ChromeOS 69.0.3486.0 was pushed out to several devices yesterday in the Developer Channel and while unlike ChromeOS 69.0.3464.0, this build is quite stable – unfortunately there are a few are a few minor bugs that users should be aware of. After using the build for a few hours, here is what I have been able to find;
It is no secret that Android tablets are not as popular as they used to be. With the exception of the Amazon Kindle Fire and the Samsung Galaxy Tab line of tablets, it seems like many Android tablet manufacturers have given up on Android Tablets. Google has been working hard to replace Android with Chrome OS on future tablets and while this is a refreshing change, Could a Chrome OS Tablet replace your aging Android Tablet? For this post, we are going to put two leading flagship devices in a head to head battle – the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 (Android) and the HP Chromebook X2 (Chrome OS).
Discord has been one of the fastest growing communication platforms on the planet right now but unfortunately they do not publish an official client for Chrome OS so Chrome OS users are stuck using the web application. While the web application is pretty good, some would wish to have access to the desktop application. Fortunately it is pretty easy to install, here are the steps.
Google has been working hard on a feature called “Better Together” which was designed to allow for deep integration between Android Phones and Chrome OS. Thanks to the latest build of Chrome OS to hit the developer channel, we now have a better picture on what the setup process will look like and it is not looking good for non-Pixel Phone owners.
Update : June 21, 2018 – It seems that Google has pulled the update. Users who managed to install the update before Google pulled it can perform a rollback if the stability issues are making your Chromebook unusable. Rollbacks do require a powerwash which may or may not be a reason to hold out for a stable update.
It looks like Google has begun the rollout of ChromeOS 69.0.3464.0 to users on the “dev” channel. This is actually a major version increase as all previous updates were part of ChromeOS 68. Lets look at some of the changes Google has packed into this release – fair warning, there is A LOT in this release and plenty of bugs.
If you are normally a Linux user who has ever worked in an office that uses Office365 or Exchange, you will likely have heard of the Hiri email client. Hiri is one of the most robust Office 635 / Microsoft Exchange email clients on the market. Getting Hiri to run on ChromeOS via Project Crostini is pretty simple so lets get started.
Chrome OS is already one of the most secure operating systems in use today – light-years beyond MacOS and Windows in many ways however it is far from perfect. Here is my security wish-list for features I would love to see in future Chrome OS devices. Note, this page is just for security related changes, there are plenty of non-security feature I would like to see as well.
I have been a user of hardware security tokens for a long time. My key-chain always has aFeitian MultiPass FIDO Security Key on it at all times to allow me to authenticate to many web services, including the admin section of KMyers.me. I was shocked to learn that Google has hidden a fully functional U2F token in the Pixelbook. I doubt you really need another reason to buy a Pixelbook but this is really a massive feature that was never officially announced. Here is how you can activate it
Normally it is a very trivial process to get a typical Chromebook into developer mode however this process is very different on the HP Chromebook X2 and other future Chrome OS Tablets. This is because Google actually requires dedicated circuitry to ensure the switch to developer mode was a deliberate action done by the user and not accidental or by a malicious application. Here are the steps to get the HP Chromebook X2 Into Developer Mode and these instructions should also work on all future ChromeOS Tablets
I wrote an article yesterday highlighting some of the changes to ChromeOS 68.0.3440.4 however it turns out that I completely missed two major features. This build of ChromeOS finally brings one of the most requested features to ChromeOS – The ability to easily access your Android Filesystem from within the ChromeOS File Manager and more.