Google Announces the made by Google Chromebook Pixel for $1,299.00

[Rohiggidy]

Google Ports Quickoffice To Chrome Using Native Client, Will Get Full Editing Features In About 3 Months

At its Chromebook Pixel event yesterday, Google didn’t just launch its new premium Chromebook. It also announced that it is porting Quickoffice, the mobile productivity app that brings Microsoft Office to iOS and Android to the web through Native Client and Chrome. Google acquired Quickoffice.

As Google’s vice president of Chrome Sundar Pichai noted at yesterday’s event, a lot of people love Google’s productivity apps, but having a solution like Quickoffice available for Chrome and on Chromebooks “completes the story for a lot of users.”

This is a big step for Native Client, Google’s technology for allowing developers to write web apps that get full access to the power of the CPU. Currently, Native Client is mostly being used by game developers, and there are a number of Chrome Web Store apps that use it, but because it is still limited to Chrome, the number of developers who write applications for it remains small.

Google already launched a number of Quickoffice document viewers for Chrome that are only available on the new Pixel Chromebook. In about three months, however, Google told me at the Pixel launch event yesterday, Quickoffice for the browser will also feature the ability to edit documents. The new viewers are also based on Native Client, but for Microsoft Office users on Chrome and ChromeOS, the ability to edit documents and do so in what is essentially a native app is likely a far more interesting solution. Quickoffice for Chrome, of course, won’t just run on the Pixel but should work on the desktop as well, where Native Client has been a built-in feature of Chrome for a long time now.

Pricing is also still up in the air. Google continue to charge for the Quickoffice mobile app ($7.99 for Quickoffice Pro HD for the iPad, for example), but paying Google Apps users can get the iPad app for free.

When Google acquired Quickoffice, most of us assumed it was doing so to strengthen Google Drive and to ensure that Android would have a viable native Office client as well, but adding it to ChromeOS also makes a lot of sense, especially given ChromeOS’s ambitions in the enterprise.

 

[Rohiggidy]

Looks Like Google Is Working On A UDP Replacement Called QUIC

Francois Beaufort had a very good day yesterday. Not only did the leaked video of the Chromebook Pixel he discovered earlier this month turn out to be real, he also noticed that Google started work on a new web protocol in Chrome called QUIC. This protocol, it seems, aims to update the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), a core part of the Internet protocol suite that also includes TCP, for example.

UDP is often used for applications that need real-time connectivity (video conferencing, games etc.). It opens up a direct connection between two machines, which makes it perfect for real-time applications and streaming data where low latency is very important. In return, however, it lacks some of the reliability controls of other Internet protocols like the TCP protocol.

QUIC also focuses on data streams, it seems, but with the extra benefit of adding a built-in encryption layer and some basic reliability controls.

It looks like the project was merged into Chrome just a few days ago, but work on the project seems to have started late last year. And while some people noticed it at the time, the project has mostly gone unnoticed. Now, however, it looks like it is becoming a core part of the Chromium project – the open source initiative behind Google’s Chrome browser.

We contacted Google for a comment about this, but all we got from a spokesperson was the company’s usual non-denial that “the team is continuously testing new features. At this time, we have nothing new to announce.”

With SPDY, of course, Google is currently working on a similar initiative for HTTP, and it looks like a lot of the work on SPDY may flow into the HTTP 2.0 standard. Google probably hopes to achieve something similar for UDP with QUIC. As it aims to make the web faster, more reliable and more secure, the company is clearly not content with just making its applications faster, but it has a vested interest in also pushing forward some of the low-level technologies that make today’s Internet work in the first place.

 

[Rohiggidy]

Google Chrome Team decided to merge powerm and powerd scripts into one single powerd script.

This script handles the power management of your Chrome OS Device.
For instance, if you want to continue to listen to music while the lid is closed, you just have to go to your Shell, enter "shell" and "sudo stop powerd".

 

[Rohiggidy]

Interesting Facts about the Chromebook Pixel You Didn't Know

Posted by Zecharixs on February 23, 2013 01:14 pm 36
It can natively open Office .doc and .docx files. There's a Quick Office app for Pixel that can do that.

The photo app reads everything from SD and cloud and can upload directly to Google+ at full res. It is also touch optimized and fully native.

Windows auto-arrange and resize.

The Pixel allows custom bootloaders, allowing for easy dual boot to Linux.

Between Pixlr, We Video, and Quick Office/Drive, I think most user's productivity needs are covered.

 

[diggy]

 

[Rohiggidy]

chromebooks>>> typing on one now....

 

[Rohiggidy]

I brought my Pixel out into the world today, did a little offline demonstration and found that some things just work better than on a "heavier" Mac OS. I am supposed to be on vacation this week entertaining my nephews who flew down to get away from their Mom and Step Dad for a while. The oldest (17 years old) was disappointed that I had taken time off, at first I thought he just wanted the run of my house to play video games, but in reality he wanted to see what I do for living. I have one of the best jobs in world (not perfect,) I get to solve problems and talk technology for a living, and they pay me for it. So I offered to do a presentation that one of the reps had wanted me to do, to one of our technology partners NetApp, as long as I can take my nephew.

Making a short story long, I took my Pixel, I pulled down the presentation I was going to work from at home, got to the NetApp Office early noticed a few changes that needed to made aesthetically and content wise to my presentation, but Uh-oh I didn't have access to a Wi-Fi Signal, whatever was I to do with this now useless Chromebook? What I did was make the edits in Google Slides. I was shown the podium, hooked up my mini-display port, and ran the slide deck in presenter mode, with ease. Outside of few edits (that I would have had to make if I was moving the presentation from different versions of PowerPoint), it rendered beautifully. I even got brave and plugged in my Kensington remote presenter, the Pixel took it and worked with it to advance the slides without issue. My colleague sporting his Mac Book Pro, when it was his turn to present, asked if he could use my remote presenter, we plugged it in and nothing it didn't just work, he ended up having to advance the slides manually at the keyboard.

I was so pleased my Pixel passed its first BYOD work trial with flying colors, now I need to stop working on my day off.

 

[Liquid]

chromebooks>>> typing on one now....

Again, in its current state...

 

[Rohiggidy]

@Liquid I told you dudes google primary focus right now is merging their products and chromeOS. Android is on the back burner. Matterfact android branding is turning into google. This is a move that might piss off OEM

Today, I'm excited to share with you some screenshots of the upcoming Google+ Photos App (aka Pulsar).

This Chrome App made by Google is powered by Native Client technology and is giving you the ability to upload and share photos from Google Chrome.

Two key features in my opinion are:
- Automatic selection of the best shots
- Automatic import of photos when I plug in a camera or memory card

This App definitely showcases what looks like a full-fledged Chrome App.