Google & HTC working on “ChromeOS Tablet”. Is that a worry for soon to launch “Chrome OS Netbooks” ?

According to some reliable sources, Google along with HTC, is working closely on a tablet running Chrome OS, the Chrome OS Tablet. As of now, rumors are still in its nascent stage as there’s practically no evidence behind this but the possibilities are looking quite certain.

As Apple Tablet is very much a certainty now(which was a rumor in 2009) and Apple has officially announced an event this month for launching their tablet product as well, the niche tablet industry is ready to get shaken up big time in 2010.

As reported by Australian publication, Smarthouse recently, Google and HTC have been working on Chrome OS Tablet for the last 18 months and have so far produced several prototypes of their yet-to-exist touch tablet. As Chrome OS offers a great way to get onto the web as swift as it gets, Chrome OS over a tablet sounds like a perfect concept actually.

Now when all of us know that Google is just about to unveil its own Smartphone, Nexus One , built by cellphone manufacturer, HTC, this rumor that claims that Google is on its way to launch a self-branded Chrome OS Tablet built by HTC makes absolute sense.

But there’s a question popping up in couple of curious minds…

Is Chrome OS Tablet a worry for Chrome OS Netbook ?

Frankly, it doesn’t really matter as long as it’s Google’s Chrome OS powering the machines, be it a tablet or a netbook.

But yes, Google’s supposed plan to launch its own tablet against Apple’s tablet might be a well planned move from Google to simply prevent Apple from reiterating the ‘iPhone act‘ again.

Apple’s iPhone is an extravagant smartphone and so is Google Nexus One(actually much better) so what’s the difference..?

iPhone dominates the smartphone industry and Nexus One is yet to even start selling to its prospective buyers. Why ? Because iPhone launched in mid 2007 and Nexus One is to launch in 2010. It’s the early advantage that made Apple iPhone a clear dominator in smartphone industry. Google would never want to let Apple eat up the Tablet industry single handedly, just like what it did to smartphone industry with iPhone.

With Google competing head-on with Apple in Tablet market now, the consumers will find it more comfortable to be able to have a choice between the two offerings.

We will track further developments on this…Stay hooked!

[via Gizmodo]

Login to Chrome OS through Chrome Browser ? Might Be…

There are some speculations coming from some trusted sources about Chrome OS development. And this one is a major change from the earlier carved-out plan by Chrome OS team at Google. The change is about the login interface of Chrome OS.

As demonstrated by Chrome OS team at Google HQ last month, the user login to Chrome OS was taking place at initial boot up stage. But considering the latest rumors, Chrome OS team is testing to shift User login to Chrome browser rather than putting it at boot-up stage.

Why ?

Well, there can be plethora of reasons for it…Here are a couple to think over !

Putting login interface through Chrome browser would give an ubiquitous flexibility to Chrome OS users to login to their WebOS interface though any machine that has got Google Chrome browser and not just through Chrome OS Netbook.

Browser based Chrome OS interface would make it much more easier for users to switch between user accounts, almost as quickly as logging in and out of your two different Gmail accounts.

Syncing of user accounts could be easier

It would reduce boot-up time even more

So, what do we expect now ? Browser based login or Boot-up based ? We got to be patient to get any of the possibilities confirmed as Chrome OS team is still to decide on this point. We reckon, Chrome OS will be a browser based login system.

Anyways, we will find that out soon…Hang in there !

Source

A “Google Branded” Chrome OS Netbook in the Making ?

So here we have one exciting news coming from some trusted sources about Chrome OS. Google is in serious talks with a couple of Netbook OEMs to produce a Google branded Netbook running Chrome OS. Now, there’s no official word of Google about this news yet but multiple insider sources are confirming this.

When Google promised that Chrome OS Netbooks will be out in the market by fall 2010, it was presumed that multiple Netbook manufacturers will come up with Chrome OS Netbooks but now, it seems that Google doesn’t want to take any chance in launching its own OS and simply wants to ensure that Chrome OS Netbook becomes a Standard within Netbook industry.

It might be a case that Google branded Netbook may serve as the exclusive distributor of Chrome OS, much like Apple’s business model but this is just a presumption as yet. It has been Google’s nature(as what you can see with Android) to build the software side and let multiple hardware brands do the rest of the job and hence it would be a tough call for Google to go exclusive with Chrome OS.

There is another possibility that Google may become one of the many Netbook brands to offer Chrome OS. But frankly, no hardware OEM would like competing with Google on hardware front especially when the OS is built by Google itself. At worst, this might even happen but only if OEMs get terribly scared of getting out of business if they boycott Chrome OS in their Netbook offering.

Now that Google is making its entry at mobile hardware front with Nexus One (the Google Phone) along with Android, it is looking more probable for Google to come up with a Google branded Chrome OS Netbook as well.

As per the rumor mill, this Google branded Chrome OS Netbook might be sold with a 2 year data plan contract with a carrier.

So guys, whatever the case be, you better hold your plans to buying a Netbook until next Christmas. We bet, you won’t regret !

Source

Security Hacks in ‘Cloud Based Chrome OS’ will be different altogether..

Cloud computing is already on its way to transform the conventional computing methods and Chrome OS is a big step in taking the leap ahead. But security experts have been skeptical about ‘Cloud computing’ and the level of security it can provide.

Now, after the Chrome OS event happened last month, the concerns over ‘Chrome OS Security’ have started brewing up again. If anyone, even Google says that security will not at all be an issue then you better be paranoid.

With everything being hosted in the cloud, the security concerns will not be totally eliminated. Rather, there will be completely different kinds of security loopholes discovered in Cloud computing space. As Cloud computing will offer more benefits than concerns, it will keep growing at a fast pace but security issues will still exist. The difference will be the responsibility factor.

Right now, if someone’s data gets affected by a virus, he can’t blame anyone but himself but when the data will be hosted on the cloud, the responsibility will be more on the cloud hosting service provider than the individual.

Things will be different !!

Acer to become ‘First ChromeOS Netbook’ OEM. Launch by Nov 2010

Acer has taken the plunge yet again. After launching first ever Dual Boot Windows/Android OS Netbook this year, it has made similar plans for the year 2010 as well. This time however, its not Android but another OS from Google, the much hyped Chrome OS.

With loads of excitement and hype building around Google’s dream project, the Chrome OS, such an announcement was inevitable to come up. And stay assured to hear more and more netbook OEMs announcing their tie-ups with Google for launching Chrome OS powered Netbooks.

Catch the trend of Android’s growth. It was HTC which took the plunge first and became the first Android phone manufacturer by producing T-Mobile G1. Since then, every smartphone manufacturer followed the trend and launched their flagship android phones one after the other, be it Samsung, Motorola, LG & Dell among others. And such a behaviour is obvious as no cellphone OEM wanted to loose the opportunity they could get from Android OS platform.

Similar trend is expected to happen for Chrome OS as well. No Netbook OEM would ever want to loose out of becoming a Chrome OS Netbook OEM as market is going crazy to grab it. The huge excitement may just be among the geeky crowd at the moment but we all know that non-geeky crowd(majority) simply follows geeky crowd, when it comes to tech stuff and latest tech things to grab.

Acer plans to work in tandem with Google to get the first ever Chrome OS Netbook out by late 2010. We will keep track on the developement of this netbook. Stay hooked !

‘Chrome OS’ is Before its TIME..It’s NOT the Present, It’s the Future !

As expected, the speculations and individual perceptions of tech bloggers and experts over Chrome OS and its future have waved up to the peak. After the ‘Chrome OS’ event came to an end in Mountain View, somebody has been speculating why Chrome OS will fail and someone else is justifying why Chrome OS has already won and many similar speculations floating here and there.

Now, this is our take at Chrome OS and why we believe that ‘Life on the Web’ is Inevitable.

If you’re one of those web fanatics(still a poor minority at global scale) and spend almost 90% of your computing time on the web today, you were certainly spending around 50% of your computing time on web around five years back(2004) and probably spending 25% of your computing time some ten years back(1999) and so on…

In last five years, technology took a long leap, with wireless internet taking the lead and super fast internet access becoming a common and affordable service, mostly in developed countries such as US, UK and other european countries. In next five years, the technology will pacen up even more.

In next five years, developing countries will start picking up the same trend and start spending most of their time on web. Now, if all of us will virtually do everything on the web and do just a couple of tasks such as photoshopping, data storage, msoffice etc on desktop, why take all the hassles and money pains that desktop OS brings along when all these residual activities can also be substituted with a web based alternative, similar to what happened to videos, music…etc…etc

Chrome OS is just a tunnel to get to the Inevitable Future of Human Computing.

The only reason why the whole Chrome OS concept is facing some level of criticism is only because it’s probably….before its time. It is the same criticism that every revolutionary attempt is bound to come across.

Chrome OS is NOT the Present, It’s the Future And the Future is Inevitable and so is Chrome OS

And trust us on this statement…a decade from now(2019), you would laugh on today (2009) when we have to spend thousands of bucks on buying OS, Office apps, softwares and similar stuff as all these things will come at ZERO cost to us. It’s only a matter of time.

Want to Run Chrome OS Right Now ? Here you have it !

As everyone out here might be knowing that the Chrome OS has been open sourced to public, everyone can take it and make its own build by tweaking the Chrome OS code from now on. But it might prove to be a hectic task if you want to tweak the code yourself, specially if you aren’t a developer.

No issues. There’s an easy way to get Chrome OS running on your machine by this Do-It-Yourself method. Here you go !

1. First, you need to download the torrent from here and download the Chrome OS build thereafter.

2. Download a version of VirtualBox for your Windows/Mac machine from here . It’s a virtualization tool for temporarily running an OS on your existing OS. Install it and go through the wizard step by step.

3. Just make sure that while going through the wizard based installation, select Virtual Media Manager->Add->(Now browse the Chrome OS image you had downloaded earlier) and install the Chrome OS on existing hard disk.

4.  You’re done ! Click ‘Start’ and Chrome OS is ready for you…

The BIG Day is Here! Chrome OS to be announced today. Get it LIVE!

Finally, the day for Google to open up its cards in front of mainstream media has come. Google is to announce much hyped Chrome OS and let all of us know the expectations we should keep from them. As promised earlier, this event will be kind of a tech preview of the operating system and will detail further plans of its launch.

According to rumor mill, Google would release Beta version of Google Chrome OS today but our guess is that the beta launch will take some more time to happen. Lets see what’s in Google store today.

We’re going to LIVE BLOG the event scheduled for today, 10 am at Google HQ so come back right here for Chrome OS event details.

• Sorry folks but there is going to be no beta today. The actual Google Chrome OS is still 12 months away from its mainstream launch.
• Sundar Pichai is now talking about Google Chrome’s achievements in terms of radical growth(over 40 million users within an year), high browsing speed and regular bug fixes. Chrome for Mac and Linux are in the pipeline, he says.
• Google Chrome OS team is figuring out a secure way for Web based applications to take advantage of the desktop OS in the same way that desktop applications do, says Sundar Pichai.
• As expected, every application on Chrome OS will be a web application(NO DESKTOP APPS). The emphasis will remain on providing high level of security, lightening speed and 100% fidelity. By fidelity, he refers to an instance that If someone loses his Chrome machine, he should go buy a new chrome machine and that’s it ! My computing experience would remain exactly the same it was earlier.”
• Chrome OS is basically Chrome browser with everything else on the cloud. All applications open in tabs and there are ‘panels’(described as persistent light windows) as well.
• Quick demo of Chrome OS UI is shown to us..It seems just fine…cool and lightweight.
• Speed, simplicity and security are the three main points Chrome OS will be based on.
• Sundar Pichai is done with his introductory speech and handing over the next part to Matt Papakipos
• Chrome OS eliminates the need of booting up. The browser gets auto-launched the moment we switch on the machine. The OS will self-update itself to stay aware of any security patches available and does the job by itself.
• From firmware to the OS kernel, things remain protected with a cryptographic signature ensuring a secure bootup. Malware detection and removal are automated.
• The existing system allows same level of system privileges to apps as given to users. This is entirely different when we talk about web based OS. The apps are web based and hence the privileges to web apps are never system based, which makes everything much secure and controlled in web based OS environment.

• Chrome OS’s file system is pretty much locked as it’s a read-only root file system. All user data is encrypted and synced to the cloud. PC would be utilized for caching your data but the ultimate stuff remains cloud based.
• It won’t be that easy to download and install Chrome OS on just about any machine. The hardware specs are an issue and Google is very much in talks with hardware manufacturers to settle down with a min. hardware requirements for Chrome OS. Chrome OS is expected to be ready by the fall of 2010.
• Q&A session starts..some interesting questions coming up….you catch the video embedded below :

Google to host ‘Chrome OS Event’ Coming Thursday. Stay Excited!

Finally, the prime time has come. Google has finally decided on the date for the early preview launch of Chrome OS this thursday. This preview will include

• Development progress on Chrome OS
• Complete Chrome OS overview
• Future plans on official OS launch
• Scope and scalability

The complete event will be conducted by Sundar Pichai, VP of Product Management and Matthew Papakipos, Google Engineering Director for Google Chrome OS. The event will end with a Q&A session and our guess is that the Q&A will be most interesting to look out for.

Finally, it seems that Google Chrome OS is about to go mainstream by early next year so its great for us that we will have more to write about the stuff our website is all about.

Stay tuned…we will bring you byte-by-byte event details as they happen on thursday.

ChromeOS to launch within a week! Rumor Or Truth?

We have been occasionally writing about the stealth OS from Google, the Chrome OS and have been trying to sneak into every possible information we can bring out about it. Now, it seems, this stealth OS will no more remain a secret as according to a recent rumor, Google Chrome OS will publicly launch within a week or so.

This rumor has emerged from TechCrunch, a popular silicon valley tech blog. As there is no official statement from Google itself, we can’t really call it a news but the rumor seems to be true.

It’s hardly been half a month since Windows 7 launch and Google OS is making the news again. It might be a long term strategy from Google to start rooting its OS as early as possible, especially when Windows 7 is getting a great response from the customers.

Starting early might serve positively to Google but we’re hoping it’s not way too early. Our anticipation is that Google OS is nearing its launch but a very limited launch and that too in a month or two(not in 5-7 days). We might be wrong but this anticipation seems more sensible and Google does believe in doing things sensibly.