Why Would Google make an Android-Powered Laptop?

Lately, we've heard all kinds of rumors regarding Google working on an Android-powered laptop. Now this makes little sense to most Google fans because Google already has a desktop Operating System. That is Chrome OS. While it's not all that productive, it is what it was meant to be. A simple, light-weight, cloud-based operating system. So why do we need Android laptops?

How to Add Swap Memory to your Chrome OS Device

Many of us that use Chrome, probably have about 10 more tabs open at any time. In fact, right now I have about 15 open, split between two windows. And because of that, Chrome uses a ton of RAM. Which is one major downside for Chromebooks since they - for the most part - come with 2GB of RAM. The Chromebook Pixel does come with 4GB of RAM though. When the amount of RAM you have goes down, you'll start to see lag, and some tabs will refresh when you activate them. Which that in itself really frustrates me. But luckily there's somewhat of a work around. It's called Swap Memory. I have it enabled on both my Samsung Chromebook (the ARM-one) and the Chromebook Pixel.

Google I/O 2013 Preview

We are just days away from Google's 2013 developer conference. Lately rumors have been running rampant about everything under the sun being announced at Google I/O this year. From new Android hardware and software, to Project Glass, to even new Chrome OS hardware and software. We're going to preview what we think we'll see in terms of Chrome OS come Google I/O which kicks off this Wednesday, at 12 noon EDT, 9am PDT.

Chrome Beta for Android Hits v 27.0.1453.85

On Friday, the Google Chrome team posted a new build of Chrome Beta for Android, which is now available in the Play Store. It brings the following changes:

• 222030 : White bar appears above the on-screen keyboard

• 236667 : For long search queries, omnibox is displaying the end of the query instead of the beginning

• 239602 : When there is a yellow padlock, query in the omnibox should show padlock, google: query

• 232926: Facebook entire page is highlighted when menu is selected

• Fixes for a few top crashes

Known Issue:

• 237115: Dark overlay observed when switching tabs

As always you can report bugs for new issues if you do in fact find them in this new update. Let us know in the comments down below what you find.

Google Keep for Chrome Launches - Brings Offline Access Along for the Ride

The Google Drive/Keep team has launched a Chrome app for Google Keep. We've mentioned before that this is Google's attempt at going after Evernote, even though Keep is still quite young. The Chrome app is quite simple, but it does include offline availability. You can easily create notes, to-do lists, and attach pictures to your tasks while working on other productive things.

If you're using Google Keep, you'll definitely want to check out this app. You can grab it from the Chrome Web Store

Google Replacing 'Scratchpad' with Google 'Keep'?

We first noticed that Google's Scratchpad app on Chrome OS disappeared last November. Not to long ago, Google introduced Google Keep. Which is their new "scratchpad app". It's basically their answer to Evernote, but still in a very early stage, so not everyone will be switching from Evernote to Google Keep.

Google Keep has a mobile app, as well as a web app and Chrome extensions/apps. If you've used Scratchpad lately, you've probably seen the image shown above. It basically directs you into Google Keep. So it appears Scratchpad is turning into Google Keep. So no it's not part of Google's Spring Cleaning list, but it doesn't look like it's coming back soon.

Additionally, you can download your notes from Scratchpad in a .zip file so you can take them wherever you want. You can check out the source link down below for more information.

Source: Google Support

Dev Channel Updated to 27.0.1425.0

Yesterday, the Chrome team updated the Dev channel to version 27.0.1425.0 for Mac, Linux and Chrome OS. Windows was updated to 27.0.1425.2 on the Dev channel.