrome web browser. For a company that makes so much money from advertising this seems like something of a strange move, but in the light of recent ad controversy, it could be sensible business.
Just last month a large number of big companies started to pull advertising from Google and YouTube after finding that their ads were appearing on sites hosting extremist material. This, coupled with the fact that there is a general backlash against advertising from consumers (hence Adblock Plus pushing its Acceptable Ads program), could explain why Google is keen to be seen to be doing something that will give uses a better ad experience with greater control.
How to enable Dark Mode on YouTube
If you're someone who enjoys watching YouTube at night -- perhaps on your phone in bed -- you'll be all too aware that the site's light color palette can be rather harsh on the eyes. With a little tinkering, you can unlock a hidden Dark Mode which will save your delicate peepers and make nocturnal viewing all the more enjoyable.
At the moment the hack only works in Chrome, but it's likely that Google will bring it to everyone when word spreads. Here's what you need to do.
© 1998-2024 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.