Hewlett Packard, a.k.a. HP is one of the oldest brands in Information Technology business and is respected for being one of the most innovative business empires in technological landscape. They are getting into every emerging facet of technology, whether it’s laptops, Netbooks, PDAs, smartphones or tablets, you can see a prominent player in the name of HP, producing cutting edge hardware for satisfying the growing market demand.

But along with all the accomplishments that HP has made in the past decade, one important area where HP is seriously lagging behind is its monopolized Print business. And it’s not HP’s competitors(Canon, Lexmark…) which are hurting the revenue stream of HP’s established print business but there’s a different sort of threat for them. It’s the Next Generation digital devices that are making Paper printing worthless.

With the advent of smartphones, e-readers and tablet devices, people are getting more adapted to reading content over the screen. Less people are looking interested in printing every single document they want to read as the comfort zone is slowly drifting to Wireless digital devices from Paper reading.

Dying business of Newspaper & Magazine industry is one big indicator. That’s probably the reason why media entities like WSJ and NYTimes have launched their iPhone and iPad apps, to keep serving their content to current generation of consumers.

Apart from the changing preferences of our generation when it comes to consuming content, there’s another reason why Printing is no more a desired thing for many of us. The reason is the incapability of most of the upcoming devices to start printing right away.

Majority of printers that HP builds today require printer specific drivers, wired connectivity, etc as the mandatory condition, which simply turns off anyone interested in taking a quick print from his smartphone or tablet, as all of them are wireless devices and don’t have printer drivers installed on their sleek machines.

All of this is hampering HP’s print business revenues to a great extent. Solution ?

HP has found a reliable companion, which will make things better than what they are now. Google and Google Cloud Print to be more specific.

As Chrome OS team announced earlier about Google Cloud Print, a cloud based service to execute printing jobs from any device (Desktop, phone or browser), without any need of printer drivers, it recently updated about the progress on Google Cloud Print service and also highlighted HP’s launch of full suite of cloud-aware printers ranging from $99 consumer printers to business-oriented printers.

As Google describes, Google Cloud Print can print from any printer, be it a legacy printer or upcoming Cloud aware printers but Google strongly recommends Cloud aware printers as they will give the best experience to the users. And supporting Google’s vision, HP has finally come up with affordable ‘Cloud aware’ printers.

Google employees have started internal testing of ‘Google Cloud Print’ service employing HP’s cloud aware printers and it seems that the goods(Chrome OS) are most likely to be delivered on time(this fall), as committed.

As more and more people are spending substantial time on Internet and more likely from their wireless devices(smartphones, tablets), if all of us become able to start printing right from our smartphones and tablet devices, HP will have far less problems to deal with, to keep its print business revenues flowing.

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]

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

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

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 !

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.

Google Chrome OS is back in buzz again. And we’ve something critical to talk about. Although, there hasn’t been any official word about Chrome OS for quite sometime now, the web diggers (aka geeks, bloggers) were right on their job, trying to dig out any possible traces of Chrome OS and they’ve somehow found one out.

The clue belongs to Chromium web repository, the Open source project that serves as a backbone for Google Chrome browser development. DownloadSquad spotted out a mention of Chrome OS login manager, somewhere buried in the open source code of Chromium web repository.

As Chrome OS is supposed to be a Browser based OS, a general interpretation of the term Chrome OS login manager would mean an OS that operates on Single Sign-On (SSO) cookie, working for all Google services.

In simpler words, you will be required to login with your Google Account when you will boot up your Chrome OS machine. Once you login with your Google account credentials into Chrome OS, you will get access to all the Google web services(Gmail, Google Docs, Picasa, Reader, Blogger, Friends Connect……)

It sounds pretty cool and absolutely perfect for a company like Google, probably the only internet company in tech industry that has in-house web based alternative to all major desktop applications and software needs. It also means that you just need to login with your Google account to any machine(home, office, friend’s) and you have your custom OS ready to be served. As all the services belong to Google, the overall compatibility will be immensely smooth.

But this presumption (which is most likely to turn true) that one must have a Google account to make an access to Chrome OS and use Google Chrome as the primary web browser for using any web service on Chrome OS has raised a lot of questions over the freedom of choice.

If somebody is not interested to work on Google Chrome(the supposed backbone of Chrome OS) but Firefox or IE or whatever else then ? Or if somebody doesn’t want to use Google Docs or Picasa but instead, want to use some other alternative software from a third party developer, then ??

Will Google allow other competitive software or services to get replaced as primary service in Chrome OS ? It’s a question that’s still to be answered by Google but we’re guessing that Google will choose to stay competitive than playing resistive.

Even when any user downloads and installs Google Chrome on Windows OS, Chrome first asks the user to choose a default search engine (in-built into URL address bar) and doesn’t just impose Google search on new Chrome user. It’s a competitive ideology that Google has always followed (so far) and we expect that for Chrome OS as well.

After the web crowd went abuzzed with the news of Google’s very own Operating System, the Chrome OS, everyone started talking about Google’s possibilities of taking on Microsoft in its homeground.

Ever since, this news broke out, tech bloggers and journalists started speculating over various aspects that are closely associated with Chrome OS and its possible success or failure in largely monopolised OS market.

Although there’s just one article written on Official Google Blog about Chrome OS,  tech journalist and blogging fraternity just can’t stop buzzing about Chrome OS, be it data security concerns or Google-Microsoft rivalry.

But something that’s been completely baseless about Chrome OS are those leaked screenshots rumors, that keep surfacing every now and then.(atleast for now)

First when the news broke out, a fake graphic designer showed off his photoshopping skills and cooked up a fake story, which eventually managed to make thousands of folks believe on the Fake Chrome OS Screenshots.

Quiet recently, another claimed screenshot (obviously fake!) of Chrome OS surfaced out, gathering thousands of eyeballs, once more.

Can you guess, how long will such leaked rumors keep rolling out ??

Until Google itself rolls the real ones out !

And the day is not far(probably by the end of this year) when we would get you the REAL Chrome OS screenshots and detailed specifications about the next generation OS.

Stay tuned !!

It’s clear that Microsoft has got its biggest possible challenger in the name of Google Chrome OS, but the impact of ‘Chrome OS’ may not be limited to Operating System industry only. If ‘Chrome OS’ succeeds in securing OS market share of even 15-20% within a span of 5 years from its launch, it may result in magnified losses to Microsoft in many regards. Here’s how…

It’s not just Windows OS but many other Microsoft products that critically account for Microsoft’s revenue stream such as

• Microsoft Office application suite
• Web browser: Internet Explorer
• Search Engine: Bing.com (earlier Live.com)

All of the three Microsoft properties mentioned above have a straight competition from Google’s product line. For Microsoft Office applications suite, Cloud based Google Docs is the toughest challenger. Against Internet Explorer, Google Chrome is gripping up the roots fast and against Bing.com, Google Search is already holding the hugely dominant position.

Now, all of the three Microsoft weapons have somehow been riding the huge success of Microsoft Windows. Here are the reasons…

• Office applications suite became hugely popular only because it was bundled with Microsoft Windows OS and now considered an integral part of Windows Operating system.
• The only reason behind huge domination of ill-famed Internet explorer in web browser space (IE6+IE7+IE8) is its bundling with Microsoft Windows OS.
• Bing.com has been taking advantage of Internet Explorer’s popularity. As spotted earlier by SearchEngineLand , Bing’s early peak(when it leapfrogged Yahoo!) was a result of an IE6 bug and for general cases, Internet explorer’s default search engine is set to be Bing.com. This has given big boost to Bing’s early growth.

In a scenario where Google Chrome OS, bundled with Google Docs, Google Chrome and Google Search as the default utilities takes over roughly 20% of the OS market share, it would not only be just Microsoft Windows but MS Office, Internet Explorer and Bing.com as well, which are bound to bear the proportional losses.

The same scenario holds for Google as well. If Chrome OS becomes a sustainable success in OS industry , Google’s other major products such as Google Docs, Google Chrome and (already successful) Google Search are bound to enjoy the fruit of success.

Google execs have been keeping sharp silence since the Chrome OS news broke out but the blogosphere is reacting just the opposite. Bloggers and news journalists are fantasizing everything they can, just to keep the Chrome OS buzz alive, whether the concerns being raised are relevant or not.

And right now, Google’s statement of building  fool-proof security standards in Google Chrome OS is getting over-exaggerated to a large extent by the online media.

The security pundits are whole-heartedly questioning Google’s claims of building a Malware-free Operating System. Few of the logical justifications of security experts are somewhat true but still, the actual statement has been largely mis-interpreted, making a mountain of a molehill.

This is the statement that’s causing the uproar…

And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

Media has gone absurdly far that it has started relating Twitter security breach with vulnerability of Google Chrome OS. It’s fine that many of the official Twitter documents which were recently hacked, were hosted on cloud based Google docs service, but we reckon the skeptics missed out a point made pretty clear by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone saying

This attack had nothing to do with any vulnerability in Google Apps which we continue to use.

We do agree that no operating system can be 100% malware-free. We also agree that there may be even more challenges for Google while carving out a Web based Operating system, which is bound to be more open and would heavily rely on cloud based applications. But this doesn’t mean that Google’s statement about Chrome OS Security standards is waguely wrong.

One can better interpret the questionable Google statement as “implementation of never-before and highly resistent security standards within Google Chrome OS”.

Now, imagine an operating system, which is not completely fool-proof but has very rare chances of malware attacks and least vulnerability to viruses. Won’t you love such an OS ? That’s exactly what Google is eyeing for.

But there’s another hidden reason behind all these objections, being raised majorly by Security experts and Anti-virus companies. Suppose, if Google actually succeeds in building a Fool-proof Operating System then it will be one of the major highlights of Chrome OS in competing against Microsoft Windows.

And if, Google starts hurting long lived Windows dynasty of Microsoft badly, then it won’t be just Microsoft but countless of Anti-virus firms and computer security companies, who will be at the risk of going out of business.

The possibility is quite easy to realize. If Malware-free Google Chrome OS succeeds in stealing some 30-40% of OS market share from Microsoft within a span of, say 4-5 years from its launch then it will mean that only 55-65% market will actually require security experts or anti-virus softwares for staying Malware-free. This may jeopardise Anti-virus industry to a large extent.

It is analogous to a situation when everybody becomes healthy on earth and there’s a rare possibility of any disease to spread across, meaning no need of medicines ever. Won’t that cause whole Medical industry to go out of business.

This same sort of feeling is one major reason behind the whole controversy around the Google statement on Chrome OS security plans.