Kiran Upadhyay

A few months ago at Google I/O, Google demoed Android apps running on Chrome OS. Today, Google is making that demo a reality by launching "App Runtime for Chrome (Beta)." Google is not opening the floodgates and loading a full Play Store with every Chromebook; instead, it is manually bringing over certain apps. "Over the coming months, we’ll be working with a select group of Android developers to add more of your favorite apps so you’ll have a more seamless experience across your Android phone and Chromebook," the company said in its announcement. For now, the feature is launching with four compatible apps: Duolingo, Evernote, Sight Words, and Vine. One app not mentioned was Flipboard, which was demoed at I/O. We were curious about just how this worked, so we got some more details from a Google spokesperson: The app code is all running on top of the Chrome platform, specifically inside of Native Client. In this way the ARC (App Runtime for Chrome) apps run...

Google is launching a new feature in the Chrome beta channel for Windows, Mac and Linux today that will make it easier — and safer — to let others use your computer. Typically, when you give your laptop to somebody else, it’s pretty trivial for the other person to access your personal data, too. Now, the Chrome beta features a guest mode so you can keep your own data safe. As a new user, you can either sign in as a guest and get a fresh browser without any personalization, or sign in with a Google account, which means all your settings, themes and bookmarks are synced, too. If that sounds a bit like Chrome OS, that’s probably because Google’s laptops feature the same kind of functionality. The Chrome beta now highlights the current user in a small drop-down menu in the top right corner. From there, you can switch between users and start a new porn incognito session. One thing I noticed, though, was that even after I switched to the guest mode, I could still open up a new Ch...

Just about every Mac you’d see in operation nowadays has a 64-bit CPU tucked inside. Apple started making the switch from 32-bit to 64-bit nearly a decade ago, after all. And yet, Chrome has always stubbornly insisted on running at 32-bit on OS X. That’ll change soon. Two days after declaring the Windows’ version of 64-Bit Chrome as “stable”, Google has just published the first beta build of 64-Bit Chrome for Mac. (The only way to get 64-bit support before this was to run Canary, the ultra-early adopter build of Chrome that comes with explicit warnings that it’ll probably crash constantly. It’s not even guaranteed to launch.) As with most things that come to Chrome, 64-Bit support will be limited to users on the Beta channel at first. So it’s still not part of the standard build of Chrome that most people use, but it’s at least available in a form that isn’t likely to break on the regular. So what’s the advantage of going 64-bit? To be honest, most users probably won’t notice...

What exactly is the difference between a Google Chromecast and a generic Android Mini PC stick? Although visually similar, Chromecast and Android sticks work quite differently. The Chromecast is simply an enabler. It enables you to mirror your Chrome tab from your computer to your TV, or broadcast certain apps from your Android or iOS device to your TV. It’s supplementary to the devices you already own. On the other hand, Android sticks are essentially Android phones without a screen or the cellular component. They run the full Android operating system, generally version 4.2, and can plug into any TV and accept input from devices like USB and Bluetooth mice and keyboards. These devices stand alone and don’t need the help of another computer or mobile device. So which is right for you? Let’s take a look at some of their features to dissect exactly what they are, and then we’ll see what kind of user would benefit the most from each. Google Chromecast Announced back in July,...

Google’s Chromecast, which was announced last July, came into a crowded scene of gadgets that let you watch web-content on your TV. From the Roku to Smart TVs, there are lots of ways to get online videos onto your TV screen. What’s really cool about the Chromecast is that it goes far beyond just letting you watch online videos on your TV. With the ability to cast any tab from your Chrome browser onto your TV, or even cast your entire desktop, the  Google Chromecast  becomes more than just a way to watch online videos on your TV – it becomes an incredibly productive and exciting tool. We’ve come up with 8 unique uses for Google’s Chromecast. Read on to find out just how you can make even more use of your Chromecast. If you have yet to purchase a Chromecast, find out if its the right fit for you by reading our in-depth review. And don’t forget with the holiday season coming up, it makes a great geek gift for under $50. Put On A Slideshow One of the m...

Google bestowed a simple and incredibly genius gift upon its Chrome users on Tuesday: when a tab contains an element that is making noise, the browser will  pop up an indicator  showing where that noise is coming from. It’s not giving the Internet too much credit to say that it’s normally a pretty user-friendly place. But the grand exception is any Internet nugget that makes sound, especially when you aren’t expecting it, in the middle of a public place. Your blood pressure spikes, your face turns red, and your fingers become clumsy as you scramble to find and kill the tab that betrayed you. It’s stunning that it took someone so long to come up with a good solution—unexpected noises are only slightly less unpleasant than not being able to figure out where they are coming from. Previously, my less-than-optimal solution was nixing a setting that allows video content to auto-play in Chrome. I end up toggling this on and off because it prevents some videos from working at...

Use Hangouts outside the browser. An overlooked Chrome extension from Google lets you chat without opening Gmail or Google+. Back in May, Google announced it was launching a new messaging service: Google Hangouts. This was a way for the company to combine its redundant messaging services: the ever-popular Google Talk, the little used Google+ Messenger, popular videoconferencing service Google Hangouts and (eventually) phone enhancement service Google Voice. There are mobile apps, of course, but no platform-specific desktop version – most users doubtless think of the service as part of Gmail. But a perhaps overlooked feature is the  Hangouts extension for Chrome . This extension takes your conversations outside your browser and to your desktop, but is it functional? In truth this is a mixed bag. Here’s why. Pro: Brings Your Chat Outside Your Browser Let’s start with the obvious pro here: the Hangouts extension for Chrome pops out of the browser, so you don’t have ...

Is your life spent on Facebook, YouTube and writing a few documents? It might be time to adjust your computing requirements – and you may be pleasantly surprised to find a Chromebook provides everything you need. The HP Chromebook 11 is the latest offering, a partnership between HP and Google with an 11-inch screen and 6-hour battery. We’re giving this HP Chromebook 11 away, so read through our review, then join the competition. You know the drill. Chrome OS and Chromebooks Chrome OS is a fundamental move away from traditional desktop apps – though it includes some desktop-like functionality for offline use, the basic concept is that it’s just a browser. “Just a browser” is misleading though – many full featured apps are built entirely on HTML5 code. There’s also a good selection of Chrome “games” in the store that aren’t supported at all because they rely on some other plugin like Unity which are not yet available for Chrome OS. They’ve come up with quite a compelling...

There’s a lot happening at Google’s social network, as Senior Vice President Vic Gundotra revealed on the streaming event A Morning With Google+. The focus is clearly on Hangouts, the chat app, and the photo-sharing experience. Hangouts has got a few new updates, perhaps the biggest of which is the fact that it now integrates with your text messaging. So when you have a contact on your phone with both the Hangouts id as well as the phone number, an SMS will from them now show up in your Hangouts, as will any normal message sent on the instant messenger. It also supports location sharing, which means you can embed maps in a chat. Gundotra also mentioned other features already reported, such as in-line animated GIFs. Additionally, broadcasters can schedule Hangouts On Air now, and Control Room allows for moderation. Perhaps most significantly, Google+ will now automatically fix and enhance webcam lighting, which means those dull images from your friends sitting in a dark...

What’s working smart? Well, it’s constantly looking for ways to streamline and automate just about every single “process” in your life – from making coffee and tying your shoes, to creating slideshow presentations and studying for a final exam. One very time-consuming task is analyzing information about your website in Google Analytics , and then somehow presenting that data in a way that makes sense to people who don’t pour through Google Analytics data and statistics all day. Creating Analytics reports can be time-consuming and at times extremely difficult, but by using some of the automation tricks I’m going to show you in this article, you can transform a laborious project with a couple of clicks. This automation utilizes Google Analytics, IFTTT, Dropbox, and Gmail, and in the end results in a high-quality report that you don’t have to put together yourself every month – it’ll virtually create itself! Setting up Google Analytics The starting point of ...

if you are a website owner, you know that understanding who has been visiting your site, where they are from, and what pages they looked at (and for how long) is absolutely essential if you are to have any hope of growing and developing your online presence. If you have no idea who your site visitors are, then you are walking blindfolded. The tool that most people turn to, in order to achieve this knowledge, is Google Analytics . But I can attest from personal experience that Google Analytics is not the easiest site to understand and navigate. If you are one of the many who walk away from Analytics more confused than ever before, you should know it’s not just you. But don’t worry, fellow webmaster. Google wants to help you out there, to understand the facts and figures that they are throwing at you. So that is why they have set up what they call the Analytics Academy .  If you sign up for the free online courses (currently only one course is being offered, but more...