Author: Clinton

As the overlap of Android and Chrome OS continues, Google is working hard to make things more touch friendly.  This includes the browser in Chrome OS.  There are now two flags that you can change within the browser on your Chromebook that will allow you to pull to refresh the page you are viewing.  It is a handy feature, especially if you are using your Chromebook in tablet mode where you can’t easily access the refresh button.

Enabling this new pull to refresh feature is done via one or two flag changes in the browser.  The first flag is chrome://flags/#pull-to-refresh.  For a lot of users, this is the only flag you will need to change.  Once you enable it, restart the browser on your Chromebook and Bob’s your uncle.  However, if you find that you can’t get the pull to refresh to work all the time, there is a second flag you need to change.

Nearly three weeks after the initial Chrome 64 release in the Stable Channel, there is a new build that has been released for Chrome OS.  Build 64.0.3282.167 or 64.0.3282.169 (Platform version: 10176.72.0 or 10176.73.0) was released earlier today and it will be rolling out to the majority of devices starting today.  Users can manually check for the update by going to chrome://help on their device and checking for the update.

Generally the Chromium team has been releasing the first update of a new build to non-Android running Chromebooks while the second one in the train goes to those than can run the apps.  That appears to be the case here as reviewing the OmahaProxy shows the vast majority of devices now with either the .167 or .169 build as their stable release.

There is a new commit that points to Chromebooks having the ability to pinch-to-zoom on the touchpad is coming.  Right now, in Chrome OS, the ability to zoom in and out on your touchpad is disabled on the vast majority of devices.  Only high end models like the Samsung Chromebook Pro and Plus, as well as the Google Pixelbook, have it enabled by default.

That is likely to change.  This new commit suggests that it will be enabled by default on any new Chromebooks but will also retroactively be enabled on existing devices.

ARCore, the Augmented Reality SDK that allows for Android phones to create AR experiences, looks set to be one of the many things that Google is going to be releasing at Mobile World Congress next week.  According to an exclusive report in Variety, the Mountain View company will release the first version of ARCore to the public and it will work on Android Nougat and Oreo devices.

Google is set to make a major push to bring augmented reality technology (AR) to Android at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week, Variety has learned from sources familiar with the company’s plans. Central to these efforts will be the release of the company’s ARCore framework, which will allow third-party developers to bring AR apps to Android phones.

This is a significant step forward for the company’s AR plans as, to this point, ARCore has only been available on Google Pixel devices in a pre-release state.

The Google Files Go app, part of the Android Go app series and a solid storage management tool for any device, has a small update rolling out that brings a nice new feature.  With version 1.0.185922376 of the app, you can no select files on your phone to back up to Google Drive.

The new feature is located off of the Files tab in the Files Go app and works on anything in your Downloads folder as well as images, videos, audio files, and documents.  All you have to do is use the down carrot to open the menu for a particular file and you will see an option to upload the file to your Google Drive account.

With the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus slated to be announced in a couple of days at Mobile World Congress, one of the big questions was around the price points for each device.  Thanks to the awesomeness of Evan Blass, we know that both devices are going to top the eye watering $1000 mark.

Pricing. pic.twitter.com/wu4GlK1FCU

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) February 22, 2018

Doing some currency conversion, it means that the Galaxy S9 is going to be just over $1000 while the S9 Plus will be hella expensive at $1299.